Hello, I just got the Legion Core set but I don't know what paints to buy that aren't expensive. Could anyone offer any help?

I use Games Workshop paints but they have cheaper alternatives. I've heard good things about Vallejo.

I use Vallejo primarily, but also a few Citadel colors

Army Painter is also a good brand

If you're just starting out I would recommend getting a starter pack sold by any of these companies. Comes with a bunch of basic colors and brushes. It's pretty economical if you compare it to buying things individually.

I use or have used... alllll the paints... Citadel, Vallejo, Foundry, Reaper, Partha, Winsor & Newton, Liquitex, Apple Barrel, Ailene's, Testor's, Pactra, those little plastic strips of paints you can pilfer from any church basement...

My advice for you as a total new person is to use colored spray paint as primer. Print "50% one item" coupons from bigbox craft or home improvement stores and buy them with those. These are also good places to buy cheap superglue for minis and white glue for bases/scenery, and maybe epoxy putty to fill gaps if you are so inclined. Xacto knives and stuff can be had cheaply there too. I'd get a pack of Testor's brushes to use for dirty jobs and a pack of artists brushes for your minis. Get a 3 pack of a number 0, 00, and 000, plus a broad flat brush for drybrushing. These will cost you a fraction of what gaming companies charge for brushes and you can load a bunch of cheap little things like this in your cart and use a "20% your total purchase" coupon from online.

For paints basically recommend either 10 or so basic Vallejo paints if you want right proper model paints, OR get a bunch of cheap Apple Barrel acrylics at a craft store OR use Teri Litorco's painting videos and order just the exact brands and colors she uses online. She has lots of videos of different Legion stuff. For new people her videos and painting style is probably better than others unless you're a halfways experienced artist.

If you got the cheap Apple Barrel route, you can make your own beginner "washes" with paint, water, and a teensy tinsy dab of dish soap.

On 1/31/2019 at 10:58 AM, KommanderKeldoth said:

I use Vallejo primarily, but also a few Citadel colors

Army Painter is also a good brand

If you're just starting out I would recommend getting a starter pack sold by any of these companies. Comes with a bunch of basic colors and brushes. It's pretty economical if you compare it to buying things individually.

This. The starter sets are all very good values from each company. I use primarily Citadel but Vallejo and Army painter are also good. The only thing I truly recommend is getting a bottle of Nuln Oil and/or Agrax Earthshade. Yes, you *can* mix your own washes but the Citadel shades are magic in a bottle and dry matte. One bottle should last quite a while too.

And I don't really recommend using craft paints if you can avoid it. Yes, you can get a lot of paint for cheap but often craft paints have colors with some really low pigment counts that take a LOT of work to get layered on evenly. Reds, yelllows, browns, etc. This is coming from someone who loves Delta Ceramcoat white. Doing half the coats with better quality paint will make you happier in the long run.

A Warhammer 40,000 Citadel Essentials set is $40, gives you 13 full size size paints, a brush and you get bonus clippers and plastic glue (not for Legion use). Not a bad way to start, but you may find Vallejo or Army Painter starters have a better range of colors for your purposes.

And I also recommend using color spray primer. For Imperials you can stick with black and white pretty easily, but rebels can vary wildly with color scheme so you can grab a color of your choice that the majority of the model will be and use that. I will say again, don't go too cheap. Army Painter sprays, for example, may cost more than a can of Walmart spray paint but you'll get color match options and a surface actually suitable for painting on.