Best of: Tale of Painters April 2026

April was another review-heavy month, with no fewer than 8 unboxings covering over 16 kits and products! We also made the trip to Salute in London and have our full impressions to share, and Stahly has rediscovered his love for painting Aeldari. All that and more in this roundup of our best posts from April 2026.

Tale of Painters is the unofficial miniature painting hobby magazine. For over 15 years, we’ve been your go-to source for honest reviews of the latest Warhammer models, miniature paints, and hobby tools. We also have 300+ detailed tutorials and painting guides, and of course, inspiring paint jobs and projects to share. Here’s a roundup of our best posts this month.

Reviews

City of Ash has probably been the release of the month. Big box with bigger expectations? Check our review:

Plus more reviews:

• The new Defiler is one of Stahly’s favourite Chaos Space Marines kits ever made, and it comes with new Mutilators and an Iron Warriors Warsmith.
• A brand new Imperial Knight class with the Knight Destrier, plus Thalia Guld and Hastarii for the Adeptus Mechanicus
• More plastic goodness for the Legio Custodes in the shape of the Venatari Sodality and Coronus Grav-Carrier
• AK released a new set of markers filled with their Quick Gen one-coat paint, but are they better than The Army Painter’s Speedpaint markers?
• The Starcraft miniatures game looks super promising, and we unboxed the Hydralisks Zerg expansion set
• We have the Astra Militarum Armageddon wave reviewed: Battalion, Hippogriff AFV, Centaur RSV & Commissar Graves
• Plus more Armageddon reinforcements reviewed: Commissar Yarrick, Wazdakka Gutsmek, Intranzia Fraye & Inquisitor Kroyle

Also check out Stahly’s video comparing the new AK Quick Gen markers with Speedpaint markers and refillable markers from Green Stuff World:

Event report

The Tale of Painters crew visited the Salute tabletop and wargaming convention in London:

Miniature showcases

• Here’s how Infinity’s Lament rekindled Stahly’s love for painting Aeldari
• Dunk has shared some of his Cadian kitbashes: a mobile command vehicle and Cadian Rough Riders on dirt bikes

Patreon update

We’d love it if you supported our work on Patreon. In addition to weekly behind-the-scenes posts, you’ll get bonus content like extra high-res sprue images for all our Warhammer reviews and more detailed masterclass PDF tutorials. You’ll also be supporting Stahly’s paint swatch project. He’s made it his mission to catalogue the colours of all miniature paint brands into professional, cross-compatible paint swatches and keep them up to date.

Here are this month’s key updates:

• Update V1.2 for the combined Vallejo Game and Model Color swatch fixed a few typos and inconsistencies, so grab the free update here if you own a previous version.

Also check out the ever popular 7-in-1 colour matching document:

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.

Thank you for engaging with our content this month. We hope it provided some useful tips and inspiration for your hobby. Feel free to leave us your feedback or suggestions here in the comments or on the feedback channel of our friendly hobby Discord server. Thanks a lot, and happy hobbying!