Vallejo versus Army Painter. Thoughts and experiences?

[Helias_Tancred]

Subject says it all. Vallejo paints, bth Model Color and Game Color, versus Army Painter's newest Fanatic offerings. What are your thoughts and experiences on both? Especially if you regularly use both?

 

I still use a majority of GW paints, but I also use a considerable number of Army Painter Fanatic paints, and a smaller amount of Vallejo paints. I recently used Vallejo spray paint for the first time and was blown away, excellent product. Will be my new go-to for black, and possibly other colors too? I've always used Vallejo alongside my GW paints mostly for colors that GW didn't have, with the exception of a pure white and black, which IMO Vallejo's are a better quality, that is why I started using them in the first place, looking for a better replacement for Abaddon Black and White Scar. I started using Army Painter Wargamer paints as a substitute for a GW paint that my LGS was out of. I was pleasantly surprised with their older Wargamer line. I like their new Fanatic line too.

 

So anyways I'm finding myself starting to get a few Vallejo paints, and I lean more towards the Model Color line. 

 

I'm just looking at this thread being a clearing house of relevant opinions and experiences between the current Vallejo paints and the current Army Painter Fanatic range. I'm thinking of continually leaning more into Vallejo as I need to replace my existing paints. Thanks. 

 

 

[Karhedron]

I regularly use Army Painter for my Blood Angels but honestly I would not recommend it. AP is a lot glossier than GW paints so if you use it as a base coat, it is a right pain to get other paints to adhere over the top. I have taken to matt varnishing part way through just to alleviate the problem.

 

Here are some Hellblasters I just primed and you can see how glossy they are, even after vigorously shaking the can.

 

Edited May 22 by Karhedron

[crimsondave]

I started with Army Painter and still have a ton of it.  Hard no from me.  Their Dark Tone, Strong Tone, and Soft Tone are pretty good washes.  Uniform Gray is a good color.  I honestly never use any of the rest of it and I have probably 70+ of them.

 

Vallejo 70.950 with the old white label is the best black you can get.  Like old GW chaos black and I think it covers thinned even better than Chaos Black used to.  Word on the net is the new version isn’t that great.  Idk.  German Grey and Black Grey are really good too.  Similar to Corvus Black.  I mainly use Citadel because I know how it behaves.  I use bold titanium white from pro acryl because I hate Citadel whites.  They don’t use titanium in their whites and a lot of it turns to chalk.  BTW is the best white I have found bar none.  Nothing else I’ve tried is even close.  I judge paint on a color by color basis, not by brand.  Citadel makes some amazing paint like Averland Sunset and some real turds like Pallid Witch Chalk, I mean flesh.

 

TLDR, no AP, yes Vallejo but I would try one color at a time unless you get a steal on a set.  Jmo.  I’m definitely not a great painter.

 

Edit:  I do use AP sprays for colors Citadel doesn’t make.  Angel green is the same color as Caliban green.  However, be careful.  It comes out way faster than Citadel.  If Citadel makes the spray I need, I would def not use the AP spray.  They do make tons and tons of colors GW doesn’t.

Edited May 22 by crimsondave

[Alby the Slayer]

I agree with @crimsondave.

 

Can conferm that the old Vallejo black was the best, now it's not that good, sometimes a little glossy, sometime too grey, it can be very hit or miss.

Also as he said, nothing beats pro acrylic bold titanium white. It's not cheap and depending on where do you live it can be hard to find but it's currently the best. I also used Vallejo whites like their off-white and they are good.

[Brother Christopher]

From my experience, AP makes great washes (their Light, Strong and Dark Tones are pretty great, especially if you factor in their prices) and good metallics (I have a set of silvers from their current line and they work well). I haven't tried their non-metallic paints, though, because I ended up throwing away the couple of almost full paint bottles I bought years ago - they were that rubbish.

 

As for Vallejo, I enjoy all of the paints from their current Game range - they have a great consistency and amazing coverage. Their older Game range was a hit and miss for me. Their other ranges (paints that I bought a coupe of years ago) were all great. The only issues are: some of them turned gooey and need to be watered down quite a bit to be usable (the worst offender is the 70.891 green) and the 70.909 red needs 2-3 layers to work well.

 

I'm not a fan of Vallejo washes; though. The skin tone wash is so-so, while the black wash is utterly rubbish. The same applies for their metallics. Please note that this might have changed: I only used their Game line washes before they updated it.

 

I also used white and black paints from their off-brand Contrast paints (Xpress colour, is it?) and I found them to be okay. However, I don't have any point of reference as to what to expect from this 'type' of paints.

 

Overall, I mostly switched from Citadel to Vallejo for non-metallic paints and haven't looked back. For metallics and washes, I'd stick to GW (but their prices and pots are atrocious) or AP.

[phandaal]

I use Army Painter almost exclusively these days. A lot of the negative perception of their product is well-deserved but also based on their original formulations.

 

Their old paints were not good at all, which was ironic for a company called "The Army Painter," but they really turned things around with their Fanatic revamp. The coverage from their new paints is exceptional, and it dries on very thin without visible brush strokes even without being watered down. It is so good that my whole paint collection is slowly transitioning to Army Painter as I run out of other stuff and pick up new projects.

 

On the flip side of the paints, I would never use Army Painter spray varnishes. Those are just not good in my experience. Way too many fuzzing and frosting incidents.

 

In contrast, I do also have Vallejo Game Color paints, and while the color is good, their coverage and need for thinning does not match up with Army Painter's Fanatic line.

 

One thing that will not change unless they stop making it - for dark black, I use P3 Thamar Black. Unlike a lot of black paints that are actually very dark blues, theirs is an extremely dark charcoal brown/black that covers even over bright white in only two thin coats. It is great stuff.

[crimsondave]

2 hours ago, phandaal said:

I use Army Painter almost exclusively these days. A lot of the negative perception of their product is well-deserved but also based on their original formulations.

 

Their old paints were not good at all, which was ironic for a company called "The Army Painter," but they really turned things around with their Fanatic revamp. The coverage from their new paints is exceptional, and it dries on very thin without visible brush strokes even without being watered down. It is so good that my whole paint collection is slowly transitioning to Army Painter as I run out of other stuff and pick up new projects.

 

On the flip side of the paints, I would never use Army Painter spray varnishes. Those are just not good in my experience. Way too many fuzzing and frosting incidents.

 

In contrast, I do also have Vallejo Game Color paints, and while the color is good, their coverage and need for thinning does not match up with Army Painter's Fanatic line.

 

One thing that will not change unless they stop making it - for dark black, I use P3 Thamar Black. Unlike a lot of black paints that are actually very dark blues, theirs is an extremely dark charcoal brown/black that covers even over bright white in only two thin coats. It is great stuff.

This is a fair observation about AP.  My paint is several years old so I have not used the newer stuff

I second the thoughts on AP spray varnish.  DON’T DO IT!  I learned the hard way.