"If money wasn't a factor, would you buy the Citadel Ultimate Paint Set?"
I actually had to sit there and think about it for a moment or two before I answered with a solid, "Nope, not worth it. In fact, I'm not sure any Paint Set, Ultimate, Mega, Small or Mighty is worth it."
"But Tim, I said not to take into account the money…"
And I didn't. So why isn't it worth it, you ask?
Well, my friend and I had a fairly lengthy discussion on the topic as he actually has the chance to get one of the gargantuan paint sets from GW. I started by breaking it down to a list of Pros and Cons.
Every Paint at Your Fingertips
Think about it, you would literally have every paint in that brand's range at your fingertips. Instead of having to theorize color combinations based on printed charts, or online color swatches, you could physically test colors next to each other in order to work out a model's color scheme. No more, "Crap, I forgot to buy color 'x', time to run back to the store", or "I wonder what this would look like with just a touch of 'x' mixed in", or any number of possibilities like that. It could even open your eyes to using colors you'd never have bought had they not been a part of the paint set. The possibilities are endless when it comes to this advantage of having an entire set!
Right…Unfortunately, that's where the Pros end for me. One single, solitary advantage to owning a full range of one brand's paints. One really is the loneliest number that I've even seen.
If you didn't get that song reference, then I really feel old. On to the Cons!
Every Paint at Your Fingertips
Yes, the only real advantage I found to owning an entire paint range is double-edged sword. I am up against enough indecision when it comes to finalizing color schemes for my armies, i don't need a seemingly endless color palette to help that any.
Unused Paints
See, I bought not one, but two of the Foundation Paint Sets when they first came out. I still have two pots of many of the colors that I've never used, and how long ago was that set released? What would happen if I owned a 144 paint set? Heck, even with the smaller sets in the P3 range, I would lay money on some color or two getting wasted.
One Color, One Pot
So what happens when you're out of black? The paint set only came with one! Time to go spend more money and replace that paint pot when it's out. Maybe this wouldn't be such a problem if you don't paint entire armies…but I paint entire armies. For my Centurions, I mixed the base coat in large batches, eating up pots of Black, Brown and Boltgun Metal like they were candy as the ratio was 1:1:3, respectively.
The Money
The realist in me just can't ignore the sheer cost of a mega paint set. Combine this with the previous two points, and there is a whole metric-ton of wasted cash that my wife and my own common sense both would have words with me about. Heck, you aren't even saving that much per paint pot considering GW's Ultimate Paint Set is $450!! Divide that by 144, and each pot is costing you $3.13 each. That's only a savings of 57 cents per pot. If figure in all the wasted paints and duplicate pots you'll have to buy of the most used colors, and you've eaten that meager savings up quickly!
In the end, I just can't justify owning a full paint range. Even if I take the cost out of the equation (which I just can't), there are still too many Cons to owning one. I don't care if the paint set is 6, 12, 72 or 144 paints, I would rather buy a core set of colors and then build out from there.
Thoughts? Has anyone actually taken the plunge and owned a full range of paints from any of the manufacturers out there?
- Tim