Games Workshop Gets a New Splash of Paint!
March 26, 2012 by dracs
Games Workshop have announced the release of a new paint range for you to paint your minis any colour you desire (though no pink orcs please).
This extensive new range will be replacing the current range of Citadel Paints and may provide you with a lot of new options for your miniatures.
Accompanying the new paint range is a new edition of How to Paint Citadel Miniatures.
As you can see this new edition is published in ring binder format, a practical change as it allows you to easily prop it up at the pages you need, rather than trying to weigh the pages down with a mug of tea.
The book also comes with a 90 minute DVD to take you through all the various tips and techniques.
All in all you are definitely getting a lot of bang for your buck ( I cannot believe I just used that phrase).
One thing is for certain, we will have to get ourselves some of these new paints, tie Romain up in front of his painting table again and get him to tell you guys how these hold up. Have fun Romain.
Do you guys think these new paints will make much of a difference? Will you pick up a copy of How to Paint Citadel Miniatures? Personally I am tempted, my painting could use all the help it can get.
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While the system they are introducing does seem quite well thought out in theory, it remains to be seen how useful it really is. For instance, specific glazes and drybrush paints? Any painter worth a damn seldom drybrush and just about all have their paints so diluted they often are only one step away from a glaze anyway. Also they make a huge noise about the size of the range. Really? Over 140 paints? Vallejo has over 220 paints in their most basic range (not counting everything else they make), P3 has about 80 and even Army Painter’s Warpaint series… Read more »
Totally agree.
So easy to make one’s own mediums. A bottle of W&N Flow Medium and Matt Medium lasts ages
It was unnecessary to change the name of the existing colours
Some of the new names make even less sense than the old ones.
They renamed them becasue they are not the same color anymore.
“Be aware that as the new paint range comprises brand-new formulations we can suggest close, but not exact comparisons.” -from the conversion chart page.
True in a sense that they probably are new formulas. False in the sense that many colors are the same no matter what the formula. For instance, how many varieties can you make of black? Old or new formula, chaos black should be no different than abaddon black in actual color, though other things might have changed, like the consistency.
That’s not what I read last week
GW said that they were providing the old names on the chart so if you ran out during a big painting project you would know what colour to get.without any probloms.
That suggests that the colours are identical.
To the anonymous antagonist I quote from the colour conversion chart:
“This colour chart allows you to get a good match between colours from our old and new paint range-ESPECIALLY USEFUL IF YOU’RE MID PROJECT AND NEED TO RE-STOCK YOUR PAINT SUPPLY.”
That suggests that there is no difference between paints whereas as the go on to state.
…we can suggest close but not exact comparisons.”
So there IS a difference. Even if small there is a potential difference in hues it still ain’t the same.
Could I ask you, why “any painter worth a damn seldom drybrushes” ? I must say I’ve moved away from drybrushing as I moved for a more “cartoony” affect, but drybrushing has always produced outstanding, realistic, results for me, on models – skin, leather, most surfaces.
Is drybrushing frowned upon etc?
Drybrushing is certainly not frowned upon, but the more you paint, the more skill you gain and the more confident you get, the less you tend to drybrush. Hence I fail to see much of need for specialised drybrush paints.
Well, I guess my own experience has demonstrated your point lol but even so, a look at those new drybrush paints seem to cover the usual colours you might expect (apart from purple ?!) so perhaps they are convenient for less experienced painters (or painters in a hurry to get that unit painted for Saturday) – and perhaps they are specially formulated for drybrushing?
I assume they will be a bit thicker
Personally wouldn’t buy a set of colours for drybrushing though, seems a pointless exercise in giving away cash for needless paints.
I agree about drybrushing though. It is another technique. If used well it is effective. But the same could be said for any technique.
Drybrushing can end up like sugar frosting if done badly. (Ask me how I know! lol)
I suspect that to be the case. When new painters discover drybrushing they often use it all the time like it’s the second coming of the lord (Me and my brother sure did, some 15 to 20 years ago). For anyone painting in that manner, I have to admit that specialised drybrush paints are probably quite nice.
Dry brushing is handy for the speedy painting of large numbers of rank and file troops… the skilled painting can then be used for the Leaders and Characters etc. There is a place for all techniques I think.
Also, I understand that the Drybrush paints are to be very thick, like a gel almost.
Since i began to paint I take note of what I used on a particular mini or army, always used a small color palete and kept track of techniques used in vehicles, etc. Not a easy task, maybe with this new expensive and large range I could do a better job, maybe not. Despite of having many different kinds of greens, reds, blues, doesn´t change the fact that I ( and many others ) mix their paints to get an extra color or a twist on the existing one. I am more of a painter than a gamer so my… Read more »
I notice that the tops are coloured.
This may not seem a big deal but well done GW
it is a pain to have to paint the tops myself cos I am a lazy tight git who hates wasting paint.
Suspect the book will be useful if you want to paint in the GW house style which may well be the case for a lot of bods, but personally am not fond of the ‘Eavy Metal style. They are good painters of course but it ain’t my cuppa.
Yeah, I guess the ‘Eavy Metal style is more concerned with showing us the details on the model as opposed to painting effects, since we need to see what were buying, I guess. I don’t like some of the names changes either, particularly the metal colours-why change those? Some sound a bit shit to be frank lol. They do have a conversion chart pdf on the site and it will be in the new white dwarf, link here http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2320032a_Citadel_Conversion_Chart Some of them make sense and relate to the figure ranges more, but not all of them needed to be changed… Read more »
I can’t comment on a book I haven’t read (obviously) and the gaming gods sure know we all can get better at painting, but I have a sneaking suspicion that you get better vaule by buying the ‘Eavy Metal Masterclass book, since it’s half the price of this new painting guide. As a side note, the old How to paint book is also about half the price compared to the new one.
Has anyone seen the price of the bundle set? Almost 600.00 in US dollars! No thx.
Here in Sweden the price would be 5 050 Swedish Krona, which translates into about 785 US dollars, and 490 £. It’s lovely to live in Sweden. GW truly loves us. 🙂
GW can’t do much about 25% VAT.
True, but your math is wrong. 333 £ plus 25% VAT would be about 416 £, NOT the 490 that it actually is. Besides, both Sweden and Britain has VAT of some sort and are both located in Europe so my numbers are wrong as well. The price would probably more like 400 £ in Sweden when taking that into account.
The bundle deal costs a mean £333, ladies and gentlemen!
Now, how much would it cost if you bought all the paints individually?
Anyone?
The answer is… £333.50
That’s right! A whopping saving of 50 pence!! .. you get a free carry case though, so I guess that makes it ok.
If that is correct and assume your are good at sums Poosh, it is taking the peepee not to give a discount on the full set. No excuse.
Its no excuse but you get a big army-bag with the deal that originally cost 90€ …I know that doesn’t make 3€ per tiny little pot of colour any better ^^ but its not just 50 pence you save ^^
The value of the deal became much better indeed. I had missed that detail partisan. Still, I think it would have been better to provide a discount instead of something that most people already have some sort of version of.
I’ll wait for a review from a non-GW hater, but I am currently saving for the full bundle – assuming you can purchase it discounted from an online store. If not, no thanks.
“Completely new”… “revolutionize”…
Right.
While I appreciate Citadel paints aren’t all bad and have their fans, this is just a more expensive version of what other brands have been doing for years.
Vallejo (liquid putty, textured pastes, paints, washes, inks, extra opaque colors…) and others as well.
I’m not saying it’s bad (I aven’t tried it yet)… I’m just saying it’s NOT new, and NOT the second coming of the lord… Just like Failcast was advertised.
BoW Romain
Oh how I like that even Romain refer to GW resin models as failcast.
As I said below, they are simply bringing it all together under one range making it easier for beginners to get access to types of paint they didn’t know where to look to buy. And I think it’s unfair to say that it’s not revolutionary… in the bracket of GW hobbyists at least. Unless someone told you what to look for, your average hobby painter isn’t going to bother trolling the web for AK’s filter range for example. I think you are taking a pedestal position on this one that isn’t overly fair on what GW have done for THEIR… Read more »
Are you seriously saying that because GW is finally bringing this to their gamers it is a revolution? I can barely fathom that statement. It’s almost like saying “Sliced bread has been such a revolution for Europe and North America that we will now spread it to those savages in Asia and Africa”.
Besides, do GW, or any other company for that matter, really have any customers that they claim are “theirs”?
Oops meant to write in the last sentence “… that they can truly claim are “theirs”?”
I feel compelled to answer, even though I know I shouldn’t… Speaking from a pedestal ? Really ? It’s a pretty crowded pedestal, then. As numerous as they are, GW gamers and fans still do not constitute the whole hobby. Probably half of it at best… No matter how skewed the perspective looks from there. Where I stand, there are people who started with Airfix models, Ral Partha miniatures, Humbrol enamels and Tamiya paints… Just to mention the people who had a similar experience to mine. I’ve had Citadel paints (bought in London because you couldn’t get them in France… Read more »
Just to add how I got in the hobby, it was through playing D&D and, yes, I did buy some GW at a time when White Dwarf would contain D&D articles but most of my mini’s were grenaider (because I was skint) and I bought GW paint because that was what I knew but it didn’t take me long to stumble on Vallejo, there are more local stockists for me and only one GW. I don’t think you have to “troll” to find good alternatives and as Romain says, isn’t it the responsibility of the community to educate people that… Read more »
More like GW Miscast
I have been using GW paints since I started painting minis, only a few years ago, but only out of necessity, there are no local hobby shops or anything nearby, only a GW store. After collecting a large number of their paints and ready throw them in a box somewhere and buy a truckload of vallejo paints, having realised there is a greater variety of paints out there. Thanks GW, for making this decision fast and easy.
They have done quite a bad job renaming many of the colours. Some of them have gone from short specific names such as “dark flesh” to the longer “doombull brown”, are all Doombulls this colour? Devlan mud, now called Agrax Earthshade, and “burnished gold” becoming “auric armour gold” are perhaps the worst…
I can’t say for certain, as no one has ever survived a meeting with a Doombull, to report back their colour…
Touché
So in essence, we don’t even know if Doombulls exist? Maybe all colours taste like chicken. Or something like that. 😉
Hey Romain, on the off chance that you might read this comment, do you / are you planning on doing any video reviews (hell I think some of us would be happy with just your written words in an article) on “How to paint miniature” Guide Books (such as the above GW one, but with other books and classic guides as well), and advice on Air Brushing? I don’t know if you Air Brush or not, but if you had any advice or wisdom to offer, I’d appreciate it and maybe others as well!
The previous message is being sponsored by me! 🙂 Seriously, more reviews from the master is always appreciated.
also, we’re planning to kidnap 85% of the BoW team, and force them to do a Battle Report…
Why only 85% ? Oh, right, Romain has remain so he can test all these new paints.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys !
we have discussed such book reviews, but so far we’ve settled for actual tutorials… We won’t discount the possibility of reviewing those books, as there’s certainly a lot out there.
As for the new Citadel range, I’m actually eager to see what they came up with, were it only to see how it measures up to the hype.
Stay tuned !
BoW Romain
If the pots are better that in and of itself is good for those that use GW paints. I dislike on principal the idea of specialized glazes,drybrush and layer paint because it convinces the inexperienced that you have to buy such things and there is something special about it. Glaze medium and any acrylic paint = glaze, you are not restricted tot he four colours they produce. Paint for layers, thinned paint. I think , especially in the UK, an awful lot of us cut our teeth on GW paints, and they certainly have some good things in the range,… Read more »
It’s GW we’re talking about here. They exist (nowadays) to suck money from us so they can give to the stockholders. So of course they will take advantage of unsuspecting customers and inexperienced painters.
I think I might actually disagree, after watching that video. Yes, a lot of these things I can go through the painful process of mixing (and it is painful because sometimes I simply cannot repeat the exact mix for the next batch of models). But these seem very well tailored to my, at least, personal needs. Looking over the colours etc, at least quickly, I can see exactly which colours were brought out for which models, and I can see many ways my life will be made easier. They do seem to have just built upon the Foundary paint scheme… Read more »
So have any of you actually used the new paints? No? Then why all the hate? 😛 Sure GW paints are more expensive for less, but so is ever single other item GW produce, get over it 😀 Yeah the name changes suck a big one, but at the end of the day there’s an expanded range of paints, with more “foundations” and some new glazes. Of course, you can make your own washes and glazes, but for those who don’t know how/want to, this offers a great solution. By using the GW glazes, it means I get to test… Read more »
What hate?
Where?
I haven’t seen anyone who has not tried them say they are rubbish.
There is this thing called trying out new ways rather than trying out new products cos the man says we should. 😉
Why should I try a new stuff just because it is shiny?
I have enough colours already. Not going to spend a ton of cash on a whole new range when I can make and bake my own.
not hate just a love of being practical.
I have used them. The work like any other paint on the market with the exception of a few things. The DRY paints have an extream pigment count and it’s viscosity is thicker. I see this as good for the use it’s ment for. As I mentioned below in a comment, the new shades are the only thing that really pissed me off as great paints like Devlin Mud are now gone.
Vallejo makes close analouges of GWs (now) old washes so they are always an alternative when you run out. Thing is though, they are not quite the same, since they dry to a very matte finish. I suppose I need to go stockpile som devlan mud and badab black before they are gone for good.
I like the new ideas (for them) that they are introducing. GW have always tried to be a one stop shop. I still happily dry brush rank and file models. I especially use dry brushing on bigger figures and scenery. I’m glad to see GW trying to adapt to the market. I dont see GW as ‘hard sell’. There’s this thing called the internet where we can see lots of other options. I’ve heard of this site called Beasts of Waagh or similar that has lots of products where we can see their reviews and make up our own minds…… Read more »
Well you are entitled to your opinion, as you rightly say.
Pity it is wrong about Romain’s painting videos though 😛
Now, now !
I completely agree : Everyone has his style, and we’re supposed to be doing this for fun.
There is no “one way” to paint, well or badly… Painting is very idiosyncrasic, and I’m always for what works for YOU.
My favored techniques won’t suit everyone, and I’m certainly not painting to GD standards in my videos…
As the man said, take what works for you and leave the rest !
BoW Romain
Way to go GW. Release the ‘Eavy Metal Masterclass paint guide then hot on the heels of it redo the entire paint range it refers to
I tried some of the paints over the weekend and they worked well. The only things that I see as an issue is things like the washes that are now shades. They work a bit different than before. The wash was good for a shading and the tinting of serfaces. Now the new shade paints really are only good for for that, shading. For some thats good as it will pull itself more into the recesses and cracks and leave the rest of the area unchanged. But for me, it helped to tie and blend drybrushed areas and I liked… Read more »
I read an interresting remark from Dark_Gear on belloflostsouls.net abaut these new paints:
“The paints are produced by a new supplier, therefore all the paints are based on different pigments and formulas. As this would lead to slight differences in hue compared to the old colours, they were all renamed so that buyers of the new paints couldn’t say:
“This Bleached Bone isn’t like the old Bleached Bone!”
Another benefit to renaming all the paints, as BigRed pointed out, is that the names now reflect GW’s model lines more effectively than before. ”
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2012/03/gw-news-new-paints-unveiled.html
I think this explains a lott
Let me copy and paste a bit here: “True in a sense that they probably are new formulas. False in the sense that many colors are the same no matter what the formula. For instance, how many varieties can you make of black?” Anyway let’s assume that almost all colors are slightly different, that is still no reason to change the names based on previous histort. GW has changed hues, pigments and formulas for colors several times before and STILL called them the same, despite the very obvious difference. Also is it really better that the names reflect GW’s model… Read more »
Wonder if they will improve the brushes now too.
so when will we see a review of the new paints from you, romain?
Lets be honest, anything GW do gets ripped apart on BoW so the reaction here is no suprise. If Mantic released the exact same product, it will be the bees knees, so yeah you get used to the bias on here. Non the less on to the paints… I think the name changes are pretty stupid and needless, but whatever. Some of the range interests me but to be honest, I don’t need most the stuff as I make it myself, but for the new painter I can see the appeal. It can be quite daunting seeing nicely painted minis… Read more »
That is not being honest.It is certainly not fair. I have seen many things including these paints receiving praise on BoW. Just because something is GW it has to lauded to the skies? Am certain you are not of that opinion yourself, so please dear Lawks a lummee can we have no more of the “BoW/Everyone and his budgerigar hates GW” It is patently clear this is not so. If Mantic released the same product my reaction for one would be the same. It is not the same as saying that the paints are no good, as saying I would… Read more »
Im not saying the BoW team are ripping GW apart (well Romain usually does…but we love Romain hehe), Im saying the BoW community usually does, It’s true! Read most the replies. While I aint no GW fanboy, and never will be, I think theres good and bad in all the companies. but for some reason people seem too polite to say mantic/PP et al are crap just because they are a smaller outfit. yet if GW bring something out and its iffy (Like failcast) we never here the end of it. It does come across as very bias indeed. It… Read more »
That’s unfair, people lashed out at Mantic when they pulled their space-orks with fantasy bodies crap. And there was some lashing out at PP when people thought they *might* be starting to act like GW. I agree that some of the “criticisms” are irrational, in regard to these paints. It IS stupid to attack GW’s claims until you’ve actually got hold of the paint and tried the new system. Sitting down and trying their stage-by-stage method (which seems like the Foundary Paints scheme) is the only way to know if this system is as “amazing” as it claims to be.… Read more »
I’ll have you know my budgerigar is a great fan of GW. Plays the wood elves.
BoW Sam
What GW have done here is master “accessibility” These types of paints have existed for years but GW have put together their paint range so for a beginner they are faced with products that were usually for more elitist painters to hunt down online. If anything it’s going to allow young and new painters to jump up their skill faster than before. Of course it’s still down to practice and understanding but they are making it easier.
Is supposed “accessibility” really a good thing? The way I see it, it might actually become a limiting factor since it’s such a complete package with such clearly marked labels that every painted GW model might start to look the same.
Also I fail to see how young and new painters are going to even start using this since they will barely have money to buy the paints, let alone an army.
I don’t agree. Where I live I have 3 vallejo stockists vs 1 GW and one of those vallejo stockists in what’s arguably the main shopping centre. It’s a branch of Model Zone and they also stock Tamiya, Mig pigments and I’m pretty sure they’ve got the Vallejo texture’s in there too as well as things like matt medium. There are two art/craft shops that have things like matt medium, flow enchacer, retarder, etc. so no trawling required. Where I live GW resoundly lose on the accessibility front – the alternatives are more plentiful and cheaper
Having tried them at the weekend I thought they were very good, much better than the old paints. The new base paints cover much better than the old foundation paints, and the dry brushing paints are like marshmallow in consistency. You can turn the pots upside down over your head while open in complete safety! The new washes don’t seem to pool as much and give a lovely effect where desired. Be interested what some of the others think who have actually used them.
HI folks. GW have brought a range of paint meduims together and made it easier for hobbiests to see how each different meduim is used. However, are ALL of these realy necissary for all but the most experienced painters? And dont the realy experianced painters have acess to these meduims from other sources? (Or use alternative techniques that render some them redundant?) I may be being a bit of a cynic , but all this seems to do is infer to the less well informed ALL these products are NECISSARY.And not just an option you MAY feel like tring out.… Read more »
No. No. No. First off, how stupid do you have to be to think you are obliged to buy all these paints ?!! Second, Foundary and others maybe, have a similar method of getting models painted. GW seem to have taken this notion and adapted/improved it? Thirdly, anyone can come to a certain preference of tone for a certain colour that requires mixing: GW have just allowed us to buy a pre-made mixes which will be useful for many of us Forth, as you can see from the preview pics, you only need to buy a certain selection of colours,… Read more »
Alas, I’m afraid it’s not a question of stupidity, it’s a question of age…
Their main target is a twelve year old boy who doesn’t know anything beyond Games Workshop… And that’s from their own mouth.
That said, I’m all for making it easier for beginners (and others !) and using new products.
Facing the usual GW marketing strategy, one must stay serene… When the time comes, I’ll try them out and see for myself, just like with any other brand.
At nearly $900 Australian (AUD) they can shove it where the sun don’t shine, and as for the case? Ha! What a joke. You know who I feel for? All the poor saps that bought the previous mega paint set thinking GW was being kind to them by re-offering the whole paint set, now superseded by this paint range.. GW are trying to not only grab your money but they are raping people’s wallets with their current price structures… Seriously, the whole movement of pricing around the world is not getting better or any positive focus from GW.. I think… Read more »
It seems to me like the content of the “How to…” book would be a really powerful marketing tool if made available on the website for free as part of their astronomicon blog or in the hobby section. I get that it wasn’t free to produce and I also get that a lot of people will buy that book so giving it away is an opportunity cost, but it just seems that the best way to sell your new paint line is to demonstrate professional painters getting really good results while using it. They can make youTube videos explaining the… Read more »
I don’t really care how many new colours they have added. Reaper still has more colours, gives you a little more per bottle, and is a dollar less per bottle. The only part of the Citidel line that I might buy are the base paints and the textured paints. Other than that Citidel really provides no incentives to buy their product.
Well I’m glad that I picked up some Mechrite Red and Devlan Mud recently (Blood Angels player) but I am also looking forward to trying their new equivalents. At the end of the day its just some new paints, nothing to get to excited (or angry) about.
A company that makes paints, expands their range and make more paints…
People get angry.