When I paint my miniatures I always like to use paints that I am familiar with or have used before but I am always open to trying new paints so when Army Painter sent us the Mega Paint Set to review for free along with some other very cool products I jumped at the chance to try them out. My experiences with Army Painter products was limited to using their dips and primers but never their paints, this is going back a couple of years before they really did their own paint range but my experiences have been good so far so I was optimistic when this set arrived.

Once again thank you to The Army Painter for sending us a free copy of the Mega Paint Set and Wet Palette to review for free which you can buy on their website or over at Element Games to support the site.

The Mega Paint Set Contents

Jumping straight into the box we get 50 !!! paints for just over £100 if you buy from Element games which is fantastic value being £2 a bottle is really good, of the 50 paints we get 39 acrylic paints of pretty much every colour a painter could need, 4 washes, 5 metallics and 2 special effect paints. With this set I’d be hard pressed not to find a model that I couldn’t paint with that selection of paints.

In the set you also get a free regiment Army Painter brush which is a really nice treat especially if you are new to painting or like me just picked up the Army Painter Mega Brush set as I’ve found the army painter brushes to be ideal for painting.

You also get the Army Painter painting guide which at first I overlooked I have to admit as I’ve been a hobbyist for 20 years now but going back over the guide it is a hidden gem if you are new to Army Painter paints or new to the hobby in general, everything from assembling your miniatures to priming your miniatures is covered in the guide. For me though it was the highlight chart that pardon the pun really stood out to me as it was a simple guide to painting colours using the paints specifically in this set which is great as I just followed the guide when painting.

There is also an Army Painter product guide in the box which was actually really good to look at as I didn’t realise that Army Painter did spare paint pots or stainless steel mixing balls both of which I have now bought; again really good for someone new to the hobby or who isn’t familiar with Army Painter products.

And lastly we get a leaflet with the Army Painter’s customer help address on if there are any problems with the product which is great to see as it feels very considerate of Army Painter and is very reassuring to see, the leaflet also doubles as a guide for using the warpaints and brushes which is very important to read before using the paints.

Value for money this set is genuinely fantastic as you get pretty much every colour on the colour spectrum and with the Matt Black and the Matt White you can mix those into any of the paints to get a lighter or darker tone, the added paint brush is a great treat as hobbyist’s always need a new brush and this gives people a taste of the Army Painter brushes.

The added guides make this set very friendly for anyone new to painting or new to Army Painter products which like I said earlier I can’t think of another company that does that which makes this Mega Paint set very unique and adds to the value of the set.

Using the Warpaints

The warpaints themselves come in a handy dropper bottle which from the limited use I’ve had with them have some significant bonuses and some slight (very minor issues ) which I’ll explain.

Pro’s

The lids of the warpaints are separated depending on the type of paint they are, the normal warpaints have a white lid while the washes have a red lid and the metallics are black. At first I didn’t think anything of this but the more I used the paints the easier it was to find the washes or the metallics I was using on my paint desk. I will say that the effect paints also have white lids which I thought was a bit annoying when you are trying to find them.

The paints themselves all seem to come with mixing balls all ready in the bottles making it very easy to mix the paint and the medium together which the guide explains how to use….. again nice touch.

The big pro for me is the dropper bottle which most importantly stops your paints from drying out, my big issue which I never really thought about while using Games Workshop paints was how often the paints dry out because the paint collects around the rim of the pot, well with The Army Painter bottles that shouldn’t be an issue as long as you remember to put the lid back on. This simple thing will undoubtably save me a small fortune over time as not only are Army Painter warpaints cheaper than Games Workshop paints but I will only have to buy new paints when the old ones run out not because they old ones have dried out.

Quick tip as well when your warpaints do run out you can, with some effort, get the mixing ball out and use it either with other paints ( I’m thinking contrast paints ) to help mix those colours again really good value.

Most of the paints in the set have a label that says “100% match to colour primer” so if you use the Army Painter primers you can then use the same named warpaint to get any areas that you have missed with the spray, when I used Army Painter sprays in the past they didn’t have the matching colours in bottles so I found myself having to use a lot of the primer to get the basecoat the whole model so adding paints that 100% match the primer is a very smart decision, I may have to try out some of the Army painter primers again and compare the colours.

Con’s

Like I said above there are some minor things that I found while using the paints, first was you can’t actually tell how much paint is left in the bottle which means that you will most likely run out of paint while painting and have to order more which will of course delay your painting process, with that said the louder the sound the mixing ball makes in the bottle and the more air you squeeze out of the bottle will give you some indication of how much paint is left in the bottle.

Secondly the dropper bottle does save you money by not allowing your paints to dry out which is great but I did find that I didn’t have as much control over how much paint came out of the bottle, sometimes I only needed a little bit to do a touch up but found that more paint came out than I did actually need, again not a major issue as I typically use a wet palette (exclusively the Army Painter one now) and I can just put the excess paint I don’t use on the palette and save some for later. This is however a bigger issue for the washes as I can’t put them on the wet palette which has meant a lot of the wash that comes out of the bottle was wasted, with the Games Workshop shades you can control how much wash is on your brush and have the excess go back into the pot but with the Army Painter washes you can’t do that.

Which brings me onto the washes themselves, the washes in this set (Dark, Strong and Soft tone as well as Flesh Wash) are a lot thicker than the Games Workshop shades which took some getting use to, for someone new to painting the washes you get in this set are fantastic as they do their job of toning your miniatures really well but for someone like me who wants some variety they only offer soo much.

Showcase

As of writing this article I have only had the chance of painting a handful of minatures with the new army paints and so far I have loved using the warpaints with the minor exception of the washes, below you can see the results.

The paints themselves gave a solid base coat after I applied a couple of thin coats to the miniatures, the Grinkraks Looncourt were just base coated then washed and I highlighted the skin which for the amount of effort I put in I think look really good.

I started by priming the models with Zandri Dust from Games Workshop just because that was the only light colour primer I had lying around if I had the Army Painter Skeleton Bone I would use that instead, the paints I used are shown below.

Basecoat.

• Skin = Greenskin
• Robes = Leather Brown
• Silver Metal = Gun Metal
• Gold = Greedy Gold
• Red = Dragon Red
• Yellow = Daemonic Yellow
• Water Effects = Voidshield Blue
• Mushrooms / ropes / straps = Skeleton Bone
• Weapon Handles = Fur Brown
• Base = Uniform Grey
• Rim of the Base = Matt Black

Wash

• Base = Dark Tone
• Yellow / Water Effects = Soft Tone
• Everything Else = Strong Tone

Highlights

• Skin = Goblin Green
• Blood Effects = Glistening Blood
• Rust Effect = Dry Rust

Two of the standout paints in the Mega Paint set for me are the Glistening Blood and Dry Rust effect paints which look very realistic, although the Dry Rust paint while really good I feel is a less is more kind of paint, using the model above I used too much on the sword but on its feat guards applying small amounts to the recesses I think looks awesome. The Dark Tone wash on the base did not like the flat surface of the base and because of its thickness did pool in places but when I tried to remove the excess with a brush created visible brush strokes which took some getting use to, being careful to only have a little amount of wash on your brush at a time is key and use some tissue paper or toilet roll to soak up any excess is a lot better than using a brush.

The Strong Tone wash on the majority of the model was amazing it really did feel like I was applying Devlan Mud ( a very popular Games Workshop shade from the mists of time) in the sense that it transformed the base coats and really did shade the model without taking too much away from the colours. Leather Brown has now become my new favourite brown paint as it gives a solid brown tone that I really like and I have to say Uniform Grey is perfect for painting slate on bases with it falling closer to a dawnstone colour from Games Workshop rather than Mechanicus Grey.

In Conclusion

For me the question with this paint set is simply …. would I buy this set ?

The answer is yes, the Army Painter Mega Set offers everything for both a new painter and an experienced painter, you get a huge variety of colours that allow you to paint any colour and like I said putting a Matt Black and Matt White really does increase the amount of colours in this set. The value for money is fantastic with each warpaint being effectively £2 in this set you really do get your money’s worth and for me the big selling point is the dropper bottles, something that for me who has only ever used Games Workshop paints was an eye opener.

For me I can see myself using this set to paint a lot of new models, while I will continue to use Games Workshop paints for existing projects I will be using these paints a lot more for things like Marvel Crisis Protocol and specialist game models like Blood Bowl in the future but if I was a new hobbyist this set would be perfect.

The paints themselves are thinner than Games Workshop’s base paints and are similar to layer paints instead which when you put on a wet palette last forever, the Metallics that you get in the set are fantastic and in my opinion are the same as the Games Workshop but cheaper and in dropper bottles, but for me the washes are a downside for me, for a beginner they are fantastic to have and I think the set is better for having them in but I prefer Games Workshop shades over them. The only exception is the Strong Tone which I really like as it works over most colours really well without taking too much of the colour away.

Wet Palette

The Army Painter also sent us their Wet Palette (which you can buy from either The Army Painter or Element games ) which I have been using exclusively now having used the Redgrass one previously, there’s not a huge amount to say about this apart from I really like the extra red tray thats included in the set that allows you store paint brushes in and the extra compartment on the tray is perfect for mixing paints or using the Army Painter washes on, I have been really impressed by the hydro foams that have anti mold agent to stop them from getting moldy which should limit the amount of hydro foams I’ll need to buy in the future.

Getting 50 hydro sheets in the set is amazing as most other competitors only give you about half that which to me is great value, included in the set is a painting guide and a tool safety guide both of which are fantastic little extras to get and even for me were interesting to read through, this combined with the Mega Paint Set have me intrigued and interested to try out other Army Painter Products in the future.

Once again thank you to The Army Painter for sending us a free copy of the Mega Paint Set and Wet Palette to review for free.

Published by Andy

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