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I can get a full line of MSP for relatively cheap. I recently picked up a flesh triad, and WOW. I can't believe how much better it works for me than VGC/VMC, at least for flesh. I haven't had the opportunity to try it for anything else. Everyone seems all gung ho for Vallejo, but for me... I dunno. For me it runs everywhere and doesn't cover anywhere near as evenly as the Reaper did, nevermind the smoothness of highlight/shade transitions.

If I'm loving the flesh colors so much, will I like the rest? Or are there problems elsewhere in the line that I'm unaware of? Searching about on the internet has mixed views, curious for more recent ones in particular.

I love Reaper paint, but I don't know about getting the full range, there are a lot of colors I doubt I'd ever use. I guess it depends exactly how cheap you are getting it and if it's worth it to you.

About $1.75 a bottle. There's plenty of colors I wouldn't use off the bat either, but... hmm.

Paints are a lot like shoes - you have to try them on to find out if they fit you. For some people - will be Vallejo, others swear by P3 paints, and odd bunch think GW makes the bee's knees of paints.

If you like Reaper - they will probably be fine across the board. The paints are pretty consistent regardless of color, in terms of consistency and how they behave on miniatures and with brushes. Some people don't like how they behave though - it isn't an issue of the paints being bad...they just aren't a good fit for that person.

The downside of buying complete sets though of course is that you will probably end up with paints that you will never use - especially if you only collect one army and don't do much painting of individual miniatures. If you have several armies, or paint a lot of solo miniatures for collecting or RPG use than the sets are worthwhile.

Here is a good article I read over the week end:
http://miniaturetim.blogspot.com/2012/12/paint-sets-are-they-worth-it.html?m=0

I agree with what he had to say for the most part. Especially in regards to something like the RMS paint line... There are so many colors that you will never use, I just don't see how it is worth it.
As far as Reaper paints go, I enjoy working with in my airbrush but not as much with my normal brushes. Also, they have some pretty awesome colors that you just can't find anywhere else.

I actually use the vast majority of mine - but I have over a dozen armies as well as hundreds of single miniatures. Most people don't though. If you do (perhaps you got involved with the Reaper Kickstarter campaign and have a few hundred miniatures coming which are singles there) or are interested in painting a larger variety of figures - you could easily use the majority of the colors.

Your average Warhammer of 40K player though tends to have a large number of miniatures in a very limited palette. You might only need a dozen colors to paint an army. Even if each of your armies had a different color scheme - you could probably get away with fewer than 30 paints.

I'm interested as well actually; is there really much advantage here over standard acrylic paints found in any craft store?

Not trying to win any painting contests, so that may be a factor.

I'm going to be painting my friend's army as well, but it's Necrons, so...

Hmm.

Darrett wrote:
I'm interested as well actually; is there really much advantage here over standard acrylic paints found in any craft store?

Not trying to win any painting contests, so that may be a factor.

Yes and no.

A large amount of the disdain that is shown by some people towards craft paints like "Folk Art" and "Apple Barrel" is paint snobbery. Some people think you have to spend a ridiculous amount of money in order to paint well. About half of those people look like they are painting figures using Q-tips and their mother's makeup bag.

You can get perfectly acceptable results using craft paints, and there have been a few people who primarily use those paints who have won paint contests.

However, there are differences between craft and hobby paints. The craft paints tend to have a lower pigment density than what you find in hobby paints. This means that when you thin the paints down like a lot of painters do for blending and generally thin coats of paint, the coverage will be reduced when compared to a hobby paint. Certain pigment types are also more coarse in craft paints compared to hobby paints. In particular metallic paints from the craft manufacturers tend to have large flakes - sometimes huge flakes. The physical properties (viscosity and drying times for example) can also need a bit of adjustment.

Darrett wrote:
I'm interested as well actually; is there really much advantage here over standard acrylic paints found in any craft store?

Not trying to win any painting contests, so that may be a factor.

As pointed out above - coverage and pigment density.

Also, for me, smoothness. This is important when you want to thin them so as to not obscure detail.

If you are ever going to want to airbrush them, its a bit more work to thin them out so they work well.

Finally: try them and see if they work for you. NOTHING beats experience, and favorite paints is a very subjective topic.

I use craft paints for my terrain and such, it works great for that and is much much cheaper. For miniatures I still prefer hobby paints for the reasons pointed out by Sean. Reaper does a great job with their paints. For myself at least they are night and day different from GW. Unfortunately I don't have any Vallejo experience to compare with, but I have used P3, and wasn't overly impressed. It's a good paint, just not up to Reaper's standards in my own experience. Again as stated earlier, it all depends on who's using it. Something that works for me might not for another and vice versa.