It is blue board with Uni-Kal veneer plaster. It will have 2wks of cure time by the time I get to paint.
I would talk to your plastering contractor to see if this is a lime based plaster. If it is, then two weeks is not nearly enough time for the alkalinity of the plaster to subside, and the only way to paint it would be to use an acrylic primer meant for fresh concrete. See what your contractor recommends as he'd know more about the problems (if any) associated with painting it than I would since I have no experience with the stuff.
The safest approach to not wait a year would be an acrylic primer, then whatever latex paint I want?
Yes. But, don't just use ANY acrylic primer, use a special acrylic primer made especially for painting fresh concrete. It will use acrylic resins that are the MOST resistant to highly alkaline substrates. But, see what your contractor says. If he's less than forthcoming about how long it will take to be confident that you can prime and paint it, I'd use a fresh concrete primer just to be on the safe side.
Are Acrylic an Alkyd primers the same? I'm a little confused.
No, there are two basic kinds of paint chemistry, oil based and water based. In this post I will be refering to water based paints as those that are typically considered "latex" paints. There are water based epoxy and water based polyurethane paints that wouldn't be considered "latex" paints.
Oil based primer and paint chemistries can be broken down into:
1) drying oil coatings - like linseed oil, Tung oil and the pre-polymerized oils like Danish oil and Swedish oil, and
2) alkyd coatings - which is what 99 percent of "oil based" primers and paints are nowadays. An alkyd resin is best though of as a "clump" of drying oil molecules (or parts thereof) which, by the miracle of modern chemistry have been made to crosslink much more densely so form a harder film much more quickly than the old linseed oil based paints ever could.
2 1/2) Polyurethanes - are a particular kind of alkyd resin that dries to an even harder film at the same rate as a regular alkyd resin would.
Drying oil coatings like linseed or Tung oil, alkyd primers and paints and polyurethanes all have poor resistance to alkalinity because the plant oils they're made from (like linseed oil, soy bean oil and Tung oil) are similar to the plant oils that soaps are made of (like palm oil and olive oil). And, one of the oldest chemical reactions known to modern man is the making of soap by combining animal fats or plant oils with an alkaline material to make soap through a process called "saponification". This is in fact how the Romans made soap, but there is some question as to whether or not they used it for cleaning (as we do) or just as a topical skin ointment or medication (like the sap from the aloe vera plant). If you paint over fresh concrete with an oil based coating like linseed oil, alkyd primer or polyurethane varnish, then that coating will deteriorate rapidly as the natural plant oil components in the coating are converted into a crude form of soap through that same "saponification" chemical reaction. It takes at least a year for the alkalinity in fresh concrete and fresh lime based plaster to subside enough to be able to paint them without concern about the alkalinity wrecking the paint, and two years wait is better.
Latex primers and paints, on the other hand, can be broken down into two primary types:
A) Those where the "binder" or the stuff that forms the solid film of the primer or paint is made from tiny clear solid particles of the plastic "polyvinyl acetate". This is the same kind of plastic used to make white wood glue, and so primers and paints made from a polyvinyl acetate have some characteristics similar to dried white wood glue in that they remain slightly sticky even when they're fully dried and they deteriorate under moist or wet conditions. In the industry, primers and paints made from polyvinyl acetate are called "vinyl acrylic" or "PVA" primers and paints.
B) Those where the "binder" or the stuff that forms the solid film of the primer or paint is made from tiny clear solid particles of the plastic "polymethyl methacrylate". This is the same kind of plastic used to make Plexiglas, and so primers and paints made from polymethyl methacrylate have some characteristics similar to Plexiglas, notably that they form a harder plastic film that's highly resistant to UV light from the Sun, (which is why greenhouse windows are made of clear Plexiglas), has good resistance to acids and alkalis, and is not at all sticky once it's fully dry. Basically, Plexiglas type primers and paints are better at everything than white wood glue type primers and paints except at being less expensive. In the industry, primers and paints made from Plexiglas plastic are called "100% Acrylic" or "Acrylic" (for short). These kinds of primers and paints also stick better to damp or moist surfaces.
B 1/2) There are also paints made with something called a styrenated acrylic binder, but they're more common in Europe than they are in North America.
So, since oil based primers of all kinds have poor alkali resistance, you don't want to use an oil based primer on fresh concrete or fresh lime based plaster. Water based primers and paints have better alkali resistance, but of the three different kinds of water based primers and paints, the Acrylic ones made from the Plexiglas type plastic (polymethyl methacrylate) have the highest alkali resistance. And, if you buy a primer made to be used over fresh concrete, you will be getting a primer that is made from the polymethyl methacrylate resins which have the very highest resistance to an alkaline substrate. That is, you want to buy a "100% Acrylic" primer that's made specifically to be used over fresh concrete (or fresh lime based plaster).