I use acrylic paint now and I'm thinking about trying oil paint.
what are the practical advantages/disadvantages of oil over acrylic (I know about drying time differences and a few basics)?
also what do I need beside paint to start?

thinner and other extras to make the paint workable. Most oils have a several week drying time, as you are likely aware.

I'd recomend sticking to acrylics for gaming minis. If you are haveing issues with getting that 'dead flat' look, try thinning vallejo's german camo black brown (very thin) and washing your models with it, then use several light coats of Testors' Dullcote.

My biggest issue with acrylic is I'd like a bit longer working time and I'm having some coverage issues on some lighter colors(flesh tones and lt. blue)

You could use the Vallejo "Retarder Medium" so you can work with the acrylics for much longer. The coverage problem ain't that big I think, cause you should always apply several thinned layers of the colour.

Many of the artist style acrylics run a lower pigment count to make layering without covering detail easier. Vallejo and Reaper MSP are designed for that that I know of.

Using darker primers with light colors can be more problematic then. You either need multiple coats, or you can dry-brush a white primer lightly over the area you want painted light. That will give you a light base to work up from, not cover detail, and leave you with darker primer colors in the recesses to aid in shading.

That 'other' miniature wargaming company makes some pigment dense 'foundation' layer colors. I use some of them from time to time and then layer over with vallejo.

Reaper also has several colors in the MSP line with a much higher pigment count. Their HD MSP paints stand for High Density pigment count. Those give much better one shot coverage when you want it.

I live in the desert, so Citadels additives to give faster drying time are really not welcome at my painting table.

I have a few Vallejo, but stick mostly with Reaper because they give consistently good quality, and have a phenominal palette of colors to play with. When I'm painting gaming pieces, I don't like to have to mix to match an area that's been damaged. With a wider palette, I can get color diversity, but also have an easier time fixing any paint jobs that get damaged. I'm very careful with my miniatures, but I let other people use them to learn games. that can be rough on paint jobs over time.

Hi,

I'll try to help. I personally don't like oils, mostly because they are messy and expensive (about $10 for a tube for a high quality paint). However, many competition painters use oils because they are easier to blend and don't have stark highlights like acrylics. It's really up to your preference.

If you want a longer working time, use a Dry Time Extender. I personally don't use anything fancy, I use Delta Cermacoat Dry Time Extender ($2 for a bottle at a craft store). Vallejo, Reaper, and a lot of the dropper bottle paints don't have so great coverage. You can either prime white or black based on the color of your model or Citadel Foundations and Reaper High Density gives good coverage that you can build other colors off with.

Hope that helps!

A lot of the power of acrylic paints come from their transparent nature. However, when trying to get a good base coat it can be frustrating. The easiest thing to do in cases like this is to mix whatever color your going for with white (1:1 ratio) and use that as your first coat. Let that dry completely, then start painting the color your going for.

Also, Citadel Foundation paints do work as advertised and I use them to lay down base coats faster.

As for Oil vs Acrylic I think you'll find Acrylic the easiest to work with for painting the majority of Dust (or dust scale) models. Though oil can be good for more advanced special FX. In many ways the fast drying time can also be an advantage of acrylic. What are you trying to do with your current project?

A wet pallet is your friend. I use the one that is part pf the P3 painting series and once you learn how to use the pallet, it will work very well for you. I sometime have to leave a custom color for a day or 2 before I can come back to it and it works great to keep the paint usable for that amount of time.