No, you don't need to bin your Citadel pots for Warhammer Tone Pro. It's worth buying all five tones of the one colour you paint most, though, because that ladder from a dark 1 to a light 5 takes one colour from shade to highlight on its own.
Tone Pro went up for pre-order on Saturday 10 October, and it's big: 30 colours with five tones each makes 150 paints. This week a painter posted their first session using nothing but Tone Pro, and somebody else made a swatch of every colour family to help people choose.
What do the numbers 1 to 5 mean?
The numbers are the tone, with 1 the darkest and 5 the lightest. GW's own example is Ultramarines armour, worked from Ultramar Blue 1 up to Ultramar Blue 5.
The numbering is the part I like most. With Citadel you have to remember that Kantor Blue is darker than Macragge Blue; with Tone Pro you just read the number.
GW also says "you can glaze, shade, highlight, basecoat, and drybrush all with a single paint". The 'Eavy Metal team's White Scars Intercessor has a basecoat of Blackstone Void 5. Its shading and chipping are Dataslate Grey 3 and 4. That's two colour families for all the white armour, plus Bloodtoof Red 3 on the chest.
Does it behave like the paints you know?
The painter in the thread found it covers far more than they expected, even thinned down. A thin coat that would normally just tint can wipe out the shading underneath. Thin it more than usual for glazes, or use the Shading Medium, which GW says "reduces the pigment density without altering the flow and finish properties". There's a Blending Medium too, which slows the drying so you can blend wet.
Their other tip is about brushes. You spend longer on each area with five tones to work through, so paint creeps up into the base of the bristles. Paint that dries in there is what splays a good brush, so rinse more often than usual.
Who can ignore Tone Pro for now?
If you paint with Contrast or slapchop your armies, you can leave this one. Five tones means far more coats per model than a single Contrast coat. The same goes if your paint rack is full and you're happy with it.
Everyone else should try one colour before buying more. Get the five tones of the colour you paint most and paint a test model with them. If basecoats and layers are new to you, our guide to painting Warhammer miniatures covers those first. For blue, GW's own recipe is base 2, shade 1, then 3, 4 and 5 for highlights, so copy that on your test model.
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