The Complete Guide to Wargaming Miniatures & Hobby Supplies: Where to Buy, What to Paint and How to Get Started in 2026

Image Credit: Games Workshop

View the Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon Starter Set at Merlin's Miniatures (affiliate link) — code: SCALEANDMOTION

Wargaming miniatures sit at an unusual crossroads in the hobby world. They are simultaneously a tabletop gaming system, a modelling discipline, a painting challenge and — for many collectors — an end in themselves. Whether you are building your first Bolt Action platoon, deep into a Warhammer 40,000 campaign army, assembling Fallout: Wasteland Warfare figures between games, or simply buying Gunpla kits as display pieces, the range of products, systems and retailers available in 2026 is broader than it has ever been.

This guide covers the main game systems worth knowing, the key categories — miniatures, paints, terrain and RPG systems — and a curated selection of specialist retailers who cover different parts of the market well. Between them, these retailers cover everything from Games Workshop products and historical wargames through to professional miniature paints, licensed RPG systems, Japanese model kits and tabletop board games.

The Retailers Worth Knowing

Rather than organising this guide by product category alone, it is worth establishing what each retailer does best — because the miniatures hobby has specialist suppliers for specialist needs, and knowing where to go for what saves considerable time.

Merlin's Miniatures — UK Wargaming Specialist

Merlin's Miniatures is a UK-based specialist stocking new and used Games Workshop products (Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, Horus Heresy, Middle-Earth, Kill Team, Blood Bowl and more), Warlord Games historical systems (Bolt Action, Black Powder, Flames of War, Pike & Shotte), alternative wargames (Malifaux, Star Wars Legion, Shatterpoint, Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, Deadzone, Trench Crusade), and a full hobby essentials range including Citadel paints, brushes, basing materials and dice.

The pre-owned section is particularly worth noting — a reliable source of used Games Workshop products at significantly reduced prices, useful for players building armies on a budget or collectors seeking discontinued items. A newsletter subscription unlocks up to 40% off selected items via their monthly Orbital Drop promotion. Merlin Points (100 points = £1) accumulate with every order, and next-day shipping is available.

Use code SCALEANDMOTION at checkout for your discount: browse Merlin's Miniatures

Modiphius Entertainment — RPG, Board Games & Licensed Miniatures

Modiphius is a UK-based publisher and retailer producing some of the most significant licensed tabletop RPG and miniatures systems currently available — Fallout 2d20, Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, Star Trek Adventures, Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, Achtung! Cthulhu, Five Parsecs From Home, Five Leagues from the Borderlands, the Elder Scrolls board game (Skyrim), Mass Effect, and others. They also carry digital products including PDFs, STL print files and VTT formats.

UK and European customers should shop at modiphius.net using the code SCALEMOTION at checkout. North American customers should use modiphius.us with the same code SCALEMOTION.

Monument Hobbies — Pro Acryl Paints & Miniature Supplies

Monument Hobbies is the home of Pro Acryl—a professional-grade acrylic paint range that has established a strong reputation in the miniature painting community for coverage, consistency and pigment density. Their product line includes paint singles, paint sets, spray primers, paint mediums, Pro Series brushes and a growing range of hobby accessories. The Signature Series paints — collaborations with well-known miniature painters — and the AMP Colours range extend the system further.

US customers use monumenthobbies.com with code SCALEMOTION776. EU customers use monumenthobbies.eu with code SCALEMOTION496.

P-Rex Hobby — Japanese Model Kits, Gunpla & Figures

P-Rex Hobby is a Canada and US specialist for Bandai Gundam kits, Japanese model kits, figures and collectibles. Its catalogue covers Entry Grade through Perfect Grade Gunpla, along with mecha, military, aircraft, ship and character model kits from Japanese manufacturers.

Use code SCALEANDMOTION at checkout: Browse P-Rex Hobby

Mighty Lancer Games — UK Hobby Retailer

Mighty Lancer Games is a UK retailer with a physical shop in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, and a comprehensive online store covering Games Workshop, paints, wargames, board games, RPGs and hobby supplies — including X-Wing, Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons, Kings of War, Reaper Miniatures and scale models. It is worth browsing for UK pricing and availability, particularly on Games Workshop product and general hobby supplies: visit Mighty Lancer Games (affiliate link)

The Main Game Systems — What You Need to Know

Warhammer 40,000 and Games Workshop Systems

Games Workshop's flagship systems — Warhammer 40,000 (science fiction, far future) and Age of Sigmar (high fantasy) — remain the dominant forces in the wargaming miniatures market by volume and community size. They are accompanied by a deep catalogue of specialist games: Kill Team (small-scale skirmish in the 40K universe), Horus Heresy (the civil war that precedes the 40K setting), Middle-Earth (Tolkien's world), Blood Bowl (fantasy football), Warcry, Necromunda, Warhammer Underworlds, and Legions Imperialis (mass battle in the Horus Heresy period). The recently relaunched Warhammer: The Old World re-enters the mass fantasy battle space that Age of Sigmar replaced.

For UK buyers, both Merlin's Miniatures and Mighty Lancer Games carry the full Games Workshop line, with Merlin's pre-owned section offering genuine savings on older products and army lots. Merlin's also lists Games Workshop pre-orders and the online-only range that is not available in standard retail.

Browse Warhammer 40,000 at Merlin's Miniatures (code: SCALEANDMOTION)

Historical Wargaming — Bolt Action, Flames of War, Black Powder & More

Historical wargaming covers an enormous time span — from ancient and medieval subjects through the Napoleonic era and into WWII and the Cold War. The most commercially active systems are Warlord Games titles: Bolt Action (WWII squad-level), Black Powder (horse and musket, Napoleonic, ACW), Pike & Shotte (Renaissance and ECW), Hail Caesar (ancient and medieval), Black Seas (Age of Sail), and Cruel Seas (WWII coastal). Battlefront Miniatures' Flames of War (WWII at company level) remains the dominant WWII company-scale system, with Team Yankee covering the Cold War-goes-hot scenario.

Merlin's Miniatures stocks all of these systems comprehensively, with a well-organised breakdown by force nationality for Bolt Action (British, German, Soviet, US, Japanese, Italian, French, Canadian and Australian forces are all listed separately), plus dedicated terrain and dice ranges. The pre-owned historical section is particularly useful for Flames of War, where army lots frequently appear at significant discounts.

Browse Bolt Action terrain at Merlin's | Black Powder | Flames of War (code: SCALEANDMOTION)

Fallout: Wasteland Warfare — Licensed Miniatures at Their Best

Fallout: Wasteland Warfare is one of the most fully realised licensed miniatures games available — a post-apocalyptic skirmish game using 32mm-scale resin and plastic figures covering factions from across the Fallout video game series: the Brotherhood of Steel, Super Mutants, Raiders, Robots, Vault Dwellers, NCR, the Institute, and others. The game uses a custom dice system and plays well both as a competitive skirmish and as a co-operative/solo system against AI-controlled adversaries.

Modiphius produces and sells the full range — starter sets, faction expansions, solo play rules, and the companion Fallout 2d20 tabletop RPG that uses the same setting and overlapping lore. For collectors, the miniatures are worth acquiring even outside the game system: the sculpt quality on the creature and mutant figures in particular is exceptional.

Browse Fallout: Wasteland Warfare at Modiphius (UK/EU, code: SCALEMOTION) | US store

Five Parsecs From Home & Five Leagues from the Borderlands — Solo Wargaming

Solo wargaming has grown significantly as a category, and Modiphius publishes two of the best systems in the space. Five Parsecs From Home is a science fiction skirmish campaign game for 1–4 players (designed primarily for solo play) in which you build a mercenary crew and play through procedurally generated campaign missions — think Firefly as a tabletop miniatures game. Five Leagues from the Borderlands is its fantasy equivalent, using a similar campaign system in a low-magic medieval setting.

Both games are system-agnostic with respect to miniatures—you use whatever 28–32 mm figures you have, making them an excellent vehicle for using existing collection pieces in a new context. The rulebooks are also available as PDFs.

Five Parsecs From Home at Modiphius | Five Leagues from the Borderlands (code: SCALEMOTION)

Star Trek Adventures & Licensed RPGs

Modiphius's Star Trek Adventures 2d20 system is the definitive Star Trek tabletop RPG — covering all series eras, with an extensive range of supplements, adventure books and miniature packs. The game's second edition and ongoing supplement releases make it one of the most supported licensed RPG systems currently in print. Similarly well-supported lines include Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, based on the world of Frank Herbert, and Achtung! Cthulhu, a pulp World War II adventure RPG combining historical conflict, occult threats and Cthulhu Mythos horror.

Browse Star Trek Adventures → | Dune: Adventures in the Imperium → (code: SCALEMOTION)

Gunpla and Japanese Model Kits

Bandai's Gunpla system — plastic model kits of mobile suits from the Gundam anime franchise — occupies a distinctive position that lies between traditional plastic modelling and figure collecting. Kits are graded by complexity: Entry Grade (EG) is the accessible starting point, High Grade (HG) is the standard collector format at 1/144 scale, Real Grade (RG) adds internal frame complexity at the same scale, Master Grade (MG) moves to 1/100 with a full inner skeleton, and Perfect Grade (PG) represents the large-format premium tier. Super Deform (SD) kits are stylised chibi-format versions of the same subjects.

P-Rex Hobby is a relevant source for Gunpla in North America, with a broad Bandai selection and shipping across the US and Canada. Its range extends beyond Gundam to mecha kits from other franchises, military vehicle and aircraft kits from Japanese manufacturers, and figure products.

Browse all Gundam kits at P-Rex | High Grade | Master Grade | Perfect Grade (code: SCALEANDMOTION)

Paints, Brushes and Hobby Supplies

The miniature painting supply market has diversified considerably over the past decade. Citadel (Games Workshop's house brand) remains the most widely distributed paint range, with comprehensive UK availability via Merlin's Miniatures and Mighty Lancer Games. For painters seeking professional-grade performance, especially in coverage and consistency, several alternative ranges now offer a serious option alongside Citadel.

Pro Acryl by Monument Hobbies

Pro Acryl has built a strong reputation among miniature painters and content creators over the past few years. The range is built around high-pigment acrylic formulas designed to cover well in thin coats and retain colour accuracy through multiple dilutions, which is useful for layering, glazing, wet blending and controlled transitions.

Specific ranges worth noting: the 1-Step system (paints formulated to prime and basecoat simultaneously); the AMP Colours sub-range for atmospheric and zenithal priming; the Signature Series (colours curated by well-known painters including Jentastic's Drunken Brush Goop medium); and the Expert Acrylics for fine-art crossover use. Spray primers round out the system for those who prefer rattle-can priming.

EU customers: monumenthobbies.eu (code: SCALEMOTION496). US customers: monumenthobbies.com (code: SCALEMOTION776).

Citadel Paints

Citadel paints are available from both Merlin's Miniatures and Mighty Lancer Games at standard UK retail pricing, with Merlin's Orbital Drop newsletter occasionally including paint ranges in promotional discounts. The Citadel system's main advantages remain its accessibility and the breadth of how-to content available specifically for it — every Games Workshop tutorial, painting guide and box-back instruction references Citadel colours by name, making it the path of least resistance for beginners following official guides.

Browse Citadel paints at Merlin's (code: SCALEANDMOTION)

Brushes and Basing

Monument Hobbies' Pro Series brushes are worth considering alongside the Pro Acryl paints – designed specifically for miniature painting applications, including detail work, drybrushing and stippling. For basing materials, Merlin's Miniatures carries a dedicated model basing range covering static grass, texture pastes, scatter, rocks and tufts.

Browse model basing at Merlin's (code: SCALEANDMOTION)

Alternative and Emerging Systems Worth Watching

Beyond the established systems, several newer and alternative games deserve attention in 2026. Merlin's Miniatures stocks a broad selection of these:

Trench Crusade — an alternate-history tabletop skirmish system with a dark historical-fantasy aesthetic, strong visual identity and growing community momentum.

Deadzone (Mantic Games) — a compact-board sci-fi skirmish system that plays well on a small footprint. A useful option for players who want fast, tactical science fiction skirmish games outside the Warhammer 40,000 ecosystem.

Kings of War (Mantic Games) — the main mass-fantasy alternative to Age of Sigmar, with a clean ruleset, active tournament scene and excellent support for multibase/regiment play.

Malifaux (Wyrd Miniatures) — a card-driven skirmish game with a Victorian Gothic and steampunk aesthetic and some of the most distinctive sculpt work in the industry. It has maintained a loyal competitive community for well over a decade.

Halo: Flashpoint and Star Wars: Shatterpoint — licensed skirmish games with strong IP support and growing player bases. Both are stocked at Merlin's.

Trench Crusade at Merlin's | Malifaux | Deadzone | Halo: Flashpoint (code: SCALEANDMOTION)

Browse by Retailer

Merlin's Miniatures — merlinsminiatures.co.uk | Code: SCALEANDMOTION — New and used Games Workshop, Bolt Action, Flames of War, historical, and alternative wargames; Citadel paints and basing.
Modiphius (UK/EU) — modiphius.net | Code: SCALEMOTION — Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, Star Trek Adventures, Dune, Achtung! Cthulhu, Five Parsecs, Five Leagues, Skyrim, RPG PDFs and STL files.
Modiphius (US/Canada) — modiphius.us | Code: SCALEMOTION — Same range, North American fulfilment.
P-Rex Hobby — prexhobby.com | Code: SCALEANDMOTION — Gunpla (EG through PG), Japanese model kits, figures and collectibles. US and Canada shipping.
Monument Hobbies (US) — monumenthobbies.com | Code: SCALEMOTION776 — Pro Acryl paints, Pro Series brushes, primers, mediums and hobby supplies.
Monument Hobbies (EU) — monumenthobbies.eu | Code: SCALEMOTION496 — Same range, EU fulfilment.
Mighty Lancer Games — mightylancergames.co.uk — UK retailer covering Games Workshop, paints, wargames, RPGs and board games. Physical shop in Bridlington, East Yorkshire.

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