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Howdy,

This probably has been asked many times but what paint should i get to start with?
I got the intercessors paint set and while its nice its only 6 paints. I also find the GW paints a bit pricey. What would you recommend that i can get here in the Netherlands?

Ive looked at some videos and they recommended valejo. Would this set be good to start with: https://www.daxmagic-webshop.nl/vallejo/vallejogamecolorsets/val72299.php or https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B009162PWU
Would this set be good?

Would you recommend any others to fill out the colour piramyd? Or loose botels like gw nuln oil?


Attached are my painted marines without the shading done. The gold looks a bit dull and more like copper. Is painting over blue bad for gold colours?

You'll likely get as many options for paints as posters that reply: Vallejo, Scale75, Coat D Arms (the original Citadel paints), GW, Army Painter, P3, Foundry, Reaper, etc.

It depends. Each line has paints or colors that are better than others - GW tends to have great washes (Nuln Oil, Devlan Mud, or whatever the newer name is) and metals, some ranges have better reds, or yellows.

If you're going to follow GW's paints schemes in the short term, and their tutorials to learn, then starting with GW isn't a bad choice, since color matching isn't great across ranges (i.e. exact matches). The GW paints are also more forgiving than other as well, meaning they're easier to apply and cover in general.

I have paints from all of the above sources, and then some from scale modeling sources, Tamiya, etc. for certain effects. Eventually you'll collect a range of brands as you find out some paints work better or you like they way they work off the brush.

What I'd recommend is to find a starting paint brand that is accessible - if your closest store is a GW, then it'll be easier to get new paint. If your closest store is an independent, or train store, and they have something different, but a large selection, then try that route. Nothing like running out of a paint, and having to wait a week for a new one to be delivered.

To answer your questions:

I just used Contrast Ultramarines Blue to do the lining of some Primaris I just painted. Worked great. Nuln Oil would work as well, applied just to the joints or lines, rather than painted over the whole model, which will just make it dirty looking.

With gold, most people paint the gold over a dark brown base layer to give it depth. The color of the undercoat will affect the final color. If you paint it over blue, unless its a thick coat (which you don't want), then it could appear copper.

Looking at your photo in more detail for the gold, you could wash the entire gold area with GW Agrax Earthshade, which will darken the recesses, the go back over and high light the edges of the eagles, the tops of the wings, and edges of the shoulder pads with your original gold, or that gold with a touch of silver mixed in. That should help with the copper look, and give it some depth (you could also use Army Painter Soft Tone to do the same thing).

In the end the paint brand matters less than the pigment density, and even that can be worked around.

When painting miniatures, the main thing you want is to thin the paint to the consistency of milk. Some paints a little thinner, some a tad thicker, but in that ballpark.

Now a high-[pigment density paint, you can achieve good coverage in one or two layers of paint. But these tend to be fairly expensive, around $3-4 for half a liquid ounce.

Cheaper, low-pigment density paints will take two, three, or even four coats to get good coverage. But these are much less expensive, with a two-ounce bottle going for a dollar or less. Even having to use twice as many layers you still come out way ahead on cost per layer.

Of course, each layer also takes more time, so which you prefer may boil down to how much time you have available to paint vs. how much money you have that you can dedicate to the hobby. But you'll get to the same place in the end regardless of which path you follow.

Man, if people saw my paint rack they would think I owned a hobby store.

I have P3, Citadel, Vallejo, Createx Wicked (almost the entire lineup of wicked colors and candies, Createx (just generic paints like pastels, undercoats, clears, metallics, color shift, etc), Stynylrez (best primers period, even go on great with a regular hairy stick), Tamiya.

I'm looking to pick up Scale 75, some SWM washes and some of the GSW color shift.

I also have HoK but lacquers are such a PITA to spray indoors (I do have a respirator but the rest of the house doesn't. LOL)

If you can start with Citadel but don't be afraid to branch out. Some manufacturers have better colors/types of paint than others.

Based on the box art, they’ve done an all-over wash with Agrax Wash. That deepens the golds, and provides shading for the flesh and armour.

I’ve painted with GW paints my whole 25-ish years of painting. I’d suggest getting Leadbelcher (steel colour) and Nuln Oil (wash over steel). You can then go back over the steel with a dry brush (technique) or edge highlight (different technique) to create highlights.

Balthazar is a coppery gold. You can base with that, wash with Agrax, then I’d buy a brighter gold to again either drybrush or edge highlight to brighten it back up.

The blue armour can be a bit trickier to shade. Since you already have Agrax, working with that as a pin wash (technique, detail brush to try and keep the wash only in the recesses / armour joints) will work out ok for now. You can then tidy up any excess with Ultramarine blue. You could then go for a lighter shade of blue... or mix your own and apply a drybrush / highlight of the lighter blue to armour edges and upper areas of armour.

I personally like the “base” white. Very nice coverage but you need to thin it carefully to avoid streaks.

I like red for purity seals and such. The red contrast paint, Blood Angels red? Works great over a white base. It’s nice because small details might be harder for a beginner to base / shade / highlight, and contrast kind of takes care of that all in one go.

Also, if you like white details like Aquila’s on the guns and such, the Apothecary White contrast paint looks good from what I’ve seen.

I would also suggest the dark grey paint, Mechanicus Grey? Again, drybrush / highlight over black looks nice. Or just Grey base with Nuln Oil over top once or twice can also work well for “black”.