If you’re anything like us, you may have discovered that you end up collecting more miniatures for your army than you’ve actually finished painting. Who hasn’t? Here at SprayGunner, we want to give you some great options to finish those miniatures and build your tabletop army as fast as possible. You’ll be able to spend more time playing and displaying and less time behind a brush. Does that mean you have to sacrifice on quality? What about highlighting, making shadows or those fine details that truly make a piece stand out? We don’t think so. That’s why today, I want to introduce you to Army Painter SpeedPaint 2.0 — your new one-coat miniature painting solution for churning through that backlog with a paintjob worthy of the battlefield.
What are Army Painter SpeedPaints?
Army Painter SpeedPaints differ from regular acrylic miniature paints most in terms of transparency and viscosity. These are ultra-thinned paints designed to flow around the raised edges and into the recesses of your model. Traditional acrylics coat your miniature in a single opaque layer, often requiring multiple coats to achieve full saturation. SpeedPaints, however, are designed to bring out the shadows and highlights that already exist on your model in one coat.
In order to achieve this, SpeedPaints combine a highlight tone, a mid-tone and a shadow tone all in one. When you paint over a light base color, like matte white, the thin paint will only pool into the darker areas and recesses of your miniature, enhancing shadows. Since the paint is also semi-transparent, the light base underneath won’t be covered up and will instead brighten your highlight color, while the mid-tone provides the coverage you’re looking for.
SpeedPaint Do’s and Don’ts:
DO’S:
- Make sure that your miniature is primed with a light base color, like white. Priming with bright colors is also a great way to bring out the most in your SpeedPaints. (Maybe give Daemonic Yellow or Ionic Blue a try.)
- Zenithal prime your miniature. We have all the tips and tricks to make the most of your priming HERE!
- Load up your brush with paint. Unlike traditional acrylics, SpeedPaints need flow and coverage, not thin layers. If you get a thin film in your miniature, you need more paint. When your brush touches the model, the paint should start to flow into the recesses right away.
- Use an Army Painter medium to thin them down even more if you’re looking for a lighter coat or a brighter highlight. Just like with most miniature acrylic paints, the best results are achieved when reducing with thinner rather than water.
- Test out your SpeedPaint color by spreading a drop across a piece of white paper, or something similarly light to what you’re priming on. SpeedPaints look much darker in the bottle. Check out the example below:
DON’T:
- Don’t use a Wet Palette. This is probably the most important rule when working with SpeedPaints. The formula is so thin it will bleed right through. The paint is already pre-thinned to the perfect consistency, and the extra moisture will negatively affect your end result. An Army Painter Speed Palette works great!
- Don’t limit yourself just to the SpeedPaint colors. They mix beautifully with Army Painter Warpaints to dial in the exact color you’re after!
- Don’t be afraid to use SpeedPaints alongside your regular WarPaints on the same miniature. It’s not an all-or-nothing strategy. SpeedPaints are fantastic for broad coverage across large areas, while your standard acrylics handle the fine detail work.
Army Painter SpeedPaint 2.0 Color Options and Sets
Let’s take a look at the full Army Painter SpeedPaint 2.0 color range and the sets they offer. Whether you’re painting Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, Dungeons & Dragons miniatures, or any other tabletop wargame army, they’ve got you covered with a full range of darks, lights, pastels, warm and cool tones, and even metallics.
If you want to get your hands on the entire SpeedPaint 2.0 lineup, SprayGunner has you covered — pick up the Complete Set of SpeedPaint right here.
Not quite ready to go all-in? No problem.
The SpeedPaint Starter Set or maybe their Metallic Set are both great entry points into the SpeedPaint 2.0 system.
Whether you’re looking to add a powerful new tool to your miniature painting kit or just want to get your tabletop models done faster without sacrificing quality, Army Painter SpeedPaints are a great way to go! They’re versatile, come in a huge range of colors, and definitely fall in love with the results.
When you’re ready to conquer your miniature painting backlog and bring your wargaming army to life, SprayGunner.com has you covered.
See you on the battlefield.
