Thursday, April 5, 2012

The New GW Paints: Worth It?

by SandWyrm


I'm going to throw an open question out there for TB40K community. How are you liking the new GW paints?


I guess I'm too experienced and jaded to get excited about GW's new paint line. But TheNeverThere did have some nice things to say about the new paints last night. Evidently, GW has created a system where it's easier for beginners to do things like washes and drybrushing. The idea of buying a pre-mixed "dry brushing" paint sends shivers up my spine. But if it leads to a better overall quality of army-painting... I can tolerate it. :)

What's your experience with the new line? Do you like it? Are you frustrated? Actual experiences only please.

16 comments:

  1. I've heard good things- there was a demo set up at my FLGS, and the foundation paints covered quite well.
    The dry brush paint is odd. It seems 'hard,' and has a strange consistency.
    They're OK, I guess. They seem geared towards people who are still learning to paint. If you've already worked most of this stuff out, the new paints are...just paints.
    *shrug*

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    Replies
    1. This.

      Apart from the textured stuff - the drybrushes and the paints for bases - there's not much that's of interest to me. They seem geared for churning out studio schemes with the minimum of fuss and effort and, to be honest, that's all a lot of people are interested in.

      I do like the range of earth colours though; if they have a decent texture to them, it'll save on buying and storing loads of PVA glue and sand and what-have-you. And it might explain why GW started selling tufts of static grass in various hues; presumably you slap on your textured paint, then stick tufts onto the bald patches.

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  2. I had the chance to try some of the paints in the demo set at my local GW store. From what I tried, the new base white actually provided good coverage over a black undercoat. The base red also looks good, much better that the foundation paint version. The dry brush paints work as advertised, but I find the color selection odd. I doubt I'll personally have much use for them.

    I was really pleased with the green glaze they had out and if you use a lot of glazes in your painting I'd recommend these.

    Finally, the texture paint is alright. It looks like you'd need at least two layers to get a decent looking texture on a base. For a novice painter trying to get an army based, these would be great. These probably have more potential for weathering effects on vehciles.

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  3. I remember being a novice and it's tough to get your head around all the different types of paint.

    I got some glaze medium recently and it's really helped with shading, especially the recesses of faces.

    Now there's the criticism that it's all just rebranded Vallejo paint sold at an outrageous markup, and that's true too, but it's always been overpriced. At least now they're adding some value for that markup.

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  4. I have been having some of the same thoughts. I find it far more likely that this re-branding is less likely them trying to put out a superior product and more likely them finding a cheaper way to produce the paint while still charging us the same price. All the posts on the GW site, testimonial videos and general hubbub feel more like Billy Mays trying to sell me something than it does GW upping their game. I am skeptical until I see evidence that these paints deserve the hype.

    That being said, there are a few of the products that I am interested in. The paint on undercoat seems awesome if it does what it says it does. The make-your-own-glaze medium could be the cat's pajamas.

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  5. For the glaze medium, Vallejo sells it under their own brand name, but it is good.

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  6. Had a play around with them last Thursday when I was killing time in local GW store. The new "Foundation" paints seem to work great. The white and red provided excellent coverage... and there wasn't the hassle of having to mix the pigments back together like I've had with the 'old' foundation paints. The glazes also look promising from playing around with the reds.

    However, they don't wow me and I won't be going out to replace all my paints with these. But I can see how the new labeling system will make things easier for those getting into the hobby.

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  7. The paint-on undercoat has actually been out for a while, but only in things like the Space Marine Paint Starter Set. A friend of mine used it for his marines since he didn't have the space for the spray. However, I think this might be the first time they offer it on it's own.

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    Replies
    1. The paint-on undercoat in the starter set was just black paint, not primer.

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  8. I picked up a few pots yesterday and i'm hoping to start painting some pre-heresy Death guard tacticals. We'll see if the new white is as good as i've been reading. Keep ya posted! :)

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    Replies
    1. I'm interested in making some Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons myself.

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    2. Hehe. . . ya, spent the last couple of weeks wrestling with spending my limited funds on starting a new P-H 1k sons army or adding to all the Death guard stuff I have already. The Death guard made more sense financially, but damn if I can't stop thinking about the sons.

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    3. My current project is actually to do a lite re-write of 40k history and make armies based off the new fluff. Basically, all it entails is that the Traitor Legions remained Loyal, while the Loyalists turned to Chaos. I'm already working on a Khorne/Slaanesh CSM list using Blood Angels models.

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  9. I picked up a full set of the new Shades (hoping they are similar to the washes) and a few of the Glazes but haven't given them a go yet, might get to work with them tomorrow though. As for the the new labels and naming system, I think it is terrible, it can be really hard to tell which paints are which when you are looking at a row of pots, especially the shades. I have no interest in the regular line though I will probably give the metallics and some of the effects (texture, medium, etc) a try at some point. I will report on my blog my findings.

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  10. Just picked up a test batch of GW paints for work. Have tried out the new "base" paints and the textures. Can't say I'm impressed with the coverage of the Base range over black undercoat. The texture paint looks fairly uninspiring on a mini base, but could work well for heavy weathering. I'm gonna try painting some on plasti-card to see how well it does at texturing scratch-built buildings.

    I'll let you all know how I get on.

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  11. I have bought the new paint line and I do wish they made a conversion list from the old paint line to the new paint line

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out dang bot!

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