Vallejo Game Color Advanced Acrylic Paint Set - Assorted Colours (Pack of 16)

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As you’d expect, though, some colours base easier than others. The yellows and oranges are absolutely horrific to basecoat with – as they are in other ranges. It took me ages to get a decent level of opacity on the leprechaun’s head and the beak on the Lord-Imperatant’s cloak. To a degree, the same is true for the bronze paints, which are also rather thin, here I would prefer Runelord Brass and Brass Scorpion. Hammered Copper and Tinny Tin are decent, however, and cover well. There are also quite a few new colours that close some of the gaps of the old range, 44 colours in total. Nevertheless, the Game Color range is quite small compared to Citadel or Reaper, and what I’m still missing are petrol colours, more grey tones, dark skin tones, and more muted and natural light skin tones, as all of the light skin tones in the Game Color range are quite pink and peach. New Game Colors’ features & properties Paint is one of those personal things. Some people love certain paints that others hate and vice-versa. As such, it’s very difficult to try and slap a catch-all conclusion on such a dynamic and varied paint range. As with just about every aspect of this hobby, certain people will love parts of this range, whilst others won’t. I myself love the browns and the blues – and even rather like the greys and whites – in this range, but would quite happily never touch the yellows ever again. Layering is when the Vallejo Game Color paints really come into their own. They are spectacular layer paints and are ideal for blending. Just make sure you shake them like crazy before trying to use them, and be ready to thin things down with a little water, as you would a normal paint.

The Lord-Imperatant you see below has been painted almost entirely with Vallejo paints in this box (some Mechanicus Standard Grey and Dawnstone on the base, some Screamer Pink and Warpfiend Grey on the purple leather of the handles on his weapons, and a dash of Apothecary White on his hair). Personally, I prefer the formula of the new Xpress Colors, and I’m not sure whether having two almost identical products in a single paint range was really necessary. I would have preferred the Inks to be migrated to the Xpress Color range instead, but that’s just me. Remember, when painting miniatures it’s not always about right or wrong, but different approaches that are all equally valid. There are many roads that lead to Terra, and if you were an avid user of the old Game Color Inks then you’ll be happy they haven’t changed. Game Color Fluorescent paints review There are some really lovely browns in the range too, as you can see on the boats, gloves, chest armour and hat on the figure above. The browns seem to have the best consistencies: not only are they good and smooth, but they also react very well to being thinned with water and maintain a good spread of colour when applied to a figure. Layering Vallejo is that paint brand people first go to when stepping out of the “Citadel Comfort Zone”. You know, that point in your hobby life where you know the Citadel range inside and out. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this whatsoever, Citadel make great stuff.Let’s take a look at the 80 regular acrylic paints first. These cover most bases from all primary and secondary colours, bone, brown and skintone colours, and greyscale paints as well. The red did not go on as well. The reds in the Game OClour range strike me as being exceptionally watery, so getting them a good consistency for airbrushing is difficult. You’ll need to use the smallest amount of thinner you can, and then gradually add small, individual drops of red to get the consistency just right. On the base of the figure above, you can see where the paint has smeared on the base, as opposed to applying properly. As you may suspect, though, there are certain paints within the range that are better at being drybrushed than others. This is another feather in the Game Color range’s cap. In spite of their relative thinness, you can basecoat with a Game Color paint, you’ll just need to build your colour up in a lot of layers. You can also use the exact same paints for layering, so you’re not limited by the range in any way.

I then swapped in a more familiar-looking Games Workshop figure (a Lord-Imperatant from the new AoS 3.0 ranges) to test out some of the metallic paints. I found the metallic paints actually went through the airbrush and onto a figure very well. Given how good Vallejo’s Metal Color Airbrush range is, this shouldn’t really have been a surprise. This compact range has been especially developed to contain all the frequently used colours in fantasy figures, in a formula particularly designed for adherence on plastics and metals, using a new resin of unequalled durability and resistance to scrapes and abrasion. Colours brush on easily and smoothly, and dry to an opaque, matte finish. Their finely ground texture makes them perfect for the most miniature details as well as for large surfaces. They are highly pigmented, light fast and waterproof once dry. Errors can be corrected immediately with water or a small amount of alcohol. I am really disappointed with the gold colours, though. Shining Gold and Glorious Gold are not only thin but weak, and need quite a few coats to cover. By now, we have many better options for gold paints, and I recommend Retributor Armour, as well as Duncan Rhode’s Two Thin Coats and ProAcryl golds, which just cover so much better. The Game Inks also stayed pretty much the same, which is good news for those that liked the old Game Color Inks. However, they removed Brown and Smokey Ink, which of all things were the only ones I was still using, and added a new Magenta Ink, Dark Turquoise Ink, and White Ink instead.Still, those few paints aside, some of the paints are superb – the greens, the browns, the blues and the greys in particular – but others require a bit of patience. Again, this applies double to the reds, oranges and yellows.