Warhammer Serial Paratext: A Games Workshop Business Strategy

Introduction

This study underlines the importance of paratext in the product and service portfolio of Games Workshop (GW). It focuses on GW's 1994–2002 magazine, The Citadel Journal, as part of an ongoing business strategy implemented by the world's most successful tabletop gaming company. The Citadel Journal is one of three overlooked examples of GW monetizing serial paratext, along with its better-known flagship magazine, White Dwarf (1977–present), and Warhammer+ digital platform TV content (2021–present). In every example, GW charges access to corporate paratext channels that both extend and regulate customer touchpoints with its intellectual property. The types of paratext GW sells to customers in each channel are consistent across the years, offline and online. However, changes in emphasis become apparent and GW downgrades customer participation over time.

GW's intellectual property is two fictional universes—a science fiction setting for tabletop miniature wargames and licensed derivatives (Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer The Horus Heresy, Necromunda) and a fantasy setting that likewise supports miniature wargaming and transmedia (Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Warhammer The Old World, Blood Bowl). Together, the settings form the Warhammer brand (unitalicized by GW). Originating in 1980s London (Livingstone & Jackson, 2022), the settings span multiple game editions and a complex history of product permutations based on miniature figurines, their in-game abilities and lore, plus hobby accessories. GW entered the London Stock Exchange in September 1994 before relocating to Nottingham, England, and now ranks among the top 100 largest U.K. public companies with a £5,970,940,000 market capitalization (London Stock Exchange, 2026).

“Games Workshop is the behemoth of the tabletop wargaming field,” notes an early academic book chapter on the topic (Sturrock & Wallis, 2016, p. 603), “It is not just the largest company in the industry, but the genes of its games, its miniatures ranges, its imagery, and its marketing are felt virtually everywhere in modern wargaming.” Despite GW's success, it remains slighted in academia relative to Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast's Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Bernard Cova was the first business scholar to consider GW via marketing-related studies of Warhammer gamers (Cova et al., 2007; Cova & White, 2010; Ezan & Cova, 2008), followed by an assessment of GW's marketing to online communities (Ryder, 2025). A communication scholar found anti-GW sentiment in a qualitative study of employees at rival British firms (Williams, 2025a) and conceptualized five key characteristics of miniatures wargames with reference to GW products (Williams, 2025b). One research team analyzed Warhammer gameplay (Carter et al., 2014a; Carter et al., 2014b) and another team approached GW hobby activities as typical of a wider “miniaturing pastime” (Meriläinen et al., 2020, 2023). Other researchers addressed the Warhammer 40,000 setting (Carbonell, 2019, pp. 166–194; McAuley, 2019; Ryder, 2021) and fan activities (Muñoz-Guerado & Triviño-Cabrera, 2018; Wallis, 2010a; Wallis, 2010b; Wang & Li, 2023). Some of these scholars updated their work and were joined by others in the first Warhammer academic anthology (Costas Batlle, 2025).

Our study contributes to analysis of both GW and the wider game industry. Most straightforward, it advances historical scholarship on game magazines from which GW is largely absent except for promoting D&D in the United Kingdom through White Dwarf (Peterson, 2020) and a three-paragraph article section on the role of White Dwarf in promoting Warhammer tactics circa 1995 (Timonen, 2025). Our focus on The Citadel Journal thereby supplements work about the importance of print periodicals to the development of tabletop roleplaying games and wargaming (Peterson 2020, 2021, 2024, 2025), work on race related to the Avalon Hill General and D&D fanzines like Alarums & Excursions (Trammell, 2023), and close readings of official D&D magazines in terms of gender erasure (Dashiell, 2022), deviance (Raymond & Fine, 2024), and drow elves (Alberto & Booth, 2025). Meanwhile, we offer the second multi-page study to spotlight a British periodical after an article analyzing Commodore User Magazine and other monthlies in the formation of U.K. video game culture (Kirkpatrick, 2012), itself based on an overview of U.S. magazines like Nintendo Power and Electronic Gaming Monthly (Consalvo, 2007, pp. 24–38).

This study also advances scholarship about game company business strategies. “One of my ongoing critiques of game scholarship is that there has been a chronic paucity of discussion of the role of gamemakers in the construction of game culture,” Celia Pearce states in her newest monograph (2024, p. 70) although this critique punctuates the entire book (e.g., pp. 3–4, 12, 68, 72, 74) and much of her work (e.g., 2009, 2020). Our analysis of GW experimentation with monetizing a game-related magazine demonstrates the business potential of paratext—“anything beyond a particular media text which relates to and frames it” (Chandler & Munday, 2020). We will return to the definitional complexity of paratext in the concluding section, but our business focus throughout parallels video game scholarship on companies including Atari (Montfort & Bogost, 2009), Mattel (Boellstorff & Soderman, 2024), and Nintendo (Altice, 2015; Arsenault, 2017; Custodio, 2020; Jones & Thiruvathukal, 2012; Zagal & Edwards, 2024). Within analog game studies, our focus on GW as a business can be read alongside monographs about TSR, Inc. and D&D (Peterson, 2020, 2021, 2024, 2025).

Two recent works about GW paratext are particularly salient. First, this study's lead author discussed Warhammer+ as part of a GW business strategy based on wayfinding products and services such as Warhammer retail stores, clubs, and the official Warhammer Community website (Baker, 2025). Second, a communication scholar traced the evolution of Warhammer gameplay “through engagement with the media that is parallel to the game itself” via a 1987 GW rule book, White Dwarf in the mid-1990s, and “Metawatch” articles on the Warhammer Community website monitoring competitive trends from 2023 onwards (Timonen, 2025). Our study similarly adopts a longitudinal approach and reflexive thematic analysis of GW paratext but engages with different content. It moves beyond gameplay to how GW serial paratext drives customer engagement, extending the Warhammer brand and making money in the process.

Methodology

Thematic analysis is used to categorize paratext in The Citadel Journal. We follow the framework proposed by psychologists Braun and Clarke (2006) and later adopted by researchers across disciplines (Ahmed et al., 2025): (1) familiarizing oneself with one's data, (2), generating initial codes, (3) searching for themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) defining and naming themes, (6) producing the report. Each phase is interpretive and iterative, asking analysts to reflexively acknowledge their decisions.

Cognoscenti might question the decision to analyze The Citadel Journal instead of White Dwarf, GW's better-known flagship magazine (1977–present). One answer to this question is practical: The Citadel Journal's 50-issue print run between 1994 and 2002 is a manageable corpus. The 50-issue print run is the second incarnation of The Citadel Journal, but the four issues published irregularly between 1985 and 1987 were updates to GW miniatures catalogs. Another reason for choosing The Citadel Journal is also practical but more consequential: it is absent from scholarship and dates to the year of GW's 1994 initial public offering. The Citadel Journal is evidence of how a new public company packaged paratext in a new magazine while it attempted to increase customer engagement. Just as important, The Citadel Journal connects to Warhammer+ as an unremarked, ongoing GW business strategy that monetizes serial paratext.

Codes and themes for this study were derived from iterative textual analysis and note-taking. The process is summarized in Table 1. Seven final themes were derived, four tagged with GW language that promulgates the corporate view on Warhammer. The four verbatim themes are Collect, Build and Paint, Play, and Read—listed in that order under the “Your Hobby, Your Way” section of the “Welcome to Warhammer” website (Games Workshop, n.d.). These themes align with how GW describes Warhammer in its latest annual report to shareholders. The company characterizes its customers in two sentences: “They’re collectors, painters, model builders, gamers, book lovers and much more. And while no two customers engage with Warhammer in exactly the same way, they’re all deeply invested in the rich characters and settings of our IP” (Games Workshop Group PLC, 2025, p. 3). GW describes its business in one sentence: “Our key consumer facing brand is ‘Warhammer’—this unites all aspects of the Warhammer hobby—collecting, building, painting, playing, reading, watching, gaming, etc. in the worlds of Warhammer” (Games Workshop Group PLC, 2025, p. 3).

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Table 1.

Reflexive Thematic Analysis: Codes and Themes in GW Paratext.

Initial Codes: 26 Total Advertisement, Artwork, Authorship-fan, Authorship-GW, Animation, Battle report, Behind-the-scenes, Club, Convention/tournament, Conversation, Conversion, Editorial, Fiction, Gameplay, Gamer culture, How-to: modeling, How-to: painting, How-to: terrain, Humor, Letters column/feedback, Lore, Official, Rules addendum, Rules analysis, Trivia, Unofficial Codes sometimes overlap.

Draft Themes: 16 total Community-intra-GW, Community-extra-GW, Conversation, DIY-collecting, DIY-gaming, DIY-lore, DIY-modeling, DIY-painting, Humor, Lore-official, Product promo-banal, Product promo-interesting, Reading-listening-viewing, Source-gamer, Source-GW, Transmedia Themes sometimes overlap.

Final Themes: 7 Four themes using GW language: GW describes its Warhammer business strategy to investors in these terms: • Collect [we include GW advertisements given the relationship to customer purchasing] • Build and Paint • Play • Read [we include listening to and watching fictional background via media] Three themes using researcher terms: GW's Warhammer business strategy also includes: • Inform [GW informs customers about the company and its employees] • Laugh [GW tonal register] • Participate [GW calls to action for participation, content about how customers participate, and content about individual customer participants] Themes sometimes overlap.

Note. GW = Games Workshop.

Three additional themes were derived. We mirror GW's attempts in their language cited above to tell investors that Warhammer can entail “much more” and “etc.” One of our solutions to encapsulate this surplus is a Participate theme, broader than Collect, Build and Paint, Play, and Read. As a broad theme, Participate includes calls to action where GW prompts its customers to contribute to company paratext channels, content about how customers participate in Warhammer clubs and conventions, and content about individual customer participants. Our second solution is an Inform theme that signals paratext where GW gives customers insider information about the company and its employees. We also identify a Laugh theme for the humorous tone GW often uses to convey paratext.

The seven themes were analyzed on a timeline. The researchers arranged The Citadel Journal issues into six chronological segments by editor/s tenure.

Paratext Segment 1: 1994: Issues 1–8

Play is by far the most prevalent theme with 60 articles about gaming. New rules are a staple format, such as adding weather conditions to Warhammer Fantasy (Issue 1, pp. 22–25). New units, armies, and special characters are another staple Play format. Content of this sort bundles a brief fictional background with rules, for example, “Tinboyz” ork robots in Warhammer 40,000 (Issue 4, pp. 42–43). New gaming scenarios are also a staple Play format, supplying a battle site, combatant criteria, and special rules such as a Warhammer Fantasy winter forest clash (Issue 6, pp. 24–25).

Play staple formats exhibit variations. Some Play content features cut-out gaming aids like Eldar psychic power cards and battlefield counters for Space Hulk (Issue 5, pp. 34–47). Some Play content subsumes other paratext themes while offering a preponderance of gaming material. For example, a Norse “army book” spans three issues and the first installment begins with four pages of Read content: viking-esque history and culture, text panels containing a prophecy and a saga excerpt, and a one-page story (Issue 6, pp. 12–23). In such instances, the researchers either define a primary theme or discuss a hybrid paratext pattern. A hybrid Play paratext pattern across Issues 1–8 involves Build and Paint with three rules-centric articles that also contain modeling advice, like for new Warhammer 40,000 Space Wolf commanders (Issue 2, pp. 22–25).

Participate is the second most prevalent theme. Three articles cover how customers participate in Warhammer clubs and conventions, including editor tips on how to start a club (Issue 5, pp. 11–13) and advice from a customer who runs a club (Issue 8, pp. 30–31). A customer letter column is published from Issue 3 onwards. Meanwhile, calls to action are found in every issue where GW prompts customers to contribute. The first call to action asks customers to submit a new Warhammer Fantasy magic item (Issue 1, pp. 30–31). Other calls to action ask customers to join a games league organized by the journal (Issue 2, pp. 26-29), complete a survey about the journal's content (Issue 3, pp. 40–41), and submit artwork to the journal (Issue 5, p. 3). Issue 6 announces the first international Warhammer tournament together with a mail-in entry form (pp. 6–9). In Issue 8, the editorial team gives a statement of intent, “Da Philosophie,” that twice describes the journal as an “interactive magazine” (p. 3). Despite this statement, almost all Issues 1–8 articles are written by the editors.

The Laugh theme is present in various forms, an important paratext tonal register for GW. The tables of contents include droll article summaries. Editorials contain moments of “baffling baffoonery” (Issue 2, p. 2). Satiric content includes a guide to surviving GW events (Issue 2, p. 3) and a cut-out “Degree of Modelling Skill” not offered by great universities—“Oxford, Cambridge and Hull”—because GW kits can be painstaking to build (Issue 6, pp. 2–3). A hybrid Laugh paratext pattern is ubiquitous, with humor characterizing the introductions to Play articles and the Participate calls to action, letter column, and community coverage (e.g., the Golden Demon 1994 painting contest report is fake news articles about anatomy thieves and a laundry convention, Issue 3, p. 3).

Taken together, Issues 1–8 are notable for the Play, Participate, and Laugh themes. Only one article is dedicated to Build and Paint via Space Wolf vehicle conversions (Issue 7, pp. 12–17) although inside covers sometimes display GW staff model conversions and paint jobs. The Collect, Inform, and Read paratext themes are absent.

Paratext Segment 2: 1994–1995: Issues 9–12

Play remains the most prevalent theme with 31 articles about gaming and the staple formats found in Issues 1–8 still evident. The hybrid Play paratext pattern involving Build and Paint is more prevalent: 14 out of the 31 rules-centric articles also contain modeling advice versus 3 out of 60 similar articles in Issues 1–8.

Build and Paint as a standalone theme occupies more space, too, relative to Issues 1–8. A new painting advice column written by GW staff concludes Issues 10–12. The other Build and Paint article is on modeling, submitted by a customer about his Space Wolf Dreadnoughts conversion for GW's niche Epic game (Issue 12, pp. 31–35).

The Participate theme is just as evident as Issues 1–8. All tables of contents end with a call to action for customer letters, and the Issue 10–12 editorials request customer artwork. Issues 9–11 meanwhile offer a customer artwork column. Two hybrid Play/Participate articles authored by a GW game designer suggest alternative Warhammer 40,000 vehicle rules and do so explicitly to gather customer feedback via mail-in forms (Issue 10, p. 46; Issue 11, p. 47). For the first time, a customer's headshot, biographical factoids, and model conversion photos are printed on the inside front cover of Issue 12 with a tie to his original Nurgle war altar rules usable in Warhammer Fantasy (pp. 10–12).

The Laugh theme is also as evident as Issues 1–8. All tables of contents include droll article summaries plus comedic photos of the editors in Issues 10–12 (e.g., as prison inmates). Editorials are notable for self-mockery. Humorous introductions to Play and Contribute articles and calls to action are omnipresent, joined by a similar but new hybrid Laugh/Inform format offering behind-the-scenes GW staff at work photos together with loony captions (e.g., Issue 9, p. 48). Build and Play articles also now receive goofy introductions.

Taken together, Issues 9–12 continue the Issue 1–8 emphasis on Play, Participate, and Laugh themes. However, more standalone Build and Paint and hybrid Play/Build and Paint articles are present along with Build and Paint inside cover content. New in Issues 1–9, the Inform theme appears in a hybrid Laugh/Inform format and an editor's review of GW developments during the year (Issue 12, pp. 4–8). The Collect and Read paratext themes are absent from Issues 9–12 like Issues 1–8.

Paratext Segment 3: 1996–1997: Issues 13–22

Play continues as the prevalent theme with 81 articles about gaming and the staple formats found in Issues 1–12 still present. One change is the extent to which Play articles are contributed by customers identified as such. For comparison, Issues 1–12 perhaps published 10 customer contributions among 91 total Play articles (i.e., approximately 11% maximum). The earlier article introductions are unclear, however, if the 10 contributors included GW staff originally resident outside the United Kingdom (e.g., Iceland) or a customer living in a location where GW already employed staff (e.g., the United States). In contrast, Issues 13–22 identify 28 customer-written Play articles among 81 total (i.e., 34%) plus a “Surfer's Paradise!” column in Issues 14 and 16 that republishes customer Play content from the Internet. The 28 customer Play articles become a Play/Participate hybrid paratext theme, magnified by occasional article introductions from the editor that include a contributor photograph and/or biographical data.

An additional, noteworthy example of the Play/Participate hybrid theme is a two-page column that appears twice in 1996 and then ceases. The “Surfer's Paradise!” column in Issue 14 (pp. 32–33) and Issue 16 (pp. 29–30) republishes customer Play content from the Internet with attribution but no source locations like Usenet or aol.com. It is the first evidence in the journal of GW experimenting with how to position its own serial paratext relative to customer-created paratext online. It is also the first evidence in the journal of an online participatory community that engages with GW intellectual property via robust discussion and transformative works. How GW adapts to emerging customer activity on the Internet is not the focus of this study, but other scholars could broaden Ryder's foundational work with social media in this respect (2025).

Collect is a new prevalent theme with the arrival of GW advertising. All issues now contain subscription deal ads for the journal, usually bonus merchandise like a free copy of the Citadel Miniatures Annual (catalog) promoting comprehensive access to GW products. All issues now also contain a multi-page “archiving service” that indexes prior journal issues with articles available for purchase. Issues 17–20 and 22 contain ads for a special Warhammer 40,000 Thunderhawk Gunship model costing £400. Ads from Issue 18 onwards point to mail-order catalogs, miniature releases, and more.

The Collect theme integrates with other themes from Issue 13 onwards to form new hybrid paratext patterns. “Dok Butcha's Klinik,” a new Build and Paint-themed model conversion column in every issue, exemplifies the development. It showcases hobby innovation through examples of mixing GW model parts to create original miniatures, and it advertises mail-order GW model part conversion kits to recreate the examples. This hybrid Build and Paint/Collect paratext pattern resembles a new Play/Collect hybrid beginning in Issue 13. Articles offer new rules for Warhammer Fantasy elementals bundled with suitable miniatures available by mail order (pp. 5–8), a bundle for new Warhammer 40,000 Eldar units keyed to mail order kits (pp. 39–40), and an Epic Titan Legions new unit and upgrade kit advertisement (pp. 41–44). Collect is often expressed with the Laugh theme, a new hybrid paratext pattern in ads such as the Thunderhawk Gunship purchase requirement, “Please note that you must be absolutely barking mad (or American)” (Issue 17, p. 43), and the “Getcha Mitz on our Pre-Releesez” Ork-argot ads beginning in Issue 18 (p. 11).

The Read and Inform themes make rare occurrences in 1996–1997. Three articles largely proffer fictional lore, like the Warhammer Fantasy kingdom of Kislev overview (Issue 14, pp. 7–13). Other Play articles contain fictional vignettes amidst rules-centric content. In terms of the Inform theme, two consecutive Issue 20 articles release unpublished material and game designer metacommentary for the niche product, Epic 40,000 (pp. 32–46).

The Participate theme diversifies. Calls to action range from “Please Write to Us!” text boxes (Issues 13–17) to “Da Roolz Boyz” text boxes encouraging customers to contact GW with rules questions (Issues 17–22). Expanded, three-page “Write for the Journal” submission guidelines start in Issues 20–22. Issue 16 features a customer artwork column (pp. 24–25) and a new, one-page “Gaming Contacts” list of British clubs and individuals seeking GW enthusiasts (p. 12). “Gaming Contacts” grows to 5 pages by Issue 18 and is capped at 7 pages from Issue 20 with clubs, individuals, and events around the globe. Related, the journal increases coverage of customer participation at GW events with articles about the 1996 and 1997 Grand Tournaments in Issues 17 and 20, and the diary of an Australian tournament organizer (Issue 20, pp. 84–87). As it does with other themes, Laugh is routinely interwoven in Participate paratext like the Issue 22 editorial “mission briefing”: “To establish contact with all indigenous gaming communities throughout the Imperium and find out what they are up to, using all means available to persuade, bully, cajole and threaten the local populace into providing enough wonderful articles every issue such that Agent W can put his feet up and enjoy a nice cup of tea” (p. 1).

Paratext Segment 4: 1998: Issues 23–29

New hybrid Participate themes gain prominence. Although 40 articles maintain the prevalent Play theme, 28 are customer contributions (i.e., 70%). Ten of the 28 Play customer articles begin with self-introductions that further magnify the participative content, as do Play articles with action photos of named gamers. A Play/Participate hybrid paratext pattern predominates, in other words. A similar Build and Paint/Participate pattern begins with examples like customer models on the inside covers of Issue 24, a customer-written modeling article for GW's Gorkamorka skirmish game (Issue 27, pp. 19–23), and “Confessions of a Mad Modeller” (Issue 29, pp. 25–33).

Participate also becomes more prominent as a standalone theme. The letter column expands to 7–10 pages in Issues 24–29, Issues 26–29 include customer feedback surveys about the journal, and other calls to action continue: write to/for the journal and ask GW rules questions. Coverage of customer participation at the 1997 Grand Tournament—written by customers—occupies 8 pages in Issue 23 (pp. 11–18) with another 8 pages about Games Day 1997 co-written by GW staff (pp. 35–42). The convention coverage includes customer photos. A 13-page customer “Convention Report” with participant photos is Issue 27's longest article (pp. 54–67). Similar “Convention Report” coverage is customer-written (Issue 28, pp. 66–69) or penned by GW staff (Issue 29, pp. 44–51). A new “Overwatch!” column in Issues 24, 25, 28–29 is customer-written, describing a local GW-oriented club or gamer community along with photos. Two customers share their personal experiences in Issue 24 through articles about fielding an Ork army (pp. 50–54) and an Imperial Guard army (pp. 69–76).

Collect likewise becomes more prominent as a standalone theme in five articles and still forms the hybrid paratext patterns found in Issues 13–22. Goblin miniature collectors can browse a list of 300+ products released over 10 years (Issue 23, pp. 76–80), for example, and dwarf collectors can peruse an even larger list with photos (Issue 24, pp. 38–45). The hybrid Build and Paint/Collect paratext pattern continues with mail-order products linked to “Dok Butcha's Klinik” modeling advice. The hybrid Play/Collect pattern combines with the Laugh theme in one of several “Figga N Roolz Deal” ads ending a Warhammer Quest article (Issue 24, pp. 29–37). A new regular advertisement synthesizes content in a given journal issue—“Hot from the Forges”—starting with Issue 28 (pp. 70–73). It lists mail-order inventory tied to that issue's Play and Build and Paint articles.

While Participate and Collect gain prominence, Laugh remains a tonal constant as evidenced throughout every issue beginning with the table of contents. For example, the Issue 24 “Gaming Contacts” summary is “Clubs, Tournaments, Conventions, and saddo's with no friends,” before a text box containing “Dull Legal Stuff” (p. 5).

Inform and Read remain the thematic outliers. Apart from fictional excerpts inside occasional Play articles, there is no Read content. An interview with GW staff siblings is the lone example of Inform content (Issue 23, pp. 64–67).

Paratext Segment 5: 1999–2000: Issues 30–42

Regular journal readers would recognize Issues 23–29 as the Participate and Laugh themes interweave with the prevalent Play theme and the Build and Play theme. Sixty of the 80 Play articles are customer-written (75%) and humorous self-introductions now contain up to four paragraphs of biographical background and a photo (e.g., Issue 30, p. 10). Other Play articles include photos of the customer's family or friends playing GW games (e.g., Issue 32, pp. 4–12). The “Dok Butcha's Klinik” Build and Play-themed column likewise now involves customer models with photos, and all nine standalone Build and Play articles are customer-written with humorous biographical information and photos.

The Participate theme remains constant. The letter column and “Gaming Contacts” are joined by 6 “Overwatch!” gaming-club columns and four articles providing convention coverage. Three “Warped Visions” columns exhibit customer artwork, and a new column, “The Trading Post,” runs free classified ads by customers for customers beginning in Issue 32 (p. 77). Calls to action from prior issues still appear: journal customer feedback surveys, write to/for the journal, and GW rules questions.

The Collect theme becomes more prominent. “Hot from the Forges” ads still link an issue's article content to model kits available from GW mail order, and readers can still purchase back issues from the journal archiving service or consider subscription offers. Limited-edition model ads start in Issue 30 (p. 13) and the inside covers begin to display ads in Issue 33. Issue 32 begins a series of exclusive rules for Imperial Armour model kits together with purchase information (pp. 62–63). Issues 35–37 incorporate 15+-page Imperial Armour/Forge World catalogs of premium GW models.

Read and Inform continue as thematic outliers. Read fictional excerpts comprise lore tidbits nested in Play articles, and a “Warped Visions” artwork column includes a “Trollslayer” customer's comic book (Issue 32, pp. 79–95). Inform gets a new column, however. A GW staffer's work activities are conveyed via humorous first-person commentary in seven installments of “Warwick's World” from Issue 30 onwards. Interspersed with comedic photos, “Warwick's World” wide-ranging Inform content provides office reportage, publishing tips, and even a U.K. army base field trip to compare British tanks with Warhammer 40,000 armored vehicles (Issue 74, pp. 74–75).

Paratext Segment 6: 2000–2002: Issues 43–50

Regular journal readers would encounter major changes. Most pronounced, the Participate and Laugh themes are largely absent. The letter column is capped at two pages and other participative content like “Gaming Contacts” and “Overwatch!” is gone. The “Trading Post” ends in Issue 43 and convention coverage is limited to a single, brief report written by a customer with underlit photos (Issue 49, pp. 42–43). Issues 44 and 48 exhibit customer artwork, however, in an “Illuminations” column. Calls to action also persist in prodding customers to write for the journal except in Issue 49. In terms of the Laugh theme, tables of content eschew humor and the editorials only rarely feature self-mockery or insider jokes.

The Participate theme no longer interweaves with Play or Build and Paint. Of the 46 Play articles, only one is customer-written (i.e., 2%). “Dok Butcha's Klinik” is gone, and with it, all customer modeling content. Issue 44 inside cover painting tips might be from a customer named “Tammy,” but details lack. Many inside covers feature GW staff painting tips.

The Collect theme continues to gain traction. Play articles now routinely end with multi-page photo ads selling related inventory (e.g., Issue 43, pp. 18–19). So too do Build and Paint articles (e.g., Issue 50, pp. 28–29). Three Collect articles review the inventory for armies like Warhammer Fantasy's Dwarfs (Issue 44, pp. 2–7). Exclusive rules/ads for new Imperial Armour premium model kits remain a mainstay.

The Inform theme also gains traction. GW editor and designer, Jervis Johnson, previews the future of the niche Blood Bowl game (Issue 45, p. 42) and his “The J Files” column offers professional commentary in Issues 48–49. Issue 50 gives a retrospective of the journal's 8-year print run (pp. 3–7) after an announcement about its pending transition to two new magazines (p. 2). In actuality, plans for The Citadel Journal's two successor magazines are not implemented for reasons never made public.

Despite all the changes, the Read theme is still the outlier with rare fictional excerpts inside Play articles and two single-page comics (Issue 44, back cover; Issue 46, p. 49).

Discussion

The Citadel Journal delivers monetized paratext between 1994 and 2002 with a consistent prevailing emphasis on GW's Play (gaming) theme and a secondary emphasis on GW's Build and Paint (hobbyist) theme. Issues 1–42 contain an increasingly prominent Participate theme where GW boosts customer engagement with the journal and wider Warhammer hobby, often using humor as a tonal register (the Laugh theme). Issues 13–50 contain an increasingly prominent Collect theme where GW develops both standalone advertising and inventory hooks to Play and Build and Paint articles, as well as leveraging customer-created Participate content to drive sales. The Collect theme is frequently humorous in tone (i.e., interwoven with the Laugh theme). Infrequently, GW gives content about the company and its employees (the Inform theme) and, least often, extends fictional Warhammer lore via the Read theme.

Changes to the journal occur against a backdrop of GW restructuring that is neither spelled out in editorials nor discussed in the company's annual reports to shareholders. Editorials do signal when the publication has relocated to a different company unit but give no rationale (e.g., Issue 13, pp. 2–3; Issue 39, pp. 1–3). Editorials also differentiate the journal from White Dwarf in terms of more customer-written content (e.g., Issue 13, p. 3; Issue 23, p. 1). Only one annual report to shareholders references the journal, where an Issue 38 cover photo accompanies a description of the Black Library publishing unit: “It is a source for new products and expands the range of our intellectual property” (Games Workshop Group PLC, 2000, p. 3). Only two nods to circulation figures are divulged in the journal itself: an Issue 9 editorial announces a print run increase to 6,000 copies after “issue 1 through to 7 is sold out completely” (p. 2) and an Issue 48 editorial asserts that last issue's exclusive rules/ads for a Tau Barracuda premium model kit “made the magazine the most popular Journal ever!” (p. 1). Given the paucity of circulation figures and corporate comment, however, it is impossible to calculate a return on investment analysis for the journal relative to White Dwarf and other GW products and services. But an 8-year publication span nonetheless indicates that the journal reflected and furthered a GW business strategy premised on publishing serial paratext. Whether the journal was a loss leader or profitable remains a question.

The most glaring changes to the journal occur with Issues 43–50 before publication ceases in 2002. The Participate and Laugh themes are largely absent as GW staffers resume authorship of most Play and Build and Paint-themed articles and significantly reduce coverage of clubs, conventions, and customers. A prevalent Collect theme focused on product inventory is curated by GW staff, along with sporadic but growing coverage of GW as a company via the Inform theme. Issues 43–50 suggest evidence of a corporatized GW keen to control information about its esoteric products and lure a wider consumer audience. There is no evidence for such a turn inside annual reports to shareholders at the time, however. To the contrary, the GW 2002 annual report opens with a two-page statement from Tom Kirby, Chairman and Chief Executive, where he insists the company is a niche business and summarizes, “These are the keys to understanding Games Workshop: niche marketing and selling to a pre-selected, quality obsessed, narrow-customer [sic] base” (Games Workshop Group PLC, 2002, p. 3).

The Citadel Journal is instead evidence of a clear, ongoing GW business strategy that monetizes serial paratext across decades. Six of the seven themes from 1994 to 2002 map to TV content on the Warhammer+ digital service that launched in August 2021. Changes in emphasis are apparent despite consistent themes, even so. Subscriber TV initially emphasized the Read theme by means of a Warhammer fictional universe documentary series (Loremasters, 2021–present) and original animation series featuring Warhammer characters (e.g., Hammer and Bolter, 2021–present). The initial Read emphasis seems logical for a company equipped with a vast “long tail” catalog of characters, setting lore, and financial resources to produce animation series amidst popular culture's wider transmedia ecosystem.

The launch also included paratext mainstays like the Play theme with Battle Report series for both Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar (2021–present), and the Build and Paint theme (Citadel Colour Masterclass, 2021–present). These three themes now include Read series like Black Library Book Club (2025–present), and hybrid Laugh/Build and Paint series where GW employees compete to make the best model conversion in Scrap Demon (2024–present) plus its counterpart, Ultimate Paint-Off (2025–present). Similarly, GW staff combatants roll dice amidst CGI snow and festive levity in hybrid Laugh/Play-themed content (e.g., the Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team Battle Report Christmas Special 2021).

The Inform theme joined the lineup in Deep Strike, a series where GW employees discuss GW transmedia (2021–present). The theme evolves into hybrid Inform/Play series like How We Roll interviews with GW game designers (2024–present) and Scribes and Scriveners, a hybrid Inform/Read series of interviews with GW authors (2024–present). Inform content literally shines a light on employee creators and their work, putting faces to names and affording closer, albeit mediated, access to their thoughts and company developments. In so doing, GW rewards and tries to retain loyal customers. While GW always has the option to broker staff interviews with social media influencers and podcasters, why do so when the company can gatekeep premium access to employees, regulate exclusive interview content, and make money doing so? Moreover, the Inform content implicitly supports the Collect theme by spotlighting a GW employee's products. The Collect theme weaves throughout with GW product placement, GW transmedia coverage, and pointers to GW's online store and brick-and-mortar retail outlets. Warhammer+ subscribers are meanwhile incentivized with exclusive miniatures, product lotteries, and merchandise discounts for both company-made and licensed offerings.

The missing Warhammer+ paratext theme is Participate, which recalls how Issues 43–50 of The Citadel Journal downgraded customer content and coverage of clubs and events before ceasing publication. Warhammer+ TV presenters and participants are GW employees in GW-produced series. The original animation series are licensed transmedia.

It is tempting to admonish GW for curtailing customer participation in their corporate paratext channels, but such fan/gamer-centric critique is simplistic. The decision to cut participative content seems a reasonable business strategy in 2000–2002, with customer paratext increasingly available on the open web. Online gamer culture continues to propagate, and customer-made GW paratext still proliferates across social media and the open web. The sheer extent of customer-made GW paratext makes analysis difficult and is beyond the scope of this study. But GW's current, monetized serial paratext channels, Warhammer+ (online) and White Dwarf magazine (offline), already co-exist alongside voluminous customer paratext and independent conventions and events. GW already garners public comment from customers quick to review the latest new releases, nitpick company news, and share their opinions online without GW remuneration. Regulated, fee-based corporate paratext channels that extend and canalize customer engagement with GW's burgeoning intellectual property and inventory are a revenue generator. Although White Dwarf circulation figures are undisclosed, the company's latest annual report cites Warhammer+ subscriber growth from 176,000 the previous year to approximately 232,000 and production costs of £7.5 million (Games Workshop Group PLC, 2025, p. 10). With annual subscription rates at £49.99/$50.99 and higher monthly rates, Warhammer+ yields a multi-million pound/dollar profit by any calculation. The growing Warhammer+ subscriber base evidences an astute paratext business strategy.

Conclusion

Further research is needed to understand the nuances of GW's ongoing business strategy that monetizes serial paratext across decades. While this study focuses on The Citadel Journal (1994–2002) as a corporate paratext channel and posits a throughline to Warhammer+ (2021–present), there is not enough space to consider GW's White Dwarf magazine (1977–present) in any detail. Analysis of White Dwarf will be necessary to assess the incidence, prevalence, and consistency of paratext themes within its nearly 50-year print run compared to The Citadel Journal and Warhammer+. |

More broadly, future research might move beyond monetized GW serial paratext to approach Warhammer via critical brand theory as conceptualized by scholars like Celia Lury and Adam Arvidsson. For example, the Warhammer brand can be reframed as more than an assemblage of sold goods and marketing messages. It instead functions as an interface that mediates open-ended exchanges with and among customers, “[t]he brand as a property form of relationality” (Lury, 2004, p. 111), in this case a structured but agential context for how Warhammer enthusiasts use GW products and services to collect, build and paint, play, and read. The Warhammer brand similarly can be reframed as an exemplar of “informational capitalism” that enables customer participation, blurring the distinction between producers and consumers, such that GW consumption becomes a broad and generative lifestyle (Arvidsson, 2006). Critical brand theory helps to make explicit one of the underlying assumptions of this study, in fact. Warhammer customers are not and have never been passive recipients in a business transaction; they actively leverage serial paratext among other GW offerings. But this study expressly focuses on longitudinal evidence of how a game company sells serial paratext—not how its customers use it. For evidence-based studies documenting how game customers are never entirely passive, see Kahila et al.'s (2025) typology of gamer activity levels that range from relatively casual up to versatile community participants and a related, earlier categorization of six main metagame activities that children engage in (Kahila et al., 2021).

Also more broadly, future research might move past definitional anxiety about paratext. One flashpoint this study sidesteps is that exactitude seems fraught if not impossible for scholars attempting to define the term. Paratext was the subject of a Game Studies literature review problematizing any definition (Švelch, 2020), and “it has become clear that debates over definitional fine-tuning may be missing a bigger picture” according to the editor of a Games and Culture special issue on video games and paratexuality (Galey, 2023, p. 709). Galey asserts, “Pragmatically, then, the question to prioritize is not the original meaning of paratext, in [Gérard] Genette's or anyone else's definition, but rather what the term can do for us” (p. 712).

Our priority is to demonstrate what paratext can do for the most successful tabletop gaming company on the planet. GW steadily makes money selling serial paratext. How GW makes money with serial paratext might seem obvious, but if that is the case, where are the competitor success stories? Even Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast has failed to sustain a monetized serial paratext presence with D&D following the 2014 cessation of their Dragon and Dungeon magazines, a switch to the free Dragon+ successor (2015–2022), and years of difficulty positioning D&D Beyond as an online supplement or replacement for the tabletop game (2017–present). How game companies, GW or otherwise, make money might be too crass a topic for humanities scholars and could perhaps explain the lack of attention given to business strategy found in our literature review? Nearly a decade ago, Mia Consalvo concluded her article about the tight relationship between paratext and text with a nudge to colleagues: “In other words, we need fewer ‘central’ texts and more study of the relatedness, interconnectedness, and contingent nature of many kinds of popular culture texts” (2017, p. 182). This study concludes with a respectful suggestion inspired by her phrasing. We need more study of the relatedness, interconnectedness, and commercial nature of many kinds of popular games and their paratext.

Neal Baker is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Information Studies at Purdue University. His research is in two areas: business contexts of the tabletop game industry, and assessment of higher education information services. His most recent publications examine the Warhammer product and service portfolio in terms of wayfinding information, and a 50-year dataset of Gen Con gaming convention events.

Devaney Tennille Mosier is an undergraduate Design Studies major at Purdue University with minors in Communication and Art History, and an Entrepreneurship certificate. Her career plans are to design tabletop role-playing games and board games.