Best products from r/Warmachine

Glue: Super glue. Plastic glue only works on very specific types of plastic, and not what PP traditionally uses (though that may change with the new plastic kits, I hear the TEP works with plastic glue, but not sure). You don't need any special type of super glue, it's basically all the same aside from the viscosity. There's basically no difference in performance between one of the expensive hobby brands and a general purpose super glue.

Brushes: In general you get what you pay for, but I would skip the branded brushes from the hobby companies. Some are good, but it's a crap shoot. Invest in some good red sable brushes from a real artist brand like Raphael or Windsor & Newton, and some brush soap. I am partial to these.. If you take care of them they will last basically forever. Good natural fiber brushes are more resilient than synthetic (in my experience), and hold their shape longer. You'll want to pick up a few cheap brushes for drybrushing, though. That will ruin the bristles. Size 2 is what I use for most of my painting. Don't get trapped in using tiny brushes. The sables will hold a fine point, even on the bigger brushes, and you want the large brush because it holds more paint in the belly and gives you more work time before it dries on the bristles.

Files: Just get a cheap set of needle files like this. However, you won't need them for a lot of things. Most plastic models can be cleaned up just by scraping an xacto blade along the mold lines (holding the blade perpendicular to the line), and even some metal models can be cleaned this way unless they are poorly cast. The files are just for the larger models or for badly cast areas.

Primer: There are too many choices here to really cover that, just use a little google-fu and see what you like. I have used everything from cheap krylon to brush on. Army painter primers are good if you are painting a set scheme because the tinted primer can double as a basecoat, but they are a bit pricy. I also use gesso sometimesas it is very humid around here, and that takes some of the variability out of the issue of priming models in a swamp.

Misc: I don't use a clamp, generally. I tend paint the models on the base. To hold them steady I usually just stick a glob of blu tack on top of a nearby bottle or object and use the bottle as a handle. Most of the time it's a can of primer I use as my handle, the larger / weighted object helps to steady the model in my hand. Blu tack also does double duty as "painter's tape" for me sometimes if I want to keep some section of a model free of paint. It's also good for removing dust from a primed model if you're like me and prime a huge batch of minis, then forget about them for 6 months.

If you're pinning models to the bases, you can also just stick the pin into the chuck of your model drill and use that as a handle.

Look, first off. You tried and you have a painted mini, you're now 100% better than the dude that shows up with primed minis and 1000% better than the dude that shows up with bare metal/plastic ones.

Second, in general, the first thing you paint won't be good. The second won't either, but you have to keep trying. Have you checked youtube for any tutorials? Just watching some other people paint could be a huge help, there's a lot in the technique.

Finally, I don't know your situation, but if you can afford some better paints, you'll probably be stunned at the difference they make. Make sure you have some good brushes too. Also, As a rule of thumb, in my opinion, if you're painting light colors, prime white, painting dark colors, prime dark. Don't use gloss paints... unless you want it glossy, but usually you seal it with a gloss seal if that's the case.

Here is a set of paints specifically for Khador. I'd honestly suggest using those and using the box and pictures online as a reference. Once you get some experience, then go nuts.

Also, fuck ostrakon. There's no reason to talk to ANYONE like that. You tried and you came here to show off and our duty to do our best to give you fair criticism and pointers so you'll join and be a happy member of this community and hopefully bring others.

I put the card in a flexible sleeve, and then put that sleeve in a top loader(ie, hard sleeve).

The flexible sleeve keeps it moving inside the top loader. The soft sleeves are just cheap ones that are like $3 for more than you'll ever need, and then the top loaders were like $10 for like 100. I store the cards I don't use in a binder of pocket pages(often already in the soft sleeves).

I hear good things about clear dragon shields if you're interested in only soft sleeves. I like the durability of top loaders, and for storing I like pages so I can easily organize things without having to constantly shuffle through or reorganize cards.

Here's a link to an ultra pro top loader/soft sleeve combo

Most casters are great with one squad of gun mages and the 13th. eHaley, pHaley and pCaine will all give you a little more support than eCaine will. eCaine is just a greedy, greedy caster. He wants all his focus, and he wants squire and reinholdt too. pCaine on the other hand has snipe, blur and deadeye. I know eCaine giving ATGM's gunfighter is cool, but it's not as useful as you think. They still won't be GOOD in melee, and if push comes to shove you can use thunderbolt to shoot each other out of combat.

Here's my biggest piece of advice for starting out with Cygnar:
Get one of the Haleys, one of the Strykers and one of the Caines. Use them for both their prime and epic versions until you find your style. No one should give you a hard time for using a proxy when you're starting out, and half the people you play against won't even realize that you're using the wrong model when you run pHaley as eHaley, or vice versa.

The best part about Cygnar is that we can run a shooting list, a jack list, or a melee list. There aren't really "bad" units in our book, either. If you like stormblades, throw in eStryker and get scary real fast. If you like gun mages, run eHaley or pCaine with some jacks and ATGMs. Get Squire, a Journeyman and B13 plus whatever infantry you're interested in, and you're on your way to pretty much any list.

It's also a fantastic idea to get a heavy jack kit and some rare earth magnets from a place like this where they're cheap as hell. Look at the different jack configurations and set up magnets to let you switch on the fly like this an you've just opened up a TON of options since you can now run Defender, Ironclad or Cyclone. If you magnetized your original battle box jack too, you can run any combo of two heavies. Throw in one of these with magnets as well and now you have 3 heavy jacks with 6 possible configurations. You just exponentially grew your options. It makes starting out a lot more fun.

Edit: If you use the sword from the avenger and the shield from centurion at the same time, you also make a passable Stormclad. There's another free jack.

You want Vallejo Pale Grey Blue: http://www.amazon.com/Vallejo-Pale-Greyblue-Paint-17ml/dp/B000PHCNYO/ref=sr_1_3?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1419068312&sr=1-3&keywords=vallejo+pale+grey+blue

It looks as white as white but coats much better. I know that the image makes it look super grey, but trust me: when you paint it on a model that sucker looks white. Of course, it's a cool white, so if you're looking for a warm white it won't do the job. In the latter case I'd recommend Menoth White Highlight.

A light would be a great idea! Stands to hold models are okay but can be really limiting too and it's hard to know what he would need army wise without knowing his list.

Ott lights are the best lights IMO. I'm not sure how much your are willing to spend but this is the one I have and I love it.

It was recommended to me by Meg Maples who is/was a studio painter for Privateer Press.

I prefer Gorilla Super Glue (Make sure it's Blue cap).

Brushes: Best Brush IMO : Windsor & Newton Series 7. Size 0, 1, and/or 2. Pick up Two, one for metallic paints and one for regular paints. I would also go to a hobby shop and get a cheap bag of assorted brushes for Drybrushing, Washing, and Glue spreading. Don't use good brushes for Drybrushing etc, it messes up the bristles.

Pick up some Elmers School glue for basing.

Xacto Knife like dm33186 said.

Paints... There are so many. I like p3 paints (they sell paint sets for your faction even) and GW washes. Gale Force 9 basing supplies.

You may also want Green stuff if your models are metal, as there will be gaps you might want to fill/sculpt terrain on bases, etc.

DON'T FORGET PRIMER: Army Painter or Krylon black or white (depending if you want them to have a dark/light color scheme)is my preferred choices.

Also, Don't forget to wash them with hand soap + old/cheap tooth brush and water. This cleanses the model of mold release powders, etc. (I normally wash all the parts, let dry, glue model together, then I prime. After all that you are ready to paint.)

I have this one (as well as a Krome) and aside from being a bit louder than I would like, but it does a great job. If you have amazon prime, it is even better; you'll save a ton on shipping

Yep, i guarantee thats why they werent working out for you. The smaller brush sizes wear down super fast for me, and always got caked with dried paint and wouldn't hold a point any more. Once someone told me about using a larger brush size it changed everything for me. A really good larger brush will still hold a pretty fine point. I almost never use anything smaller than a size 3 these days. For really fine details, like painting eyes and such i have a very small size 0 Escoda Prado brush.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004K48MFC/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Plastic glue works by melting plastics together. However, PP plastics are actually a resin, so it won't work. Think of PP Plastics like Finecast (if you're familiar with GW stuff which I assume you are from having citadel glue).

Loctite gel is great. but I've recently switched to "hot stuff" and it is amazing. Sets quickly, and comes in a few strengths but I use the strongest stuff only.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006O3TNK/ref=sr_rp_1?m=ANLPKUK4M0QOA&ie=UTF8&qid=1450553110&sr=sr-1&keywords=hot+stuff+super+glue

I work in architecture and have a pretty deep understanding of reprographics and what any decent print shop is capable of. I'm personally very excited to make what should be, in most cases, much nicer cards than what PP used in the past. I just checked the errata card PDF they released and you can get a 600dpi image for each card, have it printed on a nice linen or even plastic cardstock and use a corner punch so they have nice rounded corners and fit perfectly into some of the better sleeves available specifically for MTG/popular card game sizes.

I know the DIY/crafty aspect to miniature gaming hasn't historically extended much beyond painting/sculpting/terrain modeling, but why not give a nice set of cards the same treatment we give our beloved minis?

Ahh I see that stands for Convergance now. Hold on let me pull that up. Jesus all of those are metallics aren't they. I am very sorry for you. Especially if this is your first time painting. What is your idea of how you want to paint them. At some point you will need a few other non metalic base colors I think. But that it up to you.

Now there are two things you need to know for metalic paints.

1. They don't water down the same and you have to be very careful. The way I do it is get a brush load, twirl the brush against your pallet, dip it into the water and then go at it. That should be enough water on your brush to thin it enough. However if you feel that the metalics are sliding all over the place and not being even, then go for lighter coats and no watering down.
   
   
2. Metalics have little pieces of metal and metal flakings in them. This means that when using these paints some of that will be left on the brush and in the water. This means you will need two separate water cups for when you are painting with metalics and with just basic acrylics. This also means that there will be some of this residue on the brush. I suggest that if you want to get some nice brushes and have them last longer you will want to pick up some brush cleaner. This is the shit, and if any of you other painters are reading this. Get this thing. It will keep your brushes a lot nicer and keep them working a lot longer.
   
   So again I hope this helps, and if you have any questions feel free to PM me or just comment back.

I recently purchased this and set it up to carry part of my army. I managed to fit in a full unit of storm lances, Laddermore (mounted and dismounted), a full unit of stormblades with all attachments, and a stormblade captain in the linked size. There are some different dimensioned ones available too. It took some work to cut out the spaces for everything, and i'm not going to claim i did it as efficiently as i could have, but it provides great protection and is easy to transport.

Looks fantastic. I'd throw a matte varnish on there though to reduce the glossiness and help protect your hard work against damage.

I've had good results with Dull Cote in the past. Of course feel free to use whatever brand you can get a hold of or prefer, it will protect your paint job just the same.

I'm new to the hobby as well, but I like this set of brushes. It's only $15 and comes with 5 sizes and they seem high quality. I've seen the Da Vinci brand recommended by more experienced painters as well.

Other than that so far I've used the x-acto knife quite a bit. Super glue of some kind (Can't imagine that it matters much. I use one I got at a local game store and also got some accelerant that makes it dry almost instantly).

I got the Iron Kingdoms set of paints from Privateer Press which has basic metal colors and black/white. And then the faction set of paints (Khador for me). I also got some Secret Weapon Armor Wash and Heavy Body wash for washing (filling in crevices to give a more 3d look). And I just picked up some Rhulic Gold and Molten Bronze from PP on the recommendation of a tutorial at HandCannonOnline.

A really good looking and easy way to make your bones look better is paint them with Vallejo Ivory (a sort of off white color) then wash it with Vallejo Sepia (which will turn the model a dirty white / brown) then dry brush with Games-Workshop Praxeti White.

This will give you a nice aged bone appearance and look more organic.

For your metalics, you can wash these in Games-Workshop Nuln Oil to achieve a really good 'used' metal look

Here's an example of how I do bones and also here

https://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-74041-Electric-Handy-Drill/dp/B000J46WZ4
This is my main work horse for pinning. Works great with the 1.25 privateer drill set. So much better than doing it by hand.

This is the answer. If you've got a lot of minis, just buy a big jug of it. If your minis are plastic, this is really the only answer. Put them into a glass jar filled above their heads with SG and give it a good swishing around every 24hrs. The longer you leave it in, the easier the paint will come off. Most stuff is easily taken care of by 24-48hrs, but if your model has a lot of deep nooks and crannies you might want to consider giving it a week. But as /u/Grammar_Cowboy pointed out, you can always clean them, then throw them back in for another soak too. Of note, the SG doesn't need to be drained after each batch of minis. You can reuse a full container multiple times.

I you want to break the minis down to re-glue, re-pose, or whatever, leave them in the SG for about a week. It'll make the glue very brittle and the pieces can then be carefully snapped off and the dried glue removed with a hobby knife or needle-nose pliers (my weapon of choice).

If the minis are metal, acetone (nail polish remover) works even better. It'll strip the paint and turn the glue into a soft, almost gel-like consistency. Which can then be easily cleaned off. The only downside it acetone will literally dissolve plastic. If your minis are on a base, the base will turn into a soggy, soupy mess.

It is not from the same company but, considering its size and cost, it is awesome, I have in it:

• 40 small bases (6 of them have swords that come out of the base)
  
  
• 7 or 8 medium bases and..
  
  
• I removed the egg foam from the top so I can fit a foam tray full of jacks
  
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Zeikos-ZE-HC36-Camcorders-Photograpic-Equipment/dp/B001HJTK5Y

I'd also add brush cleaner for when you upgrade to the nice brushes.
linky

I just bought one of these to try out: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HJTK5Y/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I saw someone recommend them for minis... and it's pretty damn cheap. Haven't opened it up yet though, will see how it goes.

I use Dull Cote, http://www.amazon.com/Testor-Corp-1260-Spray-Testors/dp/B0035LOUMU

Sometimes I use the non-Dull one.