Is 3D Printing ACTUALLY killing Games Workshop? (2022 Edition)
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- čas přidán 20. 06. 2024
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Is 3D printing going to be the end of tabletop gaming? I visited Adepticon 2022 to find out. Enjoy the ride!
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0:01 - Intro
01:08 - Changes in 3D printing since 2018
02:04 - Adoption of 3D printing
03:02 - Are Warhammer players ACTUALLY using 3D printers?
03:50 - How are Warhammer players using 3D printing?
06:30 - How about 3D printed terrain?
07:37 - Local game stores
08:32 - Star Wars Legion
09:25 - Recasting vs. 3D printing
10:30 - "Sticking it to GW"
11:26 - Engagement
11:49 - Nuance & Impact
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Why are you wearing a suit?
@@thesinaclwon Why not?
@@3DPrintedTabletop lol not a suit kinda video
@@thesinaclwon Ok
@@3DPrintedTabletop That KS looks great. It reminds me of when I tried to alter RISK rules with a Monopoly aspect, only this is done so so much better.
Games Workshop isn't the hobby. 3D printing is breathing life into a lot of smaller games that don't get explicit miniature support.
This!
This is a difficult one.
3d printing is amazing for the communities of these games.
It's also terrible for the manufacturers of these games. In my experience the players of these non-GW games are *much* more willing to 3d print things.
That means the companies of these games are making fewer sales and they already struggled against the giant that is GW.
So whilst growing the communities it's strangling the companies.
Exactly. A long time ago, GW would have loved the hell out of 3d printers and promoted them, just like they did terrain making books and sections of rulebooks telling you to kitbash your own models. Few companies get to have any degree of success, but between digital publishing, print on demand, and 3d printing, people get to make and sell their games and let the hobby fill in the gaps.
@Korothe Avenger It's only terribly for manufacturers that have shitty business practices. GW can't make a game to save their lives anymore, and their shitty practices are driving players away. If the focuses on making a good game and making and selling items that people want to and can buy and products that people would rather buy than going through the hassle of printing, it wouldn't be a problem. But because their business is tied up in keeping you in a closed eco system out of fear and stockholm syndrome, they don't.
Most people forget, that some games have lost support and 3D printing and sculports are keeping them alive and growing... So... Yeah...
@@sorrowsinme And some people seem to forget that 3D printing is taking revenue away from a variety of small publishers that produce and continue to support a lot of great miniature games. I guess we just say 'screw em' and keep on doing what we're doing until a point comes where we all scratch our head and wonder why there are not a lot of good mini games coming out anymore.
3D Sculptors like me aren't killing the industry. Just adding to it. Offering more choices.
Do you have a patreon or anything I could check out?
@@ungabungacaveman9021 He has a patreon and a MMF Tribe. He makes a variety of wargame factions. His stuff is a little eclectic, but really customizable and kitbashable. He's actually one of my favorite model creators.
@@Jimalcoatl first thing I saw was that winged owl SM, holy crap that looks good.
@@ungabungacaveman9021 Yeah, his paladins faction, which the owl is part of, is probably my favorite. I also like his Blood Lords. The two make great enemies. I plan on making armies of both to use in OPR, Stargrave and Worlds Collide.
I agree - then I made a mistake reading the replies to your comment and started down the rabbit hole of your Patreon/Tribes and MMF store.... damnit I can't keep abusing my wallet like this!
That being said I really love this months Terminators, shame I don't play 40k anymore or I'd be in like a flash.... Wonder how they could be shoehorned into Cyberpunk Red?
The cost of getting into Warhammer is significantly more expensive than getting into 3D printing and just printing an army. The GW model just does not make sense anymore, and it is even easier to walk away from them considering the way they have treated their fans and customers.
Depends really the over all cost is cheaper yes but the set up costs is much cheaper for plastic minis
If people buy like a kit a month and only set that much money aside for that hobby it’s gonna take pretty long to have enough money to buy a printer and all needed supplies as well as learning how to properly use it
Next is space
If I had the printer where I lived right now for school I wouldn’t have one because student apartments with one window and chemicals aren’t a great mix
But 3d printing is a whole different hobby, people seem to always forget that, I don’t need to buy a warhammer army in2 weeks, I’m fine with it taking a while, and I’m also not interested in owning and fiddling with a printer and the actually toxic chemicals like uv resin in my apartment
I play custodes and getting legion kits, if I want a full army of either its nearly 1k or so. Can buy a 3d printer and a lot of resin and even buy the STL files for each model for just over half the price, and then I can use it for anything else I like. It's a better investment imo
@@TN-ci4ox False. I have already printed more money of units than my printer cost. I bought a $200 cad printer. Used maybe $40 of resin I printed the whole elite set and 5 terrain pieces. I am now going to print a full 1k point army for necrons, chaos marines, and ultramarines
Cost isn't the only factor. Building plastic kits is relaxing and fun, providing a tactile feeling of doing something and getting away from technology to do something crafty without hitting the garage work bench.
A printer just can't match that, and is frankly antithetical. That said, it's not one or the other. You can have and enjoy both.
Pretty sure Gamza didn’t say that it will totally kill off GW. Just that it’s hurting it.
Gonna be honest this video is less about attacking gamza but more of a discussion. This video states negatives and positives about 3d printing and how different people see 3d printing.
Another thing is I feel like gamza overreacted and assumed that this video goal is to defame him when its not.
@@vernondelacruz7812 ok
Gamza is... not very bright.
@@vernondelacruz7812 Here you go. czcams.com/video/QgnHz8SduRs/video.html
Honestly, lfgs need to start offering printing services. I think if they offer non GW models and terrain there can be a happy middle ground
and a higher profit margin
yup. as a possible option to get around liability for infringements, consider not actually printing the miniatures directly but renting out machine time instead.
Edit - Oh, and offer the fixins that you need to make the hobby work! Paint, glue, terrain/basing materials, brushes, painting classes, etc
@@ColonelSandersLite yes, class time would also be great. I know that there are some kits like soda pop resin conversions and what not. Also, the store could buy license to print terrain as well. Allot of Kickstarter stls offer this
Or maybe make some STL files to sell with box sets....how else can people justify buying your overpriced product. It would cost GW almost nothing to do this. And it would help players justify the cost of the game.
@@mobilegamersunite yes I can see this as a "gift" if you will for the sale, and cost nearly nothing in compression
I'm a chaos knights player, by definition one of the biggest targets for 3d printing. I use it 90% of the time to convert my GW knights to FW knights. I can take two armigers and turn them into moiraxes for half the price or get a knight desecrator and turn it into a cool magaera that fits the look of my army.
So here is my thought: I went to a local 40K tournament. About half the armies had either proxies ( e.g.: 3d printed Abrams style tanks for IG), or accessories added to them. About every second person in my local community has 3d printed models. But then again, we do not have a local hobby store since 2019, as it closed with the start of Covid.
I think it would be cool if GW actually sold official STL files.
It might be one of the only avenues to compete with the commericial viability of 3D printing now. Like have a range of STL models distinct from the plastic ones. Only problem I can see is that once someone has said STL file it immediately gets pirated and distributed over the internet and they wind up back where they started. It's a difficult conundrum.
I have just got back into the hobby over the holidays and was shocked at the prices. Honestly can't pitch in at the price range and whether it has drastically changed over my hiatus as those eighteen years marks the difference of being a 14 year old who pitched in his meagre allowance and wages with my dad to paint and wargame amongst ourselvesand being a 32 year old with a job who likes to keep a hold of his money wherever possible.
Luckily for now my major interest lies in the painting side, so I only have a few kits (Starter kit and some for the ork Beast Shgga Boyz) but I dread the day the urge to build an army and game comes creeping up. I don't want to cheat GW but at the same time I don't want them to cheat me out my rent.
Is it going to kill GW? No, Will it reduce the money I give them? Heck yes it will. Some of the proxies are just so much better, let alone the price.
The cost to get into any War Hammer tabletop flavors is so incredibly expensive. I have a ton of it, and their paint. I also have a few printers. Do I print War Hammer-type content? No - I mainly print for DnD (and I buy a lot of minis anyway) But for most people that want in to War Hammer content that can’t afford it - I can see how they’d save a lot of money. Especially for terrain. GW does it to themselves with their pricing models.
seriously they are skyrocketing prices and it's killing it for new players...2 players could get into assault on black reach for like 80-100 bucks
@@karavalentine920 And now they can get into the recruit edition box for 30 bucks.
@@karavalentine920 If you compare limited availability starter set, should you compare with Indomitus? It has a very similar set of minis and the same price 200$ (if you get from discount retailers, actually why wouldn't you do this), also full size rule book
@@gi1dor the rule book which has been out of dated like 3 times in a year?
@@lowaimnobrain how does it matter? Also not so many core rules are changed, there are a few additions and clarifications
I would prefer updates and clarifications instead of none of them
Also the original comment was about getting into the game, none of those erratas is important for getting into the game and Core Books is perfectly fine for this
I spend SO MUCH MORE at my local game store since I started to 3d print my models. I'm buying tons of paints, brushes, supplies, bits, and lots and lots of stuff. I'm not buying as many models, but I certainly haven't spent /less/ at the store. I just now have more with what I do spend.
It isnt killing tabletop gaming. It's improving it and making it more accessible/cheaper for players. It's only negative towards the companies like warhammer that sell store bought miniatures. More and more people are starting to see that you really don't need to buy top dollar miniatures from those big companies to enjoy your games anymore. You can do most of it all by yourself.
I agree it isn't killing anything, if GW where to vanish, and 3D printing take its place for models, there is still a TTWG community that has nothing to do with them. It is a tool, and it should be used when and where its appropriate. We should be supporting the Artists, game designers, and places we play, and not equate one company with the hobby as a whole.
@@BrianSiebert 100% agree. I feel that the argument "is 3d printing killing tabletop gaming" is nothing more than trying to make a divide. Trying to bring 3D printing in a negative light while it actually is the complete positive of the argument.
Gentleman, I hope after watching my video you feel I'm not trying to make a divide - but bridge the gap between the folks on both sides. A big reason I wanted to make this video is BECAUSE of aggressive, anti-GW videos that I didn't feel were fair. My entire channel is about tabletop 3D printing, and I always try and take an honest, balanced, approach to these questions that really aren't black and white in my opinion. Cheers, and thanks for the comments.
@@3DPrintedTabletop As you should and continue to do so. I didn't say/mean you made a divide. But, the general argument by itself that has been shouted around by so many other toxic people. Thats whats making the divide.
@@3DPrintedTabletop I do not think that this is an issue with this video specifically, I feel this video is symptomatic. The table top hobby is vast, and GW is one player. They are the big player right now, but leaving them out. But 3d printing is polarizing to the hobby if looked through just from a GW lenses, there are plenty of games that thrive, and incorporate 3d printing. We only see it at all as a negative if GW is involved. So sadly we do need to have videos like this, but speaking out about this is how we change the conversation from "Is 3D Printing ACTUALLY killing tabletop gaming? (2022 Edition)" to "3D Printing IN tabletop gaming! (2023 Edition)" and have the fact that there is a strain on the GW community as a part. Make is less click bait-y and more information for people out there. you talked about 2 game companies, not TTG as a whole, even inside of Adeptacon.
Modiphius sells STL files for some of their Fallout terrain. Hopefully, that will start a trend.
Gotta agree - that's a really awesome start. Kudos to them for being brave enough to give it a shot!
When I got into 3d printing, I was the only one in the gaming community. Now, I have a very large number of friends (gamers) that own them.
I do know Star Wars Legion was a major early use of 3d printed terrain.
I gotta agree. Imperial Terrain I think was one of the first in the space that I can remember, and I know several Etsy store owners who've sold a LOT of Legion terrain. Thanks for the comment, Kevin!
@@3DPrintedTabletop On my page, it was the first game I covered. I was looking at terrain that could be used for Legion.
Terrain 4 Print was the first one to come out with terrain followed quickly by Imperial Terrain. Corvus Games Terrain was I believe the 3rd one. (Several others came out with terrain that worked for it in that time as well). But, those were the days that we only had a smallish number of people/companies making terrain. No Patreons and just a few Kickstarters a month. :-)
I played at a 40k tournament at my FLGS in 2019. All of my Primaris marines were printed.
Everyone at the tournament came and asked me about it.
They had no idea about resin printers.
Hi Danny, I used to play WH Fantasy, and when the blew that up, switched to Kings of War to get my ranks and flanks fix. Mantic have a great ruleset but don't produce minis for all of their factions so there is a high level of 3d printing of armies, certainly in my local scene. The attitude of Mantic is very different to that of GW in this regard and I have found it to be a refreshing change from the days of no unofficial models allowed.
3d printing gives old games like Warmaster a second chance at life. Love that game so much.
Greetings from Mordheim ;D
I get frustrated by GWs lack of variety of rank and file units. Seems like we get awesome new heroes and underworlds warbands on the regular for AoS (and everything Stormcast), but proxies for things like cities of sigmar compensate for really old and boring sculpts.
I play skaven...enough generally said lol, I print bits because a box of plague monks helps my LGS and ties my army together aesthetically. Now when I turn those 20 plague monks into 20 skryre acolytes, my FLGS now gets money (from buying the monks) not gw prime. Same with my converted stormcast. I wouldn't have a stormcast army without valiant and the vile coming out with great bits. Now I own loads of dragons that I wouldn't previously have purchased at all.
Yeah the Mono pose stuff has been killing the fun of building the army a fair deal.
Heck i liked looking at Deathguard armies, but than they brought the current line and it has become bland and boring to see them.
@@Spacefrisian Yeah. It's no fun building a half dozen units that all look exactly the same.
I've spent thousands of dollars on GW kits and still buy them occasionally. I print much more stuff now. Whenever I play a game in a local store I buy somethings as a way to support the store. It's not usually a GW product though.
Yup. Soda, snacks, hobby supplies....
Yep. The same was true in the early 2000s with the rapid expansion of online retailers selling games cheaper than the FLGSs. I could buy a booster box of Decipher's Lord of the Rings CCG for about half what my local game store could sell it while I was in college. I still bought things in the store because I used their space to meet and play.
It's not 3D printing that will harm the gaming companies. The companies themselves will harm themselves with poor business practices and low accessibility do to price mainly, but availability of stock. Now GW is by far king in tabletop gaming for both good a wonderful product idea and fan base and bad price by far but the love given to some of their armies and lack of to others. Plus this constant fire sell they falsely create. I personally have played GW products for over 20 years. I don't like tournaments and play for fun at house with friends. I spent thousands over the years on GW. I like multiple armies and usually have between 5 and 8k worth of points for each army. 3D printing has allowed me to have more bang for my buck and still have the same feel and experience. That is why I don't spend any more on GW. I switched over to One Page Rules, get to use my old models, print new ones and have the same fun for a lot less.
If anything is "killing" GW, it's their own greed, price gouging, and, anti-consumer practices.
Wow I didn't expect to see the owner of my local store. I don't play Warhammer myself. But I do heavily use 3D printing for battletech. Since some mechs are not available or I want to supplement the official sculps I have.
Ian was a joy to speak with, and his passion was palpable. I hope I could bring in a few extra customers by sharing his experience and his store. Seems like you've got a great community!
3D printing and contrast/speed paints are saving the hobby!
To add me into the metric, I initially bought my 3D printer because I thought it would be cool to print out armies. However, I found myself printing terrain, mods, effects, bases, and cool alternative sculpts to supplement my GW minis. I love this customization that can slightly adjust and personalize the most generic of miniatures.
The idea that it will kill tabletop gaming by cutting a small portion of larger company sales is ridiculous, especially when there's so many community rule sets already. GW is hurting more from actively pricing out and alienating their customer, and largely ignoring complaints of Fotm game balance, too many stratagems, etc. No matter how lazy you are with printing it's still a hassle for many and you're still dealing with clean-up, failures, etc. The fact that it's growing as much as it is in the Warhammer scene even, shows how much GW is fucking up I think.
Excited to upgrade earlier than planned to capitalize on the Phrozen Mighty 8k deal. The sculpting scene for printing is growing far faster than the printing technology itself, so many professional looking larger display sculpts out there now, for me the 8k is worth it. Truly rivals traditional minis imo when tuned right.
What's more ridiculous is Danny strawmanning Gamza. No, Danny didn't mention Gamza... the majority of videos and thumbnails shown in Danny's video were just Gamza's videos, though. Gamza has _NEVER_ claimed 3d printing was going to run GW out of business. In fact, the only people on Gamza's channel who make that claim are the grognards and GW fanbois who continually screech about how 3d printing is stealing.
@@frocat5163 And I didn't mention Gamza in this comment, lol. This was meant for the doomsayers who lose their shit when printing is brought up.
@@Remixersoloman I didn't say you mentioned Gamza. I pointed out Danny was strawmanning Gamza by implying Gamza claimed 3d printing was going to ruin GW.
Considering your gaming local community is my local gaming community this certainly strikes a cord. So many of our local brick and mortar gaming shops struggle to survive after the pandemic, we need to be good stewards of our craft if we hope to thrive in the coming years. There is room for us all the the gaming niche!
Good morning, on The Lost Adventures there's a lot of terrain, trees, caves etc, do we need an FDM printer for those or can they be printed on Resin printers? Thank you.
GW's prices and business practices are what makes the company a prime example of one that needs to be shaken up. I'd love to get back into the game if GW didn't do some of the things they do. Their lore is awesome, their art, their models, on the surface they are awesome. But the prices keep arbitrarily going up and then they do shady shit like sending crazy nda's or trying to shut down content creators which don't compete with them. I'd love to get back into GW games but there are a ton of great competitors that deserve our support and I'm going to stick with them for now. As for the FLGS, they have a 'ton' of other stuff they can sell if we assume that models wasn't one of them, I'm not worried about them at all. And as an aside despite me not having an FLGS near me because they closed down ages ago, I'd be happy to support one in a number of ways if I had one. 3D printing offers more than just direct competition to big names like GW, it offers models in ranges which no longer exist or are sold at collector level prices. It offers entirely new models unique to their designers too. I think the best thing it can do though is offer direct competition to the companies of yesterday so that they step up their game. GW isn't just the industry titan, they are in my opinion the root of all mini painting evil and 3d printing is my savior! lol all kidding aside ya its been like 200 years and they still can't make a normal paint pot and they sell cheap brushes at expensive brush prices taking advantage of customers who don't know better, fuck em.
And it's not like FLGS make that much money on the GW product they sell. Unless they're a _very_ high volume retailer, their margins on GW product is extremely thin. Not buying GW product from a FLGS isn't going to run the shop out of business; not buying _other_ things from the shop will run them out of business.
All of these complaints on the business end of the industry come down to this... Technology is changing how we game, where we game and how we aquire product. The hobby is not dying, they are.. there is a difference. The hobby is doing great and it will continue to change and grow even after the 500 pound industry gorillas such as GW collapse under their own weight. I won't miss GW, it's a dumpster fire of a company. The 3d printing revolution is here and now and I'm living it. If the Industry doesn't like it that's fine.. the same thing that happened to the music industry will happen to them.. it's adapt or die time for the corporate side of the hobby, the days of easy money are over.. give us value or watch your company lose a larger and larger proportion of its market base.
...Who will make your new 3d sculpts when "they" will be gone? Some kids working for free? Few artist selling their sculpts for "fiver"? As an artist I've learned really fast that working for free or for peanuts will not get me anywhere, they will eventually learn this to...so who will sculpt your next 3d army then?
Games Workshop going under would be a tragic day in sci-fi history. The 40k universe in particular has an unrivalled depth of lore, history and art - beloved by millions of ppl, many who have never bought a gw model. Many model/bits printing company's owe almost everything to gw's ip.
Be nice to see a little more gratitude in the conversation, even as we push for GW to adapt and address its flaws. Maby its just me.
@@mumblez7712 I will not be grateful to GW for continuously ignoring fans and doubling down on problematic practices.
@@randomnickify The same who are making them now. Plenty of people who release near identical copies of Warhammer minis for free or dirt cheap on the stl sites. Even if they don't all stick around forever more will eventually come. It isn't always about money. Some just have fun sculpting and are practicing, some want the models for their own use and are putting them up for everyone. We already have OPR and Warhammer armies project, 40k would absolutely be carried by the community if GW tanks, at least on a casual level.
@@randomnickify If GW is smart, they will. Giving printer people the option to buy exclusive sculpt stls would means they don't lose ALL income from people who switch to print. After all there are plenty of other teams out there using patreon to give their own patrons high quality models. Hell there's one group that basically sold a Stormcast Eternal proxy set that is far better than anything in GW's line.
Now theres another aspect that not many consider. I live in Bosnia (small country in the south of europe).
We don't have a "friendly local game store". Our living stadards are low. My only options for getting official models is either directly from the GW online store or places like TrollTrader and Ebay. Shipping costs are usually around 30$ (unless I buy 100$ of stuff from GW site, then it becomes free). 3d printing was another option for me and the 4 people in my town that know of Warhammer40k or wargaming in general. So one of my friends got a 3d printer and that allowed is to even start getting into the hobby. All of us own some official models, things we got cheap or in discount boxes, used and in general second hand, but the vast majority of our models are prints. So, not having a store to get GW stuff made us start finding workarounds, and to be honest, the GW prices are just too much for us. I have an above average sallary for our standards, but getting a small patrol or incursion scale army would still take up a third or even more of my monthly income, and thats just the models, not including shipping, paints and acessories and so on (paints we also have to order and pay shipping for). So in my case - if 3d printing was not an option, I would have never experienced wargaming as a hobby.
To continue on this, I would love to be able to buy official GW STL files. Make them more expensive, leave some stuff "physical copy only", maybe make an official GW resin, branded 3d printers and accessories, expand into a part of the hobby that is there and won't ho away, no matter how hard you try to fight it.
"Wargaming vs. 3-D Printing" is a bizarre way to cast this issue. 3D printing in this context is used for wargaming, it's not opposed to wargaming.
The real issue is 3-D Printing vs. the standard retail model of miniature sales. And that standard model is in trouble in the mid-term if not sooner. Leaving aside the issue of cost (which is hard to directly compare, since 3D has a substantial upfront cost in machinery, materials, and skill), the ability to buy a model from a site in Sri Lanka or wherever and have a printed version today is a huge game changer.
it took time for electronic book distribution (whether text or audio) to make significant inroads into traditional book distribution, but it's now dominating the market. And the brick and mortar bookstores are getting harder to find all the time. The same thing is, I submit, going to happen to the sale of miniatures in stores. There will always be a market for miniatures produced in physical form by miniatures companies, but the question is how large that market is going to be in 5-10 years.
Note that this is separate from the issue of some companies making the claim that their games can only be played with their bespoke miniatures. This is not now true and never has been true. You have always been able to play any of these games with counters, or cardboard standees, or M&Ms that you get to eat when you kill them.
If a company is running an event, that company can make whatever requirement it wants of what toys are allowed, including requiring that all the miniatures used are 3D printed from sculpts sold by that company if that's what they want. But that sort of monopoly control is orthogonal to whether the models are traditionally made or 3D printed. Frankly, I've never been very interested in playing in any event that requires only models from a limited source. There are hundreds or thousands of games for which that sort of requirement is not now a thing nor has it ever been a thing.
I'll admit that my opinion might be changed if I ever saw such a game or event where I actually liked the gameplay. Fortunately, I've always found the games produced by GW to be uninteresting (at best). Note that the first copy of Warhammer that I bought, I bought in 1986, so it's not like this is a new opinion for me.
Hell yeah!!!!!! I never see these when they come out but I love it when I do! I am officially running resin and filament (I setup my filament printer yesterday) and I guess the algo decided serve me up some content that I missed. Hooray auto bed levelling!
Great vid! I wonder how the economics of your LGS adding resin and filament to their miniature/painting merch selection would would work?
I just know this: I’m installing a third 3D printer at my work. I’ve taught fellow employees on its use, and now I have several people purchasing printers for their homes. My point being: 3D printers are here to stay. If gaming companies like GeeDub$$ don’t adapt (particularly their pricing strategy), then those companies will find themselves in the same predicament that the finest horse buggy companies did when automobiles first came on the scene. Most of the prints I’ve seen aren’t just proxies, people are buying (me included) STLs for a bunch of games. And I am still buying product and games etc from my LGS. I’m just not buying GWs overpriced offerings. And their stock value and sales records reflect that.
Here it goes my two cents in this topic as a digital miniature sculptor. First of all, I think it is time to disassociate the 3D printing community from Games Workshop, and the people really interested in pushing this narrative of an epic fight between GW and 3D printing are the one that "casually" are also selling you some 40k rip off miniatures. As an artist, I'm tired of that people who is making 1 to 1 copies of GW miniatures, selling them for a profit and spreading the feeling that the 3D printing community is just about stealing IPs and the work of other artists. The 3D printing community is muuuch more than that, and the biggest Patreons and commmunities are there to prove it. Behind the community there are a lot of artists/sculptors trying to bring their own vision and creativity to the tabletop gaming community with awesome and beautiful sculpts than can be used in many different games, from the most historic one to the more fantasy one.
Great points and great video!
Thank you, Lyla!
I feel like the only reason people think 3d printing is such a deal breaker is because they play Games Workshop Games or other games with big IP's. Like who will buy a 3d printer to print miniature Vikings or Napoleonic soldiers that you can buy for a fraction of the cost of more expensive models?
Exactly! I use 3D printing for most of my fantasy and sci-fi and buy the majority of historical minis. Everyone and their grandma models or remixes space marines, but coherent sets of printable historicals are hard to come by or don't end up that much cheaper anyways.
And I don't see for example viking age civilians printable in 1/72 supplanting Kamar's beautiful tin figures any time soon.
3d printing is a lot like downloading music and the death of the cd a decade ago, the established big company were against it because it hurted their bottom line, smaller independent actors were all for it because it meant freedom of publishing. Eventually big company shifted their gears and build new economic model that used this new technology and we reached a new statues quo, the ones that refused or failed to adapt disappeared.
Talking about you blockbuster
Great video! I have 3 3D printers with the Phrozen Might 8k on the way... SUPER EXCITED. My thought it is I can still go into the local shop and buy paints, primers, flocking, etc. even if I no longer buy their minis. In the end we do want to keep out local shops up even if I personally host my dnd sessions in my basement. Keep up the great work!
The point that the FLGS owner made (Ian?) is no different than for those people who buy their army off e-bay or books from Amazon. If you're playing in someone's store, make sure you are supporting them in some way. You're not buying those models from them but they provide you with space, tables, terrain, etc. Buy local to let them keep their lights on, support their families, and so you can keep playing there.
I think this is actually a really great point, and makes it stronger IMO. Thanks for the comment!
3d printing is helping tabletop gaming. Accessibility is important not only for getting new players over the barrier of entry, but for reallocation of discretionary spending for existing players. If I can have conversion bits for a model that allows me to field a different unit, and it costs a couple dollars from a friend with a printer instead of $25, that's a big difference, and I might be able to buy better paints because of it. 3d printed terrain looks great and a good looking table is engaging and appealing even to people outside of the hobby, and being able to have a really cool demonstration of both the tabletop hobby and the 3d printer technology just hanging out, for not that much effort, is awesome.
In addition to this, 3d printing adds a great force multiplier in the form of avoiding opportunity costs, when you print a complete terrain piece on FDM or a pre-supported mono-pose model in resin, you're much closer to shooting primer and hitting it with paint than when you buy a box of Sector Mechanicus. And yes, this can potentially apply financial pressure to LGSs, and in turn, to GW, but the resin is out of the bottle now, and competition in markets is normal and even good. GW has some amazing sculpts but some shady business practices, and aggregate demand swinging away from them can incentivize them to shape up, because their monopoly is no longer intact.
In summary, if you were to ask "Is 3d printing killing tabletop gaming?", you might well ask "Are model-agnostic rules systems killing tabletop gaming?", which, no, they aren't, they are _part_ of tabletop gaming, even if some people don't like them. But they are here to stay and from the GW board room down to the owner-operator LGS, people need to base their decisions off of the future of the market, lest they go the way of the buggywhip manufacturers.
Imagine a LGS that stocked resin and offered printing space. Leverage the community, expertise, and hobby aspects rather than anti competitive sales practices and sanctioned tournaments.
@@jacobb5484 I wouldn't be surprised to see that in the near future.
Such a well thought out and deep take on the 'issue', well done Sir
Hey Danny. Been watching you for a while and finally got my own resin printer. I love your work on Kickstarter. Do you offer any kind of deal if I want all of it and the hard back book all at once? :p
It is nice to hear people bringing up recasting, I have only bought 1 recast but I bought it for the same reason I 3D print a lot of 40k stuff: the price points are anti-consumer. More specifically, the only model I bought a recast for is the Transcendant C'Tan that comes from the Tesseract Vault. That's a $140 model, where all I want is the single model inside of it. I'm not spending $140 for a single unit. If GW had made a single unit clam pack of the transcendant C'Tan model, I would have bought that. Instead, I spent $12 on a recast and have my unit.
Along the same lines, my most recent 3d print was for the Tyranid Venomthropes/Neurothropes box. They included all the pieces to be able to fully build 6 models, except for 1 small piece on the chest, the tail, and the extra bases. That box costs $60 for 3 models, but could easily be $60 for 6 models if they just included 3 more bases and 3 extra chest pieces and 3 more tails. That's barely an increase in plastic! If they really needed they could have bumped it to $65 to build all 3. But instead they want to be annoying about it and force people to pay another $60 just to buy that last little piece. So I just printed them. I'm not wasting all that money for something GW could have easily done if they wanted to treat me as a customer with the respect of a good deal.
To give some good credit to my name, I haven't gone and printed models like hormagaunts, termagaunts, marines, or necron warriors. Honestly I don't enjoy printing lots of grunt models, I would rather just buy the GW versions even if I am paying more. I don't have to deal with the headache of a failed print, and the models build quickly. And grunt models are usually very well priced. I will also buy large box models (within reason) even though I have the stl files for some of them. I have a really good stl file for things like hellbrutes and rhinos and even the silent king. But I would rather buy those as well for much of the same reasons that I buy the little guys.
Most of my printer needs are not for things I can just buy from GW, like a lot of the people from this video I use it for customization or unrelated projects. But when GW does an anti-consumer package, you better believe I am going to print that without any remorse.
Hey man! Thanks for the shoutout :D "I think hahah EdgeMiniatures here, I know pinups can be a topic of contention but I try to keep it minimal and for all sexes :)" and completely agree, our local shop here, The Red Dragon, actively promotes 3d printing just like any other hobby game, having an entire section just for it, really awesome to see the hobby move forward
Super cool experience! Thank you for sharing. And I found your work because of a previous Hidden Gems, so...great job making your work available for the world :)
That video that you mentioned in the begining is what finally pushed me over into buying my first 3d printer.
My local LFGS has no less then 4 3d printers .. 2 fdm and 2 resin behind the desk working away.
I think GW should embrace 3D printing. Reduce their output of models and sell their own designs to people who want to pick their. People are already 3D printing models and it doesn't look like they will be able to prevent it similarly to movie torrent sites. This would allow for a cheaper option to army builders but also allow people to still support GW
guarantee if they sold official, high-quality STL files they'd make schmoney
Kromlech, Spellcrow, Victoria miniatures etc. these are the companies that will feel the threat of 3D printing before GW. I can see 3D printing killing off these smaller manufacturers who target existing, wargamers and can be even more expensive than GW. GW will always appeal to the causal hobbyist, younger kids, birthday presents etc. people who haven’t even thought about getting a 3D printer.
Sales from relatives won't carry GW. Their business is with wargamers and model painters, who will most likely know about printers.
A very fair video. As you say, your sample size of 6 is small, but those people aren't probably indicative of the average wargamer. You are already among the hardcore at Adepticon. Adoption is going to remain on the low side I think, 3D printing is a hobby in and of itself. I have a busy full time job and a family, I only just have the time to paint a few models and get the occasional game in. 3D printing just wouldn't get a look in. I think your LGS owner sums it up well, we all need to support these places for the future of our hobby.
Great comment! Thanks for the kind words.
I have a FDM printer and made some terrain pieces in the past for a friend playing Tyranids and some custom parts for my Tau and plan on buying a resin printer in the future. On the other hand, my model collection is already about 800 build models…
Very well said! Thanks for taking the time to make this.
love love love the style of these vids , thx heaps for ir!!!!
I don't play Warhammer. I love the setting and the lore, but I always thought it was WAY too expensive to get into. And because of that, I largely ignored tabletop wargaming altogether.
So when I bought my 3D-printers (my first FDM-printer about seven or eight years ago en a resin printer about nine months ago), I was using them mainly for D&D and just painting the models. Then I learned about a little company calles OnePageRules. I was fascinated by the compact ruleset for sure, but what stuck out to me the most was the models they offer. So I bought a couple of the Saurian packs they offer on myminifactory, printed them up and... Well, let's just say that 3D-printing is what actually got me into the hobby in the first place. Still no interest in GW's models or pricing strategy, though.
Also, I don't even HAVE a local hobby shop :(
I feel a point that was left on the table in one of the interview clips was about updated models. The time and effort it takes to bring a new look or just updated style to armies leaves some of them in the wind for years or decades. The community can respond with STLs and bits collections rapidly I'm comparison. This is a deficit created by the nature of large army selections each with wide variety of models. The industry basically does it to itself by being successful and has never done an adequate job of pursuing solutions.
I just bought a 6k anycubic 3d resin to print my models to go and play table top. I have never considered it before because of the cost of entry. From GW i am looking at $1500 to $2000 just for a decent army that i can basicly print now at home for about $100 bucks worth of resin. I am a old old modeler and i havn't touched my mini's in over 30 years. Now with 3d printing i havn't stopped printing since i got it. I also went and got a full airbrush setup as i never used 1 before always painted by hand. In the old days us kids didn't have flash stuff like air brushes was all done by hand. I remember making hangers out of old carboard for my BattleStar Galactica Vipers, oh how i wish i never thru my BattleStar away when i broke it mum would not by me another 1 and they are worth a absoulute fortune now. I have had my printer a couple weeks now. It is simple if these companies cared more about their customers and being affordable and within reason then they need to jump on the 3d printing wagon and pioneer the tech. Give people a cheaper alternative, here is our premium $200 model and this is the 3d print version for say $50 dollars, then i would support them. The other way i will support a local hobby shop is i need rule books, rulers, blast range rulers, things like that needed for playing other then models.
My local local gaming store has 3d printers and utilises them for profit, mainly for scenery but also alternative sculpts for games like Crisis Protocol.
Great video Danny, nuanced and with real information. Interesting.
Without a 3d printer I never would've considered getting into 40k. Now I have and I did end up buying a few models from GW that I just could not find good STLs for.
Overall they got more money from me than they ever would have without 3d printing.
I’m in the exact same situation. I printed a few things for the really expensive models like redemptor dreadnoughts but most of my army is made up of GW models bought from my local game store as well as the 2 codex’s I needed. Now I’ll be honest my next army is going to be 2k points of necrons completely 3d printed because one page rule has an amazing set of them.
I’m not a warhammer person at all but my younger brother is. We regularly talk about 3D printing in warhammer and how for some reason full figures are sort of looked down on. But everywhere else seems to be welcoming of it.
I have seen my local stores buying 3d printers making minis and terrain that they sell along with brushes, paints, glues and magnets. I can go to them with a file and get it printed saving me money and making money for the stores.
As an outsider to this issue, it reminds me a lot of Blockbuster and video rental, where the problem was that an old business model just didn't make sense in a more modern market.
two days ago i ordered both a plastic and resin printer because i wanted terrain and a couple of new armies for 40k. i mostly do conversions and buying the conversion kits along with the base kits was getting silly... and ive got more than average means so it wasnt a cost issue. it was a matter of not wasting the conversion kits.
Love recasts.
$105 For Guilliman...
Nope, $26 from China.
If they are going to be overly greedy then I'm shopping elsewhere.
Where do you get recasts?
great video as always Danny.
Thank you so much, Mikey!
I play Star wars legion, personally i think printing proxies is ok especially if you cant find the units for your army like B2s, phase 2 units etc. Ill also buy at least one unit each, trooper units ill buy three and print the rest, ill also buy my heroes and tanks as well.
My lfgs seemed to be the only store around that I felt was reasonable when I started getting into the hobby and asked "Just don't bring in a full 3d printed army and you're all good. If you can when you come in and play buy some paint supplies, books, or a box of models and supplement the leftover bits with some 3d printed bodies to get bonus units"
Glad to see that there are some other store owners out there with a similar view.
I love how you shed light on the biz perspective. As someone who owns a 'traditional' miniatures company, I can definitely feel the impact of 3D printing, and why trying to figure out how to address this.
Support your LFGS. Always the mantra the community needs to live by.
Gotta agree here - it was the biggest takeaway I got from Adepticon. Every single one of these interviews brought it up, and brought up the importance of their "home scene."
Absolutely, but the margin on warhammer sales is very low, they live off of everything else.
My "local" shop (which is now a small chain of shops across the country) primarily lives off of LARPing gear, merchandise and board games. Everything tabletop related is DYI materials. Their warhammer shelves have always been half-stocked and it's far from everything offered by GW. It's much easier and less of a financial pain for them to just offer to order it with no shipping charges for you. Even GW's own 'Warhammer' shops do this.
3D printing is more of a threat to GW than they are FLGS. Don't worry, they'll be fine and and they'll adapt. They can even offer their own printing services if they're smart about it.
My FLGS is awesome because I 3D Print product for them to sell at the store...Dice Towers, holders, terrain, etc. I even printed a Sword for the store that was based on the art from MTG and he's having another artist decorate it for the store. We also 3d print figures for games that we love playing but are dead like BattleFleet Gothic and Mordheim. I've brought fully 3d printed custom armies for Kill Team and proxies for 40k, no one has batted an eyelash because we are all there to have fun and we definitely love the store and boy do we spend money there LOL. Any soldiers who end up in Bremerton, WA hit up Discordia Games in old downtown....MTG, YuGiOh, Warhammer...everything is played.
The modding scene has been a springboard for years getting people into games development etc. I can see 3D printing/sculpting etc being a springboard for showcasing your talent and getting you into the TT games industry. If GW was threatened by 3D printing, the easiest way for them to shut it down would be to employ the most talented patreon campaigns
It totally is. I know several sculptors who work for big companies after cutting their teeth making STLs for a few years.
That Darth Darth Binks mini looks good.
It's simply because GW doesn't allow these proxies or commercial "bits" in their tournaments and stores is the only reason it's not being taken up wholesale.
The tournaments run by shops are the most easily available source of games and players meaning that they are excluding these printer players by default and skewing your numbers as well as having a chilling effect on the 3D community - It's why DnD is such large adopters of the tech.
Either GW maintains a strangle hold on these game environments or it will be affected.
One Page Rules may start changing that
My group does a large get together once a year . This year at the raffle I through a base ender 3 in there .
I got a printer, because I like to paint minis. I don't play the games, and I have no intention of doing so in the next few years either. Maybe, far in the horizon, some kill team or similar small unit count skirmish games.
When I put that order for the printer in, I figured you gotta learn to do the basics with the 3D modeling software too to get the benefits. Customize those models you're going to search for, mayyybe make your own sometime in the far flung future.
Well 3 months later, I made the model for the Hammerfall Bunker, about a month before it was released. A friend printed one out and it was used in games before the official model was released. And with the maker community being supportive and full of awesome artists, it felt good to contribute to the enjoyment of others.
So a bit later, the Void Dragon got released. Again, a month before the launch, I made a model made from the previews.
Then The Silent King.
Then Anacharis Scoria.
Then Krulghast Cruciator - The first GW model I've made and also printed myself. I was about three months earlier than the official release with this guy.
The I think were the moped marines featured in your last video. Not an official model, but hey, it's my 5 minutes of fame to be featured :D
Then Lord Kroak.
Swampcalla Shaman.
Vayon of the Withered Quill - which was my personal speed record: Late Friday the preview drops. I have the model ready Sunday afternoon, printed it on Monday, painted it ready Tuesday. 72ish hours from an empty Blender project to painted mini in the cabinet.
Currently I'm on the last stretch (keying and cutting) Awlrach the Drowner for printing. So I think I'll beat them to the social medias with that model too by a month or two.
I really don't believe me practicing my modeling through GW IP replication is hurting their bottom line. Much like with any piracy, you can't prove the loss of sales. I think their models are outrageously priced. Their plastic cannot possibly be that costly to produce. There has to be too much bloat in the system when a single model costs upwards from 30 bucks, when the resin cost for home printers is in the range of ten to twenty cents. Even considering the cost of modeling and designing the characters, we're maybe talking tens of thousands in paychecks, easily recouped with a price tag of a fiver. Global shipping, box art, casting, can't be more than another fiver in the bulk that GW ships stuff around.
I will buy a GW kit if I feel it's reasonably priced - new Lord Kroak, now that they released it, seems reasonable for the kit. I've bought Belisarius Cawl, the Dethwing Terminators, Megaboss, and other random minis (I think I mentioned that I really don't play the game so the selection is "ooh, that's cool"). I really don't feel justified paying similar prices for a single model I would be paying for a bust from an artisinal shop.
The models I have replicated, I do so knowing that the kit will be too expensive, I'd have to wait for it for months, and I want to paint it now. It might take me between 10 and 100 hours to make a proxy of, but I get to then paint a mini that's cool and affordable.
Great video, Golden Rhino Games is my local store and I was surprised but happy to see it here. Supporting you local store is very important and can be lost on the "3d printing is killing GW" crowd so I glad to see someone talk about it.
You're the second person who said this - and I'm so happy to see that! Ian was so wonderful to speak with, and honestly seemed like the kind of passionate guy I'd love to lead my own local game stores.
I bought a 3D printer, and boy i dont think i would need so mutch chemicals. My livingroom is feeling like a labotory and it costs so mutch time to learn the stuff to get some good prints out.
I think 3d printing adds a ton of variety to all games. I run a 3d printing/Gaming Club, and I have the best looking terrain in my entire state. But I can't get people to come in and play on my wonderful terrain, I charge 5 dollars a day, per player, or a monthly sub. I haven't figured out if it's the money, or if it's not enough of a destination like a full fledged game store actually is.
Either way, I have huge hive cities, sprawling desert scenics, Tyranid planets, etc, but it just doesn't seem to be enough for players to play at my shop instead of going to the other game stores, which can't afford to buy the terrain I have. It's confusing, and I've pretty much given up on being a game club and just needing to sell all my terrain to make ends meet.
I use my 4k printer for the truly fantastic One Page Rules sculpts. I use them for GW games. Without them, I wouldn't even consider it, since even with the $250 initial cost, $20 STL cost, and ~$1/model material cost, it would cost me at least as much to have ONE army.
Same. My sons wanted to get into wargaming, and buying three full armies would be cost prohibitive to buy but is realistic to print.
There is also I think additional value in that those who 3D print bring interest to others into a game (such as 40k), this creates new sales from other people. On top of that it is still very likely that those who 3D print buy glue, paints, hobby tools from the local gaming store while they are visiting the establishment.
So I don't see 3D printing leading to the death of board game war-gaming, it might however dampen sales from those put off by the continuously higher prices. Moreover, it is likely that super exclusive or expensive models will see lower sales as people will go to lengths to acquire those elsewhere.
the only thing killing GW is GW, 3D printing is just stepping in to fill the vacuum for a lot of people that just can't afford to put up with their shit
If'd love to paint GW minis, but every time I look at their prices I got "shit, I can get two bottles of resin for that price". The ROI just isn't there.
Can someone tell me where Danny went? Curious and slightly worried :(
As long as the store lets me use my printed figures I usually buy their paints or food or some other stuff lots but if the store does not alow it then it would be hard to support them
My thoughts on the matter is, like tcgs, you can use 3d and 3rd party models on unofficial games, but when you go to official tournaments and whatnot you will have to use official materiel only. the same way you cant use printed cards on mtg tournaments for example.
I don't have a 3D printer yet. What the idea is making me think of, though, is researching print file availability for generic fantasy and moderns to play miniature agnostic rulesets like Fistful of TOWs. I prefer smaller scales than 28 mm and a more operational level of command, where fire and maneuver are able to be well used on the table.
I picked up a resin 3d printer earlier this year and have done a bit of everything with it. It has drastically increased the variety of miniatures available to me, and with so many companies making 3d models nowadays it has given a boon to the hobby.
LGS stores could even use 3D hobbyists as another revenue source. selling resin, supplies etc hell even hiring out the use of 3D printers time etc. 3D printers are a tool in a hobbyists arsenal and are a great addition to the hobby imo
It may affect GW total Revenue but more you print the more paint you need which would help paint sales including GW's. I have no inside resource but I wouldn't be surprised if paint is what GW make the most gross margin % on.
Don't have a ton of experience with 3D printing (mine is down because I don't have a safe space for it atm, toxic fumes and all), but what I _can_ say is that losing a random Intercessor power pack to my carpet would have been a much bigger deal if I couldn't print out another one.
One of my local game stores also had a section of their consignment area dedicated to 3D printed Contemptor Dreadnoughts and accompanying Volkite weapons, while also having one of the most extensive GW (Space Marine at least) inventories I've ever seen. Even within GW and straight copies available around for free/very little money, there's still going to be a market for plastic over prints, and at worst I think we'd see cut prices from GW.
Something I don't think gets brought up especially often is the ability to revive dead games, like Epic or Battlefleet Gothic for example, with 3D printing. Instead of having to hunt down 20 year old models, a new player can just print up an army, get it painted, and start playing even if the game system hasn't been supported in decades.
I remember seeing old White Dwarfs where nearly some models were just a base with green stuff sculpted into arms and legs and armor and tentacles. And GW was fine with that. So 3D printing can be just a faster and digital form of that too.
The main issue is that storefronts aren't allowed to sell custom 3d printed gamepieces. If they were they would be even more insentiviced to get more people into the hobby who would at 1st buy the cheap stuff and graduate to official high quality models. When you force new players to have to pay hundreds just to get started they'll either ignore you or find cheaper alternatives, or even worse go play another game
If they have a commercial license for the sculptors they usually are allowed to do so! And there are many that do this actually.
Good video, good ideas to mull over.
I like to mix and match. 3D printed parts that are made to go with existing models are a great way to add some personal flair to them.
Very good video!
Well done report. Well researched, and spot on(in my estimate) conclusions.
Thanks Gary!
I started getting into 40k literally last week and basically went into a 40k/Games Workshop rabbit hole...I'm someone who loves building home-made props and painting them, I'm also a collector (of many things) and the moment I started learning about 40k I said to myself: this is my jam. Sadly, I'm also very impatient when it comes to things I like and I ordered 2 original sets of minis from Amazon...here's the catch though: because I live in Argentina there are a LOT of obstacles in regards to getting things from outside the country and the biggest one is (if you want your things to arrive safely) paying ALMOST DOUBLE the cost of the item. A $50 set of minis here costs $90 just 'cause...AND there are NO hobby shops in my hometown that sell anything related to tabletop games like 40k...after a few more days of research I discovered an online group of people that not only sells second hand minis (still pretty expensive) but also people who 3d print stuff...and their prints looked amazing! And then I started falling into another rabbit hole.... my point is: I will 3D print as much as possible because it's a fraction of the cost, it's easier to obtain, and sometimes the models look WAY better....I probably would've abandoned the hobby if it wasn't for 3D printing, but now... I'm just getting started :D
I find 3D printing actually encourages me more often to buy miniatures that I don't want to design myself and 3D print. 3D printing my own miniatures also encourages me to actually go in buy the paint by the brushes the files all the stuff that I need to actually paint the model
I can A: never visit a store and buy GW products as it costs way to much to join or B: 3d print what I can and visit my local store buy paint. brushes, glue, snacks, tournament fees, and other products like how I found star wars legion which was affordable and bought a full army from my local store. So for local stores I say anything that gets people in the door is a plus... I left Warhammer 40k because our local scene was dead due to a price hike which is now are joke with the current prices. I know I personally saw our store go from 12 tables every Saturday to 3 in 6 weeks because new codex's and the cost of the new models and products was not sustainable for many of our players... and when we lost them the store lost a significant income as we spent quite a lot of money buying paints etc but not to mention the tournament/campaign fees the house cut 500 USD a week alone with it for just opening space and providing a place to play. Not to mention the food revenue they and again having a place to look at other products and meet friends in the local area through one game.
One thing FLSG can do is become merchants. They sell miniatures from manufacturers now, they can help themselves by getting licensees to do their own selling. Getting higher-end printers allows them to charge more for it.
The only miniatures company that suffers from recasting and is “threatened” by 3D printing is GW because the others charge a reasonable price.
idk where you are shopping for minis but gw is in the middle ground when it comes to price. you ever tried to get into kingdom death
@@lv100Alice Games Workshop is not “mid ranged” compared to the historical miniatures market which has much more variety and better value.
@@Corvinuswargaming1444 Historical minis are also much worse quality on average and physically smaller. Talking about Warlord Games, Wargames Atlantic, and similar companies. Corvus Belli comes close, but metal minis still suck.
You look at stuff that matches scale and quality, and GW is absolutely middle ground. Kingdom Death, Artel W, Wargame Exclusive, and all of these boutique places can charge $25-$30 per miniature. GW has that with some characters, but $50 for 10 dudes is $5 a mini. Not even close to boutique prices. The vast majority of their range is lower price per mini, and they offer vehicles and stuff that others don't don't even come close to matching.
GW doesn't care about 3D printing. They use it in their production heavily. They ban 3D prints at tournaments the same way you can't print MTG cards on paper and bring them to an MTG tournament. Would you say WoTC is "threatened" by the paper printing market? Of course not. Many more people can own a paper printer than can own a 3D printer.
As a printer myself, I want as many people to print stuff as possible. I also offer to print stuff for people. However its not for everyone. Setup and space required is expensive. Materials are toxic. People might not be able to deal with the high up-front cost or the material handling. Its much easier to go spend $50 on a squad once a month than it is to spend $1000 on a printer, wash/cure station, masks and filters, etc. as well as investing the time in a whole separate hobby to print, wash, cure, remove supports, and smooth things BEFORE they get to do the painting and building that most people enjoy on top of the game.
@@Optix334 Historical miniatures are not “worse” quality
to be honest I play a fair few different games, GW is about average for price, crisis protocol for example is usually 35 to 40 for 2 minis. So lets be fair and bash all companies for high prices or none at all. The hobby as a whole is expensive no matter which games or minis you paint. I personally believe 3d printing will only enrich the hobby, I don't see why so many want to see a company fail. I will still buy models direct as these companies make some beautiful kits as well as print anything that appeals to me to.