Sception Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 (edited) Ever since the Ossiarch Bonereapers were first revealed back in 2nd edition, every true bonehead has longed for the GW studio's bone fortress walls and gate terrain. And the giant tower, of course, but mostly the walls and gate. Fortification and siege warfare is so core to the ossiarch identity, and generic fantasy terrain - from GW or otherwise - just doesn't fit that distinct ossiarch aesthetic. As the years have gone by, hope for an official release of this terrain has faded, so talented members of the community have stepped up to produce their own 3d printable versions of the concept. So far I am aware of 3: This set is, as far as I'm aware, the earliest to appear, and it's a solid take on the concept. These files are available on myminifactory for $15, which seems like a fair price. ............................................ This second take, from DarkRikou on reddit, is much closer to GW's originals - albeit a bit thornier, perhaps fitting a ghurish theme. As far as I'm aware this isn't currently for sale anywhere, but you can try reaching out to the sculptor on reddit and they may be willing to sell you the files directly. ............................ The third, and my personal favorite, is a kickstarter project by 3DHexes. Unfortunately the campaign has completed at this point so the set isn't currently available to purchase, but 3DHexes usually makes late pledges available to purchase the files from previous campaigns after their next one goes live, so if you want this set then be sure to follow what they're up to. If you're too impatient for that you could also try messaging them directly, but I don't think the wait will be too long for their next project, and they mentioned having ideas for another project in this style, so I'm pretty hype for that. ................... Edited August 13 by Sception 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 I bought into the 3DHexes kickstarter while it was up, and have printed a couple of the walls from it. I'm super happy with the sculpts, and the print quality from my printer, but I should have checked what the height would be before printing, because at their default size these walls are HUGE. Way bigger than I expected. A whole fortress at this scale would make for an epic set piece, but my poor mortek guard can't see over the ramparts, so I'll have to start over with some scaled down prints. Currently printing off a wall topper only at 80% to see how that goes. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beliman Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 The look awesome! I can't wait to see a table fully decorated with all this terrain sets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 (edited) Spoiler Alright, new test print on the left, this time at 80% scale, and it looks much better with the Mortek Guard's heads & shoulders showing above the sides, and it should be closer, I think, to the scale of the gw studio obr walls. This size is a ~bit~ small for some of the larger models with scenic bases. necropolis stalkers & immortis guard look downright silly, & morghasts don't fit on the new test wall at all. But I don't think there's any scale I could print these at that would look good for stalkers & morghasts and still be remotely appropriate for mortek guard, and if I have to scale the walls for one or the other I have to pick the 'regular soldiers' of the faction. Once again I find myself wishing morteks were scaled to be on par with stormcasts, even if that would have meant units of 5 to 10 instead of 10 to 20, and probably would have had them sold in boxes of 10 for the same price as the current boxes of 20. But that would have better fit the faction's elite theme. Heck, their characters & cavalry are already at that larger scale. Kavalos are supposed to basically be mounted mortek guard, but the riders would tower over morteks if they were on foot, and that's not even getting into the hero models. Edited August 13 by Sception Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted August 21 Author Share Posted August 21 Spoiler Ok, 3 test prints. On the right is a normal wall file at 100%. On the left is a wall print at 80%. In the middle is a wall at 100%, but with a modified wall-top file to raise the floor a few millimeters so that mortek guard can peek over the side. Either smaller scale or raised floors work, so it's just a matter of which size feels more appropriate. I feel like the smaller scale is closer to the studio OBR walls and gate that I'm trying to emulate, but without access to them it's hard to compare. Spoiler Comparing to older warhammer terrain with known sizes, the closest equivalent is the old Warhammer Fortress (or even older Mighty Fortress). I always liked the Fortress, and wanted one as a kid, but had neither the money to buy one nor the gumption to scratch build it. At 80% scale the 3DHexes walls are pretty close to the lower walls of the old Fortress, and the pieces can be assembled in something similar to the typical Warhammer Fortress configuration. Unfortunately, the 3DHexes set doesn't have the raised corner towers that are a big part of the older set's impact. Spoiler With a bit of inspiration from some OBR artwork and a lot of bother chopping up and smashing together stl files in the slicer, I was able to cobble together some corner towers out of pieces of the 3DHexes terrain plus a couple other random files found online. the files are absolute nightmares on the back end - literally thousands of non-manifold edges - so I'll be lucky if they actually print. The tower top file printed, and that's a similarly borked file, so that's a good sign. These corner towers are also maybe a bit too tall, especially for smaller fortress configurations, so I might lower their height by about one stone block layer before trying to print them. They certainly feel taller than the Warhammer Fortress towers, though they don't feel as tall as some of the lofty towers in the obr artwork, so maybe fine as is? I'm definitely open to feedback there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonhel Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 @Sception That looks cool! Which printer did you use? I have a Mars 4max, but mainly use it for mini's. A couple of days ago I ordered an FDM printer Elegoo Neptune 4 plus, with the plan to print scenery, bases and movement trays. Although I have perfect prints with my Mars 4 max and do my own supports I have no idea how to work with a fdm printer. It seems the 3DHexes scenery is just drop and print on a fdm printer. No supports required? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 (edited) I live in a small apartment with no spare rooms and limited ventilation, so resin printing was never an option for me. But FDM is often preferred for terrain printing anyway, especially when designed not to require any supports as is the case with the 3DHexes stuff, and that's what I'm mainly looking to print. My pile of to-be-painted minis is massive enough already, what I'm lacking in is terrain, particularly OBR themed, since construction and seige warfare is such a big part of their narrative. I picked up a Bambu Labs A1, partially because it's commonly recommended online as an entry level fdm printer based on cost, reliability, print quality, and ease of use, and partially because it was available to purchase in person from a microcenter within driving distance without having to deal with the delays & risks of shipping. I've had it for just a couple weeks and so far it's performed well above my expectations. However, I'm hesitant to recommend it to others. Bambu Labs has adopted a sort of Apple-style walled garden / closed ecosystem model that limit how you use your own machine, there are network & IP security concerns with Bambu printers - especially if you use their otherwise very convenient cloud functionality, Bambu labs has benefited tremendously from open source software developed by the 3d printing community while keeping their own software proprietary, the printers tend to be pretty reliable BUT if you do have problems their customer support is said to be pretty bad, and there's now a patent dispute with Stratasys which might potentially threaten the ability for Bambu to continue operating in EU and US markets. Any one of these issues probably would have affected my purchasing choice if, after looking for the 'best entry level FDM printer,' I had thought to extend my research to the company making it. Maybe one or more of those issues will come back to make me regret my purchase in the future. For now, though, I am very happy with the A1. It's been easy to use and given mostly pretty good results despite me very much not knowing what I'm doing. A couple minor issue with sharp corners pulling away a bit from the print bed, which is apparently a common issue with fdm printing and something I'm working to avoid with various tweaks to temperatures, fans, brim, etc. While I didn't get it for miniatures, and didn't have any expectations in that regard, I have had success printing a handful of 'support free' miniatures for my room mate's D&D campaign: Spoiler These files are from Teirale on Printables: https://www.printables.com/@Teirale/models Attempts to print finer detail models requiring supports have been wholly unsuccessful so far: Spoiler Not because the print quality isn't there. It's not quite resin quality, but you can see from the head, neck, and reigns that that the print quality is actually surprisingly good, with fairly sharp details and barely perceptible layer lines. This using the 0.06mm layer height 'high quality' preset for the optional 0.2mm nozzle on the A1 (I did have to wait for shipping for that). The problem is the supports - FDM supports are just infinitely harder to work with and eventually remove than resin supports, especially for thin, fragile minis like skeletons. I could maybe tinker harder with them, switch to fully manual supports, but.... meh. It's not what I got the printer for, so I don't really feel a need to make it happen. Edited September 3 by Sception 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted August 24 Author Share Posted August 24 Spoiler shorter towers: Taller Towers: Some more tinkering with the corner towers. Mostly happy with them, just choosing between slightly shorter and slightly taller. Leaning towards the former for feeling more in scale with the rest of the set, closer to the old warhammer fortress, and not overshadowing the main gate piece as much, but I'm open to suggestions. Spoiler Also some minor customization of the gate itself, adding a slot for a removable portcullis so the gate can be visibly closed or opened. The portcullis itself is a pretty crude piece again cobbled together from bits of other pieces, but I can always go back to replace it with a fancier gate to fit into the same slot later. meanwhile printing continues on basic wall segments. I've got a lot of those to get through. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonhel Posted August 24 Share Posted August 24 @Sception Super informative post, thank you! The quality of your fdm prints is really good! Yeah for smaller stuff that needs supporting a resin printer is easier and better, but for real terrain pieces it seems a fdm printer is the way to go. The scenery you printed looks awesome and when I saw the pictures I first thought these were resin prints. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted August 28 Author Share Posted August 28 Spoiler Skull Gate printed. The slot for the portcullis works well. It did cause some misprinting on the underside, plus the bridging at the very top was a bit much for my printer & filament to handle, but it's nothing I can't clean up, and since the rough bits are on the underside it's not typically visible anyway. The portcullis does sit a couple millimeters lower than I intended when it's in - it's supposed to be flush with the stone floor there. The difference is minor enough that I really shouldn't care, but I'm tempted to edit & print a new portcullis to fix it anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted September 1 Author Share Posted September 1 (edited) Spoiler I tried a test print of the corner tower. The bone design came out a bit messed up in several places - due to the uneven block surface parts of the design were left floating in a way that wasn't apparent from looking at them in the slicer, but there's no easy way to fix it. Maybe printing each of the walls separately on their side? Or maybe print the walls without the design, print the design separately, then affix it to the walls using green stuff to fill the gaps? Eh, the design's a bit messed up, but it's not ~so~ messed up that I can't fix it with a bit of filing, dremel, and putty work, so I went ahead and printed another anyway. This lot's all magnetized & snaps together nicely. It's really coming together now, in the broad strokes at least it's shaping up to be pretty much exactly what I wanted. ............... Spoiler Printed one of the stairs sections. Only slightly modified from the original file to add a bone wall design to the outer face from another wall segment, since 3dhexes left the stairs wall face blank. I like the look of the stairs, but there are some issues with them from a game play perspective. models can't really balance on the stairs themselves, and they take up a pretty wide floor area. I'll still print a matching mirrored wall w/ stairs to have the option of using them, but I also cobbled together a slightly more tabletop friendly alternative - a wall with a door on the inside face and a trap door on the top segment - & I'll print a couple of those after the stairs are done. Edited September 2 by Sception Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonhel Posted September 14 Share Posted September 14 (edited) Incredible quality! I have recently bought a Neptune 4plus for terrain and bases/movement trays printing and I don't come close at all to that detail. Edit: Scratch that. I managed to improve the settings and now it looks great! Although printing time is looooong. 😉 Edited September 15 by Tonhel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted September 23 Author Share Posted September 23 (edited) Printing time is super long for FDM yeah, especially on lower layer height / higher detail settings, but it's worth it imo. Glad to hear you're getting good results from your machine now! Spoiler Outer walls printed. They still need clean up work - sanding, putty work, especially on the corner towers - before painting, and I've got several projects in the painting backlog in front of them (blood knights, blood bowl vampires, squad of 30k terminators for a friend), but I'm pretty happy with the set, and in time it'll make for some cool siege games. In terms of 3d printing, I still need to put together some stuff to go in the middle, especially in the larger configurations. Edited September 23 by Sception 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted September 23 Author Share Posted September 23 The ''Fortress of Steel and Bone" set from 3d Hexes is now available as a paid add on to their new stl kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/3dhexes/echoes-northern-catacombs-amazing-3d-printable-scenery ... This set is less a 'tabletop miniatures war game terrain' set and more of a 'tabletop rpg dungeon tiles' set, albeit one with a catacombs / skyrim-esque duergar tombs sort of theme to them, which might still find some practical use for undead players. If you don't want the Northern Catacombs set, but do want the files for the Fortress of Steel and Bone, then enter a pledge for the Catacombs kickstarter at the 1 euro 'add ons only' tier, and you'll then get a screen where you can select additional purchases, with Fortress of Steel and Bone for +25 euro as one of the options. The total price then if you're getting just the bone fort is 26 euro for the stl files, which from working with them myself I think is a great deal, provided you already have a 3d printer. I don't know if they'll send you the bone fort stls right away, or if you'll have to wait for the end of the catacombs kickstarter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ejecutor Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 On 8/13/2024 at 3:25 AM, Sception said: I bought into the 3DHexes kickstarter while it was up, and have printed a couple of the walls from it. I'm super happy with the sculpts, and the print quality from my printer, but I should have checked what the height would be before printing, because at their default size these walls are HUGE. Way bigger than I expected. A whole fortress at this scale would make for an epic set piece, but my poor mortek guard can't see over the ramparts, so I'll have to start over with some scaled down prints. Currently printing off a wall topper only at 80% to see how that goes. The print looks pretty solid. Without many printing lines. Is it resin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sception Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 (edited) 3 hours ago, Ejecutor said: The print looks pretty solid. Without many printing lines. Is it resin? no, this is fdm, on a bambu a1, 0.4mm nozzle & 0.08mm layer height, generic brand pla filament. Fdm printers have come a long way. Edited September 24 by Sception 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonhel Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 20 hours ago, Sception said: no, this is fdm, on a bambu a1, 0.4mm nozzle & 0.08mm layer height, generic brand pla filament. Fdm printers have come a long way. And which printing speed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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