Review: Two Thin Coats paints wave 3

In this review, we go through all 60 new Two Thin Coats paints from wave 3. Thanks to Kickstarter, Duncan Rhodes’ and Trans Atlantis Games’ paint range has now grown to over 180 colours, adding more bright paints, washes, and metallics alongside new triads. This includes six vibrant metallic hues ranging from orange to purple and green. A bold expansion or just another heap of paints in an already saturated market?

About Two Thin Coats

The Two Thin Coats paint range was launched in 2019 by Trans-atlantis Games and its namesake, Duncan Rhodes. Duncan was one of the first and most well-known painting presenters on Games Workshop’s YouTube channel, and since leaving the company, he’s continued to enjoy success with his video tutorials through the Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy. Two Kickstarter campaigns have since been successfully funded, each introducing 60 colours along with some special effect paints, and wave 3 with another 60 colours has just been fulfilled. This brings the total range to over 180 colours, which is on par with other major miniature paint ranges.

In this review, we’ll be focusing on the 60 colours from wave 3. We’ve already discussed the paint properties of Two Thin Coats in detail in our reviews of wave 1 (click here) and wave 2 (click here). In short, Two Thin Coats are acrylic paints in 15ml dropper bottles that impress with their exceptional covering power, velvety consistency, and matte finish. Many of the colours are also closely matched to the Citadel Colour range, making the transition easier for users.

Updates for existing colours from wave 1 and 2

Trans-atlantis Games and Duncan have been listening to our feedback, and as a result, they’ve addressed several community concerns in subsequent production batches. The initial batches of TTC Vampire Fang and TTC Runic Purple had a tendency to develop a clumpy consistency after a short period. This issue has now been resolved. The metallic paints from waves 1 and 2 have also been optimised and now offer slightly improved coverage, as the knowledge gained from formulating the coloured metallics from wave 3 has been applied here. However, I’ve found that the metallic paints now require a bit more shaking, the improved covering power made the formulation more dense.

The colours in wave 3 reviewed

Here is an overview of all the colours from wave 3:

The warm triads

The new pastel yellow triad expands the original yellow triad with brighter, more pastel hues. TTC Sun Bleach Yellow is very close to Citadel’s Dorn Yellow. Additionally, there are two new red triads. One is an orange-red, and the other is a cool red featuring TTC Centurion Red, TTC Emporer Red, and TTC Amphora Red, which correspond to Citadel’s Wild Rider Red, Wazdakka Red, and Gal Vorbak Red respectively. There’s a bit of redundancy with TTC Inferno Orange and TTC Centurion Red, which are quite similar. The same is true for the dark reds in wave 3 and some of the dark reds from waves 1 and 2.

You can compare the differences and similarities in the red tones in my newly updated Two Thin Coats colour swatch. This now includes all colours, including wave 3, as well as comparison charts with the Citadel Colour equivalents:

This hand-painted swatch is available in my Patreon shop for a small donation (or by becoming an Autarch tier member). I also have swatches for Citadel Colour, Vallejo Game and Model Color, Warpaints Fanatic, Pro Acryl and AK 3rd Gen – all cross-compatible with each other so you can compare colours across different brands. Check out my shop for details.

Wave 3 introduces two new purple triads. The first is warmer and more red-toned than the Wave 1 triad, with TTC Enchantress Purple matching GW’s Xereus Purple, and TTC Spectral Purple resembling Genestealer Purple, but a touch warmer. The second purple triad is highly desaturated, echoing Warpfiend Grey, Slaanesh Grey, and Daemonette Purple. However, TTC Decadent Purple and TTC Enticing Purple are slightly less grey than their Citadel equivalents.

There’s also a triad of pale, desaturated greens, ideal as a complement to the Greenskin triad from Wave 2. For zombie flesh they wouldn’t be greyish enough for me, but the lightest colour, TTC Pestilence Green is useful for brightening greens. It’s not as muted as Deepskin Flesh, more resembling old Rotting Flesh from the 2000s Citadel paint range. We also got a triad with a light ochre yellow that isn’t quite found in the Citadel range, as well as a new warm brown triad. While it’s warm, it’s not as orange/red as some of the previous brown tones from earlier releases, making it a nice addition to the range.

The cool triads

I noticed the new blue triad in wave 3 is very similar to the existing TTC Gigawatt Blue, TTC Leviathan Blue and TTC Witching Hour Blue from wave 2. I would have liked to see more differentiation here, perhaps something closer to a denim blue like Games Workshop’s Alaitoc Blue and Hoeth Blue. There’s also a petrol-grey triad, where TTC Shadow Blue and TTC Faust Blue are roughly equivalent to Thunderhawk Blue and Dark Reaper. They’re a little more teal than the blue-grey triad from wave 1.

One of my favouritesis the mint-green triad. TTC Oxidation Green is most comparable to Incubi Darkness, while the lighter tones lean towards a muted blue-green verdigris colour that you won’t find in the Citadel range. There’s also a new dark blue-green triad, with its lightest colour TTC Legion Green matching GW’s Sons of Horus Green. The other colours in the triad, TTC Traitor Green and TTC War Master Green, are even darker. I could have done without TTC War Master Green, as it’s very similar to TTC Hydra Green from wave 2. I would have preferred to have a lighter green for in this triad. Instead you’ll have to rely on TTC Mythic Turquoise from the mint green triad, or mixing TTC Legion Green with a lighter green such as TTC Elixir Green.

The six new Bright paints

Wave 3 also introduces six new Bright colours. These are paints that sit on the lighter end of the spectrum. You can expand the existing triads with them, for example for edge highlights or mixing to lighten colours. TTC Cyber Pink is a new intense pink, similar to Pink Horror and TTC Perisher Pink but a little cooler. TTC Elixir Green, like Gauss Blaster Green, is a bright blue-green. TTC Solar Flare is a bright orange, slightly yellower than TTC Flaming Forge Orange from wave 2 and GW Lugganath Orange. TTC Ion Blue is equivalent to GW’s Blue Horror. TTC Septic Green adds a bright lime green, although I feel it lacks a bit of saturation and vibrancy, in real life it seems a bit more muted than in the photo. Finally, TTC Pale Skin is a new light Caucasian skin tone, which I really like because it’s less ochre/yellow than Flayed One Flesh from the Citadel range.

New coloured metallics

Wave 3 introduces a total of 12 new metallic paints, including a set of coloured metallics. As mentioned above, Trans atlantis Games has optimized the formula of their metallic paints. The metallic particles in their paint are small, aluminium-based from what I can tell, offering excellent coverage. You’ll need to shake the paints well though.

New additions include TTC Blue Steel, a blueish silver that’s slightly less blue than GW’s Grey Knights Steel. TTC Heirloom Gold is a dark gold tone, a bit darker than on the photo, while TTC Bitz O’Tin is a dark metallic brown, a shade lighter than Citadel Warplock Bronze. TTC Ancient Gold, as the name suggests, is more of an antique, greenish gold, darker and more greenish than the photos suggest. TTC Doom Metal, on the other hand, is an almost black dark brown, while TTC Chaos Bronze is a warm copper/bronze tone, equivalent to Castallax Bronze.

The six colored metallic paints include a rich purple, a green, an orange, a red, a turquoise, and a blue. My must-haves would be TTC Fire Opal, TTC Omega Blue, and especially TTC Emperor’s Purple, the richest metallic purple I’ve ever tried. The red is a bit more pastel than in the photo, and I’ve seen similar shades of blue and green in other ranges like Vallejo Mecha Color. However, if you don’t already have coloured metallics in your collection, you can’t do much wrong with Two Thin Coats.

Washes and Effect paints in wave 3

Last but not least, wave 3 also includes several washes and effect paints. TTC Smoke Grey Wash is a light grey wash and Two Thin Coats’ answer to Soulblight Grey. TTC Hazard Yellow Wash is an intense yellow-orange wash, similar to Cassandora Yellow. TTC Aztec Turquoise Wash is a very unique wash, in comparison to Coela Greenshade it’s a bit darker and blueish. There’s also TTC Bone Wash, which is quite reddish-brown. Not what I would have in mind for painting skeletons, but I could see it working well for skin tones.

Wave 3 is rounded off with a high-quality matte and gloss varnish (update 13/11/2024: the matte varnish will be replaced with a satin varnish, the matte varnish will appear further down the road). For Kickstarter supporters, there are also three new effect colors: TTC Light Verdigris is very similar to GW’s Nihilakh Oxide. TTC Toxic Goo is a glossy, slimy green-brown, but I miss the additional particles found in the similar Citadel Nurgle Rot or Warpaints Fanatic Oozing Vomit. TTC Troll Blood is a glossy, transparent dark purple.

Note: The photos of the painted models are taken from Trans atlantis Games, they’re not mine. I found they are fairly accurate (with a few exceptions, so you might want to check my hand-painted chart instead).

How to get Two Thin Coats

Wave 3 should be available in stores across the UK and Europe soon. In the US, currently only wave 1 is available (for example, at our partner Noble Knight Games), but Trans-atlantis Games is working hard to make the rest available there as well.

You can find the latest hobby products at our 🇬🇧/🇪🇺 partner stores Wayland Games, Element Games, and Firestorm Games, at 🇩🇪 Taschengelddieb and PK-Pro, and at 🇺🇸 Noble Knight Games with a welcome discount of up to 10–15% over RRP. Using our links helps to support Tale of Painters at no additional cost to you, so thank you very much for using them!

I hope you found this review helpful, feel free to leave a reaction or comment below, or post your questions here or discuss on our Discord channel.