Found this on the forums, someone printed out a Typhon using one of those new fangled 3D printing contraptions. This Typhon looks really awesome and all, but it got me thinking…Could this be the future of wargaming? Made-to-order miniatures? What are your thoughts on this?
Miniature armies, huge time sink. 
I saw this on the PP forums a while ago and the guy said that it would normally cost an arm and leg, but now that 3D printing is becoming more common, I imagine made to order models will be seen more often (hell, if you have the cash to buy a Makerbot, you can make them at home at your leisure). I definatley am waiting for someone to start a business selling customized figures.
Yeah, I think he said he paid around $150 for it, which is too rich for my blood. That’s a good portion of an army there in one figure. Plus I think the current Typhon model is pretty cool anyway.
But I agree, as the costs come down on doing this type of stuff, I’m sure someone with turn it into a business. I would if I had the means.
Unfortunately, it will probably never take off. The miniatures companies will lose too much money. There isn’t much money in just selling two books(and a handful of cards) every year.
Thinking about it, it would also be pretty easy to win their case (PP, GW, etc) in court, ending it right there.
This is definitely the future of wargaming. It would radically alter the way the industry operates though so if the current batch of companies out there want to survive they will have to embrace this rather than fight it.
I envision the 3D print miniatures industry working something like this: rather than toddling off to your local hobby store and handing over hard cash for a box of soldiers you would log onto the producers website, pay to download the files for the models that you want and then fabricate them yourself at home on your printer.
Of course, there would be plenty of problems with pirated designs and people offering the blueprints on open source, but I don’t necessarily see this as a bad thing. If some of the larger companies go bust as a result I’m not going to lose any sleep. The end result is likely to be a return to the bottom-up structure the wargaming used to have, with more scope for creativity from ordinary gamers rather than the hideous corporate monstrosity it’s become in recent years
The biggest thing we (gamers) all need to remember is this:
You can’t copyright physical shapes. The best you can do is patent them, and patent law is one heck of a lot looser (legally speaking) than copyright law. So the recent BS with Warhammer threatening to sue over a 3D model of 1 of their ridiculously over-priced models? They didn’t actually have a legal leg to stand on.
Using a 3D printer you own to print a miniature is NO DIFFERENT than using ANY OTHER personal manufacturing process to make that same miniature/model. That’s what has these companies terrified.
@TC: It’s a direct violation of their IP and plenty illegal. In a perfect world this would be the future but, in this world, games being able to print out their own models would effectively end the miniatures gaming industry. You can’t make any reasonable money off rules alone (with out a ton of frequent updates). You also would no longer have sculptors making models, or the files to print these 3D models would be greatly overpriced.