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

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I am very new to airbrushing (I started using one about a week ago and it made me very cross) and, I will confess, I’m also extremely bad at it. 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. There are a couple in this range that do take well to drybrushing and arguably with enough practise and time, all can be drybrushed fairly well. They just wouldn’t be my go-to range. Vallejos own Model Color paints fair much better in this area.

In spite of knowing this, in a moment of madness, I decided to have a go at some OSL on one of the figures I was testing with – I couldn’t look at the fireball in her hand and not feel as if there should be some light on her. I seriously struggled to do this, not only due to my inexperience with OSL (this was the first time I’d ever attempted it) but also because I really struggled to get the paints to do what I wanted to on the figure. The vast majority of the paints in the range go on as smooth as silk and work excellently with water. This makes them perfect for gradually shifting or building colour on the surface of a miniature.

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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 You have to be careful with the new Game Color varnishes, because they are not water-based, unlike the old ones, but polyurethane-based. Polyurethane varnishes are more durable, but more aggressive and can reactivate Inks, Contrast and Xpress Colors as well as washes and Shade paints and also damage decals. Polyurethane varnishes are useful for preparing models for oil paints and enamel washes, but what’s the reason to put them into an acrylic paint range I don’t know. I don’t think polyurethane varnishes are suitable for the average painter, so maybe that’s a question for Angel. Value & verdict With all the metallic colours I tested, I needed only the slightest amount of water to get the metallic colours thinned down appropriately. This actually caused me a few issues, as the amount of water you need to thin these down to their optimum consistency still actually varies within the range. For example, at one point during testing, I used the same amount of water to thin down two very similar amounts of Chainmail Silver and Glorious Gold. Chainmail silver drank the water up and thinned down beautifully, but Glorious Gold became a frustrating runny puddle on my wet palette.

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. And that was the complete new Game Color range in fast forward, except for the 24 Xpress Colors, which I have reviewed in a separate review. Because the Vallejo Game Color range are, on the whole, very thin, the non-metallic paints aren’t the best for drybrushing. Sure, you can do it – as evidenced by the images below – but it might just be easier to reach for a less watery paint in the first instance and save yourself some time, and stress. Chances are, even if you’re relatively new to the miniature painting hobby, you’ll have heard of Vallejo.

Something to note with the range if you are a long-time Citadel user looking to shake things up are that many of the colours are equitable to Citadel paints, so you needn’t worry about having to change from one paint scheme to another mid-army, or some of your figures not quite matching the other.

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. 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.

Vallejo Game Color paints come in a range of colors, including shades for various types of terrain and armies, such as greens for orcs and browns for earthy terrain. They have a fine consistency, which allows for a smooth and even application and provides excellent coverage. They are also highly pigmented, which means that they produce vibrant and opaque colors. But yes, in the majority of instances, the colours were great and went onto my miniatures without any trouble whatsoever. You’ve got the consistency of the Vallejo Game Color paints right and they go on beautifully – but that can sometimes be a little more of a battle than you may first assume it will be. Vallejo Game Color Paints Review- Price and Availability 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. There is, theoretically, just about everything you could possibly need in here to jump right into painting miniatures with this set alone. Vallejo Game Color Paints Review – Testing

Note you will need only an extremely small amount of Vallejo’s own airbrush thinner to get the regular paints to pass through an airbrush with very little trouble.

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highly pigmented acrylic colors formulated to provide an especially mat and opaque coating which covers all primers and base colors in one application. But apart from these minor issues, the new Game Color acrylics are amazing, and really feel like next-gen miniature paints that are up there with more pricier paints like ProAcryl or Two Thin Coats. Game Color metallics review Vallejo metallics – their golds in particular – are leaps and bounds ahead of Citadel metallics when it comes to layering. Whilst I’d recommend Citadel’s Base metallics to anyone, I’d try to avoid their metallic Layer paints as far as I could. I remember spending fruitless hours battling with Auric Armour Gold and Liberator Gold to almost no avail. Vallejo’s Polished Gold, on the other hand, is excellent and goes on wonderfully. But the big question remains: Are the new Game Colors compatible with the old ones? I already listed at the beginning of the video which colours have been discontinued, but what about old and new colours with the same name? Did they stay the same? Can you switch from old to new during your painting projects without any issues? I was, however, pleasantly surprised by the whites and light greys in the Game Color range. White can be a bit hit and miss, either being too watery or too clumpy. Vallejo’s whites and light greys – Wolf Grey, Ghost Grey, Arctic White and Dead White – are excellent.