P3 PaintsvsCitadel
Formula P3 is the smallest brand in this face-off and it knows it: 109 colors against Citadel's 298. But the interesting number is that 108 of those 109 P3 colors have a Citadel match, so almost nothing in P3 is unavailable elsewhere. What P3 offers is character, not coverage.
P3 Paints
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Citadel
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Our take
A small range against a big one
P3 is opaque paint plus metallics, and nothing else. Its two ranges, Formula P3 and Formula P3 Metallic, carry 91 opaque colors and 18 metals, with no washes, no contrast, and no technical paints at all. So a painter using P3 still needs another brand for the shading step, which is why so many P3 users pair it with exactly the Citadel Shades and Contrast this comparison sits next to.
Where P3 earns loyalty is its color character. It comes out of the Warmachine and Hordes world, and the palette shows it: muted, slightly dark colors, its average sits below the midpoint in lightness, with names like Cryx Green and Cygnar Blue that were mixed for grim, industrial schemes. If that look is what you want, Citadel's brighter heroic-fantasy defaults will not hand it to you as directly.
Citadel is simply the more complete system: 298 colors, six ranges, and the shades, contrast, and technical paints P3 lacks. The two are complements more than rivals.
- Pick P3 ifyou want its muted Warmachine-era opaque colors and metallics, and already own shades from elsewhere.
- Pick Citadel ifyou want a complete role-split system with shades, contrast, and technical paints in one brand.
Measured overlap
Converting between them
108 of P3's 109 colors have a Citadel equivalent, and 228 Citadel colors map to P3. P3 adds character rather than colors you cannot get elsewhere.
P3 Paints is a trademark of Steamforged Games Ltd; this site is unaffiliated. Citadel and Games Workshop are trademarks of Games Workshop Limited; this site is unaffiliated with and unendorsed by Games Workshop.