RPGaDay2024 Day 27 - Marvelous Miniature

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I haven't used miniatures for RPGs in years. Long before we stopped meeting in person, my main game switched from giant dry-erase girds and minis (often just "spare dice" for the monsters) to Roll20. And most or all of the other system games, convention games and one-off games that I run are theatre of the mind. So while I loved the process of shopping, painting and playing with miniatures, I didn't have a reason to get them.

Three things changed this viewpoint.

Tools and Skills for Painting

My wife got me two Reaper Miniature Learn-To-Paint sets. These have a set of paints, 2 brushes, 3 specific miniatures, and instructions on how to paint each miniature to look good. They seem pricy at $45 each, but when I opened them, I saw that the set comes with 11 well-reviewed paints (assume $3 a bottle), 2 good brushes, 3 high-quality plastic minis, and that the case could serve for longer term usage and storage. That's pretty much $45. A month or so ago, I pulled the first kit out, painted my first mini, and was blown away by how good it looked, compared to any painting I'd done previously and the time flew by. This success made painting a fun hobby, again, whether I used the minis for games or not.



3D Printer

I finally broke down and got a 3D printer last year. I was feeling like a Luddite without the knowledge of how to use them, as well as what they could be used for. So I found a well-reviewed printer that didn't require ground-up assembly of every sub-component. It also had a self-leveling bed, which I had been told was mandatory. 

After my first few printings of owls, axolotls, and other must-have test projects, I realized that once I printed something that turned out well (and didn't take too long to remove the excess plastic and supports) I could just push a button and do it again. This meant I could paint a mini, try colors and techniques, and either build a small army of the same mini or pitch the ones I didn't like.

With the ability to buy custom-character STL files from Hero Forge, I found that I could learn a lot about printing and painting with no real investment but the cost of the file and time.

Deep Rock Galactic, and other Board Games

Over the last few years, I purchased several co-op games, each of which contained a slew of beautiful miniatures: Tainted Grail, Etherfields, Dawn of Madness, and Deep Rock Galactic. I wanted to paint them, but didn't have the skill.

Deep Rock Galactic helped me the most, here. Not only did it have beautiful miniatures, but after the campaign delivered, I found that they had also provided the STL files for every miniature in the game. Sure, the game comes with 12 glyphid spawn, but now I can try out a few things before I commit to painting the ones that came with the game. And for characters and "boss" monsters, I don't have to risk them with bad techniques.

Bonus fan help from Deep Rock Galactic: A creator, Hopeless Hobby Addict, has created a 17-part YouTube series showing how to paint each miniature in efficient 15-minute chunks.

Between the newly rediscovered love of painting, new skills to do it, and the rise of resources that make my work more error-tolerant, I'm really excited to get back into this hobby, and maybe eventually tackle the more...challenging minis.



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