Best Miniature Paint Sets for Warhammer: A Beginners View

Warhammer is an incredibly rich and creative hobby, but it can feel overwhelming when starting out. High quality Warhammer paint sets give beginners everything they need in one convenient bundle. You’ll get essential colors, versatile tools, handy storage options, and often miniatures or guides to practice techniques.

Sets save you money compared to buying individually, and let you dive right in without stressful list-making. They’re also fantastic gifts to introduce friends or family to this wonderful hobby!

Interested in 3D printing? Checkout our guide on The Best 3D Printers for Warhammer 

Choosing Paint Sets by Your Goals

Casual Painter – For casual painters looking to experiment, try the Reaper Learn to Paint Core Skills Set. It has guides from an award-winning artist, quality brushes, bold Reaper paints for blending, and 3 fun miniatures to practice on. The Army Painter Zombicide Invader Set also has unique undead tones perfect for custom creations.

Avid Gamer – If you want to paint armies for gaming, The Army Painter Mega Set has 60 paints for variety and 5 special effects. The Space Marine and Orruk Warclans Sets from Games Workshop include miniatures, Citadel paints and a brush to start your collection.

Collector – For collectors who want display pieces, choose Vallejo or Reaper for vibrant, smooth coverage. Deluxe sets like Army Painter’s Wargames or Basic Hobby Collection have every supply for assembly through finished basing.

Airbrush User  – Airbrush efficiently paints batches, so The Army Painter Airbrush Mega Set has 60 bottles. Shake each mixing ball-loaded paint before thinning with the air flow improver.

The Best Warhammer Starter Paint Sets

Now let’s explore some top recommendations in detail!

Prices shown are approximate at time of writing.

Reaper Learn to Paint Kit Core Skills – $35

This is the ultimate starter set, earning its popularity through smart design and reputable quality.

The trio of 28mm heroic miniatures snap together without glue, ready for you to experiment freely. 11 versatile paints offer a palette from shining silver to leather brown to blood red. Paint generously flows from the dropper bottles. Two distinct brushes handle basecoating and fine details dexterously.

Best of all is the guidebook written by award-winning artist Rhonda Bender. Her inviting instructions will grant beginners success applying undercoats, targeting recesses with wash and highlighting edges into contrast. This set stores neatly within its plastic carrying case, making transport quite convenient.

For both teachings and tools, Reaper distills essentials for burgeoning painters to discover confidence in the craft quickly.

Army Painter Mega Paint Set – $150

Declare all-out chromatic war upon boring gray plastic!

The Army Painter Mega Set unleashes 60 pots stuffed with acrylics, metals and effects providing unlimited ammunition for weathering spectacular scenery or customizing awe-inspiring characters. Nearly 200 mixing balls banish boring hand shaking, efficiently blending pigments inside each bottle.

Paint flows generously from the anti-clog tip onto your palette. Creations shine with matte vibrancy or glossy effects thanks to the brush-on varnish and ‘Ardcoat finishing medium.

High density basecoats provide thick, rich opacity requiring usually only one coat even over darker undercolors. Shading washes seep subtly into each lithe muscle or grim skull recess. Voluminous eighteen milliliter pots should endure through whole armies or grandiose dioramas without running dry.

This staggering diversity empowers imagination and experimentation for intermediate painters onward with plenty to indulge embellishing the macabre, whimsical or historical.

Citadel Paint + Tools Set – $45

Welcome to the vivid, imaginative realm nurtured for thirty years by Games Workshop.

This set offers thirteen Citadel paints including textured technicals, essential tools and a starter brush worthy of legends. Clippers sever models from sprues decisively. The mouldline remover scrapes away errant plastic scraps smoothly.

An intricate character like the Lord-Arcanum on Dracoline emerges, needing only your custom colors before thundering into battle.

These rich acrylics glide from rounded pots, leaving stunning pigmentation with a single thin coat without losing vibrancy over years. Marvel as soulstone blue shimmers, fiery dragon red smolders or ceramite white creates clean, neutral contrast. Paint flows easily from the stirring ball though shakes before use guarantees perfectly mixed consistency.

The Citadel range’s staggering assortment means you can find the perfect hue for any cloak trim to gore effect to iris fleck with precision and personality. Expand this tremendous starter set through stand-alone pots and gift sets catering to any army or scene you envision.

Army Painter Airbrush Mega Set – $200

Take powerful control of entire armies and sweeping scenic commissions through airbrushing speedily.

This extensive array palms sixty colors for blending seamlessly into realistic gradients through fresh, precise passes. Create your dream Orc skin, blending mossy under-hue through warm mid tone finally to pale highlights.

In minutes basecoat a Space Marine force glimmering in unified yet individualized armor!

The Matt White mixes evenly with any color for a bright yet unsaturated appearance resembling bleached bone or sun-bleached linen. Flow improver maintains smooth passage through the airbrush so gradients never spatter or spatters.

Agitator mixing balls loosen the generously portioned color cakes tightly packed with resilient pigment particles, dissolving them thoroughly into each thinner medium. Clean up easily with low-odor solvents instead of water to avoid gunk.

This magnificent mega set empowers vivid art and mass production. Expand your scoped imagination through airbrushing today!

The Army Painter Zombicide Invader – $30

Summon an entire shambling legion from beyond the grave! Zombicide Invader set complements your existing paints with ten sickly shades. Infected epidermis rots through ghastly Corpse Pale into oozing Open Wounds.

Deep washes pool around unseeing Milky White Eyes as details drybrush murkily over rigid rigor mortis limbs. Create focal points with the single Arterial Gloss Blood, dripping from ravenous maws or crusted under ragged nails that clawed free from the dirt. Mix rust powder with Gloss Varnish into gore effects and slime trails marking the undead’s restless passing!

The convenient medium-tip Battle brush flows Invader paints smoothly onto Reaper Bones plastics or polystyrene minis. Formulate custom undead skin-tones through mixing the four dedicated rotten hues then tweak luminosity, saturation or hue precisely.

Contrast against weathered steel weapons, tarnished armor or faded uniforms of those who fell before or amongst the shamblers. Expand with Cabal or swamp colors to build zombie-infested bayous, crypts or mausoleums. The Army Painter empowers this niche with budget options that merge nicely into your existing collection!

Games Workshop Age of Sigmar Stormcast Set – $35

Joining a new gaming scene sparks inseparable nostalgia throughout many hobbyists regarding their inaugural army pieces. For Stormcast Eternals, this starter set recaptures such warm familiarity that kindled original devotion to painting and playing miniatures.

The easy push-fit Vindicators spare any need for cement, allowing spontaneous assembly painting immediately. Six bold paints unlock schemes from regal gold armor to weathered steely weapons and turquoise sigmarite accents. The starter brush flows smoothly, pulling details out even with basic techniques.

Everything fundamental for starting your Stormcast Eternals warband rests within one box ready for action. Expand through easy-build sets which push-fit new dynamic sculpts using few colors from this starter easily.

Grab new paints and tools to accent your force’s growing personality and prowess set-by-set. Before long you will stand triumphantly with a storied collection born from humble beginnings thanks to this cherished inaugural kit from Games Workshop!

The Army Painter Wargames Starter Set – $30

Sometimes simplest solutions provide reliable results worthy of veterans. The Army Painter recognized this in producing their hobby Starter Set. Twelve essential colors unlock blends including natural leather, grubby fatigue greens, enriched crimson cloaks and shining steel.

The massively useful Strong Tone wash flows into recesses outlining intricate details from sculpt or brush competently. The Starter brush flows every paint smoothly despite years of battles!

If taken into combat repeatedly, easily replace the economical brush while your palette lasts perpetual years if lids seal well. Expand selections slowly through similar Army Painter sets or by chosen favorites.

For those wanting quality results without excess accessories immediately, this classic kit contains essentials to paint entire units surprisingly well with some practice! Judge starter sets by the versatile fundamentals able to walk newcomers through fundamental techniques yet useful longtime to avoid waste when possible.

Vallejo Basic Colors Paint Set – $35

When only the best formulation satisfies your detail-obsessed mindset, reach for revered Vallejo. This esteemed brand provides unparalleled quality control ensuring uniform consistency and purity within all 98 colors across 4 catalog ranges. Their formidable pigments offer unrivaled opacity.

Even difficult yellows and whites cover smoothly without frustrating translucency or splotchiness requiring 10 layers. Flow improver enables thinning mediums to a perfect viscosity every time.

The Basic set delivers universally useful colors identical between Game, Model and Model Air formulas besides exact bottle shape. Rich true blacks, lush primary triad, traditional military greens, realistic skin variants – every essential rests here ready to expand your collection through open stock or specialized sets.

Plus, their venerable brush-on primer offers durable grip qualifying surfaces for any finish coats. So why settle for less when Vallejo puts perfection literally at your fingertips?

Army Painter D&D Adventure Set – $50

Quest deeper into blending bold magics or muted earths ideal for dungeon delves!

This licensed collaboration curates ten colors between Army Painter’s refined talent and Wizards of the Coast’s revered pantheon. Invoke budding sorcerers through the deep cobalt Washable Ultramarine Blue or searing Pyromancer Orange.

Verdant Prismatic Blade green creates razor sharp contrasts against crumbling granite passages weathered Grey Stoned.

Whether you’re a freshly enrolled mage or arch wizard mixing metals, washes and textures, Army Painter formulated this essential spell book so any painter can imagine fantastical realms effectively.

Venture forth through the Monster set’s additional 30 sickly hues and technical range. Once primed by Brush-On Anti-Shine, figures enchant game night brighter than Moon Dust Glow!

 

Choosing Paints by Color Needs

Whether you want to paint fantasy armies, historical figures, or spooky undead hordes, there are specialized paint sets to suit your needs. Sets with primary colors readily mix for any project, while Army Painter Zombicide brings perfect rotten hues for corpses.

Vallejo Game tones and Citadel technicals create vivid magic weapons or elemental effects. For realistic military vehicles, Vallejo Model Air offers accurate tones from Desert Dust to Forest Green. Army Painter’s extensive range also replicates gritty realism for infantry and architecture finishes.

Advanced Paint Features

Look for sets with metallic colors for shining weapons and armor, pre-thinned washes to instantly shade details, weathering pigments for battle damage, primers and varnishes to prepare and protect models, or include miniatures and guides! Army Painter produces quality washes and printers, while Vallejo creates weathering powders. Iconic miniatures from Citadel, Reaper and Army Painter inspire new painters.

This simplifies those purchasing considerations, focusing on choosing paint colors suited to your models and highlighting advanced add-on features for weathering, washes and more. Please let me know if you would like me to expand or clarify anything!

Essential Accessories for Paint Sets

Whichever paint set you choose, completing your essential toolkit expands creative options exponentially while protecting your existing kit. Here are my top accessory recommendations:

Wet Palette (~$10) This rubber-sealed paper or plastic tray keeps paint workable for days instead of drying fast. You’ll blend beautifully!

Brush-On Primer ($8-15) Prep surfaces to receive acrylic adhesion instead of beading up or scraping off easily. Army Painter’s uniform gray works very well.

Brush Care Set ($10) Prolong your tools’ precision with conditioner soap and stiffening solution restoring shape after each use.

Quickshade Wash (~$4) These ultra-fluid acrylic stains settle into crevices with a coffee-like stain effect. Saves mass shading effort!

Matte Varnish Spray ($10-15) Lock your artistic vision safely beneath UV-resistant sealants that prevent oxidation and dulling to preserve paintwork for display or gaming adventures!

Cutting Mat ($5+) Protect fingers and tables from cuts, scuffs or stray super glue with textured self-healing surfaces made specifically for modeling hobbyists. Absorbs shocks securely.

Airbrush With Compressor ($100+,Optional)
Unlock this spraying tool’s versatility once comfortable with essential brush techniques. Thin flowing paint grants effects from graded armor shading to realistic rain running tracks down a vehicle hull or fortress walls.

Research accessories smartly to avoid overspending on redundant gadgets when funds feel limited. Ask local hobby shops about budget equipment alternatives. Quality persistence through honing fundamental skills makes far bigger differences over buying expensive upgrades prematurely. Master core competencies first, accessorizing later!

Essential Painting Supplies Recap

In summary, essentials for painting miniatures only require:

-Water Pot (for cleaning and thinning paints)

-Palette (protected work area for mixing paints cleanly)

-Miniatures (plastic, resin and metal surfaces all work well)

I hope this guide has broken down the wide world of Warhammer paint sets to help you select your perfect match! Let your colorfully chaotic imagination run wild. Ask us anytime for painting advice or share your latest creations – we would love to see!