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Hi,

New to the forum and looking to make a return to the hobby after around 20 years. I never had an interest in playing as a teenager for me it was more about the building/painting/collecting and that still holds true. Looking to get a couple of starter sets for both warhammer and 40k but as I don’t plan on building a specific army I would like to know which paints are more widely used for colour schemes so I don’t waste to much money in the early days getting started again.

Any advice would be appreciated. Most likely I will continue where I left off with space marines, Orcs and Eldar to give you a general idea of what I will be looking to collect.

Thanks

John

welcome back. much will have changed since you last partook of the hobby. The lore has got stupider, the models have got much, much cooler, and its all got way more expensive!

I'd recommend a vallejo game colour basic set, or something similar to get started. something simple like this should be a good starting platform as you start painting again.

Yep, I'd second Vallejo - they have a whole slew of 8-paint sets and some starter sets. Perfect paint, reasonable cost, great bottles. Of my paints, I'd say 95% are Vallejo.

 Elbows wrote:
Yep, I'd second Vallejo - they have a whole slew of 8-paint sets and some starter sets. Perfect paint, reasonable cost, great bottles. Of my paints, I'd say 95% are Vallejo.

Second on the Vallejo. Games Workshop washes are great though, Nuln Oil goes on literally all of my models in some place at least.

I'll confirm the above. Vajello Game Color plus Citadel Washes (Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade are great).

Adding to the masses praising Vallejo, I have a lot of citadel paints and the consistency just isn't there in comparison to Vallejo, which is why I'm slowly transitioning over to them. The washes citadel do are great however.

Ours?

Cheaper, more pigment, Smoother, Different sizes to suit your needs.....

Army Painter Washes > GW in my opinion

Vallejo is a good start for colours but stay away from the moe
specific sets at first (you won't have much use from a US-army camouflage set if you are going to paint Space Marines)

But any acrylic paint will do the work for starting again.

It would not recommend a specific brand but what is available near your home (easier to just walk around the corner and buy the missing colour or spray primer than to get the recommended brand and wait for 2 weeks until a new order arrives)

If the local store has Vallejo it is fine, if they carry ArmyPainter or P3 no problem, if it is an artist shop (or similar) and they carry non of the know tabletop/scale model brands also no big problem as long as it is an water based acrylic (UV resistant) paint.

Thanks very much for all your replies. Will put an order in for some Vallejo paints. How accurate is the paint chart on this form of Vallejo in comparison to the Citadel paints?

Will most likely start with the Ironjaws get started set. Is this an ideal set for a beginner? I’m just mindful that after a car accident I developed a tic disorder which can result in a lot of involuntary movements (think Tourette’s) I find concentration helps a lot which is the main reason for returning to the hobby but I don’t want to be painting a set than can be a bit awkward to paint for a beginner. Also can anyone recommend a decent paintbrush range?

John68 wrote:
Thanks very much for all your replies. Will put an order in for some Vallejo paints. How accurate is the paint chart on this form of Vallejo in comparison to the Citadel paints?

Will most likely start with the Ironjaws get started set. Is this an ideal set for a beginner? I’m just mindful that after a car accident I developed a tic disorder which can result in a lot of involuntary movements (think Tourette’s) I find concentration helps a lot which is the main reason for returning to the hobby but I don’t want to be painting a set than can be a bit awkward to paint for a beginner. Also can anyone recommend a decent paintbrush range?

Welcome back to the hobby.

I will keep the Vallejo fan club going by endorsing them also. They really are that good. You get more for less, and the quality is as good, if not better, than citadel.

As you are a returning to the hobby I would recommend the following:

Vallejo umber wash. It's basically brown ink, and is very useful and universal for almost anything to do with painting. It's cheap and you get 17ml as opposed to the citadel 12ml equivalent. It's like the devlan mud of old, and is comparable to citadel agrax earthshade. Very little between them IMO.

As for paint chart comparisons, let me be brutally honest. white paint is white paint, and black paint is black paint.

Vallejo, citadel etc etc acrylic white paint is all the same, and it's probably one big company that makes paint for everybody, with just the company bottles being different.

You'll need PVA glue (white glue for doing bases) again, let me say that PVA glue is PVA glue, regardless of who makes it

Don't pay over the odds for citadel PVA glue. Go to Poundland or The Works, any art shop, or some other budget UK high street shop, and get a large bottle for dirt cheap. I got 500ml two years ago in a sale for £1.

And finally, have fun, and good luck to you.