Warhammer Tone Pro Paints + Drybrushes

[appiah4]

5 hours ago, Rusted Boltgun said:

 

That holds true if the market is static. However, GW market to new entrants and arguably has a wider reach than the other makers with solid IPs.

It would be good to see the figures that back up this claim. 

Except there are no new entrants, as evident by the scores of Armageddon boxes lining on shelves at every Warhammer store.  Disgruntled LGS owners will also tell you how hard that new box set is moving.

[Rusted Boltgun]

1 hour ago, appiah4 said:

Except there are no new entrants, as evident by the scores of Armageddon boxes lining on shelves at every Warhammer store.  Disgruntled LGS owners will also tell you how hard that new box set is moving.

 

As you can't tell who has bought the Armageddon boxes that have sold, you can't say there are no new entrants.

New entrants may bought it in a WH store but the old lags may have gone 'nah, not for me, the Orks are nice but the marines are bobbins this time' as we have seen in this forum.  

 

Without my involvement, two of my son's friends have independently got into Warhammer recently - one introduced via Scouts, the other met someone on holiday who got them into it. But that is just my experience, YMMV.

[ZeroWolf]

2 minutes ago, Rusted Boltgun said:

 

As you can't tell who has bought the Armageddon boxes that have sold, you can't say there are no new entrants.

New entrants may bought it in a WH store but the old lags may have gone 'nah, not for me, the Orks are nice but the marines are bobbins this time' as we have seen in this forum.  

 

Without my involvement, two of my son's friends have independently got into Warhammer recently - one introduced via Scouts, the other met someone on holiday who got them into it. But that is just my experience, YMMV.

Also worth saying that the starter sets are more aimed at new entrants. The magazines are in this bracket as well. Armageddon is more aimed at us (how effective that is can be debated)

[Arkhanist]

Aye, Armageddon is a bit pants as a new starter - no terrain, mat, dice, rulers etc, just some more minis. 

 

So for your average newcomer, two combat patrols and terrain is more useful - or a smaller set with some paints to dip your feet in.

 

Launch boxes are aimed at us lot with an existing plastic crack addiction - and as a BA collector, it was definitely fairly bobbins for me and I thought long and hard about it. (Still bought it for the orks, and because I'm a sucker for launch boxes since 2nd edition) I definitely looked for the best discount I could find though. But then, units like more intercessors really aren't for us with likely too many already, but great in an actual starter.

 

Dominion hung around like a bad smell, but AoS is doing great. Every time I think GW has outpriced their market, sales and profits keep going up overall (annual cycle aside) so I've given up predicting what other people will do.

[appiah4]

The self delusion over anectodal experience is very funny. Time to invest into the rebound guys, be my guest. Maybe if you buy the stock now at half price you can buy the Armageddon overstock when the stock price doubles. LOL

[Antarius]

2 hours ago, appiah4 said:

The self delusion over anectodal experience is very funny.

That particular blade may not cut the way you think, though. At the very least, it is double-edged.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'd like for prices to return to 90s levels, I'd love for GW to do stuff that is more in line with my personal wants and needs and I think the constant focus on "next year must be more profitable than this year" that goes on in the corporate world is stupid. But people have been making these exact complaints and predictions on- and offline for at least 25 years, so, while there's no saying that they definitely can't be true this time, people are understandably skeptical.

I think "Warhammer is dying" is frankly ridiculous hyperbole, unless you mean in the same way that we're all, technically speaking, dying.
I'd say a reasonable prediction is that GW as a company is going to stick around, even if their market share does shrink (and, one might note, their customer base could actually shrink a lot before being close to "the good old days" levels). Whether they're just going to power through this crisis (which, for all we know, might be more of a "crisis") like they've done before or whether we'll see a slump like we did around 2010 is a question none of us know the answer to. If they do go into a slump, they might change things up or they might not - that too, is anybody's guess.

It's also worth noting that the company's physical assets (and actual profits in real, tangible money that can be spent and paid out to shareholders, so even if stock prices are low, owning that stock might still provide a nice payout) aren't actually affected by their stock, so the company is probably going to keep on pumping out games and minis for the foreseeable future.

Edited yesterday at 07:05 AM by Antarius

[Antarius]

10 hours ago, Arkhanist said:

Aye, Armageddon is a bit pants as a new starter - no terrain, mat, dice, rulers etc, just some more minis. 

 

So for your average newcomer, two combat patrols and terrain is more useful - or a smaller set with some paints to dip your feet in.

 

Launch boxes are aimed at us lot with an existing plastic crack addiction - and as a BA collector, it was definitely fairly bobbins for me and I thought long and hard about it. (Still bought it for the orks, and because I'm a sucker for launch boxes since 2nd edition) I definitely looked for the best discount I could find though. But then, units like more intercessors really aren't for us with likely too many already, but great in an actual starter.

 

Dominion hung around like a bad smell, but AoS is doing great. Every time I think GW has outpriced their market, sales and profits keep going up overall (annual cycle aside) so I've given up predicting what other people will do.

Yeah, I think Dominion is a pretty good example of how difficult it is to predict sales and how difficult it is for us to correctly analyse what the sales numbers are and what they actually mean for GW as a whole, let alone any given product (I remember a lot of "AoS is FINISHED" going on back then and it's not like the last five years have really borne that out).

I also agree on the launch boxes, although I think it's super weird that the "big boxes" aren't actually the starter products they used to be. It's a change that sort of crept up on me - but like so many other "new" things, I guess it was probably a decade or so ago? Was 8th the first instance of this?

[Karhedron]

14 minutes ago, Antarius said:

I also agree on the launch boxes, although I think it's super weird that the "big boxes" aren't actually the starter products they used to be. It's a change that sort of crept up on me - but like so many other "new" things, I guess it was probably a decade or so ago? Was 8th the first instance of this?

 

I think it was 8th edition. I remember deciding to pick up the DI box a couple of months after launch and being gobsmacked that it was no longer in stores. How were people supposed to actually get into the game without a consistently available start set?

 

Just showing my age I guess. 

[Arkhanist]

2 hours ago, Antarius said:

I also agree on the launch boxes, although I think it's super weird that the "big boxes" aren't actually the starter products they used to be. It's a change that sort of crept up on me - but like so many other "new" things, I guess it was probably a decade or so ago? Was 8th the first instance of this?

 

I believe it sort of started in 8th; Dark Imperium wasn't limited in that they kept it in print for the whole edition (though stock availability was definitely spotty around the launch period) but it didn't include terrain or much extras. There was another smaller box with accessories and used the box for terrain, "know no fear" from memory.

 

9th with Indomitus was when they had the explicitly limited print run 'big box' for collectors and an always available starters with less minis but other stuff (accessories, paint etc) shortly after launch, which is the model they've kept to since for 40k and AoS. Demand for Indomitus famously outstripped supply by a large margin, causing a lot of ill will, so GW has now swung to on the side (at times) of having too many rather than too few, most noticeable with Dominion and now Armageddon. But then GW stock always seems to swing from feast to famine these days. To keep this vaguely on topic, I was ordering some other hobby bits yesterday, and I noticed Tone Pro pre orders are now out of atock for quite a few of the paints at several of my usual UK FLGS stores (particularly red and yellows), certainly the cheaper ones, or on a post launch delivery date. Whether that's high demand or just small allocations to FLGS I couldn't say.

Edited yesterday at 09:16 AM by Arkhanist

[Casual Heresy]

So now that the paint will soon be in normal peoples hands, what are the experiments people want to try?

 

I personally have been picking up sponge painting so I want to test out these paints for doing that on vast quantites of power armour and vehicles to match. I've seen notes from a couple of creators I like who say the paint works well for the technique (Warhipster and Darcy Bono mainly). Currently the top of my list to try are...:

 

- Necrolith Bone: I have a pile of Terminators from the Deathwing Assault Box to get through so I'd like to test sponging up to no. 5 from a basecoat of Colour Forge Hyrax Brown (rhinox hide equivalent) primer. If the test mini goes well, I could knock out the armour of 25 Terminators, a Redemptor and Land Raider in a single Sunday afternoon session.

 

- Stormwolf Blue: I havent been able to figure out a Space Wolf armour scheme I'm happy with so there two launch boxes worth of models waiting for their chance. Stormwolf looks like what I'm after; close to the 40k scheme without being too baby blue.

 

- Ultramar Blue: I've got a vast garage of heresy vehicles to paint but struggle to make them match the infantry in a way I'm happy with. I probably won't use this on the infantry because I like the contrast method I'm using right now, but sponging might result in am interesting way to get the vehicles to the same quality and style.

[Robbienw]

On 10/13/2026 at 9:12 AM, appiah4 said:

 

It's because their market (share) is constantly shrinking despite growing revenue/profits.  That basically means they are milking their market dry and killing their future prospects for short term gain.  In other words, Warhammer is dying.

 

I've been hearing this on the internet since 1999.

[Arkhanist]

1 hour ago, Casual Heresy said:

So now that the paint will soon be in normal peoples hands, what are the experiments people want to try?

 

I personally have been picking up sponge painting so I want to test out these paints for doing that on vast quantites of power armour and vehicles to match. I've seen notes from a couple of creators I like who say the paint works well for the technique (Warhipster and Darcy Bono mainly). Currently the top of my list to try are...:

 

 

I've been experimenting with a few different ways to reboot my Blood Angels (Armageddon intercessors as test pieces) with a new scheme that's punchier. One of them was sponging with pro acryl bold pyrrole red up from a purple base, but found it difficult to get it particularly vibrant. I've also tested airbrushing liquitex pyrrole red (or daler flame red) over a purple-white zenithal, which definitely increases the vibrancy and contrast significantly, but they are a bit tricky to repair errors on (e.g. when doing details) For both, good edge highlighting has proven challenging since it's not my strength (old shaky hands) so I need the paint flow basically perfect, and my existing reds brighter than pyrrole red are some combo of weak coverage, pastel orange or pink, or jump from clumpy  -> overthinned too easily.

 

I've ordered the tone pro bloodtoof red pentad as I want to see how it works, and 4&5 seem particularly good on reviews. The 'official' blood angels red version is bloodtoof 3, highlighted with 4 & 5. So I'm hoping

a) some version of bloodtoof, maybe with a bit of pyrrole red might make a good colour match for repairing overpainting on the airbrushed version, or

b) let me sponge up to greater vibrancy instead - and use 4&5 for edge highlighting in either case with a good progression.

 

I think for most sponging, you could base in 1 sponge 2 & 3,, and highlight with 4& 5 and get more interesting volumetric shading ala airbrushed gradients than the classic marine 'one flat colour, a pin wash and some edges'

 

And same idea for ork armour and megaboss yellow. 

Edited 19 hours ago by Arkhanist
correcting number order

[StraightSilver]

I have been considering starting Imperial Fists for 30K for a while now, just as a break from Ultramarines. I might try the new yellows as a tester.

[lhg033]

17 hours ago, Arkhanist said:

 

I've been experimenting with a few different ways to reboot my Blood Angels (Armageddon intercessors as test pieces) with a new scheme that's punchier......

 

Off topic from Tone Pro - have you tried colour forge sprays?
Reliquary red as a deep bas and an over spray of Sanguine red gives a really nice, solid base

 

On topic, for the above that I am playing around with.... I had decided I was going to switch to Flesh Tearers for my 'BA' as I disliked painting the yellow (and I actually have a smal AoBR flesh tearer force I want to update) however I may pick up the yellows to finishe the test squad off first

 

[Cleon]

1 hour ago, lhg033 said:

 

Off topic from Tone Pro - have you tried colour forge sprays?
Reliquary red as a deep bas and an over spray of Sanguine red gives a really nice, solid base

 

On topic, for the above that I am playing around with.... I had decided I was going to switch to Flesh Tearers for my 'BA' as I disliked painting the yellow (and I actually have a smal AoBR flesh tearer force I want to update) however I may pick up the yellows to finishe the test squad off first

 

I've been using the colour forge sprays for a while, but recently I've found the paint doesn't want to stick to them and rubs off very easily even when dry - ever had similar?

[BadgersinHills]

20 hours ago, Casual Heresy said:

 

- Stormwolf Blue: I havent been able to figure out a Space Wolf armour scheme I'm happy with so there two launch boxes worth of models waiting for their chance. Stormwolf looks like what I'm after; close to the 40k scheme without being too baby blue.

 

Hadn't taken a look at this paint before this, thanks for letting me know! Looks like a great colour. It's a bit funny they named a new paint after a recently discontinued kit though. 

[Karhedron]

20 hours ago, Casual Heresy said:

So now that the paint will soon be in normal peoples hands, what are the experiments people want to try?

 

I want to see if they have a bright yellow with good coverage. Averland Sunset is too beige and their Layer yellows have terrible coverage. I certainly don't want to blob it on but if there is a bright mid-yellow that covers well, that will be on my buy list.

 

 

[Karhedron]

9 minutes ago, Cleon said:

I've been using the colour forge sprays for a while, but recently I've found the paint doesn't want to stick to them and rubs off very easily even when dry - ever had similar?

 

I have had the same issue with Army Painter sprays. The issue is that they dry too smooth so other paints don't adhere particularly well.

 

The solution I have found is after the spray is fully dried, give a light dusting of matt varnish (I use Testors Dullcote for this). This provides a slightly rougher surface for further paints to adhere too.

 

Colour Forge is marketed as being exact matches for various GW shades but it definitely isn't. Wulfen Grey is supposed to match The Fang but is definitely a warmer shade with less blue. As a result I end up priming with Colour Forge and then still having to apply a coat of The Fang to basecoat it properly.

[Mazer Rackham]

15 minutes ago, BadgersinHills said:

Hadn't taken a look at this paint before this, thanks for letting me know! Looks like a great colour. It's a bit funny they named a new paint after a recently discontinued kit though. 

 

It was to stop folks proxying paint pots as transports and therefore saving money. 

[Casual Heresy]

1 hour ago, Karhedron said:

 

I want to see if they have a bright yellow with good coverage. Averland Sunset is too beige and their Layer yellows have terrible coverage. I certainly don't want to blob it on but if there is a bright mid-yellow that covers well, that will be on my buy list.

 

 

 

I'd recommend the Warhipsters videos for an example (can't link as I'm at work right now). He drybrushed a Land Raider from black to a nice vibrant yellow using the hawkshroud yellow set of paints.