Here’s the latest on Games Workshop’s worldwide Warhammer crackdown affecting 280 sellers, frozen bank accounts, and sales platforms.
Updated on May 18th, 2025, by Rob Baer with the latest update from sellers, and Games Workshop.
If you’ve checked your favorite online marketplace lately and noticed a few listings mysteriously vanish, you’re not imagining things. Games Workshop just dropped the legal equivalent of an orbital bombardment—suing 280 sellers across the globe and freezing their assets in one sweeping move.
We’re talking shut-down stores, locked accounts, and some very panicked vendors. Some were clearly pushing counterfeit kits, while others got hit for less obvious reasons, like using the word Citadel in a brush holder listing.
Let’s break down who got caught in the blast radius, why it matters, and what this means for the rest of us trying to hobby in peace
Will the Real Warhammer Please Stand Up?
The creator behind No Guts No Galaxy just got tangled in a lawsuit with Games Workshop. Not for printing shoulder pads. Not for bootlegging miniatures. No, no. For selling a magnet. A magnet.
Apparently, he used the word “Warhammer” in a product title for something completely unrelated to Warhammer 40K—specifically, it was about the BattleTech Warhammer mech. Different universe. Different style. Similar name. Big headache.
He didn’t even know he was being sued at first. That’s because GW hit him with what’s known as a Schedule A lawsuit—the kind where you find out you’re in trouble after the papers have already hit the judge’s desk and your PayPal account gets frozen faster than a cryo missile lock.
Enter the chaos: old partner spots a sketchy email, creator finds it buried in junk mail, then—surprise!—full-on court summons from Florida. Not exactly how most people plan their Monday.
The wild part? He wasn’t even named personally. Just his store’s URL. But that was enough to drag him into the mess. Cue panic, migraines, and a frantic search for a lawyer who doesn’t charge the GDP of a small nation.
How a Magnet Cost Him Thousands
Eventually, he found someone in Florida who had experience with this kind of thing (and with that law firm in particular). That lawyer got him dismissed from the case, but not before a hefty legal bill and a complete store shutdown just to play it safe.
He’s fine now—well, fine ish. Still can’t touch his PayPal funds for a few days, but the case is closed, the magnet’s off the shelves, and he’s breathing again.
What’s the takeaway here? Apparently, having “Warhammer” in your store description—even if it’s referencing a mech from a totally different franchise—can trigger an IP lawsuit from a multi-million-dollar company. And once the lawyers get involved, you’re playing with real money.
He’s setting up an LLC now (smart move) and warns everyone else in the hobby scene to do their homework, label carefully, and lawyer up if needed. Not exactly the fun part of the hobby, but definitely the part that’ll keep you out of courtroom dramas.
Sellers Warhammered By GW’s Legal Team Crackdown
According to our sources, a few sellers that were perhaps victims of Games Workshop’s overreach managed to wriggle out of the net — their complaints were quietly removed. Which is nice… but doesn’t exactly fix the mess for the other handful that were also unfairly targeted.
Since we first reported on this legal sweep, a dozen or so sellers have reached out to us, all saying the same thing: “We got hit too, and we’re not even sure why.”
Like in the Battletech video, some of them didn’t reply by the May 12th deadline — not out of defiance, but because they had no idea they were even on the hit list. No formal notice, no friendly email, just radio silence… until they saw their PayPal frozen and their listings wiped.
Some even only found out through community chats or Reddit threads.
Most have indicated that they have been asked to pay between $2000 and $10,000 in “damages” by the Brickell IP Group (after their assets are frozen, mind you). Some have even taken to Reddit to ask for legal advice.
May 12 Deadline:
What really stands out is the chaos behind the scenes. Sellers we spoke with said it sounded like there was a miscommunication between Games Workshop’s legal team and the third-party IP group they brought in to do the heavy lifting.
That might explain why some genuinely innocent shops may have ended up in the blast radius.
It’s the hobby-world equivalent of a fire-and-forget missile — great if you’re locking onto counterfeiters, less great if you just took out someone’s friendly bits store by mistake.
To us, this just seems like a lot of collateral damage —
Games FakeShop
As for the other 200-some sellers? The ones who didn’t reply at all to this complaint and were allegedly selling counterfeits, non-licensed goods, or were misrepresenting Games Workshop’s IP?
Well, your guess is as good as ours. Some might be on the run — digitally speaking — pulling listings, nuking accounts, hoping to ghost the system.
Others may just be done. Burned out, boxed up, and moving on. Either way, it’s a lot of silence from a big group that just got legally steamrolled, and that silence is loud.
Games Workshop Takes the Gloves Off
Quick Reference:
Case Title: Games Workshop Ltd. v. Schedule A Defendants
Court: U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
Case No.: 25-cv-21746-ALTMAN
Judge: Hon. Roy K. Altman
TRO Date: April 22, 2025
Preliminary Injunction Hearing: May 27, 2025
Plaintiff: Games Workshop Ltd.
Defendants: 270+ online sellers (Schedule A)
What’s Going On?
If you’ve been around the Warhammer community for more than five minutes, you’ve probably seen bootleg minis, knockoff terrain, and some… highly suspicious Warhammer-branded marks (think things like the Space Wolves symbol). Well, Games Workshop clearly has too, and this time, they’re not just issuing polite warnings. They’ve gone full legal hammer.
The UK-based Warhammer giant is suing nearly 280 online sellers in one fell swoop. Why? Alleged counterfeits — lots of them. We’re talking fake minis, improperly branded merch, and shady listings pretending to be the real deal.
Legal claims in the mix:
- Trademark Infringement (Lanham Act §1114)
- False Designation of Origin (Lanham Act §1125(a))
- Relief under the All Writs Act (28 U.S.C. §1651(a))
Basically, the argument is that these sellers are trading off the Warhammer name without permission, using branding that looks official enough to fool shoppers.
The Nitty-Gritty Allegations
Here’s how it played out: GW (through their lawyers) supposedly did a sort of round of undercover test purchases. Those orders didn’t pass muster. They say the goods were fake, low quality, and designed to imitate official Warhammer products — logos, box art, product names, the whole kit.
That kind of thing can cost a company more than just a few sales. The bigger fear that GW is claiming is brand dilution — if people can’t trust the quality of what they’re buying, that hurts those involved in the legit hobby, from independent shops to the players themselves.
In an effort to keep sellers from bailing out, hiding assets, or wiping their shop pages, GW made sure no advance warning was given before a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) hit.
What the Court Did About It
On April 22, 2025, the court signed off on a TRO as part of the full complaint, and that’s when things got serious. Here’s what came down:
- Sales Freeze: Sellers had to stop selling anything infringing.
- Asset Freeze: Their financial accounts were locked.
- Expedited Discovery: Marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and AliExpress were ordered to hand over seller details.
- Third-Party Compliance: Platforms had to freeze and disclose info on the accused sellers.
- Alternative Service: GW was allowed to notify defendants via email and Dropbox links. Yes, really.
- Bond Requirement: Games Workshop posted a bond of $10,000 per seller to cover potential damage if the court later finds they overreached. With 280 sellers, that’s potentially up to $2.8 million in bonds alone — not counting the legal bill.
If you’re thinking that’s a lot of legal firepower over some minis, well, you’re not wrong.
The Bigger Picture
This isn’t GW’s first rodeo, and it probably won’t be the last. These enforcement sweeps tend to focus on platforms like Alibaba, Etsy, eBay, AliExpress, and DHGate. And yes, most of the named sellers appear to be based in China and the UK.
We’re also seeing a familiar legal playbook here: file one mega-case with hundreds of defendants. It keeps costs down and pressure high, but it also means individual sellers can get steamrolled if they don’t know how to respond or can’t afford a lawyer.
It looks like GW is working with Brickell IP Group, a law firm that’s been attached to similar mass-defendant IP lawsuits. That move may also help GW dodge some of the community blowback by keeping their name a bit more out of the spotlight.
Is This Overkill?
Here’s where things get messy. A close look at the list of affected sellers shows most were, in fact, selling knockoffs or using the Warhammer trademarks without permission. But — and this is important — perhaps not all were.
A handful seem to have gotten caught up in the net unfairly:
- One seller was flagged over a gaming mat because the title mentioned Warhammer 40k.
- Another was penalized for a wooden brush holder described with the word Citadel.
- Some were tagged for using official logos in their store category page — not on products.
- At least a few listings seemed to be fulfilled through Shopify’s affiliate program (The Collective), meaning the entities named in the suit never even touched the goods.
That’s where the $10,000 bond per seller matters. If any of these claims are ruled excessive or unjustified, those funds could help cover damages to wrongly targeted sellers.
This part gives strong “Spots the Space Marine” vibes — you remember the infamous takedown campaign from a decade ago. Add in the recent YouTube copyright strikes, and you’ve got a pattern. Potential over-enforcement with a side of PR misfire.
Final Thoughts
Let’s be real: counterfeits do real damage to the hobby. If you’re printing knockoffs and slapping a GW logo on the box, you’re not the good guy in the story. But when enforcement gets sloppy — going after harmless hobbyists for naming conventions or a single category image — that’s a problem too, we think.
Games Workshop’s legal action is drawing a hard line. Whether it’s the right one, and whether they’ll keep the community on their side while doing it, is still an open question.
Latest GW Takedown of YouTube Creators
Maybe they should worry about restocking their products before they go after other shops regarding them. I hate gamesworkshop, just an awful company with no common sense. They haven’t restocked any horus heresy world eaters models (except rampages, id rather use the 40k berserkers box for those). Kharn been out of stock for 7 or 8 months, shoulder pads for 5 months, angron for 5 months, etc. GW has balways been questionable, but lately they are just downright terrible
Something that a lot of folks don’t know is a trademark owner is required by law to informed their trademarks in this way else they can lose their trademark. As in if they don’t try to protect it its generally argued that they don’t own it anymore. They can’t just decide to ignore trademark infringement, part of trademarking something is agreeing to enforce/protect your ownership
I’m an Etsy seller, that sells 3d printed miniatures for tabletop games (primarily dnd) and we’ve had a couple of listings flagged for copyright infringement by GW simply because we said in the description that that could be used for games like Warhammer (plus a bunch of other tabletop games), no where did we say they were Warhammer/games workshop products, they were very generic miniatures (one was some simple vampire ghouls, and another was some basic droids, which look more like star wars protocol droids than anything).
We’ve since stripped any reference to Warhammer or their games from our listings. (Even relisted the targeted listings, minus those tags)
It sucks finding 3d printed kits on etsy now because of this, but it’s totally understandable. One guy I buy from just pulled all his postings once he had enough regulars. I hate gamesworkshop, but I love the product they control.
The real question is, in the age of 3D printing, who needs to buy any Warhammer at all, whether real or 3rd party?
Hey everyone, I just wanted to drop a quick message here after reading the article about the mass takedown and asset freeze by Games Workshop.
I’m one of the many smaller names caught up in this, and honestly, it’s been a really overwhelming and frustrating experience. I’m UK-based, and late last year I briefly ran a small Etsy shop where I sold a handful of t-shirt designs — about 14 sales total, and less than £100 in profit. All the profits went to small animal charities (specifically dog and cat rescue groups), and the designs were original pieces inspired by fantasy themes — cats in armour, with a comical twist inspired by Warhammer and Doom. I thought it would help raise money in a fun way, not cause legal trouble.
I did not use official artwork — just had the word “Warhammer and Cat lovers” in the title, which I now understand was probably enough to flag it. I took everything down as soon as Etsy sent a notice in January, and my entire shop has now permanently deleted. I haven’t sold anything since January.
It was never malicious, and certainly never meant to harm Games Workshop or their IP. I’ve even contacted their lawyers twice asking to be removed from the case, but haven’t received any reply.
Just thought I’d share my experience in case others are in the same boat. This whole situation has been incredibly stressful for someone who was only trying to do something good, and it feels like overkill to go after people like me with such a heavy hand.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/281330957648
Green stuff world hit even…. listing a brush, non GW branded, but mentioned you can paint war hammer with it… people need to be letting GW know this isnt cool.
this guy sold some magnets, again unbranded, [REDACTED]
Almost everything after the chinese stuff is like this
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/v5txihe76n9bjgi5wym9f/APDmDNkRxyGHu9a6-hHsn_s?dl=0&e=1&preview=%5B16-1%5D+GWSI+Schedule+A.pdf&rlkey=mp72jjcotrvkssqcw8hlv3nw7&st=ixo7sscm
Full list
The price on the plastic models is ludicrous. It’s formed plastic pieces and partial pieces at that. Where are they making this stuff? Definitely overpriced.
If gw didn’t charge absorbent prices for their models and weren’t out of stock all the time, this wouldn’t be as big of an issue. 1 drekki Flynn model standing 1.5 inches tall is $40.
Warhammer was created, intentionally, by people by stealing from Dune, lord of the rings, etc while talking about doing just that, because they wanted to mash these things together. Looking at the actual list, outside of the china recasts, many are completely legit people just making terrain, cosplay, and other stuff not branded as 40k but for *USE* IN 40k. So a paint brush holder is one example, some terrain is another, wtf??? none of it is being counterfeited as a brand, its just a THING for use with another thing… they gonna copy right dice too if someone says you can use them in 40k?
Honestly, I hope the defense argues “what damages?”
The only people harmed from reproductions were scalpers who bought all GW’s pre-sale orders the minute it hit the web site.
GW damaged it’s brand with customers by not caring about scalpers and putting in no measures against it, they got their sales, why did it matter who bought the product?
They damage their own brand by creating Astarties drama, or by making out of print minis OP with rule changes, or by making new models obsolete, or by selling “superior models” that notorious do not fit or assemble as delivered with no fixes or updates in following batches….
Infact nock offs help their brand, getting it so that new fans have some way to get models that would normally be out of stock, allowing them to join their friends and local tournaments, and continue in the hobby, instead of be turned away from scalpers scarcity.
I’ll never understand the out of stock crap. Stuff that hasn’t been restocked in a year (horus heresy legion specific units). I remember waiting almost 4 months once to get a sheet of world eaters transfers
The Emperor’s fist coming down hard.
Tbh they should be panicking, 3rd party sellers do some far better miniatures and they have been fsr to arrogant pricing and expecting us to just give in.
Remember they where always like this
Has GW considered not driving it’s customers to other sellers? With its insane price mark ups and year after year price hikes for little blobs of plastic they’ve long since remade the cost of the moulds on?
I’d rather buy from third party resellers and printers than anything GW puts out anymore.
Yeah kinda ironic that GW is going heavy handed when they themselves ripped a lot of other i.p’s off themselves (Aliens,Terminator,..etc ) and to be honest here for a minute. Nothing that I have seen have justified the insane price increase in their products,not to mention the disrespect for the community that GW have. For that ,all I can add is ….printer goes bbvvroom..!!!
GW sure is litigious for a company that has ripped off everything from Dune to Tolkien to Harry Potter to Alien.