Greetings!

What brands of gaming miniatures do you love?

Lately, I really like Artisan Guild, Beastarium, Cast & Play, Bite The Bullet, Signum Workshop, and RN Studio.

There are so many awesome miniature companies and lines! Lots of variety, and different classes, races, poses, and gear. I have been doing 32mm in most miniatures, as I think that the details are superior and easier to see! Also, just being a bit larger than the older 28mm miniatures makes it much easier to paint as well.

What paints do you like? I have mostly Reaper paints, as well as some Citadel paints and Vallejo paints.

So many cool options for everything!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

If you are trying to paint large numbers of models quickly (or even if you want to speed up that one you need for tonight), I cannot recommend The Army Painter's Speedpaints sets enough.  You get all the highlighting, detailing, and dry-brushing in a single wet coat.  It's incredible.  Add a little zenithal undercoat, and it looks really good for less than 10 minutes per model.  It's changed the way I paint....   

I'm pretty deep into wargaming on my end.

When it comes to minis where I go depends on what I am after. WW2/Nam? Rubicon is the best.

Generic fantasy reaper or NorthStar's frostgrave kits are great.

the last few years I just print what I want.

As for paints I am partials to Vallejo. I find citadel pots and price too unappealing. I also like Pro Acryl by monument hobbies.

Quote from: SHARK on August 01, 2022, 01:29:07 PMWhat paints do you like? I have mostly Reaper paints, as well as some Citadel paints and Vallejo paints.

I don't use miniatures with RPGs but I do play historical miniature wargames. I'm pretty much exclusively 15mm either Ancients or WW2. For paints I primarily use Vallejo.

Quote from: Eirikrautha on August 01, 2022, 01:37:20 PM
If you are trying to paint large numbers of models quickly (or even if you want to speed up that one you need for tonight), I cannot recommend The Army Painter's Speedpaints sets.  You get all the highlighting, detailing, and dry-brushing in a single wet coat.  It's incredible.

I saw a bunch of videos on them a few months ago but didn't know if they were out yet. I've also heard that GW is reformulating their Contrast paints so I'm not sure whose are better. As I said earlier, however, I mainly do historical so all the bright colors of the Speedpaint line are not very useful. Unless someone has a good formula for OD green or feldgrau.

QuoteAdd a little zenithal undercoat, and it looks really good for less than 10 minutes per model.  It's changed the way I paint....

Do you use an airbrush for the zenithal or drybrush white over black?

Quote from: Eirikrautha on August 01, 2022, 01:37:20 PM
If you are trying to paint large numbers of models quickly (or even if you want to speed up that one you need for tonight), I cannot recommend The Army Painter's Speedpaints sets.  You get all the highlighting, detailing, and dry-brushing in a single wet coat.  It's incredible.  Add a little zenithal undercoat, and it looks really good for less than 10 minutes per model.  It's changed the way I paint....

Greetings!

My friend, that sounds pretty damn awesome! I haven't tried those yet. I will have to get some now! Army Painters *Speedpaints*

Eirikrautha, do you have a huge collection of miniatures?

Yes, my own collection is enormous. I confess, I have much work to do!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Most of my paints are Reaper.  I have some Vallejo and GW (primarily washes).  I like AK Interactive's "Deep" color line, it covers well.

I'll second the Army Painter Speedpaints.  When you put it on you'll wonder what the hell have you done to your mini, but when it dries, it's awesome.  I may actually finish all my Goffs someday at this rate.

For RPG's I have been switching over to multi-pose plastics. They are lighter and easier to transport compared to the metals I used to use. Almost all of my gaming is human-centric so I can rely on the many fine makers of historical figures in 28mm. Scale creep is evil and I refuse to buy anything in 32mm. I buy from Warlord, Gripping Beast, Fireforge Games, and Victrix. For humanoids and demi-humans, I can get good stuff from North Star's Oathmark range or from Wargames Atlantic. For monsters I can usually get what I need from Reaper's Bones line of plastics. Reaper's casts are a bit bigger than my other 28's but I don't mind it for monsters.

I don't remember who made my paints. My painting sucks no matter who's paints I use.

Quote from: SHARK on August 01, 2022, 06:04:29 PM

Quote from: Eirikrautha on August 01, 2022, 01:37:20 PM
If you are trying to paint large numbers of models quickly (or even if you want to speed up that one you need for tonight), I cannot recommend The Army Painter's Speedpaints sets enough.  You get all the highlighting, detailing, and dry-brushing in a single wet coat.  It's incredible.  Add a little zenithal undercoat, and it looks really good for less than 10 minutes per model.  It's changed the way I paint....

Greetings!

My friend, that sounds pretty damn awesome! I haven't tried those yet. I will have to get some now! Army Painters *Speedpaints*

Eirikrautha, do you have a huge collection of miniatures?

Yes, my own collection is enormous. I confess, I have much work to do!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I have a 3Dprinter... needless to say, I have a backlog...

I use mostly Vallejo - https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/category/hobby/game-color-en/

Also, welcome back SHARK!

Given where I have been spending my miniature dollars as of late (pretty much the entire Reaper Bones 6), it would be Reaper.

The majority of my paints are Vallejo Game Color, with a small number of Reaper paints.

I use minis and ships from Blood & Plunder for a pirate themed campaign I am running. These ships look amazing. 28mm scale replicas of 17th century ships.

I like weapons and armor to look historically accurate.  I have great disdain for anime-style swords with huge blades that would break your wrist if you tried to swing them.  Nor do I like armor with cleavage, or large gaps that you could attack through.

For non-printed figs, I mostly have Reaper (metal and Bones Black or Bones USA; I hate the Bones PVC figs, at least the ones smaller than an ogre) and Darksword. I have a fair amount of Otherworld as well, which are good if you like old-school looking monsters. Also a smattering of GW, Effincool, GF9, and Wizkids (similar to old Bones, not a big fan of the humanoid Wizkids figs, but their larger miniatures aren't bad).

For 3D-printed miniatures, my favorite is Avatars of War, mainly because I subscribe to their Patreon for $4/month and get a boatload of figs every month There's a lot I don't really care for (their orcs and goblins, for instance), but what I get for the money is a great deal. Their figs tend to be on the busy side, but they're very cool. Rocket Pig Games has a bunch of cool monsters, and STL Miniatures is good for things like NPC craftsmen. Lots of others I've bookmarked on MMF but I just need to get caught up on painting.

Speaking of which, I'll add my recommendation for speed paints. I used to use GW's contrast paints (still do for some things), but I've come to prefer speed paints. Half the price and they do a great job. My main complaint is they don't have enough shades of certain colors for my taste (I'd like two or three more browns, another green, and maybe another blue).

 Reaper and many of the miniatures WOK made pre primed are very good.  I also have quite a few CMON board games that have some fantastic miniatures with them (I bought one of their games because the miniatures were so good, the game is pretty good, but the minis are great).  I also like Games Workshop (again, I bought a couple of their "board game" sets for the miniatures with them, their minis are great but the assembly does take more work and time) but they are a bit pricey.   

   Paints I prefer reaper and army painter, they keep for a fantastically long time and make a large range of colors.  I like army painter brushes and GW, I have some nice brushes (Windsor Newton) but I feel they are too good for me (I am not good enough a painter to need them....it is like an average shooter thinking they need a springfield M1A1 to hit targets at 100 meters) and I worry more about wearing them out from even casual use to use them. 

   Some other miniatures I have used are also surprisingly good such as Perry Miniatures, the Monolith Conan board game, Osprey (the Frostgrave series are great for adventurers...the game Frostgrave is also a great skirmish game) and the miniatures with the Descent board game.

  I am also a pretty big fan of Army Painter's primer paints.  Considerably cheaper than citadel, lots of colors, and I really can not tell a difference in quality from Citadel with my limited application (I am getting miniatures ready to play with, not art pieces...my limit on paint ability is a decent looking human eye and that is dependent on whether I had too much coffee before attempting).