Primer & Pin started on a folding table in a spare bedroom, surrounded by half-painted Space Marines, a graveyard of dried-out brushes, and one very patient cat named Gesso. We're a small crew of hobbyists who paint miniatures, play tabletop wargames, and got tired of guessing which paints, brushes, and tools were actually worth our money.
Our Founding Story
Primer & Pin was founded in 2021 by Maren Ostlund, a graphic designer by trade and a miniature painter by obsession. After a decade of painting everything from 15mm historicals to towering Warhammer titans, Maren kept running into the same problem: hobby review content online was either a five-minute unboxing video with no real testing, or a forum thread from 2014 recommending a paint line that had since been reformulated three times.
So Maren started writing detailed, hands-on reviews for a handful of friends in a local painting club. Those reviews got shared, then shared again, and within a year Primer & Pin had grown from a personal blog into a small team of painters, terrain builders, and competitive wargamers who test products together and argue passionately about whether wet palettes are actually necessary (they are).
Today, the team includes painters with backgrounds in fine art, game design, and even a former special effects makeup artist who now applies her airbrushing skills to Titan-scale kits. What unites us is simple: we still buy most of what we review with our own money, and we still get genuinely excited when a new paint range drops.
How We Choose What to Review
We can't review everything, so we prioritize products based on what our readers are actually asking about and what's shifting the hobby landscape. Our selection criteria include:
- New paint lines, primers, and varnishes from major and boutique brands
- Brushes, tools, and workstations that promise to solve a real painting problem
- Terrain kits, basing materials, and scenery systems worth the shelf space
- Miniature ranges and starter sets that are popular entry points for new hobbyists
- Reader-submitted requests, which we track and revisit every quarter
We intentionally skip products that are clearly gimmicky reskins or that lack enough availability for readers to reasonably purchase.
Our Review Process
Every review on Primer & Pin goes through the same core process, regardless of who on the team writes it:
- Hands-on testing over multiple sessions. We paint with a product across at least three separate painting sessions, on at least two different miniatures, before writing a word.
- Comparative benchmarking. New paints are tested against established favorites for coverage, consistency, drying time, and how they behave when thinned or layered.
- Real working conditions. We test in normal hobby-room conditions, not a climate-controlled lab, because that's how most of our readers actually paint.
- Multiple painters, multiple skill levels. A product that a ten-year veteran loves might frustrate a beginner. We try to capture both perspectives whenever possible.
- Photographic documentation. We photograph work-in-progress and finished results under consistent lighting so you can judge the results yourself, not just take our word for it.
What Makes Us Trustworthy
We know the hobby review space has a trust problem, so we're upfront about how we operate:
- We buy most products ourselves. When a manufacturer sends a review sample, we disclose it clearly at the top of the article.
- Affiliate links support the site, not our opinions. Some links on Primer & Pin are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a small commission if you purchase through them. This never affects our rating or recommendation, and we turn down sponsorship offers that come with strings attached.
- No pay-for-play reviews. We do not accept payment in exchange for a positive review, and we never will.
- We update old reviews. Formulas change, product lines get discontinued, and prices shift. We revisit our most-read reviews periodically to keep them accurate.
- We show our failures too. If a paint dries out fast or a brush loses its point after a week, we say so, even if it means an awkward email from a brand.
Ultimately, Primer & Pin exists because we love this hobby and we want to help you spend your painting time and your hobby budget on things that actually work. Whether you're basecoating your first Tactical Squad or building a competition-ready display board, we hope our reviews save you a few bad purchases and point you toward a few great ones.
Got a product you want us to test, or a question about how we review? Reach out by email. We read every message, even the ones that are really just about how great contrast paints are.