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While I am absolutely the type of person who will spring for a $50 set of Vallejo paints just because I like four of the twenty colors, I’ve never been one to buy something branded when something I already have will do. Take the Citadel Water Pot. What could be less necessary? It’s a cup of water.

But I have seen the light.

Is the Citadel Water Pot worth it? Absolutely. It has features that, however small they appear, are extremely useful, including the ribbed texture at the bottom of the pot and the tapered grooves running up the sides that draw your brush into a fine point. It’s a great water pot.

And it’s not really that expensive, if you’re considering that it’s a Citadel product. I think I bought mine at my Friendly Local Game Store for $7, and it’s on Amazon for $11. (For some reason I can’t find it on Games Workshop’s site, though I don’t know if it’s out of stock, discontinued, or just hard to find.)

Let’s talk about the ribbed bottom. With a regular water cup, if you want to wash your brushes you kind of have to mash them into the sides of the cup–and mashing brushes into anything is going to drive paint up into the ferrule, making your brushes clogged and dead. But by gently swiping the brush against the ribbed bottom it will remove the excess paint without jamming the bristles.

And the tapered grooves. For a long time I’d seen them but didn’t know what they do: you draw your brush up the grooves to make it into a fine point. It’s like Games Workshop is saying “You don’t have to lick your brushes anymore!” (Spoiler: I use the tapered grooves and still lick my brushes because I’ve been in that habit for twenty five years and it’s never going away.) (But it’s nice to know that it’s there.)

The Citadel Water Pot is also sturdy at the base, so it won’t knock over, but tall enough that it holds a good water reserve.

All around, it’s a pretty great product that I never thought I’d need.