Would you use a GW type version of Hero Forge?

[Ldorte]

I think a more interesting aspect is that GW could make use of better printing methods using more expensive printers. Resin printers are great but the supports require a load of effort to take off and can chip the resin during this process (requiring the mini to be re-printed), and then the models need washing and curing on top of that, requiring a lot of staff input and time.

 

I got something commissioned by a company that has some extremely fancy MJF printers ($240,000 per printer). This process involves "an inkjet array to selectively apply fusing and detailing agents across a bed of nylon powder, which are then fused by heating elements into a solid layer. After each layer, powder is distributed on top of the bed and the process repeats until the part is complete."  The finish and detail on the part was great after their automated polishing process. 

 

This method requires minimal manual post-processing by staff members which would certainly be an advantage.

 

A few more years is needed for the technology to start to drop in price for the initial investment to make sense and for the technology to improve a little more, but if they were to invest in a heroforge-like system then that seems like a better route to go than resin in the long-term having personally used both.

 

 

The finish on the part was great after their automated polishing process. 

[Scribe]

I'd drop good money on something like this.

 

Stupid money.

[Schurge]

I would if the quality is there. I pre-ordered two heroes from Heroforge and was ultimately disappointed.

[Jorin Helm-splitter]

I don't think that I would order anything from a GW themed hero forge. I just don't think the rules are flexible enough for it to be worth it. I haven't played a role playing game in years, but I can see where you would get the value from hero forge because it allows you to build what you want instead of looking for the closest model. 

 

I'm not paying a premium for something I can already get. Heck with what they'd charge I'd probably be better off buying two kits to make what I want.

 

I would like custom shoulder pads, for some of the less popular chapters but a full on hero forge just doesn't make sense to me.

[Evil Eye]

There's not a great deal you'd really be able to accomplish with it that you couldn't already with good old fashioned kitbashing. I'd personally rather GW made a "Make your own hero" rules supplement that would allow any faction to field their own specialized character so there was an actual reason to use said custom minis, be it a heroic Space Marine Captain with a bespoke selection of wargear, a unique Tyranid leader-beast bioform or whatever. They did something similar with AoS' Anvil of Apotheosis, and whilst AoS is a more simplified game than 40K, with a bit of work put in I can't see why it couldn't be done for the far future (aside from GW just not wanting to).

[Warhead01]

Short answer, No. 

Long answer maybe but probably not. 
I can't see myself using this for anything other than a Space Marine character and even still if it has options they would need rules to go with them that aren't nerfed from codex to codex or faq. 
Outside of a Space Marine, no. I much prefer my own conversions and my own work. My warboss, for example, has been the same model for a long long time and he'd been converted and modified from edition to edition. He's glorious.  I wouldn't put that in the hands of a GW service that will cost a bunch for something I am already more than happy to do for myself. 
The price alone is not a turn off so much as I'd always rather do it myself. I've paid far too much for official Limited edition GW or FW characters that I would other wise never be able to get, it's not the cost.  
The flip side to letting GW produce a model of your own design is how do you retain the rights to that and should you. It may be a hero from one of their factions but you put the creative work in to a degree and now they are making money from that and what's stopping them from them putting that into production in the future. By which I mean maybe they offer a gallery and you design just happens to be in there and Timmy decided he has to have it.  
Short answer, no. 
 

[Kurgan the Lurker]

I have one experience with Hero Forge. Let my daughter put a mini together on the site and it lasted about 2 days before it was snapped off at the ankles. 

 

If GW could guarantee a particular quality level, I'd at least try it once.

[Guest Triszin]

I'd be for it. But I'd imagine it works be closer to the Lego variant. Where once enough people "buy in" it gets a production run

[Jukkiz]

would be nice option for those of us who cannot convert or don´t want to. To build novel characters like Khorag, for example

[Domhnall]

I have one experience with Hero Forge. Let my daughter put a mini together on the site and it lasted about 2 days before it was snapped off at the ankles. 

 

If GW could guarantee a particular quality level, I'd at least try it once.

 

My dwarf's axe snapped off at the hand while I was painting it... so not as robust as I'd have expected from the premium price tag. 

 

Quesiton to the 3D printers out there, what's the robustness of the stuff you print? I'm assuming it's dependent on the material, but what's the consensus? 

[Arkhanist]

It very much depends on the material. Cheap UV resin can be fairly strong to compression and tension, but are more vulnerable to impact and torsion stress - i.e. dropping it or twisting it can break it easier than the styrene or abs plastic equivalent, while it's can be as good or better as plastic when getting squished in a bag.

 

Tougher resins intended for engineering pieces (which are a bit more expensive) on the other hand are much tougher -

Esun hard-tough has a good reputation as an engineering resin for example.

 

 

I know quite a few people mix in a small percentage of sirya tenacious to improve cheap resin at minimal extra cost without loss of detail capability; it's a rubbery flexible final plastic on its own, but a bit mixed with standard resin gives something with a bit of flex to prevent breaking on impact, and more robust minis.

Edited September 16, 2021 by Arkhanist

[Dosjetka]

I wouldn't, no. I'm already not keen on the price of current GW character models and, despite the options it would offer, I just don't see these being any cheaper.

[ZaelART]

I'm noticing a lot of people lamenting that the way GW write their rules (currently) doesn't allow for the type of customisability that would make this type of product desirable.

 

I think we're missing something key... the fact that GW have released very few multi-part plastic character kits if any in recent years and that everything is moving to monopose... and monopose sucks for conversions.

 

Your dudes was always the epitome of the hobby for me.

 

It pains me to look across at a sea of monopose clones (albeit in different colours of power armour).

 

A GW HeroForge clone would be epic just for the ability to customise the aesthetics of a character model without chopping multiple monopose miniatures into tiny pieces, as well as doing the unthinkable... DUM DUM DUM... changing the pose of the model (even if you're selecting from one of five possible preset poses - not everyone wants the same walking forward holding up a sword in a weird way pose).

 

Example:

 

Select base miniature eg. Space Marine Chaplain

Select head from a bunch of presets

Select shoulder pad from a bunch of presets

Select backpack from a bunch of presets

Select torso from a bunch of presets

Select crozius from a bunch of presets

Select pistol from a bunch of presets

Select pose from a bunch of presets

 

This is super basic, but it already creates more aesthetic variety. It's basically a way of buying pre-converted miniatures.

 

Of course, I'd prefer if they'd just print everything and allow us to buy each component separately for me to mess around with, but this would still be an interesting service.

 

Who cares if my chaplain has to be armed with a crozius as per the rules... at least I can pick from 50 different varieties of crozius now.

 

All of which are GW legal parts.

 

The only downside I see is the possible reduction of incentive for hobbyists to develop their creative skills/talents, but that's only a possibility and a lot of players just run stock models anyway.

[Brother Captain Vakarian]

I'm noticing a lot of people lamenting that the way GW write their rules (currently) doesn't allow for the type of customisability that would make this type of product desirable.

 

I think we're missing something key... the fact that GW have released very few multi-part plastic character kits if any in recent years and that everything is moving to monopose... and monopose sucks for conversions.

 

Your dudes was always the epitome of the hobby for me.

 

It pains me to look across at a sea of monopose clones (albeit in different colours of power armour).

 

A GW HeroForge clone would be epic just for the ability to customise the aesthetics of a character model without chopping multiple monopose miniatures into tiny pieces, as well as doing the unthinkable... DUM DUM DUM... changing the pose of the model (even if you're selecting from one of five possible preset poses - not everyone wants the same walking forward holding up a sword in a weird way pose).

 

Example:

 

Select base miniature eg. Space Marine Chaplain

Select head from a bunch of presets

Select shoulder pad from a bunch of presets

Select backpack from a bunch of presets

Select torso from a bunch of presets

Select crozius from a bunch of presets

Select pistol from a bunch of presets

Select pose from a bunch of presets

 

This is super basic, but it already creates more aesthetic variety. It's basically a way of buying pre-converted miniatures.

 

Of course, I'd prefer if they'd just print everything and allow us to buy each component separately for me to mess around with, but this would still be an interesting service.

 

Who cares if my chaplain has to be armed with a crozius as per the rules... at least I can pick from 50 different varieties of crozius now.

 

All of which are GW legal parts.

 

The only downside I see is the possible reduction of incentive for hobbyists to develop their creative skills/talents, but that's only a possibility and a lot of players just run stock models anyway.

This is exactly why I would be excited about them doing this, and captures why I would also have a slight preference they just give more options on the sprue first.

[Helias_Tancred]

Count me in. I'd use it, probably multiple times tbh.

[Magos Takatus]

I'd be willing to give it a go, yeah. I enjoyed the function to customise my character in the Space Marine game, adding parts from different armour marks, battle damaged pieces and veteran honours. If it was half as poseable as Hero Forge and only initially covered space marines I'd still want to give it a go. Being able to tweak the appearance of my Chaplains and Librarians would be ace.

 

Personally I would like to be able to print my own Tech Priests but that would be very difficult due to a lot of them having very peculiar body shapes and most of their poses would be hidden under robes that would be extremely difficult for the software to render over the top of the "skeleton" of the model. I think I would be better served trying to learn Blender and manually sculpting the mini compared to waiting for an official GW body based on either the Dominus or Manipulus.

 

I think there is some potential there but I think the idea would need a few more years in development before GW could offer the service with models that are high enough quality, resistant to breakages and for the price to come down. That said, I am a recent convert to PLA filament printers so I haven't seen the high-end printers at work yet, just from people talking in this thread I don't think the stars have quite aligned yet.

[Panzer]

Would I use a GW type of Heroforge? Entirely depends on the price and quality. Heroforge is great because DnD characters are all over the place so it's often very difficult to find a model that properly represents your vision. So difficult that you accept them looking not as good as the stuff you could get from elsewhere. That's not really a case for Warhammer though. Here we are used a higher standard of models and don't really require customization to the same degree.

[Domhnall]

Would I use a GW type of Heroforge? Entirely depends on the price and quality. Heroforge is great because DnD characters are all over the place so it's often very difficult to find a model that properly represents your vision. So difficult that you accept them looking not as good as the stuff you could get from elsewhere. That's not really a case for Warhammer though. Here we are used a higher standard of models and don't really require customization to the same degree.

 

I'd say that's a good point. My heroforge Dwarf is very good by D&D standard^, so I'm happy with it. Comparing it to a GW mini? Not even close. 

 

Quality/value definitely seems to be down to personal preference. I've seen a few youtube vidoes of people hyping up how 3D printing is going to take down GW (apparently the game they love...) and how the prints are super awesome and amazeballs. From what I saw, very few of them were of a quality I'd be happy with personally*. If I wanted to churn out 100 minis to quickly paint and get out on the table, yeah the quailty would be acceptable. But I personally only collect and (eventually) paint. So I like a nice high quality model. GW provides that, but so do third party resin casters (the figures I got from Artel W are top notch!).

 

I'd still be very interested in using the service if they provided it, but quality of print would determine if it was for more than the novelty of my own figure, or more. 

 

As an aside, I found on my dropbox a selection of 'not-40k' stl files that Artel W released a few years ago as he was not making them any more. There's a company round corner from me that does 3D printing (more commercial, but might do these), so might ask if I could get a print from them to see what their quality is...

 

 

^ - I've uploaded a photo to my misc gallery as I keep referencing it. 

* - Seriously, just my personal choice. Others mileage may vary and I accept that. 

[Grotsmasha]

 

Would I use a GW type of Heroforge? Entirely depends on the price and quality. Heroforge is great because DnD characters are all over the place so it's often very difficult to find a model that properly represents your vision. So difficult that you accept them looking not as good as the stuff you could get from elsewhere. That's not really a case for Warhammer though. Here we are used a higher standard of models and don't really require customization to the same degree.

 

I'd say that's a good point. My heroforge Dwarf is very good by D&D standard^, so I'm happy with it. Comparing it to a GW mini? Not even close. 

 

Quality/value definitely seems to be down to personal preference. I've seen a few youtube vidoes of people hyping up how 3D printing is going to take down GW (apparently the game they love...) and how the prints are super awesome and amazeballs. From what I saw, very few of them were of a quality I'd be happy with personally*. If I wanted to churn out 100 minis to quickly paint and get out on the table, yeah the quailty would be acceptable. But I personally only collect and (eventually) paint. So I like a nice high quality model. GW provides that, but so do third party resin casters (the figures I got from Artel W are top notch!).

 

I'd still be very interested in using the service if they provided it, but quality of print would determine if it was for more than the novelty of my own figure, or more. 

 

As an aside, I found on my dropbox a selection of 'not-40k' stl files that Artel W released a few years ago as he was not making them any more. There's a company round corner from me that does 3D printing (more commercial, but might do these), so might ask if I could get a print from them to see what their quality is...

 

 

^ - I've uploaded a photo to my misc gallery as I keep referencing it. 

* - Seriously, just my personal choice. Others mileage may vary and I accept that. 

 

 

Luke from Geek Gaming on Youtube did this video too, and managed to get a production quality (for resin casting) file from a company, to print on his home printers. I won't spoil it though, watch it below

 

[Panzer]

 

 

Would I use a GW type of Heroforge? Entirely depends on the price and quality. Heroforge is great because DnD characters are all over the place so it's often very difficult to find a model that properly represents your vision. So difficult that you accept them looking not as good as the stuff you could get from elsewhere. That's not really a case for Warhammer though. Here we are used a higher standard of models and don't really require customization to the same degree.

 

I'd say that's a good point. My heroforge Dwarf is very good by D&D standard^, so I'm happy with it. Comparing it to a GW mini? Not even close. 

 

Quality/value definitely seems to be down to personal preference. I've seen a few youtube vidoes of people hyping up how 3D printing is going to take down GW (apparently the game they love...) and how the prints are super awesome and amazeballs. From what I saw, very few of them were of a quality I'd be happy with personally*. If I wanted to churn out 100 minis to quickly paint and get out on the table, yeah the quailty would be acceptable. But I personally only collect and (eventually) paint. So I like a nice high quality model. GW provides that, but so do third party resin casters (the figures I got from Artel W are top notch!).

 

I'd still be very interested in using the service if they provided it, but quality of print would determine if it was for more than the novelty of my own figure, or more. 

 

As an aside, I found on my dropbox a selection of 'not-40k' stl files that Artel W released a few years ago as he was not making them any more. There's a company round corner from me that does 3D printing (more commercial, but might do these), so might ask if I could get a print from them to see what their quality is...

 

 

^ - I've uploaded a photo to my misc gallery as I keep referencing it. 

* - Seriously, just my personal choice. Others mileage may vary and I accept that. 

 

 

Luke from Geek Gaming on Youtube did this video too, and managed to get a production quality (for resin casting) file from a company, to print on his home printers. I won't spoil it though, watch it below

 

 

 

Just to clarify, I wasn't talking about the actual printing quality. I was talking about the quality of the miniature itself. Like, sure you can mix and match different parts and pose them to a large degree on Hero Forge, but they never gonna look like they were designed by some actual person with experience in designing miniatures. Some parts will always bend in a weird way, clip, "float", not fit design-wise together etc.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Panzer

[phandaal]

GW Hero Forge for designing an entire custom model - probably not.

 

Some kind of service for ordering bits like we could in the old days? Absolutely.

[Domhnall]

 

 

Would I use a GW type of Heroforge? Entirely depends on the price and quality. Heroforge is great because DnD characters are all over the place so it's often very difficult to find a model that properly represents your vision. So difficult that you accept them looking not as good as the stuff you could get from elsewhere. That's not really a case for Warhammer though. Here we are used a higher standard of models and don't really require customization to the same degree.

 

I'd say that's a good point. My heroforge Dwarf is very good by D&D standard^, so I'm happy with it. Comparing it to a GW mini? Not even close. 

 

Quality/value definitely seems to be down to personal preference. I've seen a few youtube vidoes of people hyping up how 3D printing is going to take down GW (apparently the game they love...) and how the prints are super awesome and amazeballs. From what I saw, very few of them were of a quality I'd be happy with personally*. If I wanted to churn out 100 minis to quickly paint and get out on the table, yeah the quailty would be acceptable. But I personally only collect and (eventually) paint. So I like a nice high quality model. GW provides that, but so do third party resin casters (the figures I got from Artel W are top notch!).

 

I'd still be very interested in using the service if they provided it, but quality of print would determine if it was for more than the novelty of my own figure, or more. 

 

As an aside, I found on my dropbox a selection of 'not-40k' stl files that Artel W released a few years ago as he was not making them any more. There's a company round corner from me that does 3D printing (more commercial, but might do these), so might ask if I could get a print from them to see what their quality is...

 

 

^ - I've uploaded a photo to my misc gallery as I keep referencing it. 

* - Seriously, just my personal choice. Others mileage may vary and I accept that. 

 

 

Luke from Geek Gaming on Youtube did this video too, and managed to get a production quality (for resin casting) file from a company, to print on his home printers. I won't spoil it though, watch it below

 

 

 

Yeah, that was a very good video. Thank you for sharing it.   

It's a good video for showing what can be achieved from 3D printing. The differences were minimal, and of top quality. Although he did point out that he got a higher quality 'production' STL file to do these, and that they will give a better print than standard: Output quality is determined by input quality basically! His point at the end about most printers getting you to 90% of the quality of casts is well made. It's that last 10% that will determine if it's worth it for people.