March to Hell new STL Kickstarter: it’s a Hell of Vietnam, baby
By Paolo Paglianti,With more than nine ehm, ten successful Kickstarter, and ranges covering all of World War II, the Mediterranean ancient world, Wild West, and Indian Wars, I think 3D Breed needs no introduction and every wargamer with a resin 3D printer knows their excellent stuff. These Spanish guys are exceptional not only in fully covering a given military period, but also to provide lots of bonuses for the wargamers eager to field a British Normany army or a Greek hoplite contingent, both in 15mm and 28mm heroic scale.
Ops, they did it again. After the success of the Desert War, they went for the Vietnam War. The Kickstarter is now live (you can find it here). As happened for the last few KS from 3D Breed, the base range they are offering to their Kickstarter is quite limited, but we all know they reach always almost any Stretch goal they set. We waited for a few days after the launch of the Kickstarter, and – guess what – it is already found, and reached all original Stretch goals. They had to create a new set of goals, indeed.
Some photos of the Vietnam range printed and painted (from the Kickstarter page).
3D Breed was so kind to send us a press kit with a lot of elements: we printed them, and are really happy. Sometimes, 3D Breeds are a bit “chunky” (especially, the first projects) and we normally printed 95-95-100% to slender them a bit; we found these US and NVA soldiers perfect with no rescaling. We printed them in 15mm – the press kit has them without support, but the final Kickstarter models will have support both for 15mm and 28mm.
The Marine platoon has 12 different poses, and will also include an HQ option
The Huey – can you imagine a Vietnam US army without these boys? It’s printed in three parts – skids, hull, and tail, and you then add the rotors.
The BTR 50 and the M113 vehicles. The M113 has options for opened/closed hatch and for the TOW missile turret.
The NVA platoon – again, will have 12 poses and HQ option – and the ZPU 1 AA gun.
Amazing, aren’t they? The Huey had a hull, the skids on a different file to print them better, and the tail with pins to fix it to the hull. The BTR had the tracks divided, but I think I will 3D-paste them to the hull. The detail is astounding.
Here is a scale comparison with Battlefront US Marines (of the 80ies). I think the 3D Breed ones are really well-detailed and with dynamic poses. They probably don’t mix perfectly with Battlefront ranges, but if you really want to do a mix, you can work on the vertical scale to slender them a bit.
Huey 3D Breed vs Battlefront. Not exactly the same size, but you can upscale at need.
Some vehicle comparison between Battlefront plastic models and 3D Breed prints. The Huey is not exactly the same version, but it’s roughly the same dimensions. The M113 is side to side with an IDF M113, and once painted will not be different.
Let’s see what you’ll get (well, “we” will get, I’m also a Kickstarter) for a mere 45 Euros /Dollars. The base set includes 12 US Marines, a US HQ, a fantastic Huey chopper with crew and a M113 APC. The NVA part has a ZPU 1 AA gun, a BTR 50, and a platoon of 12 infantry and HQ.
The already-funded goals include more infantry (including US Special forces, soldiers with LAW, RPG B40, snipers, sappers, and mortar teams) and various vehicles. The Cobra copter, the T34/85 and the T54, the M48, and Sheridan. US forces include more vehicles, as it was historical, so you’ll also get M109 artillery, M132 Zippo, and the welcomed addition of the M125.
The next goals, added after few days, will include the Huey-D, the M50 Ontos (already unlocked, at the time we write this article), a Vietnamese village and the gigantic S34 Seahorse. Comparing the list of infantry and vehicles to the Nam book from Battlefront, I think this Kickstarter offers almost everything you need to field any kind of US and NVA army combination, including the OH-6 copter. For a mere 45 Euros/Dollars, a real bargain if you have access to a resin printer.
The original stretch goals were fully unlocked after few days.
3D printers are changing the whole scene. I just printed an Armored Panzergrenadier Company and most of a Panther Company for $80, first time ever using a 3d printer. I picked up the German and US armies from 3dBreed during this kickstarter sale, great sculpts that print well. Really looking forward to the Nam release, I’ve needed to beef up my VC and NVA forces for awhile now. I’m hoping they add some terrain down the line. There hasn’t been a good US firebase set since 4ground studios went under.