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The wargaming hobby has a lot of moving part, from rules to models to terrain, but what are the best wargame accessories? What do you need to play a wargame and what can you pass by? What is an essential wargame accessory, and what is something that is take-it-or-leave-it?
We’ve compiled a list of the 21 best wargame accessories, some of which are essentials and some of which are nice-to-haves. With each one we’ll talk about how necessary it is to your wargaming journey and when it becomes a must-have.
1. Measuring tape or range ruler
In almost every miniature wargame, you’re going to need something to measure distance. The only exceptions to this are if you’re playing a game with some kind of grid, like Battletech, where your models move a certain number of spaces.
A measuring tool is absolutely a wargame essential accessory. But which one should you pick? While you can go with the standard construction-style measuring tape, our pick is something a little bit different. This tape measure, the GDMINLO Soft Tape Measure is made for sewing and crafting, and it gives you the usefulness of a flexible and curvable measuring tape combined with the retractability of a regular measuring tape. Best of all? It’s one of the cheapest tapes you’ll find online. At 60 inches long is plenty for most gaming tables (how often do those 72″ range weapons ever fire that far?) and it’s just so dang convenient. This definitely makes our best wargame accessories list.
2. Dice set
You’re going to need dice to play miniature wargaming. That’s a must. The good news is that dice are incredibly easy to find and odds are good that you’ve got more than enough for your needs in the box of another game.
Sure, you can spend a ton of money on Games Workshop themed dice, or buy specialized dice like the ones sold by Miniwargaming. But if you just want a lot of dice for cheap, you can just go to Amazon and buy a hundred white dice for $10. Or 50 multicolored dice for $6. Occasionally you’re going to need something other than D6s, and you can get the standard multi-pack for pretty cheap, too.
(I recently reviewed Enderain, which was a game that required a lot of 12 sided dice, and I didn’t have a lot of 12 sided dice. But you can get them, too, 35 for $8.)
3. Movement trays
Now these aren’t necessary for every miniature wargame, but they’ll be very familiar to players of rank-and-flank games. It is very frustrating to move large blocks of rectangular units if you don’t have them in a movement tray.
Often, they’ll come with the game, like they do for A Song of Ice and Fire. But if they don’t you can always turn to Amazon or to Etsy. They come in MDF or plastic, whatever you need.
So these are not necessarily a wargame essential in every case, but they may very well be a wargame essential for some specific games. The good news is they’re all pretty cheap.
4. Terrain pieces
Now this is a big category, but it’s an important one, and can be some of the best wargame accessories. Wargaming terrain is an essential to wargaming, but, as I mentioned in my article on wargaming on a budget, you can make very cheap terrain or even use household objects very successfully.
But, if you want something more immersive, then scenery and terrain is one of the best ways to transform a so-so game into something cinematic and exciting.
There are a lot of places you can go to for wargaming terrain. You can buy ready-made kits for games like Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar, like the Fronteris Nachmund Battlezone, the Munitorum Armoured Containers or the Thondian Strongpoint. Of course, you can also buy third-party sci-fi and fantasy scenery, like Dungeons and Lasers or Battle Systems.
When it comes to fantasy or medieval terrain, though, there is very little, if anything, that can beat Tabletop World. From the humble like the Blacksmith Forge and the Fisherman House, to the grand like the Wizard Tower and the Castle, they are all phenomenal. They are resin models with incredible detail.
An MDF terrain company that does amazing stuff for historical wargaming is Sarissa. From 40mmm Old West to 28mm Japanese, they are all great. I love them for their World War II scenery and have bought several kits such as the European Townhouse with Archway and Dormer and the Chateau. The kit that I want most from Sarissa, though I have no place to put such a big thing, is the Pegasus Bridge.
And we can’t forget 3D printed terrain. There is so much available now that we’re spoiled for choice. My personal favorite company is PrintableScenery.com, especially their Hagglethorn Hollow stuff and the new Country and King collection.
If you want ideas for terrain builds, check out the YouTube channels from people like Real Terrain Hobbies, Geek Gaming Scenics, and Black Magic Craft.
5. Basing materials
For me, basing is my favorite part of figure painting. I think a lot of it is that basing is when everything comes together at the end and the miniature stops looking like a little piece of plastic and looks like it belongs in a world.
There are so many choices when it comes to basing, you can do anything that you want from the most elaborate to the most subdued. I wrote a post of 21 Basing Essentials that has a ton of ideas but here are some main ones.
Basing pastes: things like Vallejo texture paste, Citadel Aggrellan Earth or Woodland Scenics Flex Paste
Grass Tufts: Army Painter makes some of the best grass tufts, certainly the most easily accessible, but Gamer’s Grass also does some amazing things.
Grit: You can use anything from sand (I bought a 25 lb bag of playground sand at Lowe’s for $5 that will last me the rest of my life) to baking soda (Tabletop Minions does a great video showing how to use baking soda as a base).
Flock: Army Painter and Woodland Scenics really lead the way here, but in my opinion Woodland Scenics dominates. Whether you want basic flock in a number of colors or clump foliage, they have you covered.
Basing is one of my favorite parts of the hobby, and these are some of the best wargame accessories.
6. Glue
I wrote a whole post about the best glue for miniatures, but ultimately it comes down to this.
You need to have a good superglue for resin and metal miniatures, and for that I’m a big fan of Loctite. Along with superglue it would be wise to go with a superglue accelerator. If you’re not familiar with this, it’s something, usually a spray, that can make the superglue freeze solid instantly. The cheap option is baking powder that you can sprinkle on the glue, but I don’t like the clumping. My favorite is Mitre Apel spray.
You’ll also want a plastic glue. This is a glue that actually melts the plastic slightly, so that when you glue two plastic things together it welds them together, creating a much stronger bond than superglue. There are a few options here, but I don’t think any of them are as good as Tamiya.
Finally, you’ll want PVA glue, which is just white glue. This is useful for scenery and basing projects, especially for things like flocking and static grass. It doesn’t dry quickly, but it is secure and clear, and it doesn’t produce clumping like superglue does with flocking. All you need for PVA is Elmer’s Glue-All. (Note that this is different from Elmer’s School Glue, which is weaker. But it’s still really easy to find and very cheap.)
7. Paints and paint brushes
Big category here, and there’s really no way that I can say everything about paint and glue in a short couple of paragraphs.
Here’s a post I wrote about the best paints for miniature painters. Ultimately, my choice came down to Citadel as my favorite brand, mainly because of their ubiquity and the usefulness of their app. Vallejo is a strong second.
Here’s a post I wrote about the best brushes for miniature painters. Since I wrote this post my thoughts have evolved a little bit. I now would include the Army Painter drybrushes on this list, and I kinda like the new Citadel synthetic brushes as a relatively cheap small layer brush.
8. Hobby knife and clippers
For getting the miniatures off their sprues, or cleaning them up after a 3D print, you’ll find a dozen reasons for a hobby knife and clippers.
For a hobby knife, my preference is the old standard of a Xacto knife. There are some of these that are fancier than others, like this one with a better grip, but the goal is to have a very sharp blade. Remember that the sharper your blade, the easier to cut, and the easier to cut, the less likely you’ll be to have an accident.
Clippers can vary widely in price. Citadel recently released a new pair of clippers that cost $50, which is bananas, but are said to be very good. But, you can get a pair of clippers at the hardware store for $11. You just need to be sure to get flush cut clippers, because you can get very frustrated with clippers that look almost exactly the same, but aren’t flush cut. Personally, I own two pairs, the Army Painter clippers, and the old Citadel clippers. Both are fine, but I prefer the old Citadel.
9. Magnetic basing system
Wargamers have been using magnets for a long time to swap weapon choices on miniatures. But they also use them as a great basing system, which is especially good for transportation. If you put a magnet on the bottom of a miniature and then put that miniature on a metal tray, then the miniature won’t move around or fall off.
Magnets can be found easily for not a lot of money. There are companies that make magnetic transportation cases, though, like Jucoci.
Is this a wargame essential? Not necessarily, but it’s certainly useful, especially if you travel a lot with your armies. It is certainly one of the best wargame accessories for traveling.
10. Gaming mat
Do you really need a gaming mat? No. For a long time I just used a tablecloth, usually a green one, to lay down on the table to make it look less like a Ping-Pong table and more like grass. But then I got a gaming mat and I love it.
I bought one from Amazon, the Battle Game Mat, and I use it for everything. They come in about seven different patterns, from lush green to desert to stars.
If you want something a little more varied, pworkwargames.com makes a ton of excellent mats with all kinds of different looks.
Generally you want to find one big enough to cover a regular tournament-style game board, or about 4’x6′. Most of them roll up neatly and don’t crease. Definitely one of the best wargame accessories.
11. Storage solutions
I have, like you, have a lot of miniatures, and I have too many to fit in a display case. I have one bookshelf that is completely dedicated to miniatures, but that only fits a small amount of my collection. For the rest, I have to have a storage solution.
Alas, my favorite storage solution is a certain type of Tupperware container that is no longer available for sale (I bought about 20 of them before they were discontinued, though). Generally, I’m looking for a Tupperware that is about 12 inches by 7 inches, with a lid, and about three inches of depth. I have all of these stacked up on a shelf, labeled with whatever army is in them.
For other storage solutions, these Feldherr storage boxes are made with foam so that they keep every model safe and secure. I don’t use them for every miniature or army, because not every army is really that delicate, but if I have nice models–and especially if they’re being transported, it’s nice to have a good storage system.
12. Game Aids
With these best wargame accessories, I’m talking about the little things that you need for your game that don’t fit neatly in one category. These can be objective markers and tokens, or they can be templates.
With objective markers, you can use anything from a poker chip to a coin, but I find that having something more tangible really makes the game more fun. You can have a lot of fun building these objective markers from scratch–little computer terminals, treasure boxes, or ammo caches–or you can buy them. Games Workshop sells a Battlezone Manufacotorum Objective Set and Star Wars Legion sells their Vital Assets and Priority Supplies.
I really like these game counters from LITKO for playing Warhammer 40k. They’re small and keep track of your victory points and command points.
13. Weathering powders
It took me a long time to come around to using weathering powders, but now I love them. I had always assumed that they would be messy–that if you put them on your model then your model would always be kind of dirty and every time you touched it it would come off on your fingers.
That’s true, and it’s not. It’s true, if you apply a lot, and, most importantly, if you touch the part of the model that has the weathering powder on it. But generally I just splash a little bit of it around on the base and the feet of the miniature, and you never touch that part.
You also have the option to just spray a varnish over the weathering powders. It can dampen down the effect of them a bit, but that’s mostly okay if you’re really worried about it.
I like Vallejo Pigments as my weathering powder of choice, but AK Interactive makes some good ones as well.
14. Paint stripping and cleaning solutions
Now, I’m not going to get into the kinds of cleaning solutions that you need for 3D printing–that’s its own thing. But for paint stripping I can’t recommend LA’s Totally Awesome. I had heard of it several times and never thought much about it–until I spray painted a Bolt Action tank in weather too cold and the paint got all crusty. But, after a day soaking in LA’s Totally Awesome (which is really cheap) and a scrub with a toothbrush, it all came flaking right off.
If you want to go all the way with your paint stripping, you can invest in a sonic cleaner. I haven’t done this because I don’t strip models that often, but if you’re the type to buy a lot of stuff on eBay, then a sonic cleaner might be your best friend, and is certainly one of the best wargame accessories.
15. Lamp
You really need a good light for painting miniatures, and you need one with good color. For a long time I used a desk lamp with a warm yellowish light, and when I finally splurged and bought a good lamp, the difference to my painting was night-and-day.
I bought the Neatfi XL 2200 Lumens lamp, which is great because the color is pure white, making everything on your miniature look natural, and it also is one of the most stable lamps I’ve ever clamped onto the side of my desk. Very maneuverable and stays where you aim it.
16. Reference materials
If you’re getting into wargaming, you’re going to need a LOT of books. Whether you’re into historical wargaming or sci-fi/fantasy wargaming, there is going to be a lot of reading material.
For straight up novels, the Black Library has a ton of Warhammer books available (here’s my picks for the best). For reference books you can look at the various companies’ sites to find all of the titles.
As a special pick, I’d like to recommend–especially for my historical readers, but for everyone–Wargaming Campaigns and The Wargaming Compendium both by Henry Hyde. They should be required reading for miniature players and are definitely among the best wargame accessories.
17. Army roster or list-building software
There are a lot of these. Games Workshop has their own, for both Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar, but both of them are universally panned as pretty lousy.
While it also has detractors, I prefer Battlescribe. It does a very good job of staying up-to-date and you can build just about anything from just about any game. Best of all, it’s free on Android or iOS. (There are in-app purchases, though.)
18. Airbrush and compressor (for advanced miniature painters)
You don’t need an airbrush to be a miniature painter, but it seems like most people who get one never look back. One of the best reasons I’ve found to get into airbrushing is that I live in a cold place and an airbrush makes it easy to basecoat stuff when the weather is bad.
But all of the things you can do with an airbrush are really amazing. Here’s a great video from Ninjon that is Airbrushing for Beginners, and here’s another one from Dana Howl. Watching the videos can give you far more advice than I could ever give you in this non-video medium.
19. Quality basing tools (such as sculpting tools, texturing tools)
For me, this begins and ends with Citadel’s Texture Tool. I don’t know what it is about this thing, which is just a stick, that makes it so insanely useful, but I have never found another tool which is its equal for applying basing texture pastes. It has a large end and a small end, and they’re perfect.
You may also want a set of modeling and sculpting tools if you’re really into green stuff. I admit to being a novice in this regard, so I don’t have much there. But if you’re a sculptor, you probably know better than I do what to buy.
20. Spray varnish
I didn’t used to believe in varnishes. I thought that you just paint models and they’re fine and you don’t need to worry about it. But I was missing out.
For starters, varnishes can affect the way that you paint a model. A gloss varnish leaves a smooth texture so you can apply the gloss, let it dry, and then wash a model–and the wash will go much more easily into the recesses, because there’s nothing for it to grip onto on the large panels. Or you could have reason to do the opposite: apply a matt varnish because you want the paint or wash to stick to the surface.
Also, there’s legitimate reasons why you’d want some Space Marines to have a gloss finish and some to have a matt finish. Or, glossy Necrons and matt WWII soldiers.
You can either brush on your varnish or spray it on. I’m a fan of Citadel paints, even though they’re expensive, so I like Munitorum varnish, but Army Painter makes a varnish that is less expensive.
21. Modelling putty
Again, I’m not a sculptor. I have tried to use green stuff with very mixed results–it worked well on some Turnip28 conversions and worked terrible on a Dark Angels cloak conversion. I’m still learning.
One thing I do know, though, is that if you combine green stuff with Milliput you get a material that is somewhat easier to work with. I use this for gap filling, which is about the extent of my sculpting.
While we’re talking about gap filling, we ought to talk about Sprue Goo, because that’s definitely one of the best wargame accessories. Sprue Goo is just Tamiya plastic glue that you drop several snipped-off bits of sprue into. The sprue melts, and the jar becomes a bunch of grey goo. It is thick but works like a gap filler. It’s everything that Liquid Green Stuff was supposed to be and isn’t.
