At the core of Warhammer are the highly detailed miniatures that represent the characters and warriors of its settings. How you form your collection is entirely up to you – muster an army for playing games, build and paint the miniatures you love, create a beautiful display, or something else entirely.
All Warhammer 40,000 miniatures need to be assembled. They come on sprues, and you must cut them off with a pair of plastic cutters or hobby knives. The miniatures will look much better if you have a file or a mould line remover to remove any excess material on the parts of the model before you put them together.
Most Warhammer 40,000 miniatures have to be put together with glue. Resin and metal miniatures are put together with superglue, which you might already have in your home, and plastic miniatures, which are the vast majority of models available, are put together with plastic glue, which you can buy in all sorts of hobby stores. Please note that while many older models are made from metal, all new models are made from plastic or resin! It is useful to remember when determining a model's age.
If you’re unsure about what kind of assembly is required for a model you’re about to buy, the Games Workshop website has a description for each kit that details its material. Below is a video tutorial on how to paint figurines published by the Warhammer YouTube channel.