See how the Warhammer logo evolved over time, from Rogue Trader’s chaos to today’s clean corporate look, here is every 40k logo so far.
You can tell a lot about Warhammer 40k just by looking at the logos slapped on the covers over the years. Every Warhammer 40k logo is a snapshot of the game at that moment, what Games Workshop was pushing, what they were nervous about, and how seriously they wanted to be taken.
From the loud, punk-metal chaos of Rogue Trader to the clean, corporate look we see today, these Warhammer logos quietly map the game’s entire evolution.
How the Warhammer 40k Logos Have Changed Over Time
Originally published August 2024. Updated on February 12th, 2026, by Rob Baer with the latest.
You’re about to watch 40k go from jagged Rogue Trader metal noise, to smoother nineties “we’re growing up” glow-up, to the classic long-running banner era, and finally the modern clean-and-boxed look that shows up on everything today.
The big tell in every step is how the lettering, framing, and overall attitude shift as the game goes from niche weirdness to global-brand mode.
The Warhammer logo has always been a tell for where the game itself was headed. When Games Workshop changes the Warhammer 40k logo, it usually lines up with a bigger shift, a new edition, a new direction, or a moment where GW decides it’s time to reset the vibe.
These redesigns are not random. Each version of the Warhammer 40k logo shows up alongside changes to the rules, the models, and how the game is presented to the wider hobby audience. Sometimes that meant leaning harder into grimdark attitude, other times it meant cleaning things up for a broader audience.
We’ll start with the newest corporate Warhammer logo and then rewind all the way back to the beginning, because once you see them in order, the story of 40k is pretty easy to read.
New Games Workshop Logo and Its Impact on the Warhammer Brand
Before the 40k logos, here’s how GW’s parent branding shift signaled the same cleanup trend. When the company logo goes minimalist, you can usually bet the product logos are about to follow that same “tidy it up, make it modern” playbook.
New 2025 Corporate Logo
The newest Games Workshop logo feels less like a Warhammer logo and more like something you’d see on a tech startup pitch deck. The gold, the gothic weight, and the attitude are gone, replaced by a flat black and white look that plays it safe. It might work for corporate branding, but for a universe built on skulls and chainswords, it feels painfully sterile.
Original Logo
Taking the gold out of Games Workshop is like taking chainswords away from Space Marines; it just feels wrong. The old logo had swagger. It had that “we sell overpriced plastic, and you love it” energy.
The new Warhammer Logo? Looks like it got lost on the way to a LinkedIn profile. Anyway… now onto the Warhammer 40k logos starting from Rogue Trader!
Warhammer 40000 Logo: Rogue Trader Era (1988-1992)
The Rogue Trader era Warhammer 40000 logo was loud, angular, and unapologetically weird, which made it perfect. This Warhammer 40k logo matched a time when the game didn’t care about polish and leaned fully into wild ideas and grimdark chaos.
If you still have models from this time, you’re either a hobby hoarder or an archivist with a paintbrush. We’re talking beaky Marines, chunky metal minis, and rulebooks that read more like a D&D campaign than a streamlined wargame.
Rough rules and clunky models aside, this early Warhammer logo nailed the attitude that made people fall in love with 40k in the first place.
Warhammer Logo Evolution: Second Edition Era (1993-1998)
The 1993 to 1998 Warhammer logo was a real turning point, when Warhammer 40k started reaching for a wider audience without completely losing its edge. This version smoothed out the roughest parts and quietly set the foundation for the Warhammer 40k logos that came later.
Visually, you can see GW starting to “frame” the brand instead of letting it run wild. The lettering looks more controlled and less scratchy, the overall shape feels more balanced, and the presentation starts leaning toward a cleaner badge you can slap on a box and have it read instantly on a store shelf.
That mattered because 40k was shifting from cult-favorite chaos into something that needed to look legit next to other tabletop games, without losing the grimdark bite.
It also lined up with 2nd Edition 40k, a period when the game was growing fast and needed a Warhammer logo that felt more approachable while still looking like it belonged in the grimdark universe.
The Classic Warhammer 40k Logo (1998-2020)
The 1998 to 2020 Warhammer 40k logo is the version most players think of when the game comes up. This Warhammer logo carried 40k through multiple editions and became the visual backbone of the modern hobby as Primaris Marines were introduced.
It stayed in place for over two decades, giving Warhammer 40k a level of visual consistency the game has rarely seen since. Entire generations of codexes, starter sets, and White Dwarf covers lived under this logo.
This logo first debuted on the third edition starter set, and what a box it was! This is the edition that got us (at least me) into the game, and it has all the nostalgia. The fact that some of those models only disappeared recently tells you how influential this period really was.
The starter pitted Dark Eldar (the name at the time) against the Black Templars. The game still had templates, and this was the first time we got the awesome whippy sticks, technically they were rulers, but we all used them for some off-the-table combat.
Current Warhammer 40k Logo (2020-Present)
This is the current Warhammer logo, which debuted with 9th Edition 40k and looks to be the one for 10th Edition and 11th Edition 40k. If you’re playing 40k right now, you see this Warhammer 40k logo everywhere, on rulebooks, codexes, and every box on the shelf.
It debuted on the Indomitus launch box, which set the tone for the modern era of the game. Love or hate the design, this logo is now tied directly to how current 40k presents itself.
If past logo lifespans are anything to go by, this Warhammer 40k logo is probably here for a while. Lining it up with the older Warhammer logos makes one thing clear: Games Workshop has moved from niche-hobby roots to full global-brand mode, and every Warhammer logo marks a step in that shift.
Final Thoughts on the Warhammer 40k Logo Evolution
Each of these Warhammer 40k logos marks a shift in how the game wanted to show itself, from wild Rogue Trader chaos to the polished corporate look we get now.
- Rogue Trader to the early nineties: Maximum attitude and “we’re weird on purpose,” with logos that feel like they escaped a metal album cover.
- Mid-nineties to 2020: Readability and shelf presence get prioritized, while still keeping enough grit to scream “grimdark” at a glance.
- 2020 to now: Clean, boxed, and consistent across products, because 40k is a global brand and it wants to look like it belongs everywhere.
Why Games Workshop’s New Logo Misses the Mark
If you want the bigger side-by-side breakdown (plus more images and a deeper rant about the vibe shift), that post is the extra rabbit hole.
