New Paints - Imperial Primer

A while ago I bought some of the new paints and I have to talk about one of them.

I am flippin in love with the Technical Imperial Primer. It is exactly what GW says it is. They will tell you that it is an undercoat comparable to spray paint that can be used when conditions are not optimal for spray paint (too hot/cold or humidity over 70%) and I think that they may be underselling it. It is so much better than that.

It is a great primer. It goes on evenly and dried matte. That matte finish makes it easy to paint over because a shiny surface is slick and smooth and a matte finish is rough and porous. It covers great  and does not pool in joints or crevices. It is really magical.


What it does no do is that they say it does is cover over another color. GW says that it has a special high concentration of pigment that makes it easy to cover, but I found that regular black paint covers better. That limits its use to just being a primer and not really an undercoat over another color.

Regular black paint

Imperial primer

I prime many of my minis red because I find that painting red armor over a red undercoat is easier than using a Foundation paint over black. It preserves detail and time. The Imperial Primer went over red crappy. The picture actually makes it look like it did a better job than it did. I could have used super-watered down black paint and it would have covered better.

Regardless of its shortcomings, The Imperial Primer will always have a home on my painting bench. I currently live in a place where it rains 9 months out of the year and that means that my ability to spray paint is very limited. This stuff will give me the ability to prime bits and minis when the humidity is too high. Also, it means that I do not have to go through the hassle of priming a single bit which is notoriously a pain. Now, I can just pin it and zap it with the brush on primer and go.

I can't wait to try out some of the other new paints and see if they are as awesome as the Primer. I'll be sure to post about them too!