I'm keen to have a go a 3d printing project. I'm a longtime Blender user, longtime mini-gamer, and I'm enthused at the prospect of being able to produce armies for this game on the cheap that look will hopefully look good and will be legal to play in tournaments. The aim is to model up a print-ready army, then share some reflections on the success of the 3d print and an indication of the cost.

Wondering at this stage if there are any folk around here that have experimented with 3d print recently- would appreciate hearing from you. I'm looking at using a printing service like Shapeways (or an Australian printer if the quote on the print is lower), so I won't be focusing on garage 3d printing endeavours, rather effective modeling. Blender has a suite of tools to make measurement easy, and Shapeways have provided a great deal of info re/ minimum supporting material thickness and bevel widths. This should be enough to get started.

If anyone's interested in this project that has a good understanding of army lists, I'd appreciate some help coming up with a suitable list of minis for a good Necron army- well-rounded / competitive / legal 3000 point list with an option to expand to a strong 5000 point build. Please post your thoughts!

I should state at the outset that this is going to be a slow-moving project. I'm time poor (like most people around here, I imagine), and can't guarantee that I'm going to get time to get this project done in a timely or consistent manner.

Anyhow cheers- off for some more research.

Well I used a lot of stuff off Shapeways for my army. Didn't make it myself though, just bought it. Wasn't cheap but I had a voucher somehow from previous purchases of ships to use in Battlefleet Gothic so that helped a lot.

http://hordesofthings.blogspot.co.nz/20 ... -bots.html

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As to army lists, I found looking at the lists that have been used in Epic UK tournaments was a good place to start, you can select lists and armies from a drop down list on their site:
http://epic-uk.co.uk/ukepicachampionship/albyr.php

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Thanks for the info, Mark- Ran a few samples through Shapeways with high-end materials and it looks like it's going to be expensive. 90 individual 6mm troop models will work out at around $45 US. More than I'd been hoping. I'd been hoping for ~ $100 US for a complete army- looks like that'll be doubling quick-smart.

Going to look a little deeper into some of the newer recompressed paper machines on offer (support colour 3d printing, but minis will be succeptible to water damage and I'm not sure how fine the detail can go on the things)- will start with a quote, then have a quick look at what they can do. Waiting on quote from a local company (DGS) now.

why not just do some sprues and resin cast them? will make the project a lot more cheaper.

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Shapeways store: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/tinywares

Blogging about 6-15mm wargaming: http://www.lead-space.net

Check out Brumbaer's thread - he's been doing some great stuff but he did invest in a 3d printer to use at home.

I don't want to kill your idea, but I don't think you're going to get your army for cheap by designing and printing it. Spin casting is still a whole lot cheaper than printing, and Necrons have very decent proxies out there that are probably going to cost you a fraction of the 3d print price.

The cheapest way I've found of getting an Epic army is to buy 6mm historicals and use IG lists. I think my 1987 Soviet army cost me about $150, including shipping, and I have about 3000 points there, even if IG get a Lot of miniatures for their points.

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Let there be code.

I think you should take a look at the vehicles already up on shapeways to see the prices (search for deathbot, there are war barque, monolith, obelisk and pylon models). I suspect it's more than you think. These models are already hollowed out to be more cost effective.

There is something of a misconception that 3D printing is cheap. It's not. It's convenient and flexible, but not cheap, especially at the level of resolution needed for gaming minis. By all means let us know how things work out with the paper prints, I'm curious about the tech myself.

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Kyrt's trade list

And there are many manufacturers of minis that can double for many / most lists, including using 1:144 and 1:300 scale plastic vehicles.

I'd say don't bother with infantry (for necrons). Exodus wars have some really nice robot-skeleton-infantry that will cost you a lot less. Found here



Yeah you should really do that! I think it can be a great inspiration. You can find it here

cheers

Thanks for all the great leads and info, guys. I've had a great time reading through the material you've pointed out and learnt a great deal about the current state of 3d printing.

Unfortunately I've also come to conclusion that it's just way too expensive to be feasible for a project like this. Proxying, converting and resin casting is going to be the only way to get this done for a decent price. All of the printing services that I approached for quotes (including the emerging paper 3d printing services) returned figures well beyond what you'd expect to pay for minis at your local gaming store. This included a range of industry leaders and ambitious start-ups.

So... lesson learned and I'm going to join the que in looking forward to using this tech once it comes down to earth.

Thanks again for your insights.