Hobby Review - Army Painter ‘Warpaints’ and ‘Speedpaints’
(Note: A correction for this review was made on 02/06/2023 regarding a feature of the Army Painter Warpaints. The correction is noted in place of the previous error.)
Well isn’t this review rather timely? As I was finishing this review today, Army Painter went off and announced a new formula for their Speedpaint line that is aptly named Army Painter Speedpaint Mega Set 2.0. I will obviously cover those as soon as I get my hands on them. For now, let us discuss what is currently on store shelves that a gamer can go grab.
A little while back, Army Painter was kind enough to send me a package with a selection of their paints to use in an upcoming featured project. They included the Army Painter Warpaints Mega Set and the Army Painter Speedpaints Starter Set. I have had the pleasure of using their Warpaints on miniatures before, but the Speedpaints would be an interesting experience. Not only were they a new line of paints from one of my favorite companies but the only other time I had used any sort of Contrast like paints…it didn’t end well. Was this a great experience or was I headed for a world of disappointment? Read on to find out.
How about we start with the Army Painter Warpaints Mega Set first?
The Army Painter Warpaints Mega Paint Set features their flagship Warpaints. The set includes 39 Acrylic Warpaints, 5 Metallic Warpaints, 4 Quickshade Washes, and 2 Effects Warpaints. They also include a Regiment Brush and quick painting guide. At a retail value of $145, that is approximately a cost of $2.90 per bottle as opposed to buying the bottles for $3.50-$3.75 each (depending on your local game store, of course).
The full range of Warpaints is 124 colors, representing 96 Acrylic Warpaints; 8 Metallic Warpaints; 11 Quickshade Washes; and 9 Effect Warpaints. The array of paints in the Mega Paint Set is a fantastic cross selection of this range. Quite honestly, if a person has the patience, if these colors aren’t to their liking then simply mixing their own colors would be an easy task. Also, having used these paints for some time, I would argue that the blues and purples offered here are the most beautiful acrylic paints outside a high-end fine arts store.
The paints are stored in easy-to-use dropper bottles with screw-on caps. This makes sure the paints come out of the bottles onto a palette with ease as well as never dry out. I have a set of Warpaints from 2018 that I still use, and they work like I just bought them yesterday.
An aspect of the set that I think is extremely understated is the way the paints are stored in their packaging. The paints are organized on handy little plastic trays by their complimenting color range (all the blues with the blues, the greens with the greens, etc). The Mega Set includes 5 of these trays stacked on top of one another, with room for one more tray. This is extremely convenient for someone who may not have a proper, dedicated hobby space to have these out and about.
Correction (2/6/23): In the original posting of this review, I commented on the Warpaint line not including the steel mixing balls. A spokesperson for Army Painter was kind enough to point out that all of their paint lines since October 2021 have included the mixing balls in the bottles. They have manufactured over 12 million bottles with this feature. For full disclosure, it is quite possible I just received an older box which simply just goes to further my previous point about how long these paints stay fresh and fantastic.
Now to the Speedpaints!
The Army Painter Speedpaint Starter Set includes a selection of 10 Speedpaints from the lines initial 24 colors. The retail value of the set is $45, making each bottle approximately $4.50. The single bottles are the same cost so there isn’t any sort of financial savings, though it does include one of their famous brushes. This price does make them cheaper than Games Workshop’s Contrast line ($7.80/bottle), but only slightly more expensive than Vallejo’s upcoming Xpress Color line ($4.10/bottle) and Green Stuff World’s Dipping Inks line ($4.31/bottle). Of course, once again, those prices are dependent on where you buy your hobby paints from.
The selection of Speedpaints included offer a nice range of options that will give you a fine example of what to expect from the line as a whole. My personal favorites are Blood Red, Highlord Blue, and Hardened Leather. The colors have a fantastic pigment that looks amazing when applied via a brush or an air brush.
Just as with the Warpaints, the Speedpaint line comes in plastic dropper bottles with screw-on caps. The paints include two steel mixing balls in every bottle! Again, I know that is such a small, small, small thing, but it is one that ensures they are thoroughly shaken before use.
Again, the paints are stored in one of the convenient plastic trays. A happy little bonus out of the fact that these were the two products sent is that the tray fits in perfectly to the empty slot in the Mega Paint Set box. I am a big fan of any sort of easy storage options. This is a hobby that can get out of hand quickly when it comes to the amount of product/tools you have versus the amount of open work space.
One last thing on both ranges is that Army Painter does an amazing color cap system so you always know what type of paint you are looking at in a quick glance. The white cap is an Acrylic Warpaints, the red caps are washes, black caps are metallics, and the silver caps are Speedpaints. It is another one of those small details that just make a product so much nicer as a whole package.
Now you’re probably saying to yourself, “Yeah, yeah. The product looks nice in their neat little bottles, but how good are the paints?!”
The answer is a short and simple one - amazingly.
I have painted two models using a combination of these two products, and the results are simply gorgeous.
First up is the massive Dragon Turtle from Steamforged Games’ Epic Encounters: Cove of the Dragon Turtle. Sitting on an impressively detailed 100mm base, this model was chock full of minor details, like its scales or the seaweed on the rocks, that made the use of Speedpaints ideal.
First I gave the model a Zenithal highlight using an airbrush and Stynylrez Black and White primers from Badger. After that, I airbrushed the shell of the Dragon Turtle with the Hardened Leather Speedpaint. This was an amazing process. The paint went on smoothly and pooled in the recesses, all without any sort of thinner or airbrush medium. From there, I used various Speedpaints, such as Orc Skin, on the Dragon Turtle’s skin, as well as the rock formation; waves; and the coral growing from the shell.
Stupid fun aside, the four different coral pieces are colored after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Why? Because.
After that had some time to dry, I went over the model with a dry brushing of various Warpaints to bring up the color of the Speedpaints. The tricky part of the entire thing was the water surrounding the rock formation. It is completely flat. Using a combination of the Warpaints Electric Blue and Voidshield Blue, with the Highlord Blue Speedpaint, I think it was a nice effect.
Ultimately this was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had painting a model in a long time, and it was in large part due to the paints.
The second model to be tested on was one of a much smaller scale - Batman from the Batman Miniature Game by Knight Models.
For as nice this turned out, this model felt as though it was cursed from the start.
If anyone has ever built a Knight Model miniature before, then you know how much clean up they require. This required so much green stuff to fill in gaps and holes. Then when I went to due my Zenithal highlight, the Stynylrez White decided it wanted to clog and splatter everywhere. So going into the painting, this model had me beyond stressed.
Thankfully the painting process was a smooth and easy time.
Everything on this model was applied by a brush (aside from the primer, of course). I began with a Warpaint Crystal Blue on the cape before giving it a healthy amount of Highlord Blue Speedpaint. The highlights were done with Electric Blue and Voidshield Blue Warpaints, before adding a bit of the Highlord Blue back into the deepest parts. The massive rock was covered with Gravelord Grey Speedpaint before given a dry brushing of Ash Grey Warpaint. The last major detail was the brick of the base, which was covered in Hardened Leather Speedpaint and dry brushed with Leather Brown Warpaint.
Everything that had to do with this model that wasn’t painting was an absolute nightmare. The parts that had to do with painting were fun.
Ultimately the difference in detail, scale, and brightness of the two models offer a fantastic example of the range of depth Army Painter has in their paints. The Speedpaints made both of these models an absolute blast (difficulties in one aside) and made me feel like I actually had some skill when all was said and done. Please don’t take that as me saying that these are “talent in a bottle”. These are just another tool that painters of all skill levels can and will find value in. They just happen to be a more impressive set of tools than most.
Final Thoughts:
Rather it is the Army Painter Warpaints or either version of the Army Painter Speedpaints, this is a company that has developed a product that is of such high quality that painters of any skill level will find themselves loving the line. While the Speedpaints are in no way an instant “talent in a bottle”, they offer fantastic control and a high pigment to allow new players to get into their games faster.
Pros:
The Army Painter Warpaints Mega Paint Set offers a fantastic selection of paints from their classic line. The average gamer or hobbyist will be hard pressed to find a need for any other colors beyond the 50 included in the set.
The Warpaint prices, be it in a boxed set or individual bottles, are impossible to beat.
The acrylic paints offer some of the richest pigments seen outside of a fine arts store.
Even with the new Speedpaint 2.0 line coming out in a few months, the current formula offers some of the best control from a contrast style paint range.
The Speedpaints are competitively priced to be the a strong competitor to Games Workshops’ Contrast line.
Cons:
The previous “cons” I stated (lack of mixing balls and numbers of paints in the line) were corrected by a spokesperson for Army Painter. That means I am truly at a loss for finding any possible negatives for these paints.