WAMP Review: Quick Shade by The Army Painter

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I have to be honest: the first time I was introduced to The Army Painter’s Quick Shade I was not impressed. It was used by an amateur painter at my local hobby store on some of his gaming minis and all I could see were shining puddles of brown covering his skinks. From that point on I ignored the Army Painter products until I saw Exilesjjb’s Imperial Guard Squad Using Army Painter tutorial, which highlighted the strengths of this product and made me eager to try it. After using it on a number of minis I have to say that my first impression was wrong and this is a product that offers a lot of possibilities.
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Quick Shade can most easily be described as a varnish that comes in three different tones: soft, strong, and dark. It’s made to be applied over base coated miniatures to create a shading effect. It should be applied when the figure is upside down. This allows the Quick Shade to flow into the recesses of the mini while it’s drying right side up, resulting in a shaded tones that grow darker where the product pools.

The directions on the can suggest two ways of applying the product: dipping or painting. Previously, I only applied it using a paint brush, but decided to experiment with both application techniques for the sake of this article. My first step was to draft a couple of volunteers and apply a quick base coat. Beaky (left) and Mr. Blue (right) were kind enough to volunteer for this assignment.


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Beaky got the dip treatment. I gave the Quick Shade a vigorous shake, popped off the lid; I would suggest investing a few cents in a paint can key- much easier to use than a flat screwdriver; and submerged him. The directions state that you should only need to shake the figure no more than 4 times to get rid of all the excess; I shook him about 20 times and still had to use a tissue to remove some of the thick excess.

The process of painting Mr. Blue only took a couple of minutes. I used an older sable brush I didn’t care about. Be sure you use a good sized brush because you want to apply the Quick Shade with the fewest number of strokes as possible as you hold him upside down- this is a very important detail. Also, watch your brush load because you only want a thin coat over the whole mini. Too much will cause the excess to pool into all the recesses it can find, which will leave you with thick, ugly blobs of the stuff. The biggest concern with painting is you have to make certain you completely cover the mini. Any spots that you miss will stand out in stark contrast against the shaded paint.


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As you can see, the simply base coated marines now sport a paint job better than what you would normally see out on the battlefield. At first glance there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the two figures, but if you look closely you can see that the painted application of Quick Shade has less pooling, which means less wasted product. I didn’t photograph this, but Beaky had a large streak of excess that drained down the side of his wine cork onto the paper I wisely placed under him, for the sake of my painting desk, while he dried. Quick Shade’s not exactly cheap, so less wasted excess means more applications available from the can, which translates into more beautifully shaded minis for your money.

This product isn’t water soluble, so you’re going to need some paint thinner or mineral spirits for cleanup. However, I am happy to report that removing Quick Shade from a mini is as easy as giving him a Simple Green bath. This product is advertised as being a shader and varnish in one, because it dries into a good, protective coating, but it dries with a glossy finish. A good spray with matte varnish will add extra protection with the added benefit of removing the glossy look.


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While Quick Shade on its own will give you a good quality paint job, you can paint over it to enhance your work. I painted all of the highlights for this Imperial Guard Sergeant over the Quick Shade which brought it into the range of high table top quality. Painting over it will take some experimentation in the areas of paint dilution and painting technique because your brush strokes can easily smear over its smooth surface. Always do your base coats before applying Quick Shade, because trying to apply a base coat after can take a lot of work.

The Breakdown:
Product: 8.5 / 10
* Very distinctive and easily recognisable packaging with clear, easy to follow directions
* It has an odour, but thankfully it is not overpowering or unpleasant
* The can is easy to hold in your hand and shake. It’s also easy to close, but be certain you get the lid on tight!

Application: 8.5 / 10
* Quick Shade is easy to work with as it has good flow, but it can quickly build up to excess if you’re not careful
* It will take practice and patience to learn how to paint over
* Special supplies required for cleanup

Value: 8 / 10
* It’s pricey for the size of the can
* Provides good quality miniatures in only a little longer than it takes to base coat them
* Application by paintbrush uses considerably less product than dipping, which translates into a better value

Overall: 8.5 / 10
+ 0.2 The transformation from a simple base coat to the results that this product achieve are truly impressive. When used correctly anyone can take the quality of their table top miniatures to a whole new level with Quick Shade. You will also save a lot of time compared to shading the traditional way.

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