Games Workshop has announced Warhammer Tone Pro, an entirely new paint range, revealed at the Big Autumn Preview on 18 September. It is 30 colours, each supplied in five numbered tones, for a total of 150 new paints. GW says you will be able to try them in Warhammer stores and independent hobby shops, and we will update this page as soon as availability is confirmed.
Launching alongside the paints are a Shading Medium, a Blending Medium and four new dry brushes in sizes XS to L. Games Workshop did not announce UK prices in the reveal. All 150 pots are already listed in our Warhammer Tone Pro paints collection, marked as coming soon until trade details land, and they sit alongside the rest of our Warhammer Colour range next to the pots you already own.
Five tones per colour, and why that matters
The whole idea lives in the numbering. Each of the 30 colours comes in five tones, numbered 1 to 5, with 1 the darkest and 5 the lightest. Games Workshop describes this as making it simple to identify the highlights and shades for a chosen colour and to build up layers.
In practice it automates the job most of us currently do from memory, a paint chart or grim trial and error: working out which pot is the sensible highlight for the blue you just basecoated. With Tone Pro, the highlight is the same colour with a higher number on the lid.
- Colours: 30
- Tones per colour: 5, numbered 1 (darkest) to 5 (lightest)
- Total new paints: 150
Take Ultramarines as a worked example: basecoat in Ultramar Blue 3, push the recesses down with Ultramar Blue 1, and pick out the edges with Ultramar Blue 5. Three pots, one colour, no guesswork.
Coverage, mediums and four new dry brushes
GW is promising strong coverage from the first application, and it specifically calls out yellow and white, which are traditionally the two colours capable of eating an entire evening. The pigmentation is described in the announcement as vivid, with brilliant whites, electrifying yellows and intense reds. If you want to put that claim to the test, the obvious candidates are Megaboss Yellow, the top end of the Blackstone Void ladder and Bloodtoof Red.
The formulation is pitched as one paint for every technique: basecoating, layering, highlighting, glazing and drybrushing out of the same pot. Two mediums back that up.
- Shading Medium: mix it with any Tone Pro paint to turn that paint into a shade or a glaze
- Blending Medium: extends drying time so you get longer to blend two colours together
- Four new dry brushes: sized XS to L, aimed at reducing the chalky finish drybrushing can leave behind
If drybrushing is your main weapon, those are worth comparing against the rest of our miniature paint brushes before you commit.
Key facts, the competition, and what has not been confirmed
- Announced: 18 September 2026, at the Big Autumn Preview
- In stores to try: coming soon, in Warhammer stores and independent hobby shops
- UK prices: not given in the announcement
- Also launching: Shading Medium, Blending Medium and four dry brushes (XS to L)
There is a competition attached to the launch: three painters win one of each new paint, one of each new dry brush and a selection of Warhammer Pro Tools. To enter you need to be signed up to the Warhammer newsletter and signed into a My Warhammer account before midnight UK time on 4 October, with Games Workshop terms and conditions applying.
Two things doing the rounds are not in the official announcement. Several hobby news sites reporting on the reveal say Tone Pro arrives in traditional pots rather than dropper bottles, and that GW has confirmed the existing Citadel line is not being retired. Both look credible, but until GW says it in writing, treat them as reported rather than official. If you want a refresher on how the existing Base, Layer, Shade and Contrast pots fit together, our Citadel paint types guide covers the lot.
What it means for you
One hundred and fifty new pots is a genuinely daft number to drop at once, and nobody sensible is buying the lot. The useful way to read Tone Pro is as a ladder rather than a range: pick the two or three colours your army actually needs and buy the tones that climb them. Our Tone Pro collection groups every colour by family, and each product page links the rest of its ladder plus two colours that pair well with it.
Our take: if you are mid-project, carry on. Your current paints still work, your recipe still works, and nothing about launch day makes a half-finished squad look worse. Where this earns its money is on the next army, and especially for anyone who finds highlighting the bit where confidence evaporates. Newer painters should start with How to Paint Your First Warhammer Miniature, then add Tone Pro once the basics click.
Practical advice for the launch: go and try them before you commit, take a sprue or a test model with you, and prime it beforehand with something you trust from our spray primer range. Coverage claims are easy to make and easy to check. For everything else GW revealed at the preview, our full Big Autumn Preview round-up has the models, the codexes and the rest of the Games Workshop range.
Numbered tones will not make you a better painter overnight, but they do remove the bit where you stand in front of the paint rack for ten minutes wondering what highlights Mephiston Red. That is worth something.
Further reading: Warhammer Big Autumn Preview: every reveal, Citadel Paint Types Explained and SprueTube: paint recipes, build logs and a pile of shame worth counting.
Build your first Tone Pro ladder
Getting your paint station ready for Tone Pro? Browse all 30 colours and 150 tones, then round it off with brushes, primers and the rest of the Warhammer Colour range.
