In the last catchup on the FDM printing, I mentioned things were running pretty solidly for the FDM printer but expressed some concerns about how easy it would be to go printing madly away. The Tired World Studios Hexengarde range is packed full of things I’d love to print, and it would be very easy to spend all my print time filling my garage with filament.
Well in news that is good for my hearing and sleeping abilities, the FDM printer has fallen slient, at least for a little while. Except that’s mostly because I’ve printed out a literal pile of pieces that I should probably get around to painting up and on the table.
I’ll freely admit I may have gone a little overboard with the final layout. Perhaps a sign of the ease of printing, but the idea quickly expanded from its initial version into the layout you can see above. Adding an additional six foundation pieces has really expanded the playable space for the upper level, with two zones to balance out securing the high ground. The additional bits of scaffolding add a few new areas to clamber up or fight from, as well as adding an additional crossing point with the LONG scaffold.
The concept I started forming in my head is one of a former river port after the river has run dry (through either industrial damming or magical means). The old dockside is now merely exposed above the semi-dried upriver bed, while the muddy ground below is now free for habitation (if you don’t mind the royally screwed water table and risk of flooding). It’s easy to visualise streets on duckboards with shacks on stilts around them, the population has rapidly increased due to the march of progress/empires. I still need to find some suitable fantasy hovels to place on the lower area but it could be great for the clashing of fantasy mercenaries in Warcry or something similar.
All that big picture stuff to one side, let’s talk about some of the parts I printed off. All of these pieces are from Tirew
I really like the bridge design. This one is designed as a footbridge, with steps at either end and an optional damaged variant of the top piece. It’s actually really cleverly designed to avoid overhangs and problem points when FDM printing – the top and bottom are separate pieces, letting you print them flat without needing piles of supports. I’m finding that with all 3d printing, you definitely get what you pay for – good designers know how to work around the limitations and give you a better product.
I did ask about a bridge for horse and cart on the Tired World’s Facebook, but it sounds like that might be coming with the second Hexengarde release focusing on the docks. Perfect for what I’ll be wanting it for!
So far all the buildings I’ve done have been very simple constructions – each floor big enough to fit on the Neptune 4’s print bed with no other assembly required. Well, I decided to take the baby step and do something with a little bit of construction along the way, settling on the 13 Ember Lane kit. This really is just one step above the Latchkey shown previously, adding another storey and a few additional elements such as the supporting architecture and window boxes that have to be glued into place.
Overall the kit worked out rather well! Well apart from when I corrected the fact I had glued the ground floor support on the wrong way round and then proceeded to cut my hand open gripping the plastic structure to remove it. I still need to do some tidying up before painting, but I can see a few more of these being printed soon
So what’s next? Well as you can see in the top photo, there is a big patch of space on the other side of the bridge that is just asking for a larger feature building to be added. Luckily there are three of these in the Kickstarter – the Bell Tower, the Watch Station and the New Rose Tavern (as well as ruined versions). I’m still debating exactly which one I want to print out – both for how much I’ll use it but also for how much playable space they will provide. Part of me does think the ruined watchtower (with some additional scaffolding) could have some great playable potential/shenanigan points but the Tavern is always useful for a fantasy game.
However, before all of that, I should probably also begin painting them up. I’ll admit, I’m a little worried about starting it. These would be the first FDM buildings to be painted up so I’m not rushing to do it, wanting to learn the best techniques to handle it before going to paint the proper stuff.
Luckily there are plenty of cheaper things to print and paint up but that’s a whole other blog post. Here is a little preview!