We were starting a new campaign and gaming system in our RPG group and I couldn’t find a mini I liked. I enjoy the process of creating the backstory for my character and that means a certain look and feel to the mini would be ideal, something that matches the version in my head. I couldn’t find anything for this guy, either between the box of Bones minis I have from their Kickstarter or online.
I decided it might be time to try Hero Forge an online service that allows you to create a completely unique mini and then have it 3d printed and sent to you.
The user interface is all web-based and you get to build your mini on some templates for race, gender and then you can customize to your hearts content.
This guy, my new character, saw himself as a self-made man, a bit cocky, certainly self-assured. A bit of a swashbuckler and trying to live above his class. His main weapons would be a pistol and an assassin’s blade. With that vision in mind, I went to town on the user interface to try and create my character.
This is what I ended up with:
It took a couple weeks to receive the printed miniature as it gets outsourced to another service for printing but eventually I received a small and very light package containing my one-off miniature.
I painted him up and the paint job is just okay. I botched the face, going a little nuts on dirtying him up and then not knowing how to clean him back up after it dried. But, on the whole, it was a close fit to my vision. I did add my own 3d-printed base custom fit to have the other base atop it. Additionally, I have space underneath to insert/glue a washer which gives him a good heft and reduces the odds that he topples accidentally.
On the whole, I was very satisfied with the experience. I got a mini that looked just like what I wanted and looked just like the 3d render that I used to create him. It’s worth noting that I would not do this regularly. The cost for the service is just too high for me to justify unless I either felt in dire need of a mini that I figured I’d use for a long period of time, maybe for a year or longer or, as was the case here, I was willing to front the additional cost for the experiment and I plan on using it for a year.
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