Beginner looking for help with Games Workshop Warhammer 40,000

I bought these brushes and they are pretty decent, you would only need a size 2 may a size 0 for really fine detail.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2014-new-high-quality-pure-kolinsky-hair-watercolor-brush-653R-series/1920176684.html
For the paints you could just buy craft acrylic paints. Not the ones that usually come in tubes they tend to be too thick.
Something like these
http://www.artdiscount.co.uk/paints-mediums/decoart-crafters-acrylic-59ml-14615.html
I bought mine in walmart in the states for 50c a bottle, shame the prices over here don't match.
read this for a comparison between craft paints and miniature paints.
http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/48762-the-good-the-bad-and-the-craft-paint-open-for-anybody/

If you want to go for proper paints for miniatures you should look at the army painter range, much better value than GW and they come in the dropper bottles which are so much better to work with.
http://shop.thearmypainter.com/products.php?ProductGroupId=8

For glue you could just get superglue from the euro shop, but I would recommend the plastic glue if you are dealing with plastic mini's.
Just use PVA (again from the euro shop) for basing etc.

Basing is basically where you spruce up the base of the miniature. Simple stuf like gluing sand to the base and then painting over make a huge difference. If you can get some cork board and tear it up and glue that down it works great for rocks. You could get some static grass and glue that on too (I have used fine sawdust from MDF before, soaked in a bit of watered down paint and let dry turns out quite well)
lots of examples here
https://www.google.ie/search?q=basing+40k&client=firefox-b&biw=1252&bih=604&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYzam07rnNAhUIKsAKHf6NDEgQsAQIIg#imgrc=9-3-EQTS7xnjNM%3A

Shading and layering are quite advanced, your best option would be to use a wash to achieve the dark shades. Army painter sell quickshades which is basically a wash. Basically it is so watery that it flows into the recesses to darken them and stays away from the highest points. You can make your own with some Pledge multi surface cleaner and water and flow improver. This is great because you can make the wash of any color. See the example of how just one wash can make a difference.


Drybushing is another easy technique basically to highlight the highest points of mini. Get an old brush for this because it will destroy them over time. Basically get the lighter colour you want to highlight and put it on the brush then wipe most of it off before applying to the mini. then just lightly brush back and forth across the area to highlight and the paint will only come off on the highpoints basically acheiving the opposite to what the wash did.


Trial and error and lots of practice. If you can you should get your hands on some toy soldiers to practice on.

One thing I should add is taking care of your brushes is extremely important. You want to keep the point on the brush as long as possible. Thats why cheap brushes are usually not good as they split to easy. I highly recommend getting some brush cleaner to clean them after your done painting, like this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Masters-Brush-Cleaner-Preserver-1-Ounce/dp/B001TNR7VM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466539345&sr=8-1&keywords=masters+brush+cleaner
A tub of it will last forever.

Another thing you will need is primer, Dealz have cans of spray primer for only 1.49 which work great
http://www.dealz.ie/grey-primer-spray-paint-300ml

Most of all have fun, experiment with different techniques. Also some nice guides here to get your started
http://www.thearmypainter.com/documents.php?folderid=1

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Don't bother with GW for glue, brushes etc. Superglue will work fine with the models and can be picked up much cheaper in a million different places. An accelerator for Superglue is very handy as it sets instantly and can be picked up in hardware shops or modeling shops.

Brushes can be bought in art stores and are generally a better quality then GW. Some of the best brushes are pure sable such as Windsor Newton series 7 but these are expensive so might be worth trying a cheaper type first. Artist brushes designed for watercolors work very well such as the Cotman range. You should be able to get these in Eason.

For paint there's a ton of options. Acrylic is the most common. GW are one range but have a look at these as well:
Vallejo - Model color - more realistic, less saturated (bright) then gw.
Vallejo - Game - based on the same colors as the older GW range.
Vallejo - Air - designed for airbrushed but work fine with brushes. Thinner then the above ranges.
All these ranges come in dropper bottles and tend to be cheaper than GW. Vallejo Game and air range can be bought in Gamersworld on Jervis St in Dublin.

Scale 75 - Same bottle as Vallejo. Thicker and dry completely matt. Not available in Ireland but can be bought in sets from Internet sites. (I love these)

Army painter - similar to Vallejo Game. Great paints, same bottles as well. Available in Gamersworld as well.

Privateer Press - flip top bottles. Good paints. There are some available in Gamersworld as well.

The good thing is that all of these brands can be mixed together so of you see a color you like from a different range you can pick it up.

There are loads of other brands as well but these would be the main ones used for gaming.

Also, keep and eye out on eBay or bartertown.com for cheaper deals on minis.