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Anyone able to tell me how the army painter paints are?
Would I be better off with them or vallejo?

I have the Army Painter metalic that is just about the same as the old GW Gun Metal Grey and its good and works just fine.

There is no "Best/Better" Paint line. Everyone of them has good and not as good colors. The best advice I can tell you is to experiment and find the ones from the different lines that you like to work with.

I personally have stuff from P3, Vallejo (model air, game color, and model color). Old GW, Reaper, and Army Painter.

Vallejo offers way more colors than what is available from Army Painter, but the Warpaints match the line of color spray primers that Army Painter produces (which is good if you use those products). I have experience with their Strong Tone and Dark tone inks, which I found to be perfect matches for the old GW Devlan Mud and Badab Black, respectively. Here is a review of the range if you are interested: http://taleofpainters.blogspot.com/2012/02/review-army-painter-warpaints.html

I have found that most of the paints available on the market are more or less equal in quality, so choosing which ones to purchase really boils down to what colors are offered and what is most readily available. Personally, I lean toward Vallejo and their multiple ranges (Model Color, Model Air, Game Color, Liquid Gold) for most of my paints, but I also have a sizable selection of old GW paints (and a few of the newer pots), most of the Privateer Press P3 range (I love these, by the way), and a small selection of Reaper Master Series (my main army, the Raptors chapter space marines, is most done with these paints).

So to answer your question, your best off buying the paints that have the colors you like and are easy to acquire.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ninja'd by Darefsky!

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
Vallejo offers way more colors than what is available from Army Painter, but the Warpaints match the line of color spray primers that Army Painter produces (which is good if you use those products). I have experience with their Strong Tone and Dark tone inks, which I found to be perfect matches for the old GW Devlan Mud and Badab Black, respectively. Here is a review of the range if you are interested: http://taleofpainters.blogspot.com/2012/02/review-army-painter-warpaints.html

I have found that most of the paints available on the market are more or less equal in quality, so choosing which ones to purchase really boils down to what colors are offered and what is most readily available. Personally, I lean toward Vallejo and their multiple ranges (Model Color, Model Air, Game Color, Liquid Gold) for most of my paints, but I also have a sizable selection of old GW paints (and a few of the newer pots), most of the Privateer Press P3 range (I love these, by the way), and a small selection of Reaper Master Series (my main army, the Raptors chapter space marines, is most done with these paints).

So to answer your question, your best off buying the paints that have the colors you like and are easy to acquire.


Automatically Appended Next Post:


Ninja'd by Darefsky!

The Army Painter Soft Tone wash is a perfect match for GWs old Gryphonne Sepia (I think that's how it's spell anyways). I use Soft tone the most of any of the washes, as a thin coat can give most models a nice, warm glow. During the painting of my Nurgle Daemons army, I went through 4 bottles of soft tone, and 2 bottles each of strong/dark tones.

I can't stress enough how much I love those Army painter washes.

Overall, the "hobby" ranges (GW/Vallejo/P3/AP etc.) are ~= in quality. However, some can behave differently or have different purposes.
- Vallejo Game Colour (VGC) - Vibrant sci-fi and fantasy range that closely matches the previous GW line, so also has a lot of tutorial support online. They can separate more than other ranges so some individual paints require stirring as shaking isn't enough.
- Vallejo Model Colour (VMC) - More generic paint range so better for "modern/normal/historical" in general, less separation issues than VGC.
- Vallejo Model Air (VMA) - Pre thinned, small pigment range that is great for airbrushing, and also often recommended for brushing too. Excellent range, and where possible I'll choose a VMA colour when it matches what I need. Great metallics, especially silver, for how easy they are to use.
- Vallejo Liquid Gold (VLG) - Alcohol based metallics. Harder to work with as require thinnign with alcohol, but provide the best golds bar none, possibly just best metallics in general - just harder to work with.
- Vallejo Polyurethane Primers - primers meant to be applied with an airbrush, but can also be brushed only. I've only used white, (light) grey and black. They are awesome.

I'm less familiar with Army Painter (AP). As others have said, the 100% colour match with primers can be great and help skip a basecoating step if you don't mind paying the premium for rattle can primers. If you airbrush prime (cheaper, better control, thinner coats), this colour match becomes irrelevant however. As mentioned, their washes/inks are pretty good and even if you don't use any AP paints, it's probably worth picking up the main inks from them, strong tone etc.

It's generally worth picking up paints from multiple ranges to suit different needs as certain ranges have certain stand out paints that beat the others. ie. Tamiya Clear Red is an amazing way to get realistic blood, supposedly Ceramite White is the most opaque white, VMA silvers are awesome, AP Inks are awesome.

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
Vallejo offers way more colors than what is available from Army Painter, but the Warpaints match the line of color spray primers that Army Painter produces (which is good if you use those products). I have experience with their Strong Tone and Dark tone inks, which I found to be perfect matches for the old GW Devlan Mud and Badab Black, respectively. Here is a review of the range if you are interested: http://taleofpainters.blogspot.com/2012/02/review-army-painter-warpaints.html

I have found that most of the paints available on the market are more or less equal in quality, so choosing which ones to purchase really boils down to what colors are offered and what is most readily available. Personally, I lean toward Vallejo and their multiple ranges (Model Color, Model Air, Game Color, Liquid Gold) for most of my paints, but I also have a sizable selection of old GW paints (and a few of the newer pots), most of the Privateer Press P3 range (I love these, by the way), and a small selection of Reaper Master Series (my main army, the Raptors chapter space marines, is most done with these paints).

So to answer your question, your best off buying the paints that have the colors you like and are easy to acquire.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ninja'd by Darefsky!

It's what I do....

Oh by the way. I totally found a not opened Devlin Mud a few months ago when digging threw my drawer full of multiple paints (yes I totally forget that I have something when I go to the FLGS and pick it up sometimes for the 3rd or 4th time)