To launch the new “BSL” system of Game Color, Vallejo and Angel Giraldez have teamed up to produce both a reference book and a box-set of 48 colours to go with it. The paints are arranged in 12 tetrads, each one for a particular colour.
The tetrads are:
- Warm Flesh – Succubus Skin, Athena Skin, Rosy Skin, Pale Flesh
- Flesh – Barbarian Skin, Elf Skin Tone, Skin Tone, Elfic Flesh
- Yellow – Gold Yellow, Sun Yellow, Moon Yellow, Toxic Yellow
- Orange – Scarlet Blood, Hot Orange, Orange Fire, Sunset Orange
- Magenta – Evil Red, Deep Magenta, Warlord Purple, Squid Pink
- Violet – Midnight Purple, Hexed Lichen, Alien Purple, Lustful Purple
- Blue – Night Blue, Imperial Blue, Magic Blue, Sunrise Blue
- Turquoise – Abyssal Turquoise, Turquoise, Aquamarine, Verdigris
- Cold Green – Scurvy Green, Jade Green, Foul Green, Ghost Green
- Green – Dark Green, Angel Green, Scorpy Green, Bile Green
- Black – Black, Charcoal, Stonewall Grey, Dead White
- And “Multipurpose” – Charred Brown, Gorgon Brown, Parasite Brown, Gory Red
The box-set also includes some synthetic brushes and a miniature.
You might notice one particularly important colour is absent from this list – Red is actually covered as part of the “Orange” tetrad. Another omission is any kind of wash or thin shade paint, but that’s not the glaring problem that it might appear. Although I’ve personally never used them before (more on that later), Game Color itself isn’t exactly a new proposition – but since their reformulation/rebranding in 2023 under the auspices of Angel Giraldez, the creation of the Base, Shade, Light system has simplified the range while adding versatility. Created alongside the rejigging and reordering of the Game Color range, BSL brings a triad-like system to Vallejo for the first time – since Citadel rolled it out an age ago, and then further expansion and refinement by brands like Army Painter, painters have come to rely on triad systems to make it easier to execute paint schemes. Beginners and intermediate painters will doubtless find a great deal of utility in a system that brings some order to the full 119 paint range.
Book
Angel Giraldez has written several highly-regarded books on the art of miniature painting, from his early days working on Infinity for Corvus Belli to the present. Color is his latest work in collaboration with Vallejo, produced as a companion to the BSL paint set. The photos are beautifully shot and printed, with an emphasis on in-progress painting that really helps when it comes to following and replicating a process – it’s not perfect though by any means. One (admittedly small) gripe is that although the book is a companion to the 48-paint set, it often uses paints that are not included in the set – it’s certainly not enough to be a dealbreaker by any means, but it struck me as somewhat strange all the same. It might come as no surprise to you, but a lot of the instructions boil down to “basecoat with <x>” “shade with <y>” “highlight with <z>”.
As you might expect, the book was presumably written in Spanish, and quite a few typos and awkward sentences indicate that the English translation wasn’t done very well – I have a little knowledge in this area, and typical industry practise for translation is that you translate texts “into” your native language. The translator for Color makes many phrasing mistakes that a native English speaker just wouldn’t make – perhaps the book was translated by a machine, but even then it should have been proof-read by a native English speaker.
“Colors that are perfect to amazingly paint NMM”; “choosing the base color that we will use is essential, as well as the orders of colors to apply”; for such a professionally produced and slick book, it’s strange that the publisher skimped on the English translation and proof-reading. This is just a very particular “keewa” gripe though; although people would notice, I’m not sure they’ll care. The pictures are what you’re here for, and they are stunning, no worries there; despite the sometimes odd English, the guides are easy to follow and they explain key concepts nicely.
This probably goes without saying but there are no non-Vallejo products used in any of this book, which makes sense but has the knock-on effect of making the book occasionally feel like a bit of a Vallejo Game Color catalogue/pamphlet. It didn’t bother me very much but, obviously, buyer be aware that obviously this book is at least slightly intended to get you to buy (admittedly excellent) Vallejo paints.
Paints
My word, I can’t believe I slept on these paints for so long; they are so good! They’re creamy and smooth as silk. The boldness and saturation is perfect for the kind of vibrant painting I like to do (remember, you can always reduce saturation by adding grey, but you can never increase it!) and with a bit of water they airbrush super smoothly, which comes as a bit of a surprise, but a very welcome one nevertheless. I’m definitely going to have to start amassing the rest of the range down the line. Since this is a Game Color set, the range of colours provided in the set is absolutely geared more towards fantasy and sci-fi miniature painting rather than the realm of scale modelling where historically-correct colours are king. The Game Color paints cover very well, with opaque two-coat coverage rivaling any other brand in its price bracket. The drying time also feels significantly slower than, say, Citadel, which makes them ideal for techniques where you have to juggle drying times like Wet Blending. I’ve read online that the Game Color paints are prone to bubbling a bit if you apply them too liberally or quickly basecoat large areas; although I haven’t encountered this issue myself, it’s something to bear in mind.
Of the paints I’m particularly enamoured with the Turquoise tetrad (I am such a sucker for a good turquoise, and these are particularly lovely, absolutely what I want in a set of turquoise paints) and the Warm Flesh set brings a ton of versatility when it comes to the all important task of painting skin, especially with the addition of a few additional colours for mixing.
As I mentioned a bit earlier, there aren’t any washes in this set; the BSL method largely eschews washes for more precise shading by glazing the darker (shade) paint in each tetrad, it’s not that much of a problem honestly, if you wanted to make a black wash by thinning the black paint with water it would work just fine.
Value
(Prices from FantasyWelt.de) Down to brass tacks – the bundle with the BSL Color System Set and the Color book is on sale for an RRP of 200EUR, the paints by themselves have an RRP of 165EUR, while the list price of the book is 48,50EUR. A single bottle of Vallejo Game Color is 2,95EUR, if we multiply that by 48, the number of paints in the set, that brings us to a price of 141EUR – the set also includes 3 nice synthetic brushes and a limited edition miniature. The brushes retail for about 5 euro each, while the miniature is listed on Angel Giraldez’ website as retailing for 39,95 (which in my opinion is far too much, but that’s neither here-nor-there), so while the set saving isn’t particularly dramatic, it does offer decent value-for-money over standard retail price.
The book… well, I wouldn’t say that the book is worth 50EUR, although it’s certainly good, a price of 30EUR is more in line with Giraldez’ other books and seems more reasonable, my gripes about the translation aside – the book is high quality and certainly valuable instruction for novice painters and useful reference material for more experienced hobbyists.
Verdict
This is a great set that provides a ton of versatility for both novice painters and those looking to expand their horizons into a different system with bold colours that go on smoothly and cover very well. The book is a strong and useful instructional tool (even if sometimes it feels like a catalogue). The set-value isn’t considerably cheaper than just buying the paints individually, but it is at least convenient and includes some brushes.
If you’re thinking of dipping a toe into Vallejo Game Color, or into painting miniatures in general, this set is an excellent place to start.
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