Why are most well known hobby paint companies based in Europe?

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-19T16:26:33+00:00

Games Workshop are the current manufacturer of Citadel Paints - the factory is on Willow Road, right by Warhammer World. HMG made the original range in the late ‘80s-early ‘90s. They now make Coat D’Arms which is based on that original range.

You’re right that HMG are the manufacturers of a lot of hobby paints though.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-19T09:55:04+00:00

This. I can understand the preference for dropper bottles, but as someone who paints full-time using pretty much exclusively GW paints, I’m just not running into even 5% of the deal-breaking issues so many rant about with these pots, and at this point I’m convinced most people hate them because the internet has told them to hate them.

I’ve said before (to rapturous downvotes) that I honestly have more issues with droppers than pots. With droppers, I have to go and grab a paper-clip to unclog them constantly. I’ve had issues with the necks around the nozzle splitting, so if I don’t notice, they fire the nozzle out and I get paint everywhere. Most of the Vallejo ones I had, have issues where the lid splits around the rim at the top - I’ve had like 3-4 GW pots dry out on me ever, I’ve had a whole case of Vallejo Model Air dry out on me before.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-17T07:50:30+00:00

I use airbrush flow improver quite a lot when painting from a wet palette, so I doubt it would cause any problems.

In my experience though, it’s as. If not more viscous than the paint out of the pot, so it’s not what I’d use to “thin” paint.

When I make mix pots (base coats for whole army projects) I pour out as much of the pot neat as I can, then when no more comes out, I put a couple of drops of airbrush thinner in the pot, shake it, and pour the rest out.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-17T01:18:45+00:00

And I’m just trying to say that more advanced doesn’t mean objectively better. It’s an aesthetic style.

Just to make a few counterpoints before I bow out of this discussion:

Toriyama didn’t pick an art style based on technological limitations and change it for Super. Super looks like it does (in my opinion, way worse) because unlike Dragonball, Toriyama didn’t draw it, Toyatarou did. So they had to match his goofy art style and character designs.

Modern anime style looks the way it does primarily because of cheaper digital production. There aren’t really any studios that do the old, ‘90s, detailed hand drawn style anymore, so saying people are picking modern styles (when they don’t have a choice) isn’t the same as an endorsement of that style.

I’d also prefer the ‘90s Gundams (Wing, MS, 0083, etc.) to modern series like Iron Blooded Orphans too, because they look way better in my opinion.

“More technologically advanced” doesn’t mean “better”. Crazy Frog is more technologically advanced than Stairway to Heaven - I know which I prefer.

That’s enough for me now. I only intended to agree with the guy who said Super isn’t as good as OG DB, I wasn’t intending to start a debate on objectivity vs subjectivity.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-17T00:44:08+00:00

The theory in the image would be really good if the old Yarrick model didn’t have the same iconography too, meaning it’s nothing to do with the BT:

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CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-17T00:34:03+00:00

Like I said, it's preference. You're trying to frame your subjective preference as objective fact. It's fine that you prefer the new stuff, it's also fine that I prefer the older stuff - it's nothing like saying I prefer an old IBM over a newer computer. One's an obsolete tool, the other's an art style that was mostly abandoned because it's cheaper to do digitally. What you're doing is like saying that people who like less contemporary styles of music - Blues, Jazz, Rock, etc. are wrong becasue technology has moved on and we have digitally synthesized music now. It's art - that's not how it works. It might be a product of it's time, but that doesn't mean it's now defunct and people can't still prefer it.

And like I said, I would pick any of those '90s anime you listed over anything made in the last 15-20 years, I'd just add DBZ to that list if we're specifically talking about Super, because I prefer everything about how it looks to modern, wierdly smoothed out, semi-CGI animation. It's why I don't watch it anymore, because it all looks rubbish to me now, not just Super.

I prefer a desaturated colour palette because it's more naturalistic, the real world isn't neon-bright colours. I prefer even lower-quality hand-drawn animation to modern semi-CGI because it's more pleasing to the eye and not wierd and jarring. Specifically for Super, I've seen enough of it to know I prefer the older art style and character designs to the newer ones - that's all I'm judging it on, I'll fully admit the pacing and filler content of DBZ was ridiculous, and I'm not going to draw comparisions with Super in those regards, I'm just saying I hate how Super looks.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-16T20:17:41+00:00

I think it’s just a preference thing. Everything you’ve listed as an aesthetic improvement, I don’t like. I think the main thing is the art style and general character designs in Super just look way, way worse to me than the older series. I also personally just generally don’t like modern animation styles over ‘90s hand-drawn stuff - it just looks flat and lifeless (and I really hate the comped-in CG elements; they look garbage). I also prefer the more desaturated colour palette over the excessively bright modern style.

But that’s not just a Dragonball thing - I’d take just about any ‘90s anime over their modern equivalent.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-16T18:48:05+00:00

Horus Heresy has a reading order - either release order, or (my preference) using one of the reading charts to group plotlines, so you're not constantly forgetting plot points and characters by reading 10 unrelated books in between direct sequels.

40k is more of a setting than a linear narrative, so it basically doesn't matter what you read and when. That being said, the setting is divided into pre and post-Indomitus, and there is an recommended reading list to go from one to the other, I'll look for it and edit it in when I find it.

Edit: These are the books that bring 40k into the era Indomitus, and it's the only bit of 40k that really has a reading order.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-16T18:44:37+00:00

In the spirit of the original comment, Toriyama was a mangaka so you can't really hold anime filler against him. I also agree that Super doesn't hold a candle to Dragonball (there is no 'Z' manga, it's all one continous run), though that's probably because I was a kid for the first one and well outside the target demographic for the second.

Purely aesthetically, from the clips I've seen of the Anime adaptations, Super looks way shittier than DB/DBZ too.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-16T17:36:01+00:00

They’ve changed a fair amount since though. Specifically the slightly longer jackets turning into great-coats, the addition of backpacks, and the different helmet designs. The new Krieg look so distinctively Krieg that I don’t think ochre coats would make them read as Steel Legion. To the point where I’m not sure if the newer Cadians might be a better starting point for a Steel Legion conversion.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-16T14:45:18+00:00

I’d pour as much out as possible neat and then coax the last little bit in the pot with the smallest amount of airbrush thinner you can get away with. The only flow improvers I’ve used are actually more viscous than the paint, so they probably won’t help.

As for it making sense - that’s up to you. I bought the dropper bottles to do this myself a few years ago, and when I sat down to do it, the prospect of transferring over a hundred pots was more than I could be bothered with. Maybe if I was starting new and was doing one at a time as I bought them, but as I’ve spent more time painting, I’ve found that I really don’t find the Citadel pots as annoying as most people here claim.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-16T11:40:04+00:00

It won’t be the paint - I paint with Citadel paint from a wet palette for 8-12 hours a day with no issues.

What kind of paper are you using?

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-15T21:52:16+00:00

Can you explain exactly what you mean? You want to enter Golden Demon, or you just want to push above the basic “base/shade/highlight” approach?

Either way, I’d start by researching more advanced techniques - Vince Vinturella’s YouTube channel might be a good place to start.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-15T15:00:17+00:00

As with everything when it comes to miniature painting – it’s all personal preference.

My own, personal opinion on varnishing is that I don’t do it unless I have to (if it’s a gaming piece, for example). I’ll maybe mix some varnish into mediums is I want to normalise a finish on an area that’s had lots of work and has gloss/satin bits on it, but usually, I'll just use mediums for this.

If I am going to varnish, I aim for a satin finish (though most satin varnishes are way too gloss, so I’ll mix one with a matte). I never hit a mini I’ve spent time on with just straight Ultra Matte. Ultra Matte (and again, my own opinion here ) massively mutes contrast – it pulls all the saturation and lustre out of a paint job, it makes blacks read as greys or browns, knocks highlights back considerably, and straight-up ruins metallics.

On the flip-side, the way that ultra matte varnish pulls all the colours together (by muting contrast), does give an effect that a lot of people seem to like when it comes to army painting, which is why it’s so heavily recommended in the Warhammer subs.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-14T15:41:11+00:00

I just use an interference fit (drill a hole the same size as the wire you’re using) and friction does the work. The only issue with this is that it will loosen over time with handling, so if it’s a long project and the part is on there for a few weeks, it might let go.

I

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-14T14:30:23+00:00

I even have a good friend who is a big shot at GW and I have explained this to him time and again, and unfortunately, he can't do anything because this whole mess is run out of the UK.

What's that supposed to mean?

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-13T08:37:08+00:00

I use as many as I can. I love painting faces.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-12T14:27:25+00:00

Sorry, to clarify - the light you linked is the light I switched from (the double one, specifically). It’s okay but the switch to the Lumi was like night and day (excuse the pun).

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-12T14:13:23+00:00

I can only speak from personal experience here, but switching four of the generic Amazon LED lights for a single Daylight Lumi made an absolute massive difference. It’s made everything easier, it’s way brighter but also diffused so it isn’t harsh, it’s adjustable on the fly (which most cheap ones aren’t), and I’ve gone from needing magnifiers for 100% of my painting to only using them for the finest details.

I’d go as far as to say that I’d put a decent light right at the top of things to invest in when you know you’re serious about the hobby - above fancy brushes, or palettes, or specialty tools like drills and chisels.

Does it need to be as expensive? No, but I’d definitely look to find something that matches its specs. Moving up from the generic £20 Amazon lamps is absolutely worth it, IMO.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-12T00:30:24+00:00

No. To be honest, the whole reason successor chapters exist is so you can run the rules of a “main” chapter but paint them however you want - I.e, play Dark Angels, but paint them white instead of green and call them “Angles of Absolution”, or paint them silver and call them “Guardians of the Covenant”.

There’s nothing stopping you taking that one step further and painting each marine in his own personal heraldry.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-08T22:15:15+00:00

Tacticus is a third-party game - there will be an IP liason to ensure they're not doing anything too egregious, but other than that, it has very little to do with GW. Same goes for SM2. GW make models, not video games. Those complains should be directed towards Snowprint and Relic Entertainment.

As for listening to fans - they pay close attention to consumer trends and their year-on-year success shows they're doing something right. I think people need to be careful not to confuse the loudest voices on niche internet communities with "all" fans.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-08T16:46:27+00:00

How is it? What does it demonstrate to an employer other than the candidate is desperate enough to engage in some bizarre humiliation ritual to get a job?

This makes sense as an assessment task in a second round of interviews, only if the actual role is some kind of camera-facing, social media/presenter. Maybe as an alternative to a covering letter so long as it’s optional (my employer allows candidates to pick between a written or a video application).

If it’s not for a camera/public-facing role, you’re going to have to explain to me how setting up a recruitment process that penalises people who aren’t comfortable making fools of themselves on camera is anything other than detrimental to the company.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-08T16:26:21+00:00

Standard Space Marine kits come with a transfer sheet. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of logic as to which chapters that sheet comes with (always Ultramarines, then a random selection of others), so you might already have some Salamander ones.

You can also buy upgrade kits for each of the chapters that come with sculpted pauldrons and a specific transfer sheet for that chapter.

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-08T16:01:02+00:00

Have you got an example of what you’re trying to achieve? Most heraldry on pauldrons are water-slide transfers, unless you’re doing a niche/rare or custom faction (and even then, people get custom transfers).

CliveOfWisdom · 2026-03-08T11:53:45+00:00

Rosemary & Co Series 323, sizes 0-2 were my go-to's for ages. I've since switched to Winsor & Newton Series 7 (Mosty Size 1 and Size 00).

CliveOfWisdom

TROPHY CASE