Thomas Ponet

Army Painter’s new line-up of Speedpaints promises a one-coat painting solution tailored for all tabletop and wargaming miniatures. With over an extensive palette of over 90 different colours to choose from, the Denmark-based company believes that everyone can effortlesly paint and complete their Warhammer army or D&D characters to a commendable tabletop standard. This offering holds particular appeal for gamers who prefer playing with miniatures rather than assemble and paint them.

As someone who, until now, only owned nine standard acrylic colours and one shade from the Army Painter Warpaints Standard Set, I recognized the need for some additional colouring options to avoid a monotonous colour scheme across all my miniatures. Consequently, I took a small leap of faith and sprung for the Speedpaint 2.0 Mega Set, which contains 50 different Speedpaint colours.

The Mega Set

Opening the Mega Set to discover 50 coloured dropper bottles felt like entering a candy store. The Mega Set provides an impressive selection from Army Painter’s complete range of Speedpaints, covering most of the colours any painter will ever need. Overall, the Speedpaints 2.0 stand out for provoding the widest range of colours in comparison to other brands, all at a competitive price, which is around 65% of the price of rival Contrast paints from Citadel.

Army Painter maintained its beloved 18ml dropper bottles, known for their eas of use and preventing excessive paint usage. The bottles come with two mixing balls to easily remix the paints when separated. However, holding the bottles vertically during paint pouring may lead to the dropper top popping off. Applying pressure at an angle is an easy fix, but inconvenient nonetheless.

Another small drawback on Army Painter’s part with regard to the bottles are the labels in the first batches of the Mega Set. It is nearly impossible to distinguish the new formula from the old formula by label alone. Additionally, the labels only feature a fantasy naming scheme, making it challenging to determine the actual colour during application. Army Painter has allegedly rectified these issues in later releases, however.

Paint quality

Army Painter received quite a lot of criticism for its first version Speedpaints, mostly because of reactivation issues when overpainting with a different colour. With the new formula the Danes seem to have fixed this issue. Applying Speedpaints 2.0 is as easy as ever with a relatively short drying time, particlary with a decent-sized brush.

The paints’ consistency contributes to their ease of use, offering high vibrancy and pigmentation, even for typically challenging colours like yellow and metallics. The paints settle evenly, making the Speedpaint 2.0 range excellent for basecoating, with shading properties that feel like an added bonus. Additionally, the new range can also be used to great effect for glazing when thinned with either water or speedpaint medium.

While the quick drying time and lack of reactivation make it difficult to blend colours on the model, this issue can be addresed by glazing paints on top of eachother. This technique, however, is more time-consuming and defeats the speedy claims of the new Speedpaints. Careless painters may also find cleaning up small errors more difficult compared to traditional acrylic paints.

Gimli taking his axe to a dire wolf, from Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth. Painted with Speedpaints 2.0 and highlighted with Warpaints.

Despite being a quick and effective solution for basecoating and shading, Speedpaints 2.0 lack a bit of punch in the highlighting department. Painters or players aiming to enhance their paint jobs may prefer to (edge) highlight their minis with standard acrylic paints.

Conclusion

The Speedpaint 2.0 range from Army Painter fulfills its promise by allowing tabletop role-playing and wargaming enthusiasts to swiftly paint their minis or armies to a respectable tabletop standard. A quick white primer combined with one coat of Speedpaints is all it takes to quickly prepare miniatures for the next Dungeons and Dragons adventure or Warhammer battle.

Moreover, expert painters can use Speedpaints 2.0 to quickly lay down a base coat for more intricate painting techniques with regular acrylics later. Miniature painters who enjoy glazing will also appreciate the Speedpaints, as they offer great translucency coupled with high vibrancy.

Two spiders from the Faldorn Goblins set by Artisan Guild. Printed on an Elegoo Saturn 2, painted with Speedpaints 2.0, and highlighted with Warpaints.