Solo, Pen, Paper and Dice

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  giorgis 1:45 pm on January 23, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 3dprinting ( 46 ), minis ( 162 ), painting ( 180 )   

  3d printing with FDM in 15mm – an issue of Quality 

  In the past couple of months I’ve been 3d printing miniatures in 15mm scale using my Bambu Labs A1 mini with a 0.2mm nozzle and basic PLA filaments. The results so far were good, some better, some worse, but good enough for my (solo) table.

  However, continuing my last post about painting these, I could not help but have a slight feeling of frustration fighting against these minor imperfections and layer lines.

  So I decided to take a plunge further, and see if I can accomplish even better results on the printing side.

  I’ll explain all my process, because I think there’s valuable info, if you don’t want to read it, and just want the print settings, scroll down.

  The Basics

  My machine is a Bambu Labs A1 mini. I have installed a 0.2mm nozzle. I got a big supply of ELEGOO PLA. It’s really cheap, as I got it at about 10 bucks a roll, final price with shipping, no customs or extra charges. Perhaps some more fancy filament would give better results, but that’s what I have and what I worked with.

  Calibration

  With Bambu Labs A1 mini I was complacent, reliant on the automated calibration settings, and just using filament manufacturer specs. It became evident to me that if I want to get the best print output I want, I’d have to do manual calibration.

  I used Orca Slicer, and run a temperature tower from 190C to 230C. At the temperature of 190, 195 and 200 I had no stringing.

  

  I then did a Flow Rate compensation test. For ELEGOO PLA the manufacturer gives a value of 0.98. After running the calibration, I increased it to 1.029, as I found the +5 had the best surface.

  

  I followed up with the Pressure Advance test. I did, Line, Pattern and Tower. For my 0.2mm nozzle this gave the best results at k 0.2

  

  Just a minor note that I also flow rate calibrated all my 3 opened colours (white, black and space gray) of ELEGOO PLA and got consistent results of 0.2 for my 0.2mm nozzle and 0.02 for my 0.4mm nozzle.

  Finally I did a retraction tower calibration and got no stringing at all. So I kept the retraction length at 0.4 as proposed.

  

  The I printed a miniature with temperature at 200C. The improvement was evident, but I could see very fine stringing on the prime tower, so I decided to go lower, at 190C which is within manufacturer specs and also was good at the temperature tower, and what do you know? Stringing disappeared.

  The takeaway here is if you want to print minis, spend some time and calibrate your printer. It pays off.

  With this out of the way, let’s talk about print settings.

  Acknowledgments

  First of all I’d like acknowledge /u/HOHansen’s major input into giving valuable guidelines, settings, painting tips and driving the FDMminiatures printing community forwards. Thanks. I doubt all of this would have been possible without a strong foundation to experiment with.

  Also many thanks to Fat Dragon Miniatures who have shared their print profiles and show that nice quality minis are possible with FDM.

  Settings

  I won’t go into many details here, as I have done this thoroughly in the past, but give some highlights and thoughts, as well as as key improvements.

  First of all I decided to experiment. I used Orca Slicer and used all their fancy bells and whistles. Scarf joints, Precise Z height, whatever I read that could improve quality and was experimental, I enabled.

  I lowered my Layer Height to 0.03mm. Yes. That’s lower than the calculated 20% of nozzle size. I reduced resolution to 0.001 and also the Slice Gap Closing radius value.

  I reduced the speeds significantly. Quality takes time. I get 2-3 hours of printing time for a single 15mm miniature. Silly? Not for me.

  Kept Arachne, and my Prime Tower.

  NOTE: I have not tackled support settings yet. If you need supports you’ll have to plug in your own settings, these do NOT work.

  0.03 GA V 0.02.json

  Printing

  Clean levelled plate, lubricated Axes, Dynamic Flow Calibration Disabled. Good to go.

  Then I went ahead and printed a Brite mini with my fingers crossed. And what do you know? It worked, amazingly well if I may add. I then printed another one to ensure I have repeatability, and it wasn’t plain luck, it worked as well. Even my “shield” issue was gone (if you’ve noticed my prints so far, the shields had a warp in the lower left side).

  There was no stringing and had to do no post processing with a lighter.

  On purpose I chose well detailed miniatures like the space bandit and Greek hero.

  

  

  

  

  Painting

  I felt confident and decided to go ahead with my “regular” painting process and do my horizontal slap chop., a single damp coat of paint and varnish.

  

  

  

  

  However as /u/Toprewolf proposed, I decided not to apply my regular water based washes, and experiment with Oil washes. Last time I had tried it, it didn’t work as I had hoped, but this time I studied better. I’m still expecting some quality supplies to arrive, but I still wanted to test it. So I decided to test an oil wash made with my dollar store oils on the Greek hero.

  

  

  It’s still pending the oils to cure and an oil varnish to secure it. But it’s good enough to showcase.

  I’m absolutely thrilled with the results. The layer lines are almost nonexistent and this was evident in all steps. Imperfections have vanished. I could see details in the toes and sandals, that my painting covered.

  Once I get my quality oils and varnish the minis, I’ll take new photos and upload the results and update this post but I know people are asking about this, so I wanted to share as early as possible.

  Next steps

  I’ve decided to modulate my hobby time so as to have the most fun, so it’s going to be mostly playing on weekends and painting and printing on weekdays.

  On the printing front, the next thing I want to address is Supports.

  Summary

  Printing high quality minis in small scales is possible in FDM. You’ll need a quality printer that is carefully calibrated and well maintained. Filament must be in a good condition. Reducing the layer and resolution means you’ll need to go slow. Going slow, in turn means reducing the temperature to avoid stringing and oozing. A prime tower is important to allow for the small 15mm mini to cool before the next layer.

   

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  giorgis 9:56 pm on January 19, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: forgottenruin ( 3 ), Solo ( 176 )   

  704 Special Forces – Session 0b 

  How does one balance the precious little hobby time between everything?
  With the few personal hours left after work and family, I often find myself sidetracked from what I want to do. A few months prior, I was at a stalemate in painting – I had almost finished what I wanted to paint in my two major themes – Fantasy and Futuristic. If one applied a logarithmic scale, I was at the top. Historicals and Modern I had decided not to touch yet – it feels daunting to start another theme project.
  But then I got my 3d printer, and a whole new world of possibilities begun. It’s an entire new hobby, and it slowly eats away from my tabletop gaming hobby time. Don’t get me wrong – I love it! But even after getting to a comfortable learning point, a simple thing which was supposed to be “paint a squad of US special forces for Forgotten Ruin” quickly lead me to tuning printer settings, trying new painting techniques, printing a photobox and taking new pictures and forgetting what I had initially set out to do. I have even considered 3d sculpting, downloaded blender, and more…
  Which is all cool and such, but there’s one pitfall. Hobby time is nice and relaxing, but one must be careful of burnout. I think the best thing to do is mix and match hobby stuff, so I’ll try to be more conscious on what I set out to do. Having the printer pump out minis and terrain while I’m playing is no problem, but being hands on over it, and painting stuff as they come out makes me miss what this whole thing is about. Getting little mens on the table and have them battle it out!

  So, I’m setting up for the second game and respective After Action Report (that’s what I’ll call them as stated in Forgotten Ruin). The second excercise is with the second Fire Team, supported by the Platoon Sergeant against two squads of Orcs. But this time the Orcs have archers! Let’s hope the superior firepower will help us escape unscathed.

  Platoon Sergeant – Msg. Frank Lee (M16, Pistol)
  Fire Team 2

  • Cpl. Tommy Mayer (M16 AR)
  • Pfc. Darin Gibson (M79 SAW)
  • Pvt. Barry Mays (M70 Sharpshooter Rifle)
  • Pvt. Dave Huff (M16 AR)

  

  I can’t see any mention of the armament of Platoon Sergeant, so I’ll go ahead and give them the same as Squad Leader (AR, Pistol)
  I’ve rolled one Champion for the Orc Warriors mob.

  Reading through the Orcs, I see that they suffer from War Rage, something which I did not take into account last time when I ran Excercise 1. War Rage means that a random mob will move towards the player, without any consideration for cover, but gaining a +1 to Hand to Hand Combat Skill.

  Some abbreviations:
  AR: Assault Rifle
  SAW: Squad Automatic Weapon (M60)
  ARGL: Assault Rifle + Grenade Launcher (M79)
  LAW: Light Anti-tank Weapon (M72)

  Distance conversions
  Since the game is focused for a 3×3 table, and I’m going with 15mm miniatures on a 2×2 table (with the new 15mm base size, yay!), I’ll do a subtle conversion to gain a bit more room to play, but without being too fiddly to use. I’ll double the values, but measure in centimeters instead of inches, so a Speed of 5″, would convert to 10 cm.

  

  Master Sergeant Lee is accompanying the fire team lead by Corporal Tommy Mayer back to base after a patrol, when they hear the distant sound of gunshots.
  The team crouches and Mayer looks at Lee. “That’s the sound of our M16s boy. We have engaged the enemy, let’s hope Sergeant Welch can lead his men through in one piece.”
  “Corporal!” Private Mays calls. He’s scoping through his M70 optics.
  “What is it Barry?” Mayer asks.
  “We got movement dead ahead. Two mobs coming this way.” Mays reports.
  “Alright team up. Eliminate all tangos. We need to rendezvous with Fire Team 1.” The Master Sergeant orders and they close in on the orcs.

  Battle Round 1
  Initiative:
  Msg. Frank Lee (AR, Pistol) – 3
  Cpl. Tommy Mayer (AR) – 2
  Pfc. Darin Gibson (SAW) – 2
  Pvt. Barry Mays (M70 Sharpshooter Rifle) – 1
  Pvt. Dave Huff (AR) – 5

  Quick Phase
  Msg. Lee shoots AR to Orc Warriors Mob (Champion) in the open: 5: Hit: Save: 3: No Save: Damage: 2: No Damage.
  Pvt. Mays shoots M70 Sharpshooter Rifle to Orc Warriors Mob (Champion) in the open: 3+1: Hit: No Save: Damage: 2+1: Orc Champion is down.
  Cpl. Mayer shoots AR to Orc Warriors Mob in the open: 4: Hit: Damage: 4: Orc Warrior is down.
  Pfc. Gibson shoots M60 Squad Automatic Weapon to Orc Archers Mob in cover: 1,2,4,5: Miss.

  Enemy Phase
  The Orc Archers mob is consumed by War Rage and dash towards the Special Forces.
  The Orc Warriors mob also moves towards the Special Forces. Morale: 2,4: Orcs Stay.

  Slow Phase
  Pvt. Huff moves behind cover and shoots AR to Orc Archers Mob in cover: 3: Miss.

  

  The special forces open fire to the orcs. Lee, Mayer and Mays all shoot at the orc warriors. Mays has the bigger meaner of them in his crosshair, ‘probably their leader’ he thinks as he fires, the bullet going through his enemy’s skull. Mayer also kills one of them. Gibson’s burst of fire is heard as he shoots at the orc archers behind the wall aiming to suppress them, however it has the opposite result. The orcs are enraged by this blast of bullets and leap over the low wall, and dash towards the rangers, as the other mob advances through the woods. Private Huff tries to flank and shoot, but he misses.

  Battle Round 2
  Initiative:
  Msg. Frank Lee (AR, Pistol) – 2
  Cpl. Tommy Mayer (AR) – 6
  Pfc. Darin Gibson (SAW) – 1
  Pvt. Barry Mays (Sharpshooter Rifle) – 6
  Pvt. Dave Huff (AR) – 6

  Quick Phase
  Pfc. Gibson shoots M60 Squad Automatic Weapon to Orc Archers Mob in the open: 1,2,4,4: 2 Hits: Damage: 5,4: 2 Orc Archers down.
  Msg. Lee: Leadership Tactic: Mortars! on the Orc Archers Mob: 2: 2″ West: 2 Orc Archers Hit: Damage: 2+1,3+1: 2 Orc Archers down.

  Enemy Phase
  The Orc Warriors mob is consumed by War Rage and dash towards the Special Forces.
  The Orc Archers mob moves closer and shoots at Msg. Lee (he’s the only one in range): 4,6: Hit: 6: Msg. Lee is down. Morale: 1,2,5,5-2: One Orc Archer Flees.

  Slow Phase
  Cpl. Mayer shoots AR to Orc Archers Mob in the open: 6: 2 Hits: Damage: 1,6: Orc Archer is down.
  Pvt. Mays shoots M70 Sharpshooter Rifle to Orc Warriors Mob in the open: 5: Hit: Damage: 5+1: Orc Warrior is down.
  Pvt. Huff moves out of cover and shoots AR to Orc Warriors Mob in the open: 3: Miss.

  

  “Gotcha!” Gibson keeps firing at the orc archers who are now out of cover, mowing 2 of them. In the meantime Lee is on the radio for Mortar support, and they listen at the distinctive whistling sound and “BOOM”, two more orc archers are blown to pieces. The last two keep charging and shoot their arrows, one flies above the Master Sergeant’s head, while the other lodges itself in his leg.
  “Man down!” Private Mays shouts, as Mayer kills the orc who shot Lee. The other archer screams something illegible and flees. Private Mays shoots down an orc warriors who closes in further, just before they reach the woods. Private Huff worried that he’s exposed, moves to the side to see his enemies and shoots at them, but his shots go stray.

  Battle Round 3
  Initiative:
  Msg. Frank Lee (AR, Pistol)
  Cpl. Tommy Mayer (AR) – 6
  Pfc. Darin Gibson (SAW) – 5
  Pvt. Barry Mays (Sharpshooter Rifle) – 2
  Pvt. Dave Huff (AR) – 2

  Quick Phase
  Pvt. Mays shoots M70 Sharpshooter Rifle to Orc Warriors Mob in the open: 3: Miss.
  Pvt. Huff shoots AR to Orc Warriors Mob in the open: 4: Hit: Damage: 6: Orc Warrior is down.
  Enemy Phase
  The Orc Warriors mob is consumed by War Rage and dash towards the Special Forces. Morale: 3,5: Orcs Stay.

  Slow Phase
  Cpl. Mayer shoots AR to Orc Warriors Mob in the open: 6: 2 Hits: Damage: 3,4: Orc Warrior is down.
  PFC Gibson moves to the side, but can’t get clear LOS to shoot his M60

  

  Another shot is fired from Mays’ rifle, but this one misses it’s target. Huff however fires again his M16 and kills another one of the incoming orcs, who are now within breathing distance. The Corporal thinks quickly and moves to the side to ensure he can provide cover fire, he finds an opening and shoots down another orc, only two enemies remain. Private First Class Gibson goes the other way to cover Huff, but the M60 is too heavy to carry around and he doesn’t have a clear line of fire.

  Battle Round 4
  Initiative:
  Msg. Frank Lee (AR, Pistol)
  Cpl. Tommy Mayer (AR) – 3
  Pfc. Darin Gibson (SAW) – 4
  Pvt. Barry Mays (Sharpshooter Rifle) – 6
  Pvt. Dave Huff (AR) – 6

  Quick Phase
  Cpl. Mayer shoots AR to Orc Warriors Mob in the open: 5: Hit: Damage: 3: Orc Warrior is down.

  Enemy Phase
  The Orc Warriors mob is consumed by War Rage and charges at Huff: 5+1/3-1: Orc Hits: Damage: 6: Pvt. Huff is down. Morale: 2: Orc Stays.

  Slow Phase
  Pfc. Gibson shoots M60 Squad Automatic Weapon to Orc Warrior in Cover: 3,3,4,5: Miss
  Pvt. Mays shoots M70 Sharpshooter Rifle to Orc Warrior in Cover: 4+1: Miss

  

  The Corporal shoots down one more orc next to Private Huff, but it’s not enough. The last orc standing, charges and jabs at Huff with his spear. Huff falls down. Gibson shoots a long burst of fire at his enemy, but only hits the trees. Private Mays also shoots with his M70 rifle, but the erratic movement of the orc doesn’t allow for a clean shot, and he misses too.

  Battle Round 5
  Initiative:
  Msg. Frank Lee (AR, Pistol)
  Cpl. Tommy Mayer (AR) – 3
  Pfc. Darin Gibson (SAW) – 5
  Pvt. Barry Mays (Sharpshooter Rifle) – 5
  Pvt. Dave Huff (AR) – 6

  Quick Phase
  Cpl. Mayer delays.

  Enemy Phase
  The Orc Warriors mob is consumed by War Rage and charges at Pfc. Gibson. Cpl. Mayer Snap Fires: 5: Hit: Damage: 6: Orc Warrior is down.

  

  The Corporal waits, his hand on the trigger, for the orc to charge out of the woods and onto his closest squad mate. And his estimation is correct, within moments of the fall of Private Huff, the orc dashes out of cover towards Gibson, only to be intercepted by Mayer’s bullets. The orc drops down dead.
  The team quickly tends to their wounded, and Mayers is quickly relieved to find out the injuries were superficial. They need to get back and rendezvous with Team 1.

  End of Battle.

  Summary

  This was a very exciting battle! The Forgotten Ruin ruleset is tailored to the task, and sofar it delivers. Some things which are different from the other 5X games: enemies are not Stunned nor Wounded. It’s alive or down, there’s no other status. This makes for a really quick combat resolution especially when there’s so many figures on the board. At the same time Stuns exist for the player team, giving some extra detail where needed.
  The soldiers have a lot of firepower, and this is evident, but they’re vulnerable, and a stray arrow, can easily take them out. Even more dangerous are the enemies should they close in. Also this firepower is quickly diminished with each casualty, so the tables can turn pretty easily.
  I’m looking forward to try Exercise 3, which will be a challenge both in terms of game, but also for the ruleset, as the number of figures on board increases, and there’s an objective which will set my troops in peril.
  Lastly I will be changing this series name. I haven’t settled on the exact details, but I’ll most likely bind the theme and story to my “A Monsters Bounty” world, more close to Spellcross than the Forgotten Ruin novels, but I think I can make it work well. I’ll do some more careful reading of the Campaign chapter before signing off on this. But these Sessions 0 with the Exercises are to be considered malleable, which is why I’ve avoided giving any more specific details in the story.
   
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  giorgis 5:49 pm on January 16, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 3dprinting ( 46 ), art, miniature-painting ( 2 ), Miniatures ( 4 ), minis ( 162 ), painting ( 180 ), wargaming ( 6 )   

  Painting FDM Miniatures in 15mm 

  After 3d printing a couple of scores of miniatures in FDM with my Bambu Labs A1 mini printer, and playing with different settings and trying different painting styles, I decided I had to look into the painting techniques in a more scientific approach, and spending the time to run an experiment might pay off in the long run. So the concept is to print the same miniature, in 15mm, using the same print settings (I went rogue on this part a little down the road), and examine different techniques and if they accenuate or hide layer lines, and how easy or not it is to use with this type of miniatures.

  I want to test if there are techniques to “fill” layer lines without losing detail. One technique that has been tested to work and will be used for the entirety of the experiment is the paint. Paint will be used unthinned, but in lean application. The brush won’t be filled with it, just a light coat will be applied each time. However it won’t be diluted as with normal painting, just a tad bit damp brush prior to using the paint.

  I want to test if drybrushing accenuates layer lines, if black drybrushing hides them, how washes behave with layer lines and if a varnish prior to washes and/or prior to drybrushing can minimize any undesired results.

  As a note for new readers, I’m a long time painter of 15mm minis, with table-ready results. My technique is: Slap-Chop (white drybrush over black primer) followed by Artists (tube) acrylics in a glaze-like fashion (either transparent to semi-opaque paints or diluted opaque paints accordingly) so that the slap-chop works like a highlight-shade. Finish with washes and varnish. Works well for 15mm with nice results without too much effort.

  The model I decided to use is the Greek Hero from Brite Minis. I chose this model because it’s not an easy one. It has armor, cloak, scales, flesh, weapons, and a quite dynamic (for support free) pose. Also it’s support free, so I won’t have to deal with supports, which are a hit or miss thing at the moment as I haven’t nailed down the settings for 15mm, and it is not the purpose of this experiment.

  The first 6 miniatures of the set were sliced in Bambu Studio. Printed with 0.2mm nozzle, 0.04mm layer height. Low print speeds at 50-150mms. Arachne wall generator. Elegoo PLA Space Gray, extruded with nozzle temperature at 200 Celsius. Down the road I printed a couple more with lower speeds at 25mms and 0.03mm layer height, and surprisingly they looked even better, but print time doubled or more at 2-3 hours. Nr 7 was sliced in Bambu Studio, and Nr 8 was sliced in Orca, which for some reason gave even better results. Could be by chance, and I’ll keep an eye for it in the future.

  Since smartphone camera digital photography algorithms tend to distort the images, I wanted to get images as close to the true thing as possible. I 3d printed a Photobox in white PLA, for a proper background, and put back in use my old trusty Sony DSC-TX5 camera. Put it in Macro mode, and adjusted EV to +2 for exposure.

  Miniature #1
  0.04 mm Layer Height
  Vallejo Acrylic-Polyurethane Surface Primer Gloss Black
  Drybrush Army Painter Black
  Drybrush Army Painter White
  Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
  Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader

  

  

  

  

  Miniature #2
  0.04 mm Layer Height
  Vallejo Acrylic-Polyurethane Surface Primer Gloss Black
  Drybrush Army Painter Black
  Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Base
  Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Highlights
  Drybrush Army Painter White
  Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
  Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader

  

  

  

  

  Miniature #3
  0.04 mm Layer Height
  Vallejo Acrylic-Polyurethane Surface Primer Gloss Black
  Varnish Windsor Newton Matt Varnish
  Drybrush Army Painter Black
  Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Base
  Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Highlights
  Drybrush Army Painter White
  Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
  Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader

  

  

  

  

  Miniature #4
  0.04 mm Layer Height
  Amsterdam All Acrylics Deco Primer White
  Drybrush Army Painter Black
  Drybrush Army Painter White
  Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
  Drybrush/Edge Highlight Army Painter White
  Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader

  

  

  

  

  Miniature #5
  0.04 mm Layer Height
  Amsterdam All Acrylics Deco Primer White
  Drybrush Army Painter Black
  Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Base
  Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Highlights
  Drybrush Army Painter White
  Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
  Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader

  

  

  

  

  Miniature #6
  0.04 mm Layer Height
  Amsterdam All Acrylics Deco Primer White
  Varnish Windsor Newton Matt Varnish
  Drybrush Army Painter Black
  Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Base
  Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Highlights
  Drybrush Army Painter White
  Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
  Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader

  

  

  

  

  Miniature #7
  0.03 mm Layer Height, 25mms Speed
  Army Painter Terrain Primer Ruins & Cliffs
  Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
  Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader
  Drybrush Army Painter White

  

  

  

  

  Miniature #8
  0.03 mm Layer Height, 25mms Speed, Orca Slicer
  Army Painter Terrain Primer Ruins & Cliffs
  Basecoat/Shade/Highlight with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard

  

  

  

  

  The Colour Schemes used are as follows:
  
  #1-7
  Flesh: Naples Yellow Red Deep/Soft Tone
  Tunic: Titanium White/Soft Tone
  Cloak: Pyrolle Red/Strong Tone
  Scale Shirt, Skirt, Sandals: Burnt Sienna/Strong Tone
  Hair: Yellow Ochre/Soft Tone
  Sword Blade: Silver/Military Shader
  Shield, Greaves, Helmet, Sword Pommel & Guard: Bronze/Military Shader
  Floor: Neutral Grey/Military Shader

  #8
  Flesh: Naples Yellow Red/Naples Yellow Red Light/Raw Sienna
  Tunic: Zinc White/Titanium White
  Cloak: Pyrolle Red/Vermillion/Carmin
  Scale Shirt, Skirt, Sandals: Burnt Sienna/Raw Sienna/Burnt Umber
  Hair: Yellow Ochre/Primary Yellow
  Sword Blade: Silver/Zinc White/Payne’s Grey
  Shield, Greaves, Helmet, Sword Pommel & Guard: Bronze/Zinc White/Payne’s Grey
  Floor: Neutral Grey/Zinc White
  

  After slap-chop, I couldn’t see any substantial difference between the Vallejo Acrylic Polyurethane Black Primer #1-3 and the Amsterdam All Acrylics Deco Primer White #4-6.
  The rattlecan spray primer by Army Painter worked very well. I’ll consider using it for mass-priming 3d-printed miniatures as it will save me a lot of time in the future. The dark gray vs black nature of the colour also is a nice base coat. As to hiding of layer lines I can’t really compare to the brush on primers since the two minis primed with it were printed with different settings.

  Perhaps application was easier for the Vallejo and it dried faster. But there’s no sort of better or worse with regards to layers hiding. I considered them equal for the rest of the test, and used this opportunity to test different things (extra drybrush) on the final stages.

  I couldn’t see any difference either between the ones that were varnished prior to slap chop vs the ones that weren’t. Layer lines seem similar. These are #2 vs #3 and #5 vs #6.

  On the other hand, gradient grays a la zenithal vs a sharp sketch slap chop seem to make a difference. It’s mostly an illusion, but it does seem to help. Also it helps significantly when painting, as the black & white was much harder to “read” vs the gradient gray. Of course major factor here is the 15mm scale and the FDM imperfections.

  Washes tend not to flow easily with FDM, as they get grabbed by layer lines. I could see that on the miniatures varnished before applying wash, there was better flow, without having any major impact on the end result though.

  The one I like the most is #8, the one painted without drybrush and washes, just traditional shading and highlights – it’s the first time I attempted this type of painting, but it seems to work well, and layer lines are almost non-existent.

  The one I like least is #7 the one painted without slap chop, but with washes and drybrush – second to last of the group. It’s too dark for my tastes, and details are non-existent, while layer lines are visible.

  Between the main experiment of the figures #1-6 (different gradient slap chop, varnish steps in between, different primers, extra drybrushing) I can’t tell of any significant difference to the end result. Perhaps #2 & #5 are the best effort-to-result ratio.

  Overall, I’d say that washes and drybrushing accenuate layer lines in 15mm. The best technique is to avoid their use altogether and do shading and highlights using different shades of the same colour paint. If however one was to do a regular slap chop, a black drybrush prior, mitigates it a little bit. A varnish prior to applying washes also allows for the wash to pool into the major recesses instead of the layer lines.

  Some work in progress shots:

  

  

  

  

  

  

   
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  giorgis 9:26 pm on January 13, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 3dprinting ( 46 ), marchtohell ( 2 ), modern ( 2 ), painting ( 180 )   

  Miniatures pt123 – Vietnam 

  I’ve dabbled further in supports settings, and for this part I had some better results with painted supports. Still not where I’d like to be, I want to fine tune my settings further.

  Printed and painted a handful more March to Hell Vietnam miniatures. This is a mix from the range, meant to be used in my Forgotten Ruin campaign. It’s a couple more M60 gunners to be used as SAW gunners, an HQ officer to be used as Platoon Leader, a Vietcong riflewoman who can be used as Athen Smarte, and the remaining squaddie from my US Special Forces, a dude with a knife. As always, the photographs tend to be less forgiving that the real life when talking about FDM prints. Nevertheless, in the foreseeable future I want to try out different techniques meant to cover layer lines.

  

  

  

  

  

  

   
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  giorgis 10:53 am on January 6, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 3dbreed, 3dprinting ( 46 ), marchtohell ( 2 ), minis ( 162 ), modern ( 2 ), painting ( 180 )   

  Miniatures pt122 – US Special Forces 

  I like to showcase painted minis so that the end result is evident. Here’s the US Special Forces from March to Hell Vietnam by 3dbreed. My print is missing one miniature which I replaced with the one from their free Promo.
  They’re printed in 15mm scale, in FDM at a Bambu Labs A1 mini with 0.2mm nozzle. 0.04mm Layer Height. ELEGOO PLA filament.
  I had some issues mainly with supports, but at the end I think I’ve solved it. So these prints have been printed with different settings. I resolved to scaled down 55% versions of their 28mm designs, with manual painted Normal Snug supports, but you’ll also find a couple that were printed from their resin-lychee-supported 15mm versions that survived the initial batch printing I did. A few minis had some minor defects due to me mainly being rough with them during support removal before nailing down the setting a, which I solved with UHU Hardplast Glue.
  Painting them was tough, as I tried to create the colours from acrylic palette as I’m missing the Vallejo range. I think they turned out nice.
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   
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  giorgis 6:22 pm on January 4, 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: battle-report, forgottenruin ( 3 ), Solo ( 176 ), wargaming ( 6 )   

  704 Special Forces – Session 0a 

  Having set me back a lot, I call my rebasing project done. I’ll most likely discuss the details in another post, because here I want to talk about Forgotten Ruin available for pre-order at this point in time, which nets you with a pdf at the time of purchase, and the hardcopy when it’s printed and shipped.
  Forgotten Ruin is a skirmish miniatures agnostic game by Ivan Sorensen, based on the first novel in the book series of the same name by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole. I won’t delve a lot into the theme as I haven’t read the books (though I’m intrigued and might do so in the future), but the core concept is “special forces vs fantasy foes”. As usual, the game allows for some leeway in the actual story against the preset world, so instead of US Rangers, one could have other special forces, from earlier to later time period. The enemies are foes from a regular fantasy bestiary.
  The concept is something similar to what I’ve been fiddling with. My take was similar to the feeling that Spellcross had given me back in the end of the 90s, and which had inspired my A monster’s bounty solo RPG actual play adventure series. Modern firepower vs fantasy! I’m even thinking of adding Athen Smarte as a known personality just for the fun of it and for connecting my games.
  On the amount of figures on the table, it’s even more than Five Leagues from the Borderlands, ranging in almost half a score for the player side, and the same up to double or triple for the enemies.
  The rules are from the same 5X concept used in Five Parsecs from Home and Five Leagues from the Borderlands, however they’re tailored to the concept. I won’t go into any details, as I think it will be best left for when I actually play it out. The overall feeling I get from reading through it, is that I like the new concepts in the book.

  For this session 0, I’ll go through my setup and also play the demo scenarios (referred to as Excercises in the rulebook).
  So, rulebook check, terrain (fantasy) check, foes miniatures check (mostly), player squad…
  As I read through, I realized I don’t have the figures I want for the game. I have several unpainted WW2 miniatures for my WW2 project, especially British Paratroopers from Forged in Battle but I didn’t want to use them, as their WW2 nature means that some figures need to be in doubles to operate (e.g. LMG, PIAT etc), and basically because when I decide to paint them for my WW2 project, I need them to look the same as the rests of my British Paratroopers platoon, and I’m not too fond of painting an entire platoon of miniatures right now.
  Then I considered my painted sci-fi miniatures, but I decided against also, as I don’t want this concept so much, and also I’m missing any non-standard weaponry for my troops (there’s only a few specialists here and there, and in different uniforms, which I can’t mix and match).
  Started searching online for some suitable 15mm miniature STLs then, and I stumbled upon a March to Hell Vietnam US Special Forces team. They are perhaps on the far end of what I deem acceptable in terms of chonkiness, but they’d fit perfectly on what I’m looking for. The christmas sale was a contributing factor, and I got them.
  Checking with the Forgotten Ruins squad armaments setup, I’ve got almost anything needed. Assault Rifles, Sniper Rifles, Squad Automatic Weapons, Grenade Launchers, Anti-Tank Weapons. Perhaps the only thing missing is shotguns and submachineguns, but I can live with proxying these few.
  But of course I also need to print and paint them. I printed the sampler which went really well, and then started with the Special Forces squad, and I started having failure after failure. Since the models are meant for resin printers, I started having a bad time with supports. A couple models printed with the Lychee-style supports meant for resin printers, survived, and I kept them.
  Then I printed the rest one by one, trying to hone down into the support settings. What I found out worked best (albeit I had to do reprints often) was using Normal, Snug supports. I don’t base the miniature in the slicer, instead I glue it on the base afterwards. I use an UHU Hard Plastics (aka Allplast in some areas of the world) glue which works really well on PLA.
  My next problem was the uniform colours, as I went down the rabbit hole of olive drab, brown purple, etc etc. I did some custom mixes, but I think they turned up too dark for 15mm on my sampler figure so I might have to lighten them up a bit.

  With the squad painted, here’s the roster following the rulebook.

  Platoon Leader – 2Lt. Peter Kobb
  Platoon Sergeant – Msg. Frank Lee
  Squad Leader – Sfc. Kirk Nielsen

  Fire Team 1

  • Sgt. Karl Welch
  • Pfc. Terry Shaffer
  • Pvt. Martin Murphy
  • Pvt. Jeffrey Franks

  Fire Team 2

  • Cpl. Tommy Mayer
  • Pfc. Darin Gibson
  • Pvt. Barry Mays
  • Pvt. Dave Huff

  

  Names were generated using a 1960s US male names generator.
  Using some help from the generators online, I decided to name them the 704 – Special Forces unit

  With that out of the way, I decided to run the demo scenarios from the rulebook, listed as Field Exercises. Exercise 1 is a simple fight between Fire Team 1 against two orc warrior mobs. I’ve rolled one Champion for each mob.
  As I haven’t finished painting my miniatures at the time of the game, the photographs have the Special Forces painted only in B&W (slapchop). Works well enough for the purpose of the Exercise.

  Sgt. Welch put out his cigarette. “Platoon reports that there are some man-like beasts in the area, they’ve attacked our positions and are to be considered hostile. Their armament is ancient, so we should use our firepower to prevent them coming up close.” The fire team nodded.
  “Let’s do our patrol and head back to base camp. Murphy, take point.” Welch gave his orders.
  It wasn’t long before Pvt. Murphy signaled enemies in sight.

  “Sarge, they seem to have scented us, and are coming this way. Two groups, about 8 enemies in total.” The private reported.
  “Alright boys, it’s time to show those barbarians who’s boss here. I’m informing platoon that we’re about to engage.”

  Some abbreviations:
  AR: Assault Rifle
  SAW: Squad Automatic Weapon
  ARGL: Assault Rifle + Grenade Launcher
  LAW: Light Anti-tank Weapon

  Distance conversions
  Since the game is focused for a 3×3 table, and I’m going with 15mm miniatures on a 2×2 table (with the new 15mm base size, yay!), I’ll do a subtle conversion to gain a bit more room to play, but without being too fiddly to use. I’ll double the values, but measure in centimeters instead of inches, so a Speed of 5″, would convert to 10 cm.

  

  Battle Round 1
  Initiative:
  Sgt. Karl Welch (AR) – 1
  Pfc. Terry Shaffer (SAW) – 6
  Pvt. Martin Murphy (ARGL) – 2
  Pvt. Jeffrey Franks (LAW) – 2

  Quick Phase
  Karl moves 10 cm forward, Shoots AR at Mob #2: 1: Miss
  Jeffrey, Shoot AR at Mob #1: 2: Miss
  Martin, Shoot AR at Mob #1: 4: Hit: 6: Orc down

  Enemy Phase
  Both Orc mobs dash closer behind cover

  Slow Phase
  Terry, Shoots SAW at Mob #1: 5,5,5,1: 2 Hits at closest orc, the other is deflected by cover and the last is a miss: 6, 1: Orc down
  I missed to do a Morale Check per phase...
  Morale check: 1: Failure: 4: Success: One orc from Mob#1 flees

  The orcs hear the sound of gunfire for the first time in their lives. The sergeant fires at the furthest enemies, as he had an open line of fire, but, his shots don’t find the target. Pvt. Franks and Murphy shoot at the humanoids in front of them, bringing one down.
  This doesn’t seem to deter the rest of crazed enemies who quickly realize their enemy has ranged weapons and take cover behind some large boulders. However this doesn’t stop Pfc. Shaffer from unleashing a hail of bullets from his M60 at the mob, killing another orc. A coward from their ranks breaks and flees. Only the biggest meanest orc from their group remains at the north flank.

  

  Battle Round 2
  Initiative:
  Sgt. Karl Welch (AR) – 3
  Pfc. Terry Shaffer (SAW) – 1
  Pvt. Martin Murphy (ARGL) – 2
  Pvt. Jeffrey Franks (LAW) – 2

  Quick Phase
  Fire Team 1 delays.

  Enemy Phase
  Orc Champion 1 rushes to behind cover, Karl snap fires AR: 5: Hit: 1: No damage
  Jeffrey snap fires AR: 3: Miss
  Martin snap fires AR: 4: Hit: 2: No damage
  Orc Mob #2 moves to cover behind the other boulder

  Slow Phase
  Terry shoots SAW at Mob#2: 6,4,4,1: 1 Hit at closest orc: 5: Orc down
  Morale check: 4: Success

  The sarge orders the fire team to hold until they have a clear line of sight. As the big orc jumps from behind the cover of one boulder to the other, all three special forces shoot their assault rifles at him. Two bullets graze him, and he reaches cover behind the other boulder.
  At the southern flank, the other group approaches Terry, who opens fire with his machinegun, killing another orc.

  

  Battle Round 3
  Initiative:
  Sgt. Karl Welch (AR) – 3
  Pfc. Terry Shaffer (SAW) – 6
  Pvt. Martin Murphy (ARGL) – 1
  Pvt. Jeffrey Franks (LAW) – 3

  Quick Phase
  Karl moves to the open and shoots AR to Mob #1 Champion: 5: Hit: Save: 6: Champion Saves
  Martin moves and shoots Grenade Launcher to Mob #2: 4: Miss: 3: grenade explodes 3″ in front of the boulder

  Enemy Phase
  Orc champion closes in on Karl
  Mob #2 moves behind cover

  Slow Phase
  Jeffrey shoots AR at Orc Champion #1: 1: Miss: Reroll (Aimed): 5: Hit: Save: 3: No save: Damage: 3: Orc champion #1 is down
  Terry moves around and opens fire with his M60 at Mob #2: 6,2,2,1: 1 Hit: 2: No damage

  The sergeant quickly moves to avoid being caught in melee by his enemy, finds an open line of fire, and fires off a burst to the big mean orc in front of him. The bullets strike true, however the orc seems unharmed as if an unknown force saved him, he closes in on the sergeant, with only a few paces in distance while Pvt. Franks aims and fires at him, the bullet piercing through it’s thick skull, bringing him down.
  At the other side, Murphy fires off his M79 grenade launcher, but miscalculates, and the grenade explodes in front of the boulder under which the orcs have jumped and taken cover. Under the explosion, they rush forward to another cover, receiving a hail of bullets from Shaffer’s machinegun. They escape unharmed.

  

  Battle Round 4
  Initiative:
  Sgt. Karl Welch (AR) – 4
  Pfc. Terry Shaffer (SAW) – 1
  Pvt. Martin Murphy (ARGL) – 4
  Pvt. Jeffrey Franks (LAW) – 5

  Quick Phase
  Terry shoots at Mob 2:
  6,4,4,3: 3 Hits: Save: 3: No Save: Damage: 4,6,4: All 3 orcs down.

  However, Terry keeps shooting, and mows down all three orcs.
  Sergeant Welch contacts platoon, only to receive reports that Fire Team 2 is also engaged in battle.

  

  I’m trying out a new approach to photographs depicting the actual play, with arrows and such, I don’t know if I’ll stick with it or not. For more dense battles perhaps an approach of a photo per Phase would be less cluttered, and more clear. I’ll consider it for the next Exercise.

  Summary

  That was a fun first foray. I don’t expect any significant challenge for the first Exercises, it’s just getting to know the rules and lay of the game. In the meantime I got some more STLs from March to Hell Vietnam to print more figures for the player side, and hopefully I’ll slowly have them painted soon enough to have a proper table.
  I’m really intrigued by the concept, and will most likely modify it to fit my own theme, but I haven’t decided yet.
  The nice things with the Exercises is that I can use this extra time to finalize the world and squad to my liking before setting it down in writing.
  Looking forward to expanding further on the game and trying out the unique rules, enemies and challenges it contains.