Two years after Steamforged Games acquired Warmachine from Privateer Press, the steampunk miniatures wargame is growing faster than at any point in its 23-year history.
The numbers tell the story. Warmachine launched with 40 flagship stores at GAMA 2025. By GAMA 2026, that figure had climbed past 100. Then Adepticon happened, and 50 more retailers signed up in three weeks, bringing the total to roughly 150. That's an average of three new stores per working day between the two conventions.
Organised play is surging alongside retail. The Longshanks tournament tracker recorded 237 events in Q1 2026, up 54% from 154 in the same period last year. Steamforged has backed the growth with serious infrastructure investment, having increased US production capacity by 30% through 2025 and a further 40% by the end of Q1 2026.
For those unfamiliar, Warmachine is a skirmish-level miniatures game set in the Iron Kingdoms, a world of steam-powered warjacks and battle mages. Competitive armies typically run 15-30 models and cost around $100 to assemble, compared to several hundred for a Warhammer 40K force. That lower barrier to entry is clearly paying off.
The practical upshot for players: your local game store is more likely to carry Warmachine stock, run demo nights, and have an active community than at any point in the past decade. Steamforged is backing each flagship store with $1,000 in demo inventory and guaranteed stock allocations. The vampiric Dusk faction arrives in June with blood-magic mechanics and two new warlocks, followed by the returning Protectorate of Menoth in October.
If you've been curious about miniatures wargaming but put off by the cost, Warmachine's revival is worth a closer look.
Sources: Wargamer | Steamforged Games
