You've seen the social media blitz. You've seen the people slapping a blob of paint on a Space Marine and watching it dry. And you've asked yourself...why is Games Workshop still using those pots?
I had these questions myself, so last night, I went down to my local Game Kastle, which was having a demo night of the new Warhammer Tone Pro paints.
For those who don't know, Warhammer Tone Pro paints are a brand new set of paint being sold soon by Games Workshop. The full set is 150 paints in 30 colors with 5 tones each, promising the ability to move from a dark basecoat to a brilliant highlight.
If you're into the GW system these are going to be a must buy.
The Sample Paint set includes 16 paints and a shading medium, which by the time I got to Game Kastle, was lost. The sample paints do a good job of showing off the system. Instead of having 150 uniquely named paints, the paint shows up in 30 colors with a series of tones. So for example, your deep blue range is called Blue Gorkshroom, and goes from a deep dark tone to a bright teal.
That's a point you should realize with these paints. In a normal triad system, you have a base color and subsequently white is added to the mix, to gradually bring up the tone. This is the same system that Reaper and Army Painter use to great effect.
The Tone Pro Paints are different in that it's not just white added to the mix...there are other colors which help push the tone up, making for better transitions, like a tiny bit of green in the blue which creates a teal, a much more interesting tone than just white added to blue to desaturate.
The blues are rich and an obvious standout of the sample set.
These paints impressed me in two ways: coverage and dry time. Most of the paints I tried provided excellent coverage in one pass, and I was surprised that when dry, there was little brush stroke evidence or chalkiness to the paint. The paint dries with a satin to matte finish.
As I continued to explore the kit, some other things came to light. The pot designed, which is universally reviled in the painting community, still exists, and has it's problems. Another patron immediately knocked over a paint, and we quickly devised a plan to get it back into the pot, considering this paint may retail for up to $11 a pot.
The paints blend well with each other. Considering my limitations, I experimented. The yellow ochre, Khemri Sands, blended with both my blues and whites to help create some shadow and highlight tones.
The greens, called Hierotek Green, blended and layered just as well as the blues.
The reds, Bloodtoof Red, didn't really seem impressive, just good coverage.
The orange was the only paint that didn't cover in one pass, but to be honest, oranges are colors that you typically need something behind to help boost the body, so I wasn't surprised.
My favorite paint in the whole set was a pot of Plaguetoad Venom, number 5. This was a bright yellow green that I found to be versatile, adding it to both blue and yellow as a way to brighten up the highlights.
The paints also airbrush nicely, as shown by PenguinSharkMinis.
Final thoughts (for now)
Since I had only 2 hours with the paint, in a game store, I didn't have the full experience that I normally would for a review, so this isn't a review...but more of an impression.
The paints are impressive. They are highly pigmented, dry quickly, and flow nicely. But, if your palette is dry or not very wet, they're going to dry too quickly. The pot is still horrible. And the color/numbering system is still based on GW universe names vs. traditional color names, so take that as you will.
Personally, I don't see myself buying a set of these paints, maybe a single pot or 2, because there's a whole world of highly pigmented paints that do an excellent job of coverage. I look at Kimera, AK Interactive, Bear Cavalry, Golden, and this just feels like another product kind of lost in the sea of paints.
If you're into the GW system though, these are going to be a must buy. I can see the Space Marine army builders buying these up because that is one thing these paints do really well, which is that classic GW system.
Tell us, have you tried the Warhammer Tone Pro paints? What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
