Army Painter: Warpaints, Magic Superglue Activator, and More

The Army Painter crew was exhibiting at the 2012 GAMA Trade Show and I caught Jonas Faering for an interview on March 13. I have used their Quick Shade myself on my slowly growing Ork army for 40k and attended a demonstration they did several years ago in Las Vegas at Little Shop of Magic. I consider them a premier informative company alongside Terranscapes, Hirst Arts, and Worldworks Games for the extra value they offer gamers with tutorials and downloads.

Army Painter Warpaints

Image courtesy Army Painter

CG: So I’m here with Jonas Faering. What country are you from?
AP: Eh, Denmark.
CG: Everyone is from Denmark for Army Painter. So what’s the new product?
AP: New product that we got is actually a range of normal paint, we call it Warpaint. So we got a small range, 36 colors, 27 normal, 5 metallics, and 3 of the Quickshade inks. The real trick about our Warpaints is, for everybody that knows our color primer range and has been missing that exact match whenever they made a small mistake, there it is. So you got the Dragon Red color primer spray, now you have the exact same in a Warpaint.
CG: Was the decision to go for squeeze bottles kind of a no-brainer?
AP: I prefer it myself. I’ve been painting, like so many other ones, since I was 14. So 25 years of experience, I just prefer the dropper bottle. That why I went in for that. And we’ve gotten a lot of feedback, it lasts longer, it doesn’t dry out, so on.

Image courtesy Army Painter

CG: What else is new? Do you have any new tufts planned?
AP: Yeah, we do actually! We got 6 tufts, but we got a few more planned. The next one is a very very pale one and then we got one that is very dark, but with light highlights, it’s called Wasteland Tuft. Towards the end of the year we’re going to have one called Rotten Mold, only 2mm tuft. And then we might look into some other ones. We are tyring right now the Meadow Flowers, which is slightly different than the other ones. And that’s been quite good feedback on that, so we might do other stuff like that. Apart from that, we’ve got a few more color primers planned out. We got Goblin Green towards the end of the year and next year we’re going to bring back the Necrotic Flesh.
CG: What happened to it?
AP: Well we took it out of the range because it was, well it was the slowest-selling one and we thought “Well, we need to trim the range.” As soon as you take something like that away, people start saying “Where is it?! We want it again!” So we’re going to bring it back.

Army Painter Tools, Tufts, and Magic Superglue Activator

Image courtesy Army Painter

CG: At a friendly local game store I don’t typically see this wide range of tools, but you’re competing every bit as much as Games Workshop who has their own line of tools and so on.
AP: Yeah. Well basically, the thing about Army Painter is that we’re everything apart from the models. So whether you’re into Games Workshop or you’re into Privateer Press or historicals, or whatever, well you can take your models and go and use our stuff to get them done. That’s the beauty about being neutral. So yes, we’ve got everything to take you from the box to finished army.
CG: Now can you point out anything-, I imagine your glue is the same cyanoacrylate (CA) glue, but does anything in your line stand out where you go “Actually our tool is a little bit better.”?
AP: The obvious answer in our line is the Quickshade and the Color Primer, because nobody else really does that, but apart from that, and I know that other people do it, but our Magic Superglue Activator. I don’t know if you’ve tried it or anybody else, but once you’ve tried it, you’re hooked. So the trick-, even though superglue is fast-drying, you add a little drop, hold it together, and then you spray it with this activator all over the model-
CG: So it has a spray nozzle?
AP: Yeah, yep. It’s pump action and it instantly hardens the superglue. Then you’re on. Because you know when you’re gluing that wing to your dragon, and you have to sit and hold it for 10 minutes…
CG: So it’s an accelerator.
AP: Yeah! It’s nothing else and I know we’re not the only one that does it, but for a lot of people, all of my gaming group, they’ve never heard of it before, because their shop didn’t carry it until we came out. And I would say again the Tufts, it’s nothing that we’ve invented, but-
CG: You brought it to the market first, that I saw.
AP: Exactly. And if you use Tufts for your heroes, maybe even your front rank, or if you go all in, for your whole army. it just makes all the difference.

Jonas Faering’s Armies, Worldwide Distribution

CG: Now what do you play yourself, Jonas?
AP: Oh, lot’s of stuff! Workshop-wise, I don’t know… I’ve got 20 armies. My latest project is another Ogre Kingdom army ’cause their new models are just so cool. And then I’m really into historical, I’ve got a huge Saxon army and my colleague Bo, from Denmark obviously, picked the Vikings. And lately we’ve had a bit of fun with some cowboys.
CG: What scale?
AP: Eh, 28mil. I prefer that. I do have Flames of War as well, painted a few armies there, but I prefer 28mil to be honest. I’ve picked up a game called Blackwater Gulch. Skirmish game, ace fun I have to say.
CG: “Ace fun”.
AP: [laughs] Yeah, it’s good!

CG: Where does your product sell the best, Europe or the States?
AP: Both, I would say. We’re worldwide. We got Australia, Canada, US, and obviously Europe, especially England, it’s the home of toy soldiers. Really we’re all over the place now. With Warpaints, I think we’re starting to have a decent range. As I said, you can go from buying a box of whatever miniatures you like and Army Painter can take you onto the stage of the gaming table.
CG: And your company has done that, you’ve gone from almost nothing to now you have a whole line of product. I mean, this is the backbone, the Quickshade right?
AP: Yeah. Well the Quickshade and the Color Primers are really the backbone of the system. In theory you can do it without them. Let’s say you play Blood Angels and you don’t like dipping, well you can still spray them red. Makes sense. And then just, you know, highlight them or do whatever you like. Or if you don’t like the sprays, and you prefer [painting by hand], then you can do that. I’ve got many people who really like the Quick Shade, but they brush it on, use it almost like an ink, but it has a different consistency. At the beginning I had people write to me “Oh, this Quick Shade, it’s like cheating.” or “I went to tournaments where it didn’t give full painting points”.
CG: Oh! [a craven cry of alarm]
AP: And that was just the beginning. Would you call drybrushing cheating? No! It’s just a technique. It’s the same with our stuff, it’s just a technique. Makes your army paint up very fast, but in theory, it’s just a technique.
CG: Thank you.
AP: You’re welcome!