Hey! I bought it at the Wargames Vault. I just skimmed through the rules and I'm looking forward to printing and playing the game. I hope you make more factions because I'd like to have a 4-player game :)
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors Awesome! I'm looking forward to it. For now I'm gonna print and paint the Terrans and Kurgun. That'll keep me busy for a while anyway. 😀
Your series on the Ender3 was my bible to get my rigs up and running reliably. Fantastic work there. I've also bought several of your STL sets, just a wonderful collection.
One page rules and Mantic are selling STL and rules in pdf. Wich is absolutely amazing. Giving the choice to people should be the main focus of miniature companies atm.
I’m an indie manufacturer of a mini line called War in Christmas Village, and I’ve gone digital too. The plaguedemic and manufacturing shut down during 2020-2021 was a huge wake up call.
I remember when they were making printable terrain, and were just as awesome back then. It's great to see they're still around, and seemingly thriving.
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors It was your detailed videos that helped me set up what would turn out to be the first of several Creality Ender 3s - good times!
Full Spectrum Dominance is absolutely something you should check out. They already have 6 factions and a ton of modes and terrain of UNBELIEVABLE detail. Everything in pdf and stls
The minis are great, but none of the armies click with me enough to get invested into the game, sadly. There is a model here and there I really like, but as a whole, the style is not my cup of tea.
@Milkymalk i thought so too at first. But i took the dive with a friend mostly cause we wanted to try new 6-15mm games. And i have to say that after i printed some of the models out and just looking at it i like them more and more. Luckily it is not gw prices or dedication to get an army. So easier to try out on a "whim" so to speak.
Agree entirely. FSD is an excellent game and the minis have a wealth of detail. I have a printing service do the minis for me, as I don't have a printer myself.
The takeaway I'm getting from this video is that there are options. As the consumer and a game designer or manufacturer, there are a lot of ways to go. This sounds so great, I can't wait to see the next 5 years as our hobby goes down this path
Full Spectrum Dominance is a solid Indy, sci-fi, 6mm wargame. I think it’s up to 6 full factions with some awesome minis; ranging from infantry to gigantic (for the scale) mechs and vehicles. They also do a wide variety of gorgeous terrain.
@@Gamer-Drek i have to add for people that are allergic to 6mm. The models and the rules are scale agnostic more or less. You can scale the models up as you print them all the way up to 15mm. And the rules support this size too. I ended up printing the minis in about 8mm to make them slightly bigger.
My oldest and I just went halfsies on a Bambu A1 set with .2 mm nozzle for my other son for his birthday / Christmas. I figure it's an investment into our wargaming hobby. He's more of a RPG'r but he likes minis and always wanted me to paint his. I've taught him the basics when we were playing Mordheim (I bought all the minis but made all the kids assemble and paint their teams) and now he likes painting. Slap-Chop and speedpaints for the win.
Idols of Torment is another full package wargame from UA-cam creator Black Magic Craft. There is a physical rule book as well as a digital one. Physical and printable cards (I believe), and STLs for the minis, even though it's designed to be mini agnostic.
Full Spectrum Dominance, I picked it up, looks cool. Fully contained rules and model sets for several armies. Also small scale so can be played on a coffee table
I absolutely love the decentralisation of the hobby, like what has happened with Music and video - the one thing I think puts me off from buying a printer is the hassle. As soon as its easy as going into a shop to buy a model, ill get one!
After playing Bloodfields from Titan forge I was convinced that 3D printed games are future. It was a great experience, the files were delivered shortly after the KS, stls were easy to print and everything was well organized. The game itself is cool if your fan of games like Streetfighter or Malifaux. I highly recommend Arsenal from Electi, the art/models are great, the unit composition is slick, you get 7-12 specialist and a 100mm Mech. Its true Titanfall. I also recommend Sector AL-IX from Bishok because there is nothing else like it on the market, its a 12mm scale Sky Pirate solo/co-op tactical rpg. Its basically Crimson Skies the skirmish game. You get to paint up Sky Boats, docks terrain, and some little minis.
Yes, Blootfields is great. The starter has models for more than enough miniatures, tokens, dice (it uses special dice, which I don't think Adam would like), terrain, etc. The miniatures are great (Titan Forge are among the best 3d sculpters, in my opinion) and the rules are quite good, although I feel that scoring leans too much in killing opposed to objectives. The sci-fi version, Gridwars is also great, but requires a hex board.
one of the things i have really loved about having a 3d printer was all of the little ads i can make. there are free packs of just hundreds of little gubins to add to buildings, bases and boards. resin really really shines here. being able to make your own transparent laser blasts, lamps, windows, crystals just the possibilities are endless. it also allows you to print a model with transparencies in it and then mask off those areas when you prime. you can get some really cool effects if you leave holes or drill out the inside of LEDs.
As an indie designer, I for one am extremely excited by the possibilities 3d printing presents. The high cost of miniatures production has always been the barrier to entry that's allowed relatively few large game companies a stranglehold on this industry, and 3d printing shakes that dynamic up by drastically lowering those barriers - now we see so many amazing miniature designs from incredibly talented artists - not just the ones lucky enough to land a gig at one of several companies. You make a good point regarding the disconnect between game designers and 3d sculptors. I wrestle with this myself, being focused on the design side but without any 3d modeling chops. I find myself in the position of having projects in mind, but frankly without accompanying STLs, I'm concerned about whether they'd turn out to be anything other than labors of love rather than viable ventures. I guess I need to get networking with some sculptors, because I think you've hit the nail on the head. Apologies for the text wall. Edit: typo
I've seen a game called Wormhole, which allows you to make their models using papercraft (printing the designs on cardstock, then cutting them out, folding them, and pasting them together). I think this is a unique and fun way to make models for wargaming, since it allows anyone with a regular printer to make the models themselves.
Marcher: Empires at War by Golden Dragon Games actually had a successful Kickstarter campaign for their US faction a few months back in which they got 3 of their infantry kits to be made into plastic via War Games Atlantic.
Intriguing take on where we're heading as an industry (and a community). For our part here at Metal Express, we've been feeling our way forward with the use of 3D printing for our own ships, as 3D printing makes it finally practical to offer up ships that previous production methodologies could not (or if they could, expensive and bringing with them practical issues for game play itself).
So I'm someone who used to play 40k and Warmachine years ago, and I've been getting back into the hobby recently. Partly because Infinity and Trench Crusade has my interest, but also because I am making my own miniatures game, that I have been working on for the past couple of years. I'm an artist and 3d Modeler, who has been resin printing for nearly a decade now, so seeing all of these small studios making their games and minis to print has me really excited! This new direction in the hobby is exactly the avenue I'm interested in heading towards. Thanks for the video!
Some great points here, I'm actually one of those people who has miniatures and is looking to build a game around them. I came up with the same conclusions put a slightly different solution. Both the models & books/rules are made available on digital download and as a premium printed book/models available for delivery. We use our own composite resins and unique print processes in dedicated facilities, so trying to reproduce top end detail/quality on a $300 unit at home is not going to happen. My company specialises in "fine-scale" models for the "railway hobby", you want a fully detailed lamp smaller than a match head that sees the LED's wire inside it wrapped around the leg of the match... You get us to do it. That way we offer rugged table top miniatures and minis for the display cabinet.
Though I love the idea of the complete package of print/3D print on demand. I don't want to 3D print things myself. 1) The entry cost and the return on investment. I am not builidng and fielding large fleets and armies for lots of games. Maybe if this was available when I had my tabletop renaissance 20 years ago i would have jumped in. Now my collection is well established. I will never recoup my investment unless prices drop significantly. This is an idea for "club" investment. 2) Building and painting is enough of a hobby for me. I don't airbrush and I am not interested in developing the skills or investing the time in 3D printing. That being said I love being able to reach out the the printing services and purchase items, love that 3D printing is lowering the cost of minis!! Thanks!!
How much do you think a decent 3D printer is? You can get an absolutly sufficient FDM printer for less than 200 $. Or for 200 $ you get one plus the 0.2 mm nozzle plus a fillament spool or two. There are used 3D printers available for less. PLA filament is ~10 $ per kg. So if you "invest" 200 $ and print more than 20 minis and 10 terrain pieces you are allready in the "saving money" area... chances are you will print this number in the first week... because with a 3D printer and a Myminifactory account you are never really "set" anymore. On top of that a 3D printer is not only good for minis. You can print all sorts of things. It can be very handy to have one around to print out parts to repair stuff in your home. I purchased my first 3D printer a little more than two years ago. I dare to say it changed my life. Even though I originally only used it to print terrain, vehicles and general parts and stuff not wargaming related. The options for terrain are totally woth the investment allready IMHO. I now started to print minis with an 0.2 nozzle as well. Its great. Yes the print quality of an SLA printer is better but FDM printing is so easy. With most minis the difference is insignificant after the mini is painted. If you somehow manage to get 200 $ to spend I strongly suggest you give it a try.
I'll also second that, for $200-$250 you can get a full setup for resin printing including a bottle of resin to start with and basic cleaning and curing supplies.
the biggest thing is how easy it is to get into these - you print one set for you and one for your friend and off you go, you dont need to convince anyone to spend lots of money on a new game, and dont have to buy into 2 armies just to be able to run demos to look for players, from players perspective there are nearly no downsides
you say this as if 3d printing is the same difficulty as printing an word document - let alone photos with color correction etc.. nevermind learning how supports work, 3d printer adjustments, fillament costs, then the print goes haywire so now it won't be finished in time for game night, then you need a new 3d printer because your first one turns out to not be high enough resolution for miniature gaming even if it said it was.....before you actually know what it takes to get into accurate quality control 3D printing, you're $3,000 into the hobby when you could have bought multiple copies of the game for little more than the cost of all the filament spent on the entire pile of misprints now piled up in the corner of your hobby space. Not to mention all the games you've not played while you toiled around learning how to manufacture one instead. 3D printing is no where near "set and forget" printing yet. It's an entire dedicated hobby all on its own. If it were that easy, the industry would have crumbled by now. why do you think their is still a healthy paper printing industry despite how prolific office printers are?
In my mini factory "branded roullett" propose files for 7 fleets for OPR one page rule fleet. Those ships are design to be printed with FDM printer. The orks, the robots the human defence force, the Dao, the alien, the saurian and the machine cult. You have tokens and planets and asteroids available as well.
@user-Brian_Gregory I have a resin printer and I did in fact spent the first two months printing non stop every single STL file I got my hands on. There's a thrill to it, I printed even minis for wargames I have no intention to play. The thing is, that thrill eventually fades and you realize that 1-Resin is expensive 2-Postprocessing is annoying (and hazardous!), so eventually you reach a point in which you only print when you need it.
I started with a small FDM and then got a SLA one. It's like a second job almost and really messy. There are so many options out there it can be intimidating. They recently came out with plant-based SLA resin that's ECO friendly and not so toxic so I may try that.
@@intzbk1 Agree. Also I can't paint as fast as I print. So I print very sporadically as a result. After having a printer for 4 years or so, I wonder if I would prefer to just have them printed by a local game store instead (or print on demand I guess. Also in terms of cost, most STL's are priced way to high, as if they are ready to paint models. So printing often isn't cheaper, unless you print lots of the same figures. Or if you pay for monthly releases, which again I can't remotely all print and paint. I have found some exceptions though, like full space fleets for €5, so for €10 of files and a little resin you can play a new game, where otherwise you'd probably pay at least €50 for a starter box.
Welllll, you would think that but.....no, you wouldn't :) You'd be spending 18 hours fixing them to get 6 hours of work out of them. And then once you do get a big backlog of models printed -- then what? Keep printing more for your pile of shame? Don't get me wrong, I do like parts of the 3d printing hobby -- but it's another hobby and my time is limited. And when your 2 year old $400 printer motherboard goes up in smoke - literally - and you go back to the company to get a new one and find out that they don't make it anymore because -- why would they? they want to sell you a new printer -- you can get pretty jaded. There's a dark side, is all I'm saying, that seems to get glossed over a lot in favor of "I can print free minis." I can assure you that they aren't in any way free. But some of them are pretty danged awesome, like these spaceships!
I found some simple rules for starship combat called Starmageddon, but I also make 3D models as a hobby. I wanted to use my own miniatures, so I now own a Mars Elegoo 3D printer. It works well for printing small toys like that. Plus, I get what I want without any compromises, other than refinements to make the 3d printing work better.
I’ve been printing minis with a Bambu lab a1 mini and 0.2 nozzle. They are high enough quality for me and I think painting them helps even more to disguise their fdm nature. I’ve been printing OPR and puppetswar minis
I have ‘depressed the like button’. I also have a resin printer my wife bought for me last Christmas. It is … *faustian* in its proportions. The resin is sickening to breath in, the printer is temperamental to say the least: it needs to be leveled, the distance to the plate needs to be calibrated, the stl file needs to be sliced just so. It’s out in my garage which isn’t heated, so I can’t use it when the temperature drops below 65 because the resin won’t print right if it’s too cold. But wahhhhhh … once you get it working? Once I got it working?? *Drunk with power!!* I printed a sumo-themed ogor army, an anime-styled vampire army, ents, elves, tanks (8mm scale) … it all so, so sweet.
I experienced the same issues you mentioned, and my solution was to switch to FDM printing after watching how-to videos from Tom Tullis / Fat Dragon Games. So very helpful! His printer profiles are excellent too.
@@PureTranceSoul Correct. The profiles I have used are for Cura and I have never tried Orca so I'm not sure if they work there too. BUT do note that this printer profile used to import is stored in text format so you can open it in a text editor and see every setting right there. So even if not compatible, it's pretty easy to edit / customize your print settings to match the profile.
@@PixelPlateauEngineering ooh, I tried Orca, but my prints seem better from Cura.. Who has these profiles? I was looking to try and print nec.. I mean robot green people but them being so skinny I feel like it is gonna be tough haha
Pro-tip: get a brewer's belt ($30 USD), or miniature heater ($30 USD) and a themostatically controlled outlet ($35 USD)... and you will be able to print any time. Not only that, your prints will be much more consistent; once you have you exposure times dialed in, the only print failures you'll get are if you don't support the model well enough.
A friend introduced me to The Games of God's and omg it got me back into Wargaming again. It was designed to help companies sell 3D STL's like One Page Rules. Honestly, the best fantasy game we've played.
Id like to see more VR tabletop miniatures games. After playing Demeo, I feel thats the real future of wargaming. Either through VR or AR. Its a space I hope to see develop more.
Grand Fleet Admiral Tabletop made a space fleet tabletop game, its free, and he has a bunch of different faction fleets that comes with tokens and some other stuff that can be 3d printed, he sells his models on MMF, the game have existed for some years now, and it gets upgrades now and then, and new faction has been added over the years. Knight Models has also started to sell stl files of models on MMF for their DC universe game. Pulp Alley is also a good choice for a skirmish game where you can use any models, and MMF do have lots of models that is a nice fit with the game. But yeah, I do think gaming has changed the way one can get it, stls and pdfs means no shipping, no damaged or lost packages, easier to get a hold of worldwide. Edit: Its also funny that GW used to be a miniature gaming company, but partnered with miniature companies instead of making the miniatures, so people could use any miniature companies' models that fit in, now its GWs models or you'll can get blacklisted... feels that way atleast.
@@jeannot7784 Now THAT is what we really need, an FTL printer. I know you meant FDM, but the Freudian slip (or autocorrect) was just too good to pass up.
I just bought an A1 printer on black Friday this video made me confident in my purchase as this is what I want to use it for and it's my first printer! Thanks for the great content
My special interest is FDM printable minis. Here are some great options! Fat Dragon Games (ofc) Brite Miniatures Arbiter Miniatures Illgotten Games / Dutchmogul EC3D Windham Graves RAAAH Duncan Shadow, Vae Victis, thatwhatgrows, Leonardo Escovar, RocketPig, and Monstrous Encounters also have a good options! Oh and also me, Skellify minis lol. I want to get more designs up before I do much self promo though. I just want to get as many folks as possible designing, printing, and playing with minis in FDM😁 Bonus tip: if you're using an A1 or A1 mini, get the cool tacky build plate from Bambu. It's a GAME CHANGER.
Can you say any more about the tacky cool plate? I saw Fat Dragon mentioned it in a video, so I got one with my A1 mini a couple weeks ago…but I don’t know what to do with it or what it would help me with. I’ve kind of been waiting for Far Dragon to release a profile for that plate…
@@mattbrown5234 Bambu has a profile in their slicer now for the plate and I've been using that one to great effect! It's in the section where you select your other profiles. Just swap the PEI plate to the Cool SuperTack one in the slicer (and physically ofc) As a bonus the tacky plate comes off cool, not warm, so it's great for impatient folks like me haha. Hope that helps!
@@mattbrown5234to answer the other part of your question though, having the plate hold on so well to your prints means you can print small parts without them detaching from the build plate. It's really nice for stuff like Brite's modular minis.
I've been using Fat Dragon products since the paper terrain days (can we get some more action on that end, lol). When Battlefront Valkyrie came out, many of us who use their FDM tiles were not surprised. As the companies moving or starting in this space expand, we will get more. The good thing is that it can create some strong cottage enterprise relationships. Companies that make great games and models and have reasonable commercial licenses could help those who do this for fun recoup or even make some extra pocket money by supporting their games.
There’s a hobby store near you who needs people like you to show up. Support your local businesses and realize that you are not as alone as you think you are
My preference for wargames is mini agnostic where all you need are dice and a measuring device. For instance a stick. Couple of games do this and they let me focus more on my little guys and transporting them without needing a bunch of extras to keep up with for specific games.
I literally just ordered my Bambu A1 a few days ago -- what a timely video! Definitely looking forward to checking out some of these recommendations once I get it ready to rock and roll!
Altered, a CCG, is doing something along the lines of letting you order additional copies of cards that you've already pulled from their booster packs. The booster packs have a chance of having a 'card' that is a coupon to order a holographic version of any card you can otherwise order, too.
I feel that (the excellent) Black Site Studios are probably closer to/already there with what you're talking about - but to be fair i think they had that logistical foundation as they began as terrain makers
Woo hoo Fat Dragon Games!!! I used their paper craft terrain for the Space Station Zero tables at Adepticon. Just got an email about Battlefront Valkyrie and am excited to see this coverage.
1) I've seen brick and mortar stores in various parts of the country that will also print on demand and you can pick them up in store. 2) a LOT of public libraries are hosting FDM printers that you can use for very very cheap
Revelations: Battlefield & Skirmish Both Print-on-Demand / STL’s - Free Rules, etc. the STL files you pay for the Mini’s or they also have Print-on-Demand of ‘starter sets’ & individual models / sets. It’s a Sci-Fi game with mechs, tanks, infantry duking it out. Bunch of factions and some really dope models.
For complete packages, AntiMatter Games' has several fully digital (rules and STL) set for their DeepWars and ShadowSea settings. Also a great source for monsters in general.
Thanks for the fantastic video Adam. This topic of DIY print-&-play the entire game is absolutely of interest to me in my gaming. Being still more or less out of the face to face gaming scene leftover from COVID, this can let me build up as I go. Now I will look for your game reviews of the ones that you try and like. Cheers! ~GT (Ian)
Since I got a 3d printer just a few months ago, and have had a lot of fun with it (and irritation) I've seriously considered creating minis for use with the rpg system I'm working on, and fleshing out the tactical combat I hadn't worked on yet much more than previously planned. It just seems such a perfect fit for each other.
Golden Dragon Games has been developing the rules, lore, and 3D models for a game called "Marcher: Empires At War" which is a diesel punk style futuristic tabletop skirmish game adaptation of WWI Empires sort of where would they be in the future type setting. The 3d files and rules are all done in house and the miniature files are available on myminifactory.
I bough a Bambu A1 two weeks ago and was looking for the same thing. I hope that Indi companies will make this kind of games with filament printer friendly files.
I know prior to attempting Rivenstone, Broken Anvil (as well as several other creators) provide commercial licenses for stls so you can sell prints. If we can get resin printers to be even easier, it would be nice to see this trend continue for stores to be able to offer models for customers. I know there is a risk of gamestores becoming more of print stores but creating some middle ground would be my hope with the current trend.
Ah, thank you for pointing out that it was a 2mm nozzle. That makes sense -- those really look good! And I lol'd when you talked about how easy it was to switch out the nozzle because the Bambu seems to make that very easy -- unlike my old Anycubic. Those results have me thinking I might want to give 3d printing another try after giving it up for a couple of years after my old printer motherboard fried and there was no way to get replacements. We'll see - my 9yo daughter put in her letter to Santa that she wants him to bring Dad a 3d printer...
Really good video, me and my wife own a 3d printing company, and have been looking into these sort of complete package games, the idea being for the adventures they could just buy the pack and print it themselves but for those who lack the equipment or will to print it themselves they would be able to order the minis off our website.
Great insights! Thank you! I'm saving up to buy the the very best resin printer setup and we're very close to "this is as good as it gets" but having to deal with the chemicals and proper disposal is making me think twice about pressing the buy button.
The real important thing to me is simple / streamlines rules. Nothing is streamline with game workshop (or even balanced) which was my first (disastrous) attempt in war gaming.
Don't Look Back by Blacksite Studios is my current 3D printable obsession. they sell a PDF copy of their newly rereleased rulebook that is GORGEOUS, and ALL of the minis you need to play can be downloaded directly from their site and printed at your leisure.
Wargame Exclusive is a modeling company that produces both .stl files and print-on-demand service for those files. They do a lot of 40K analogues, and I particularly enjoy their orc musicians.
I love Fat Dragon Games. They have absolutely oodles of fdm-friendly models for fantasy gaming. Their modular dungeon terrain is some of the best out there.
I’ve owned a resin printing in the past with the goal of printing detailed miniatures, but it was such a hassle and mess to print things that I sold it. I love my FDM printer though, so much easier to print with.
Interesting that I kind of had it in reverse. Since failure during print of resin printer is just popping some plaques off the basin is much easier to fix that when FDM print pops off base plate, I focused much more on resin. What could have helped you is a dedicated wash and cure station (at least Anycubic sells them), such devices make it 10 times less hassle. But I agree that it's definitely more resource intensive due to more supplies types (resin, alcohol, gloves, masks, etc.)
FDM 3D Printer Optimized Wargames/RPGs, I know/use: All the "Fat Dragon Games", Battlefront Valkyrie + World War Tesla + VALLIS MORTIS (with CRYPT CLASSICS, DRAGONLOCK, DRAGON TILES & ALPHA-TECH CITY sets) are FDM optimized,... so is: Full Throttle, Marshals Unleashed, Void Admiral, Blight Seas Fleet & Star Clash ... maybe more (Fantasy Land Wargames + "Retro-Future" Land Wargames + Sea Ship Wargames + Space Ship Wargames + Fantasy RPG, right there... I'm sure there is more) ... all for "pennies on the dollar" vs the "big $ names"
As one who was a part of developing our own table top board game as a teenager for me, my brothers, and my buddies, this is a very interesting and innovative concept. I like it. (The game mentioned here is very reminiscent of Starfleet Battles.)
Grid Wars from Cyberforge (Titanforge) is my favourite complete 3D printable game. Crazy unique heroes, relatively simple mechanics in a cyberpunk world.
Valkyrie game is more like a 3D printing game, with a bonus game to play with your game. I had a guy in NY state that I bought a ton of things from when I was running D&D games a few years ago. Dice jails, tokens and a bunch of other things, as he was also learning what would work. He sent me a bunch of prints that looked good when I got them and then I painted them and the plastic he used, dried and cracked after a month. He sent me more stuff as it was fun to help him learn and I was giving him some money to play with, so it was a win/ win. Looking forward to sunday!
I am involved with game component manufacturing. Principally terrain and tokens however I also work with figure designers and I think you are absolutely 💯 with this. To date the issue has been with the quality of 3d printers and their relative availability in the community. This is changing and whilst it may take some time to really take hold it i happening.
It feels like evolving from the Middle Age era, where things were ruled by few big lords, to the Modern era where small merchants started to defy the old powers and made the things move on. Let's see what the future will bring.
The printing press truly helped to revolutionise things, in many ways. Its taken a while for 3d printing to gain wipe-spread acceptance, but now that the genie is out of the bottle, there is no going back!
I have been working on a game. I already have a couple videos on my channel on how I’m going about with it. I started working on it last year with random encounter tokens. It’s miniature agnostic but it also have a character driven option. Next video on it will be character creation to build the crew.
I run a little business making custom maps and terrain for table top gaming of any flavor. I used to offer miniatures, but I decided to focus a bit tighter instead. I do, however use my printer to make my own miniatures as props and for my own games. I also use it to make fiddly bits that are to time heavy for a decent handmade ROI. Bottles, window frames, etc.
just a thought as somebody trying to come back into the hobby, but I think that nice paper miniatures and terrain are an excellent option that is perhaps more environmentally sustainable.
I don't have a 3d printer, but I'm always on the lookout for new STLs that I can get printed and sent out to me. I recently found 28mm 80s cold war soviets by Flank March Miniatures and even more recently some 28mm scrapyard zombie apoc stuff by Kraken 3D Studios
I was very impressed with the Idea that Privateer Press was exploring before the sale to steamforged. Were the models were printed at a high level by manufacturer yes, but at a lower cost and almost on demand (maket demand). What fascinated me, was the potential for distributors becoming licensed manufacturers, avoiding all sorts of tariffs and shipping issues by working under licenses. I think there is great potential for models like these in the future, especially with imports and shipping become a much larger issue in the coming months... Can we get some insight on how this is being perceived by the community and manufacturers?
My bambu labs A1 mini that I bought about 3 months ago has been going non-stop printing both terrain AND mini's. It is actually what got me back into the hobby afer a 20 year hiatus. I started out with fat dragons profile for the bambu labs printer, but have been modifying it since. I even know someone with a resin printer who swore FDM couldn't print mini's until he saw the results I've been getting.
There was a company around 10 years ago that released a kick starter for a Zombie style game that was print on demand. It didn't take off but it was a cool idea back in 2015. I can't remember their names but they were super nice. Met them at a convention at the Grapevine convention center in Texas.
Mantic is now selling their Kings of War Vanguard game on MMF, and this is after they already sold Deadzone there. Between these campaigns and their Mantic Vault subscription, you can get most of their minis, rules, and tokens digitally. I'm a big fan of this and happy to support them in their efforts!
Fully agree. I just bought a BambuLab A1 Mini because a Resin printer is too hazardous for me to put in my flat. I already printed two full warbands for Frostgrave and A Song of Blades and Heroes with the A1 mini. And now I don't need to buy all the miniatures for the monsters in Frostgrave, I just print them. :) All the minis I printed are by Brite Miniatures as they are optimized for FDM printing. I have also seen Battlefront Valkyrie on wargames vault, I think I need to get it. edit: Just got Battlefront Valkyrie. Couldn't resist anymore. 😂
I found battlefront Valkyrie when looking for print and play games for my kid. I love space ship games and this checks all the boxes 👍🏻 I was really fascinated by the approach... but also a little bit annoyed by the fact that, not having a 3d printer, I could not get it. Print on demand from Italy is probably too expensive so I will just keep it on the watchlist until I buy a printer. 🤷🏻♂️
I personally stay away because i'm afraid i will start to print a lot and and the end all my prints will end up in garbage. At the end i don't want to print waste.
A couple years ago I bought a resin 3d printer to print tanks for flames of war. worked like a champ. When I tried to print 28mm minis I had issues. took me a while to figure it out but it is working well for awhile now. I am going to move up to Saturn 4 Ultra very soon. it can seem scary but just make the plunge and follow around with it read a few articles watch a few vids (Man I wish we had UA-cam in the 80's) and you can figure it out! If I can do it you can do it! 3D printing is fun! There is also software you can use to modify the stl to exactly what you want...
Fat Dragon is also active in the 3d printer community which means that usually know what they are talking about when it comes to tweaking your printer for best results. :) I have some of their RPGs stuff. I also suggest World War Telsa from fat dragon. Another one of their mini war games.
Every game from Black Site Studios has had a fully digital option alongside its physical release, mainly due to meeting the demand of interested players overseas that are impacted by sky-high shipping rates. Such titles include: Don't Look Back Demon Ship Lunar Hametsu Mobile Arms Violent Dark Yafsiga Pit Lord and tons more. I suggest giving one or two a spin!
I like this direction for war gaming, with one fairly major concern. I want flgs to not just survive, but thrive. I've had countless good times playing in flgs, in fact that's where I met my wife, and most of my best friends. It's good for the consumer to have access to these games direction - but if flgs startto die off as a result that's very bad for everyone. It's also potentially very tricky for flgs to adapt, depending on the store and patronage. Some places do great business by charging for their space to play - others would alternate their entire community by trying. Some can pivot to produce their own 3dp models - but I think it's pretty easy to see why that may not be in the cards. Idk, I don't really have an answer, but I think a lot of people take the flgs for granted without realizing how much value they actually bring the community (and game companies - the free advertising that a flgs provides is absurd), and don't realize how thin the margins can be
Years ago I purchased and printed 'Tesla" from Fat Dragon Games. Excellent quality. There is also 'Ironclads: Space Battles in the Victorian Aether'. I do all my printing on my Prusa 4S with normal settings.
One of the other things, for me, about 3D printing becoming such a pillar in the table top gaming sphere, is that it also opens the door for more people to make more indie board games in general with fun and interesting 3D printed pieces.
Since I got interested in 3D printing I really got my eyes opened for more agnostic and indie games. I really like the concept of making it possible for smaller game makers to sell their ideas. It would also make it more affordable. The prices on GW plastic are insane!
I loved playing X-Wing, but the ongoing cost of new minis was getting too high and I had started looking for 3D files of the minis, Battlefront Valkyrie was, for me, an answer to that requirement; I bought it a couple of weeks ago (when it came out) and printed all the ships right away; even with a 0.4mm nozzle, if you adjust the layer height, it is quite acceptable. Plus, the price that Fat Dragon Games ask, is very affordable.
I've recently been getting into March Empires at War which had free rules and I bought the models off of my mini factory. I've had fairly good luck with my .2mm nozzle on my Bambu P1S. I'm printing two factions and will play with my Son. Best thing is if we do not like it when it gets to the table he'll have some army men to play with :)
I'm really loving the new 3d printed models for Warmachine. The details they can get out in one piece is amazing. I love being able to get right to the painting stage. I never enjoyed all fighting all the mold lines, gaps, pins etc you need to deal with with other types of models
I, for one, look forward to being able to have more miniature games where you print the minis yourself. Of course the benefit of having your own printer, or a friend with a printer, is being able to print minis for your friends too!
I don't have a 3D printer due to living in a small apartment with no way to get away from resin fumes. I seriously considered a Bambu A1 mini fdm printer, but I actually really like scratch building terrain and I tend to buy cheap minis even when I'm not kitbashing them out of bits from the bits box and milliput or scratchbuilding water elementals from hot glue. The result is that I think the fdm printer would take a long time to pay off financially while replacing work I love doing (building things by hand) with work I hate (troubleshooting computer type problems).
Just the approach we’ve taken with #CodeBlade - all print on demand rulebook, miniature agnostic. But we’ve also worked with a company who prints minis to provide models to play with if you don’t have your own 3D printer, so everyone is catered for. As a small wargames company, it’s the best way forward right now.
I don't currently have access to a 3d printer, but I still appreciate the business model. I love the models from things like Trench Crusade and Bestiarum Miniatures (even though the latter doesn't have game), but neither would really work at retail, and would likely be very costly resin if they were manufactured. At least now I do have a somewhat affordable option to get them.
I bought a Bambu a1 mini after watching Fat Dragon Games videos about their .2mm nozzle fdm profile, and I am still impressed with every new print I make. They make some great support less models that are excellent both on their own and for getting your feet wet. Their printing profile has worked well for d&d, battletech, and warhammer models. While their new game doesn’t fit my interests, I hope it does well and would love to see others doing similar releases.
I love the idea of 3D printing my models. The bad part is that I am technically inept and until resin printing becomes more simple I will need to wait.
For sure this will revolutionize the industry for small and medium game companies and just in general for single person creators as well as these print on demand companies get some more traction, and printers gets faster and faster as well. Another thing that might happen as this matures is related to old and out of print games - suddenly it’s possible for companies to take old IP’s where they can’t justify the cost of doing another full production run of mini’s and rules and tokens and stuff, scan and refine old models, upscale in resolution, and offer these out of print-games as print on demand-games with print on demand models and rules with very little work. This is already happening in the computer game industry with companies «uprezing» games and distributing digitally, and even doing limited physical runs for collectors. My guess is, the bigger companies, they are already looking into this, but waiting for machines to become faster/more efficient/easier to use while prepping their IP’s for this happening down the road. I’m also guessing they will do bigger launch boxes and certain high demand sets as physical stuff to put on shelves, «gateway»-sets etc, while offering smaller or more niche stuff as print on demand - what they *won’t* do is sell 3d-print-at-home-files - if they do that it would be like handing out the keys to the factory and opening up for *major scale* cheap knock-off productions from certain shady manufacturers sold through questionable unregulated market places. Just be ready for this new game coming out soon: WarSledge 50K with the exiting factions «Space Soldiers» vs «Tyrannonoids» vs «Trollcs» …
i’ve printed 80 guardsman equivalent sized miniatures, on an A1 mini with a .2 mm nozzle, I’ll need to take some photos to send to you so you could see that they look pretty acceptable, sure resin would be better, but these things are definitely paintable at this point some of the Support scarring leaves a little bit to be desired sure also! The detail in X/Y will be better than the layer lines in Z, especially for gentle slopes so you can orient models to put the details you want the best
Thank you so much for including Battlefront Valkyrie in this video!
Hey! I bought it at the Wargames Vault. I just skimmed through the rules and I'm looking forward to printing and playing the game. I hope you make more factions because I'd like to have a 4-player game :)
@@ratatatuff Two new fleets/factions are indeed coming in 2025!
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors Awesome! I'm looking forward to it. For now I'm gonna print and paint the Terrans and Kurgun. That'll keep me busy for a while anyway. 😀
Nothing made me click faster than a fat dragon games products
Your series on the Ender3 was my bible to get my rigs up and running reliably. Fantastic work there. I've also bought several of your STL sets, just a wonderful collection.
One page rules and Mantic are selling STL and rules in pdf. Wich is absolutely amazing. Giving the choice to people should be the main focus of miniature companies atm.
Absolutely agree. Mantic seem to be often overlooked
i love the matic dwarves
I’m an indie manufacturer of a mini line called War in Christmas Village, and I’ve gone digital too. The plaguedemic and manufacturing shut down during 2020-2021 was a huge wake up call.
The beauty of Fat Dragon Games is they also provide the settings for download for your printer to print they're line.
I remember when they were making printable terrain, and were just as awesome back then. It's great to see they're still around, and seemingly thriving.
@@AndrewMcColl yep, we're still here and about to celebrate our 20th anniversary in business in a few months! :)
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors It was your detailed videos that helped me set up what would turn out to be the first of several Creality Ender 3s - good times!
@@ColinPattinson-j2j I'm so glad they helped you! :)
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrorspeople like yourself are the future of the hobby
Full Spectrum Dominance is absolutely something you should check out. They already have 6 factions and a ton of modes and terrain of UNBELIEVABLE detail. Everything in pdf and stls
Hah! I scrolled down to mention this game actually. Would be fun if Tabletop Minions looked into it cause it is really interesting. More small games!
FSD is a super easy buy in also. They sell the whole faction in a single bundle
The minis are great, but none of the armies click with me enough to get invested into the game, sadly. There is a model here and there I really like, but as a whole, the style is not my cup of tea.
@Milkymalk i thought so too at first. But i took the dive with a friend mostly cause we wanted to try new 6-15mm games. And i have to say that after i printed some of the models out and just looking at it i like them more and more. Luckily it is not gw prices or dedication to get an army. So easier to try out on a "whim" so to speak.
Agree entirely. FSD is an excellent game and the minis have a wealth of detail. I have a printing service do the minis for me, as I don't have a printer myself.
The takeaway I'm getting from this video is that there are options. As the consumer and a game designer or manufacturer, there are a lot of ways to go. This sounds so great, I can't wait to see the next 5 years as our hobby goes down this path
Full Spectrum Dominance is a solid Indy, sci-fi, 6mm wargame. I think it’s up to 6 full factions with some awesome minis; ranging from infantry to gigantic (for the scale) mechs and vehicles. They also do a wide variety of gorgeous terrain.
Came here to say this.
I love FSD. Amazing rules and figures.
@@Gamer-Drek i have to add for people that are allergic to 6mm. The models and the rules are scale agnostic more or less. You can scale the models up as you print them all the way up to 15mm. And the rules support this size too. I ended up printing the minis in about 8mm to make them slightly bigger.
came into the comments looking for this. and while i havent played my first game, ive just got everything setup to do so
My oldest and I just went halfsies on a Bambu A1 set with .2 mm nozzle for my other son for his birthday / Christmas. I figure it's an investment into our wargaming hobby. He's more of a RPG'r but he likes minis and always wanted me to paint his. I've taught him the basics when we were playing Mordheim (I bought all the minis but made all the kids assemble and paint their teams) and now he likes painting. Slap-Chop and speedpaints for the win.
Idols of Torment is another full package wargame from UA-cam creator Black Magic Craft. There is a physical rule book as well as a digital one. Physical and printable cards (I believe), and STLs for the minis, even though it's designed to be mini agnostic.
Full Spectrum Dominance, I picked it up, looks cool. Fully contained rules and model sets for several armies. Also small scale so can be played on a coffee table
I absolutely love the decentralisation of the hobby, like what has happened with Music and video - the one thing I think puts me off from buying a printer is the hassle. As soon as its easy as going into a shop to buy a model, ill get one!
After playing Bloodfields from Titan forge I was convinced that 3D printed games are future. It was a great experience, the files were delivered shortly after the KS, stls were easy to print and everything was well organized. The game itself is cool if your fan of games like Streetfighter or Malifaux. I highly recommend Arsenal from Electi, the art/models are great, the unit composition is slick, you get 7-12 specialist and a 100mm Mech. Its true Titanfall. I also recommend Sector AL-IX from Bishok because there is nothing else like it on the market, its a 12mm scale Sky Pirate solo/co-op tactical rpg. Its basically Crimson Skies the skirmish game. You get to paint up Sky Boats, docks terrain, and some little minis.
Yes, Blootfields is great. The starter has models for more than enough miniatures, tokens, dice (it uses special dice, which I don't think Adam would like), terrain, etc. The miniatures are great (Titan Forge are among the best 3d sculpters, in my opinion) and the rules are quite good, although I feel that scoring leans too much in killing opposed to objectives. The sci-fi version, Gridwars is also great, but requires a hex board.
one of the things i have really loved about having a 3d printer was all of the little ads i can make. there are free packs of just hundreds of little gubins to add to buildings, bases and boards.
resin really really shines here. being able to make your own transparent laser blasts, lamps, windows, crystals just the possibilities are endless.
it also allows you to print a model with transparencies in it and then mask off those areas when you prime. you can get some really cool effects if you leave holes or drill out the inside of LEDs.
I'm slightly biased, but Dark Horizons Mechanized Corps is on DTRPG with rules, STLs and more. Plus a video game in the works.
I just posted about this somewhere in this thread. That said it does commit the deadly sin of having hex maps :)
As an indie designer, I for one am extremely excited by the possibilities 3d printing presents. The high cost of miniatures production has always been the barrier to entry that's allowed relatively few large game companies a stranglehold on this industry, and 3d printing shakes that dynamic up by drastically lowering those barriers - now we see so many amazing miniature designs from incredibly talented artists - not just the ones lucky enough to land a gig at one of several companies.
You make a good point regarding the disconnect between game designers and 3d sculptors. I wrestle with this myself, being focused on the design side but without any 3d modeling chops. I find myself in the position of having projects in mind, but frankly without accompanying STLs, I'm concerned about whether they'd turn out to be anything other than labors of love rather than viable ventures. I guess I need to get networking with some sculptors, because I think you've hit the nail on the head. Apologies for the text wall. Edit: typo
I've seen a game called Wormhole, which allows you to make their models using papercraft (printing the designs on cardstock, then cutting them out, folding them, and pasting them together). I think this is a unique and fun way to make models for wargaming, since it allows anyone with a regular printer to make the models themselves.
Marcher: Empires at War by Golden Dragon Games actually had a successful Kickstarter campaign for their US faction a few months back in which they got 3 of their infantry kits to be made into plastic via War Games Atlantic.
Intriguing take on where we're heading as an industry (and a community). For our part here at Metal Express, we've been feeling our way forward with the use of 3D printing for our own ships, as 3D printing makes it finally practical to offer up ships that previous production methodologies could not (or if they could, expensive and bringing with them practical issues for game play itself).
So I'm someone who used to play 40k and Warmachine years ago, and I've been getting back into the hobby recently. Partly because Infinity and Trench Crusade has my interest, but also because I am making my own miniatures game, that I have been working on for the past couple of years. I'm an artist and 3d Modeler, who has been resin printing for nearly a decade now, so seeing all of these small studios making their games and minis to print has me really excited! This new direction in the hobby is exactly the avenue I'm interested in heading towards. Thanks for the video!
Some great points here, I'm actually one of those people who has miniatures and is looking to build a game around them. I came up with the same conclusions put a slightly different solution. Both the models & books/rules are made available on digital download and as a premium printed book/models available for delivery. We use our own composite resins and unique print processes in dedicated facilities, so trying to reproduce top end detail/quality on a $300 unit at home is not going to happen. My company specialises in "fine-scale" models for the "railway hobby", you want a fully detailed lamp smaller than a match head that sees the LED's wire inside it wrapped around the leg of the match... You get us to do it. That way we offer rugged table top miniatures and minis for the display cabinet.
Though I love the idea of the complete package of print/3D print on demand. I don't want to 3D print things myself. 1) The entry cost and the return on investment. I am not builidng and fielding large fleets and armies for lots of games. Maybe if this was available when I had my tabletop renaissance 20 years ago i would have jumped in. Now my collection is well established. I will never recoup my investment unless prices drop significantly. This is an idea for "club" investment. 2) Building and painting is enough of a hobby for me. I don't airbrush and I am not interested in developing the skills or investing the time in 3D printing. That being said I love being able to reach out the the printing services and purchase items, love that 3D printing is lowering the cost of minis!! Thanks!!
How much do you think a decent 3D printer is?
You can get an absolutly sufficient FDM printer for less than 200 $. Or for 200 $ you get one plus the 0.2 mm nozzle plus a fillament spool or two. There are used 3D printers available for less.
PLA filament is ~10 $ per kg.
So if you "invest" 200 $ and print more than 20 minis and 10 terrain pieces you are allready in the "saving money" area... chances are you will print this number in the first week... because with a 3D printer and a Myminifactory account you are never really "set" anymore.
On top of that a 3D printer is not only good for minis. You can print all sorts of things. It can be very handy to have one around to print out parts to repair stuff in your home.
I purchased my first 3D printer a little more than two years ago. I dare to say it changed my life. Even though I originally only used it to print terrain, vehicles and general parts and stuff not wargaming related. The options for terrain are totally woth the investment allready IMHO. I now started to print minis with an 0.2 nozzle as well. Its great. Yes the print quality of an SLA printer is better but FDM printing is so easy. With most minis the difference is insignificant after the mini is painted.
If you somehow manage to get 200 $ to spend I strongly suggest you give it a try.
I'll also second that, for $200-$250 you can get a full setup for resin printing including a bottle of resin to start with and basic cleaning and curing supplies.
the biggest thing is how easy it is to get into these - you print one set for you and one for your friend and off you go, you dont need to convince anyone to spend lots of money on a new game, and dont have to buy into 2 armies just to be able to run demos to look for players, from players perspective there are nearly no downsides
you say this as if 3d printing is the same difficulty as printing an word document - let alone photos with color correction etc..
nevermind learning how supports work, 3d printer adjustments, fillament costs, then the print goes haywire so now it won't be finished in time for game night, then you need a new 3d printer because your first one turns out to not be high enough resolution for miniature gaming even if it said it was.....before you actually know what it takes to get into accurate quality control 3D printing, you're $3,000 into the hobby when you could have bought multiple copies of the game for little more than the cost of all the filament spent on the entire pile of misprints now piled up in the corner of your hobby space. Not to mention all the games you've not played while you toiled around learning how to manufacture one instead. 3D printing is no where near "set and forget" printing yet. It's an entire dedicated hobby all on its own.
If it were that easy, the industry would have crumbled by now. why do you think their is still a healthy paper printing industry despite how prolific office printers are?
@@TheGremalinThank you, every word of this! Illusional nonsense like OP is bound to make people miserable
In my mini factory "branded roullett" propose files for 7 fleets for OPR one page rule fleet. Those ships are design to be printed with FDM printer. The orks, the robots the human defence force, the Dao, the alien, the saurian and the machine cult. You have tokens and planets and asteroids available as well.
I have a few friends with 3-D printers, and they very rarely use them. This blows my mind- if I owned one, it would be running 24/7!
@user-Brian_Gregory I have a resin printer and I did in fact spent the first two months printing non stop every single STL file I got my hands on. There's a thrill to it, I printed even minis for wargames I have no intention to play. The thing is, that thrill eventually fades and you realize that 1-Resin is expensive 2-Postprocessing is annoying (and hazardous!), so eventually you reach a point in which you only print when you need it.
I started with a small FDM and then got a SLA one. It's like a second job almost and really messy. There are so many options out there it can be intimidating. They recently came out with plant-based SLA resin that's ECO friendly and not so toxic so I may try that.
@@intzbk1 Agree. Also I can't paint as fast as I print. So I print very sporadically as a result. After having a printer for 4 years or so, I wonder if I would prefer to just have them printed by a local game store instead (or print on demand I guess. Also in terms of cost, most STL's are priced way to high, as if they are ready to paint models. So printing often isn't cheaper, unless you print lots of the same figures. Or if you pay for monthly releases, which again I can't remotely all print and paint.
I have found some exceptions though, like full space fleets for €5, so for €10 of files and a little resin you can play a new game, where otherwise you'd probably pay at least €50 for a starter box.
@@griflet1 It's not hard to find free STLs.
Welllll, you would think that but.....no, you wouldn't :) You'd be spending 18 hours fixing them to get 6 hours of work out of them. And then once you do get a big backlog of models printed -- then what? Keep printing more for your pile of shame? Don't get me wrong, I do like parts of the 3d printing hobby -- but it's another hobby and my time is limited. And when your 2 year old $400 printer motherboard goes up in smoke - literally - and you go back to the company to get a new one and find out that they don't make it anymore because -- why would they? they want to sell you a new printer -- you can get pretty jaded. There's a dark side, is all I'm saying, that seems to get glossed over a lot in favor of "I can print free minis." I can assure you that they aren't in any way free. But some of them are pretty danged awesome, like these spaceships!
I found some simple rules for starship combat called Starmageddon, but I also make 3D models as a hobby. I wanted to use my own miniatures, so I now own a Mars Elegoo 3D printer. It works well for printing small toys like that. Plus, I get what I want without any compromises, other than refinements to make the 3d printing work better.
I’ve been printing minis with a Bambu lab a1 mini and 0.2 nozzle. They are high enough quality for me and I think painting them helps even more to disguise their fdm nature. I’ve been printing OPR and puppetswar minis
I have ‘depressed the like button’. I also have a resin printer my wife bought for me last Christmas. It is … *faustian* in its proportions. The resin is sickening to breath in, the printer is temperamental to say the least: it needs to be leveled, the distance to the plate needs to be calibrated, the stl file needs to be sliced just so. It’s out in my garage which isn’t heated, so I can’t use it when the temperature drops below 65 because the resin won’t print right if it’s too cold. But wahhhhhh … once you get it working? Once I got it working?? *Drunk with power!!* I printed a sumo-themed ogor army, an anime-styled vampire army, ents, elves, tanks (8mm scale) … it all so, so sweet.
I experienced the same issues you mentioned, and my solution was to switch to FDM printing after watching how-to videos from Tom Tullis / Fat Dragon Games. So very helpful! His printer profiles are excellent too.
@@PixelPlateauEngineering print profile are just settings you can take and import?
Orca?
@@PureTranceSoul Correct. The profiles I have used are for Cura and I have never tried Orca so I'm not sure if they work there too. BUT do note that this printer profile used to import is stored in text format so you can open it in a text editor and see every setting right there. So even if not compatible, it's pretty easy to edit / customize your print settings to match the profile.
@@PixelPlateauEngineering ooh, I tried Orca, but my prints seem better from Cura..
Who has these profiles?
I was looking to try and print nec.. I mean robot green people but them being so skinny I feel like it is gonna be tough haha
Pro-tip: get a brewer's belt ($30 USD), or miniature heater ($30 USD) and a themostatically controlled outlet ($35 USD)... and you will be able to print any time. Not only that, your prints will be much more consistent; once you have you exposure times dialed in, the only print failures you'll get are if you don't support the model well enough.
A friend introduced me to The Games of God's and omg it got me back into Wargaming again. It was designed to help companies sell 3D STL's like One Page Rules.
Honestly, the best fantasy game we've played.
Id like to see more VR tabletop miniatures games. After playing Demeo, I feel thats the real future of wargaming. Either through VR or AR. Its a space I hope to see develop more.
But that's just...video games.
Grand Fleet Admiral Tabletop made a space fleet tabletop game, its free, and he has a bunch of different faction fleets that comes with tokens and some other stuff that can be 3d printed, he sells his models on MMF, the game have existed for some years now, and it gets upgrades now and then, and new faction has been added over the years.
Knight Models has also started to sell stl files of models on MMF for their DC universe game.
Pulp Alley is also a good choice for a skirmish game where you can use any models, and MMF do have lots of models that is a nice fit with the game.
But yeah, I do think gaming has changed the way one can get it, stls and pdfs means no shipping, no damaged or lost packages, easier to get a hold of worldwide.
Edit: Its also funny that GW used to be a miniature gaming company, but partnered with miniature companies instead of making the miniatures, so people could use any miniature companies' models that fit in, now its GWs models or you'll can get blacklisted... feels that way atleast.
I was looking at Grand Fleet Admiral and I really like their models but they are for resin printers not FTL printer.
@@jeannot7784 Now THAT is what we really need, an FTL printer. I know you meant FDM, but the Freudian slip (or autocorrect) was just too good to pass up.
I just bought an A1 printer on black Friday this video made me confident in my purchase as this is what I want to use it for and it's my first printer! Thanks for the great content
I got into Mantic’s Kings of War Armada with only stl files and a digital rulebook. Excellent game!
My special interest is FDM printable minis. Here are some great options!
Fat Dragon Games (ofc)
Brite Miniatures
Arbiter Miniatures
Illgotten Games / Dutchmogul
EC3D
Windham Graves
RAAAH
Duncan Shadow, Vae Victis, thatwhatgrows, Leonardo Escovar, RocketPig, and Monstrous Encounters also have a good options!
Oh and also me, Skellify minis lol. I want to get more designs up before I do much self promo though. I just want to get as many folks as possible designing, printing, and playing with minis in FDM😁
Bonus tip: if you're using an A1 or A1 mini, get the cool tacky build plate from Bambu. It's a GAME CHANGER.
Can you say any more about the tacky cool plate? I saw Fat Dragon mentioned it in a video, so I got one with my A1 mini a couple weeks ago…but I don’t know what to do with it or what it would help me with. I’ve kind of been waiting for Far Dragon to release a profile for that plate…
@@mattbrown5234 Bambu has a profile in their slicer now for the plate and I've been using that one to great effect! It's in the section where you select your other profiles. Just swap the PEI plate to the Cool SuperTack one in the slicer (and physically ofc)
As a bonus the tacky plate comes off cool, not warm, so it's great for impatient folks like me haha.
Hope that helps!
@@mattbrown5234to answer the other part of your question though, having the plate hold on so well to your prints means you can print small parts without them detaching from the build plate.
It's really nice for stuff like Brite's modular minis.
@ Thank you! I’ll give it a try this weekend
I've been using Fat Dragon products since the paper terrain days (can we get some more action on that end, lol). When Battlefront Valkyrie came out, many of us who use their FDM tiles were not surprised. As the companies moving or starting in this space expand, we will get more. The good thing is that it can create some strong cottage enterprise relationships. Companies that make great games and models and have reasonable commercial licenses could help those who do this for fun recoup or even make some extra pocket money by supporting their games.
I’m missing the most important asset: Friends :
Every game should have a solo mode.
I am also missing time. I hope my kids can grow up playing and painting minis with me.
There’s a hobby store near you who needs people like you to show up. Support your local businesses and realize that you are not as alone as you think you are
One Page Rules offers solo rules as well 8)
And if nothing else, you have us
My preference for wargames is mini agnostic where all you need are dice and a measuring device. For instance a stick. Couple of games do this and they let me focus more on my little guys and transporting them without needing a bunch of extras to keep up with for specific games.
I literally just ordered my Bambu A1 a few days ago -- what a timely video! Definitely looking forward to checking out some of these recommendations once I get it ready to rock and roll!
Altered, a CCG, is doing something along the lines of letting you order additional copies of cards that you've already pulled from their booster packs. The booster packs have a chance of having a 'card' that is a coupon to order a holographic version of any card you can otherwise order, too.
cool
I feel that (the excellent) Black Site Studios are probably closer to/already there with what you're talking about - but to be fair i think they had that logistical foundation as they began as terrain makers
I manufacture an indie line of holiday theme minis called “War in Christmas Village”, and this year I’ve moved to digital sales as well.
Woo hoo Fat Dragon Games!!! I used their paper craft terrain for the Space Station Zero tables at Adepticon. Just got an email about Battlefront Valkyrie and am excited to see this coverage.
1) I've seen brick and mortar stores in various parts of the country that will also print on demand and you can pick them up in store.
2) a LOT of public libraries are hosting FDM printers that you can use for very very cheap
Revelations: Battlefield & Skirmish
Both Print-on-Demand / STL’s - Free Rules, etc. the STL files you pay for the Mini’s or they also have Print-on-Demand of ‘starter sets’ & individual models / sets.
It’s a Sci-Fi game with mechs, tanks, infantry duking it out. Bunch of factions and some really dope models.
For complete packages, AntiMatter Games' has several fully digital (rules and STL) set for their DeepWars and ShadowSea settings. Also a great source for monsters in general.
One page rules also has cut out paper stand ins for miniatures. Seems like a good first time entry level option for some people.
Thanks for the fantastic video Adam. This topic of DIY print-&-play the entire game is absolutely of interest to me in my gaming.
Being still more or less out of the face to face gaming scene leftover from COVID, this can let me build up as I go.
Now I will look for your game reviews of the ones that you try and like.
Cheers!
~GT (Ian)
Since I got a 3d printer just a few months ago, and have had a lot of fun with it (and irritation) I've seriously considered creating minis for use with the rpg system I'm working on, and fleshing out the tactical combat I hadn't worked on yet much more than previously planned.
It just seems such a perfect fit for each other.
I love what 3d printing had done to mini war gaming. It's allowed me to make the tables and games that I imagined as a kid for D&D and Battletech
Golden Dragon Games has been developing the rules, lore, and 3D models for a game called "Marcher: Empires At War" which is a diesel punk style futuristic tabletop skirmish game adaptation of WWI Empires sort of where would they be in the future type setting. The 3d files and rules are all done in house and the miniature files are available on myminifactory.
There are some creators on youtube for FDM wargaming minis that have impressive results for minis on a 0.2 nozzle and ridiculously small layer heights
Which ones?
I bough a Bambu A1 two weeks ago and was looking for the same thing. I hope that Indi companies will make this kind of games with filament printer friendly files.
I know prior to attempting Rivenstone, Broken Anvil (as well as several other creators) provide commercial licenses for stls so you can sell prints. If we can get resin printers to be even easier, it would be nice to see this trend continue for stores to be able to offer models for customers. I know there is a risk of gamestores becoming more of print stores but creating some middle ground would be my hope with the current trend.
Ah, thank you for pointing out that it was a 2mm nozzle. That makes sense -- those really look good! And I lol'd when you talked about how easy it was to switch out the nozzle because the Bambu seems to make that very easy -- unlike my old Anycubic. Those results have me thinking I might want to give 3d printing another try after giving it up for a couple of years after my old printer motherboard fried and there was no way to get replacements. We'll see - my 9yo daughter put in her letter to Santa that she wants him to bring Dad a 3d printer...
Really good video, me and my wife own a 3d printing company, and have been looking into these sort of complete package games, the idea being for the adventures they could just buy the pack and print it themselves but for those who lack the equipment or will to print it themselves they would be able to order the minis off our website.
Great insights! Thank you! I'm saving up to buy the the very best resin printer setup and we're very close to "this is as good as it gets" but having to deal with the chemicals and proper disposal is making me think twice about pressing the buy button.
The real important thing to me is simple / streamlines rules. Nothing is streamline with game workshop (or even balanced) which was my first (disastrous) attempt in war gaming.
Don't Look Back by Blacksite Studios is my current 3D printable obsession. they sell a PDF copy of their newly rereleased rulebook that is GORGEOUS, and ALL of the minis you need to play can be downloaded directly from their site and printed at your leisure.
Wargame Exclusive is a modeling company that produces both .stl files and print-on-demand service for those files. They do a lot of 40K analogues, and I particularly enjoy their orc musicians.
I love Fat Dragon Games. They have absolutely oodles of fdm-friendly models for fantasy gaming. Their modular dungeon terrain is some of the best out there.
Thanks!
I’ve owned a resin printing in the past with the goal of printing detailed miniatures, but it was such a hassle and mess to print things that I sold it. I love my FDM printer though, so much easier to print with.
Interesting that I kind of had it in reverse. Since failure during print of resin printer is just popping some plaques off the basin is much easier to fix that when FDM print pops off base plate, I focused much more on resin. What could have helped you is a dedicated wash and cure station (at least Anycubic sells them), such devices make it 10 times less hassle. But I agree that it's definitely more resource intensive due to more supplies types (resin, alcohol, gloves, masks, etc.)
FDM 3D Printer Optimized Wargames/RPGs, I know/use: All the "Fat Dragon Games", Battlefront Valkyrie + World War Tesla + VALLIS MORTIS (with CRYPT CLASSICS, DRAGONLOCK, DRAGON TILES & ALPHA-TECH CITY sets) are FDM optimized,... so is: Full Throttle, Marshals Unleashed, Void Admiral, Blight Seas Fleet & Star Clash ... maybe more (Fantasy Land Wargames + "Retro-Future" Land Wargames + Sea Ship Wargames + Space Ship Wargames + Fantasy RPG, right there... I'm sure there is more) ... all for "pennies on the dollar" vs the "big $ names"
The settings put out by Tom and Fat Dragon Games are amazing for printing FDM miniatures of all genres.
As one who was a part of developing our own table top board game as a teenager for me, my brothers, and my buddies, this is a very interesting and innovative concept.
I like it.
(The game mentioned here is very reminiscent of Starfleet Battles.)
Grid Wars from Cyberforge (Titanforge) is my favourite complete 3D printable game. Crazy unique heroes, relatively simple mechanics in a cyberpunk world.
Link pkease
@@TempoLOOKING Youtbe is bad for links. Google "Gridwars" and "Cyberforge" and you'll find it
Valkyrie game is more like a 3D printing game, with a bonus game to play with your game. I had a guy in NY state that I bought a ton of things from when I was running D&D games a few years ago. Dice jails, tokens and a bunch of other things, as he was also learning what would work. He sent me a bunch of prints that looked good when I got them and then I painted them and the plastic he used, dried and cracked after a month. He sent me more stuff as it was fun to help him learn and I was giving him some money to play with, so it was a win/ win. Looking forward to sunday!
I am involved with game component manufacturing. Principally terrain and tokens however I also work with figure designers and I think you are absolutely 💯 with this.
To date the issue has been with the quality of 3d printers and their relative availability in the community. This is changing and whilst it may take some time to really take hold it i happening.
It feels like evolving from the Middle Age era, where things were ruled by few big lords, to the Modern era where small merchants started to defy the old powers and made the things move on. Let's see what the future will bring.
The printing press truly helped to revolutionise things, in many ways. Its taken a while for 3d printing to gain wipe-spread acceptance, but now that the genie is out of the bottle, there is no going back!
Hey that is an interesting comparison, the 3d printer being comparable to the printing press back when.
Ooh I love this analogy!
I also love my 3D printer and paper laser printer :)
I have been working on a game. I already have a couple videos on my channel on how I’m going about with it. I started working on it last year with random encounter tokens. It’s miniature agnostic but it also have a character driven option. Next video on it will be character creation to build the crew.
I run a little business making custom maps and terrain for table top gaming of any flavor.
I used to offer miniatures, but I decided to focus a bit tighter instead. I do, however use my printer to make my own miniatures as props and for my own games. I also use it to make fiddly bits that are to time heavy for a decent handmade ROI. Bottles, window frames, etc.
just a thought as somebody trying to come back into the hobby, but I think that nice paper miniatures and terrain are an excellent option that is perhaps more environmentally sustainable.
I don't have a 3d printer, but I'm always on the lookout for new STLs that I can get printed and sent out to me. I recently found 28mm 80s cold war soviets by Flank March Miniatures and even more recently some 28mm scrapyard zombie apoc stuff by Kraken 3D Studios
I was very impressed with the Idea that Privateer Press was exploring before the sale to steamforged. Were the models were printed at a high level by manufacturer yes, but at a lower cost and almost on demand (maket demand). What fascinated me, was the potential for distributors becoming licensed manufacturers, avoiding all sorts of tariffs and shipping issues by working under licenses. I think there is great potential for models like these in the future, especially with imports and shipping become a much larger issue in the coming months... Can we get some insight on how this is being perceived by the community and manufacturers?
My bambu labs A1 mini that I bought about 3 months ago has been going non-stop printing both terrain AND mini's. It is actually what got me back into the hobby afer a 20 year hiatus. I started out with fat dragons profile for the bambu labs printer, but have been modifying it since. I even know someone with a resin printer who swore FDM couldn't print mini's until he saw the results I've been getting.
There was a company around 10 years ago that released a kick starter for a Zombie style game that was print on demand. It didn't take off but it was a cool idea back in 2015. I can't remember their names but they were super nice. Met them at a convention at the Grapevine convention center in Texas.
Mantic is now selling their Kings of War Vanguard game on MMF, and this is after they already sold Deadzone there. Between these campaigns and their Mantic Vault subscription, you can get most of their minis, rules, and tokens digitally. I'm a big fan of this and happy to support them in their efforts!
Fully agree. I just bought a BambuLab A1 Mini because a Resin printer is too hazardous for me to put in my flat. I already printed two full warbands for Frostgrave and A Song of Blades and Heroes with the A1 mini. And now I don't need to buy all the miniatures for the monsters in Frostgrave, I just print them. :)
All the minis I printed are by Brite Miniatures as they are optimized for FDM printing. I have also seen Battlefront Valkyrie on wargames vault, I think I need to get it.
edit: Just got Battlefront Valkyrie. Couldn't resist anymore. 😂
I found battlefront Valkyrie when looking for print and play games for my kid. I love space ship games and this checks all the boxes 👍🏻
I was really fascinated by the approach... but also a little bit annoyed by the fact that, not having a 3d printer, I could not get it. Print on demand from Italy is probably too expensive so I will just keep it on the watchlist until I buy a printer. 🤷🏻♂️
I personally stay away because i'm afraid i will start to print a lot and and the end all my prints will end up in garbage. At the end i don't want to print waste.
A couple years ago I bought a resin 3d printer to print tanks for flames of war. worked like a champ. When I tried to print 28mm minis I had issues. took me a while to figure it out but it is working well for awhile now. I am going to move up to Saturn 4 Ultra very soon. it can seem scary but just make the plunge and follow around with it read a few articles watch a few vids (Man I wish we had UA-cam in the 80's) and you can figure it out! If I can do it you can do it! 3D printing is fun! There is also software you can use to modify the stl to exactly what you want...
Fat Dragon is also active in the 3d printer community which means that usually know what they are talking about when it comes to tweaking your printer for best results. :)
I have some of their RPGs stuff.
I also suggest World War Telsa from fat dragon. Another one of their mini war games.
Every game from Black Site Studios has had a fully digital option alongside its physical release, mainly due to meeting the demand of interested players overseas that are impacted by sky-high shipping rates. Such titles include:
Don't Look Back
Demon Ship
Lunar
Hametsu
Mobile Arms
Violent Dark
Yafsiga
Pit Lord
and tons more. I suggest giving one or two a spin!
I like this direction for war gaming, with one fairly major concern. I want flgs to not just survive, but thrive. I've had countless good times playing in flgs, in fact that's where I met my wife, and most of my best friends.
It's good for the consumer to have access to these games direction - but if flgs startto die off as a result that's very bad for everyone. It's also potentially very tricky for flgs to adapt, depending on the store and patronage. Some places do great business by charging for their space to play - others would alternate their entire community by trying. Some can pivot to produce their own 3dp models - but I think it's pretty easy to see why that may not be in the cards.
Idk, I don't really have an answer, but I think a lot of people take the flgs for granted without realizing how much value they actually bring the community (and game companies - the free advertising that a flgs provides is absurd), and don't realize how thin the margins can be
Years ago I purchased and printed 'Tesla" from Fat Dragon Games. Excellent quality. There is also 'Ironclads: Space Battles in the Victorian Aether'. I do all my printing on my Prusa 4S with normal settings.
One of the other things, for me, about 3D printing becoming such a pillar in the table top gaming sphere, is that it also opens the door for more people to make more indie board games in general with fun and interesting 3D printed pieces.
Since I got interested in 3D printing I really got my eyes opened for more agnostic and indie games. I really like the concept of making it possible for smaller game makers to sell their ideas. It would also make it more affordable. The prices on GW plastic are insane!
I loved playing X-Wing, but the ongoing cost of new minis was getting too high and I had started looking for 3D files of the minis, Battlefront Valkyrie was, for me, an answer to that requirement; I bought it a couple of weeks ago (when it came out) and printed all the ships right away; even with a 0.4mm nozzle, if you adjust the layer height, it is quite acceptable. Plus, the price that Fat Dragon Games ask, is very affordable.
I've recently been getting into March Empires at War which had free rules and I bought the models off of my mini factory. I've had fairly good luck with my .2mm nozzle on my Bambu P1S. I'm printing two factions and will play with my Son. Best thing is if we do not like it when it gets to the table he'll have some army men to play with :)
I'm really loving the new 3d printed models for Warmachine. The details they can get out in one piece is amazing.
I love being able to get right to the painting stage. I never enjoyed all fighting all the mold lines, gaps, pins etc you need to deal with with other types of models
Valkyrie looks awesome. Thanks for the heads up.
The resurgence of 10mm games (Warmaster / Warmaster Revolution or otherwise) comes to mind, too.
I, for one, look forward to being able to have more miniature games where you print the minis yourself. Of course the benefit of having your own printer, or a friend with a printer, is being able to print minis for your friends too!
I don't have a 3D printer due to living in a small apartment with no way to get away from resin fumes. I seriously considered a Bambu A1 mini fdm printer, but I actually really like scratch building terrain and I tend to buy cheap minis even when I'm not kitbashing them out of bits from the bits box and milliput or scratchbuilding water elementals from hot glue. The result is that I think the fdm printer would take a long time to pay off financially while replacing work I love doing (building things by hand) with work I hate (troubleshooting computer type problems).
Designing the terrain feels absolutely amazing and printing it is even better. Great video BTW.
Just the approach we’ve taken with #CodeBlade - all print on demand rulebook, miniature agnostic. But we’ve also worked with a company who prints minis to provide models to play with if you don’t have your own 3D printer, so everyone is catered for. As a small wargames company, it’s the best way forward right now.
I don't currently have access to a 3d printer, but I still appreciate the business model. I love the models from things like Trench Crusade and Bestiarum Miniatures (even though the latter doesn't have game), but neither would really work at retail, and would likely be very costly resin if they were manufactured. At least now I do have a somewhat affordable option to get them.
A really cool 'print and play' game is Star Scrappers - Battledrill by Hexy. Cool setting, great terrain pieces and lovely miniatures.
Very interesting! I’m tempted epic models without buying a box. Then I can print the size of base that I want
I bought a Bambu a1 mini after watching Fat Dragon Games videos about their .2mm nozzle fdm profile, and I am still impressed with every new print I make. They make some great support less models that are excellent both on their own and for getting your feet wet. Their printing profile has worked well for d&d, battletech, and warhammer models.
While their new game doesn’t fit my interests, I hope it does well and would love to see others doing similar releases.
I love the idea of 3D printing my models. The bad part is that I am technically inept and until resin printing becomes more simple I will need to wait.
You may consider a fdm printer like the bambulab a1. You can get amazing quality or of it.
@@Oyster_ManThanks! I'll look into that
If your kido is still young, Bambu A1 is great to print a lot of little toys very cheap (the files are free) and PLA is non toxic.
For sure this will revolutionize the industry for small and medium game companies and just in general for single person creators as well as these print on demand companies get some more traction, and printers gets faster and faster as well.
Another thing that might happen as this matures is related to old and out of print games - suddenly it’s possible for companies to take old IP’s where they can’t justify the cost of doing another full production run of mini’s and rules and tokens and stuff, scan and refine old models, upscale in resolution, and offer these out of print-games as print on demand-games with print on demand models and rules with very little work.
This is already happening in the computer game industry with companies «uprezing» games and distributing digitally, and even doing limited physical runs for collectors.
My guess is, the bigger companies, they are already looking into this, but waiting for machines to become faster/more efficient/easier to use while prepping their IP’s for this happening down the road.
I’m also guessing they will do bigger launch boxes and certain high demand sets as physical stuff to put on shelves, «gateway»-sets etc, while offering smaller or more niche stuff as print on demand - what they *won’t* do is sell 3d-print-at-home-files - if they do that it would be like handing out the keys to the factory and opening up for *major scale* cheap knock-off productions from certain shady manufacturers sold through questionable unregulated market places.
Just be ready for this new game coming out soon: WarSledge 50K with the exiting factions «Space Soldiers» vs «Tyrannonoids» vs «Trollcs» …
i’ve printed 80 guardsman equivalent sized miniatures, on an A1 mini with a .2 mm nozzle, I’ll need to take some photos to send to you so you could see that they look pretty acceptable, sure resin would be better, but these things are definitely paintable at this point
some of the Support scarring leaves a little bit to be desired sure
also! The detail in X/Y will be better than the layer lines in Z, especially for gentle slopes
so you can orient models to put the details you want the best