Danish hobby brand The Army Painter has partnered with Dungeons & Dragons to release Forgotten Pigments, a new range of miniature paints scheduled to arrive in 2027. The studio announced the collaboration at SPIEL Essen, the board game trade fair in Germany. The collection includes custom colours based on iconic settings, creatures, and characters from across the franchise.
Alongside the paint collection, the company introduced the D&D Paint Academy, an online hub offering painting tutorials for both beginners and veteran hobbyists. The project aims to lower the barrier to entry for tabletop fans who want to paint physical plastic figures for their adventures.
The announcement marks an important business shift for The Army Painter co-founders Bo Penstoft and Jonas Færing, as well as Chief Executive Officer Peter Bøgh Lind. While the Danish studio previously produced official Dungeons & Dragons paint sets, those products were manufactured under a sub-licensing agreement with Gale Force Nine for the Nolzur’s Marvelous Pigments series. This direct agreement with brand owner Wizards of the Coast places the Skanderborg-based team in a primary partnership, hot on the heels of their Warpaints Fanatic formulation rollout.
Choosing SPIEL Essen to announce the deal also sends a deliberate regional message. SPIEL Essen remains Europe’s largest board game gathering, rather than a dedicated miniature wargaming event or a North American tabletop expo like Gen Con. By revealing the paint range in Essen, the publishers are pitching directly to family board gamers and casual roleplaying game groups who might feel intimidated by technical wargaming paints.
However, the announcement leaves several questions unanswered. Announcing in late 2026 for a release dated in 2027 leaves an unusually long runway. That delay could point to custom paint formulations designed specifically for unprimed board game plastics, or simply Hasbro’s multi-layered approvals process. The announcement also doesn’t clarify whether Forgotten Pigments will completely replace older Nolzur paints, or how these physical hobby sets fit alongside Hasbro’s heavy investments in digital 3D virtual tabletops.
Hobbyists can sign up for early previews through the official paint academy newsletter. Current hobby supplies, existing paint lines, and miniature sets remain available through hobby retailers such as Zatu Games.
Quick Links
- Newsletter: The Army Painter
Independently covering essen game fair since 2019. Our archive includes 7 entries connected to this topic.
Latest entry: October 2026
