[Lo's Lowdown] Paint Comparison - GW vs Vallejo vs P3 vs Reaper Master Series

So, you're a new miniatures player and you need to paint your figs. Or, maybe, you've been around the block a few times, but have limited exposure to the possibilities out there. Or you know what's available, but have never compared. Either way, many folks out there don't know a lot about the differences between the various model companies and their paint lines.

I'm here to give you a brief rundown of the costs, differences, pros, cons and all the other dirty details I can gather for you.

I want to state up front that I'm not a professional painter, nor am I anything like an "expert". I'm just a hobby painter like the rest of you- so I haven't done anything fancy here. I've tried to keep things as much like a home situation as possible- in fact, I used paints I had on hand for the article just to give you an idea of how the paints react to time, storage and other normal "use" factors.

The major players- GW, Vallejo Game Color, P3, and Reaper Master Series

I'll start off with the Games Workshop's Citadel paint. It's the most prevalent and easily recognizable paint on the market at the moment. You can almost count on finding it at your FLGS, and if not, you can order direct from GW online.


The Games Workshop Chaos Black comes in a pot with a flip-top lid. It contains .41 fluid ounces, and in my area, retails for $3.79. The one shown below is one of the newer, redesigned pots. these new pots offer a clear "button" top which allows you to see the color inside the bottle.

The GW paint pot has been redesigned recently. The new opening is much wider.

The new bottle also has a wider opening , which I found allows me to dip my brush right into the pot itself more easily.

My personal tendencies and preferences are to want to paint off a palette- so I can water down easily, mix or brush off excess paint. This bottle design makes doing so very difficult, which was a downside for me. My general practice with this pot is to dip the brush onto the "tongue" of the bottle because I'm really nervous about oversaturating the ferrule (metal piece that holds the bristles together). The paint comes onto the brush smoothly and gives a nice, even coating over the bristles very easily.

The big plus for me is in the redesign. The new top has a tight fitting seal that snaps shut much better than previous designs- it's almost like a Tupperware lid. I've found that this keeps the paint wet and prevents drying much more effectively than past pots.

Next up we have Formula Privateer Press Paint (or more commonly known as P3). Thamar Black comes in a flip top lid pot that contains .5 fluid ounces. In my area, a pot retails for $3.50. It comes sealed with a "pull tab" strip seal that's similar to the ones found on milk bottles. This brand is becoming more popular with the rise of WarmaHordes players out there, and a high quality paint & design team on staff.

P3 has a much deeper "throat" and longer well in comparison.

The "tongue" is also longer, but not as wide as GW's. I found this pot to have some "oily" separation when I opened it, so I shut it back up and shook it to blend the pigmentation back to normal

I had the same sorts of concerns with the Formula P3 pot that I had with the GW pot. I went ahead and dipped my brush onto the tongue here as well. The P3 is a little "stickier" than the GW, in my experience, and needs a bit more thinning. For a new painter, this might be a little daunting. The paint absolutely saturated my brush as I picked it up off the tongue and I had to "dab" a bit off onto a palette before ever painting. Again, it can be daunting for a new painter.

GW on a figure

Now we're down to the nuts and bolts- pictures. This is one single stroke of the brush along the figure. Again, I didn't use anything fancy. In fact, I used my "test models", who are as you can see, a little janky due to a bad prime job. It's all in the name of "keeping it real", haha. The picture above is of the Games Workshop paint. Below, you can see the Formula P3 results.

P3 on a figure.

The next entry into our paint lineup is the Vallejo Game Color series. There IS a Model Color series, but it is generally aimed at FOW and/or historical painting, as it features washed out and desaturated tones. The Game Color series is gaining popularity in hobby shops- the small profile of the display and affordable price point are good for retailers.

The Vallejo Game Color Series Black comes in a .58 fluid ounce dropper bottle. In my area, these bottles retail for $3.25 each. The paint formulations are almost exact duplicates of the GW color series, so you will rarely have a problem finding a color you want or need.

Vallejo Game Color in the bottle.

One of the biggest downsides to the Vallejo bottle design is that the pigmentation tends to settle. It is not as visible here in the picture of the black, but below, in the Warlord Purple, it is very apparent. If you store your Vallejo paint for ANY length of time, you will need to shake it to get the pigment mixed well.

Here's a much better example of the pigmentation settling.

The big plus side is that you can have MUCH more control of how much paint you get on your brush. One drop allows a large section of painting without a lot of waste or drying. Additionally, the "by the drop" option allows creation of custom paint recipes with ease- 2 drops this and 3 drops that can be easily replicated over and over.

The paint is very fluid and wicks onto the brush very easily. It goes onto the figure easily and nicely, with a good fluid feel. My experience is that I reload the brush more often with this paint, but I tend to have a lighter touch with the Vallejo paint for some reason.

P3 on the palette

This is a couple drops- I kept trying to get a picture of the drop coming out of the bottle and failed repeatedly. I finally gave up and just started the comparison for you.

P3 on the fig

Here you can really see how fluid the paint is. I didn't do much brushwork at all, just a very light stroke and the paint went right onto the figure, while leaving details visible, even despite my terrible photography.

I tested Reaper Master's Series Paint next. This is another eyedropper bottle, containing .5 fluid ounces. I have not seen these paints actually in any hobby or FLGS. All the bottles I own were special ordered, direct from Reaper by the super helpful staff at my LGS. It's been a while and I don't remember what I paid, but they retail online for $2.99 each.

Reaper on the palette

All of the same pluses of an eyedropper bottle like the ones Vallejo uses are still in effect here. Reaper has a MAJOR innovation in their eyedropper bottle- it includes an actuator. It's a small metal skull about the size of a BB, but it is a huge bonus for mixing your paint when the inevitable pigment settling occurs. This gets the paint out of the bottle and onto a palette faster and with less headache.

This paint LOVES figures. The finely thinned paint offers a great flow from the brush to the model and has a really good feel when applying. Here you can see just a little touch on the leg and the details are very obvious- not obscured or overshadowed.

I was all prepared to tell you that Reaper's black has some sort of hue control problem because my model has a distinctly purple cast to it, but I checked the bottle and I grabbed Regal Purple instead of black. Unfortunately the labels on the batch I own are worn, but the printing on the bottle was not great to start out. If you buy Reaper paints, do yourself a favor and relabel them with a gun or some paper and tape.

Reaper on a fig

Every paint has an upside, and every paint has a down. What your preferences and tolerances are will determine what you find fits your painting style the most appropriately. It's entirely possible that you'll be like me and use them all, dependent on project, mood and other factors not discussed here.

I hope you've found my Lowdown helpful, and feel free to ask questions if you think I missed something, or just want some more information.

Be Well,

'Lo