The Wonders of Resin 3D Printing

[Primarch]

@Jus - Sorry for everyone hijacking your 3D blog. If you want I can split these posts off into a separate thread?

Having tried multiple campaigns over the years, they can be a LOT of fun. They can also be a logistical nightmare in a group like ours. Getting enough people playing the same game on a regular basis is a challenge.

Back when I tried running a big campaign for WFB, half of the players had officially dropped out, failed to respond or avoided joining any battles by the middle of the campaign, and that was with a two month window per turn. I'd like to think that those players who stuck it out to the end had fun though.

There are obviously lots of options to run a campaign, so a lot depends on what you're looking for. The campaigns I have seen/played have included:

Simply abstracting the armies on the maps and concentrating on the strategic action, effectively making the game a board game, somewhere between Risk and just clicking auto-resolve in Warhammer Total War.

You can go for the full on army management and tactical deployments where each combat on the map is played out as it occurs. Characters develop skills, units develop characteristics, warriors rise through the ranks to become legends etc. This allows for the narrative style of events M_i_J mentions above.

Or you can use something like the current 40K rules where you count overall victories for a particular faction and while units do get upgrades over time, you never really get the asymmetrical battles of the first two styles.

Finally you can go for the full Kriegspiel campaign where you have two teams of generals issuing orders to their units via a GM, who tallies up results and reports back to the generals. At no point does either team have complete awareness of where enemy forces are, or how strong they are. The GM can give teams intelligence reports based on their actions, but you are commanding with a heavy Fog of War effect.

Of course, there are combinations of all of the above and variants of each.

And even once you know what style you want to use, getting everyone involved and keeping them focused on it is a challenge in and of itself.

[jus]

wow.

...this was unexpected.

It was supposed to be a sort of over world map for my pet project board game. Don't mind me.

UNFORTUNATELY: my printed tiles started to warp from application of hot water for support removal
To be corrected with more trial and error.

Still if you're interested they were made by these fine folk. They have some nice pictures of them painted.
https://www.gravenguild.com/

[jus]

In the pursuit of innovation and feeding my machine more resin. I dare to tread new ground.

First attempt at 3D scultping. Still a long way to go. Perhaps one day I can print and sculpt my own stuff.

[jus]

Update: 2nd attempt! a little better






This is fun!
3rd attempt: I think I've got the hang of it now. I thought it would have taken weeks to, but turns out 2 days and a few of youtube videos is all you need to go from complete novice to at least being able to sculpt a head.

I sculpted this with some of reference shots from artisan guild stuff. Hair, anatomy, clothing are next on the to- master list. Still a lot to learn, but think of the possiblities!

Apparently GW allows 3d printed stuff in their store/tourneys if you actually sculpted it yourself.

[Primarch]

It's cool that you are teaching yourself how to sculpt. Maybe one day everyone on NagoyaHammer will have minis made by you. The differences between your first try and your most recent attempt are staggering, so it seems like you're getting the hang of it really quickly.

[me_in_japan]

that's some bloody nice work, Justin! I'm very impressed at both your making the attempt in the first place, and the progress you've made in such a short time. It makes me want to try my hand myself, tbh. What software is that you're using? My interested is piqued here, no doubt. Eyebrows raised, n everything

[jus]

Thanks guys! I was about to give up after the first attempt because it was very overwhelming. I didn't even know how to navigate 3d space properly.
But because the EXCELLENT online resources were so helpful I stuck with it to get basics down. You can too!

There are 2 options interms of software. Industry standard: Zbrush, used by Blizzard, disney etc to make their 3d models. 130000 yen.
The other option is Blender, the cheaper option. It's free.

Since I'm pretty serious about 3d sculpting I actually considered both, but went with blender because despite it being free has with recent patches become a very robust scuplting programme that even professionals are using now. And since Im only interested in sculpting miniatures and don't need 10 million pixels for skin pore textures I will pass on Zbrush for now.

Also after dabbling for several hours in blender I think it is sufficient for my needs. I'd also add that I am sclupting with a pen tablet because I have one. Mouse is fine though and some people prefer it over the pen tablet.

[Konrad]

I smooshed some heads and things with free Zbrush a few times. Pretty fun, but wow. Steep, steep learning curve. There are sooooo many options and sooooo much to learn if you were to really get into it.
The first head you did is awesome.......as an example of every beginner's mistake you can make. Next ones look much better, in spite of every angle being chiseled Elven arrogance.
You could get yourself a hunk of plasticine clay and just practice on with that too. I often think looking through the Kickstarters and things, "This guy has never actually built anything by hand or sat in a life drawing session."

[jus]

The first head you did is awesome.......as an example of every beginner's mistake you can make. Next ones look much better, in spite of every angle being chiseled Elven arrogance.

Well, that's because he's an ELF! Yeah, the first head is "supposed" to be the Korean actress from squid game believe it or not. It doesn't look anything like her because I had no idea what the hell mesh was or how geometry worked. I really need a reference to sculpt and I'm practicing as much as I can.

This one I call "Lorgar"

[AndrewGPaul]

*gasp!*

Squeeeee! Hex grid tiles for campaign games! Oooh, the memories I have of playing Mighty Empires with Andrew (he of the recently painted space wolves and blood angels). You should definitely make use of those in a game!

Indeed, they do look nice. My only thought would be with the textures filling the hexes there’s nowhere good to put tokens or miniatures, but it’ll still look good .