The Best Paint Set for Warhammer 40,000
Which set actually covers a 40,000 scheme, and why the official box is the right answer for two factions and the wrong one for the rest.
The short answer
The Citadel Warhammer 40,000 Paints + Tools Set is the best paint set for Warhammer 40,000 if you are painting Ultramarines or Tyranids, because its thirteen colors were chosen for exactly those two schemes and it includes the tools as well. For any other faction, a generic set like the Vallejo Game Color Introduction Set wastes far less paint.
The quick version
| # | Product | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Citadel Colour: Warhammer 40,000 Paints + Tools SetThe only starter set that hands you paints, a brush, clippers and a moldline scraper at once, so nothing else is needed to finish a first squad. | Ultramarines and Tyranids | 9.0 | Check price on Amazon |
| 2 |  Vallejo Game Color Introduction Set (72.299)Sixteen 18 ml bottles covering the whole color wheel plus three metallics. The cheapest honest route to a complete working palette. | Any other faction | 8.4 | Check price on Amazon |
| 3 | The Army Painter Speedpaint Starter Set 2.0One coat basecoats and shades at the same time. If the goal is a finished-looking army rather than a display piece, nothing else gets you there in fewer hours. | Getting a horde army table-ready | 8.6 | Check price on Amazon |
| 4 |  Citadel Contrast paintsCitadel's one-coat range. Thicker and more pigmented than Speedpaint, which means better coverage and less of a tendency to blotch. | One-coat with tutorial support | 8.7 | Check price on Amazon |
| 5 | Citadel Base: LeadbelcherA dark, high-pigment silver that covers in one coat and takes a wash beautifully. The metallic nearly every tutorial starts from. | The metal every 40k model needs | 9.0 | Check price on Amazon |
| 6 |  Citadel Shade: Agrax EarthshadeA warm brown wash that flows into recesses and makes almost any color scheme look finished. If you buy a single wash, this is it. | The wash that finishes the model | 9.2 | Check price on Amazon |
Scores are our own editorial read against the criteria stated below — not a lab measurement and not a user rating. Tap a row for the full write-up.
The 40,000-specific problem
Warhammer 40,000 schemes are unusually demanding of a paint set because almost every model combines three things: a large flat armor color, a lot of exposed metal, and some organic detail — a face, a cable, a bone trophy. A set that covers the armor color beautifully and includes no metallic cannot finish a Space Marine.
That is why the metallic and the wash matter more here than in most miniature ranges, and why both appear in this ranking as individual pots rather than only inside sets. If you take one thing from this page: whatever set you buy, make sure you end up owning a dark silver and a brown wash.
How we picked
- Scheme coverage. Can the set paint a complete model of a named faction without a supplementary purchase?
- Metal and shade included. A 40,000 model without a metallic and a wash is unfinished, so a set missing either is marked down hard.
- Waste. How many pots will a painter of a given faction never open?
- Tutorial alignment. The official painting guides are a genuine resource for this game specifically, and they name Citadel colors.
Choosing by faction
The honest version, by what you are actually painting:
- Space Marines in any blue, including Ultramarines. The Citadel 40,000 set. It was built for this.
- Tyranids or any organic horde. Also the Citadel 40,000 set — Hive Fleet Leviathan is the other scheme it was designed around. Then consider Speedpaint or Contrast, because hordes are where one-coat paints pay off most.
- Death Guard, Orks, Necrons, anything green or metallic-heavy. A generic set plus Leadbelcher and a wash. The themed set wastes most of its blues.
- Any army of forty-plus infantry models. Start with washes and a one-coat range and treat conventional layering as something you do to characters.
The tools in the box are worth more than they look
The Citadel set includes clippers and a moldline scraper, which sounds like padding and is not. A Warhammer plastic kit arrives on a sprue and every part has a mold line running down it. Paint over a mold line and it is obvious; the scraper removes it in seconds. Without those two tools you are either buying them separately or shipping models with visible seams.
If you buy a set without them, the equivalents are in the tool picks — a nipper and a knife cover the same ground and do it better.
The order these paints get used in
Worth knowing before you buy, because it tells you what you cannot skip:
- Prime — gray or black for most 40,000 schemes.
- Basecoat the armor color. This is the pot you will empty first.
- Basecoat the metal. Leadbelcher, in one coat, over black.
- Wash the whole model. Agrax for warm schemes, Nuln Oil over the metal.
- Highlight the armor edges with a lighter tone, and the organic detail.
- Base, then seal.
Note that steps 1, 4 and 6 are all things a paint set does not give you. The full sequence is in how to paint miniatures for beginners.
The picks in full
Citadel Colour: Warhammer 40,000 Paints + Tools Set
The only starter set that hands you paints, a brush, clippers and a moldline scraper at once, so nothing else is needed to finish a first squad.
What it gets right
- Covers all five Citadel paint types, so tutorials that name a Citadel color just work
- The clippers and moldline scraper mean you can go from box to painted without a second order
- Agrax Earthshade and Armageddon Dust are in the box, so shading and basing are solved on day one
Who it is wrong for
- Wrong buy if you are not painting Space Marines or Tyranids — the 13 colors are chosen for those two schemes
- 12 ml pots are the most expensive way to buy paint per milliliter
- The starter brush is a starter brush; you will replace it
Scored against this page’s criteria
Specs from the manufacturer: Citadel product page
We do not publish prices. Amazon shows the current one, which is the only one that is ever right. #ad · how this is funded
Vallejo Game Color Introduction Set (72.299)
Sixteen 18 ml bottles covering the whole color wheel plus three metallics. The cheapest honest route to a complete working palette.
What it gets right
- 288 ml of paint in one box — roughly double a Citadel starter set for comparable money
- Includes the three metallics most sets leave out, so you are not buying silver separately
- Spans the full color wheel rather than one faction's scheme, so it fits any army
Who it is wrong for
- No brush, no primer, no shade — it is paint and nothing else
- Some colors need two thin coats where a Citadel Base needs one
- Vallejo names match no tutorial you will watch; keep a conversion chart open
Scored against this page’s criteria
Specs from the manufacturer: Vallejo product page
We do not publish prices. Amazon shows the current one, which is the only one that is ever right. #ad · how this is funded
The Army Painter Speedpaint Starter Set 2.0
One coat basecoats and shades at the same time. If the goal is a finished-looking army rather than a display piece, nothing else gets you there in fewer hours.
What it gets right
- Basecoat and shade in a single pass — the biggest single time saving available to a new painter
- 2.0 reformulated to fix the original range's reactivation problem when varnishing
- Mixes with Speedpaint Medium to dial the intensity down without buying more colors
Who it is wrong for
- Needs a light primer; over black primer Speedpaint does almost nothing
- Pools and blotches if you flood it — it rewards a damp brush, not a loaded one
- Not the tool for smooth blends or crisp highlights; that is still a job for layer paints
Scored against this page’s criteria
Specs from the manufacturer: The Army Painter product page
We do not publish prices. Amazon shows the current one, which is the only one that is ever right. #ad · how this is funded
Citadel Contrast paints
Citadel's one-coat range. Thicker and more pigmented than Speedpaint, which means better coverage and less of a tendency to blotch.
What it gets right
- More pigment than Speedpaint, so it covers in one pass more reliably
- Named in the official painting guides, so tutorials are followable literally
- Thins with Contrast Medium to glaze, which Speedpaint does less gracefully
Who it is wrong for
- Only really works over Citadel's own light primers — over plain white it goes patchy
- The 18 ml pot is expensive against a Speedpaint dropper of the same size
- Still a one-coat product; it will not give you smooth blends
Scored against this page’s criteria
Specs from the manufacturer: Citadel product page
We do not publish prices. Amazon shows the current one, which is the only one that is ever right. #ad · how this is funded
Citadel Base: Leadbelcher
A dark, high-pigment silver that covers in one coat and takes a wash beautifully. The metallic nearly every tutorial starts from.
What it gets right
- Opaque in one coat over black primer, which most metallics are not
- Dark enough that a Nuln Oil wash reads as shadow rather than dirt
- Sold as a spray too, which is the fastest way to do a whole metal army
Who it is wrong for
- Too dark if you want bright chrome or polished steel — that is Stormhost Silver territory
- Metallic flake clogs a fine detail brush fast; keep a dedicated brush for metals
- 12 ml goes quickly when you are basecoating whole vehicles
Scored against this page’s criteria
Specs from the manufacturer: Citadel product page
We do not publish prices. Amazon shows the current one, which is the only one that is ever right. #ad · how this is funded
Citadel Shade: Agrax Earthshade
A warm brown wash that flows into recesses and makes almost any color scheme look finished. If you buy a single wash, this is it.
What it gets right
- Flows into panel lines and recesses on its own — no brush control required
- Warm enough to flatter metal, leather, bone, skin and most greens
- An 18 ml pot outlasts several armies because a wash goes on thin
Who it is wrong for
- Browns everything it touches; wrong over cool blue-gray schemes that need Nuln Oil
- Tide-marks if you flood a flat panel instead of letting it sit in recesses
- Matt-dulls metallics slightly, which some painters then have to re-highlight
Scored against this page’s criteria
Specs from the manufacturer: Citadel product page
We do not publish prices. Amazon shows the current one, which is the only one that is ever right. #ad · how this is funded
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
Do Citadel paint names match the official Warhammer tutorials?
How many paints do I need for a Space Marine army?
Is the Warhammer 40,000 Paints + Tools Set worth it over buying pots individually?
Can I paint Warhammer with cheap craft paint?
More in Miniature Paints and Paint Sets, or start from the beginning with what to buy first.
Sources
- Games Workshop / Citadel Colour — official product rangechecked October 2026
- Acrylicos Vallejo — official product rangechecked October 2026
- The Army Painter — official product rangechecked October 2026