Colours like red, blue, and purple but metallic are some of the few things you can’t find in Games Workshop’s paint range. The always busy hobby company The Army Painter just released a new set of metallic colour paints to fill this gap. In this review, I find out how The Army Painter’s new Metallic Colours Set can keep up with the competition from Scale75 and Green Stuff World.

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The Army Painter’s Warpaints Metallic Colours paint set comes with nine new and exclusive metallic colours and “Fairy Dust” metallic effect paint, all in 18 ml dropper bottles. 20 stainless steel mixing balls are included, as well as a variety of painting guides.

My box had a golden sticker on it, at the time of the review The Army Painter are running a “golden ticket” competition where you might find a rare golden brush in the box. I wasn’t lucky though 😉

The contents of The Army Painter's Metallic Colours Warpaints set

This item was kindly provided by The Army Painter. Opinions are our own.

Features

The Army Painter’s new metallic colour Warpaints are regular acrylic-based metallic paints, non-toxic and dilutable with water or acrylic medium of your choice. They apply well with a paintbrush or, thinned with airbrush thinner, with an airbrush, too.

So far, I’ve tried a lot of coloured metallic paints, from brands like Vallejo Mecha Color, Greenstuff World, and Scale75. I found that The Army Painter’s new metallic Warpaints feel most similar to the regular priced metallic layer paints from Games Workshop such as Runefang Silver or Grey Knights Steel (not the more expensive metallic paints like Retributor Armour), Vallejo Game and Model Color metallics, and of course, The Army Painter’s other metallic Warpaints.

The size of the metallic pigments is not as fine as for example Scale75 or Vallejo Mecha Color, however, in comparison to Scale75 Alchemy paints, The Army Painter’s metallic colours are much more sparkly and vibrant. Alchemy metallic paints from Scale 75 are more pastel in comparison, and even Green Stuff World can’t beat the vibrancy of the new metallic Warpaints. The opacity is alright, most of the new metallic Warpaints need about three to four thin coats for solid coverage. A little bit of shaking is required to prevent separating.

Sometimes, The Army Painter’s Warpaints arrive not properly mixed. When you open them for the first time only transparent medium will come out of the bottle. I had this issue with three out of ten paints in this set. However, this is only a minor inconvenience and can easily be remedied. Release the excess medium, open the bottle, and give it a good stir, for example with a cocktail stick. Thankfully, The Army Painter also included plenty of stainless steel mixing balls you can add to the bottles to improve the blending when shaking the paint.

Evil Chrome: This is a light warm coppery metallic paint. It could be used for highlighting more orange metallic paints like Citadel’s Balthasar Gold or Hashut Copper, or True Copper from the Warpaints range. Or use it on its own and darken it with a wash.

Tainted Gold: This is a gold paint with an aged, green hue, that also works for a realistic brass effect. I recommend adding a light silver paint such as Stormhost Silver or Shining Silver Warpaint for creating highlights.

Gemstone: A deep metallic red, mix it with Fairy Dust or light golden paints like Citadel’s Liberator Gold to create highlights. A perfect armour colour for Heresy era Thousand Sons.

Zephyr Pink: A bright warm pink. Another very vibrant metallic colour, a must-have paint for painting Slaanesh that would also make a sweet base colour for metallic Emperor’s Children armour. Should be mixed with Fairy Dust for highlights.

Royal Purple: A rich and warm purple metallic. Can be mixed with Zephyr Pink to create warmer, more pinkish highlights, or Fairy Dust for more pastel highlights.

Night Scales: Now this is a peculiar colour. The label suggests it’s a dark brown metallic paint such as Citadel’s Warplock Bronze or Rough Iron Warpaint, but in fact, it’s a very dark blue metallic paint with a hint of violet. A very unique colour that would look super cool on Shadow Aelves, or on Slaanesh or Drukhari armour. Can be mixed with a light silver paint such as Stormhost Silver or Shining Silver Warpaint for creating highlights, as well as Fairy Dust.

Glitter Green: An bright metallic green, very intense and vibrant. Mix with Fairy Dust for highlights.

Azure Magic: This is a vibrant turquoise metallic paint approved by Tzeentch. Would also be very suitable for Idoneth Deepkin.

Elven Armour: Another very vibrant metallic colour, this is a bright blue that leans slightly more towards the violet side. Can be mixed with Citadel’s Grey Knights Steel or Fairy Dust for highlights.

Note: This paint swatch was hand-painted on structured plasticard over grey primer and photographed under a 5500K daylight lamp to provide you with an as accurate colour reproduction as possible.

Besides the nine metallic colours, the set also included Fairy Dust, a metallic effect paint. It’s not an acrylic medium, and also not a silver. It’s a pearl, almost white metallic paint, similar to Scale 75’s White Alchemy, but a tiny nuance more yellowish. You can use it to lighten up any metallic paint, see the example with Gemstone red metallic paint above.

You can also mix Fairy Dust with regular acrylic paints to create a metallic version. For my example above, I used Citadel’s Mephiston Red. As you can see, the metallic effect will be more subdued, creating a subtle shimmering effect. The more Fairy Dust you add, the more pastel the result will be.

Last but not least, Fairy Dust can be used on its own, for example for pearl white Lumineth armour, but it will require quite a few coats for solid coverage, so I recommend switching to an airbrush for a more even finish.

The boxof The Army Painter's Metallic Colours Warpaints set

Value

The set is priced at 27,50 Euro / £ 24.99 RRP and includes ten 18 ml paints. That makes each paint 2,75 Euro / £ 2.49, and you get 20 mixing balls for free. The Army Painter’s Warpaints retail at 2,75 Euro / £ 2.49 for single paints, which is on par with Vallejo Game and Model Color, which come in 18 ml dropper bottles as well, and are priced at 2,99 Euro / £ 2.55 RRP. Regular Citadel metallic paints have an RRP of 3,60 Euro / £ 2.75, but they come in 12 ml flip-top containers. That means the price per ml is 0,153 Euro / £ 0.138 for metallic Warpaints, and 0,30 Euro / £ 0.23 for Citadel, almost double. The set is available directly from thearmypainter.com, or at our partner stores Wayland Games and Element Games at a 10% discount.

So, the value of the set is pretty decent, though you only save on buying the mixing balls. At this time, the metallic colours are only available as part of this set, so when you run out of a single paint, you need to get the complete set. Fingers crossed that all the colours will be available separately soon.

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Pros

  • Most vibrant metallic colours in the market
  • 18 ml dropper bottles
  • Stainless steel mixing balls included

Cons

  • Paints exclusively available in this set (so far)
  • Some paints require a good stir before use

Final Verdict

The Army Painter's Metallic Colours Paint Set comprises nine super vibrant metallic colours such as red, blue, and purple, plus a metallic effect paint to experiment with, perfect for expanding your paint collection.