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insaniak wrote: I've often run out of paint unexpectedly. Particularly washes, when a project has used more than I expected, or I thought I had extra bottles but didn't.
And 'they don't have it at my local store' has been, over the years, the single most common reason I've seen for people not being willing to try a new paint range.
But I bet those same people don't have an issue buying plenty of other things online, including buying most of their miniatures from online discounters, even if shipping is included.
People are just mortified of leaving the Citadel(tm) bubble and will come up with any reason why.
I'm sure there's a bit of that, but honestly? paints are at the "impulsive buy" level, so I'm not surprised it's something that's sold more at the actual physical store.
There is a reason why in all our trainings at GW we got told once and again to push the paints, glues, brushes et all. They make up a sizable percentage of the actual sales.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/07/18 08:59:34
For me personally, I buy my paint online but I'll buy it from stores where I can buy other stuff at the same time, as otherwise it usually takes a lot of paint to hit that free shipping threshold.
It's nothing to do with a 'GW bubble'... And it's not exclusive to paint. Online shopping is less appealing when the postage costs more than the products you're ordering.
insaniak wrote: I've often run out of paint unexpectedly. Particularly washes, when a project has used more than I expected, or I thought I had extra bottles but didn't.
And 'they don't have it at my local store' has been, over the years, the single most common reason I've seen for people not being willing to try a new paint range.
But I bet those same people don't have an issue buying plenty of other things online, including buying most of their miniatures from online discounters, even if shipping is included.
People are just mortified of leaving the Citadel(tm) bubble and will come up with any reason why.
Miniatures cost more so free shipping rather than 200% price up. Also you don't need new model to finish old model for first game next week.
insaniak wrote: I've often run out of paint unexpectedly. Particularly washes, when a project has used more than I expected, or I thought I had extra bottles but didn't.
And 'they don't have it at my local store' has been, over the years, the single most common reason I've seen for people not being willing to try a new paint range.
But I bet those same people don't have an issue buying plenty of other things online, including buying most of their miniatures from online discounters, even if shipping is included.
People are just mortified of leaving the Citadel(tm) bubble and will come up with any reason why.
Miniatures cost more so free shipping rather than 200% price up. Also you don't need new model to finish old model for first game next week.
One needs to be quite thick to compare the two
Do people just not order multiple items at once anymore?
For most minatures sites, you need to be paying around £75+ to get free shipping anyway, and plenty of people seem to have no issue buying the one box around £40.
insaniak wrote: I've often run out of paint unexpectedly. Particularly washes, when a project has used more than I expected, or I thought I had extra bottles but didn't.
And 'they don't have it at my local store' has been, over the years, the single most common reason I've seen for people not being willing to try a new paint range.
But I bet those same people don't have an issue buying plenty of other things online, including buying most of their miniatures from online discounters, even if shipping is included.
People are just mortified of leaving the Citadel(tm) bubble and will come up with any reason why.
It all depends on context. I mean, I already regularly use a half-dozen different ranges, so I'm clearly not "those" people, but after being bitten a coupleof times with large purchases of ranges that turned out to be not to my liking (Army Painter used to be great until they changed their medium from a standard one to the current gel-like formula - how did I find this out? Buying their mega-set!) or paints that just don't work for my style of painting (Warcolours' weird gel paints that require a whole different style of painting). Both I had to purchase from overseas - so now I wait for reviews for the most part before being willing to try. I may pick up the AK Interactive 3rd gen, or Pro Acryl - but I might not since I already have hundreds of paints.
Would I pick up some of these (or their Ink-tensity) if I could easily add a bottle to a local mail order with other stuff - sure! But that's also not an option here in AU. And, frankly, after Army Painter's reactivation paints (and almost pre-ordering THAT mega set), I'll let someone else be the canary again on these..
In the US at least, given the price of GW paint, thresholds for free shipping aren't particularly relevant to begin with.
Right now I can pay $3.39 a bottle for 17ml Vallejo paints plus a flat $3.95 for shipping, or I can go down to my local GW and pay $4.55 plus tax for 12ml of paint. So if I buy as few as two bottles of Vallejo paint at once, it's cheaper per-volume than GW in a local store.
I'd guess that this is a thing that varies a lot depending on region. Personally the thing I find I miss out most on when ordering online is the ability to inspect a paint in-person, because swatches aren't always accurate.
Region, what's local to you (my "local" stores are all a decent drive away after the one that was actually close moved so I don't bother) what your local-ish mail order/online places stock, and frankly, what Bezos' boys stock.
So while everyone but Amazon stock Citadel, I have to hit a free shipping threshold but I can buy a single bottle of Vallejo and have it delivered for free in a few days. - so I can and do buy Vallejo whenever, but restock on Citadel paints once every month or three - been buying more lately to stock up on the old washes.
Every other paint range either needs to hit a free shipping threshhold but from fewer retailers with smaller varieties of other stuff I might want to buy, or has shipping bakes in regardless - and again, has fewer other items I might want to buy.
local avaliability is definatly a big thing, I'm lucky I have a hobby store in town that really focuses on mode kits etc so I have a fair bit to choose from but if they ever closed I'd basicly be reduced to GW if I ever wanted to pick up paint locally
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/07/18 21:11:47
Opinions are not facts please don't confuse the two
Water-based paints can suffer damage from freezing depending on your region, mail receptacle, season, etc. which is another valid reason for preferring to buy in-person.
BrianDavion wrote: local avaliability is definatly a big thing, I'm lucky I have a hobby store in town that really focuses on mode kits etc so I have a fair bit to choose from but if they ever closed I'd basicly be reduced to GW if I ever wanted to pick up paint locally
And alas apart from GW no line can be trusted. Used to have vallejo available at will. It got removed couple years ago.
Do have army painter option and suitable shades I do use but of course if they ever suffer fate of vallejo...darn. Also their contrast equilavent has the reactivation issue which means it doesn't work for my style of painting.
Arbitrator wrote: Do people just not order multiple items at once anymore?
Depends on what I'm ordering. If I realize one the paints I need today has separated and dried up I may or may not also want to buy anything else, and I certainly don't want to add to the project pile just to meet the free shipping threshold. Nor do I really want to wait a day or five for a package to get here when I can make a quick run over to the local store and get back to painting. Offline availability is absolutely a relevant thing to consider in choosing a paint line.
Arbitrator wrote: Do people just not order multiple items at once anymore?
Yes. If I need to.
You think I buy stuff I don't need just for fun of it?
Yes let's order 3£ paint and then 37£ useless junk to avoid 6£ postage. That makes sense!
Seriously your math is very poor if you think 37£ to avoid 6£ is good deal.
Not to mention nobody offers same day delivery for international delivery so doesn't fix the issue where you need the paint right now to get model completed in time so even if I wanted to pay 37£ for shipping to get 3£ paint(plus some useless stuff I didn't need) it's still not an option.
Much better to stick to paint ranges I can get when I need at reasonable price. 40£ for single pot of paint is too much.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/07/19 06:38:59
BrianDavion wrote: local avaliability is definatly a big thing, I'm lucky I have a hobby store in town that really focuses on mode kits etc so I have a fair bit to choose from but if they ever closed I'd basicly be reduced to GW if I ever wanted to pick up paint locally
And alas apart from GW no line can be trusted. Used to have vallejo available at will. It got removed couple years ago.
Do have army painter option and suitable shades I do use but of course if they ever suffer fate of vallejo...darn. Also their contrast equilavent has the reactivation issue which means it doesn't work for my style of painting.
I've got in addition to 3 gaming stores having a dedicated hobby store in town, so I'm fortunate that way.
Opinions are not facts please don't confuse the two
Usually I have to plan my purchases of paint and align it with other things that I was planning on buying, not because of any free shipping threshold (most stores don't have such thresholds when shipping to my country or when using paypal), but mostly because I prefer single larger orders than several small orders with shipping costs and the hassle on my end pilling up and being less practical.
However, my country has few hobby related stores, most of them with only a few GW items, Star Wars stuff and/or historical miniatures. None of those stores are even remotely close to me and physically going there would be more expensive than paying shipment from other parts of europe.
For those who have local stores, I understand it would be easier to order locally, just like going to a grocery store.
In terms of GreenStuff World paints in particular, those are relatively easy to get in my case, since those usually arrive in 1 or 2 working days after being shipped, but I never order just paints, typically I get greenstuff and other materials for my conversions, which are things I require more often than paints.
insaniak wrote: I've often run out of paint unexpectedly. Particularly washes, when a project has used more than I expected, or I thought I had extra bottles but didn't.
And 'they don't have it at my local store' has been, over the years, the single most common reason I've seen for people not being willing to try a new paint range.
But I bet those same people don't have an issue buying plenty of other things online, including buying most of their miniatures from online discounters, even if shipping is included.
People are just mortified of leaving the Citadel(tm) bubble and will come up with any reason why.
Yeah, that's just not true.
Usually when I want a paint, I want it now, because I'm in the middle of something and realised I'm missing something I need/want. I don't usually buy sets, I tend to buy singles to try and then buy more if I like the range.
And overall I tend to prefer buying paints from actual shops, I can see it in the pot or a swatch on the shelf and decide if it's actually the colour I want (I have bought paints online and later realised they were nothing like what I was expecting).
It's nothing to do with being locked into a Citadel bubble... I have paints from, geeze, must be close to a dozen companies. Citadel, Vallejo, Army Painter, Reaper, Turbodork, Tamiya, P3, AK interactive, Testors, Humbrol, Gunze, Alclad, Winsor & Newton, Artist Spectrum, those are what come to mind without flicking through my collection.
Citadel featured heavily in my early days of miniature painting largely because it was one of the most easily available acrylic ranges (prior to painting miniatures I was painting military scale models and using Testors and Humbrol enamels). These days a lot of other things are available, and while I have bought some of them online they're mostly ranges that have been locally available.
So far I'm positively surprised. I've reviewed all "one coat" paints so far (Speedpaint, Instant Colors, Antithesis and, of course, Contrast) and they come closest to the Contrast formula. You just need to decide if you want to support a company like GSW or not.
I'm fiddling with a drop of acrylic artist's ink and some craft paint on a wet palette. Do not mix. Dip the brush into the ink, then into the paint.
I actually used a drop of ink in a children's flip-top craft paint container. Another miniature painter says he's used this technique as well with GW inks.
You can mix on the brush with more paint, to control the opacity, something you cannot do with premixed paints.
Painting to advanced tabletop, but you can further add details. I don't think I'll paint the miniatures entirely contrast, with other areas basecoat and wash (eg. horns, metal).
So far I'm positively surprised. I've reviewed all "one coat" paints so far (Speedpaint, Instant Colors, Antithesis and, of course, Contrast) and they come closest to the Contrast formula. You just need to decide if you want to support a company like GSW or not.
Great review video. Thank you for sharing. Going to see if I can find the product locally.
So far I'm positively surprised. I've reviewed all "one coat" paints so far (Speedpaint, Instant Colors, Antithesis and, of course, Contrast) and they come closest to the Contrast formula. You just need to decide if you want to support a company like GSW or not.
Forgive me, but what is meant by a company like them? What have I missed? (Legit serious, I don't know)
Approx armies
9000pts AdMech (Main army)
7000pts Black Templars (original army)
3500pts Death Guard (lazy side project)
2000pts Imperial Knights (extension of AdMech)
2000pts Harlequins (fun side project)
Shame GSW didn't name these Contrast and then sue GW.
Looks like I'll be picking some up, despite the company being... iffy.
Agreed - once again a massive thanks to Stahly for testing and reviewing these!
As for GSW being iffy - I'm not going to deny or defend them, but I'll do a touch of sort-of "whataboutism" - pretty much every corporation is iffy in some sense, but we still drink Coke, eat McDonalds and buy GW/Sony/Microsoft/Nestle products. It's all up to where the line falls on which gakky business practises for each of us. I don't eat McD's or Nestle myself so no need for those responses - it's a generalisation to make the point.
Who was behind this? Not Mr.AK I'm sure, but some edgelord art director employee - which doesn't invalidate the product. I can certainly understand why some people wrote them off entirely after that, though. Kirby and Merritt ran GW for years, but we still bought their stuff. Army painter didn't mention reactivation for their Speedpaints and then tried to downplay it while a legion of YouTubers shilled like thay always do and people online Stanned hard for them seemingly simply because they're not GW. So I'm not saying we need to give GSW a free pass on what they did - the pushback was well deserved and anyone who doesn't want to support them is well within their rights to make that choice.
For me at least, I'd rather buy these paints to supplement my contrasts than (knowingly) buy Nestle.
AdMech (Main army)
Black Templars (original army)
Death Guard (lazy side project)
Imperial Knights (extension of AdMech)
Harlequins (fun side project)
- it's a generalisation to make the point.
