Citadel Colour being renamed to Warhammer Colour

[Lord Marshal]

9 minutes ago, Marshal Loss said:

Genuinely sad to see the old name go.

 

I'm a little surprised this wasn't GW reformulating or relaunching their paint range though (in new pots...) as it feels like they've lost a lot of ground to other manufacturers in recent years. Citadel has its gems but it's incredibly inconsistent in quality and consistency across the range. I've sporadically heard the rumour about a separate 'Warhammer Premium' paint range launching but that's baffling to me if true. 

 

I could see both existing in the short to medium term to head off the bad publicity of "GW just DESTROYED their PAINTS!" and "GW will FORCE you to REBUY your pant COLLECTION!". Have a newer, more expensive line of paints that's closer to the modern ranges of AK, Army Painter etc without immediately causing a rush on the old range or risking people going all-in on another company's line since they'll have nothing to lose if they're expected to rebuy everything anyway.

 

Then after a year or two, once people have a bunch of 'Masterclass' under their belt and the initial sticker shock has warn off, they can sunset the older line with less fury, with people more likely to stick with it because they'll already have a number of those paints by that point.

 

I may, however, be overthinking it.

 

 

Edited Friday at 07:14 PM by Lord Marshal

[Madao]

Now I am waiting for company name change from James Porkchop to Warhamster. Did they change the name of Citadel miniatures to Warhammer miniatures?

[Jukkiz]

Seems like corporate video about changing design slightly to look like you get more, but it´s same amount, with more price.

Internet, never change

Edited Friday at 09:25 PM by Jukkiz

[Magos Takatus]

I guess the Citadel has fallen. This makes me irrationally irritable. Having to say "I'm going to Warhammer" instead of the Games Workshop still makes me cringe slightly, it reminds me of that skit of the guy that is "at soup" and all he can see is soup. 

 

(finally found a version without the obligatory swearing at the end for all your sensitive ears. )

 

I've been slowly moving over to other paint ranges. Sticking a cringey new label on the old paint pots is not going to reverse that.

 

Edit: I never noticed this before, but the Citadel font and the shield element made the logo fun, I never really thought about it, but I can perceive it by it's absence in the new label.

Edited Friday at 07:39 PM by Magos Takatus

[darkhorse0607]

23 minutes ago, Lord Marshal said:

 

Have a newer, more expensive line of paints that's closer to the modern ranges of AK, Army Painter etc without immediately causing a rush on the old range or risking people going all-in on another company's line since they'll have nothing to lose if they're expected to rebuy everything anyway.

 

I think that it's going to be a tricky one to navigate for them. Citad Warhammer paints are already seen as one of the more expensive brands, especially for the amount you get, not to mention the price of washes, etc. If they price a "premium" paint line even higher (at which point it'd be higher than AK, Pro Acryl, etc, which already are established as "high end" paint ranges that have diehard bases), then you risk folks just going to the other brands which they probably have some anyway.

 

Sure, you have the stranglehold on the Warhammer store market, but in many FLGS/online distributors out there Warhammer Paint Premium Edition are going to be going against the cheaper, sometimes seen as "better" brands. You also have to take newer folks/not diehard painters into account, how do the Warhammer employees talk about why they would buy a "lesser" paint range over the more expensive one and vice versa?

 

That all being said I expect them to handle it with the finesse of a Baneblade so it doesn't really matter on the tactics they use. I'm always interested in new paints, and am probably the core market they'd want to target (being that I don't touch the gaming side, just painting). I'll probably try at least a few, but I'd need to be convinced on their actual performance (and not a gimmicky bottle like Valrak has rumored) before I jump from my more go-to brands that I know perform the way I want, airbrush well, etc. 

[Marshal Loss]

1 hour ago, Lord Marshal said:

 

I could see both existing in the short to medium term to head off the bad publicity of "GW just DESTROYED their PAINTS!" and "GW will FORCE you to REBUY your pant COLLECTION!". Have a newer, more expensive line of paints that's closer to the modern ranges of AK, Army Painter etc without immediately causing a rush on the old range or risking people going all-in on another company's line since they'll have nothing to lose if they're expected to rebuy everything anyway.

 

Then after a year or two, once people have a bunch of 'Masterclass' under their belt and the initial sticker shock has warn off, they can sunset the older line with less fury, with people more likely to stick with it because they'll already have a number of those paints by that point.

 

I may, however, be overthinking it.

 

I understand the logic and certainly wouldn't put it past GW to do something so daft, but you'd end up with a scenario then where Timmy walks into his local Warhammer store or FLGS stocking two different Warhammer paint ranges at different price points with (presumably, if one is to eventually replace the other) colours that cover the same bases. And what's the naming convention going to be, Warhammer Colour Emperor's Children/Fulgrim Pink and Warhammer Masterclass Tormentor Pink and Flawless Blade? What makes a paint 'masterclass'? And how much higher can GW paint prices go, they're already some of the most expensive around. That's a lot of store space for retailers and I think it'd be confusing for a lot of casual hobbyists.

 

Changing and updating paint ranges happens, GW and pretty much every hobby company has done it themselves in the past. Citadel's current iteration has had a very solid run. People are always going to be irritated about losing a favourite colour here and there but if the update is a good one, people tend to get on board pretty quickly. I'm sure GW know that. If they've chosen to go with two distinct lines for whatever I think the result will be a bit of a mess, but they are the market's big dog, so we'll see what happens if the rumours pan out.

Edited Friday at 08:32 PM by Marshal Loss

[DarkAddick]

It’s a break from their history…sad really as it was one of the last links to the early days and origins of the company. As long as the prices rise I can’t see any real physical impact but that being said it does have a historical impact 

[Dark Shepherd]

it could be another way to try to make people think you have to use warhammer stuff on other warhammer stuff

 

Might also be a way to try to compete more in FLGS

[twopounder]

They made their logo the most commanding part of the label, not the type or color. It tells you where their head is at 

[DeadFingers]

17 minutes ago, twopounder said:

They made their logo the most commanding part of the label, not the type or color. It tells you where their head is at 

That... already was the case and it's visible on the other paint pot in the post? And it's the same for almost every other major hobby paint brand out there? I think the only exception might be Army Painter with the colour front and centre, everyone else, from Vallejo to Tamiya, has the branding occupying the vast majority of the label.

 

I get that GW are big corpo and they have money and branding on the mind and we can criticize them for it, but good grief.

Edited Saturday at 02:14 AM by DeadFingers

[DarkChaplain]

Well, these are so not attractive and still in the same terrible pot that outside of some specific paints that I can't find decent(ly priced) equivalents for, I'll just keep trucking with my move to primarily AK Interactive with some gap-fillings from The Army Painter and Vallejo. Dropper bottles, it's not so hard, GW.

[Doghouse]

It's just another soulless corporate rebrand by a soulless corporate company. It's no longer about the product but more to do with pushing a brand.

 

That video was cringe inducing and patronising, all this does this shows they think people are idiots. 

 

The stereotypical little old lady I could understand if she's filling little Timmy's Birthday wish list but the rest was just nope.

[Frogian]

14 hours ago, Dark Shepherd said:

Might also be a way to try to compete more in FLGS

Yeah - FLGS and online stores seem the obvious areas that GW will most benefit. Being able to search 'warhammer paint' and getting the results, or going in somewhere with loads of paint ranges and seeing the one that actually says 'warhammer' on... the only surprising thing here is that they didn't do it sooner. 

[Doobles57]

13 hours ago, twopounder said:

They made their logo the most commanding part of the label, not the type or color. It tells you where their head is at 

 

To be fair that's exactly the same as basically every other paint brand? 

[Subtleknife]

I don't like this. 

[Ramell]

8 minutes ago, Doobles57 said:

 

To be fair that's exactly the same as basically every other paint brand? 

Every brand I've seen.

 

Branding is very important on the store shelves, no matter how much it upsets silly people on the internet.

[LameBeard]

Even if your customers are stupid and easily confused, it seems like a brave move to make a video suggesting they are stupid and easily confused. I guess the kicker at the end was that the guy is confused for a *good* reason because there was an apparently new product, and makes GW look stupid?  I may be overthinking this too ...

 

Edited Saturday at 05:09 PM by LameBeard

[Evil Eye]

As long as the paint formula itself hasn't been buggered up I don't massively care, as I've found GW paint is honestly decent stuff as hobby paints go; I do find it dries a bit quickly compared to, say, Army Painter Fanatic paints, but that's easily alleviated with a wet palette and/or a bit of retarder.

 

That being said this feels very much like a "because we said so" decision pushed by suits on a whim, with the marketing department trying to push it as a really cool, radical thing like they do with everything now. Realistically the most this needed was a short post on WHC saying "We're rebranding the paints we make from Citadel to Warhammer Colour, the paint itself is exactly the same so don't panic or be confused; Averland Sunset is just as good no matter what pot it's in!" (which is true, love that paint).

 

If they absolutely HAD to incorporate "Warhammer" into the branding, I'd have gone with "Warhammer: Citadel Colour" or "Citadel Colour for/by Warhammer" or whatever, or even kept the name the same and just put "Warhammer" on the pot somewhere else. To me at least, the Citadel name is a sacred relic of the company's origins and excising it altogether seems not only soulless and utterly unnecessary, but frankly disrespectful to the hobby's past and the people that put them where they are now.

 

So yeah, it's not gonna stop me from ever buying the paint again or anything, but I'm not a fan of the change.

 

Re: dropper bottles, they'd definitely be nice but I don't think not having dropper bottles is necessarily a deal breaker. The pots they come in at the moment are fine but they aren't great and I'd rather they used either the classic white-top pots (still used by many other brands IIRC) or a refinement of the flip-top hex pots (the much-superior successors to the ill-fated screwcap "bolt shell" pots). they were in these pots when I got into the hobby and they were IMO really quite good, forming a tight seal but being easy to open and close.

[HUDCommander]

I think a lot of people are thinking that this is about GW selling the paint in their own store, But I'm pretty sure this is a move to sell more paint in 3rd party shops, If a new comer walks into a random miniature shop and sees Warhammer branded paint next to the Warhammer box of miniatures they want to buy then its likely they'll buy those paints in particular. If we're talking about online shops then often I see GW paints stuck in a 'paints' tab under the citadel name which I never really thought about until this name change but I absolutely see it being an issue for people who don't know better. 

[LittlePlasticHomies]

Lateral move

[FormelyKnownAsSmashyPants]

Yo Dawg, we heard you like Warhammer, so put Warhammer in your Warhammer so you can Warhammer while you Warhammer.

Edited Sunday at 08:59 AM by FormelyKnownAsSmashyPants

[Madao]

Do you think they will rename WH+ Citadel Colour Masterclass to the Warhammer Colour Masterclass?

[Domhnall]

15 hours ago, Madao said:

Do you think they will rename WH+ Citadel Colour Masterclass to the Warhammer Colour Masterclass?

More than likely yes. It would make sense in this case.

 

  

On 3/6/2026 at 4:22 PM, Captain Idaho said:

Yuk. It feels super soulless just like much of what has done recently. Going for a new brand.

 

"Warhammer paints. Warhammer miniatures. Warhammer water pots. Warhammer crisps. Warhammer shoes..."

 

Like an 80s corporate monster.

 

Oh my god, they're OCP.

As much as I would enjoy a packet of Warhammer branded sliced potato snacks, I'm afraid Walkers have the market cornered for overpriced, half empty bags of crisps. 

[Antarius]

I am somewhat invested in the Citadel logo and don't really see why this had to happen (the thing about third party retailers selling different brands of paint is a good bet, though), but at the same time it's not a big deal.

[Evil Eye]

Myself I'm just glad they're still in pots and not "Warhammer Applicator Sachets" (read: restaurant condiment packets).