Tale of Painters launches swatch chart for one-coat paint comparisons

Tale of Painters has turned its paint swatches page into the kind of buying aid miniature painters actually need, not the kind that looks good in a marketing image and disappoints on a primed model. The page folds in its popular 6-in-1 one-coat paints comparison chart, putting Contrast and Speedpaint-like colours into one document so you can check finishes side by side before opening your wallet.

That matters because the site is not treating color matching as a casual gallery exercise. Tale of Painters says it has covered the hobby since 2011 and describes itself as one of the longest-running and most-read miniature painting and Warhammer resources on the web. That history gives the swatches page more weight than a random paint rack photo, especially for painters who already trust the site for reviews, tutorials, painting guides, and model showcases.

The timing also fits the way the one-coat market has evolved. Games Workshop launched Citadel Contrast Paints in 2019 and said the original release was so popular it ran out for months at a time after launch. In 2022, it expanded the range with 25 new Contrast paints and a reformulated Shade line. The Army Painter followed with Speedpaint, which it described as a one-coat paint applied directly over a primed miniature, and ICv2 reported the Speedpaint Starter Set reached retail on February 19, 2022. The current Speedpaint 2.0 Mega Set includes 23 original colours, 44 newly developed colours, and 10 Speedpaint Metallics.

Vallejo adds another layer of comparison pressure. The company says Xpress Color is designed for fast miniature painting and works best over a white or grey primer, while its new Game Color range was built with professional modelers and organized around a Base, Shadow, Light system. Green Stuff World’s Dipping Inks push in the same speed-painting direction, which makes a unified comparison chart more useful every time another brand enters the space.

That is the real value of Tale of Painters’ swatch page. It takes a category built on speed, shortcuts, and bold claims, then forces it back into something practical: a visual reference you can use to plan an army, convert colors between ranges, and avoid buying a bottle that does not match the scheme you started months ago. In a field where one-coat paints can look wildly different once they hit an actual miniature, that kind of side-by-side comparison is the difference between a smart purchase and an expensive mismatch.