A Conversation About Paints: An Open Discussion (Hopefully)

Up until now, my blog has simply been a medium for me to showcase my Kingdom Death miniatures. With this blog post, I wanted to go a different direction...

I've been very interested in the paints that are utilized for miniature painting. The acrylic paints that are available are varied; in both color range as well as usage. I've been interested in creating a blog post that discusses both price and quality of different brand miniature paints. This blog will attempt quantify these aspects and compare them to one another. Unfortunately, I'm only really acquainted with one brand on a personal level, and so I'm really hoping that more seasoned miniature painters chime in with this one. So please comment if you have any thoughts, especially when it comes to quality of paint brands relative to one another. Also, please note that in no way should this blog be considered an advertisement or endorsement of any one brand.

First Topic: Price Tag

The first topic I want to look at is the price tag of miniature paint brands as a whole. I've decided to do a bit of research and see comparative prices to some big names. I wanted to start by focusing on the one paint brand that I've worked with most, and go from there. In the interest of consistency and to accurately compare prices, I only use prices from the associated brand's website. Also, while I know that your local hobby shop may offer these or other brands at lower cost, I'm using online prices only since more individuals have access to websites for shopping relative to brick and motor hobby shops. In addition, hobby shop prices may vary wildly depending on where you're located. Please note that the prices that are mentioned in this post are based on the time this post was created (Dec 12, 2018) and current prices may not be accurate at the time you may be reading this.

1. The Army Painter Warpaints

When I started painting I was gifted with The Army Painter Warpaints Mega Paint Set. This paint set has been a major boon, and I've been very satisfied. However, I've always had a nagging question: is this the best paint set for the price? I know that at the time the price tag on Amazon was around $80 and some change (this equated to about $1.60 per individual paint). The price has risen in the last 3 months, and now it's about $125 for the set at The Army Painter website (or $2.50 per paint) and $95 on Amazon.com (or $1.90 per paint). Regardless of the variance in bulk prices, they're still better than the individual price of The Army Painter acrylic paints which range from $2.60 to $2.99, depending on where you shop.

To sum up:

Individual paint cost: $2.60-$2.99
Base box set cost (50 paints): $125
Complete Box Set (124 paints): $350

2. Master Series Paints by Reaper Miniatures

I learned of these paints when I first began shopping around the Reaper Miniature online store. I've read a few blurbs on forums commenting positively about these paints. When I first started out, I bought a cheap paint kit from these folks, and so I do have a bit of experience using these paints. However, for this section, I'll discuss the price tag range, and comment about what types of paints are available and in how many colors.

Individually, these paints are $0.99 to $3.69 on the website. However, only a slight few are in the cheaper spectrum.  Economies of scale does work in a buyer's favor on this site - you can save monies buying in bulk and you can choose which paints go into that bulk, so there's that. The bulk prices are $184.99 for 54 paints (or $3.43 per paint) or $329.99 for all 108 paints available (or $3.05 per paint). You can get your base acrylics and metallic paints here. It seems like these paints are intended to be versatile so you can easily use them for base coloring, washes, dry brushing, and whatever else you desire.

To sum up:

Individual paint cost: $.99-$3.69 (most are $3.69)
Mix-and-Match Paint Set (54 paints): $184.99
Complete Paint Set (108 paints): $329.99

3. Privateer Press: P3 Paints

I have no direct experience with this paints, nor have I really considered them personally. However, I wanted to add them to the discussion because I've seen them talked about a lot online a good deal, although it does seem that people use them in conjunction with the miniatures that are also sold on the same site.

Individually, these paints run $4.00 a piece on the web store. The site also offers various paint kits that cost $19.99 and include 6 paints ($3.33 per paint). There's no large paint box set currently available, but the 6 different box paint sets seem to carry their own unique paints. If you want to get everything, or at least a good range in color, it's possible at a reasonable price.

To sum up:

Individual paint cost: $4.00
6 various Box Paint Sets (6 paints per): $19.99

4. Citadel Paints

I'm just going to focus on the price variance here that was provided by the Games Workshop website. The reason is that the Citadel Paints brand is arguably the most recognized brand so I don't want to regurgitate commonly known info. Also, I haven't used this brand at all and so know little about the effectiveness of this brand personally.

The price tag for paints here is by far the most expensive mentioned so far: after scanning the site, I've found individual paints range from $4.25 to at least $7.50. Even in bulk the price tag is somewhat high: The Warhammer 40,000 Citadel Essentials box set is $40 for 13 paints and some tools ($3.07 per paint).

To sum up:

Individual paint cost: $4.25-$7.50
Warhammer 40,000 Citadel Essentials Box Set (13 paints): $40

Of course, there are a lot of other brands, but I didn't want to overload this section with too much information to sift through. That being said, if you have a brand that you love, please share in the comments. I welcome additional insight.

Second Topic: Quality of Paints

This section is the one that I'm everyone is more interested in. After all, better bang for your buck is something that I'm sure almost all hobbyists consider every time they open a new paint. Unfortunately, I don't have the answers to do this section true justice. In fact, this section is where I was hoping to really have group conversation open up. That being said, I wanted to comment a bit about the versatility of The Army Painter Paints that I've been using.

1. The Army Painter Warpaints

I'm not the best to compare the quality of these paints to other major paint bands since I use these almost exclusively. I can comment, however, that the brand does have some versatility with the uses that the paints they create.

The Pros

The brand has three main types of paints that are available: bases, metallics, washes, and effect paints. This can be useful for the amateur painter. Base paints are pretty self-explanatory. They water down well and blend well. The metallic paints are intended to represent metallic surfaces. The paints are varied, and dry pretty shiny which can be good or bad, depending on your desires. The washes, as the name suggests, are paints that are used almost exclusively for paint washing. There's a decent selection, and are useful for basic shading tasks. I find that as I've improved with my techniques, I use these less and less, instead using them for quick jobs. Finally there are the effects paints. These are intended to fulfill a specific role, such as creating blood effects or rust effects on a miniature. I use these the least, and personally I find that these vary wildly in usefulness. Still, they are available should you want to create the desired effect with little effort.

The price tag of these paints are the cheapest that I've found online, and that is worth mentioning.

Wide variety in paint selection.

The Cons

The only thing that I have issue with is the overall consistency of various paints. I have some that come out very thick, and others that are more watered down. Not the worst thing, but when I was starting out, this took some getting used to. Also, the metallic paints like to spill all over the place, and so I'm always wondering how much paint I'm wasting each time I reach for a metallic paint.

Also, the primers available are sub-par. I purchased both white and black matte primer spray paints from The Army Painter, and they do not go on well, often leaving a grainy texture afterwards. In addition, the spray nozzle on both began to clog. After using up maybe a half can on both, I gave up and threw them in the trash. 

To sum up:

+ Good variety in paint styles

+ Good price tag

+ Good paint selection

- Varied consistency in paints which can detract

- Metallic paints spill very easily
- Primers are not good

Miniature Painted with only The Army Painter Brand Paints

2. Master Paints Series by Reaper Miniatures

I have very limited experiences using these paints, but that being said, I do have some comments about what I have used. My experiences come from a kit that I bought on Amazon.com back when I first started out. I've since then used the paints that came with the kit sparingly.

The Pros

The first and perhaps biggest pro for this is that for the price, the quality is very good. What paints that I do have from MPS, if I have the same color with The Army Painter, chances are I'll reach for the MPS version first. The consistency of the paints are great. The paint containers are also slightly better quality. I appreciate how I'm able to disburse smaller droplets of paint from the MPS bottles than I am from other paints that I own. There's a range of selections that can help you with differing painting techniques, although it does seem that other brands have wider variety.

The Cons

While I have limited experience with this brand relative to others, my one (minor) gripe is the labeling of the bottles. There doesn't seem to be a lot of continuity with the MPS paints; i.e. MPS gives you description and serial numbers of each paint type on the label, but can be somewhat opaque as to the purpose of the paint. Is this a metallic, is this a wash, is the a base? With the paints that I've received, I have to just figure it out, and sometimes I forget and have to figure out again. Not the biggest issue I've had to deal with, but still.

To sum up:

+ Good price tag
+ Good paint consistency
+ good paint bottles
- Not great labels

Miniature painted with only MPS Brand Paints

So that's my input. If you've come to this point and you're not fed up with the topic of discussion, I'd love to hear your points of view, as I'm sure others are too. Hopefully, with enough information  aggregated, I can take the findings, and create a follow up blog post that more fully encompasses everything.