Comparing washes

Isn't it annoying when a product you have been relying on for years is changed by the manufacturer?

That seems to have happened with "Nuln Oil" from Citadel, which I know has been a very popular wash over the years. However I haven't always used it - I actually was first a devotee of The Army Painter's "Dark Tone Wash", but switched to Nuln Oil when that product seemed to suddenly change. That was a few years ago - the Dark Tone suddenly started going very blotchy and drying glossy, and I couldn't get to the bottom of it. I had contacted Army Painter and they'd kindly sent me some free replacements, I thought it might have just been a bad batch and got hold of lots of different bottles, but they were all the same. And strangely no one else seemed to have had the same experience. In the end I gave up and switched to Nuln Oil. A slightly different product, but before long I was happy with it.

Now Nuln Oil seems to have changed, so I thought I'd get hold of a several different products and compare them to see how they really do differ. I've got one last bottle of the 'old' Nuln Oil, some of the new one, some Army Painter Dark Tone (newly purchased, so several years after the strange batch I had problems with), and Black Wash from Vallejo Game Color to see how that compares.

First thing I noticed is both Army Painter and Vallejo come out of the bottle very opaque, looking almost like an ink. Perhaps the Army Painter wash was always like this, I can't remember - I've become used to the Nuln Oil which comes out the pot translucent. Though they looked like entirely different products side by side on the palette, once dried on the model they are still fairly similar.

Here are the results, painted as one coat over the same plastic miniature. Base-coated in light grey for the body and red for the legs.

They are all slightly different, but to be honest I'm pleased to say I'd be happy to use all of them. First off, the difference between old and new Nuln Oil isn't that drastic. The new one is slightly lighter, or at least the raised edges aren't stained quite as dark. It still settles into the recesses really nicely.

The surprise was the Army Painter. Clearly my strange run of blotchy and glossy bottles is a long forgotten memory. It dries perfectly matt, in fact comparing it to the Nuln Oil, the latter has a noticeable sheen to it. I honestly can't quite remember if this is how the Army Painter wash was like when I used it years ago, but judging by this little experiment, I think it's my favourite of the batch and I'll revert to using it (should cost less than Citadel too conveniently!).

The Vallejo wash is very similar to the Army Painter, but I think a bit blotchier.

Here's another test though without the old Nuln Oil. I think on the armoured legs the Nuln Oil has a smoother appearance.

So the conclusion? All slightly different, all perfectly useable. I think I'll keep using my last bottle of 'old' Nuln Oil until it's empty, then probably switch back to Army Painter. I'll still have some of the 'new' Nuln Oil though and might use it for some things such as plate armour.