Games Workshop’s Sunday Preview revealed the new Warhammer Tone Pro paint range and brushes, hitting pre-order this Saturday.
GW’s coming for Pro Acryl and Army Painter Fanatic with 150 new paints. So, how much is this going to cost us? This week’s preview revealed that Tone Pro, the big paint announcement from the Autumn Preview, finally opens for orders. Plus, two new mediums and a set of dry brushes are coming with it.
We said Tone Pro looked like Fanatic mixed with Pro Acryl when it first showed up, and we’re still seeing that. GW will tell you these are the best paints it’s ever made, of course. But third-party paints have kept the “one pot that actually covers” crowd happy for years. Are hobbyists going to pay GW prices for paints they can already get elsewhere?
Let’s have a look at everything going up for pre-order this Saturday and what we think of it.
New Warhammer Tone Pro Paints
This week is all paint-table stuff. No codexes or model kits, just new paint pots, mediums, and brushes.
These go up for pre-order on Saturday, October 10, around 1 p.m. EST in the States, with a street date of Saturday, October 24, for store shelves.
Still waiting for something else to hit pre-order? Check the latest lineup in our updated Warhammer Roadmap for 2026.
Warhammer Tone Pro Paints
Retailer listings already have the new Tone Pro 12ml pots at around $6.75 each, though, and that price has drawn plenty of Tone Pro backlash. Multiply that by 150, and you’re north of $1,000 for the full range. Before Saturday, it’s probably worth working out how many tones of each color you’ll actually use.
The idea’s pretty simple. You get thirty new colors with five tones each, numbered from one (darkest) to five (lightest). Painting Ultramarines? You work from Ultramar Blue 1 to Ultramar Blue 5, instead of juggling Base, Layer, and Contrast and hoping they line up.
GW says you can basecoat, shade, glaze, highlight and drybrush with the same pot. It also says even yellows and whites cover on the first coat. Okay, that’s the claim we want to try, because those colors have given us grief with the old pots for decades. Plus, the self-leveling formula is supposed to smooth out brush marks too, which is the trick Pro Acryl built its whole following on.
But to be honest, most other paints do the same thing if you thin them down properly; this isn’t really a new concept.
Tone Pro Shading Medium and Blending Medium
The two mediums give you more ways to use the paints. Shading Medium thins the pigment without messing up the flow or finish, so you can turn any Tone Pro color into a shade or glaze. One extra pot gives you 150 potential washes, at least on paper, which seems like a great value, honestly.
Blending Medium slows drying time, so anyone into wet blending will want to check it out. Plenty of us have been doing this for years with a drop of retarder from the art store. Still, putting it right beside the paints makes it easier for newer painters to find, especially if they’d never think to look for it elsewhere.
Warhammer Tone Pro Dry Brushes
GW’s also bringing out dry brushes with curved tips and tight bristles, designed to catch the raised edges without getting paint all over the rest of the model.
These will be compared straight to the Army Painter Masterclass drybrush set. That’s been our table’s go-to for years, so GW’s version needs more going for it than labels that match the paint rack.
You can see more about drybrushing in our tutorial guide.
Final Thoughts on Warhammer Tone Pro Pre-Orders
WarCom’s already promising more painter videos and a miniatures reveal tomorrow, so we’ll be hearing plenty about Tone Pro through October.
Once these pots hit shelves, we’ll see how they hold up when we’re actually painting our armies with them. The big question on everybody’s mind is: are they really that much better than Army Painter Fanatic and Monument Hobbies Pro Acryl?
🔗 Related Reads:
- Warhammer Tone Pro Paints Look Like Fanatic Mixed With Pro Acryl
- Warhammer Tone Pro Paint: Price, Release Date, 30 Colors
- Warhammer Big Autumn Preview 2026: Every New Reveal From GW Analyzed
- GW Trust Cracks Again, Tone Pro Backlash, Space Marines Codex 40k Latest
- No 40k Codexes Till 2027, Legion of The Damned Rules: Autumn Q&A
- New Custodes Codex, Aquilon Terminators Pre-Orders Live: Pricing & Lineup
- Army Painter Masterclass Drybrush Set Review
What do you think of Warhammer Tone Pro?
