Working out whether a wargame is on the rise or in decline is a nebulous question that involves eyeballing publicly available sales data, browsing social media for community sentiment, and no small amount of guesswork to fill in the blanks. But by all available metrics, Warmachine is growing at an incredible rate.
The Warmachine Keynote presentation at Adepticon 2026 was mostly focused on shiny new miniatures, but there were some impressive numbers in there too. In the first three months of 2026, 237 Warmachine events were recorded on the Longshanks tournament tracker, up from 154 for the same three months in 2025 - and between Adepticon 2025 and 2026, the number of game stores stocking the Warmachine range more than doubled.
The studio's New Business Manager Kieran Wilson put that into numbers for Wargamer: "When we launched the stockist program at GAMA 2025, we started with 40 flagship warstores", Wilson says, "hardcore stores that are trying to helm the Warmachine name and fly the flag" by stocking the whole retail line. "Before GAMA 2026 we were up to just over 100", he continues.
Then between GAMA and Adepticon 2026, "We signed another 50" - three absurdly busy weeks in which he signed up an average of three retailers to the program each work day. Wilson says that Warmachine offers stockists "one of the most competitive [retailer support offers] on the market", which includes an annual marketing budget, guaranteed stock allocations, and $1,000 of demo stock.
But he thinks the demand from players is what's really driving sign-ups. "You could get involved in two to three years' time, or you can join now, establish the community in store, and become that flagship that your community will gravitate towards".
Steamforged is having to increase production capacity to keep up with demand. The Warmachine keynote gives the latest update on this, "Primary US production capacity [for Warmachine miniatures] increased by 30% from March to December 2025", and "a further 40% increase in US production capacity will be in place by [the end of] March 2026". The firm announced progress and more plans to scale up production in the EU and UK as well - and this isn't the first time that Steamforged has increased production.
The next big hurdle for the resurgent game will arrive this summer, in the form of the behemoth that will be Warhammer 40k 11th edition. It's something that Wilson, who runs a Warhammer 40k focused podcast in his spare time, is all too aware of. "It's good, it means I'm up on 40k releases and I can be honest with stores about the impact they'll have on business", he says. His view is that a rising tide floats all boats: "There are so many amazing games out there at the moment", he says, "It's less about fighting each other than ensuring that the hobby as a whole continues to surge".
As someone who got back into wargaming as an adult via Warmachine MkII, I've got high hopes that it will continue to ride this wave. If you're a fellow fan, you'll find a warm welcome in the Wargamer Discord community.