Forge World Dies Quietly As Games Workshop Rebrands Them

By Travis Pasch | April 24th, 2024 | Categories: 40k News & Articles, Editorials, Forge World, Games Workshop, Horus Heresy, Tabletop Gaming News & Rumors

Forge World dies quietly as Games Workshop has rebranded it into something entirely different as part of their website merge with Warhammer.

Renowned for producing highly detailed and specialized models, Forge World has long held a special place in the hearts of hobbyists and collectors. This isn’t a huge surprise, but this time, Games Workshop has more or less killed off Forge World as a brand.

The rebranding represents a pivotal moment for both new and veteran hobbyists, as Games Workshop seeks to harmonize the identity of Forge World with its overarching vision, ensuring a seamless experience for its devoted fan base.

Games Workshop Has Rebranded Forge World For Good

We’ll get to the new Warhammer DOT com, but even as recently as 2022, Games Workshop was already renaming Forge World miniatures as “expert-level model kits” on their main webstore.

2020: The Social Media Rebrand

Let’s start with the first rebrand when they knew behind the scenes that a big new edition of Horus Heresy was in the works.

This post came out in 2020 when they started focusing on Horus Heresy: Age of Darkness more (30k and Adeptus Titanicus). It was a big tip-off to a new edition of Horus Heresy, but it took about a year and a half from this for the current 2022 edition of the game to actually drop.

2021: Manufacturing & Packaging

Google Street view of where they’re adding on

Then, in 2021, GW built a new warehouse, and all they said was they would be using the space to make more paint and resin. However, it was all under the GW banner, meaning they were, perhaps, one step closer to absorbing Forge World back into the company overall.

Looking back, we assume this was to help with all the recent resin upgrades and new character products for Horus Heresy. However, back then, we weren’t sure what they would be making and if it would even still be “Forge World” products anymore.

2022: Literal Rebranding of Horus Heresy Resin Forge World Products

You can provide your own sartorial flair to the VII Legion with this upgrade set containing 11 detailed resin helmets, each one positively festooned with noble foliage. There are three sets each of three different knightly designs, plus one helmet with a transverse crest for your Praetors and Sergeants, and one square-jawed feller with a bare head.

Packs like these started coming out in the summer of 2022, and the branding radically differed from the previous resin products. In terms of packaging, product listings, and marketing copy, they simply called them detailed resin pieces.

2023: Forge World is No More on the New Warhammer Site

All the Forge World products are now on the new combined Warhammer dot com site, and when you try to go to their previous website, it will redirect you here. Sadly, we could not find one instance of the term Forge World on this new retail site anymore.

Instead, these listings say Expert Kit. There is no mention of Forge World. While they still might produce the models, it seems the branding is no more. As of now, these products are just 15+ expert resin kits.

The Horus Heresy upgrades are also now called Expert Kits, meaning everything that was Forge World is now just an “Expert Kit.”

This is the only thing that remains of Forge World after the rebrand. However, even this Facebook page has only been about Horus Heresy since 2020. Plus, as you can see, the website is linked to the new Warhammer site.

Late in the day, after the new website rolled out, Games Workshop put out an FAQ for their new site launch. In it, they confirmed our fears: Forge World is no more.

Even Forge World Boxes Are Dead Now

There is something a little strange about getting a box without the Forge World branding.

We recently saw this box and were sad that there is no mention of Forge World, the cool cog skull, or anything. Just like on the website, it simply says Expert Product 15+ on the box. Some people will probably be getting boxes in the old packaging, but anything newer will most likely look like this from now on.

It looks like the time for Forge World has ended, and Expert Kits are here.