Are Army Painter Themed Paint Sets Meant for Other Minis? Review

Renegade Game Studios and Army Painter partnered together to release a Heroscape Age of Annihilation Paint Set for the big Heroscape: Age of Annihilation Master Set. While there is a premium pre-painted set available, miniature game players who love to paint have the option of purchasing an unpainted version of the Master Set. Of course, any paints will work just fine, but if you’re looking to kickstart your painting journey, Renegade Game Studios has a set of paints that’s right for you.

The box comes with a lot of paints, but are they diverse enough to use beyond just painting the Master Set?

Description

Renegade Game Studios (RGS) was kind enough to provide us with a copy of their Heroscape: Age of Annihilation Paint Set review. While I have used Army Painter paints extensively in the past, and have a large selection of them, for this review, I limited myself to using just these selections of paints for highlighting and details for a few Heroscape sets.

From RGS’s Website:

“Introducing the Army Painter paint set tailored for Heroscape: Age of Annihilation. Complete with a paintbrush and 20 colors, this set equips both novice and seasoned miniature painters with all essentials. Perfect for customizing unpainted figures from Age of Annihilation, it offers a seamless entry point for beginners and enhances the detail for experienced painters, ensuring every miniature stands out in the Heroscape universe.”

Heroscape: Age of Annihilation Paint Set

Renegade Games Online Store

Renegade Game Studios

Unboxing

The box comes nicely packaged, with all 20 paints in two trays. Of the paints included, two are part of the metallics line; Tainted Gold and Platemail Silver. The paints themselves have stainless steel mixing balls in them, which is how all of their new Warpaint Fanatics paint bottles are (a massive improvement from previous formulas and bottles). In addition to the paints, there is starter brush and literature that’s also included. 

What might be overlooked, but is incredibly valuable, is the QR code to take to RGS’s ‘How to Paint’ section of their website. Renegade Games Studios provides a wonderful series of images to use as guides for painting up their Heroscape miniatures, which are current and up-to-date with their releases.

Heroscape Painting

Renegade Game Studios

For new painters or painters needing an accurate guide to follow, these visual guides are incredibly useful. The paint names and colors are product codes, so that can be a little confusing.

Painting with the Paints

Previously, GamingTrend has covered the Army Painter Warpaints Fanatic paint line, covering the complete set. With the exception of the name, the paints are nearly identical in mixture. It is highly recommended that you use a wet palette when painting with Army Painter paints. This allows you to easily mix paints and prevents them from drying out so quickly.

Speedpaint Base Coat 

For basing my miniatures, I have found that with speedpaints or contrast paints, a variation on the Slapchop method helps maximize the shadows, midtones, and highlights of the models once the color has been applied. I typically use a black or dark brown wash over a zenithal highlight (black base coat, with a white sprayed top down). After the wash dries, I drybrush white over the model, which highlights and accents the most prominent and outward features of the model, leaving the recesses dark. This isn’t the only way to achieve this outcome, but its process has worked well for me over the years, especially when I am batch painting armies and needing to paint a lot of minis quickly. 

Using speedpaints also allows me to “color block” on the model, where I paint the sections in whatever color I’m using. It’s like paint-by-numbers, but I don’t have numbers. Starting with the lightest colors, subsequent darker speedpaints cover up and paints that “went over the line.”

If you want to try out this technique, check out our review of the Army Painter Speedpaints 2.0 Starter Set.

Painting Heroscape Miniatures

Even though this box was marketed for the Age of Annihilation Master Set, I wanted to see if these paints could be used effectively with some of the more recent expansions. With figures from the Heroscape G.I. Joe Rumble at the Rift, Battle for the Wellspring Battle Boxes, and the Cobra Trooper expansions, I was curious to see if the color selection for the paint set was appropriate or too limited to be used elsewhere.

The reason I chose to use the slapchop/speedpaint method for the base colors is that the boxed set does not have any washes in it. If you’re new to painting and not familiar with their use, washes create a depth to the model, allowing thinned-down pigment to flow into the recesses of the model. Many models, especially ones with scales and fur, can look flat if only a base layer is applied, with no washes or even highlights. So, I wanted to make sure that I got as much detail out of the models as possible, using the speedpaints in this case.

Heroscape Models are surprisingly detailed, offering an opportunity for painters to practice their skills on a larger scale model

After applying the base layers with the speedpaints, I then started using the paints to layer up and detail the models. I didn’t go super crazy with highlighting, but I did want to make sure that buckles and icons and the like received some attention. The paints in this set paired really nicely with the Speedpaints 2.0 set.

In my experience, I have found that skin tones are the most difficult paints to mix and utilize. Skin is already difficult enough to paint, and so I wanted to see what I could do with the paints provided. 

Needless to say, I was incredibly happy with how these faces turned out for the G.I. Joe figures!

As I was using each of the paints, I did notice that some of the paints mixed really well, and others required a vigorous shake. The new Warpaints mixture is a vast improvement from before, and I found that most of the paints thinned nicely without losing the pigmentation.

Overall, it was very clear that this paint set offered vibrant colors to be used on a range of other Heroscape miniatures. So, if you have the Master Set or any of the expansions, this paint set can be used for the minis beyond the Age of Annihilation set.  

Impressions & Thoughts

Army Painter offers so many different starter paint sets that, for new painters, it can be a blessing and a curse. If you’re looking to just start your collection, there are generic Army Painter sets that are worth picking up. However, if you want to jumpstart your paint selection for a specific game, then there are those options, too.

Randy recently reviewed the Infinity Paint Sets, which contain a series of colors named for pieces and squads within the Infinity universe. Warlord Games, which makes Bolt Action, also has some themed paint sets for their historical miniature games. Flavor-wise, this is cool, but those sets and the Heroscape sets run afoul of the issue where a named painted is actually just a relabel of Warpaints Fanatic paint. Fortunately, the themed paints have their corresponding Warpaints Fanatic name on the label. So, for example, Jandar Blue is Crystal, Blue, Sundered Sea Green is Leafy Green, and Raelin’s Manticore is Burning One. These paints aren’t typically in a starter set for the basic paint line, so it is a nice way to expand the paint selection without getting duplicates.

So, with 20 paints meant for use with Age of Annihilation miniatures, does the set offer enough variety of paints that can be used for other Heroscape sets? Or is it just a duplication?

With so many options for Army Painter paint sets, the Heroscape Paint set offers another great option for painters and players to start or expand their collection. With regards to other paint sets, The Army Painter Warpaints Fanatic Most Wanted Set is comparable in terms of cost and quantity of paints, but the color palette is slightly different. The same is true for Infinity, or Bolt Action, or even the old Star Wars Legion ones. If you want to paint up your miniatures in more muted tones, the historically-themed set would be better. If you want to paint up some cyberpunk minis, then perhaps one of the more vibrant-toned sets would be more to your liking. It all really comes down to what miniatures you’re painting and how much you’re willing to spend.

Regardless of which set you buy, there are going to be a handful of additional paint bottles you will need in order to have a ‘complete’ collection of paints to use.

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