Archon Studios has begun to reveal models from its upcoming Starcraft tabletop miniatures game, dropping the first photograph of painted miniatures onto its Facebook account on Saturday. It’s enough to get us very excited: the picture shows a swarm of hydralisks and zerglings, plus some unlucky Terran marines being victimised in the background, and the minis are fantastic translations of those iconic Blizzard designs.
There are even some neat details hidden in the photo that might not be obvious on a first glance. Tucked right into the back of the image are winged raptor strain zerglings chowing down on the Terrans, while you can spot markers representing zerglings burrowed into the earth dispersed throughout the swarm.
We don’t yet know whether the painted miniatures in this picture are production models, or 3D printed prototypes. Archon Studios produces all its miniatures from High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS); it costs tens of thousands of dollars to cut the steel molds needed for a single sprue of polystyrene miniatures, so 3D printed miniatures are far more common at the prototyping stage.
Details about the Starcraft tabletop minatures game remain tentative, though the initial announcement suggest a release early in 2026. Archon Studios’ CEO Jarek Ewertowski gave an interview on Youtube channel Crabbok in June – which you can watch in full below – in which he outlined the top level plans for the game.
It’s set to fit onto a 33″ by 66″ (or standard dinner table) board, and a full sized battle will feature somewhere in the region of 30-40 Terrans, with more Zerg and fewer Protoss – similar in model count to Warhammer 40k or Star Wars Legion.
On September 16, Archon shared pictures from a trip to Blizzard studios where its team ran playtest sessions of the wargame for the developers. There are some more miniatures in these photographs – I can spot roaches and Kerrigan for the Zerg, and what could be a viking and a couple of marauders for the Terrans, plus some Terran marines equipped with combat shields.
I’ll indulge in some speculation. The models for zerglings, hydralisks, burrowing markers, and basic Terran marines that went to Blizzard HQ all had a single faction color, purple for the Zerg and blue for the Terrans, while the other models are grey. I would not be surprised if those specific minis are the contents of a starter set, and will be cast in colored plastic for a little bit of faction flavor even when they’re unpainted.
If those models are production test models rather than 3D printed prototypes, then the Starcraft tabletop miniature game is on track to hit that early 2026 release date. What do you think? Is that wishful thinking, or is there a Zerg rush in our imminent future? Tell me what you think in the Wargamer Discord community.
If you’re wondering why the Zerg look so much like Warhammer 40k Tyranids, there’s a funny story there. The Blizzard team in the ’90s was massive fans of Warhammer and Warhammer 40k, and pitched the original Warcraft as a licensed Warhammer videogame to Games Workshop. GW already had deals with other developers, so it said no, and Blizzard pivoted its plans to create its own original IPs. There’s an alternate timeline in which Starcraft is remembered as one of the best Warhammer 40k games ever made.