If you're a new or inexperienced painter and ever primed or undercoated in white and found that dreaded white zone that needed to be touched up, or if you've done some blacklining to touch up a teeny tiny black area, you've no doubt encounted the frustration of applying too much black paint, leaving a stray mark, and going back to repaint the miniature. Perhaps this isn't too bad if you're painting a single miniature, but if you're painting an entire army or boardgame, it's something that's definitely discouraging.

After and before touching up with Hardened Carapace.

Pure black is a "cold" color, and, along with pure white, can immediately stand out as "unnatural" when painted in the wrong place. Army Painter's "Hardened Carapace" is an excellent paint to use instead of black for touch-up. Itself, it's a natural looking dark grey, which accompanies brown shades of paint. It flows well right out of the bottle and sticks to recesses pretty easily. In addition to blacklining (or greylining!), you can use it to touch up any black undercoat areas for metal. I also find it makes more natural looking shades than black (I haven't tried it instead of black when mixing paint). Unlike black, for larger areas, you may need more coats, so you won't give up on black entirely. And, of course, you may be experienced enough or have your own favorite mixture to use instead of black for touch up. But, for new painters and those with entire armies to paint, this $3 purchase (which is also part of the Army Painter Kings of War Undead Paint Set) will save you a lot of frustration when painting and get those miniatures on the tabletop faster!