Warhammer gifts: ideas for the painter, player, collector and beginner

Brush & Paint is not affiliated with Games Workshop or Wizards of the Coast, and sells nothing of theirs. Our part is smaller: we print a photograph of their own work.

Warhammer gifts start with the type of fan

Most Warhammer gifts go wrong at the shelf. The box looks right, then the person opening it already owns it, collects a different army, or has never built a model. The hobby around games such as Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar is three hobbies sold in the same boxes: collecting, painting and playing. Warhammer Community lists both games on its Warhammer site. Work out which one your fan does most and the list shrinks.

Three questions settle it without giving anything away:

• What did they last spend a whole evening on: painting, playing or buying?
• Do they talk about one particular model, or about a whole army?
• Do they go out to a club or a shop to play, or does everything happen at home?

If you still can’t tell, the safest gift is one built from something they have already finished.

A print of their own work needs no knowledge of the hobby.

Gifts for Warhammer painters

A painter’s finished work usually lives in a foam tray or a cabinet. Evenings of brushwork get seen at a club night and then put away.

Paint and brushes are the obvious answer and the risky one, because paint is personal. The painter knows which range, which colours and which pots are running low, and you may not. If you can’t see which pots on their desk are nearly dry, a voucher for the shop they already use beats a guessed set. A wet palette can be made at home, so it suits a tip on a card better than a present.

What they rarely have is a print of their own model, the one they are proudest of. Ask which piece they would choose themselves. It’s often not the biggest or the newest. More likely it’s a small figure whose face went right. Printed at A3 or larger, the brushwork reads on the wall in a way it never did on the table. An unframed poster is the simple way in. More is in gifts for miniature painters, and paint scheme ideas helps with the next colour scheme.

Gifts for the player

Players know their army, their points and their rules far better than you do, so anything that needs a judgement about the game is a guess. Dice in army colours, a case for the club and the rules for the next game all depend on details you would have to ask about.

What players rarely have is their army on the wall. A shot of the whole force deployed on the board suits a canvas or a framed print better than a single small figure does, because a big shot needs room. Shoot from table height, so each rank sits over the one behind it. Our guide to finished armies covers group shots, and why one hero figure often makes the stronger print.

At the club, a mug for the table or a 500 ml water bottle puts the same army in their hand every game night. The print area on both is smaller than the object, so one hero model beats a wide battle line. Tabletop gaming gifts goes wider.

Gifts for the collector

Collectors tend to work army by army, so find out which one before anything else. The common mistake is a box from an army they do not collect. The second is the right army and a kit they already own. Collectors know exactly what they have. You may not.

If they will tell you what is on their list, buy that. If not, display is the thing collectors run short of: shelf space, lighting, somewhere to put finished units where people can see them. Our guide to displaying painted miniatures compares cases, open shelves and the wall.

A print of the collection itself makes a good companion to a shelf. A metal print suits saturated colour and strong silhouettes. On a wood print, pale areas show the grain, which flatters some colour schemes and fights others. For someone who will never get round to buying a frame, choose a framed print: it comes at A3 or A2, and the frame is black or natural wood.

Gifts for the beginner

A full army means weeks of assembly before any paint goes on.

A starter set is the usual answer, and a good one if they have already tried the game or want to. A single character model is a kinder first project than a squad. Our wargaming for beginners guide explains what the hobby involves and where the costs sit. Trying it at a club night on borrowed models costs the least.

For a beginner, print their first finished model. It will not be the best thing they ever paint. That is why it’s worth having: it shows where they began. An 11 oz mug is the right scale for it.

Warhammer 40,000 gifts for him

Buying for a partner, a friend or a dad who collects Warhammer 40,000 comes down to two facts you need before spending anything: which army is on his shelf, and how much of it he has painted. You can find both out without a direct question. Ask someone from his club or gaming group, or look at the shelf next time you’re round. A row of grey plastic means he’s still building. A finished squad is what to print. If he collects more than one army, pick the one he talks about most, or the one he finished last.

The print is a photograph of his own painted figure. If you don’t have one, the section below on getting the photograph without giving the game away explains how to get the file.

Then think about where it will sit. The format guide compares the surfaces so you can match the size to the space he has.

If he doesn’t paint, the ideas in personalised gifts for him are a better starting point.

Gifts for wargamers by budget

Every price for our prints is on the shop page, and standard UK delivery is included in each one. Prices are not repeated here, so the shop page always shows the current figure. Items from other shops are left unpriced because their prices change.

Lower spend

A digital download of their photo comes as an emailed link. There is no parcel, and they print it where they want. An A4 poster and an 11 oz mug sit in this range too. Elsewhere, a pot or two of the paint they are running out of, if you can find out which.

Middle spend

Any poster bigger than A4, a 500 ml bottle, or a canvas or wood print at the smaller sizes. A voucher for their usual shop also fits here, as do dice, or a carry case if you know the size of the army.

Higher spend

A framed print, a metal print or a framed canvas. Outside our range, a starter set suits someone who has tried the game and wants to go further.

A voucher is no cop-out when none of the questions above has an answer. It can’t surprise them, so add a small print of their own work if you want both.

What we print, and what we do not

Send a photo of the painted army, a single figure or their own artwork. This is what it can go on:

• paper: a poster, from A4 through A3 and A2 up to 50 x 70 and 70 x 100 cm;
• behind glass: a framed print, A3 or A2, with the frame in black or natural wood;
• a canvas in four sizes, the smallest 30 x 40 cm and the largest 60 x 80 cm, with 40 x 50 and 50 x 70 cm between;
• a framed canvas in three of those sizes, 30 x 40 cm up to 50 x 70 cm, its frame black, dark wood or natural wood;
• a metal print in the same three sizes, or a wood print in the two smaller ones;
• an 11 oz mug for the hobby desk, or a 500 ml water bottle for club night;
• a digital download.

No models, paint, brushes, dice or books from us, and no game’s name, logo or art goes on anything we print. The format guide puts the surfaces next to each other.

Print it as it is, or in a new scene

With direct printing the photo goes to print exactly as you sent it. Nothing passes through AI. Pick that when the point is to show off the paint job. The scene route puts the model somewhere new instead. Verified accounts get three successful previews a day at most, each watermarked and saved for 30 days. The print then uses your chosen artwork exactly, with the watermark removed.

Hold each preview up against the original photo. AI can change a face, the edge where two colours meet, or small markings. There is a checklist in the result-checking guide. If a scene changes the part they were proudest of, print the original photograph instead.

Get the photograph without giving the game away

Ask for the original image file. A screenshot of a social post often loses detail. “Can you send me the pic of that squad you just finished?” sounds like club chat, not a present. The present can stay a surprise, but the painter should still say yes to the print. At upload you are asked to confirm that the image is yours, or that you have their permission to reproduce it.

Taking the photo yourself? Photographing a miniature walks through the common faults: light behind the camera, a phone held too close to focus, and a cutting mat in shot. How big you can go depends on the file. Any size it is too small for drops off the list when you upload it.

Warhammer gifts with UK delivery: Christmas lead times

Physical items are made to order and take 4-9 working days. If you still need to take the photo, or wait for them to send it, add that on too. Standard delivery within the UK is built into the price, while Priority delivery is optional and costs more.

Delivery and returns explains the timings and what happens if an order arrives damaged or with a print fault. Personalised items are made to your specification. Look over the artwork and the crop before paying. For a club Secret Santa with a spending cap, Secret Santa ideas starts with the low-cost picks.

More gift guides

Roleplayers in the group? See DnD gifts. For the whole table there is tabletop gaming gifts, and for younger painters gifts for teenage lads. If they paint canvases more than models, look at Christmas gifts for artists.