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Count Thrashula posted:This was a ... I think French Napoleonic line infantry block? Maybe ACW? It's Godzilla crashing through a city
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Jul 22, 2023 16:25
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NTRabbit posted:It's Godzilla crashing through a city Oh so the 30 Years War
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Jul 22, 2023 16:40
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it's clearly a goonmeet
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Jul 22, 2023 16:46
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Historicon was so awesome. I played Sharp Practice, What a Cowboy!, and Pickett's Charge (which was excellent) Ran my own Game of Sharp Practice, 1862 Guerillas and Confederates vs Union           
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Jul 24, 2023 01:14
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alg posted:Historicon was so awesome. I played Sharp Practice, What a Cowboy!, and Pickett's Charge (which was excellent) That's awesome, Historicon is less than an hour from where I live but I couldn't make it this year. I've loved seeing all the pictures and games from it
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Jul 24, 2023 03:38
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So I played 1 out of 2 days of the first Glory is Fleeting (formally known as Field of Glory Napoleonic 3rd edition) tournament. 16-18 players over 4 games. I only could play for 1 day...and lost both. 2nd game my army hit break point  Perhaps I shouldn't have stayed up till 2am that morning finishing my army. Wasn't a complete white wash, I was able to rout some enemy units. First game was...inconclusive. There was some skirmishing at one end of the battlefield...but I didn't want to leave my entrenchments and he didn't want to try them.  I still managed to lose, but I'm not sure how. I'm on the left with 1809 Anglo-Portuguese, he's on the right with an Austrian army I think. The cavalry of both armies is clashing at the far end. I actually won it despite having lighter units...but thje following infantry battle on that flank I lost. Second game I had him- I had control of the skirmish line, his line was all disrupted...and then he made 6 rolls out of 6 to rally his entire army. Next turn failed 6 rolls out of 6 doing the same thing . My luck failed worse than testing your luck in a Fighting Fantasy gamebook with a starting luck of 7. I should write battle reports but it was a bit disheartening. I might still do so. Comstar fucked around with this message at 14:08 on Jul 24, 2023 |
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Jul 24, 2023 14:05
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Sometimes doing the AAR maths helps you spot your mistakes, and sometimes it shows you that you made no mistakes and just got dicefucked. Worth doing a quick debrief either way.
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Jul 24, 2023 18:19
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Dice tell stories. Sometimes the story is about you getting dunked on.
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Jul 24, 2023 18:25
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Started work on my SMG Company for Flames of War: These flexible plastic minis are a lot wonkier and softer on detail than Battlefront's hard plastic offerings, but I think I did alright.
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Jul 25, 2023 03:26
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Arquinsiel posted:Sometimes doing the AAR maths helps you spot your mistakes, and sometimes it shows you that you made no mistakes and just got dicefucked. Worth doing a quick debrief either way. I just realized as I write the first battle report. I had lured him into advancing his line infantry onto a rough terrain hill. WHILE HE WAS ON THAT ROUGH HILL, his firepower would be have been cut down by HALF. I didn't attack him because I didn't want to charge up hill....but I could have stood on the ground outside it and shot him to pieces with 3 times the firepower he could have given me. I lured the enemy army to fight on ground of my own choosing...and forgot to use it. I had a full armed and operational elite light division ready to shoot...and I forgot I had the advantage. Some winy kid must have been distracting my leader. I found a video representation of what probably happened. Comstar fucked around with this message at 12:46 on Jul 25, 2023 |
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Jul 25, 2023 12:02
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Endman posted:Started work on my SMG Company for Flames of War: these look really great!
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Jul 25, 2023 13:26
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The only good use for one of those paint pots.
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Jul 25, 2023 13:54
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alg posted:these look really great! Thanks! Arquinsiel posted:The only good use for one of those paint pots. They’ve honestly spent orders of magnitude longer as painting handles than as actual paint pots with how quickly they dried out. And GW still hasn’t managed to design a pot that doesn’t suck
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Jul 25, 2023 22:32
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The pot immediately after that one was pretty good, but nothing beats the one that it replaced, which I still have several of that are approaching 25 years old and still have liquid paint in them.
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Jul 26, 2023 01:01
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Endman posted:And GW still hasn’t managed to design a pot that doesn’t suck
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Jul 26, 2023 01:19
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Pierzak posted:I can only conclude that GW actively wants to avoid making good pots to make people waste paint and rebuy the product. I honestly wouldn't be surprised given most of their business practices 
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Jul 26, 2023 02:08
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Pierzak posted:They had great pots under Coat d'Arms(sp?), very good pots a generation later (hexagonal with soft tops), the next generations were all varying flavors of poo poo. I can only conclude that GW actively wants to avoid making good pots to make people waste paint and rebuy the product. Round and hex with pop-tops always seemed to get the reccess clogged up with paint when I was using them, but maybe because I was 11 years old and using a toothbrush to paint with, or whatever...
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Jul 26, 2023 09:19
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Endman posted:I honestly wouldn't be surprised given most of their business practices They are literally the only paint maker amon dozens who have been using bottles that dry up a hundred times faster than the competition, and they mostly sell in shops that carry no other paint brands. It is not a coincidence.
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Jul 26, 2023 10:37
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looks like magister militum is getting out of the game and selling their ranges https://mailchi.mp/magistermilitum/...es-by-26th-sept
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Jul 28, 2023 13:38
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Huh. I had a brief moment of "oh no, I should order them things what I wanted" before seeing the political commitments bit. Yeah I think I'm gonna pass on buying from a company owned by Tories who hold public office TBH.
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Jul 28, 2023 14:00
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A loooot of historical brands are run by one guy in their late 60’s to 80’s, sometimes with a few helpers. We’re going to see a lot more brands change hands like this the coming years, Front Rank was another big one.
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Jul 28, 2023 18:45
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Getting choked up about the day, some day, when Peter Pig hangs up his hat...
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Jul 28, 2023 23:21
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Sentimentality aside (and I am the worst for that kind of thing, particularly for oldhammer stuff) Is it not simply a changing of the guard to those who are digitally sculpting files for distribution? Feels like a much more sustainable model going forward than individuals who have I set up an entire sculpting, casting, and logistics business by themselves? Speaking of which does anyone know a source for World War I naval STLs? In the indie war gaming thread I tried out starmada and was quite underwhelmed, but since its shares ship data card format with Grand Fleets, I have an itch to play that again - but maybe with some post-dreadnought battleships instead of the Russo-Japanese war. We have already gone over the drama of trying to get ships from NavWar!
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Jul 29, 2023 08:06
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Most of these guys are casting-to-order with relatively cheap moulding equipment; most of the up-front cost and time is getting that set up. I think it's likely digital+3D printing is maybe a bit easier on the wallet and pocketwatch, but my impression is it's not actually that much better because these were always really low-overhead businesses.
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Jul 29, 2023 08:45
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Count Thrashula posted:Getting choked up about the day, some day, when Peter Pig hangs up his hat... Peter Pig isn't a man, it's a mantle
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Jul 29, 2023 09:42
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Southern Heel posted:Sentimentality aside (and I am the worst for that kind of thing, particularly for oldhammer stuff) Is it not simply a changing of the guard to those who are digitally sculpting files for distribution? Feels like a much more sustainable model going forward than individuals who have I set up an entire sculpting, casting, and logistics business by themselves? I honestly think that 3D printing will keep having a smaller effect in historicals than in 40k because a) the customers are older, b) metals is more common than plastics still, you’re not competing with badly cast resin c) historical minis are pretty universally much cheaper than GW miniatures and d) intricate, hard to make terrain is generally not as common. So the advantages of switching to 3D printing are smaller. I don’t see 3D printing being nearly as big in historicals as it is in the 40K community now within the next five years, at least. E: i think of myself more as the changing of the guard, i.e the generation who buys plastic sets from Victrix to play SAGA instead of Minifigs to play DBMM. There’s still a generation of grognards that would never touch hard plastic minis. If there will be a bigger influx of historical 3D printing it will be the next generation coming in from 40K, who are already used to it. lilljonas fucked around with this message at 12:00 on Jul 29, 2023 |
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Jul 29, 2023 11:52
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I think the most realistic outcome will be most people buying from someone with a printer rather than everyone selling STLs, just like buying someone's range works now.
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Jul 29, 2023 12:55
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I wrote down the blogpost of my first Tournament game of Glory is Fleeting game: 1815 British Infantry Corps vs 1809-11 Anglo-Portuguese . Ultimately my 2nd game with the new rules means I had defeat snatched from the jaws of victory because I forgot 2 rules: Infantry on rough hills get their firepower cut, and cavalry can pivot before charging in the same turn. Watch as I ultimately re-enact what happened in this scene from Robot Chicken.
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Jul 29, 2023 13:14
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You mean someone who is selling printed minis rather than cast? That makes sense! Almost all the small suppliers at salute 2023 who weren’t already established were supplying resin, rather than pewter figures. I managed to find someone who has German and British Great War naval STLs (among others) and has a free HMS dreadnought in 1:1800, so I’m printing that out, and we will see! What i would really like to see are regiment bases with the figures pre-populated and supported as a single object -it would make large mass battles so much easier in the smaller scales. As much as I enjoyed painting my 10 mm English Civil War figures, the time spent is not at all reflected on the table top presence, and being able to smash out blocks at a time would be fantastic
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Jul 29, 2023 14:53
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Even with low cost molds and whatnot an STL only distribution models is significantly cheaper. Not having to manage inventory or shipping is a huge cost savings. Wargames Atlantic has a mixed business model, but their tribe on MMF does pretty well. STLs are better than models as well because you can resize them if needed or desired, and it is easier for manufacturers to make different scale lines. 3D printers have become so much more capable over the last 5 years, it is hard to imagine what the next 5 years will hold, but we know that manufacturers are continually iterating to make the barrier to entry lower and make the machines more accessible. There are lots of hobbies that are predominantly dominated by "olds" that are being impacted by 3d printing and modeling. Scale modeling has a lot of aftermarket kit parts and modifications that are now 3d printed. It is a great time to be a hobbyist!
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Jul 29, 2023 15:05
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People aren't prepared to pay the prices for STLs that would keep anyone in business, I think.
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Jul 29, 2023 18:13
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There are numerous business that only sell STLs, but they target a broader market than historicals. 3DBreed is able to do it, and they have weird dwarf short legged miniatures. I may be in the minority about my dislike for their sculpts though, many people seem to like them.
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Jul 29, 2023 19:47
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Southern Heel posted:Speaking of which does anyone know a source for World War I naval STLs? https://www.thingiverse.com/marcusmole/designs This guy made a ton, notably the whole ship OOB from Jutland Edit-- vvvv oh yeah, Henry turner is the gold standard of naval STLs Count Thrashula fucked around with this message at 20:19 on Jul 29, 2023 |
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Jul 29, 2023 19:56
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I don't know the period that well do these count? https://www.myminifactory.com/users/henryturner/collection/pre-dreadnoughts
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Jul 29, 2023 20:16
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IncredibleIgloo posted:Even with low cost molds and whatnot an STL only distribution models is significantly cheaper. Not having to manage inventory or shipping is a huge cost savings. Wargames Atlantic has a mixed business model, but their tribe on MMF does pretty well. STLs are better than models as well because you can resize them if needed or desired, and it is easier for manufacturers to make different scale lines. 3D printers have become so much more capable over the last 5 years, it is hard to imagine what the next 5 years will hold, but we know that manufacturers are continually iterating to make the barrier to entry lower and make the machines more accessible. If you have the necessary infrastructure (an industrial unit) a spincasting mould is very cheap and you can literally cast to order with zero waste. Any extras just go back into the pot. In the time it takes for you to run a print a spincaster could have run a mould a few dozen times and produced an order of magnitude more product. It does rely a lot on having the space and expertise but it would be the same of a 3d printing shop. Plus you're not going to poison yourself with resin fumes. You can 3d print the masters and mass produce with spincasting which is the best of both worlds. Brigade have the capacity to do everything (print, resin cast and spincast) and they only 3d print low demand complex items. Anything that can be spincast or resin casted is still done in metal/resin. lilljonas posted:Making the molds, especially if you don’t sculpt yourself and you’re paying a sculptor, is the expensive part. Once you have that it is not too difficult to just set your prices higher than what you pay for your machinery, rent, raw materials, electricity etc and basically be at least afloat perpetually. Especially if you have an old range with customers who wants to keep buying to maintain a coherent army look - that’s why minifigs still exists. From my own experience running a garage miniature business it really boils down to two things 1. Are you able to keep interest up with releases? It's pretty obvious why GW does what it does with a constant stream of releases as every release gets you publicity and new eyes on your product. I was still getting the odd sale every month or two years after the last product release but when I was releasing regularly each release would be accompanied by significant sales across the board. (Significant for a miniscule business) 2. Do you have a big enough range to survive on those 1 sale every other month? I would imagine if I had a few thousand product codes and sold a small number regularly, thec business could keep ticking along - £20 profit every 2 months with 30 products. Potentially £1000-2000 if I had 1000 products instead. Not cocaine and hookers money, but enough to live on of you didn't have a mortgage. I suspect a lot of the really old and big producers (GZG and Brigade among them) survive due to this and also absorbing the lines from other companies that go out of business now that the creative costs have been paid. The metal moulds are pretty indestructible.
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Jul 29, 2023 21:36
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Both very nice! This is the freebie print of Dreadnought in 1.1800 - other than some rather small gun barrels I think it came out ok? Grand fleets fuzzes a ship scale vs gun range ratio already, and it looks a good deal more impressive and distinctive at that size than the 1:2400 Tumbling Dice ships I have so far. I could be tempted to print off a quartet of Canopus-class pre-dreadnought and see what the Royal Navy would have done mixed up in the Russo-Japanese war?
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Jul 29, 2023 21:45
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Yeah, people selling STLs aren't competing with people selling minis. They're competing with sculptors, who previously would've worked for model makers. The business of being a sculptor has undoubtedly changed enormously! But it's not a direct comparison with people who were selling minis direct to consumers.
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Jul 29, 2023 22:12
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Z the IVth posted:If you have the necessary infrastructure (an industrial unit) a spincasting mould is very cheap and you can literally cast to order with zero waste. Any extras just go back into the pot. I mean, this might be poignant if my argument was that people should run a shop using 3d printers, but that was not what I said. I was saying that an STL *only* model has extremely low overhead, because you don't need a spincaster or anything, with the exception of a printer to test run your prints. And you don't even need that if you sub out the supports. With nothing to warehouse and ship the costs are pretty low.
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Jul 29, 2023 22:14
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Yeah, no, entirely fair, but that's not the business garage historicals shops (or sci fi/fantasy equivalents) are in. People selling STLs are in a different, and for the most part entirely new, industry.
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Jul 29, 2023 22:16
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spectralent posted:Yeah, no, entirely fair, but that's not the business garage historicals shops (or sci fi/fantasy equivalents) are in. People selling STLs are in a different, and for the most part entirely new, industry. yeah it's this. im not sure traditional casters will be displaced any time soon (tho i am sure they will be displaced by additive manufacturers eventually), but the stl sculpt and sell model will be growing for quite some time to come imo
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Jul 29, 2023 22:26
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