Review: John Blanche Masterclass sets Vol. 3 and 4

This is an honest and unsponsored review of the new John Blanche Masterclass Sets Vol. 3 and 4. After the first two paint sets, the second wave has arrived, this time with a warm-and-cold theme and loads of absolutely not grimdark vivid colours. I’m going through the 20 all-new Warpaints Fanatic colours and tell you whether and for whom the sets are really worth it. Is this exploiting a cash cow or a genuine upgrade for your painting station? You’ll find out in this post.

This is an honest and unsponsored review of the new John Blanche Masterclass Sets Vol. 3 and 4, which are out now. On YouTube, The Army Painter gets a lot of praise, but after testing these two sets, I can’t quite agree. Instead of Blanchitsu, there’s now a warm-and-cold theme. Is this still grimdark, or just milking a cash cow?

Testing the John Blanche Masterclass Sets Vol. 3 and Vol. 4

In this video I’m testing all 20 new colours, telling you what I liked and what I didn’t, so that by the end you’ll know whether these sets are a genuine upgrade for your paint collection or can be safely skipped:

So for this review I’ve prepared three segments for you:

1. We’re looking at the 10 cold colours from Set 3.
2. We’re going through the 10 warm and high-saturation colours from Set 4.
3. You’ll get my honest verdict, and I’ll tell you what type of painter I’d recommend the sets for, and for whom not.

Because not every paint is equally well suited for every painting style, and with my YouTube channel I want to help you find the best miniature paints for your needs. Because painting is way more fun when the paint is working for you, not against you.

Honest review disclaimer: Not sponsored by The Army Painter

First a disclaimer: I received the paints for testing, but I’m not one of The Army Painter’s Inner Circle of sponsored content creators. On YouTube you’ll find many videos that rave about Army Painter and the John Blanche paint sets in particular. My reviews here on Tale of Painters and on my YouTube channel are always honest and independent. I’m very happy to tell you when I find something really good, but when I have criticism, I don’t hold back. And I do have a few things to criticise about the new John Blanche sets.

What’s in the new John Blanche Masterclass Sets?

The presentation of the two new sets is identical to the first two volumes (which I reviewed here). You get 10 completely new Warpaints Fanatic paints in 18 ml dropper bottles each, as well as a small art print by John Blanche himself. The Army Painter pulled off a real coup, winning the legendary former Games Workshop art director in his retirement for their brand. The first two sets, which appeared at the start of 2025, covered the classic grimdark Blanchitsu palette, which is at least partially inspired by the Swedish painter Anders Zorn. Additionally, there were some darker colours meant to fill some gaps in the Warpaints Fanatic core range.

The two new sets now move away from the classic Blanche palette, but were at least created in close collaboration with John. One set is devoted to cold tones, the other to warm. Let’s start with Volume 3 and the cold colours, which is quite fortunate as I’ve got more positives to share about this set than Volume 4.

Volume 3 review: Cold tones and teal paints

Vol. 3 contains 8 acrylic paints in the familiar Fanatic quality plus 2 new washes. We have cold blues, teals, magenta, and brown.

Let’s start with the teal paints. There’s WPF Dewpath, a midtone teal, which is somewhat more desaturated compared to the turquoise paints in the core Fanatic range. Next we have WPF Bramble Grove, also a teal, but significantly more of a teal-grey. Now, these do exactly what you expect from Fanatic paints: the covering power is excellent, the consistency is somewhat thicker, so you should add a drop of water, and the finish has a slight satin sheen like Citadel. Both colours pair well with WPF Pine Hollow Shade, a dark teal wash. Like all Fanatic washes, it has high surface tension and flows easily into recessed details. Teal coloured washes are rare, so WPF Pine Hollow Shade definitely goes into my collection.

For highlighting you’ll find WPF Skyshard in the box, an almost white turquoise that’s even lighter than Marine Mist from the core range. I mix this to lighten WPF Dewpath, which reminded me of some of the issues I’ve always had with Warpaints Fanatic. WPF Skyshard leans toward that very thick, pasty consistency that some Fanatic paints are prone to. It seems to me there’s too much pigment in it. Maybe it’s just my bottle, but the paint seems tacky, even when thinned. And because Fanatic paints also dry comparatively quickly, this made it more difficult for me pulling off advanced techniques like feathering and edge highlights.

Or is it just me? Please tell me about your experiences with the Fanatic range in the comments. Other modern paint ranges like Two Thin Coats, Ionic, or the new Vallejo Game and Model Colors have an extended drying time. The longer working window makes it easier for me to achieve smoother blendings and accurate edge highlights.

Testing the cold blues and purples from Volume 3

For the other half of the set, we have a dark blue, WPF Shadow Thorn and a medium blue, WPF Frostveil. I have to say, these are quite similar to existing blue paints in the Fanatic core range. The same applies to WPF Moonpetal and WPF Iceborn. Here too there are overlaps with the Pink and Desaturated Violets flexible triads from the core range, as you can see in the video. Additionally, WPF Iceborn has the same problem as WPF Skyshard, it’s a bit clumpy.

Now, if you already own many Fanatic paints, definitely check my hand-painted Warpaints Fanatic swatch before buying the set. I’ve now updated it with the John Blanche paints. With the swatch you can see exactly whether you already have similar colours in your collection.

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 Color, AK 3rd Gen, and Two Thin Coats – all cross-compatible with each other so you can compare colours across different brands. Check out my shop for details.

The update is free if you have the old version, and there’s also an update for my 7-in-1 colour matching document. This document has all the colours from the most popular paint ranges like Citadel, Pro Acryl and Warpaints Fanatic. Over 1,200 colours in total, all clearly organised by colour families and chroma, it’s the perfect reference for matching colours between different manufacturers or planning your next project or paint purchases.

Over 1,100 accurate hand-painted colour samples, covering the seven most popular miniature paint ranges (Citadel, Warpaints Fanatic, Vallejo Game & Model Color, AK 3rd Gen, Pro Acryl, and Two Thin Coats). Sorted by colour families, hue, value, and saturation, in an interactive PDF document with a handy navigation and helpful appendix about colour reproduction. Check out my Patreon shop for details.

One of my favourite colours from the Volume 3 set is actually WPF Ashroot, a desaturated brown with a hint of violet. You don’t really find a brown tone like this in other paint ranges. It fits well into the set’s colour palette, and I can also imagine it very well as a base colour for dark skin. Last but not least, we have WPF Nightroot Shade, a desaturated dark purple wash, more muted than WPF Purple Tone wash from the core Fanatic range or Druchii Violet from Games Workshop.

Volume 4 review: is this still grimdark?

Volume 4 also has 10 colours, 8 acrylic paints and also two new washes. By the way, the art print is the same as in the other set. Most striking in Volume 4 are definitely the four high-saturation colours. Bright punchy colours aren’t the first thing I think of with John Blanche’s art style, and the Warpaints Fanatic range isn’t exactly known for its vibrant colours either. This set is probably an attempt to address that issue.

Testing vivid yellows, oranges, and greens

We have WPF Sunpetal, a saturated neutral yellow reminiscent of a bismuth yellow, but of course doesn’t contain genuine bismuth pigment. As you can see, it has high saturation but covers quite poorly over a dark basecoat, as you would expect from a bright pure yellow. WPF Warped Yellow from the core range covers much better after a single coat because it has more white opaque pigment in it, but is thus more pastel. So that’s the difference.

Then we have WPF Emberveil, an intense orange that you can see here on the test model, and WPF Blood Thorn, a hot pink. The paints flow better than most other Fanatic paints, as they’re somewhat more fluid, probably because they’re not so overloaded with pigment and opaque fillers. More pigment isn’t always better, too much can negatively affect the flow properties or “brushability” of a paint.

The colours pop nicely on white undercoat, so mission accomplished. But as you can see with WPF Gladeshard, which is the light vibrant green, even on white you would need to apply multiple coats for an even basecoat. So these vivid colours are a quite nice addition to the Fanatic range, however, it must be said that The Army Painter hasn’t reinvented the wheel here. High-saturated paints with pure pigment mixes have existed for a long time in other hobby paint ranges, and of course artist acrylic paints. But it’s nice to have that option within the Warpaints ecosystem as well.

Warm browns and skin tones in Volume 4

Then we have some other colours in Volume 4 that are more muted: WPF Thicket Grove is a dark olive green and WPF Rootpath a dark khaki brown. Here again there are overlaps with very similar colours from the Fanatic core range. So consult my Warpaints Fanatic swatch for comparison to see whether you really need the John Blanche versions if you already have many olive greens from the core range.

WPF Hearthborn is a light Caucasian skin tone. There are already very many skin tones in the Warpaints Fanatic range, this one is a bit more yellowish/peachy. And then there’s WPF Umberroot, a dark warm brown. Somehow the Fanatic range has problems with dark brown paints. They all seem so dull compared to most other paint ranges, and Umberroot is no exception there either. It goes somewhat in the direction of WPF Carnelian Skin from the core range, so basically more of the same.

Again it’s the washes I like the most in this set. WPF Grove Hollow Shade is a nice olive green wash that I’ve just used in my free Nurgle Rotswords tutorial, and WPF Vineroot Shade has the colour of spilled blood. It goes in the direction of Berserker Bloodshade from Games Workshop, so that makes it a really nice alternative.

Where to get & best alternatives

That covers all the colours from Volume 4, and as you may have noticed, this set raised a few more concerns for me. If you want something more grimdark, then make sure to check out the new Dark Arts paints from Two Thin Coats. You’ll find out what these do differently than The Army Painter in this review post, where I also have a comparison with the first two John Blanche sets:

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.