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I'm finally getting the mood to at last paint my minis again and i was wondering if any one had any opinions as to whether I should stick to the expensive G.W. paints or if there are viable and affordable alternative craft brands that any one would recommend?

Apple Barrel, which can be found at Hobby Lobby for less than $1 per bottle...

I second that! AB all the way!!

If you get lucky you can find it at Michaels for 2/$1.00

I only use GW paint for metals and washes (AB just cant seen to get that right)

Does it cover well?

Apple Barrel and Folk Art paints are hit and miss. AB flat black works wonders, whereas their metallics are lacking compared to GW.

Keep in mind that AB and FA are VERY thick and need to be thinned quite a bit. I use them mainly for mass use colors like black for base coating, green and brown for terrain and such. The nice thing is that they are cheap enough to screw around with and see if you like them. Personally AB reds and blues don't have enough pigment for my taste.

Personally I use: GW Metallics, washes and foundations, Vallejo Game Color, Vallejo Model Color, and Vallejo Model Air. I use Apple Barrel flat black and I use Les Bursley's wash recipe.

I suggest Vallejo as your main supply. Build up a collection slowly, buying only what you need as you need it. My 150+ paints have been collected over the last 10 years. Didn't happen overnight.

Hans Chung-Otterson wrote:Does it cover well?

Ive only had "coverage" issues with Red and white.... (but have the same issues with GW)
As was stated, you WILL NEED TO WATER THESE DOWN!!
I usually use 2 or 3 drops of water to a quarter sized pool of paint... and adjust until you have the consistancy of whole milk (not 1% or skim.... thats too thin)

As for $avings..... Ive bought 4 pots of GW's boltgun metal to 1 small bottle of AB's flat black. Thats roughly $12 to $1.

Delta Ceramicote and Americana brand paints are what I use except for metallics and washes.
Dont buy any My Studio brand paint from AC Moore. It is horrible. Even for terrain it seems thick but requires extra coats to cover.

Airfix acrylics are pretty good quality however they are only a little bit cheaper than GW's

I use Americana paints, you can find it at pretty much any craft store and even some at Walmart and the like. It coats well and looks pretty good when your done, and it too is a buck a tube, and has a dropper lid, which I love. Heres a few things Ive painted with them

Your pieces look great, but being an ork guy I gotta ask, how do you field the grot with power fist? Keep in mind I love how you painted it, but I'm curious as to if you actually use it on the table or it's just a show piece for fun?

I like the americana paints too. I actually have a ton of applebarrel and americana paints. I have actually thought about putting all of them on ebay as a lot since I use a lot of GW paint.

I use Delta Ceramcoat for most colors but their metallics are no good. I ordered the entire set of Vallejo Game Color metallics (9 different colors) for about $21. For washes I also use Les Bursley's wash recipe.

I've had enough issues with using thinned craft paint that I simply reserve it for use on terrain, when the piece won't suffer for having the paint go on a little bit thicker. That may simply be a product of my particular craft paint collection, which I inherited (i.e. some bottles were open, some sealed, some Apple Barrel, other Ceramcoat - but all are over a decade old), but there's so much variation in pigment density and coverage from one color to another that I, as impoverished as I am, prefer to work with my limited palette of Vallejo Game Color paints, along with a few GW foundations, washes, and metallics.

Craft paints are not the ideal solution, but you can't beat 2oz for about $1 when you're on a budget. I would love to get the GW foundation paint set and a nice set of vallejo paints but that's literally half a year's worth of my gaming budget. Craft paints work well enough for now. You just have to find the right balance of paint to water and hopefully use some paint that's less than 10 years old .

You can't beat GW metallics, and I like their washes, but everything else I try to use Americana.

To be honest i think most good quality 'canvas' acryllics are fine for miniature painting, currently my only yellow paint is one from a tube and it mixes fine with GW and tamiya. Tamiya is a little cheaper 1.50 compared to 2.30 (1.50 is individual price i'm sure you can buy 'em cheaper). Tamiya are a bit weird though espeicially when mixed together (weirdly they mx fine with gw) + you have to stir them all the time. I still use alot of GW paints, in their defence most of them have been in a box for 5 years so you cant say they dry out. My boltgun metal is Ten years old and still more than half full.

I think people perhaps are in too much of a hurry to complete paint collections. I have every VGC paint except the new heavy pigment ones. as well as 90% of the current GW collection including foundations and washes. Add in the VMC paints and I must have between $4-500 in paint alone.

They key? I built up this collection over the last 10 years. I bought colors as I needed them. Honestly, if you are just starting out in this hobby, $50 in paint will go a VERY long way if you pick your colors right.

I use cheap craft paints for very few things as the quality overall is a far cry from Vallejo or GW. Cheap things are cheaply made.

The ONLY craft paint I use is Apple Barrel flat black as it thins down wonderfully, however, I've also added matte medium and slo dri to it in order to get it to behave like GW or Vallejo(GW black is IMO too thick). Add to that the fact that black is used at some point on every single model I paint, and it makes sense to use the cheaper stuff after modding it a little.

Craft reds are terrible, none that I've come across have good coverage. Same with blues. Greens are ok, purples are ok. Yellow is a crap paint no matter which brand so we won't go there. Whites are also too thin in pigment for my taste.

I must have about $50 worth of Folk Art and Apple Barrel paints, and the only one I care for is the black.

I'd rather have a few good quality paints than a full collection of underwhelming paints.