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Heya,

So here's the thing - I love Silent Death (own every pdf rule sourcebook - back when they were sold as a great big bundle - Looooong ago) and I also love 3d printing. I've noticed that there has been some companies beginning to experiment with releasing their mini's as stl's for people to print up their own mini's (just look at Fat Dragon Games over at DriveThru, but their are others - the KS edition of Star Eagles was arule set + both resin cast or STL releases for their minis) 

I'm wondering if there has ever been thought given to making "official" stl's of the Silent Death range and selling the files via a place like DriveThru? I's probably put myself down as a "lifer" at anywhere between $5-8 per ship released this way as it would be AWESOME to consider having the whole range to print up. 

I know that it could ding the bottom line for your cast models, but I do wonder if it would perhaps bring an even bigger following INTO the game as 3d printers are out there and folks are going nuts with them especially in the wargaming / miniatures space.  I've got a print cue a MILE long of files I've purchase that are just begging to find time to make it to my build plate

If the thought were to be not wanting to hurt the existing models range, what about the creation of something almost like "official" releases carrying the Silent Death moniker (built using the builder rules from the books) and maybe even test the idea for releases that would combine a "ship pack" of a print file + stat/fluff card record sheet and see?

Curious if the thought has ever been / might ever be on the "burner?" 

Weirdly enough (and frankly this may just be a glimpse into my own dysfunctions) but I've always wanted to own the entire range  of mini's but likely will never be able to self justify doing so (if nothing else the storage space involved especially when you CANNOT own just one of most anything - I mean you need wing men right?) and so likely will never attempt to do so... but I could absolutely see myself buying stl's over time or in a great big (Kickstarter release??) pack and dropping on the whole line and not even bat an eye - it's not necessarily the having the physical model, it's about the "ability" to create a flight to mix into a campaign squadron... 
dysfunctional, probably... but an insight into a guy that now owns close to 280GB of stl's for printing and likely doesn't have enough lifetime to print everything I'd like to...

(09-19-2019, 01:36 PM)PreacherMan1971 Wrote: [ -> ]Heya,

So here's the thing - I love Silent Death (own every pdf rule sourcebook - back when they were sold as a great big bundle - Looooong ago) and I also love 3d printing. I've noticed that there has been some companies beginning to experiment with releasing their mini's as stl's for people to print up their own mini's (just look at Fat Dragon Games over at DriveThru, but their are others - the KS edition of Star Eagles was arule set + both resin cast or STL releases for their minis) 

I'm wondering if there has ever been thought given to making "official" stl's of the Silent Death range and selling the files via a place like DriveThru? I's probably put myself down as a "lifer" at anywhere between $5-8 per ship released this way as it would be AWESOME to consider having the whole range to print up. 

I know that it could ding the bottom line for your cast models, but I do wonder if it would perhaps bring an even bigger following INTO the game as 3d printers are out there and folks are going nuts with them especially in the wargaming / miniatures space.  I've got a print cue a MILE long of files I've purchase that are just begging to find time to make it to my build plate

If the thought were to be not wanting to hurt the existing models range, what about the creation of something almost like "official" releases carrying the Silent Death moniker (built using the builder rules from the books) and maybe even test the idea for releases that would combine a "ship pack" of a print file + stat/fluff card record sheet and see?

Curious if the thought has ever been / might ever be on the "burner?" 

Weirdly enough (and frankly this may just be a glimpse into my own dysfunctions) but I've always wanted to own the entire range  of mini's but likely will never be able to self justify doing so (if nothing else the storage space involved especially when you CANNOT own just one of most anything - I mean you need wing men right?) and so likely will never attempt to do so... but I could absolutely see myself buying stl's over time or in a great big (Kickstarter release??) pack and dropping on the whole line and not even bat an eye - it's not necessarily the having the physical model, it's about the "ability" to create a flight to mix into a campaign squadron... 
dysfunctional, probably... but an insight into a guy that now owns close to 280GB of stl's for printing and likely doesn't have enough lifetime to print everything I'd like to...

I wouldn't mind seeing some 3d files pop up. I think at this point I'd go through Myminifactory over drive thru. I think at this point the issue is more that you would need to hire a modeler as they were made before that time and that could end up being a lot of work. I am in favor of it, but not sure it is high on the priority list, especially with the sudden interest to re-release the large size resin versions which would also take a bit of a hit in sales by those who could print them at home. Not sure how to balance that.

The technical skill and labor costs are what has us blocked from moving in this direction (for now). 

Meanwhile, as I am sure you are both now well aware, we're doing what we can do with our limited resources, and will be launching a Kickstarter soon for the classic 3 to 1 scale resin models. 

Other irons still very much in the fire are the Night Brood rewrite, and 3rd ed. Core Rulebook.

Was the 3 to 1 a success? I'm not a great fan of big minis, GW range keeps getting bigger and it's annoying. I was thinking 'Faction Packs' X Faction includes all the ships for that faction.

(11-08-2019, 01:08 PM)Smurf Wrote: [ -> ]Was the 3 to 1 a success?  I'm not a great fan of big minis, GW range keeps getting bigger and it's annoying.  I was thinking 'Faction Packs'  X Faction includes all the ships for that faction.

I don't know about 3:1 scaled games? I think its just; "Hey, you like this ship? well here's a bigger more detailed version." rather than a not-so-secret scale-creep.
Faction packs would be cool. Especially for new players. You wouldn't need to have all the house versions of the core ships, just the unique ones bundled with their appropriate book.
Also, I'd kill for plastic versions of all the ships. Don't know what's entailed in the KS but I hope that's one of the things.

(11-08-2019, 01:08 PM)Smurf Wrote: [ -> ]Was the 3 to 1 a success?  I'm not a great fan of big minis, GW range keeps getting bigger and it's annoying.  I was thinking 'Faction Packs'  X Faction includes all the ships for that faction.

IIRC they had no trouble selling out of them back in the day. The challenge is that the 3 to 1 models were not on the market all that long either, and when  ICE reconstituted after the first bankruptcy, the 3 to 1 models the contract caster put into production initially were chose by that caster not for their usefulness in actually playing the game, but rather, because that person specifically thought they looked "cool."  

So here we are, and remember that these categorically would *not* be replacing the normal sized circa 1/450 scale minis at all. They are meant to be an alternative, and will be marketed to other sci-fi gamers and model builders for use with other systems and projects.

(11-09-2019, 12:38 AM)Black Guard Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-08-2019, 01:08 PM)Smurf Wrote: [ -> ]Was the 3 to 1 a success?  I'm not a great fan of big minis, GW range keeps getting bigger and it's annoying.  I was thinking 'Faction Packs'  X Faction includes all the ships for that faction.

I don't know about 3:1 scaled games? I think its just; "Hey, you like this ship? well here's a bigger more detailed version." rather than a not-so-secret scale-creep.
Faction packs would be cool. Especially for new players. You wouldn't need to have all the house versions of the core ships, just the unique ones bundled with their appropriate book.
Also, I'd kill for plastic versions of all the ships. Don't know what's entailed in the KS but I hope that's one of the things.

Plastic tooling is still way beyond our means that the present time. The 3 to 1 models are larger resin versions of existing plastic and/or metal ships. 

There is no scale creep going on here, as the 3 to 1 models will *not* be replacing the normal 1/450 scale minis, but will merely be supplementing them, and they'll be marketed to gamers and model builders alike for use with other systems and projects, as their usefulness as (for example) grounded landing craft or objectives for ground combat games is IMHO self evident.

Regarding faction packs, yes, we have that on our bucket list! It's just we're doing baby steps at the present moment, but we hope to take longer strides as we transition from now into the new year.