New Citadel Paints and a Note To Self

I found myself running short of Ultramarines Blue this week and, since I knew that they usually had the color in stock, I went to the local HobbyTown. As much as I like the store and its employees, I've often had to look elsewhere for certain paints because they lacked the colors I was looking for. For example, the store had never had Mordian Blue or Gryphonne Sepia in stock since I started playing 40K last summer. They could specially order Citadel paint for you, but it took weeks to arrive. A few months ago, when I finally asked an employee why they had such a hard time keeping paint in stock, she guessed that Citadel was going to revamp their line and had reduced production of the old paints. It looks like she was right.

I partly hoped that the HobbyTown hadn't updated their stock so I could buy the old Ultramarines Blue and not have to worry that the new Altdorf Guard Blue was noticeably different. For that same reason I bought two pots of Mordian Blue from the WarStore a few weeks ago so I wouldn't have to switch over to Macragge Blue yet. However, I reviewed the PDF conversion chart last night just in case.

It looks like Ultramarines Blue

When I got there, I found that HobbyTown had indeed restocked with the new paints. Although I was forced to buy Altdorf Guard Blue instead of Ultramarines, I took advantage of the situation and also bought the popular Ceramite White, which is rumored to be able to cover a black primer in one or two coats. Since I've decided that my previous model bases were too bland, I also bought the texture paint Stirland Mud to put on my upcoming Sternguard squad's bases. And because I've often found myself wishing I had a copper paint, I bought some Hashut Copper.

Now I don't need three coats to cover light gray anymore

I have yet to use the new paints, but I did pop the lids once I got home. Ceramite White is noticeably thicker than Skull White while Altdorf Blue seems to closely match Ultramarines Blue. Hashut Copper is... well, a copper color. And the Stirland Mud looked so thick I briefly worried that it had dried out; this concern was dispelled when I stuck a toothpick in it. The residue on the toothpick looked exactly like a gritty mud, which has gotten me excited about using it. I'm definitely not seeing any more plain gray bases in my future.

No more boring bases for beginning modelers like me

The only hitch in today's little adventure was that I didn't pick up a shade of green that's lighter than Snot Green, which I want for the dome-shaped display in the center of the Drop Pods I'm working on. I hadn't really looked at the green colors on the conversion chart last night so I wasn't familiar with any of the new names. I have trouble comparing colors unless I can see them side by side, so I wasn't able to figure out which color was the renamed Snot Green in order to compare it to the various options. Since the conversion chart is available in the latest issue of White Dwarf, I figured I could just flip through an issue in the store. Apparently GW knew that people would try to do that without buying a copy, so they actually sealed the current White Dwarf in a bag (fiends!). Although I lingered over Moot Green for a while, I was afraid of accidentally buying a renamed version of the color I already have or of getting a color that wouldn't look good in contrast to it, so I ended up leaving the store without green paint.

It's copper. That's all you can really say about it

Note to self: until you know the new names of Citadel's paints, bring a printout of the conversion chart with you.

By the way, Snot Green is now Warpstone Green, and the color I wanted was indeed Moot Green.