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How To Tutorial

Discover our how-to tutorial guides for everything from painting and modeling to storing miniatures for games like Warhammer and more!

Painting Warhammer miniatures is all part of the fun of the hobby! However, sometimes getting paint on those gray models can sometimes be a bit of a hurdle. So, here’s how to paint Warhammer miniatures, the tutorials you need, and plenty of inspiration. Plus, playing with painted armies just makes the game so much better, and if you’re going to a tournament, everything must be painted.

Whether you’re painting your thousandth mini and are just looking for some new tips or are painting your first Warhammer miniature, you can always keep learning. That’s one of the coolest parts of the hobby that you can see your progress in a very visual way, and playing games with fully painted armies is hugely appealing.

Over the years, there have also been huge improvements in the techniques, paints, and products. Most notably, airbrushing Warhammer miniatures have started to take over the painting scene, and it has a pretty steep learning curve. Still, when you start to understand it, airbrushing makes painting much faster and better.

What Paints to Use for Warhammer Miniatures

Acrylic paints are the most commonly used for painting Warhammer miniatures, 3D printed miniatures, historical figures, and any RPG models. However, there are a ton of companies out there that make paint specifically for miniatures. Here are some of the best and why to pick what.

  • Citadel (GW paints)– these paints look great on miniatures but are generally the most expensive.
  • Army Painter– They have a ton of paints geared towards beginners, the paint looks great, and it’s very affordable.
  • Monument Hobbies– They have some of the best paints on the market for getting very smooth paint jobs.
  • Vallejo– They are another premium paint brand but, again, are not the cheapest.
  • Ak Interactive Acrylics– They have some exciting colors and are starting to become the favorite of many painters in Europe over Vallejo.
  • Scale 75 Paints– These paints are extremely unique, and their formula is very different from other brands, which means some people love them, others not as much.

If you want to see all the paints tested against one another, check out a full comparison here.

What is the Easiest Warhammer Army to Paint?

gw necrons

If you’re playing Warhammer 40k, the Necrons take the top spot as the easiest to paint as they are just mainly metal and can be drybrushed silver for the majority of the paint job. For AoS, Stormcast Eternals are the easiest, as they are almost all armor, meaning no faces (generally), and the paint schemes are very simple.

How Do You Practice Painting Warhammer Miniatures?

ocd painting miniatures cosplay

The easiest way is to start putting paint on models. However, this is where test models come in. The best thing to do is buy some models you don’t care about too much, then you can test your paint schemes, what paints you like, etc… on those and not worry about how they come out.

We recommend finding a tutorial with the exact paint scheme you want for your models and trying to replicate exactly what you see. Eventually, you will be able to branch out but try to just copy what you see until you have the techniques down.

Painting Your First Warhammer Miniature

The first thing you want is good lighting! We recommend getting some lamps that can give you good light and get two of them so they don’t cast shadows on your models. After that, it’s best to decide on your paint scheme before you put any paint on the mini.

You decide the primary colors you want everything to be, making it easier to just fill them in. Then, the next thing you need to do is prime the miniature, there are a few ways to go about it, but you can paint on the primer, but using a spray can is generally the easiest way.

Then you can get into the painting; you want to start with your basecoat (the darker and primary colors of your paint scheme). Once you have the main colors blocked in, you can either use a wash paint or start highlighting. If you want to learn how to paint your first Warhammer miniature, check out an easy-to-follow tutorial here.

Is Warhammer Painting Hard?

It’s not really hard, as painting is part of the hobby, and even if your miniatures don’t win any painting competitions, it’s all about putting paint on those gray models! With the insane number of tutorials out there, you can learn quite quickly how to get better and get those models on the table!