Reply To: Open gaming mini license

[onlyonepinman 18062xp 0]

I also have 3D printer – two in fact, one SLA one FDM – and they are amazing. However they hasn’t, and probably won’t, replace purchasing miniatures entirely for me.  I find it really useful because I can almost have any miniature I like – there’s a huge market of STL files.

There’s still a cost associated with it that needs to be taken into account – time. The prep work and clean up is significant, the print times themselves are not insignificant;  printing small numbers of miniatures is all well and good but honestly would I want to print an army? No way.  If you print a multi part model you still have the assembly time on top of that too.  If you want to print anything large like a monster or a dragon then you really need an FDM printer and they are much more temperamental.  You can print them in resin but it can start to get a bit pricey

There’s also a learning curve involved, especially around the slicing software which means you have to have an interest in the technology itself in order to really get into it.  I still think it’s a very long way off becoming a disruptive technology in the miniatures market.  I certainly haven’t stopped buying from any of the companies I used to buy from and currently have no plans to do so.  I know a couple of people who have but they were only buying for RPGs, not miniature wargames