Do you need a palette, painting handle and water pot to paint Warhammer?
Buy a palette first, and have something to hold rinse water: any stable cup works, or you can buy the Warhammer Water Pot. The handle is optional, and hobbyists are split on the new Warhammer Painting Handle.
The Servo-Skull Palette is £7.31 and is sold out at the moment.
The three items at a glance
- Servo-Skull Palette, £7.31. Holds your paint in 24 wells. Worth buying first.
- Warhammer Water Pot, £5.33. Holds the water you rinse your brush in. Optional.
- Painting handle, from £3.32. Holds the model by its base, so your fingers stay off wet paint. Optional: try without one first.
The palette is the one to buy
Games Workshop made the Servo-Skull Palette from flexible silicone, with 24 paint wells of different sizes. It is meant for every level, from total beginners upwards. It replaced the older Palette Pad, and it is reusable, so you buy it once.
The painting handle
We list three. The Warhammer Painting Handle is £3.32, the Citadel Painting Handle (MK2) is £6.52 and the Painting Handle XL is £9.68. Hobbyist threads from 2026 are divided on the new handle. Some report a firm grip, others weak arms or a model popping off, especially on bases that are not Games Workshop's own.
Our advice: paint your first model holding it by the base, and buy a handle only if your fingers keep marking the paint. If you do buy one, the MK2 (£6.52) is the older design that hobbyists compare the new handle with.
A starter set-up, priced
If you buy all three, the palette, water pot and new Warhammer Painting Handle come to £15.96. With the MK2 handle in its place the total is £19.16. The water pot in both totals is sold out at the moment, and a cup from the kitchen does the same job.
Common questions
Do I need a wet palette for Warhammer?
You can do without one. A wet palette is a hobbyist extra that keeps paint workable for longer. For a first palette, buy Games Workshop's own Servo-Skull Palette: flexible silicone with 24 wells.
Do I need a painting handle?
You do not. You can hold the model by its base, and many painters do. A handle keeps your fingers off wet paint and lets you turn the model. Try your first model without one and buy a handle if it bothers you.
Is the new Warhammer painting handle any good?
Reports in hobbyist threads are mixed. The grip is fine for some, and others find that models pop off, especially on other makers' bases. The older MK2 handle is £6.52.
How do I clean the Servo-Skull palette?
Let the paint dry, pop the dried paint out of the wells, then wash the palette in warm water with a little soap. One hobbyist in a Reddit thread also uses an old toothbrush with the soap and water.
Palette: Warhammer Community, 1 October 2024 (Servo-Skull Painting Palette). Handles: our listing titles and prices, read 29 October 2026, and threads on r/Warhammer and r/Warhammer40k on Reddit in 2026. Prices and stock: this shop, read live.