Can you believe that 1/12th of 2024 is already over? Where does time truly go? Since i’m trying to become better at documenting my hobby collection, I have decided to attempt to create a “Hobby Roundup” summary and overview of each month of my hobby. This will include notable collection changes, painting project, and my goals for the next month. While this is something very methodical, I am testing to see if it helps me be more self aware of how I am hobbying and my overall pile of potential changes over the course of the year.
This year I have two primary goal.
Be mindful of my collection growth.
While I want to grow my collection I want to grow it with models that I deeply desire to paint and play with. The goal is to remove models from the collection that will not be loved by me and give them to another home which will be loved. Using those shifted models I’ll sell off or trade for other models that I will use.
Significantly reduce the overall “In Progress” project list to Painted.
One of the most insightful things i’ve noticed about cataloging my collection (iCollect Everything Minaitures Edition) is that I have as many if not more in progress models than I do completed models. This is both due to lack of confidence in having the final model not living up to its potential as well as getting distracted.
Collection Additions
For this month I have been adding a significant number of models to my collection as i’ve started the Escalation League (2024 New Year, New Army: Escalation League Begins) with one of my local friendly game stores. Finally starting my Cities of Sigmar army I have always dreamt of.
I have also decided to subscribe to the Stormbringer magazine which delivers 4 weekly issues a month and often paired with models to help you grow your collection. I intended to share more about this magazine in the future to be sure to stay tuned.
New Additions to the Collection
Unit
Model Count
Source
Daggok’s Stab Lads
4
Purchase, new underworld warband for Kruelboyz
Wildercorp Hunters
11
Purchase, split Warcry box with a friend
Lord Imperatant
2
Stormbringer Issue #8
Swampcalla Shaman
2
Stormbringer Issue #9
Xandire’s Truthseekers
4
Stormbringer Issue #10
Total
23
two purchases and subscription
Xandire’s Truthseekers- Stormbringer MagnazineSwampcalla Shaman with Pot GrotLord ImperatantWildercorps HuntersDeathGorge Daggok’s Stab Lads
Photo Credit: Product Images shown above from the Warhammer community/store pages.
Models Sold off
To help pay for the models i’ve added this month and try to keep my total model count down, i’ve been trading models and selling them to other people in my local community.
Gutrippaz X 10, Killaboss with stab grot x2, Hobgrot Slittaz 10x, Kunnin Crew x6, Shaman & Pot grow x2 (gained this month). Total model count: 30d
Overall I am really proud of the fact i’ve kept pretty event with my total models coming in and out. I have even been on top of selling off models from the Stormbringer magazine off as they come in. Since my current primary army is Kruelboyz many of the models are duplicates and therefore unneeded.
Janruary Model Net= -7
Paint Projects
While for Janruary I have not finished many models I have certaintly started them. Starting with my Cities of Sigmar army I am definitely doing what I can to get as much dones as I can before the end of Phase 1 (February 18th) for the league. Stay tuned or follow along on my instagram https://www.instagram.com/crazmadsci/ for periodic updates.
Models Completed: 2
Scatter Terrain Portal
Dwarf Ref Bloodbowl
OnWards to February
The month of February will probably be my most ambitious month ever. If I accomplish it then it will gain a significant amount of momentum for throughout the year. We are almost halfway through and i’m starting to get nervous.
However this weekend I am giong to be stretching my tabletop experiences further than ever before and be heading to Nashville for an Age of Sigmar teams tournament i’m going to help run as their designiated score keeper. I have a feeling that this could impact my game and how I am as a miniature painter for some time to come.
Are you keeping up with your goals this year so far?
Yes as we all know its time for that annual breakdown and preview of what is to come with our hobby goals. People have set New Years Resolutions and of course always end up broken and I am absolutely no different. For 2022 I set upon myself a list of lofty goals and have accomplished very few if you are curious on my track record check out my past write ups 2022 Hobby Goals & 2021 Hobby Goal Retrospective.
“Yes I know what you are thinking, hobby goals, showcases these yearly posts are cliche and exhaustively overused.”
2022 Crazmadsci
But I inevitably find it incredibly useful in seeing my personal mentality from year to year. So bear with me as I gauge how my mentality and goals in the hobby have shifted.
What did I accomplish last year?
My universal motto and approach will be, “Improve my skill, output and performance over the previous year.” So I am planning on using last year as a benchmark of comparison so I can more definitely see how I match up. I’d argue that my performance is ehh comparable to the year before because so much of my free time shifted to actually playing games rather than just preparing for them.
Of my entire list of 2022 hobby goals I only succeeded in two hobby goals.
Success!: Paint more models than 2021 Success! Play two new tabletop games.
For the past year I have painted 42 models to 100% completion this is greater than the number in 2021 which was 26! Yes I know it still does not feel like enough but for me building a routine and navigating my perfectionism in models it is harder to accomplish. I do have easily do have easily double this number with only a few hours of paint time left. This list includes a Snotling Bloodbowl team (20), my 2021 benchmark model, my 2022 benchmark model and 2 units of hobgrots from the Kruelboyz army in Age of Sigmar (20 models).
I have spent a very long time assembling, gathering, priming, basing and painting a Kruelboyz army for Age of Sigmar in 2022 but tended to jump around quite a bit and didn’t finish as much as I would have hoped. As you can see a lot of progress has been made it just requires a bit of focus to knock it out.
As for playing two new tabletop games I actually count playing 3 games. The first two are Age of Sigmar which has been my primary go to game for the year, Gloomhaven online (which still counts in my book), and Dungeon Bowl.
New Goals for 2023?
While I have a lofty list of goals for the upcoming year I have decided to boil it down to five “simple” items
Finish more projects than I start
Finish more models than I buy/print
Limit the amount I print for others and focus on my own hobby
Paint more models in 2023 than I did in 2022 (42 in 2022)
Focus on improving the skills of my painting
Some of these definitely sound easier said then done especially the reduce the backlog goal of painting more than I buy. With the new Cities of Sigmar book coming later this year I need to do a ton of painting to reduce the model count. But overall I think its more doable than past years while also tackling the backlog of projects.
Conclusion
What do you think? Do you set annual goals for yourself? How did you do last year, let me know in the comments below.
Last week marks a special milestone for me, One Year of Owning a Resin Printer. I can’t believe that I have only printed on my Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K for only a year because looking back on it, WOW have I accomplished a lot. While I printed my first resin miniature back in 2018, i’ve waited some time to have my own.
Since I have had a resin printer in my home for a year I thought i’d take this opportunity to share some of the questions I answered before jumping into this aspect of the 3D printing hobby and share some of my experiences.
My shiny resin printer ready to be played with right out of the box.
Backstory
Over the last two years, resin printing has absolutely exploded. Printing in your home has become significantly more affordable as well as product variety in both the printers and material.
When I started looking in the 3D printing hobby, entry resin printers started around $500 with average cost of resin $60 for 1 kg of resin. Now people can get into the hobby for less than $200 a printer with resin costing about $30-$40 a kg for average users. On top of that material resin has grown in water washable resin, tough resins, flexible resins, transparent resins and more. These were available in the past but the number of companies offering options and variable price points around the world have grown tremendously along with improvements in formulas.
Not only has the cost of resin printing and availability of products grown over time but the market is absolutely stuffed full of artists and there hasn’t been a better time to find model variety for your tabletop games, display painting, wargaming etc.
My Personal Goals & Criteria for a Resin Printer
Before jumping into resin printing I set rules and answered several questions before buying.
Budget: Around $250 Printing Usage: Primarily miniature figures and bits Size: Did not matter for me as I already owned a large volume printer with my Prusa Mk3s FDM printer Goals: To create model figures and things I haven’t been able to do well on my FDM printer. Also learn a new method & technology of 3D printing
Narrowing Down the List
In summer of 2020 when I was researching what resin 3D printer to buy a few major milestones in resin printing development were happening for the 3D community.
Large Format printers were hitting the marketplace for the the everyday hobbyist. These include products like the Elegoo Saturn which is almost 3 times larger in volume than the Elegoo Mars 2. Why is this important?
Faster printing: Since the build plate is larger. Hobbyists can make more objects at a single time making it capable of producing more miniatures per print in the same amount of time.
Print Larger Objects: Due to the larger volume in both the print bed but also the Z-axis. People can now print buildings and larger monsters easier with fewer cuts and keys.
Monochrome Screens were being released as a new and improved screen for resin printing. Example model the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K. Essentially each monochrome screen aimed to project more blue light at 405 mm wavelengths which is the light used in the photochemical reaction of resin printing. This is an improvement over the standard LCD screen with equivalent light sources of Red, Yellow, Blue. Why is this important?
Faster Printing. Since there is a higher light efficiency projecting from the screen. Print exposure times go significantly down meaning it takes less time to cure each layer of resin and therefore producing a miniature faster.
Longer ScreenLife Spans: since the screen is emitting light more efficiently, it is therefore on for shorter intervals and will last longer. This saves the consumer more money in the long run in having to replace the screen. Marketing of monochrome printers say the lifespan can be 4 times longer than its LCD counterpart but only time will tell if that is true.
Since the evolution of 3D printing would undoubtedly result in faster printing the question still remained. Did I prefer a larger printing volume or higher resolution printer with a longer life span?
You might be asking “what do you mean higher resolution printer?” Glad you asked resin printing is based on the resolution of the pixel density of the screen and not just the resolution of the screen. Therefore if a printer has the same 4K resolution but one has a larger print volume the XY resolution of that printer would less than a 4K resolution small printer. As you might have guessed from reading my blog already I decided upon the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K which was a 35 micron XY resolution printer vs the Elegoo Saturn with a 50 micron XY resolution.
My Resin Printer in its new home
At that time the Phrozen sonic mini 4K had the best marketed XY resolution ever to hit the hobbyist market. Currently it is matched with the Elegoo Mars 3 at 35 microns and beaten by the Epax X1-4K at 32 microns. Due to it being one of the first of its kind I did go slightly over my budget (approximately $300 early bird special) and jumped on the 1st wave of orders. I was absolutely thrilled to begin this new chapter of my printing journey.
Safety Concerns
One of the largest reasons why I waited so long to get into resin printing was not having a safe space for harmful fumes while printing as well as having a working space for resin away from my small curious and ever growing child. The safety concerns and studies regarding resin printing are vast and too big for discussion today but let me know in the comments if you wish for me to go into it more.
Even though I did spend roughly a month printing out of an old wooden wardrobe. My partner and I built an enclosure to become the future home and current home of both printers, their materials, and tools needed while venting out of the house.
Once I got the printer, the setup, I set to work.
My 3D Printing Enclosure
Lessons Learned
Admitting my Stubbornness
Much like the excitement of starting 3D printing, resin printing completely opened a whole new world for me. While i’ll always be an advocate of FDM printing and consider there to still be a place for filament printed miniatures. I admit I absolutely prefer resin printed miniatures over FDM. I am without a doubt someone who will “Fight” others to say you can print tabletop standard in FDM but resin miniatures are leaps and bounds better in quality with less time committed than FDM.
Resin (left) vs FDM (right) of a jaill cell
Troubleshooting & Getting Started
When in doubt relevel your print bed. This is the cause of a significant vast majority of 3D printing issues for resin and unfortunately takes practice.
Also factory settings or even other peoples settings are not the best print settings for your printing environment and printer. Resin printing can be more temperamental than FDM so just sharing of print profiles does not work as easily. use these as recommendations to start from and run many calibrations.
Avoid Being a First Adopter
I now vow to avoid being a first adopter to a printer in the future. As one of the first people to own a Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K I absolutely love my printer BUT it isn’t perfect. What i’ve learned the hard way is that printers come out so quickly in-depth quality assurance is not always the case. Thankfully the model has improved over time for new owners purchasing the mini 4K. I’ve most nortiously struggled with my z-axis and issues associated with it such as banding and locking into place.
For the future i’ll wait a year or so before buying into a printer and let others pioneer the path. Being a mom of young kids I do not have the time anymore for such indepth troubleshooting.
First Prints
To start off printing I jumped right in and printed my absolute favorite monster the Owlbear. This baby owlbear is made by Manuel Boria and is one of the models in his welcome pack for joining his patreon. There are 3 in this set and immediately I was blown away by the detail of the sculpt with the tiny paws, fur texture and even cute eyes. Also looking back i’ve realized that i’ve also significantly improved my miniature photography skills.
Most Failures & Most Expensive Printing
I’ll never forget the hard hard lesson of knowing how much resin you should put into your printing vat. I must have failed about 4 times on the top leaves portion of the Heartwood Treant by Lost Adventures Co. Each failure was around $6 an attempt, ouch. This is by far now the most “expensive” model in my collection to print because of it.
Favorite Model
My absolutely favorite model printed to date was one I least expected the Graveyard Golem. Man does this figure have some incredible character. Much like I describe on the write up for printing this model I did not expect to fall in love with the model like I did. However the render of the figure did not do it justice for all the detail and storytelling found on the figure. I can’t wait to paint this!
Conclusions
Overall resin printing has not only really enhanced my 3D printing experience but in general has really motivated and inspired me to paint more. I truly do not think I was fully into the hobby as a “miniature painter” but after being able to print incredibly detailed sculpts and bring ideas to life it absolutely has changed me. I still consider myself new as a miniature painter and attempted to grow but have completely jumped into the hobby space.
Over the course of the last year i’ve learned a lot, grown a lot and have even recently joined the ranks of doing professional 3D printing support work. I am working diligently to bring much of my collective knowledge and reference material to life in a brand new “Printing Section” of the website. This section will contain, how to get started, troubleshooting, FAQ, tools and materials and more.
If you are on the fence of jumping into 3D printing i’d say it is absolutely worth it and there couldn’t be a better time to jump in the hobby. Have questions? Don’t hesitate to ask below as I’m always willing to help in your journey.
Are you working on anything special? Do you print miniatures or are thinking about it? Let me know in the comments.
As always Happy Crafting, Carrie aka crazmadsci the Crazy Mad Scientist.
Now for the seriously overdue conclusion to my Frostgrave series. I truly do not know where to begin, I’ve spent the last few weeks ruminating on how to articulate the experience and journey. In short it has caused some serious writers block.
Its been an absolutely wild ride. I started this project at the end of July with the quest towards an epic day of gaming and playing Frostgrave with my wonderful husband. Over the course of the past two months I’ve been tirelessly planning, printing, and painting as much as I could to truly bring a terrain dense and immersive game day. This was to accomplish two primary goals.
Try to overcome some of the downfalls from truly enjoying the game in our first few games from February which I discuss in Frostgrave Beginnings.
Due to the lack of terrain the game was significantly overpowered towards ranged attacks which reduced the fun of the game for me and really felt tremendously unbalanced as a game. Conclusion Learned: Yes increased terrain does significantly reduce the power of ranged combatants and really make things fun for all warband members.
I really needed a day to bond with my best friend which wasn’t just about our kids.
If those of you do not know we added another member to our crazy family four months ago and of course newborns can take a serious chunk of time out of your schedule. On top of that, due to Covid it has been incredibly difficult to have a date night or get out of the house. So the result was to find a baby sitter to watch the kids and be able to have a day of action filled gaming. As we do not currently have an active Tabletop group I was sorely missing being able to play and is a big piece of things we enjoy doing together. This was something that I could plan in advance and really get hyped about with him.
Overall I think these goals were accomplished. Now before I get into it more lets check out a few of the action shots.
Game One: Scenario Mausoleum
Doing what Archers do
Necromancer Apprentice
Random Encounters
Great use of scatter terrain
Necromancer Warband invading
Because someone wanted treasure on top
Who will get the 4th treasure
Scenario: The Mausoleum
Our first game consisted of playing one of the very first scenarios you read in the core rule book for Frostgrave the Mausoleum. This scenario requires two things; a mausoleum and skeletons.
The mausoleum is placed in the center of the board and has 4 sides with doors on each side. There are four treasures on each of the corners of the mausoleum and two placed by players within nine inches of the mausoleum. Of course Mr. Crazy had to place a treasure on the very top of the mausoleum to climb and get to while I placed my extra on a stack of barrels which also had to be climbed (or a well aimed Telekinesis spell). The added features about the scenario is the fact that a skeleton will come out of a random door at the end of a turn along with the monster rolls when treasure was picked up and we added the optional monster encounter rules. This of course lead to a growing danger of more and more monsters as you started to dwindle in warband members.
Overall it was a great and very close game. Mr. Crazy shut down my Sigilist really soundless with Curse and Plague of Insects making it almost impossible to cast any spell. My wardog Yippers was the real MVP and killed almost half of his warband in protecting my people trying to get the treasure. In the end I captured 3 treasures while he only captured 2 with one left on the board swarmed by monsters and unable to be retrieved.
Scenario: The Keep
For game number two we played the scenario the Keep. This story sets up with four magical discs which hold treasure but could magically teleport to a random one of the four. When a player tries to pick up the treasure you would teleport. What made this game interesting is the fact that you could potentially teleport into the enemy own disc and suddenly it becomes incredibly difficult to run away.
This game I really loved the set up of the discs and usage of the ruins from Hagglethorn Hollow. However I did find some areas too clustered for good movement. The more open area allowed for significantly more movement and sometimes advantage for team Necromancer and made my Sigilist warband only transverse less than 1/4th of the board. I definitely feel as if I swung to far in density. But you never know until you try right?
Conclusion of a Major Project
While I of course didn’t complete every goal I set out to accomplish in this endeavor, I’m incredibly thrilled in what I have accomplished. Ironically during the course of this project I have been constantly reminded by friends and family that I am incapable of doing anything halfway. So to not even start painting pieces of terrain or even prime in some cases definitely bothered me. However there was an indescribable feeling of satisfaction and excitement sitting down at that table after all that time. Knowing you put in so much time and effort and seeing the fruit of your labor and enjoying it for a game is why I started the hobby in the first place.
Overall project and experience are definitely going to end up being a hobby highlight for the year. I had so much fun, my cheeks hurt from smiling for hours afterwards. It felt incredible to have things to plan for and talk about moving.
The Highs
Printing Almost every single piece of terrain 3D printed on this map was created in the 2021 year (exception of the Mausoleum in the center). Approximately 80% of the terrain was made in a two month span August – September 2021. Some ruined buildings and pillars were made earlier in the year.
100% of this Battle Mat and our Warbands are 3D Printed! Note some random encounter monsters are manufactured miniatures, mostly reaper.
Battle Mat Usage of Scatter Terrain was 100% a game changer for me and fantastic. I loved having treasure stacked on top of a bunch of barrels requiring you to climb up to them (Or use telekinesis) along with having figures standing on crates to get a better vantage point for shooting. There is so much versatility in spells and cover and highly recommend putting in the time for a collection of scatter terrain.
Painting Lastly the largest high is that every single member of our warbands had paint on it. They were not 100% finished to my typical standards but having painted minis on the table was an incredible feeling. In the end I painted a record of 19 models in the two month span and of course took the majority of my painting time.
All painted models for August and September
The feeling of community. During this project I really bonded and shared what I do and what I enjoy with not only my husband but also friends. They cheered me on and even helped in the painting of some terrain and models. The tabletop crafting and miniature painting hobby can sometimes be incredibly lonely and it was an absolute treat to be able to have others apart of my journey. If you have been following along with me on this project I thank you for cheering me on.
The Lows
I of course was disappointed that I did not have the time to paint everything. Yes I know I was being overly ambitious but a girl can dream. At least you can get a glimpse of the colored filament I was trying to use up, I almost always paint what I print (or aspire to) so colored filament doesn’t matter to me.
It also strangely bothered me that I did not have a 3 foot by 3 foot battle mat and I used green construction paper to flush it out. I also do not own a frost or snow themed battle mat (yet) as the 2 foot x 3 foot mat I bought is coming later in the year from a Kickstarter by EC3D Dungeonmats who made the current dungeon mat I am using. I love the double sided mats so much I decided to back their latest kickstarter to get a frost one.
I didn’t fit in all the aspects of map layout design I really wanted to accomplish. I worked hard on a bridge and river to attempt to incorporate water into my board but in the end it did not make sense space wise for the games. I did spend a good deal of time on that and am definitely disappointed it didn’t make it in. This resulted in all the research I did in my map design to be kinda thrown out the window but did turn out to be a fun table in the end regardless.
Hobby burn out. Working so hard on so many things seriously have taken a toll on my hobby printing and painting since game day. It was incredibly difficult to keep up with all the various things I was producing, their hobby status, what I was missing and keeping it all organized. I normally am great with creating pages and print logs for every single thing but in the mad Hussle to get stuff on the table I have yet to compile the data for better searching of what is out there in the community. This is definitely something I plan to fix in the future.
Since the conclusion of this project I haven’t dove seriously into anything yet for personal hobby time but have officially started working professionally in the 3D printing space. Don’t worry i’ll share more in the time to come.
What’s Next in Frostgrave?
The Frostgrave series on the site has truly been something special for me and obviously based on comments and feedback a project others can relate with. So I am opening this up to a group conversation and am curious what you think you would like to see and read.
Would you like to follow on our adventures with Battle Reports of our games?
Would a useful section of the site specific for Frostgrave be useful on images and tools of how some of the rules work? (A birth of a game section for the site)
A quest to paint every miniature in the bestiary?
Reviews of supplements and expansions? What is in them, what they provide
Simplified “what you need to play?” so other new players can join in the fun.
Or perhaps should I start and prep for a different game in the Joseph Mccullough collection such as Ghost of the Archipelago, Ranges of Shadowdeep, Stargrave.
Let me know!
As always happy hobby and have a wonderful day.
Cheers, Carrie, Crazmadsci the Crazy mad scientist
I’ve recently been reflecting a lot about intricacies revolving around 3D printing. As a member of many different forums, discords, and groups around the subject for tabletop gaming I see repeatedly several of the same questions.
“What printer should I buy”
“What settings do you use?”
“What materials do I need?”
“Why did this print fail?”
You get the idea. These questions have been amplified over the course of the last year because 3D printing for tabletop has absolutely exploded due to Covid-19. In short, companies have had issues manufacturing and distributing models to their consumers. While consumers themselves couldn’t go to their local game store and buy models. This resulted in a mega boom of digital model availability and users wanting to 3D print. However many consumers jumping into the hobby were not expecting that 3D printing is not always a plug-n-play experience, resulting in the magnitude of questions.
While asking questions is not a bad thing and I vastly encourage it and one of the purpose of this site is to grow to become a place to find answers. The vast multitude of repeated questions indicates one main trend…
Many do not realize that 3D printing is a hobby much like miniature painting. It requires time, study, determination and most importantly practice. Not all hobbyists are at the same skill set. Not all printers or materials have the same capabilities. With a large variety of programs and settings how does one approach the hobby? Should it be approached with the scientific method of trial and error of slow changes? Or is there no real “right answer” and final product resulting from your individual personal taste or rather a production of art?
This now leads to the question on my mind: Is 3D Printing a Science an Artform or just Plain Luck?
While it might not seem to actually matter, I find this1 subject wildly interesting. Much like miniature painting there is a significantly noticeable difference between my very first print and one of my most recent ones. Personal growth and improvement are obviously evident.
First Ever Print August 2018
One of the Most Recent Prints August 2021
So what has changed between the two images above? The largest difference is probably in the printer used, a publicly available $180 printer Anet a8 and my personal $700 Prusa mk3s. However I could also argue the growth in knowledge with improvements to slicing software (software used to generate printing code) as well as my rapid growth of knowledge of the settings within these programs. There is also a very very important role and understatement of the importance of practice.
When is Science & Testing Important?
3D Printing is very is well known for its vast settings and available materials you should use when producing your product. Slowly changing variables and acknowledging the slight variations helps me as a hobbyist narrow down what is my preferred best result. As someone who went to university as a Chemist the scientific method and note keeping are my strengths. The power of observation plays a significant role in being able to grow and adapt to improved printing.
One primary way to slowly build and modify is the use of varying calibration tests such as that seen below. This series of tests was used to specifically test different geometric supporting structures to hold up your prints.
FDM Support Calibration Testing
FDM is not the only type of printing where I constantly test and explore. Iteration can be key in attempting to get the perfect print such as that using various exposure times on my resin printer.
Sometimes setting modifications are not enough. There are times that using a different material or brand can drastically impact both print quality and success as seen by the owlbear below. I noticed significantly more issues printing using Elegoo ABS-Like Resin with improved experiences using Epax Hard Grey resin.
Epax Hard Grey Resin (left) vs Elegoo Abs LIke resin (right)
Overall you could easily argue that testing and experimentation are crucial to improving the quality of your printing as apart of the hobby of 3D printing.
What about the Art?
In many ways the quality of your 3D print and its final appearance is dependent on the incredible collection of artists & sculptors the community has to offer. It is significantly noticeable and evident both in the final quality but also the success rate of your print job if that modeler is familiar with the technology you are using.
Let me explain. Not all 3D artists are used to creating art for 3D printing. Some come from different backgrounds such as game design and are working towards adapting that knowledge into the 3D printable space. These artists may not know all the intricacies, restrictions, and considerations when designing a model for a 3D printer. Likewise not all artists design with FDM printing in mind or resin for that matter. There are wide splits in the community in the as to what is best but there are also modelers out there specifically designing with specific technologies in mind.
Lets take two examples.
On the left for the image below you will see three skeletons. These skeletons are from the Dragonlock Miniature collection and made by Fat Dragon Games. These models are designed to print completely supportless on an FDM printer and be easy for someone using filament to produce miniatures for their tabletop game. You can see that all the objects like shields build from the capes or legs as ways to cheat the need of using supports. These models are also thicker in their arms and weapons to accommodate larger nozzle sizes and the mechanical restrictions of FDM printing. (Want to see more supportless Dragonlock miniatures? Check out the Dragonlock Miniature Kickstarter project I 100% printed).
For the example on the right you will see my wizard for my upcoming Frostgrave game. This miniature produced by Miniatures of Madness is obviously designed for resin miniatures. There are details on this figure that are so fine that I cannot express the difficulty of trying to get them to come out on my FDM printer. Printed using my Sonic Mini 4K you can see incredible detail in the shoulder pads, chains on the robes, and even a book floating in the air and held together with thin magical essence coming from his hands.
Dragonlock Miniature Skeleton (Filament)
Hold My Dwarf, miniatures of madness (resin)
These two comparisons show you the vast difference in goals and vision for their art in 3D printing that is capable. Because of the difference in goals the final version, model style, and print appearance are different because they knew the capabilities and restrictions of the method they wish to produce their models.
Now before I get people commenting down below that resin is the only way to produce miniatures or better choice. I want to stress the importance of Art. Each and every hobbyist has a different vision for their projects, its uses, as well as constraints when printing figures, terrain, buildings, etc. Also while some are designed for one method of production it does not mean it can’t be made both ways.
I recently have been test printing for the Lost Adventures Volume 3 Kickstarter: Uncharted Lands. As a test printer I am asked to sometimes print in filament or resin or in rare instances both. In this example below I have printed two kobolds from the Kobold Coalition. One is in filament and one is in resin. While an experienced hobbyist can tell which one is which most will not be able to especially with paint and on your tabletop. If the purpose of your hobby is to play on a table does it matter which way it was created?
Filament (light grey left) vs Resin (dark grey right)
Much like creating art with crayons vs oil paints there are considerations as to cost, durability, ease of use etc. For example I absolutely love my filament based miniatures because they are more durable and safer for my one and a half year old son to handle. While in the same breath I love my resin miniatures as a way to produce more models in the same amount of time with incredible detail.
The image and desire of final product will drastically influence the method and direction I approach a print.
Why Can’t It Be a Bit of Both?
Here lies the crux of my reflection. 3D printing isn’t just scientific and you can’t just create the most perfect artistic piece. I do not believe that you can just brute force yourself into the hobby in only one method. To truly become an expert and master I believe that a good balance between the two aspects of art and science must be achieved.
As someone who is constantly trying to learn and grow I admit to needing to approach my hobby with more artistic flair rather than pure mechanical perfection. Reading the numerous questions about the hobby space continues to provide insight as to the perspectives of others and can still teach me things.
It is not always easy to reflect on the elements and things to work on and improve in my hobby but has been an interesting thing to think about.
Conclusion
While I don’t think there is a perfect conclusion to this post and the answer to the question “Is 3D printing an artform or science” is different for everyone. I’m curious as to your thoughts about the hobby space. If you don’t 3D print what is your opinion from the outside looking into the hobby? What would you consider it to be? If you do print how to do you approach the hobby?
I am currently approaching the hobby in a super fascinating way which is pushing the limits of my understanding. While I’m not quite ready to mention it here yet, I can’t wait to share with you my experiences. I have about a week or so to go before the Frostgrave campaign officially starts, and I am racing towards the finish line to paint up the warbands in time.
What is on your hobby table? Working toward something fun?
As always, Happy Hobby, Carrie aka Crazmadsci the Crazy Mad Scientist
We are over half way through the timeline of my Frostgrave project. So far it has been a wild ride and to summarize my feelings over the last two weeks, overwhelmed. I’ve spent a little bit over a month on my most ambitious terrain and miniature project to date. Its going to be extremely close to succeeding my goals and reaching the deadline of creating a 3×3 foot epic and immersive war gaming board to play with my husband. It has been hard to schedule games lately and this will be a real treat. If you want to follow along my journey from the beginning. Start at the Frostgrave Beginnings post of this series.
Since we are over the halfway mark lets reflect on my current project status. It has been two weeks since my last project update and I have quite a bit to talk about so buckle up.
Laying Out the Map
Since this project has so many moving pieces, I definitely began to loose track of what I had and what I needed. I couldn’t figure out what should be in the queue to print and produce, what was missing, and needed to visualize what our gameboard would look like. So like any person I decided to play with my toys and set it up as if I would play today.
Using some 12 inch x 12 inch colored construction paper I laid out my total desired board spacing to best visualize not only how much space a section of terrain will take but also if a region would “ooze” into other quadrants. Overall i’d call the experiment a success but my tiny assistant, did start tearing apart paper as you might be able to tell from the pictures.
Overall i think i’m beginning to have enough large terrain to be satisfied but still want one or two more feature pieces that really stand out along with significantly more verticality in movement such as bridges, planks and more. I’m also going to incorporate scatter terrain such as crates and barrels to provide more cityscape clutter for line of sight breakers and cover.
Frostgrave Test Layouts
Printing Status Update
Since this project began I do not think my 3D printer has truly stopped producing more models and figures. I tend to have a few mass production cycles for the year and this for sure is one of them. So lets list the highlights of pieces made (definitely not all).
Infinite Dimensions Modular Rivers
While I only have a few pieces printed of the entire set of available pieces I do have enough printed to cross a section of our board. I am calling these pieces “good enough” to play with without producing more and are currently in progress on the painting bench.
I definitely have high goals and ambitions for river tiles and currently consider these more experimental pieces. I want to use some water effects, maybe stone pebble the river a bit, along with perhaps some grass? I know its the game of Frostgrave but by having some greenery on these would give me the best versatility for my tabletop as a whole. Maybe the Frozen City is showing signs of thaw?
Printable Scenery Graveyard Walls
These walls come from the Shadowfey Kickstarter of printable scenery. I decided upon using these over the options presented in Frostgrave part 2: Map Design. I am so glad that we choose this one as the walls themselves are taller than I anticipated and will be great for unique sections and break a decent portion of line of sight.
My wonderful husband has decided to help me and worked on these. The really wanted to try unique choices with orange stones and the white pillars and tombstones match the aesthetic of the original mausoleum.
Hagglethorn Hollow
I am currently in the process of printing the Hagglethorn Hollow ruins and some of the ruined buildings. Although difficult to see these ruins scream character and are perfect for play with a variation of verticality, windows, places to take cover, and places to add crosswalks and bridges.
The biggest thing i’m going to have to decide is if I should paint them a classic gray color or stay more true to the Hagglethorn Hollow color scheme (shown below). What do you think?
Hagglethorn Hollow Ruins Product Image
Printable Scenery Rope Bridge, Ladder, Stairs, and Gangways
Since laying out the models I had on my tabletop I’ve started to begin printing more pieces that would connect buildings and terrain in multiple story play.
While this is only a small portion of what I want to print I plan on making more and painting up these pieces.
I’m sure I’ve printed other things in the last two weeks on this project but it has honestly been hard to keep up with all the moving pieces. Also since so much of my hobby is printing in general I doubt I’d ever be truly done with printing stuff for my tabletop.
Graveyard Almost Complete
With the completion of painting the graveyard walls the graveyard feature piece for our Mausoleum scenario is almost complete. While some pieces like tombstones only are primed the whole area is just screaming for a game day. I’m so thrilled with how much fun it all looks and I even finished painting the Zombie set from Lost Adventures Volume 1. I was testing different skintones for what I wanted to use for the Zombie thugs for the Necromancer Warband.
It takes a Village
Last week I definitely suffered from the beginnings of feeling overwhelmed and hobby fatigue with how much i’ve produced and needed to paint. However at that time my wonderful husband offered to have a painting date night when all the kids went to bed (with a cat supervisor). What an incredible blast it was to share my hobby joy with him again. He had so much fun he even painted all days that weekend even on nights where I was too tired to paint. He is not someone who paints often but finds joy and pride in anything he gets done and ends up on the table. This is one of the most perfect of examples of sharing games and crafting with others and the joy it brings. I’ve greatly missed crafting with others and sharing the joy of experimentation and color choice. Also I really love seeing the color choices and techniques others use as they are different from my own.
In the last few days as well I had the incredible opportunity to teach a lifelong friend how to paint miniatures. I had no idea that he has always dreamt of trying to paint minis so I handed him some of my sigilist warband to try. We only got to spend a little bit of time together but he helped me start to basecoat my thugs and crossbowmen. I hope that I have corrupted him into joining the ranks to miniature painting so we can meet up and play games together. I still haven’t decided if i’m going to send him a care package in the mail of 3D printed models to kickstart his collection.
This Frostgrave project has become something truly special this year. My friends and family have been cheering me on and following along on my instagram as well as everyone reading here, so thank you. I have appreciated all the support and when I started to feel a lull in motivation i’ve been so surprised who offers to help or mention how motivating it has been for them.
Can I Make My Deadline?
For the goal of building my gameboard for Frostgrave I am well on my way to have all the terrain pieces I want to really make it a fantastic and fun experience . This will also work on improving some of my previous frustrations from past games.
My secondary goal of having everything painted for gameday will be cutting it really close. I would say that this goal of having all the terrain and miniatures painted will hinge on this upcoming week. You see i’m traveling back home to see my family to get some much needed vacation time in as well as celebrate the life of my grandfather who has been my inspiration in gaming. He will always have the title as one of my largest influences in my life to make me a gamer at heart. That along with my love with fantasy books.
In order to make this deadline I have packed some hobby stuff, perhaps too much paint and am working on using some of my time to paint on the road. I also bringing the warbands as well as scatter terrain and various pieces. Handsome hubs has still really enjoyed helping me so am bringing plenty to give him options and give him inspiration while trying to knock out my most time consuming pieces the miniatures. Stay tuned next week and find out how much I’ve accomplished. My goal would be to have at least my warband miniatures painted but time will tell.
Whats Next?
We are coming down to the wire and although I almost completely lost all momentum my friends and family have really come through in supporting my hobby which has felt incredible. Even a few have shown interest in playing. Maybe i’ll work towards expansion to a 4×4 board and more warbands for Christmas with a complete bestiary for a mega game with 4 to 5 players.
So far setting this deadline and chronicling the process has been an incredible motivator as well. The blog has been such a fun addition to my tabletop crafting hobby this year and so glad I finally started it. I still really want to add up all the data on materials, product sourcing, time printing etc to give people perspective as to how long or how much certain things take before the big game day. Maybe i’ll get some writing in as well this week.
What do you guys think? Think I can make my goals? Have you set a goal for yourself? Post, comment down below.
