Miniature Paint Comparison: Citadel vs Vallejo vs Scale75 vs Army Painter

The four most widely used miniature paint ranges differ more than you might expect — in bottle volume, price per millilitre, coverage, finish and the type of painter each is best suited to. This guide compares all four ranges based on verified information and real hobby community experience, so you can choose the right one for your painting style.

Quick Overview — Before We Go Into Detail

Citadel / Warhammer Colour — the premium range from Games Workshop itself, the most developed system for Warhammer, but the smallest volume at the highest price per ml.
Vallejo — a Spanish brand with the best price-to-volume ratio, dropper bottles, two main lines (Game Color and Model Color) for different use cases.
Scale75 — a premium Spanish brand popular among advanced painters, ultra-matte finish, exceptional pigments, steeper learning curve.
Army Painter — a Danish brand focused on accessibility and speed; the new Warpaints Fanatic range offers exceptional coverage, and Speedpaint 2.0 provides one-step painting.

Citadel Colour / Warhammer Colour

Citadel Colour is historically the most widely used paint range for Warhammer miniatures, made by Games Workshop. In 2025, Games Workshop is gradually rebranding the range from Citadel Colour to Warhammer Colour — same paints, new name, not a reformulation.

Lines and System

Citadel offers a well-developed system of lines designed for specific painting steps:

Base — thick, highly opaque paints for the first coat. Approximately 50–60 colours.
Shade — thin washes that flow into recesses. Reformulated in 2022 for improved results.
Layer — smoother paints for blending and highlights.
Contrast / Dry / Technical — specialist paints for specific techniques (one-step painting, drybrushing, textures, effects).
Sprays — primers and base colours in aerosol form.

The full range comprises over 300 products, making it one of the largest systems on the market.

Bottle and Volume

Citadel uses a distinctive pot with a wide screw-top lid — 12 ml for standard paints. The lid makes it easy to mix paint directly in the pot with a brush, but pots are more prone to paint drying around the rim than dropper bottles.

Price

Citadel is the most expensive of the four ranges when calculated per millilitre. A standard 12 ml pot costs approximately €4.50–5.50, which works out to roughly €0.40–0.45 per ml — significantly more than Vallejo or Army Painter.

Who Is Citadel Best For

Citadel is the ideal choice for painters who want a system designed specifically for Warhammer miniatures without the need for experimentation. The Base → Shade → Layer system is the most thoroughly documented of any paint range — Games Workshop publishes thousands of tutorials and every new model release on Warhammer Community includes a recommended colour scheme in Citadel paints. For beginners, it's the easiest starting point.

The downside is price and smaller bottle volume. For players painting large armies quickly, the cost adds up significantly compared to alternatives.

Browse the full range in our Citadel paints section.

Vallejo

Vallejo (full name Acrylicos Vallejo) is a Spanish company with a history dating back to 1965. For miniature painters, the two most important lines are Game Color and Model Color. In 2022–2024, Vallejo completely reformulated and repackaged both lines — new bottles made from recyclable r-PET plastic now contain 18 ml of paint, up from the previous 17 ml, at the same price.

Game Color vs Model Color

Game Color is designed specifically for fantasy and sci-fi miniatures — a richer, more vibrant palette. The range is organised around a BSL (Base, Shadow, Light) colour grouping system that clusters three colours for natural shading and highlighting. Over 100 colours including inks, washes and effect paints.

Model Color is designed for historical models and figures — a more realistic, desaturated palette matching real military and historical tones. The 2024 reformulation added 32 new colours and removed 30 older ones; the line now contains 220 colours. Model Color is also popular among Warhammer painters for its precise, accurate tones.

Bottle and Volume

Vallejo uses dropper bottles — you dispense paint drop by drop, minimising waste and preventing the paint from drying out in the lid. Dropper bottles are generally considered more practical for palette work and mixing. The 18 ml volume is 50% more than Citadel at a lower price.

Price

Vallejo offers significantly better value per millilitre than Citadel. An 18 ml bottle costs approximately €3.00–3.80, working out to roughly €0.17–0.21 per ml — approximately half the price of Citadel.

Who Is Vallejo Best For

Vallejo is ideal for painters who are painting larger volumes of miniatures and want a cost-effective alternative to Citadel without compromising on quality. Game Color is a natural substitute for Citadel in Warhammer painting — the colour palette is comparable and dropper bottles are more practical for palette work. Model Color suits painters looking for very precise, muted tones for realistic painting.

The main downside is a less developed tutorial ecosystem compared to Citadel — Vallejo doesn't have the Games Workshop marketing engine behind it and guides for Warhammer models in Vallejo colours need to be sought out on hobby websites.

Browse the full range in our Vallejo paints section.

Scale75

Scale75 is a Spanish company specialising in premium miniatures and paints for advanced painters. Unlike the other ranges in this comparison, Scale75 is primarily aimed at competitive and display painting — their paints are designed for techniques like blending, glazing and Non-Metallic Metal (NMM), not for fast army painting.

Lines and System

Scale75 offers several distinct lines:

Scalecolor — the main acrylic line, 63 colours, ultra-matte finish. The most popular choice for advanced blending techniques.
Fantasy & Games — a satin-finish line designed for tabletop miniatures, 48 colours. More durable in gaming use than Scalecolor.
Scalecolor Artist — premium line for display painting, 48 colours.
Metal n' Alchemy — metallic paints, 24 colours. Very popular for their realistic metallic effects.
Inktensity — ink paints, 16 colours. A complement to Scalecolor for glazing and transparent layers.
Warfront — a line for historical models, 64 colours.

Finish — The Key Scale75 Characteristic

The most distinctive characteristic of the Scalecolor line is its ultra-matte finish — mattter than any other range in this comparison. This finish creates depth and contrast that advanced painters value for blending and glazing. However, the ultra-matte finish is also more fragile — paint rubs off more easily, fingerprints show and the finish requires a quality varnish after completion.

The Fantasy & Games line has a satin finish instead, designed for durability in gaming use.

Bottle and Volume

Scale75 uses dropper bottles of 17 ml. Unlike Vallejo's dropper bottles, Scale75 bottles don't come with a pre-pierced tip — you need to pierce the nozzle yourself with a sharp object on first use. The paints tend to separate significantly and require thorough shaking before each use.

Price

Scale75 is broadly comparable in price to Citadel or slightly more expensive depending on the line. A standard 17 ml bottle costs approximately €4.00–5.50. Premium lines like Scalecolor Artist or Metal n' Alchemy are priced higher.

Who Is Scale75 Best For

Scale75 is the best choice for advanced painters seeking exceptional results in blending, glazing and NMM metallics. The vibrant pigments and ultra-matte finish are an advantage for display work and competitive painting.

We don't recommend Scale75 as a primary range for beginners — the paints require more experience with thinning and application, the system is less thoroughly documented than Citadel or Army Painter and the ultra-matte finish is more vulnerable. The exception is the Metal n' Alchemy line, which is popular across all skill levels for its metallic results.

Browse the full range in our Scale75 paints section.

Army Painter

Army Painter is a Danish company whose motto is "Get from Box to Battle" — their philosophy is accessibility and speed. In recent years the brand has undergone a significant transformation: the new Warpaints Fanatic range (2024) and Speedpaint 2.0 have moved Army Painter from "budget alternative" to a fully competitive rival to premium ranges.

Warpaints Fanatic — The New Flagship Range

Warpaints Fanatic is a completely redesigned acrylic paint range released in 2024 after four years of development. Key features:

Coverage — Army Painter claims up to 7× higher pigmentation compared to the previous Warpaints. Reviews from the hobby community confirm this — even notoriously difficult colours like red and yellow cover reliably in one or two thin coats.
Triad system — 162 acrylic colours are organised into 27 triads of six colours each (from darkest shadow to lightest highlight). The system eliminates the need to understand colour theory — simply pick a triad and you have a complete colour scheme.
Metallic paints — 18 metallics using aluminium flakes (rather than older mica-based pigments) for significantly better coverage and smoother results.
Washes and effect paints — 18 washes and 18 effect paints complete the system.

Speedpaint 2.0 — One-Step Painting

Speedpaint 2.0 is a reformulated version of the original Speedpaint that fixed the main problem with version 1.0: reactivation — the tendency for the paint to smear when painted over with a second coat. Speedpaint 2.0 forms a stable layer after drying that can be painted over normally.

Speedpaints work similarly to Citadel Contrast — apply a single coat over a primed miniature and the paint self-shades into recesses and leaves highlights on raised surfaces. Army Painter was also the first to produce metallic one-step paints (metallic Speedpaints).

Bottle and Volume

Both Warpaints Fanatic and Speedpaint 2.0 come in dropper bottles of 18 ml with mixing balls inside the bottle.

Price

Army Painter is competitively priced with Vallejo — a standard 18 ml bottle of Warpaints Fanatic costs approximately €3.20–4.00. Speedpaints are slightly more expensive given their specialist formulation.

Who Is Army Painter Best For

Warpaints Fanatic is an excellent choice for painters who want premium coverage and a clear triad system without the complexity of building your own colour scheme from scratch. Speedpaint 2.0 is ideal for painters who need to complete large armies quickly — one-step painting significantly reduces the time needed to finish miniatures to a solid tabletop standard.

Browse the full range in our Army Painter paints section.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Can You Mix Ranges?

Yes — and most experienced painters do. All four ranges are water-soluble acrylics and are fully compatible with each other. Common combinations include:

Citadel Base + Vallejo Layer — Citadel's thick opaque paints for the base coat, Vallejo for more economical highlight layers.
Army Painter Speedpaint + Citadel Layer — fast one-step base painting, then Citadel for detail work and highlights.
Scale75 Metal n' Alchemy + Citadel or Vallejo — Scale75 metallics for metal areas, standard paints from other ranges for the rest.
Vallejo Game Color as primary + Citadel Shade — economical main range combined with the most popular Citadel washes like Nuln Oil or Agrax Earthshade.

Recommendation by Painter Type

I'm a complete beginner — start with a Citadel starter set or Army Painter Warpaints Fanatic. Both systems have the best tutorial support and the most accessible entry point.

I want to paint a large army economically — Vallejo Game Color or Army Painter Warpaints Fanatic offer the best price-to-volume ratio. For speed, add Speedpaint 2.0 for base layers.

I want quality results and have some experience — Vallejo Model Color for precise, accurate tones or Scale75 Scalecolor for advanced techniques and exceptional ultra-matte finish.

I'm interested in high-quality metallic paints — Scale75 Metal n' Alchemy is consistently regarded as one of the best metallic paint lines on the market.

Where to Buy in the Czech Republic and Europe

All four ranges are available in the Colours of Warriors online shop and in our brick-and-mortar store in Pilsen, Czech Republic. We ship across the Czech Republic and the EU. Visit us at Zbrojnická 116/2, Pilsen, open Monday to Friday 13:00–18:00.

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