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Friends,

I am new to Warhammer. I use to play DBA and DMB and painted hundreds of 15mm. I've been out of gaming since 1996 and getting into Warhammer Fantasy. The 28mm may as well be new for me. Is it a wise investment to get the Citadel Painting Guide and invest a set of foundation or wash paints? Frankly I am confused as to what the difference is.

Trying to save money, but will get what is necessary.

Thanks

Flynt Wheelock

Foundations are thicker, and hence cover black undercoats better than the normal paints. I would recommend these if you are going to use Citadel paints.

Washes are used to shade colours, and are useful, but not essential if you are just starting out.

The painting guide isn't worth it, however- just look around here and other forums for how-to guides.... they will be as (if not more) useful, and a damn sight cheaper!

Personally, I use both regularly, and I only use Citadel paints on my Warhammer models. Other people here will be able to give you good advice on other brands, however, which (looking at the galleries here) also produce stunning results.

I'd recommend you buy the Foundation Paints Set, and a few brushes. A medium brush, a detail brush, and a small drybrush should be enough to get going.

You don't need the Painting Guide; just use google to find 'How to paint ultramarines' etc. There are lots of free guides out there.

Washes are used to shade colours. I.e. you paint the colour on, let it dry, and then put the wash over it to shade it. (Washes are transluscent, coloured liquids that 'stain' your finish to shade it.)

Thank you so much for the quick response. After doing 15mm lead for so long, you get lazy. My thinking was to go with Citadel with their products. I actually found the whole guide online, but unable to print. It was good but not that impressive.

Thanks again friend.

Flynt

If saving money is your main concern then this is what id do (and i do personally):

Buy only minatures, brushes, glue and paints from GW stores.

Search around for other stuff, knifes, basing materials etc, from other stores.

If i cant find what im looking for then i buy it from GW stores.

Example:

Hobby Knife from GW: £8 inludes handle and a few replacement blades.

Hobby Knife from Poundland: £1 includes 3 handles, (small, med and large) 13 various blades and a case for all handles and blades. Bit fragile though but for £1 im not complaining.

Normally it pays to shop around as your only paying for convenience with GW on anything other than minatures and paints.

if you arent stuck on GW, vallego paints are great! they come in all the same colors with 17ml compared to GW's 12ml, and theyre about 70cents less per bottle
though i wouldnt recomend the washes, stick with GW there

johnscott10 wrote:Buy only minatures, brushes, glue and paints from GW stores.

Even the brushes and glues aren't a very good deal look for normal craft stores and you can find better brushes cheaper. Since, I'm presuming, not many people buy such small brushes they are usually on sale for cheap. I found a bunch of Windsor & Newton brushes for around $3 a pop in a Micheal's craft store, and superglue is a dollar or less at most discount stores and holds just as good as GW $6 a bottle superglue.

In fact I think just about everything under the GW paints & tools section of their website is a rip off except the paints, which im just too used to to switch

Glues: any polystyrene glue will do fine for assembling plastics. Ditto for superglue and metal models.

Brushes: you get what you pay for - in general, a $10 brush really will be twice as good as a $5 brush, in terms of holding its shape and applying paint smoothly. (And any brush will last twice as long if you clean it properly after each use.) GW have at least thought about the appropriate bristle for each type of brush (e.g. drybrushing benefits from a different bristle than painting fine lines)

Tools: the GW ones are just rebadged versions of other companies' tools. Nothing wrong with them, but the selection at your local model or craft shop is probably just as good.

Paints: qualitywise, all the major hobby paint brands are much the same, but the colour ranges vary, e.g. you need to be _very_ sure before assuming that another brand's blue will perfectly match GW Ultramarine Blue. Whether the Foundation paints and washes are useful to you depends on your painting technique - for me they're great, I typically prime/basecoat in Foundation, highlight/drybrush in normal colours, then cover in a wash.

There are other generic brands out there as well that could suffice as a paint over job;

I am a big fan of the line of metallic paints offered by Folkart. Folkart in general is fairly watered down compared to GW paint, but their metallic line is really great when I need an unorthodox color to go by.

For instance, different color pieces to add to Ork armor:



Or the metallic lining of my Nurlge Beserkers: