3D Printing

 By Tom Burgess,

Some of my fondest childhood memories are from the 1976 Bicentennial of the American War of Independence (AWI). That excitement has been kindled of late as we will soon be approaching the 250th Anniversary. About a year ago I suggested to Henry Turner, prolific provider of 3D files to print countless 6mm armies, that he might want to consider an AWI line as we approach the 250th.  He was probably planning this all along, but I like to think I gave him the idea to produce this excellent “Colonies Asunder” range of 6mm to 15mm wargame miniature files.  I’m taking full credit anyway!

By Tom Gall

If you have a resin 3D printer and have been watching the variety of Kickstarters going by with STLs to choose from there seems to be an explosion of offerings for tabletop wargamers.

I’ve been very skeptical of printing my own 10mm/15mm infantry figures. Sculpts and print quality are my primary concern, as things get smaller, would the results be reasonable? What happens when small resin figures are on the tabletop, with dice, dropping, etc, will there be shattered sadness?

Before we get to my own experiences, I want to highlight the work of Henry Turner who has a Kickstarter up for NATO troops set in 1983. Within the Kickstarter, he has both US and British infantry in a variety of poses that are meant for a variety of scales. At £30 or $50US for both sets it’s a good deal and you’ll see why in a moment.

By Richard Steer

I’ve recently been thinking a lot about the impact of 3D printing on the historical wargaming hobby. My primary concern has been the threat that printing poses to the local shops and manufacturers who rely on selling products for their livelihoods, and what this means for the future of the hobby as we know it.

Into the middle of one of these periods of reflection, a new kickstarter landed that has reminded me of the huge potential that 3D printing has for growing the hobby: Potbelly Miniatures’ campaign launching a range of 28mm Hellenistic Judeans.

By Paolo Paglianti

Ops, they did it again! After having explored “classic” WW2 and D-Day/Bulge scenarios, Spanish 3D Breed creators have launched a new themed Kickstarter about the North Africa theatre. And it’s so cheap, successful, and full of models every wargamer interested in World War 2 with a 3D printer should give it a look.

We already know the quality of 3D Breeds STL files, not only for WW2 models but also for “Ancient” (here is our feature about the Greeks and Persians) and “Western” ages (read about it here) so we already knew North Africa would be good. We received a small “press pack” with some miniatures and we promptly printed them (in 15mm).

by Paolo Paglianti

When the man with a 3D printer meets the man with the right Kickstarter, the man with the 3D printer will print a lot! You can’t say 3DBreed, the Spanish STL files producer, sits on their hands at all. After the launch of the Persian/ Greek Kickstarter, they now time travel to the XIX century on the wild west frontier.

By Paolo Paglianti

I really like to have custom bases for my miniatures, as you can see and read here (), here () and here (), I normally try to have small dioramas for my Flames of War or Team Yankee infantry teams. When I began painting my new Iraq army, and I come to the three platoons infantry formation, I wanted something different. One of the three platoons would fight on rocky ground, the same I used for my “Sicilian” bases for my British WW2 Paras. Some great inspirations come from my friend Luca Papisca and his US bases!

For the other two platoons, I chose an “urban street” scenario and a “rural village” scenario, using my new 3D Resin Printer (). I think 3d Printing is a true revolution in modeling and in our hobby: not only because you can print the tanks you need, but especially since you can “create” almost everything you want, you just need some creativity.

By Tom Burgess

Editor’s note: This is the second of our two part look at 3D resin printing for wargamers.

I know what you are thinking “wouldn’t it be great if I could print the high quality wargame miniatures I want on demand?” The true wargamer response to that has to be “of course!” That’s what I was thinking when I ordered my own 3D resin printer.  But it has been an interesting journey for me with some pleasant and some not so pleasant surprises.  This endeavor has made me think about the future of wargaming and how I will fit in with it now that I can make my own models.

Quality resin 3D printers are coming down in price and there are so many people offering free and for-a-fee 3D print files, it just may be that we are entering a new age for miniature wargaming. So where might this road be taking us, and is 3D printing for everyone? These are questions that I will attempt to look at in this article. There may be some misconceptions.

So the first thing you are thinking about when considering to buy a 3D resin printer is probably that you’ll save a lot of money on your wargame miniatures.

By Tom Gall

This article is about how to make your game table bigger, by fearlessly going to a smaller scale. In my case, I’ve been gaming in 15mm for Team Yankee and Battlegroup NorthAG, but want to convert to 10mm to get more gaming space for the same sized table. 3-D printing is a major portion of my success getting into another scale.

With NorthAG, the Plastic Soldier Company has a good line of models that continues to expand. Other companies of course can scratch the 10mm itch as well. The great thing about a 15mm to 10mm conversion is the smaller vehicles, infantry, and so on paint a lot faster. You’ll get to the table sooner and not have to invest tons of time in detail.