Army Painter’s latest miniature paints are poised to rival James Workshop’s dominance

22 Apr at 19:27

Charlie Hall
is Polygon’s tabletop editor. In 10-plus years as a journalist & photographer, he has covered simulation, strategy, and spacefaring games, as well as public policy.

For just about as long as I can remember, products from The Army Painter have been judged a bit hit-or-miss by those in the painting community. Some colors were just okay, while others were best avoided entirely. All that’s changed over the past few years, however. Now, the Denmark-based company is a competitor in the space once again. Both of its two new lines of paint give industry leader Games Workshop a run for its money, and the newest is available to the public this week for the very first time.

The Army Painter’s fortunes began to turn in 2022 when it launched its line of Speedpaint, specially thinned formulations designed to compete with Games Workshop’s revolutionary line of Citadel Contrast paints. While the initial line had technical issues, the redesigned Speedpaint 2.0 out now works consistently and well. It provides one-coat base coloring and highlights when applied with a brush, making it a viable alternative to Games Workshop’s Contrast. It also works well through an airbrush, where its especially thin consistency is excellent for creating subtle tones and shading.

The big surprise, however, are the Speedpaint 2.0 metallic paints — something Games Workshop can’t compete with.

I’ve been playing around with them on and off for a month now, and I’m floored by how much coverage they provide out of the bottle. With Games Workshop metallics, I’m used to having to apply two, sometimes even three thin, patchy coats to get the kind of opacity that I’m looking for. With Speedpaint 2.0 it’s pretty much one-and-done.