Proxy War is 3D-Printing the Miniatures Revolution

[JonB]

I hope they'll add functions like "embellish" for people with the creativity of a moss-covered rock.

They're doing this. You'll be able to pick, say, a constable's coat and click a button to just "Make this guy a constable now!" and kit him out with related things.

I'll see if I can get the Proxy Army guys in here to address some of your various concerns!

Their model fidelity is crazy, though. Something like less than 20 microns* - so that's smaller than a human hair.

*number is probably wrong and not real or correct, but the comparison is true.

 

[Albino Boo]

Oops sorry I meant to quote the guy above you, my bad

I doubt their business model is viable. Time on a big industrial prototyper is expensive and desktop 3d printers have a high failure rate and hardly anyone buys them. The market leader, Stratasys, sold a grand total of 6ooo units worldwide in the last quarter. They may make a living catering to a group ultra enthusiasts but as challenge to games workshop they just don't have the legs.

People said exactly the same thing about computers.

Its not a question of accessibility but demand. How many things around your average persons home is purely made from plastic and isn't dirt cheap anyway?

The single piece of plastic which you don't currently have, but desperately need that nobody else will sell to you for the price of dirt.

No they didn't say that about computers. Computers have been used by business since the 1950s. I grew up in the early days of home computing my first machine was a ZX81 which was in about 1981 or 1982 and no point did I hear anyone say that their isn't a demand for computers. Furthermore in my 40 years I never have desperately needed a piece of plastic that I couldn't buy in the 4 hours that it takes to print something using a 3D printer.


Just how many people do you think buy miniatures? Its not that big a market and GW advertising budget is almost certainly larger than the total capitalization of Proxy War. I did not say that they won't make living doing what they are doing but they offer no threat to GW. They simply don't have enough money

I talked to these guys at the Expo. They already have their printers and their minis were high quality. I played a demo one day. Far as I know, I was the only person to break part of a single piece all weekend, and that was because it was a prototype model. The main ones were far more resilient.

These guys are/were in talks for deals with Schock Mercenary and Erfworld. They are not pissing around.

Deals with IPs that a fraction of the players of 40k have ever heard of does not make them a threat to GW

 

[Johkmil]

While I do not think this is an operation large enough, to rattle GW, I sure do hope they manage to make money on this. GW's miniatures work well as armies in battle games, but are lacking as RPG figures: too similar, too little customization. I backed Proxy Wars simply as a way to get miniatures for my Dark Heresy game, which oddly enough are not something GW provides figurines for. (I am planning to make them generic enough not to give GW any bait for inevitable lawsuits, those vultures)

 

[Jaegerwolf]

[

No they didn't say that about computers. Computers have been used by business since the 1950s. I grew up in the early days of home computing my first machine was a ZX81 which was in about 1981 or 1982 and no point did I hear anyone say that their isn't a demand for computers. Furthermore in my 40 years I never have desperately needed a piece of plastic that I couldn't buy in the 4 hours that it takes to print something using a 3D printer.


Just how many people do you think buy miniatures? Its not that big a market and GW advertising budget is almost certainly larger than the total capitalization of Proxy War. I did not say that they won't make living doing what they are doing but they offer no threat to GW. They simply don't have enough money

It wasn't a matter of there being a demand for computers or not, but for there being a demand for them in the home. We simply can't tell how much of an impact this company might have because no one has ever been able to offer large numbers of customized figures at a low price before. Tabletop games are a niche market to be sure but it's still a market that has room for a company to start from nothing and prosper (ex. Privateer Press).

 

[saxxon.de]

I don't play any tabletops or am interested in these miniatures, but I have friends that love everything tabletop, so I kind of know what's going on. From reading the article, I have to say this sounds like a brilliant idea.

It could well push the ridiculous prices for those models down. With my friends in mind, I wish these guys luck with their miniatures.