Games Workshop is taking down Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition mods from Tabletop Simulator

Games Workshop has sent takedown requests targeting Warhammer 40,000 mods on Tabletop Simulator's Steam Workshop, with the crackdown landing just days after the launch of Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition — the biggest release in the company's recent history.

Two of the most prominent mods are already gone. Hutber, who had published an 11th Edition map for Tabletop Simulator only a week earlier, confirmed on Reddit that they pulled it "after a request from GW," adding "Seems we're ready for another crack down from GW, which is their right to do." ForceOrg — a widely used mod that lets players run Warhammer 40,000 games digitally — was also removed. Modder Seaborne confirmed the removal was Games Workshop's doing and warned that players who never subscribed before can no longer access it, and even existing subscribers are on borrowed time: "Those currently subscribed may still be able to use these mods, but how long this will last is uncertain." Seaborne called the situation "our version of the Dark Age of Technology" — a pointed reference to a catastrophic era in Warhammer 40,000 lore.

Games Workshop has a long and well-documented history of aggressive IP enforcement. Earlier this year the studio issued a DMCA strike against Void War, an indie strategy game pulled from Steam after Games Workshop objected to a single image of a shoulder pad. The timing of this latest crackdown is almost certainly tied to 11th Edition: the theory is that players who can scratch the Warhammer 40,000 itch digitally for free may never buy into the physical hobby, which involves expensive box sets, miniatures, paints, and rulebooks. Notably, no official video game actually recreates the tabletop ruleset — Games Workshop has always kept that experience exclusive to the physical product, and these mods were the closest thing fans had to a digital equivalent.

The community reaction is a mix of resignation and frustration. Many players relied on Tabletop Simulator mods to play with friends overseas or during Covid lockdowns, and some never returned to in-person play. Games Workshop has not publicly commented on the takedowns, which is consistent with how the company typically handles IP enforcement actions.