Tag: Miniatures

Beauty and the Beast – Belle and the Beast

In a brief break from the Star Wars Armada content (more is on the way, I’ve got something bigger there), I wanted to showcase a set of figures I made for my sister, who has a real obsession with Beauty and the Beast. As an adult. I guess that’s okay, because at some point I really want to find a Robin Williams impersonator and have them record “Prince Danny” so I can have theme music whenever I go somewhere.

ANYWAY, on to the pictures:

Beast

First up, we have the infamous Beast. I was pretty happy with this one – yeah, we can see layer lines when we take a picture close up, but consider that the image is blown up from a 30mm high figure. It’s not so noticeable then, though I’ll have to revisit the settings on my resin slicer.

Belle

Next up is the other half of the title – Belle, posed like she did in the movie where for some reason the entire town bursts into song about her. Sure, she’s cute and all, but how weird would that be? I’d have to move.

Together at the Finale

Of course I couldn’t give just those two figures – I needed something to really top it off. For that, I designed a pose with the two of them together near the end of the movie, where they dance in the ballroom with the iconic yellow dress and definitely tailor-made suit.

Yes, I too can see the bumps in the paint from where stuff was in the air. Go ahead and try painting in a house with three cats – it just kind of happens.

I finally wrapped it up together in these neat little display jars that looked a whole lot like the one that held the rose, and if I remember correctly she cried, so mission success all around.

Coming up I may go through my backlog of completed items before releasing the big Armada bomb I’ve been working on – either way, stay tuned.

Customizing & Expanding Star Wars: Armada

Hi everyone,

This is probably going to be the first “long-ish form” post I’ve put here, and the first post on any blog for a while. Before we dig in, some background:

There’s a wonderful game called Star Wars: Armada, formerly by Fantasy Flight Games and then handed off to Atomic Mass Games. It’s part of a three-game Star Wars Miniatures set:

Armada is the fleet-wide battle system where you command capital ships and fighters
X-Wing is the squadron/fighter based system where you control a few pilots in a dogfight
Legion is the ground-based fighting where you command troops, walkers, and vehicles

I’ve gone a little bit into X-Wing (which came out before the other two), but haven’t spent time with Legion (the newest of the three). I’ve got the Middle Earth mini game to sink my money on, thank you.

The AMG Fiasco (some background)

Shortly after Atomic Mass Games took over the Star Wars franchise games, they announced that they had nothing in the works for Star Wars Armada for at least the next year and a half, and they’ll revisit it then. It… didn’t go over well with players, and has gone a long way towards damaging the game.

This is where my hobby for 3D printing comes in. I started printing minis for an ongoing D&D campaign, which then escalated into Lord of the Rings miniatures, and now has invaded Armada. Printing my own ships and squadrons? Limited only by the resin I can buy on Amazon? We’re in ~~trouble~~ heaven.

Finding good models was the difficult part. Eventually, I came across a designer who publishes his from-scratch 3D models under Onil Creations (Thingiverse Link). I then found his Patreon, which is where I hit the gold mine. From there I found Slightly Used Space Ship Yards (SUSSY) and his Patreon. I highly recommend supporting them both if you want to print some neat Star Wars ships.

ANYWAY. I’m on a personal printing hiatus while I get through all of the paint backlog. However, in his Discord I got to see some really beautiful paint jobs as part of a painting contest. Being a volunteer moderator, as the prize I offered to create ship cards in the style of Star Wars Armada cards. These cards could be printed at home (or through a professional printer) and played in friendly games. A few examples are below.

I have to say… It was pretty fun. While the artwork at the top could use some improvement (my main computer with all of the graphics software is old and tired), the potential for new Armada ships is exciting. After designing some cards and getting really into the weeds on Star Wars lore and figuring out game stats, I decided I might as well publish something about the stupid amount of work that went into them.

Star Wars: Armada – Reborn

Like many games before it, the players will have to come together and save this game, too. The best example is NISEI, a non-profit fan-created set of expansions for Android: Netrunner, a great card game if you ever get into it. If Netrunner fans can create something, then Star Wars fans can almost certainly create it too – after all, if we’re still around after the last trilogy, we must be dedicated.

This post is more or less my letter of intent. Other posts will be published soon that showcase some of the work so far. I would love for any Armada players to comment on the threads with their input. If we get enough activity around the idea then we can make it more formal and all become great game developers one day.

Since I don’t have a post ready as of publication (but they are on the way), you can check out some 3D printed ships for my custom Star Wars: Armada task force – The Hapan Fleet. No stats yet, but we’ll get there. 🙂

The Rock People

Long posts suck – it’s like looking for a cooking recipe and having to get through the author’s whole life story before seeing the ingredients list. With that in mind I’ll keep this post short.

I own a few 3D printers, and love them oh so much. One benefit is I get to print little minis, and below I’ll share a quirky set that I printed, painted, and am looking for a chance to use them in something, maybe as my own little version of Ewoks in a D&D campaign.

I didn’t create the models, though 3D modeling is something I’d like to get into. All of these were printed with my heavily modified workhorse, an Ender 3. You can see layer lines from this printer which is mostly inevitable unless I wanted to sand all of the little nooks and crannies (I didn’t).

All of the paint is the cheap kind you can find at Target or Walmart, with the exception of three Games Workshop paints you can see for the gemstones. Those technical paints are just really fun to use, and certainly help things stand out.

Enjoy!