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I was looking at paint sets on gw's site and came across a mega paint set with a hundred and sixty paints in it.. Now it just came to my mind that emptying all those paints into a tin wouldnt fill a £20 or even being generous £30 tin of coloured paint? And at a cost of £325 for this paint set seems a bit shocking to me. Or am I missing something?

Whilst I'm not suggesting that GW paints are reasonably priced, have you considered the cost to get all the paint decanted from the large vats and into those tiny pots. Every process costs money. The purchaser has to wear those costs. Small packs of things cost more than large pack. From paint to screws to milk to beef. GW is doing the same thing as everyone else.

Col, are you really telling me that you're going to go and mix those paints? You're buying multiple small pots of different paints.

Additionally, I'd recommend you price it out if you were to buy each separately(not because I know they're cheaper, I haven't done the math and somewhat doubt you get a discount, but I doubt it's more expensive either).

http://www.dickblick.com/products/utrecht-artists-acrylic-sets/

Probably much better value.

W/ GW you're paying $8.75 per oz.

Utrecht sets you're paying $4.6 per oz.

Much better to buy fewer paints and then mix your colors than to buy 160 different paints and use maybe 1/4th of them. Seriously, how can you even use 160 different paints? My shoebox of paints has like 20 colors.

 Col wrote:
I was looking at paint sets on gw's site and came across a mega paint set with a hundred and sixty paints in it.. Now it just came to my mind that emptying all those paints into a tin wouldnt fill a £20 or even being generous £30 tin of coloured paint? And at a cost of £325 for this paint set seems a bit shocking to me. Or am I missing something?

You're paying for the different colours, not the volume of paint.

In the context of miniature painting, volume isn't of major importance unless you're talking about spray primer (because most of it doesn't actually hit the model) or airbrushing (because you usually end up mixing far more than you need and/or spraying a lot of it on test surfaces rather than the model) or washes (because you tend to use quite a large volume when washing).

Rarely have I run out of paints outside of those circumstances. Even the base colours for my armies, at worst I think I've had to buy 2 or maybe 3 pots to do an entire army (we're talking about a few pounds worth of replacement pots to paint several hundred pounds of models).

So price per unit volume is less important than price per colour (and GW aren't great on price per colour either... but they also aren't terrible). If it weren't for the crappy pots that dry out and the fact GW changed all their paints I probably would buy a lot more of them.

I have about 50 different paints in various shades, lots of reds, browns, blues, and greens. I love having ready mixed colors more than mixing it myself so I buy paint droppers of the stuff. I've recently fallen in love with vallejo and I am slowly replacing all of my GW paints with it. Great stuff really.

Well, by your valuation, all miniature paint is greatly overpriced, because the cost of manufacture is a tiny fraction of the selling price of the product.

That's a bad way to look at it. Sure, house paint is cheaper. But...

If GW (or Vallejo, or Reaper, or...) could sell each paint in 1 liter jugs, I'm sure we'd all be paying a lot less. And, if the same proportion of people who buy house paint bought Citadel paints, the price would be a tiny fraction of what it costs per mL now.

But that isn't the case. Even if the paint were $0.40 per pot (say, one tenth of its current price), GW would only sell a little bit more, because really, how much paint can 99% of wargamers use? Even at that price, I won't buy more paint than I can consume, because after all, it will go bad with time. And it's not like right now, I say, "paint is expensive, so I will put on fewer coats!"

If a company that ONLY made paint (like Vallejo) did that, they'd go out of business, because they wouldn't make enough profit in real dollars to continue operations.

One way the product would get cheaper is if the market grew. So, if you could convince a billion people to start buying and painting miniatures, competition would fire up, and price (and quality and selection) would become much more of an issue.

Looking at it, there 160 paints in the set. All paints are £2.40. Doing the maths, 160 x 2.4= 384. You are actually saving quite a bit of money with the set, and you are getting a box with it as well which is good for storage. The only problem is, unless you play every different space marine chapter, you are not going to use all of them paints. I own a total of 60 paints. I have 3 armies all different colour schemes and I haven't opened about 6 of them.

I remember setting up my store, I had a delivery of £7,000 worth of miniature paint turn up in a couple of boxes.
The paint for walls of the whole 3,000 sq/ft building cost me £300.
You can't really compare the two.

Different pigment amounts too and technical process.

To make thick house paint is easy, to make high colour, thinner paint, exactly the right colour and then decant in to small bottles and then package into larger packs....

Two cannot be compared

I see your points guys, it just seemed a lot for nothing but paint the way I was looking at it?
But I agree, there's a lot more to it than household paint.
Looks a nice set if your a keen painter, but a lot of them wouldn't get used with my painting skills :-)

 TheSilo wrote:
http://www.dickblick.com/products/utrecht-artists-acrylic-sets/

Probably much better value.

W/ GW you're paying $8.75 per oz.

Utrecht sets you're paying $4.6 per oz.

Much better to buy fewer paints and then mix your colors than to buy 160 different paints and use maybe 1/4th of them. Seriously, how can you even use 160 different paints? My shoebox of paints has like 20 colors.

I got over 600 paints lol

I bought a big box of 100 empty paint pots off ebay for about £5; now I mix all my own paints using vallejo premium (comes in 60ml bottles). There are a lot of advantages:

I always have exactly the right colour
If there is a paint I need, I can mix it on the spot. Very specific colours such a NMM gold, or blonde hair, these are no problem. I never have to worry about the manufacturer changing their lines, and I don't have to settle for someone else's idea of a "triad". I could mix six or even ten different shades of the same colour if I wanted to, and have them just how I like them.

I'm not wasting paint
Every pot I mix, I mix because I feel I need a pot of that colour. This means that all my pots are useful, and more importantly: they are all colours I like. Furthermore I don't have to mix large amounts of paints, 2-5ml is more than enough of a colour that is only used for a few odd details. This is much less wasteful than having 12ml pots that you hardly use, gathering dust and solidifying in a 'mega paint set' rack.

cost
Mixing your own paint is just insanely cheap compared to buying pots from GW. Each pot costs me something like 35p. You could mix quite a comprehensive set for under £30. The only paints I buy are specialty things like florescents and metalics (though you can get metalic medium). I mix all my own washes too with W&N medium.

 Col wrote:
Looks a nice set if your a keen painter, but a lot of them wouldn't get used with my painting skills :-)

Most good painters don't paint out the pots anyway, and will purposefully try to limit their palette, even across whole armies. Being highly skilled does not automatically mean you will use more colours, and owning more colours certainly won't make you any more skilled.

I think the only people who would really need sets like these would be painting studios, who have a range of clients that might request specific colours by name to match their other units (and perhaps more than one painter). For the average Joe painting his own stuff at home, there is just no way he's going to use up all 150 pots of paint, not even close. It's nice to have, but anyone who thinks they 'need' this (or could even make serious use of it) is probably kidding themselves.

 Smacks wrote:
If there is a paint I need, I can mix it on the spot. Very specific colours such a NMM gold, or blonde hair, these are no problem. I never have to worry about the manufacturer changing their lines, and I don't have to settle for someone else's idea of a "triad". I could mix six or even ten different shades of the same colour if I wanted to, and have them just how I like them.

However, if you paint a squad of Blood Angels in January, and terminators in July, and a Dreadnought in November, can you always get the same color? What if you collect 3, 4 or 5 different armies? And a couple games?

I am perfectly capable of mixing my own colors when I need it (for example for a wet blend or to patch a spot). But I can't reproduce an exact match a month later, much less a year or 5 years later. Plus, to mix enough paint to paint 5-30 units at a time, or a large vehicle... and to do it consistently? I mean, that just seems crazy to me.

Besides, typically, the models I buy range in price from $3 - $30 for 25mm base, and $20-$40 for 40mm base, and $80-$200 for larger. Relative to this, the paint cost is negligible.

If you enjoy mixing your own paints, all the power to you, of course. I just don't think it's practical for people who paint lots of miniatures, and it's a small part of the cost regardless of how much you paint, unless it's very very little.

 Smacks wrote:

I think the only people who would really need sets like these would be painting studios, who have a range of clients that might request specific colours by name to match their other units (and perhaps more than one painter). For the average Joe painting his own stuff at home, there is just no way he's going to use up all 150 pots of paint, not even close. It's nice to have, but anyone who thinks they 'need' this (or could even make serious use of it) is probably kidding themselves.

I own 400+ paints, and I've tried all of them at least once. I use a wide variety of paints and I find that the primary benefit is that each army can have distinct colors, such that every blue army doesn't look Ultramarine, every red army doesn't look Khorne, and every green army doesn't look Ork.

In addition, there are absolutely beautiful effects possible that aren't immediately obvious, if you experiment with paints. To take one of the most common studio examples, Incubi Darkness is a dark blue/grey color, but highlight edges with Kabalite Green, and suddenly the blue/grey paint takes on a green tinge (this is the original Dark Eldar paint scheme); but highlight it with Fenrisian grey, and it looks totally different.

When you talk about good painters not painting out of a pot (and I assume you mean, using the color, not *directly* out of a pot, as everyone should thin their paints), it depends on whether one is painting 1 hero, or an army of 100 units. Great painters use colors without mixing them all the time when they're painting armies. Actually, every really good painter I know, if they are painting a ton of units, will use premixed colors, rather than mix, like, 5 pots each of 30 colors.

I agree that owning paints doesn't make a person a good painter, obviously. But owning a bunch of paints doesn't make someone a bad painter, either. Anyhow, if you want to own 6 paints and mix everything yourself, by all means, but don't rag on people who like to own and use lots of paints It's a fun hobby unto itself.

Talys wrote:
However, if you paint a squad of Blood Angels in January, and terminators in July, and a Dreadnought in November, can you always get the same color? What if you collect 3, 4 or 5 different armies? And a couple games?

Yes, the pots have lids. Once I mix a colour it will last for years, I can reuse it whenever, that's the whole idea.

I am perfectly capable of mixing my own colors when I need it (for example for a wet blend or to patch a spot). But I can't reproduce an exact match a month later, much less a year or 5 years later. Plus, to mix enough paint to paint 5-30 units at a time, or a large vehicle... and to do it consistently? I mean, that just seems crazy to me.

Most colours are not base colours. If I had 30 units and a bunch of large vehicles to base then I would probably choose to use a spray. For details you don't need large amounts of paint. Providing I have a sample of the old colour to test against (usually taken from the old lid) I would be able to match a colour exactly. However I also make a habit of writing down the ratios on the pot lids which makes things easier.

Besides, typically, the models I buy range in price from $3 - $30 for 25mm base, and $20-$40 for 40mm base, and $80-$200 for larger. Relative to this, the paint cost is negligible.

I don't think £300 is negligible. You could buy a lot of models and games for that.

I own 400+ paints, and I've tried all of them at least once. I use a wide variety of paints and I find that the primary benefit is that each army can have distinct colors, such that every blue army doesn't look Ultramarine, every red army doesn't look Khorne, and every green army doesn't look Ork.

Using a paint once is kind of the problem. Why buy a 12ml or 20ml pot if you're only going to use 2-3ml trying it out. with 150 paints you're probably going to have a lot like that. There is nothing to stop me mixing different blues and reds, in fact I mixed a blue just for my Infinity PanO stuff, it isn't like any of my other blues.

In addition, there are absolutely beautiful effects possible that aren't immediately obvious, if you experiment with paints.

There is nothing to stop me experimenting. Though I usually have a good idea of the effect I want to achieve before I start testing things out. If I was just looking to hit a scheme at random then I would rather use photo editing software and slide the channels around. That would be much faster and a lot cheaper. You can also achieve beautiful effects when you don't limit yourself to 'off the shelf' colours. I have thousands of colours to choose from and build schemes out of, you only have 400.

When you talk about good painters not painting out of a pot (and I assume you mean, using the color, not *directly* out of a pot, as everyone should thin their paints), it depends on whether one is painting 1 hero, or an army of 100 units. Great painters use colors without mixing them all the time when they're painting armies. Actually, every really good painter I know, if they are painting a ton of units, will use premixed colors, rather than mix, like, 5 pots each of 30 colors.

I agree that owning paints doesn't make a person a good painter, obviously. But owning a bunch of paints doesn't make someone a bad painter, either. Anyhow, if you want to own 6 paints and mix everything yourself, by all means, but don't rag on people who like to own and use lots of paints It's a fun hobby unto itself.

I don't own 6 pots. I have a lot of paints, which are 'premixed', the only difference is they are premixed by me and not GW. There really isn't any disadvantage other than you need to rely on your own skill to mix colours. In terms of matching a colour after five years, I think I'd rather be reliant on myself. Good luck with that if you depend on GW, I think they've changed their entire range twice since I stopped buying from them, and they're not terribly consistent with their batches either.

Also, collecting paints is fun, and makes your desk look all professional. I wasn't 'ragging' on people for collecting paints. Just for pretending that they need them

It means you're smarter than the ignorant grot who paid that much. Don't do it.

There is also the Reaper Master series of paints. The whole set of 216 paints is $380 and each "pot" has a bit more paint then what GW puts in there pots. The Badger Minitaire range of 80 1oz bottles is only $154 on amazon. If you can't find a match in those sets there is a problem.

 Smacks wrote:
Yes, the pots have lids. Once I mix a colour it will last for years, I can reuse it whenever, that's the whole idea.

Well, obviously I prethin and decant pot paints (GW, P3) into dropper bottles for airbrush use.

 Smacks wrote:
I don't think £300 is negligible. You could buy a lot of models and games for that.

What I was driving at, was the relative cost of the paint to the models. Let's call it 500 GBP, because some paints will need to be replaced -- this will be sufficient for 10,000 GBP worth of models, at least. Maybe even 20,000 GBP. As a percentage, it's very small. Of course, this just REALLY means that models are very expensive, lol.

I concede that I have a huge unpainted collection, but I still do paint and complete a lot of stuff. And, the ratio of my paint spend to my model spend... it's not even a rounding error. It's rare that I buy more than 10 paints in a month. But I paint hundreds of dollars of models every month, for sure.

 Smacks wrote:
Using a paint once is kind of the problem. Why buy a 12ml or 20ml pot if you're only going to use 2-3ml trying it out. with 150 paints you're probably going to have a lot like that. There is nothing to stop me mixing different blues and reds, in fact I mixed a blue just for my Infinity PanO stuff, it isn't like any of my other blues.

It's a library of color -- you look at it and go, "that one might be nice", try it, and if it's not what you want, you try something else. And, if you're wet blending, lots of intermediate colors don't hurt.

Also, different brands of paints have different properties that make them ideal for different tasks. Tamiya (alcohol based acrylics) are very useful in certain situations. P3, Vallejo Model/Game Air, all have their purposes beyond tint. In addition, the GW paint set includes different consistencies (base/layer), textures, drybrush paints and "technical" paints, like typhus corrosion and blood for the blood god, that are all extremely useful.

I would challenge you to mix your own blood for the blood god, nilakh oxide, or typhus corrosion.

 Smacks wrote:
. You can also achieve beautiful effects when you don't limit yourself to 'off the shelf' colours. I have thousands of colours to choose from and build schemes out of, you only have 400.

You'll note that I said that it's not that I NEVER mix colors, but I don't mix an original color for a squad/troop level model, because there are just too many to paint. On an independent character, or a special model, that I will invest 30 hours in painting, sure. For a model I need to paint 50 of, no. Obviously, there is an infinite number of achievable colors, and at least millions discernable by the human eye. But the 160 that come in the GW paint set is pretty darn useful as a starting point.

 Smacks wrote:
.I don't own 6 pots. I have a lot of paints, which are 'premixed', the only difference is they are premixed by me and not GW. There really isn't any disadvantage other than you need to rely on your own skill to mix colours. In terms of matching a colour after five years, I think I'd rather be reliant on myself. Good luck with that if you depend on GW, I think they've changed their entire range twice since I stopped buying from them, and they're not terribly consistent with their batches either.

You misunderstand. I meant, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, White, and Metallic (medium), from which you can derive most tints. I don't think any sane person would try to mix black, white is impossible to mix, and metallic requires mica flakes (unless you're crazy rich and buy insanely expensive pigments with the actual metal). Keep in mind that all paint companies have secret tricks to make standout colors -- for instance, you can't mix a red yourself that will cover as well as Mephiston, nor a silver that will cover as well as Leadbelcher.

 Smacks wrote:
.Also, collecting paints is fun, and makes your desk look all professional. I wasn't 'ragging' on people for collecting paints. Just for pretending that they need them

Certainly, I don't suggest that you need hundreds of paints to be effective. I think that premixed paints are superior for painting armies, and that owning a reasonably large collection will give you more creative flexibility. As to "looking professional" -- I am not so sure many people with that many paints care about that... half of my paints are in drawers and trays. My work space (actual open space) is more valuable than manhattan real estate. Besides, then I'd have to put out all my brushes and files, or they would fee bad (and you don't want to know how many of THOSE I have... hahaha)

By the way, I was only referring to paintbrush stuff. I wasn't even including weathering pigments, metallic pigments, mediums, airbrush paints (Vallejo model and game air), and my own premixed bottles, mostly of GW and P3 paints thinned for airbrush, but also things like tinted Gesso.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Karnophage wrote:
There is also the Reaper Master series of paints. The whole set of 216 paints is $380 and each "pot" has a bit more paint then what GW puts in there pots. The Badger Minitaire range of 80 1oz bottles is only $154 on amazon. If you can't find a match in those sets there is a problem.

Reaper paints are great!

I only really have two issues with them: a lot of FLGS don't carry them, and like Vallejo, they have some gaps in the "game-y" colors -- the really bright fantasy/scifi colors that are ideal for 40k, WHFB, and WMH. Especially if you include the edge paints, Citadel has excellent Greens, Blues, and Reds/Oranges where it comes to colors you'd use for futuristic stuff.

On the flip side, GW is very lacking in camo type colors, which Vallejo has an amazing range of (though honestly, I can't tell the difference between a bunch of the greens, browns, and greys). I find Reaper kind of in-between, and they have some very good dark tints which fill GW holes, like burgundy wine and nightshade purple.

Another worthwhile mention is Army Painter, as a supplemental paint. It has far too many holes, but the paint quality is excellent, the cost per bottle is low, and there are matching tinted primers for many popular 40k colors.

 WarbossDakka wrote:
Looking at it, there 160 paints in the set. All paints are £2.40. Doing the maths, 160 x 2.4= 384. You are actually saving quite a bit of money with the set, and you are getting a box with it as well which is good for storage. The only problem is, unless you play every different space marine chapter, you are not going to use all of them paints. I own a total of 60 paints. I have 3 armies all different colour schemes and I haven't opened about 6 of them.

Ninja'd

But yeah, if you bought that box, you would actually save about 75 quid. To buy all that individually would: a) be stupid, and b) cost you 400 quid. You just wouldn't be able to guarantee that you'd use em all unless you paint your stuff in rainbow colours lol.

 angelofvengeance wrote:

 WarbossDakka wrote:
Looking at it, there 160 paints in the set. All paints are £2.40. Doing the maths, 160 x 2.4= 384. You are actually saving quite a bit of money with the set, and you are getting a box with it as well which is good for storage. The only problem is, unless you play every different space marine chapter, you are not going to use all of them paints. I own a total of 60 paints. I have 3 armies all different colour schemes and I haven't opened about 6 of them.

Ninja'd

But yeah, if you bought that box, you would actually save about 75 quid. To buy all that individually would: a) be stupid, and b) cost you 400 quid. You just wouldn't be able to guarantee that you'd use em all unless you paint your stuff in rainbow colours lol.

There is one way. Collect every army in 40k and whfb!!! Bhahahahha

However you want to compare it, Citadel is easily the most expensive of the hobbypaints.

Here is a breakdown I made a while ago about the paints relative price. It goes <paintrange>, <price per ml in brittish pounds> (Using citadel as a baseline, how much more expensive is citadel than this brand)

Citadel, £0.18 (0%)
Army Painter, £0.10 (82.5%)
Coat D'Arms, £0.07 (173.8%)
Colors of Battle, £0.10 (87.7%)
Formula P3, £0.11 (62.6%)
Vallejo Game Color, £0.11 (59.1%)

 granander wrote:
However you want to compare it, Citadel is easily the most expensive of the hobbypaints.

Here is a breakdown I made a while ago about the paints relative price. It goes <paintrange>, <price per ml in brittish pounds> (Using citadel as a baseline, how much more expensive is citadel than this brand)

Citadel, £0.18 (0%)
Army Painter, £0.10 (82.5%)
Coat D'Arms, £0.07 (173.8%)
Colors of Battle, £0.10 (87.7%)
Formula P3, £0.11 (62.6%)
Vallejo Game Color, £0.11 (59.1%)

As I mentioned earlier, price per ml isn't really that important. It's price per colour that's usually more important (unless you are mixing all your own paints or are talking about washes).

Having a good price per ml is mostly just to make you feel good that you spent less money on all those extra ml you aren't actually going to use.

I think you make good points Talys, perhaps I was a little too dismissive of the mega paint sets. The only thing I will say is that there is nothing stopping someone premixing 150 paints themselves -- apart from maybe time -- but if you spread that time out, mixing up pots as you require them, then you can build up quite a large collection of "premixed" paints for around a tenth of the cost.

I also have lots of mediums, glaze medium, gloss medium, florescents etc... I haven't played with the GW technical paints, so I'm not really sure what is special about them? I have some Vallejo model airs too, but again I prefer my own mixtures for the airbrush.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
As I mentioned earlier, price per ml isn't really that important. It's price per colour that's usually more important (unless you are mixing all your own paints or are talking about washes).

Having a good price per ml is mostly just to make you feel good that you spent less money on all those extra ml you aren't actually going to use.

Both yes and no, but yeah... the amount of pots I have emptied equals to a quite small pile of cash.

On the other hand, Citadel is also the most expensive per pot... but there the difference is smaller.

To me though, I can't shake the feeling of being robbed of paint when there is such a big relative difference for the amount of paint.

 granander wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
As I mentioned earlier, price per ml isn't really that important. It's price per colour that's usually more important (unless you are mixing all your own paints or are talking about washes).

Having a good price per ml is mostly just to make you feel good that you spent less money on all those extra ml you aren't actually going to use.

Both yes and no, but yeah... the amount of pots I have emptied equals to a quite small pile of cash.

On the other hand, Citadel is also the most expensive per pot... but there the difference is smaller.

To me though, I can't shake the feeling of being robbed of paint when there is such a big relative difference for the amount of paint.

You must have painted a lot more models than me or be a lot more wasteful Outside of primer and washes, I'll probably empty about 1 pot per army on average that I've done over the years. Some armies I've done the whole army without emptying a pot, others I've gone through a few pots (I think my Tyranids I've used 3 pots of bone/beige).

I've lost a significant number of pots because they dried out, and that's my primary gripe with GW paints, more than any other company their paints dry out far too easily.

I used to run out of black a lot, because I'd often prime white and then recoat a lot of the model in black (many years ago when I was an ignorant preteen ). But my current pot of black has been going for ages and it's not even half empty.

Painting a lot of vehicles I guess you'd run out. I do have an IG army but it's still reasonably small so I've only done a handful of vehicles and paint running out hasn't been an issue. A few drops in the airbrush is usually enough to coat a tank.

I look at the colours actually used. What can I mix myself reliably. Is it possible to find the proper shade "out of the bottle"? Price matters, to a degree. I avoid GW paint wherever possible, but some products are actually worth the money to me. Like some of the technical range. But again. Similar or better products are available for a better price pr ml.

Over at the Infinity forums there is an article called Better living through Metachemistry. It deals with paints and additives.
Read it first before making any decisions.

http://infinitytheforums.com/forum/index.php?/topic/24118-better-living-through-meta-chemistry-a-hobby-guide/

My two cents..

Smacks wrote:I think you make good points Talys, perhaps I was a little too dismissive of the mega paint sets. The only thing I will say is that there is nothing stopping someone premixing 150 paints themselves -- apart from maybe time -- but if you spread that time out, mixing up pots as you require them, then you can build up quite a large collection of "premixed" paints for around a tenth of the cost.

I also have lots of mediums, glaze medium, gloss medium, florescents etc... I haven't played with the GW technical paints, so I'm not really sure what is special about them? I have some Vallejo model airs too, but again I prefer my own mixtures for the airbrush.

No worries, I thought the mega paint set was crazy too, when the original one came out. In retrospect, if I had bought that, I would have saved money because subsequently bought all the colors (but not all at once). Incidentally Vallejo boxed sets (the ones with 8/16 paints) greatly reduced the price of those in my FLGS.

You must try the technical paints. Typhus Corrosion, for instance, adds instant grime/oil; blood for the blood god makes blood splatters that look ultra realistic easy; Reza rust looks like a boring drybrush compound, but you plunk it onto typhus corrosion (especially terrain or tanks) and it looks, actually, like rust. Nilakh oxide is a cool blue that weathers metals making them look alien-oxidized. There is also Nirgle's rot, that is very cool for adding pus, and Arellano earth, which is like crackle medium plus brown paint.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 granander wrote:
However you want to compare it, Citadel is easily the most expensive of the hobbypaints.

Here is a breakdown I made a while ago about the paints relative price. It goes <paintrange>, <price per ml in brittish pounds> (Using citadel as a baseline, how much more expensive is citadel than this brand)

Citadel, £0.18 (0%)
Army Painter, £0.10 (82.5%)
Coat D'Arms, £0.07 (173.8%)
Colors of Battle, £0.10 (87.7%)
Formula P3, £0.11 (62.6%)
Vallejo Game Color, £0.11 (59.1%)

As I mentioned earlier, price per ml isn't really that important. It's price per colour that's usually more important (unless you are mixing all your own paints or are talking about washes).

Having a good price per ml is mostly just to make you feel good that you spent less money on all those extra ml you aren't actually going to use.

It's cool seeing the relative prices of paints in different regions. In west coast Canada, Coat D'Arms and Colors of Battle aren't available at all.

Vallejo is sold at two hobby shops (one is a RC shop), and per pot is the same price as GW ($5) at that shop. However, another store sells GW for $4.25, so in my area, making Vallejo the most expensive per mL or pot.

Citadel is sold at every shop that sells 40k stuff (obviously), making it widely available, and can be had even at some shopping centers. P3 is sold by many stores at about $3 each. reaper is $3 too, but only one place carries them. AP is less than that, I think, but nobody stocks the whole range (it is special order, and the stores have a few colors and sets).

Also, Tamiya is popular here, plus, Testers is highly available. From the fine arts stores, there is Golden (in liquid acrylic) and liquitex (in acrylic ink).




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AllSeeingSkink wrote:
You must have painted a lot more models than me or be a lot more wasteful Outside of primer and washes, I'll probably empty about 1 pot per army on average that I've done over the years. Some armies I've done the whole army without emptying a pot, others I've gone through a few pots (I think my Tyranids I've used 3 pots of bone/beige).

I've lost a significant number of pots because they dried out, and that's my primary gripe with GW paints, more than any other company their paints dry out far too easily.

I used to run out of black a lot, because I'd often prime white and then recoat a lot of the model in black (many years ago when I was an ignorant preteen ). But my current pot of black has been going for ages and it's not even half empty.

Painting a lot of vehicles I guess you'd run out. I do have an IG army but it's still reasonably small so I've only done a handful of vehicles and paint running out hasn't been an issue. A few drops in the airbrush is usually enough to coat a tank.

I blow through paint like nobody's business on terrain. A set of terrain boards will take like 10 pots of paint (and I do mean 4-5 of one color). Buildings, craters, hills, etc are all paint drains too. Monstrous creatures, big vehicles and superheavies, which are all the rage now, eat up piles of paint too -- whether it's a voidraven bomber, baneblade, wraithknight, I will usually buy a couple of pots of paints of the main colors I'm using because I know I'll exhaust whatever color I have on hand.

Regarding airbrush: I go through significantly more paint through an airbrush, than on a paintbrush.

For me, the only time I don't use a lot of paint is non-basecoat layers for infantry. Speaking of paint efficiency, for washes and highlights, I vastly prefer pots to droppers, because far less is wasted. It's impossible with a dropper for me to get a little dot of paint, and if I put it onto a wet palette, overnight, the leftover will make a mess.

My favorite container is P3, which, ironically looks exactly like GW's containers circa 1985. When I run out of paint in P3 pots, I actually clean out the pots, and put my favorite GW or VGC paints into them. I get excited when I run out of a P3 pot, lol.

For terrain painting try to go to a dedicated paintstore that sells house paints. You can get any colour mixed in store. One pint goes a LONG way..

 Tjomball wrote:
For terrain painting try to go to a dedicated paintstore that sells house paints. You can get any colour mixed in store. One pint goes a LONG way..

I've used Golden liquid acrylic before, which is decent value. It looks good, but the stone elements look than what I use for fortifications. I ended up stripping the tile and redoing it because I was unhappy with it, and if you think stripping miniatures sucks, stripping a 24"x24" tile sucks much worse.

I don't want latex paints, because I actually spend a pretty decent amount of time painting my terrain -- it's not just one color painted with a 2" brush (it's all airbrushed, then layered, washed, drybrushed, highlighted, and weathered).

 BunkerBob wrote:
I have about 50 different paints in various shades, lots of reds, browns, blues, and greens. I love having ready mixed colors more than mixing it myself so I buy paint droppers of the stuff. I've recently fallen in love with vallejo and I am slowly replacing all of my GW paints with it. Great stuff really.

I love these guys. I pick up 8 plastic cups with lids for about $1.75. They're 60 ml each (5x the size of a normal paint pot). I mixed those colors months ago and they haven't dried out. As far as people concerned about getting the right color months later, you could just mark the level or ratio of paints right on the cup.