Buying Paint

[Gyokuran]

For quite a while I've thinking of buying a some SM (possibly IG), mainly to paint (Dont know anyone around here who plays, but I'll probably buy the Codex anyway). The problem is I dont have any paint. I've been looking over the Citadel Paint list online but I'm not positive about the true colors of them. The images provided are probably not exact and my monitor setings will effect it a lot. So I need advice as to what colors to get from people who've worked with them.

Here is the list of colors I'm thinking about geting. Ones in question marks I'm not sure if I should get. The mega set looks pretty nice, but spending $200 on paint (I probably wouldnt even use everything in it) wont leave me with any money left for models.

-Chaos Black
-Skull WHite
-Blood Red
-Bad Moon Yellow
-Ultramarine Blue
-Dark Angels Green (Is this a very dark green, or a basic one? If its dark whats a good basic one?)
-Scorched Brown or Graveyard Earth ( Cant get a good view of GE so I cant decide)
-Bleached Bone
-Elf Flesh
-Dwarf Flesh? (Is this good all around for faces, or is it more specialized?)
-Scab Red
-Fiery Orange
-Golden Yellow
-Kommando Khaki
-Codex Grey
-Fortress Grey?
-Space WOlves Grey
-Shadow Grey
-Bolt Gun Metal
-Mithril Silver
-Shining Gold
-Brazen Brass?
-Burnished GOld?

I'm not sure on inks. From what I understand you water them down to make a wash which sets in resets in the model giving it more depth. Is it worth it for a beginner? Or can I acomplish a similar thing with just heavilly watered down paint? Will I really need a varnish, and if so should I consider geting it elsewhere? Please coment on the colors I've picked out so far. Ones that you think I should add, or stay away from.

Last but not least, what is a good company/brand of paint brushes, and what sizes should I be geting? I dont want super cheap brushes, but being a noob at this super good ones would be a waste. What things should I keep in mind while buying them? What materials make for good brushes? Thanks in advance.

[deathikins]

As I'm currently working on a Dark Angel army I can comment on DA green, it's dark when applied to a black primed surface but a pretty medium/foresty green otherwise. Likewise you can always make colors yourself as you need them. Today I managed to make a mint green color to go on my Christmas..er..Deathwing terminators. Came out looking REALLY close to the color used on the models in the DA codex and GW website. Grey is easy to make as it's black and white mixed to the shade you want it.

Inks I haven't gotten into yet but watered down paint works quite well for filling in those deep dark spots on models.

In the end what you ought to do is find out what colors you want your army to be and determine if you can create the colors you need. I'm currently working with 5 paints; DA Green, Chaos Black, Bleached Bone (pretty close to human flesh color irl), Skull White (think paper white), and Blood Red. To make Deathwing green I mixed DA green with Skull white until I was happy with the results and the same goes for everything else that needs a mix. Your paint needs will depend more on the color of your army than anything else.

[self biased]

Chaos Black, Skull White, Scab Red, Blood Red, Fiery Orange, Sunburst Yellow, Bestial Brown, Bleached Bone, Dwarf Flesh, Elf Flesh, Warlock Purple, Regal Blue, Ice Blue, Dark Angels Green, Snot Green, Codex Grey, Fortress Grey, Boltgun Metal, Brazen Brass, Mithril Silver, Burnished Gold, Chestnut Ink, Flesh Ink, Black Ink.

[element7]

If you want to get paints, then my advice is to skip citadel and buy Vallejo Game Colour instead. It covers better, doesn't dry out in the pots after a month or two and the pots are larger too for a similar price (I don't know about the US, but in the UK, they're about £0.35 less per pot)

The colours are pretty much exact copies of citadel.

I'm not sure about US retailers, but a quick seach reveals this place selling them for $2.55 (though with an in-depth hunt, you may find a better deal):

http://www.doordice.com/GameAids/GameDetails.cfm?Game_UID=AX8AN2UU

[Fiend]

Okay.

So I just bought £120's worth of GW paints - basically all their new paints as my old ones were old crappy and dry. Colours are great aside from the heinous lack of purples and no decent pale green. But the coverage is bollox even on colours that should be good (navy blue FFS!).

Now I hear (from anyone who's mentioned it on this forum and a couple of reviews) that Vallejo are better and give much better coverage.

Do I:

1. Sulk :mean:.
2. Cry :weep:.
3. Stamp my feet and have a tantrum :banghead:.
4. All of the above .:mean::weep::banghead:
5. Just live with GW's crappy coverage and spend the rest of my painting life doing 3 coats of everything including black :yech:.
6. Spend £80 getting the full range of Vallejo and try to sell the hardly-used GW stuff (apart from inks) :disgust:.
7. Buy a couple of tester pots of Vallejo and then if they are any good do 1-4 and 6 above, and if they aren't so great, do 5 :confused:.

???

[Windtaenzer]

@Gyokuran:
Do you have an Tabletop/Fantasy or GamesWorkshop Store near you?
Then go there and look at the colors...

There also is a color table (on paper) of all Citadel Colors which is matching the real color very good.

@Flend:
There are some people saying Vallejo would be better but me and most people i know don't share that experience. They are maybe cheaper but not better.

[self biased]

they're better for hardlining, but suck ass for drybrushing. plus you tend to waste alot with the dropper-style pots. the finish isn't the same either.

[element7]

I find I waste more by having half the paint dry and unusable before I get to paint with it, which is the case with Citadel.

The old citadel paint was great stuff, I wish they hadn't gone in-house.

[Gyokuran]

Nearest GW stores are about 100 milies away, and I'd have a hard time geting over there for a while. As for it drying out I remember a topic here about methos of keeping them from drying.

[Brother Walk]

GW paints are made by the same french company that makes windsor and newton paints. [or were last time I was in the know about that stuff.]

Like any paint .. high pigment paints dry faster than low pigment paints. I have a bottle of armory 'prussian blue' that is over 10 years old .. and still liquid .. however .. it sucks ass as a paint. [I use it to mount figures I am painting to.]

If you care for your paints .. store them out of the sunlight, dont leave the pots open while you paint .. you will be fine.

And for the people complaining they dont cover .. what are you doing painting on black anyways *grin*.

On a side note, I have been cleaning my house, [we just bought another and are moving] and found no less than :

4 Jackets (one with terminator honours, one with the 105th regiment patch, and one with my name under the double headed eagle)
6 hats (One was a GorkaMorka hat even)
18 T-shirts (one a studio shirt with a silver embroidered double eagle.)
6 polo shirts (one a studio shirt with a silver embroidered double eagle, still in shrink wrap.)
2 pair of sweat-shorts,
1 pair of boxers,
and 1 silk tie (red) with a repeating pattern of woven golden double headed eagles.)

oh .. and about 8 or nine mugs, my favorite being a tie between a terminator mug that says "Drink Hot Death" and a Bugman's Brewery Mug.

I'm *AFRAID* to see what Is still up in the attic.

[Gyokuran]

On a slightly different subject, where can you buy different parts? I'd like to get a couple plastic assault marine jetpacks without shelling out $30 for a whole squad but I cant find it on the online store or ebay. Edit: found where.

[Lord Anubis]

apparently my brother checked out our warhammer collection (way too much stuff), and all the old paints (not the twist top paints) were okay, and the newer ones were dried out. shit huh?

[Somebody]

[QUOTE]Nearest GW stores are about 100 milies away[QUOTE]

Crap...my nearest GW store is about 15 min. away

[Fiend]

LOL, auction that shit, Walk!!

P.S. Do you have any beanie hats amongst that lot?? Am needing a beanie for winter and a GW one would be fine ;)

[Brother Walk]

I was hoping to find a thong myself .. but no dice :P