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I jest need the essentials, nothing fancy. Enough to get the job done. I will be painting Astra Militarum, so tanks and infantry. I will be aiming to paint these to a very good standard. Better than tabletop. Which of these Games Workshop brushes should I buy? Please recommend a Maximum of 5. No price limit.

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/search/searchResults.jsp?qty=com.gamesworkshop.endeca.EndecaUserContext%402b02fe23&sorting=&view=&Ntt=brush

Winsor and newton series 7 sizes 1, 0, and 00, citadel medium drybrush, citadel medium base brush.

Skip all of that and go to Rosemary and Co. No point in paying extra for GW brushes.

You can't go wrong with what either of these guys said.

 Drummernathan wrote:
Winsor and newton series 7 sizes 1, 0, and 00, citadel medium drybrush, citadel medium base brush.

I second this pretty much. For a little more money W&N brushes are a much more sound investment than the GW brushes. You may even be able to find them cheaper than the GW alternatives online.

Tetsujin wrote:

 Drummernathan wrote:
Winsor and newton series 7 sizes 1, 0, and 00, citadel medium drybrush, citadel medium base brush.

I second this pretty much. For a little more money W&N brushes are a much more sound investment than the GW brushes. You may even be able to find them cheaper than the GW alternatives online.

And they're Kolinsky sable! They seriously are the best I've used, I just recommended the other two GW brushes cause I like their shape and stiffness for the amount of work I do with them(basecoating a lot, and drybrushing a lot of rough surfaces) and I don't necessarily mind wearing out a GW brush as much as my precious W&N brushes!

I don't recommend the immediate stampede towards high end brushes. IMHO, real sable, and Kolinsky sable brushes are great for detail work and line work. I use a W&N Series 7 no. 1 for detail work. It holds a great point. What I find it doesn't do is hold a lot of paint.

For large surfaces, I have a rubbish synthetic No. 1 that doesn't hold a great point (craft store mid-range brush). I use this for loading my palette and bulk block painting. As I don't need it to hold a great point, as it gets older, it also gets used for drybrushing/stippling until it is dead.

For 80% of my work, I am using a Games and Gears no. 1 as my main brush. It doesn't hold near as good a point as the W&N, but it has a big well, and is good for transferring paint with a reasonable degree of precision.

GW drybrushes are great.

I use dollar store brushes for very large surfaces and terrain.