New miniature paint could be an alternative to Games Workshop Contrast

Games Workshop stunned the miniature painting world with their 2019 introduction of Citadel Contrast Paints. While the new formulation was controversial at first, it has since become extremely popular among professional and amateur painters. The Army Painter now has its own Speedpaint version. YouTubers are now getting their first retail samples, which are quite exciting.

Contrast Paint is a proprietary formulation, so only Games Workshop knows for sure what’s inside each pot. However, the idea is fascinating. Contrast paints, on the other hand, are thinner than traditional acrylic paints. They have thicker formulations with high viscosity. This feature lets you build up the opacity of 3D models much like watercolors on paper. Contrast Paints are also more stable than a wash, so it is easier to create intricate miniatures. Applied heavily, it also forms its own highlights and shadows — especially when used with a highly shaded black-and-white undercoat (also known as a zenithal undercoat). It can be applied with a clever brush and save time.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Contrast paint, though, is a great tool for creating techniques with an airbrush. It behaves more like an ink rather than a painting. I’ve taken to using multiple shades of similar colors to blend together highlights and shadows on my basecoat, giving me a much more interesting surface to add detail to. Contrast Paints are a powerful tool in my toolbox now, and I wouldn’t want to go forward without them.

The Army Painter’s Speedpaints, on the other hand, are being marketed in a very different way. The company calls it a “one-coat painting solution” that allows you to create “tabletop-quality miniatures in no time.” If that sounds like a bit of a brute-force solution, that’s because it is. Quickshade Miniature Dips are also available from the Army Painter. You just need to dip your whole thing in a can of paint, then let it drip out. So maybe one thick coat of paint is the company’s idea of subtlety.

Regardless of what these paints say on the tin, YouTubers are putting them through their paces with techniques that they’ve honed over the last few years with Contrast Paints. Brent Amberger from Goobertown Hobbyies is a professional painter and also a chemist. He provides the best examination. This 16-minute video shows samples of each color used in multiple applications and includes a slideshow that displays every color after drying.

Let’s hear it! It seems that Amberger has won the battle, thanks to how thick his coats dried into the recesses in his 3D-printed minis. He says the result produces a darker shadow and is more consistent than using Contrast Paints.

Over in Europe, Emil Nyström and the staff at Squidmar Miniatures are a lot less enthusiastic. They’re simply not impressed by The Army Painter’s range of colors, and downright disappointed by the paint’s performance overall.

You can’t beat the price, however, which is roughly half the cost of comparable Contrast Paint. Add in that these come in a dropper bottle with a metal mixing ball already inside, and you’ve got a decent value for your money.

Polygon reached out to Polygon for samples. Keep your eyes peeled for new techniques and use cases for The Army Painter’s new line of Speedpaints, and we’ll do the same.