First opinion: The new Citadel paint range

Today we’ve seen the unveiling of the new Citadel paint range. There is a lot of confusion about the new paints. Why did they change all the names? Are there no more Foundation paints and Washes? Will I be able to find equivalencies for my old paints? What are those Dry, Texture and Glaze paints for?

Don’t worry. Here at Tale of Painters we’ll provide you with a guide to the new paint range based on the information we’ve got so far. As loyal readers might already know, I’m a paint guru. I own over 200 pots from all the manufacturers out there – Vallejo, Privateer Press, Reaper and The Army Painter. I’ve tried them all and know where their strengths and weaknesses are. After the jump I’ll present you a run down of all the new paint types and what to expect from them.

The new names and formula
It says that the new paint range is made by a different manufacturer. The old range was made in France, the new range is rumoured to be made in the UK. HMG Limited is one of the biggest manufacturer for (miniature) paints, as they produce Formula P3 for Privateer Press, Foundry Paints and Coat’d’Arms. They are also the ones who did the old Citadel Colours before they turned to the black screw-top pots. Maybe GW comes back to them for their range? I’d welcome that, as I really like the paint HMG does for other brands.

GW talks also about a new formula. A new formula and a new manufacturer can only mean that: There will be no easy colour matches, each paint will have a new and different hue. This is backed up by the converion chart GW put up. See how they recommend The Fang for both Shadow and Fenris Grey? Or Caliban Green for both Orkhide Shade and Dark Angels Green? All very different colours from each other. When you’re in the middle of a bigger project, changing paints won’t be a big deal when only a small part of the model is affected. However, when one of your main colours is changed, say the armour colour of a Space Marine, it will become visible very well. This is where I advise yo to stock up key paints as long as you can, as you will have to mix up paints or have to live with it later.

Let’s talk about the names. Why did they change all of them? Well, do you see the small TM after each paint name on the pots? GW chose new IP based names to make it more difficult for other manufacturers to model their paint range after the new Citadel one. They certainly don’t want Vallejo to knock off their names again like they did with their Game Color range. Also, as the new paints are completely new and made by a different manufacturer and with a different formula, they didn’t want people to complain like “why is my new pot of Bleached Bone darker/more grey/more yellow then before?” New names make a clean cut here and don’t lead to false expectations.
Ok, we’ve talked about the basics, now it’s time to look into each of the seven new paint types the new range is divided into:

Base
These replace the Foundation range. There are more shades, 34 as opposed to the old 18 Foundation paints, which is very welcome. Based on the trailer on GW.com and what I’ve gathered from forums, they’ve changed the formula quite a bit. They are more fluid and less thick and pasty like the current range. I think they’ll behave more like the Vallejo Heavy Opaque or Reaper HD paints. I don’t know if that is a good thing to be honest. I preferred the Foundation paints over those two products as they’ve got more “grip”, which I think is more suitable for a basecoating paint and also lends itself better for drybrushing. All in all, I predict that in direct comparison the coverage of the Base paints will be slightly worse in favour of a thinner and easier to use consistency. Especially as they added some more vivid shades to the range like Mephiston Red and Screamer Pink. I’m excited for the new Ceramic White, let’s see if this is a better white than Formula P3 Morrow White.

Layers
These replace the old Citadel Colours. I always felt the regular acrylics were GW’s weak spot. Old Citadel Colours dryed so quickly, it made blending and layering very hard. Then there was the only average coverage and sometimes the paint broke down and seperated when watered down too much. All in all I think Vallejo and Privateer Press just have the better product here. So I hope GW did their homework! I want similar qualities like Formula P3, as these usually got an above average coverage and a smooth consistency that thins down very well. Also let’s see how the new metallics are. The old GW silvers were very good, however the gold and brass colours from Vallejo covered much better than their GW counterparts. With 70 layers in total, they added a lot of new shades, especially lots of greens.

Shades
These replace the Washes. Judging from the trailer, these spread as nicely as the current ones. They even talk about how they made them even better. Let’s see if this is only marketing speech or the truth. Some new shades like (Cassandora) yellow and (Fuegan) orange are a welcome addition, however I miss a pink one but oh well. Remember, if you like the current washes, Warpaints Strong Tone Ink from The Army Painter is 1:1 the same product as Devlan Mud, as I noticed in my Warpaints review.

Glaze
Glazes are new. They are meant to tint the colours underneath, so they are similar to shades in this regard, but they won’t flow in the recesses so easily and provide a more even tint. They are meant to bring back saturation when you over-highlighted an area, to intensify colours or to tint. Selective tinting is a great pro technique to add more life to flesh tones for example. In the trailer you can see how they used glazes to tint silver armour. All in all, these will be a nifty tool for the ambitious painting, shame there are only four different shades – all the primary colours plus green.

Dry
Dry paints are new, they are essentially thick paints that are meant for drybrushing only. Dryer, more pasty paint lends itself better for drybrushing, that’s no big secret. So releasing paints designed with this technique in mind is quite an interesting and creative move of GW, I must admit that. The 15 different dry paints seem to be all quite light and pastel, so I’d recommend to drybrush first and apply a wash second, as the wash will not only conceal the often dusty finish you get from drybrushing, but also act like a glaze, restoring the colour of the light Dry paints.

Texture
These are paints that have added sandy particles and grit to create a sandy, textured finish when dry. Vallejo already offers a lot of different texture paints and pastes, and they are very useful for basing or for terrain building. Well, with 12 ml a pot you’ll probably only want to use Citadel Texture paints for basing. Textures come in six earthy colours and might be useful to speed up basing, as you no longer need to glue sand to the base but just apply a texture paint in the appropriate colour.
Technical
These comprise four pots: a black primer, liquid green stuff, a gloss varnish and an acrylic medium. I think it’s long due for Games Workshop to offer an acrylic medium as such a product is a staple for any serious painter.

My early judgement is mixed. I’m going to pick up some of the new Shades and Bases and maybe try out Glazes, Textures and Dry paints. I’m not so interested in Layer paints because I’m very happy with my Vallejo Game Colour and Formula P3 paints. While I think thatdividing the range into different groups was a smart move, they could have made painting even easier and more straigth-forward if they’d have grouped paints into triads like Reaper. Say you’d have one Base paint, one corresponding Shade, two or three corresponding Layer Paints and finally a corresponding Dry paint. All with similar names right beside each other on the shelf, so you’d just know, if I want to paint Blood Angels, I buy these five reds and get going. They did this rudimentary with Incubi Darkness (Base), Kabalite Green, Sybarite Green (Layer) and Hellion Green (Dry), which all seem to be a blueish green from dark to light. I also don’t know if those Dry paints are really needed. They seem to replace the lightest shade for pink, purple and other colours in the range, but are not suitable for regular highlights because of their thick consistency. If they’d keep the shades of the Dry paints but make them regular Layer paints instead would add more flexibility to the range as you can drybrush with regular paint, too, after all.

I hope I shed some light here what the new paint range is all about and what you can expect and what not. What do you think of the new paint range? Welcome addition to your painting or a change that is a pain in the rear? Have you already tried them out at your local GW store today and can share you experiences? Please leave your comment!

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