This post is a must-read if you’re passionate about miniature paints or thinking about giving your paint collection a proper update. I’ll be crowning the top five paint releases of 2025, after spending the entire year testing paints for you. Which new paint products offer a genuine leap in quality that you’ll feel in your day-to-day painting; which paint brands are worth their money, and which ones you’re better off skipping – I’ll tell you in this guide.
In this post/video I’ve got three things for you: first, a full recap of every new miniature paint product released in 2025, and spoiler: there were a lot. Then I’ll crown my top 5 to separate the wheat from the chaff. Because the truth is, hobby time is far too precious to waste with sub-par paints. And third, I’ll also give you a look ahead at some exciting releases coming in 2026, as I’ve already got several secret prototypes on my desk – and I’d like to share a few of them with you. By the end of the video, you’ll know which new paints are actually worth your hard-earned hobby budget:
The definite miniature paint recap of 2025
Right then, let’s jump into the recap of 2025. The miniature-paint segment was once again in full swing this year. For my list I’ve focused on new paint ranges and expansions of acrylic paints aimed at miniature painters, whether for tabletop armies or display pieces. And I’m quite sure there’s at least one release here that you might have missed 😉
A controversial start
In January, the Masterclass paint sets from now-retired legendary Games Workshop art director John Blanche were released (review here). But not by Games Workshop, as you might assume, but by The Army Painter. That caused a fair bit of friction behind the scenes, and in the content creator sphere as well. Controversy continued in spring with the Ionic Smart Colours (review here), a joint effort between Big Child Creatives and Ammo Mig, which later descended into a rather unpleasant legal dispute. On a more positive note, at Adepticon, the paints from the US start-up Bear Cavalry were quite a hit. I’ve got them here already, and my first impressions were quite positive, though I’ve not managed to make a video yet.
Next up was a new Kickstarter from Scale75, who launched Scalecolor Games, a new sub-range of 48 colours. The Spanish colleagues at AK Interactive were also very active in 2025. Alongside a set of artist-grade acrylics – the Dense Acrylics – AK released a beginner-friendly line of brush-tip acrylic markers. The Playmarkers (review here) seem to be a real hit, and 2025 was very much the year of the marker. And towards the end of the year, the Quick Gen paints finally arrived (review here), AK’s answer to Citadel Contrast and The Army Painter’s Speedpaint. Speaking of The Army Painter, they released Speedpaints in marker form this autumn (review here), plus new Warpaint Historical paint sets that expand their Fanatic line (review here).
A turbulent second half of the year
But let’s stick to the chronology. In the second half of the year, Steamforged Games relaunched the classic Formula P3 range from Privateer Press via Kickstarter, with an optimised formula and new metallics (review here). From Pro Acryl we saw heavy body Expert Acrylics, and two new AMP paint sets produced in collaboration with Atomic Mass Games (review here). Kimera released signature paint sets as well as the Velvet Inks, funded through Kickstarter. Towards the end of the year, the Dark Arts Kickstarter from Two Thin Coats was delivered, introducing 30 new grimdark-style paints (review here). And at the Scale Model Challenge and Spiel in Essen, Vallejo’s True Metallic Metal paints landed like a bomb – they promise to take metallic paints to a new level (review here). Green Stuff World also released five new extra “vivid” metallic paints at the end of the year (review here), as well as a range of drybrush paints in May.
Phew, quite a lot to take in. Have I missed anything major? Let me know in the comments.
Ranking the Top 5 paint releases of 2025
And now, from this long list of releases I’ll pick my top five of the year. And there’s a little look ahead to 2026 coming up as well.
5th place – AK Quick Gen
Let’s start with fifth place, and here we’re talking about one-coat paints. One-coat paints – meaning ink-based colours that tint and shade in a single application – have become a hobby staple since the launch of Citadel Contrast. Other manufacturers like The Army Painter and Vallejo followed suit, and in 2025 AK finally joined in as well. Perhaps a little late to the party, but the overall Quick Gen package is spot on: a well-rounded selection of 79 colours, including military tones and a few metallics, all at a very competitive price. At least in Europe they’re noticeably cheaper than Speedpaint or Xpress Color, and that’s with AK’s reliably high quality.
In terms of consistency and brush feel, I’d say they’re the closest product yet to Citadel Contrast. They’re a little thicker than Speedpaint or Xpress Color, which makes them slightly easier to control on the model, though they can sometimes dry a bit patchier on smooth surfaces. For this reason, when it comes to slapchop and zenithal undercoats I’d personally reach for Speedpaint or Xpress Color instead, but for classic Contrast-style painting over a white or light primer, Quick Gen is a fantastic alternative.
The IMO best feature, though, is the intensity rating printed on the labels. Especially with Citadel Contrast, there are colours that behave more like a wash and others that have a very strong and dark tint, but how do you know before trying. With Quick Gen there’s much less guesswork now. And even if the rating isn’t always perfectly accurate, it’s still a very useful guide.
Find an in-depth review of AK Quick Gen paints here. Get AK Quick Gen with a discount at our partner stores here.
4th place – Speedpaint markers
In fourth place we have… markers. Miniature paints in marker form were the big thing this year. At Spiel, every booth that offered markers to try was absolutely swamped. I spent a long time debating whether to nominate AK’s Playmarkers, which are based on opaque acrylic paint with a brush tip, or the Speedpaint markers from The Army Painter. I eventually went with the Speedpaint markers because they work surprisingly well, and I also like that they are more sustainable thanks to their replaceable tips.
Speedpaint has already brought a new audience into miniature painting, and markers could bring in another, and together that is a fantastic signal for the hobby. Even though they are entry level products, you can still achieve some really cool effects with them as an advanced painter. They are also incredibly quick and convenient to use: just take the cap off and go, and they are easy to carry around.
Speaking of convenience, you can download a free hand painted chart with all Speedpaint colours here, highly accurate and with little symbols marking which colours are available as markers. I have free charts for Contrast and AK Quick Gen there as well. With these I promise you will find the perfect shade for your next project.
Find an in-depth review of the Speedpaint markers here. Get The Army Painter Speedpaint markers with a discount at our partner stores here.
3rd place – P3 hobby paints
In third place I have chosen some paints that have been with me for many years in the hobby. Availability had been getting worse and worse over the years though, and other paint ranges had started to outshine them. I’m talking about P3, which was resurrected thanks to Steamforged Games and Kickstarter in 2025. The formula was carefully modernised and some weak covering or inconsistent colours were improved, but on the brush they still feel exactly as they used to. They are creamy and rich, fantastic for wet blending, and the finish is as satin glossy as you remember. I also appreciate that they now come in dropper bottles instead of pots. The completely reworked metallics are pretty good as well, with very solid coverage and a lovely finish thanks to aluminium flakes. All of the darker metallics are excellent, though for the lighter ones there are now better options out there, which I will talk about later in this guide. Another minor drawback is the price, P3 is relatively expensive.
Even so, P3 made it into my top three, and for one simple reason: you probably know this feeling as well. You switch to a new paint range because you’ve heard the quality is so much better, you’re happy with it, and slowly adapt your painting process. But somehow you end up missing that one beloved shade and still reach for an ancient pot lurking in your collection. That’s exactly how I always felt about P3. There were some truly delightful colours in that range. Obviously this is all a matter of taste, but together with Citadel Colour, the P3 palette was always my favourite in terms of colour choices and selection.
And you can see for yourselves: if you’re as much of a paint nerd as I am, I’ve created a digital reproduction of the entire new P3 range with real hand-painted samples. You can find the chart in my Patreon shop for a small donation, and I’ve also got swatches of all the other popular paint ranges: highly accurate, professionally digitised, and cross-compatible, so you can perfectly compare colours across different brands.
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 Pro Acryl, AK 3rd Gen, Vallejo Game & Model Color, Citadel Colour, and more – all cross-compatible with each other so you can compare colours across different brands. Check out my shop for details.
I’m looking forward to the second wave of P3 in 2026. I already have some of the prototypes (I shared my first impressions in this post), including several gorgeous new colours and some seriously impressive high-end metallics. When they’re released, there’ll of course be a free update for my P3 colour swatch.
Find an in-depth review of P3 here. Get P3 hobby paints with a discount at our partner stores here.
2nd place – Ionic Smart Colors
Okay, so my second place is going to be controversial. It all started with something of a supergroup within the miniature painting scene: Spanish painting studio Big Child Creatives and Ammo Mig, well known in the scale modelling world. Their joint paint range was named Ionic Smart Colors, but shortly after launch things got nasty, as I hinted at the beginning of the video. But my channel is about paint quality, not drama, and in terms of quality Ionic is genuinely fantastic. The paints are creamy and intensely pigmented, and the many reds are a dream, especially the bright ones which immediately became part of my daily rotation. Even more muted colours like browns and bone have brilliant depth and richness. The finish is matte with a slight sheen, which I really like. Blending, mixing, glazing, all goes super smoothly. The metallics are a bit tricky though. They have very high reflectivity and sparkle, but separate very quickly, sometimes even straight on the brush. I will give you a better recommendation for metallics later in this guide.
But the non metallic paints are top tier. If you love vibrant, saturated colours but do not want to deal with heavy body artist acrylics and prefer the ease of ready to go hobby paint instead, you should definitely give Ionic a try. For me it is a new benchmark in the hobby segment and one that upcoming paints will have to measure up against, such as the Mini Colours from Artis Opus and Cult of Paint, which are coming in 2026.
Find an in-depth review of Ionic Smart Colors here. Get Ionic paints with a discount at our partner stores here.
A look ahead to 2026
Speaking of 2026, let’s have a quick look at what is coming next year before we get to my number one paint product of 2025. As just mentioned, Mini Colour will launch next year. The Kickstarter was very successful and I have already been able to test the prototypes and was impressed, a real labour of love. Also funded via Kickstarter is Ultracryl, which is positioning itself as ultra premium in terms of pigment and raw material purity. Backers have already received their sets, so if you have them, let me know in the comments what you think. I hope they will reach retail in 2026 so I can test them properly.
Then, Reaper will return next year with a Kickstarter for a 2.0 relaunch of the Reaper Master Series. Anne Foerster, who developed the original palette of Master Series, is back for this project and I also got my hands on the prototypes, more about them soon. From AK we can look forward to an updated and expanded line of acrylic washes, now available in dropper bottles. And then of course we have the second wave of P3, with even more colours and a line of ultra premium metallics.
1st place – Vallejo True Metallic Metal
Right, drumroll please… my number one spot goes to… definitely not your run-of-the-mill acrylic paints. When it comes to standard acrylics, the bar is already set remarkably high. Whether you prefer Pro Acryl, AK, Vallejo, or indeed the new Ionic Smart Colors, it’s almost purely a matter of personal taste, as the quality differences are becoming increasingly marginal. But metallics? There’s still room for improvement in my opinion.
Don’t get me wrong, there are already many excellent metallic paints in the miniature painting space, but I’ve always had to cobble together my collection from completely different ranges. A paint range where all the metallic colours are genuinely exceptional, from light to dark, silver to gold, and crucially those rainbow candy colours… that simply didn’t exist. Until now. Vallejo’s True Metallic Metal paints dropped at the end of the year and immediately worked their way into my daily rotation.
Vallejo already had solid metallics in their catalogue, but with the True Metallic Metal range they’ve managed to bring together the best aspects of all their previous metallic paints in a single product. They’re similar to the already excellent new Model Color metallics, so extremely high covering power and very fine metallic particles. They’re also the first metallic paints that genuinely thin and wet-blend well; you can even glaze with them without feeling like you’re fighting against the paint. Tricky colours like bright golds and the rainbow coloured metallics cover just as well as the silvers, while remaining vibrant rather than the washed-out pastels you often get from coloured metallics by other brands.
Vallejo True Metallic Metal is a complete system containing 20 colour families, each with four paints – 80 colours in total. Each family includes a light metallic, a darker base paint, a matching shade wash, and the base colour again in a pre-thinned airbrush version. If you can only pick up one new paint range from this video, I’d suggest True Metallic Metal – and no, I’m not being paid to say that. But be aware you probably don’t need all 80 colours. I’d recommend the Light and Base paints first, as the Shade and Airbrush versions aren’t quite as essential in my opinion. I explain why in my True Metallic Metal deep dive review:
Find an in-depth review of Vallejo True Metallic Metal here. Get True Metallic Metal with a discount at our partner stores here.
Where to get
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