Why Warhammer and Tabletop Wargaming Are Bigger Than Ever

Warhammer used to be the hobby you discovered because somebody’s older brother had a suspicious number of tiny plastic soldiers in his bedroom. Now those soldiers sit at the centre of videogames, streaming shows, packed gaming stores and a miniature market worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

And the numbers suggest this isn’t a temporary nerd-culture spike. Tabletop wargaming has quietly become one of entertainment’s healthiest hobby scenes, with Warhammer dragging plenty of newcomers toward the dice and measuring tape.

Warhammer Has Escaped the Hobby Shop

The easiest explanation for Warhammer’s current popularity is that you no longer need to play Warhammer to encounter it.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 launched on September 9, 2024, putting players inside the armour of Lieutenant Titus for a gloriously violent third-person shooter. By the end of November, publisher Focus Entertainment said the game had reached 5 million players.

That matters because Space Marine 2 works perfectly well if you couldn't identify a Tyranid from a toaster. You can arrive for the chainsword combat and enormous battles, then slowly realise there's several decades of lore sitting behind everything you're seeing.

Games Workshop is pushing further into mainstream entertainment too. In December 2024, the company finalised an agreement giving Amazon exclusive film and television rights to the Warhammer 40,000 universe, with an option covering Warhammer Fantasy after the first 40K production. Games Workshop warned that actual productions could still take several years.

So Warhammer's biggest advantage right now is simple: there are more doors into the setting than ever before.

The Tabletop Numbers Are Doing the Talking

You could dismiss videogame players and TV deals as licensing success rather than proof that tabletop wargaming itself is growing. The sales figures make that argument harder.

Games Workshop estimated core revenue of at least £625 million for the financial year ending May 31, 2026, up from £565 million the previous year. That core figure matters because it covers the business built around selling Warhammer products rather than relying on another Space Marine-sized licensing payday.

The wider miniatures category is healthy too. Industry publication ICv2 estimated that miniature-game sales in the US and Canada reached approximately $585 million in 2025, up 7.3% from $545 million in 2024. The category was already more than 60% above its 2019 sales level by 2024.

And Warhammer isn't growing solely through its own branded shops. Games Workshop reported roughly 8,100 independent trade outlets during its 2024/25 financial year, after adding approximately 900 accounts. Trade represented 61% of its core revenue that year.

In other words, people aren't merely watching Space Marines on a screen. They're buying the little ones too.

Getting Started Isn't Quite as Terrifying Anymore

Tabletop wargaming still has obvious barriers. Miniatures cost money. Painting an army takes time. A rulebook thick enough to stun a burglar isn't exactly the easiest pitch to somebody accustomed to downloading a game and playing five minutes later.

But modern Warhammer has become better at giving curious players smaller entry points.

When Warhammer 40,000's 10th edition arrived in June 2023, Games Workshop released its 62-page core rules online for free. The huge Leviathan launch box contained 72 new miniatures split between Space Marines and Tyranids, but the company also pushed Combat Patrol as a smaller way to get armies onto the table.

There's also far more variety once you're inside the hobby. Maybe futuristic armies aren't your thing. Warhammer: The Old World arrived in January 2024, bringing back regiment-based fantasy warfare with Bretonnian knights and undead Tomb Kings.

Outside Games Workshop, you've got BattleTech, Star Wars: Legion, Marvel: Crisis Protocol and plenty of smaller systems competing for table space. Even Warmachine, one of Warhammer's long-running rivals, reported growing tournament activity and retail distribution during 2025 and early 2026.

That choice helps. You don't have to sign a lifelong contract with 2,000 points of Space Marines just because you think painted miniatures look cool.

Why You Should Care

If you've never rolled a six-sided die in anger, tabletop wargaming's rise still tells you something interesting about modern entertainment. In an era dominated by screens, subscriptions and disposable digital releases, millions of people are spending their free time building physical objects, painting them by hand and meeting somebody face-to-face to argue about whether a tiny soldier can see around a plastic ruin.

Warhammer gives you lore if you want lore, competition if you want competition and painting if you'd rather never play a match at all. You choose how deep the obsession goes.

What to Play Next

Start with Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 if the tabletop still looks intimidating. It's the easiest route into 40K's ridiculous scale, and you don't need homework to enjoy cutting through Tyranids.

If you'd rather put models on a table, try Warhammer 40,000: Combat Patrol. The smaller army format gets you playing without immediately committing to the enormous collections you see online.

And if spaceships, bolters and genetically engineered super-soldiers aren't your thing, look at Warhammer: The Old World. Its ranked armies, cavalry charges and classic fantasy factions offer a very different flavour of wargaming.

You may still end up spending Saturday night painting a three-centimetre shoulder pad for a soldier who doesn't exist. The difference is that these days, you'll have plenty of company.