What Are Warhammer Bits, Kits and Spares on Bits & Kits?

Bits & Kits (bitsandkits.co.uk) is an online retailer specialising in Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Age of Sigmar, Bloodbowl and Games Workshop components. It sells three overlapping categories of product — bits, kits and spares — and the difference between them matters when you are deciding what to buy. In short: bits are individual components or small part groups, kits are complete boxed model sets, and spares are replacement or extra parts. If you need one specific piece to finish a conversion or repair a model, you want bits or spares; if you want to start or expand an army from scratch, you want a kit.

Bits: individual components and part groups

Bits are the smallest unit of purchase on the site. Rather than buying a whole box, you buy only the components you actually need — a weapon arm, a head, a banner, a shoulder pad, a single torso.

This is the category that makes a bits retailer useful. Common reasons to buy bits:

• Conversion work — swapping a weapon or head onto a model to change its wargear or appearance.
• Repair — replacing a snapped sword, a lost arm or a missing base.
• Army expansion — adding a few extra bodies to a unit without buying another full box.
• Matching a theme — sourcing components from one faction to use on another.

The site's catalogue is organised by faction and unit rather than by part type, so you navigate to the unit first and then to the components within it. The listing structure reflects this: entries such as "Empire State Troops", "High Elf Spearmen" or "Tomb King Skeleton Warriors" sit under their parent army headings.

Kits: complete boxed sets

Kits are full model sets — the same boxes you would find from a Games Workshop stockist, covering complete units, characters, war machines and starter sets. On Bits & Kits these appear alongside the bits listings, so you can buy a complete unit and then top it up with individual components from the same range.

Buy a kit when you want:

• A full unit at the size the box provides.
• A character or monster model with all its options.
• A core set or army box as a starting point.

Because kits and bits share the same catalogue structure, the practical difference is quantity and completeness: a kit gives you every component the box contains, while a bits listing gives you only the parts named.

Spares: replacement and extra parts

Spares are the parts you buy when something is missing, broken or simply needs duplicating. The category overlaps heavily with bits — in practice, a spare is a bit bought for a replacement purpose. The distinction is about intent rather than the product itself:

If you have lost a specific component from a model you already own, you are looking for a spare. If you are deliberately mixing parts between units, you are looking for bits. The same listing can serve both purposes.

Which category fits your situation

• You are missing one part from an assembled model → spares (a single bit).
• You want to change a model's weapon or head → bits.
• You want a whole new unit → kits.
• You want to add a handful of models to an existing unit → bits, bought individually.
• You are starting a new army → kits, then bits to fill gaps.

What the catalogue covers

The range spans multiple Games Workshop systems. The site's own headings and listings include:

• Warhammer 40K — referenced in the site's title and description.
• Age of Sigmar — likewise named as a core category.
• The Old World — with extensive faction listings including Grand Cathay, Orc and Goblin Tribes, The Dwarven Mountain Holds, The Empire of Men, The High Elf Realms, The Kingdom of Bretonnia, The Wood Elf Realms, Tomb Kings of Khemri and Warriors of Chaos.
• Bloodbowl — listed as its own category.
• Bases — sold as a separate category, useful for rebasing or replacing broken bases.
• Horus Heresy — listed among the site's categories.

Individual unit listings under The Old World include named entries such as Empire Steam Tank, High Elf Lord on Dragon, Tomb King Necrolith Bone Dragon, Bretonnia Pegasus Knights and Chaos Lord on Manticore, among many others.

Practical notes before ordering

• Check the part, not just the unit name. A listing under a unit heading may cover a single component or a group of components — read what is included before buying.
• Basing is separate. Bases are their own category, so a model listing may not include one.
• Shipping and account details are handled through the site's Information & Shipping and Terms & Conditions pages, and ordering requires a login or account creation. Check those pages for current postage terms, including worldwide postage, before committing to an order.
• Stock varies. Bits retailers depend on how kits are broken down, so availability of any specific component is not guaranteed over time.

The simplest rule: buy a kit when you want the whole thing, buy bits when you want to choose the parts, and treat spares as bits bought to replace something.