Don’t believe the hype- The fate of 3d printed bits and alternative models in 99% of Warhammer tournaments is here!
While playing in a GW tournament sounds like fun, they make up basically 1% of all the tournaments going on. What does that mean? Well, if you have alternative minis or bits, you *may* just miss out on using them in a single tournament series.
Top 50 Best Alternatives to GW Miniatures in 2021
This is a perfect time to vote with your hobby dollars and support tournaments and companies whose minis you like the most. As we’ve said before if you love GW minis and don’t mind the price, buy them! If you love 3rd party bits and minis, buy them too!
If you do have an awesome alternative army, fear not, there are plenty of tournaments to play in!
Alternative Models in the Other 99% of Tournaments
We’re taking a look at rules for ITC tournaments, such as LVO because they are one of the biggest around. Basically, as long as something looks similar, has the right weapons, and is on the correct base size, they don’t have a problem with them.
Let’s take a look at their specific wording.
- Using a reasonable substitute to “Counts As” another model, does not violate our policy.
- We recommend all models be based according to the Basing Chart for standardization and fairness.
- If in doubt, send a picture in of a model to your TO in advance to ask if it is acceptable.
So, if you look at something like a Kromlech Prime Legionnaire above, you can see it’s a perfect size and has legal weaponry. This wouldn’t violate any policies and your army would just be so awesome looking! As long as you put three colors of paint on there and throw it on the right size base, you should be good to go.
We reached out to the ITC to clarify a little further since the wording above isn’t super detailed. They said, they won’t put 3D-printed or alternative armies on any official streams, but other than that, there’s really no stopping these models from being played at tournaments.
On top of that, as long as you stick to the painting and basing policies, they are more than ok with it. However, it is up to individual TOs in smaller ITC events as to what is allowed at each event. They do have authority over the event, so if they are not okay with it, then that is their ruling.
Since currently, the ITC does not have an official policy on 3D printed bits and alternatives, each event basically makes the final call on a case-by-case basis.
So What Does it All Mean?
Basically, you can use your awesome alternative miniatures (like the awesome Orcs from Hardcore Minis above) and 3D-printed bits in the majority of tournaments out there.
So no need to really be that upset, as you’ll only potentially be missing out on a few tournaments a year at most that are “official GW events” when it comes to alternative mins and prints. Perhaps even better, GW’s events team has been pretty favorable to inquires about squad markings, etc when approached ahead of time.
Top 50 Best Alternatives to GW Miniatures in 2021
Keep in mind too that all this is at the discretion of the event coordinator/TO, so if something is not over the top ridiculous, it will probably just slide by with no issues.
So hobby to your heart’s content, just be sure to paint them up to the tournament event standards!
Are you going to a GW tournament this year? Do you have alternative minis or bits?
Featured Image Credit: Deadly Print Studio.
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
