3D Printed Stuff inside of a Box of Goodwill

[Cygnwulf]

1 hour ago, Count Urlik said:

Anyways, we collectively breathed a sigh of relief when we saw some of the stuff we added were picked up on the next few stops.  It’s really fun to scour the pix to see if your additions get a new home.  I’ll bet that feeling is even more profound if it’s a figure you printed, and that should probably figure in a bit as well!

Definately, this was my third and it's kinda validating when I see someone pull something I added, like they're telling me "yep, this IS good stuff and I'm glad you put it in"

[Sylverthorne]

I'm not fussed about 3d printed stuff showing up, and the arguments made in favor are, imo, good ones.

 

If I had to choose, I'd say include them; especially for stuff that might not show up often. I've thrown in more than one thing that was too niche for my table, and saw it glommed almost instantly (that heckin' mammoth-centaur guy immediately comes to mind. Zero use to me, but someone must have felt like their birthday came early after I dropped that in). So, yah. By all means. 

Protect them as best you can, don't toss anything in that you wouldn't use if you could, and otherwise, share the wealth.

 

 

[Chaoswolf]

21 hours ago, Zloyduh said:

 

Not always true.  I'd actually say, sometimes - yes, but most of the time no.

The problem is the texture of the figure, how fragile it is.  If you cut off an arm with a weapon from a bones figure and glue it onto something else, that arm won't break in the middle of itself. 

If a brittle limb from a brittle 3D print mini is glued onto something else, that has a high chance of breaking itself.  If you drop that conversion figure from 3 feet high onto a carpet floor - chances are that limb itself would break in the middle somewhere.

(Hope this makes sense)

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough again. I simply meant that putting in a 3D print with a minor defect that could be fixed with a little green stuff was like putting in bits or partial figures in that they're freebies.

 

21 hours ago, Zloyduh said:

 

A picture's worth a 1000 words 😉

 

 

That's a good idea, too.

[Zloyduh]

3 minutes ago, Chaoswolf said:

I simply meant that putting in a 3D print with a minor defect that could be fixed with a little green stuff was like putting in bits or partial figures in that they're freebies.

 

Got you 🙂

[buckyball]

I believe that whatever guidelines apply to 3d prints should apply to hobby cast miniatures, (like ones made from Prince August molds); and vise versa

 

    buckyball

[themudhead]

IMHO, nothing but metal minis should be in BOGs....

[Cygnwulf]

I don't want to offend, but I think that's an unpopular opinion and I don't see it happening.  Don't get me wrong, I do like metal figures, but the days of them being 'the best, full stop' are gone.  Today's plastic casting and 3d printing can put out equal or even better detail enough, in sculpts that are easier to assemble. The only thing missing is the weight and the elitism.   I'd be willing to bet that these days there are large numbers of hobbists who's entire collections are mostly to all plastic and resin, and on the flip side hobbists whose collections are exclusively metal are an steadily decreasing minority.

 

[haldir]

2 hours ago, Cygnwulf said:

I don't want to offend, but I think that's an unpopular opinion and I don't see it happening.  Don't get me wrong, I do like metal figures, but the days of them being 'the best, full stop' are gone.  Today's plastic casting and 3d printing can put out equal or even better detail enough, in sculpts that are easier to assemble. The only thing missing is the weight and the elitism.   I'd be willing to bet that these days there are large numbers of hobbists who's entire collections are mostly to all plastic and resin, and on the flip side hobbists whose collections are exclusively metal are an steadily decreasing minority.

 

 

I totally agree with you on this one. I'm still gathering my thoughts on the 3d mini in the gw box, I'll have that today, but I wanted to comment on this one. I was a metal snob, with only plastic as a last resort kinda person. Metal is cool :Devilhorns: but also getting expensive & when you need 6 of  them for the table, yah I'm not paying that for just for that encounter. Minis are just fancy tokens for the game board, you don't need to even use them but they sure do look better on the map (trust me I've tried using just numbered bases & it worked, but I didn't like it).

 

The whole bendy weapons or bendy figure (Michael Jackson Smooth Criminal pose) still sucks & it something that annoys me, but my Weds night players don't care. All they want is a game at the game store to play that night.

 

These days, metal figures are getting less & less in my purchases, I still like metal figures but if I can get the same figure (say a Bones vs a DHL), I'll most likely go after the plastic one. Now I will admit, I'd prob lean more towards the metal figure if the only option is Bones 1 figures, but even now Reaper is putting out better versions of those original figures.

 

Just looking at my last 3 physical miniature orders & I've got metal figures in just 1 order (my initial Dec Reaper order) & that was due to I had Reaper credit. I'm sure I'd find a stl before I ordered the metal figure these days, unless I was set on that mini being the one I wanted (which in this case, was it).

 

 

[buckyball]

12 hours ago, themudhead said:

IMHO, nothing but metal minis should be in BOGs....

 

I think the original idea was to use priority mailing boxes to mail metal miniatures since the weight of the figures would be very costly if it was a regular parcel . So from a purely pragmatic point of view, I can see making metal only priority mailers. My personal preference is to be able to swap out my metal minis for bonesium and resin miniatures and terrain. I have found that the plastic holds up better in transport and use. Most of what I have been painting lately has been bones black

 

    buckyball

[SamuraiJack]

I'm in favor of basing bits, bases, terrain (within size limitations) and such.. and totally agree with what has been said for quality purposes.. I know if I'm planning to print up an entire plate of spiritual weapons for NMM practice, or shields for customization I'm likely to throw those bits in there, but I'm usually super conscious of putting any resin the the box because of how stuffed and heavy it is and end up re-packing the box a few times.

[themudhead]

 

Judging from the majority of the comments here, too few are willing to place pewter minis in these boxes. Sadly, I can no longer participate. From a pragmatic point of view, I'll be spending money for nothing as I place no value whatsoever in plastic minis. Thanks for the experience.

[Cygnwulf]

8 hours ago, themudhead said:

 

Judging from the majority of the comments here, too few are willing to place pewter minis in these boxes. Sadly, I can no longer participate. From a pragmatic point of view, I'll be spending money for nothing as I place no value whatsoever in plastic minis. Thanks for the experience.

That's not what I said at all.   The BOGW has never been exlcusively metal for as long as I parcipated but I never meant to give the impression that I thought metal shouldnt' be in it.  I said your expectation that the box should be exclusively metal is not realistic.  I have and still do swap metal for metal in the box and I suspect that will continue for a long time.  But other materials make up a majority of minis available today, and if that's a zero value proposition for you then you have to do what makes you happy.  

[Chaoswolf]

10 hours ago, themudhead said:

 

Judging from the majority of the comments here, too few are willing to place pewter minis in these boxes. Sadly, I can no longer participate. From a pragmatic point of view, I'll be spending money for nothing as I place no value whatsoever in plastic minis. Thanks for the experience.

Well, I'm sorry to see you go, but I hope that you at least somewhat enjoyed the experience.

[pcktlnt]

Late to the conversation, but I agree with a lot of points on 3D prints. One point I'd like to confirm, is to exclude delicate or fiddly printed minis. I have observed different sites with automated lines. Some packages with electronics are dropped into bins five feet deep and then heavier packages are dropped onto said package from the same height. I've watched machines eat packages and destroy the contents (It was actually fun to watch, but the vendor lost $200 in cosmetics, powder cosmetics everywhere in a puff of smoke.) Packages are not handled with care, especially during delivery . Your carriers are assigned ridiculous quotas and end of shift cannot come sooner. 

 

 

[Inarah]

15 hours ago, themudhead said:

 

Judging from the majority of the comments here, too few are willing to place pewter minis in these boxes. Sadly, I can no longer participate. From a pragmatic point of view, I'll be spending money for nothing as I place no value whatsoever in plastic minis. Thanks for the experience.

 

Fair enough.  Random grab-bags are not for everyone.  I think this point should be stressed in the BoGW rules intro. 

 

FWIW, I put metal in when I could, often salvaged from the trade-in bin at Reapercon, or picking bits at the factory.  But I could only do that once a year, then we had a couple of years with no con, and this year I didn't make it to the factory except for the bbq.  We've had 2-3 rounds of the box this year, and it's outpacing my ability to fill it.  Reaper is moving away from metal.  They keep saying they won't stop producing it, but costs are driving changes, and they've already stopped making the larger models, started removing items from the catalog,  and most new figures are coming out in some form of Bonesium.  You don't have to like it, but it's happening.