I Have Joined the 3D Printing Revolution?

So, I got a lot of cool stuff for Christmas this year, but yeah, the biggie was this guy, a Photon 3D printer! I am pretty excited, and right now I am devouring the owner's manual. It's a resin printer as opposed to the filament, but they say that it produces better detail, but the resin is a touch more expensive.

So, I guess this is a short post, but all of you guys out there, what's some good pointers, or files? I have already visited Thingverse, Wargames Vault, and Yeggi, but I'd love to find more places to find stuff to print, or printer-specific pointers, as they claim the printer is easier, but I'd like to learn this by the numbers.

My New Tool!

It's on the smallish side, but I think it can print 'Mechs well enough, bigger terrain pieces might be a challenge, unless they are multi-part, but what I am really of a mystery about is can files be re-scaled. What I am looking for is can I take a 28mm file, and rescaling it for 20mm? (One of my primary scales). Can it be done, and how easy is it to do?

Also, what's a good tutorial for STL creation for a beginner like me?

As you can see, I got a lot of questions! 

Part 6, The Miniatures are Done, and the Game Itself!

Well, the game is in the record books. It ran, I got two players (a third was supposed to show, but sadly, he was in a car accident and was unable to make it, he's alright, but life, sadly, happens.)

In any event, first, I fixed that dreadful looking snow, and I mean it was dreadful. So, I did some research online, and thank god for youtube! I found a tutorial that worked and voila! Snow covered bases! Granted, they looked a bit more like a blizzard than a Iceland like effect I was going for, but adding some Army Painter tufts helped to break up the monotony of the bases. I rather liked how it all turned out, in retrospect.

As for decals, I used a mix of Fighting Piranha Graphics, and a fellow on ebay known as MatCatFrog. He makes some hard to find decals, but they are on pretty thick paper, and I found the Rasalhague Regulars decals a bit tough to work with. The 331st worked better, but they didn't have the backing they needed to stand out against the dark green of the color scheme of the Minnesota Tribe.

I tried using some Kanji numbers for the Combine 'Mechs, but it didn't work out and I'll probably come back and use some I-94 Enterprise decals for them at some point, but I was pressed for time.

In short, I liked how they turned out, and they look great for the eclectic sources that wound up making up the combatants.

Both sides, Completed.

As for the game, well, things went as historically. I gave the Minnesota Tribe better skills but lighter 'Mechs, and then gave the Combine heavier 'Mechs, but somewhat lesser pilots, but, they had a platoon of Von Luckners and Demolishers set up in Misby Flats itself, so it wasn't all going the Tribe's way.

But, it wound up going their way anyhow.

Both sides tried to turn each other's flank, but the Tribe had more speed, and managed it first, not to mention they killed 11 out of 12 'Mechs. But, they couldn't destroy Misby Flats, as they didn't manage their time right. I told both sides, for each Tribe 'Mech not off the table by Turn 15, the Combine got 5 points each, as that represents the eventual capture by the Combine of a fairly intact Star League-tech 'Mech, as opposed to the wreckage they got in the actual raid.

The end of the game was dramatic, with the remaining Kuritas holing up in a small wood to attempt an all around defense, it didn't work, sadly for them, and while they did gun down three Tribe 'Mechs by game end, and forced a Dervish to withdraw, alas, the score was 19-10 Tribe. (The Combine also got 5 points if the Tribe didn't shoot ANY buildings).

The game was good, solid fun. It needs a bit of tweaking of the map, and I am going to make it 12 turns next time to add a bit more drama, but yeah, I'd run this again.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Dave and Charlie for playing, and The Games Tavern for letting me host this event. I know more of you out there would have liked to play, and I promise, I will run it again, soon!

And here are some game pics:

Part 5: Painting the Minnesota Tribe! And...not a great start on the snow IMO

It was a mixed day of painting yesterday, I did get a lot done painting-wise yesterday, as the game is Saturday at Noon at The Games Tavern. I am pretty excited about this, as far as I can remember, this is the first time anyone I know has run a Minnesota Tribe-themed game, and I am looking forward to this little game.

Now, painting the Minnesota Tribe:

I began by priming them black, as was stated in a previous blog entry. I am now wondering if I should have painted them grey instead. I used the following colors, the first was MiG-0081 US Olive Drab Vietnam Era (FS 24087) which, like most MiG colors, goes on thin, but if you hit it with two coats, it works well, but I did lose a little detail. I then drybrushed it with a coat of MiG-0929 Olive Drab Shine. It did a decent job of giving it a light shine, so much so, I then hit it with my Magic Mudd Wash. I think I am going to use the shine again as a highlight, see if that lightens up the scheme a bit, or I may use a lighter shade of OD with a 10% addition of some VMC Grey White?

The snow, that was another disaster. I made a hash of it I think. First, I used pumice instead of modelling paste, which I do not have, the rest, I didn't have water effects, so I used what I had of some gloss varnish. Honestly, what came out was grey..and looks more like ash than snow. I was not impressed. I might use some white glue and snow to go over top of this, then put some rocks and the like in to try and see if this can be improved.

The Combine Mechs mostly have their decals done, I just have to add numbers/some "nose art" and hazard symbols. But, I really like how they turned out. Anyhow, we'll see how it all goes tonight?