Guides

Practical guides for miniature painters

Guides

Painting Techniques

A reference to every common technique, from base coating to OSL.

Paint Finishes & Ranges

Base, layer, shade, contrast - and the brand ranges explained.

Miniature Paintbrushes

Every brush type and what to look for in a good one.

Brush Care

Make your brushes last years instead of weeks.

How to Clean an Airbrush

The three levels of cleaning, and when each one is actually needed.

Recommended Tools

The hobby gear beyond paint and brushes worth owning.

Gift Ideas

The best gifts for painters at every budget.

Community Palettes

Create, publish and share your paint schemes.

Painting Techniques

Washes & Shades

The single highest-impact step in painting.

Edge Highlighting

Make armoured miniatures pop.

Drybrushing

Fast highlights for texture, fur and rust.

Thinning Paints

The habit that fixes most beginner problems.

Wet Blending

Smooth, seamless colour transitions.

Non-Metallic Metal (NMM)

Gold, silver and steel with matte paint - the theory and four ranges of recipes.

Slapchop

Grey undercoat, drybrush, contrast - a whole army fast.

Basing Miniatures

The finishing step that ties an army together.

Getting Started

How to Start Painting

Your first model, step by step.

Warhammer 40k for Beginners

Pick an army and get started.

Age of Sigmar for Beginners

Getting into the Mortal Realms.

How to Start Kill Team

The best low-model-count way in.

Horus Heresy Legions

Painting the 30k Space Marine Legions.

Painting Trench Crusade

Mud, rust, blood and bone - schemes for every warband.

Starter Kit

What you actually need to begin.

Warhammer Magazines

Combat Patrol Magazine

A subscriber's honest take - is the partwork worth it?

Spearhead Magazine

Every issue of the Age of Sigmar partwork on sale now, against the Spearhead boxes it rebuilds.

Imperium Magazine

Two 40k armies and a full paint set - all 90 issues, priced.

Stormbringer Magazine

The finished Age of Sigmar run, issue by issue, and which back issues are worth finding.

Mortal Realms Magazine

Stormcast against Nighthaunt - the first Age of Sigmar partwork, priced.

Prices & Deals

This Week's Deals

Price drops, seller spreads, and the boxes and sets that beat buying pieces.

Every Paint Set, Priced

Set price against buying the pots inside, with per-ml value.

Warhammer Boxes, Priced

Every box priced against the kits inside across the shops we track.

Buying Guides

Best Paint Sets by Value

Every set ranked by price per paint.

Best Paint for Miniatures

Which range to buy first.

Cheaper Than Citadel

Pot sizes, price per ml, and which swaps hold up.

Best Spray Primer

Black, white or grey, the cans compared, and how to spray without a furry finish.

Best Brushes

Synthetic vs sable, and the sizes you need.

Kolinsky Sable Brushes

What the money buys, and how to make it last.

Best Contrast Paints

Citadel vs Army Painter vs Vallejo.

Wet Palette Guide

The best upgrade for keeping paint workable.

Best Painting Lamp

Why CRI beats brightness, and which daylight lamp to buy.

Best Airbrush Compressor

Tank or tankless, how loud it really is, and what to buy at each budget.

Best Filament Dryer

One spool or four, how hot, and which one each market can buy - maker figures side by side.

Plastic Glue & Cement

Cement, super glue or PVA - and when each one is right.

Paint Racks & Storage

Pot shape decides the rack - Citadel pots versus dropper bottles.

Carry Cases & Army Transport

Pluck foam or pre-cut trays, and why a tray only ever fits one maker's case.

Paint Shakers & Mixers

Agitator balls, electric shakers and what actually mixes a pot.

Sprue Cutters & Nippers

Single-bevel vs double, the GodHand question, and cutting cleanly.

Static Grass Applicators

What an applicator buys you, and when tufts are enough.

Pin Vices & Magnets

Drilling, pinning and magnetising - the sizes and bits that fit.

Kill Team Terrain

What a killzone is, why it is not decoration, and which boxes have one.

Best 40k Terrain Sets

Every boxed 40k terrain set GW currently sell, ranked by what you actually get on the table for the money.

Paints by Game

Paints for Bolt Action

Vallejo vs Army Painter vs AK for 28mm WW2.

Paints for Necromunda

The underhive core, plus one colour per House.

Paints for Kill Team

Ten operatives changes what is worth buying.

Paints to Start 40k

One primer, four bases, two washes, two layers, a metal.

Lord of the Rings Paints

Rohan to Mordor - the film schemes, in pots you can buy today.

Paints for Star Wars: Legion

Stormtroopers, clones, rebels and droids - the old official sets, in pots you can still buy.

Paints for Shatterpoint

Hero-scale characters - white armour, faces, sabers and beskar.

BattleTech Paint Schemes

Every Great House, Clan and mercenary command, with the pots.