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Hello, figured I'd set up an account here now that I'm going to get started in W40K wargaming. I've already set my sights on the Dark Heresy Starter Set and intend to focus on making a Chaos Space Marine army, maybe going into Dark Angels or general Space Marines (maybe even Black Dragons if I've got the time and patience), but well, paint. It's an issue, and frankly, the models are already expensive and the paint prices are ^#*(&^! ridiculous. I live near multiple non-GW art stores, and what are the supplies I will need to start a W40K hobby from readily available products from such stores as Michael's?

For painting, I'll be making a Night Lord army from the Chaos miniatures from the Dark Heresy set, and likely just using the Dark Angels as Dark Angels- filing down all the DA insignia would be a major pain. Any additional minis I'll buy will be going to a CSM Night Lords army.

Well, GW paints are not the only game in town. I use Vallejo Game Color which is easier to use and cheaper. YMMV. You could also try Reaper, or Privateer Press.

At Michael's they do have acrylic craft paints, and they can be used to decent effect. BUT, the pigments are not ground as fine as some of those I mentioned above. This can lead to a chalky finish if you aren't careful. That said, I have seen some outstanding work done with craft acrylics, so it is possible.

The must haves in my opinion are:

Brushes:
Size 2
Size 1
Size 0
Maybe a cheap flat for drybrushing

Spray Primer:
Krylon Black Primer from Michael's will serve you well.

Sprue cutters:
You can buy purpose built cutters for plastic models, but any small set of flush cutters can work.

Xacto knife and extra blades.
You will use these forever and you always want a sharp blade, so get extras. Good for mold lines, conversions etc...

Testor's Model Masters Liquid Cement
This is the bee's knees for plastic models and is easily available at Michael's.

Superglue:
For gluing resin or metal. I use Gorilla Brand Superglue.

Palette:
Pick up a couple cheap plastic palettes to mix paint on. Don't paint straight out of the bottle of paint.

That should be enough to get you started and you will always be adding tools, flock, static grass bits, and so on as you go.

 Todosi wrote:
Well, GW paints are not the only game in town. I use Vallejo Game Color which is easier to use and cheaper. YMMV. You could also try Reaper, or Privateer Press.

At Michael's they do have acrylic craft paints, and they can be used to decent effect. BUT, the pigments are not ground as fine as some of those I mentioned above. This can lead to a chalky finish if you aren't careful. That said, I have seen some outstanding work done with craft acrylics, so it is possible.

The must haves in my opinion are:

Brushes:
Size 2
Size 1
Size 0
Maybe a cheap flat for drybrushing

Spray Primer:
Krylon Black Primer from Michael's will serve you well.

Sprue cutters:
You can buy purpose built cutters for plastic models, but any small set of flush cutters can work.

Xacto knife and extra blades.
You will use these forever and you always want a sharp blade, so get extras. Good for mold lines, conversions etc...

Testor's Model Masters Liquid Cement
This is the bee's knees for plastic models and is easily available at Michael's.

Superglue:
For gluing resin or metal. I use Gorilla Brand Superglue.

Palette:
Pick up a couple cheap plastic palettes to mix paint on. Don't paint straight out of the bottle of paint.

That should be enough to get you started and you will always be adding tools, flock, static grass bits, and so on as you go.

Thanks, this will help a lot. GW already mugs me blind in the street for the models, the paint simply adds insult to injury. Plus I literally live right by Michael's.

Also, does Michael's sell readily available cork? I could cut a simply board into needed shapes to hold models for painting, which would make things a lot easier. As for visual painting guides, you recommend anything on the internet that's either dirt cheap or free? It'd be handy to have a visual step-by-step guide, as I work better with guides with visual instructions.

There are tons of guides out there. I like Dr. Faust's Painting Clinic. But if you google enough you can find tons of different sites and youtube videos, almost to many to count.

They might sell cork, but you can really use whatever is handy imo. I use old prescription bottles/aspirin/tylenol bottles and over time I've got quite a few, just hot glue em on and you can use your exacto knife to peel em off!

Walmart and Target sell cork real cheap. Its a few bucks for 1/4" thick sheets that are either 12x12 or 6x6 (cant remember which size they carry).

Not sure how much experience you have with painting figures, but before you start on a 40 dollar box of 10 guys (and mess it up) try getting a cheaper line of models to practice on.
Wargames Factory makes some really neat kits in 28mm true-scale (a bit smaller than GW "heroic scale" kits) and for 20 bucks you get 18 IG type troops or even 25 Samurai warriors. This gives you lots of bodies to practice paint schemes, different techniques (drybrushing vs dipping vs layering), and detail painting like eyes and skin tones.

Once you have a little bit of paint-fu going you can shift over and start painting your expensive GW models.
For tanks and the like go get a cheap car model (or even a tank model) and play with highlights, edges, chipped paint, and whatever other effects strike your fancy.

I use GW paints (less and less nowadays, just what I have leftover) Vallejo, P3, Army Painter, and Secret Weapon. I like them all, but Vallejo and Army Painter Warpaints are my favorites. Although the three or four pots of P3 I have are wonderful.

I live in the middle of nowhere USA, so prices and measurements are in US terms, but I go to the Warstore, Chaos Orc, Hoard o Bits, Blackdagger games, etc. for my paint supplies.

Super glue at Walmart or hardware store.

Foam board at the dollar store. $1 for 30 x 24 inch sheet compared to the same from Michael's for 5$.

Basing - I pick up things from all over the place. Outdoors, model train stores, anything cheap and interesting. After 15 years of marriage my wife saves all sorts of terrainy looking things for me, kids too.

Anyway, welcome to the hobby. Have fun!

dkellyj wrote:
Walmart and Target sell cork real cheap. Its a few bucks for 1/4" thick sheets that are either 12x12 or 6x6 (cant remember which size they carry).

Not sure how much experience you have with painting figures, but before you start on a 40 dollar box of 10 guys (and mess it up) try getting a cheaper line of models to practice on.
Wargames Factory makes some really neat kits in 28mm true-scale (a bit smaller than GW "heroic scale" kits) and for 20 bucks you get 18 IG type troops or even 25 Samurai warriors. This gives you lots of bodies to practice paint schemes, different techniques (drybrushing vs dipping vs layering), and detail painting like eyes and skin tones.

Once you have a little bit of paint-fu going you can shift over and start painting your expensive GW models.
For tanks and the like go get a cheap car model (or even a tank model) and play with highlights, edges, chipped paint, and whatever other effects strike your fancy.

I'll be using the Cultists from the Dark Heresy set as practice. They're largely useless and I'll be using CSM's instead as the main infantry. Plus they have multiple configurations that can be used to test various painting types. Besides, it seems fitting to use the fodder as the painting fodder.

Almost any acrylic paints can be used to good effect.
A lot of them are unsuitable right out of the bottle, and need adjusting with mediums before theyre akin to what GW are selling. Often this is the thickness, or sheen level, or the transparency.

To make opaque colours (base paint) Liquitex Ultra Matte medium mixed in achieves a good result.

To make washes, Liquitex Matte Medium (not ultra) + Liquitex acrylic inks and some flow aid + water, makes a close proxy to GW's shades.

Matte medium alone can be added to colours to make them more akin to layer paints (semi transparent)

Airbrush Medium thins acrylics without diluting the binder content within the paint like using water does, and lets you go much thinner before you loose adhesion and surface tension.

Personally I spend far far far too much on paints, models arent the only thing I paint. So I've got a set of acrylics for painting canvases, and a set of inks for airbrushing, and a full set of mediums to go with them.
And yet still I got a sizable collection of citadel's simply for the convinience of having premixed colours made up ready.

What I will give GW is that the citadel paints are very good paints. The 12ml portion is what kills the value on them. Saying that, I've got 17ml pots from the 80's and 90's that havent been used up yet ; for uncommon colours 12ml will last an age still.

To start out on the cheap, I would look to craft acrylics, complimented by a decent (maybe Liquitex) Matte medium, and flow aid.
I'm pretty sure there will be racks of different brands of craft paint in 60ml (2oz) bottles. These are pretty good for painting your figures with, tending to be a little thick and a little glossier than you might want, thats what the flow aid and matte medium fixes.
Maybe get one of the little leaflets from GW that they have on the counter to tick off the paints you have, and use it to colour match what you want in cheap craft paint colours.

Lots of people still use these paints for terrain even when they have a set of hobby specific paints, simply for the value per ml coming into play on larger surfaces.

Welcome to the hobby, hope you enjoy it!!

Paint
I would agree with others and say stay away from the craft store point - and go with the model or miniature type hobby acrylics.

They are finer pigments and mediums better for what we do.

How to paint
As far as painting, there are literally tons of videos on youtube for this thing, I would say look at painting videos from;

miniwargaming, awesomepaintjob, buy painted, etc.

See if you can find someone in your local area who paints well, and has a decent enough personality to give you some pointers.

Primer
I don't know if I saw it on your list, but get some spray primer - it really helps the paints stick to the minis (normal paint is not primer). There are dozens of threads on this, but if you want something decent and inexpensive - I would suggest getting the rustoleum 2x cover primer from home depot...you have to be careful not to spray it on too thick, but its good stuff.

Cork or other stuff
Some people glue minis to he heads of nails and put them in a pencil holder, others use corks and some putty to affix them, I have also seen using double sided tape to attache them to big paint stirring sticks. You will find what works for you.

best of luck and I hope you enjoy your new hobby!!!!

On another site (Spacebattles), a guy tipped me to the Warpaints website.

http://www.thearmypainter.com/index.php

Any of you guys use or recommend them? As they sell modeling acrylics, although I don't know if their blue is dark enough.

I use their Sprays, which are excellent. And once their quickshade which is very useful for certain things. I've never used their regular paints but I've heard good things. Paints that I use are Vallejo primarily, VMC and VMA, some GW and I have a couple of P3 pots which I love.

I second the Youtube totorials, also massivevoodoo.com has some great tutorials which I found very useful.

Also, on a side note, I'd hang on to those cultists and find something cheaper for practice fodder (wargames factory have alrady been mentioned, maybe mantic stuff, ebay). Just because those cultist models are really pretty good, and you never know when you'll want them. I ended up using mine to build a necromunda gang.

Anyways, good luck.

 alanmckenzie wrote:
I use their Sprays, which are excellent. And once their quickshade which is very useful for certain things. I've never used their regular paints but I've heard good things. Paints that I use are Vallejo primarily, VMC and VMA, some GW and I have a couple of P3 pots which I love.

I second the Youtube totorials, also massivevoodoo.com has some great tutorials which I found very useful.

Also, on a side note, I'd hang on to those cultists and find something cheaper for practice fodder (wargames factory have alrady been mentioned, maybe mantic stuff, ebay). Just because those cultist models are really pretty good, and you never know when you'll want them. I ended up using mine to build a necromunda gang.

Anyways, good luck.

Yeah, I've already got one youtube video specifically on the Dark Heresy starter set pinned to favorites.

However, Cultists are cheap. Plus they'll be useless and I'll be buying CSM's as well, they won't be much of a use. Save gawking at how bad they'll look. I'll probably save the Chaos figures for last as well- those are the ones I'll want the most skill with after a couple days spent painting the cultists and DA's. Although I'll probably save the Terminators for last simply because they're useful units that cost a punch to the wallet.

 Wyzilla wrote:
On another site (Spacebattles), a guy tipped me to the Warpaints website.

http://www.thearmypainter.com/index.php

Any of you guys use or recommend them? As they sell modeling acrylics, although I don't know if their blue is dark enough.

Yep. Warpaints are great, washes great, only had the one problem with the spray and I think it's just because you have to follow the exact directions and well, hope you don't have too much humidity.

I'm going to go against the grain here and say "practice on the Dark Angels models" that come in the stater box. They're bigger than the cultists, so will make a better "canvas" to practice on, and have less details than the Chaos, so will be easier.
And then, once you've finished practicing on them, soak them in some Simple Green overnight and easily scrub off the paint with an old toothbrush and start again.

You can get some starter paint sets like Vallejo and Army Painter from The Warstore (also a good place to buy GW at a discount). Craft paints are good for painting terrain, and you can get by using them for minis, but don't expect amazing results compared to real model paints. .

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
I'm going to go against the grain here and say "practice on the Dark Angels models" that come in the stater box. They're bigger than the cultists, so will make a better "canvas" to practice on, and have less details than the Chaos, so will be easier.
And then, once you've finished practicing on them, soak them in some Simple Green overnight and easily scrub off the paint with an old toothbrush and start again.

You can get some starter paint sets like Vallejo and Army Painter from The Warstore (also a good place to buy GW at a discount). Craft paints are good for painting terrain, and you can get by using them for minis, but don't expect amazing results compared to real model paints. .

I've actually decided not to get the DV starter set from advice in the W40K general thread- rather buying Huron, CSM's, and Raptors. I'll probably get one of those little ten dollar sets of three CSM's to practice on.

And for now, I'm leaning to getting the paints from the Army Painter site. They've got all the supplies I need and the proper colors for Night Lords that shouldn't require mixing blue with dabs of black to darken it. Brushes, cutters, etc I'll likely just pick up at Michael's.

The Army Painter starter set is actually one of the best all-round starter sets to be had for the price these days.

Since the AB(army builder) paints are dropper style bottles- you're going to be working off a palette of some sort. Meaning you drop the paint out on a surface to get it on your brush. Some people buy actual art palettes for this. I don't, I recycle and just keep the lids from anything like yogurt, cottage cheese, or anything with a plastic lid. I then prime them the same color I prime my miniatures- that way I get to see exactly how my paint will look before its on the miniature (most palettes are white). If I do a custom color mix, I'll write it on the edge of the palette(or underside if the paint has dried) and save the palette for later use if its an ongoing army project- that way theres a color swatch to match it with right on the palette.

On the topic of priming, heres a link to my blog article I wrote on the topic. As you're budget conscious, and a new painter it should have alot of helpful information for you

http://mistressofminis.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-primer-on-priming-when-weathers-not.html

My last tip for you, is never underestimate the power of a good wash. Too much wash is of course a bad thing. But don't be afraid to use them liberally if they get your minis painted and on the table faster- and increase the fun factor for you. If you later decide you add more highlights over the washes and clean them up- its very easy to do

One last suggestion. If you do forge ahead with Night Lords being your preferred first army to paint, keep your expectations reasonable. Chaos marines are one of the most tedious lines of miniatures to paint well-for veteran and novices alike. All that metal trim, the iconography, it all adds complexity and details that take time to paint. I can literally paint an entire squad of space marines in the same time as 2-3 chaos marines, just form the different style of miniature.

So- that being said- one trick to get chaos stuff to always look sharp- is learn your metallics! Especially brass/gold and steel/silver types- as those are the colors that are abundant on the armor trim for chaos marines. If you get that stuff looking good- the rest can look kinda rough but the good metal work will draw the eyes off it (until you get better skilled and go back and fix it!). If the Army Builder metals give you any problems- let us know, we can tell you what to do

 Mistress of minis wrote:
The Army Painter starter set is actually one of the best all-round starter sets to be had for the price these days.

Since the AB(army builder) paints are dropper style bottles- you're going to be working off a palette of some sort. Meaning you drop the paint out on a surface to get it on your brush. Some people buy actual art palettes for this. I don't, I recycle and just keep the lids from anything like yogurt, cottage cheese, or anything with a plastic lid. I then prime them the same color I prime my miniatures- that way I get to see exactly how my paint will look before its on the miniature (most palettes are white). If I do a custom color mix, I'll write it on the edge of the palette(or underside if the paint has dried) and save the palette for later use if its an ongoing army project- that way theres a color swatch to match it with right on the palette.

On the topic of priming, heres a link to my blog article I wrote on the topic. As you're budget conscious, and a new painter it should have alot of helpful information for you

http://mistressofminis.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-primer-on-priming-when-weathers-not.html

My last tip for you, is never underestimate the power of a good wash. Too much wash is of course a bad thing. But don't be afraid to use them liberally if they get your minis painted and on the table faster- and increase the fun factor for you. If you later decide you add more highlights over the washes and clean them up- its very easy to do

One last suggestion. If you do forge ahead with Night Lords being your preferred first army to paint, keep your expectations reasonable. Chaos marines are one of the most tedious lines of miniatures to paint well-for veteran and novices alike. All that metal trim, the iconography, it all adds complexity and details that take time to paint. I can literally paint an entire squad of space marines in the same time as 2-3 chaos marines, just form the different style of miniature.

So- that being said- one trick to get chaos stuff to always look sharp- is learn your metallics! Especially brass/gold and steel/silver types- as those are the colors that are abundant on the armor trim for chaos marines. If you get that stuff looking good- the rest can look kinda rough but the good metal work will draw the eyes off it (until you get better skilled and go back and fix it!). If the Army Builder metals give you any problems- let us know, we can tell you what to do

How would simple paper plates as a palette? The ones I use are water-resistant

As for the iconography, I've actually been thinking of simply getting the Night Lords blitz pack simply for the pauldrons would be far easier to paint.

Paper plates could work- but water resistant isn't the same as water proof like plastic is. If the absorb any moisture they'll basically wick the water out of the paint and make it dry faster on the plate and make them a hassle to use. If they're the foam type plates, or the paper kind that have a thin plastic layer on them you're probly ok.

And the bitz packs are easier to paint, but can get expensive in a hurry. Don't feel the need to put one of those shoulder pads on every single guy in your army. My Nightlords, I think about 1 in 4 have an actual shoulder pad, the rest jsut have decals or the paint scheme. Before you make a final decision watch a few youtube videos on applying decals, seeing the right techniques and tricks in action might sway your opinion to try them first.

 Mistress of minis wrote:
Paper plates could work- but water resistant isn't the same as water proof like plastic is. If the absorb any moisture they'll basically wick the water out of the paint and make it dry faster on the plate and make them a hassle to use. If they're the foam type plates, or the paper kind that have a thin plastic layer on them you're probly ok.

And the bitz packs are easier to paint, but can get expensive in a hurry. Don't feel the need to put one of those shoulder pads on every single guy in your army. My Nightlords, I think about 1 in 4 have an actual shoulder pad, the rest jsut have decals or the paint scheme. Before you make a final decision watch a few youtube videos on applying decals, seeing the right techniques and tricks in action might sway your opinion to try them first.

Considering that I could drink from them if I wanted without any water getting through, I'm pretty sure they'd function well. They only take water when for example, you let it sit for a day, and even then it doesn't threaten their structural integrity.

Also, the pauldrons would make it easier for my first batch of minis, as Night Lords also scavenge their armor, thus even buying some of the loyalist SM mini's and mixing their parts would be canon friendly. It'd simply be a case of time, as ten buck's isn't that bad for the first time.

As for the lightning bolts, I flat won't bother painting those until I either obtain more skill, and even then only do so on valuable figures like Raptors or HQ.