The Army Painter Speedpaint 2.0 Starter Set Combo, 10 x 18 ml incl. 1 Metallic and 2 Brushes Review (2026)

Who the combo upgrade suits

This combo set is built for someone new to Speedpaint's one-coat contrast style formula who wants a small head start over the plain ten-color starter set, specifically for metallic detail. According to Amazon's listing, the set includes 10 bottles at 18ml each, one of which is described as an industry-first Speedpaint metallic color, plus two free basecoating brushes instead of the single brush that ships with the standard starter set. A painter who already owns Speedpaint metallics from another set, or who needs several different metal tones rather than just one, will find the single included metallic here only a partial solution.

What the combo adds over the plain starter set

The core difference between this combo and The Army Painter's plain Speedpaint 2.0 Starter Set is the inclusion of one metallic Speedpaint color and a second brush, based on the product listings for both sets. Speedpaint formula itself combines pigment and a wash-like medium so a single coat gives both a base color and recess shading at once, a workflow The Army Painter markets as faster than traditional base, wash and highlight painting. Having the metallic in Speedpaint's own one-coat format means weapons, trim and armor pick out with the same fast application as the rest of the model, rather than switching to a slower traditional metallic paint mid-project.

Working with two brushes instead of one

Two included basecoating brushes let a painter split work between a larger brush for broad basecoats across a model's main surfaces and a smaller one for tighter areas like faces, small weapons or intricate armor details, extending brush life compared with using a single brush for every task. Speedpaint's thicker, wash-like consistency is somewhat harder on brush bristles than thin traditional paint, so having a second brush to rotate reduces how quickly the included brushes wear down during a new painter's first several models. Rinsing both brushes promptly after each session also matters more with Speedpaint's thicker medium than with thin traditional paint, since dried residue is harder to work back out of the bristles.

How it compares with larger Speedpaint sets

Against rivals in the site's speed paint guide, this combo set ranks well below The Army Painter's own Mega Set Combo and Complete Set Combo, both of which include far more colors, ten or more metallics and additional brushes for a much broader project range. It also sits close to the plain Speedpaint 2.0 Starter Paint Set without the combo extras, reflecting that the added metallic and brush are a modest bump rather than a leap to a different tier of set. Painters expecting metallic coverage across multiple tones should look at the larger Complete or Mega sets instead of this ten-bottle starter combo, which is really built for a single first project.

Verdict and when to size up

Buy this combo if you are starting with Speedpaint 2.0 and want one metallic tone and a spare brush included from day one rather than buying them separately later. It earns solid marks as a beginner kit because the extras genuinely save a follow-up purchase for a first project with some metal detail. Choose a larger Speedpaint set like the Complete or Mega Set Combo instead if your project needs several distinct metallic tones, since this combo's single metallic bottle will not cover gold, silver and bronze trim on the same army.

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