3D Printing for Tabletop Games

Essential reading on how low-cost technology is revolutionising every aspect of tabletop gaming.

3D printing is having an unprecedented impact on the gaming industry. Print out a couple of dozen miniatures, and a 3D printer has already paid for itself. It is an amazing time to be a gamer.

No matter whether you already own a 3D printer, are in the market for one, or are just watching from the sidelines, this book will bring you bang up to date.

A 3D printer is now the single most useful piece of gaming equipment you can buy. In gaming circles, more and more people are starting to appreciate the benefits of a 3D printer, and with high quality machines now costing less than $200, it does not take long to realise huge savings. 3D printers have now dropped in price to a point where a $200 machine is more reliable and capable than a machine that was ten times that price just a few years ago. 3D printer owners are now able to play whatever they want to play, rather than buy only what is easily obtained. They no longer have to depend on large publishers finding the item (figure, vehicle, terrain, etc) economical to produce.

For almost a decade, there was an unrelenting wave of breathless media hype promoting the promise of 3D printing. For much of that time, 3D printed models looked little better than the freebies that were given away in eighties cereal boxes. There was a time when trying to print anything was a major endeavour. Consumer level machines were notoriously unreliable, and many prints looked like coughed-up fur-balls that would have embarrassed a terminally-ill tomcat. These days it is much more print-and-play. In the last few years, 3D printing has reached a new level of technological maturity. Even the most adamant naysayers are genuinely shocked when they see the quality and level of detail currently available. While commercial 3D printers have been available for some time, personal 3D printers open up a whole range of new possibilities. As a result, 3D printing is undergoing a period of unprecedented growth. More and more hobbyists are so impressed by the quality of new projects, that they are now keen to invest in a machine of their own. As newcomers begin to share their own positive experiences and original creations, even more people want to become involved, encouraging rapid, viral growth.

While Covid-19 has devastated many industries, sales of 3D printers have doubled in the same period. The number of active printers has now reached an important critical mass. Their output is so varied and so impressive that all kinds of hobbyists, makers and hardware hackers are deciding that it is now the time to get involved. This in turn creates a positive feedback loop that is driving exponential growth. The digital miniatures market is suddenly accelerating at a frightening pace.

We are therefore seeing a spiral development model, increasing the complexity and scale of parts printing with each phase. A drastic reduction in production and distribution costs has benefited every possible gaming genre, from swords and sorcery to neo-Gothic noir. 3D printers allow anybody to experiment with their wildest ideas. Designers and dungeon masters around the globe are continuously pushing the boundaries of gaming, as this constantly evolving technology allows them to bring ever more imaginative projects to life. Prints now cost just pennies, and as a result, we are seeing all kinds of exciting projects come to life.

At the moment it is still unclear how all of this is going to affect the games industry. The ongoing digitisation of gaming products is similar to the way in which MP3s disrupted the music industry. Whether the dominant players will embrace this new technology remains to be seen. 3D printing certainly has the potential to really shake things up. The growth of 3D printing and its effect on tabletop gaming means that things will never be the same again.