Army Painter Speedpaint Review with Photos

After using Army Painter Speed Paint for a while I feel ready to give you an honest review.

Pros of Army Painter Speedpaint

Overall I like the speed paints, they can get your minis to basic tabletop quality quickly.
Speed is the obvious advantage of these paints, they cover quickly and deliver highlights and shadows in one layer as advertised, most of the time. More on this is in the photos below.
They are also much less expensive than the Citadel contrast paint which is the primary competition for this type of paint.
These work best in areas with a lot of texture

Cons of Army Painter Speedpaint

The downfall of these paint is that you can’t layer them or blend from one color to another easily.
The shades aren’t very evenly spread over the color wheel
Speedpaint isn’t great on mostly flat surfaces
Some of the color names are misleading, particularly I don’t think that sand should end up orange, but that’s just me.

Speed Paint Reported Reactivation Issues

Some people have reported that they have reactivation issues when highlighting over the top of speed paint. I have been using it for several months now and I don’t experience this issue. I used the paint as it was designed without any issues. I have also highlighted over the top of it without experiencing the problem. I don’t know if people just aren’t allowing it to dry, but This hasn’t been an issue for me. I do have this issue with inks, but that is another article entirely.

Who is speed paint going to benefit

Gamers who want basic tabletop quality
Gamers who are painting a lot of miniatures that will be the same
Gamers that are new to painting and want a simple solution without getting too fancy

Who is going to pass on Speed Paint

Painters seeking competition quality
painters who like to do blending such as wet blending or layering

Getting the most from your speedpaint

Acrylic paint is semi translucent, speed paint is formulated to be more translucent than typical acrylic paint. take advantage of this fact by zenithaly priming your minis. Modify your zenithal priming by using a shadow color that is a mid-tone, not black. Most of these paints will just show black through them instead of the color.
Try different undercoat colors. Priming your minis yellow, for example, will give your paint job a warm tone overall, using blue or green as your primer will be the opposite and cool down your paint scheme.
Use the speed paint mixing medium to add more color options. Using the medium that is available for this set of paint will help to reduce the reactivation and bleed through that many people have encountered. It is the water that causes the reactivation, the mixing medium replaces the water and reduces the potential for reactivation.
Read my article about the popular slap chop method using speed paint

SpeedPaints come in 23 different colors, they have at least one shade of each primary and secondary color, as well as varying shades of brown and grey. I found that the lighter colors worked more frequently as advertised and the darker colors struggled to have highlights and shadows on their own. My favorite color is Pallad Bone, I felt it gives good results. The hive dweller purple, cloudburst blue, and grim black were the most disappointing to me, as they didn’t have many highlights or shadows.

I wanted to showcase each color so that you can decide which ones would work best for your projects. I decided to print a dragon turtle that I got from Loot Studios on my AnyCubic Photon Mono. I chose this mini because it had a variety of textures and surfaces. I quickly painted them a solid color so that you can see how the paint works on all surface types.

After you read this review if you feel like this is a product for you you can find it at these retailers.

Amazon: Starter set, Mega Set, Individual Bottles

In the UK try Element Games: Starter Set, Mega Set, Individual Bottles

In the USA compare prices at Noble Knight Games: Starter Set, Mega Set, Individual bottles

Army Painter Speedpaint Cloudburst Blue Example on a miniature

Army Painter Speedpaint Highlord Blue Example on a miniature — Army Painter Speedpaint Cloudburst Blue Example on a miniature

The paint is available in individual bottles or in sets. Your friendly local hobby shop probably carries it in-store and it would be easiest to get it there. If your local store doesn’t carry them you can try the following links. Sets are going to be less expensive per bottle but have more upfront costs.

Amazon: Starter set, Mega Set, Individual Bottles

In the UK try Element Games: Starter Set, Mega Set, Individual Bottles

In the USA compare prices at Noble Knight Games: Starter Set, Mega Set, Individual bottles

These are my recommendations of things that I use all the time when painting miniatures

My 3D Printer

My Paintbrush Set

My Vortex Mixer

My Ultrasonic Cleaner

The Starter Paint Set That I Recommend for small budgets

The Starter Paint Set That I Recommend for large budgets

My Wet Pallete

My favorite Airbrush