Vallejo vs. GW paints?

[The Wanderer]

I've seen Vallejo paints mentioned quite a bit in a few threads. Are they any better/worse than GW paints? What are the real merits of each? If I were to decide on them, where could I buy them?

Thanks in advance,
Wanderer.

[biggreengribbly]

Personally, having picked up a few for specific colours I wanted for a Dystopian Wars model, the biggest advantage to Vallejo over GW for me is GLORIOUS DROPPER BOTTLES.

Seriously, since I stopped painting straight from the pot and started slapping it on a palette and thinning it first, I've hated how often I've had to dunk the brush in a pot to hoik out paint. Much prefer
1: grab-bottle
2: squeeze bottle
3: ...?
4: Profit.

[alexh]

I like Vallejo paints for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the cost - £1.75 for 17ml vs £2.30 for 12ml. There are 2 main ranges, game colour and model colour, game colour are basically the same colours as GW and model colour are more muted tones but with a higher pigment content. The only paints I buy from GW now are the metallics, washes and the odd foundation.

[Symrivven]

The bottle is a matter of personal preference, though I prefer them to. The defining feature is that Valleyo model colour range has a more colours and more natural colours than the GW range. And in many places Valleyo paints are cheaper than Citadel's, while being of the same (possibly better) quality.

[Xynok]

I'm in the vallejo camp. I like the dropper bottles because I hardly ever have need to paint from the pot (drybrushing... that's about it). They're cheaper which is a big thing (looking close to half the price mil for mil vs. GW). I do however find that vallejo paints have some nasty seperation issues though. You get used to it but it's a pain and you have to shake the bottles a hell of a lot. Some of the vallejo colours are just amazing though. Ghost grey and ice blue are amoung my favourites. Ghost grey is a colour I tried to make (before I found vallejo) with GW paints and it took so much paint to get the mix right that it wasn't worth it. It's a sort of off-white blue colour in case you care.

So pros of vallejo are the price, the bottles (possibly, preference) and the range. The cons being that the metallics seperate really badly and the washes aren't nice to use. It's a bit annoying painting a tiny touch-up with a whole drop of paint though having to shake the bottle etc. Edit: Consistency can also be an issue. The browns tend to be watery from my experience.

The pros of GW I would say are the metallics, the washes (oh man... I love me some GW washes) and the foundations. They also don't seperate as much. Cons being cost/range/pots.

At the end of the day it's all preference and what you can live with and what you can afford. I use both because both have their place, but 90% of my paints are vallejo.

[trigger]

I use both Some of GW's are better and visa versa
Valjero's yellows and metalics are just awesome
But GW wins on reds and greens

[Napalm]

Bottles are cool, more colours (especially for military things like camo with their WWII range), cheap, well it's good. I use both gw & vallejo, they mix very well together, no problem at all.

You can buy some at maelstrom games. A very useful thing is also the empty vallejo bottle, so you can keep your mix/homemade wash/etc, very handy when you paint a big project or an army.

[The Wanderer]

Thanks for the feedback. Which Vallejo sets should I buy?

[crandall87]

If you use a palette and mix paints as much as I do then you'll love the dripper bottles. Vallejo are also better value for money. The only downside is having to shake them up a lot before use.

Personally I prefer the Game Color range. There are many charts on the Internet showing the Vallejo equivalents of GW paints.

[ecwh070]

just go easy on the vallejo bottles after you use them for a couple of years or if they don't come out on their own... bottles popped a couple of times on me when i squeezed too hard... had to paint my entire mini the same color just not to "waste" paint...

[Durloth]

I use both, but the more I use Vallejo, the more I'm actually starting to prefer GW.

The worst thing about the Vallejo paints is that some of them are starting to separate quite badly after a while, and while shaking them torughly may make it look like the paint is OK, it will kind of separate again on the miniature. Granted, I've only had this problem with the reds and the bleached bone-type, but those are the ones I've had the longest.

I also hate that the ink they've used on the labels rub off, so after a short while you don't know the name of the color you're using unless you remember to write it on the bottle with a marker or something.

[Wicksy]

Valleyo are nice but they separate badly when left to stand. They are not as well made as (most) of the GW line. They are cheaper, they thin well and give a great matte finish. GW paints also thin well and give a matte finish when used properly - the foundations in particular. The bottle can be easier to get into a pallette but frankly dipping a brush into a pot instead is little effort in comparison to the 5 minutes of vigourous shaking required to remix the valleyo paint. Horses for courses frankly. Try a few of each brand and go with whatever works out. Reaper and formula P3 are also good brands. I myself use GW paints as they are all i require. You are best off trying them for yourself though.

[jack da greenskin]

I started using vallejo about 2 months ago, and I love them.

+ Cheaper - £1.50 for 17ml, as opposed to £2.30 for 12ml. That works out about half the price.
+ Bottle - I mix paints a lot, and the dropper bottles are a godsend. Amazing. Also, the new GW paint pots get colour all over your fingers :/
+ Not giving GW money - Call me a hater, but I find it hard to be as disfranchised with them as I am now, whilst I'm still giving them a tenner a week for paint :/

- Shake - Easier when the bottle is half full, but you do have to shake these a bit before you use them. One way around this I found is to stick something heavy and metallic in each pot. I use offcuts from the tabs of minis, and small nuts from my toolbox, this agitator makes everything so much easier.

[Darkness Screamer]

Vallejo every time for the cost and greater selection of colours. I also play Flames Of War so their camo colours are ideal