As iv introduced my D&D group into the world of iron kingdoms they have realy enjoyed the settling, but as they aren’t war gammers or even in the painting side of it they still want a miniture that represents ther character as close as possible without kit bashing. They all love Hero forge as its easy and they get the look as close as possible to what they imagine
So it got me thinking what if privateer press had there own as the possibility could be endless with what could be made
With the shift to 3D printed model, this does become easier at least for kitbashing purposes from retired models.
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That would be really cool, but I have no idea what the technology stack for that looks like. Would love more IKRPG model options for sure
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I somehow doubt that PP would release their own “Hero Forge” any time soon. Being able to create custom Iron Kingdoms style miniatures would open up a very easy market for pirated Warmachine models, for example.
And even though they’re called Privateer Press, they’ve always opposed actual piracy. (I miss the old copyright clauses in their printed books. They were so fun.)
Thats all true but i feel theres ways around it if they dont have the digital ones and they just stick to the printing services side
Well that depends on their chosen interface. If the files are kept by them and they do the printing it wouldn’t create such a market.
If you increase Heroforge models (and their bases) by 115% it will just about match the regular warmachine models. Here is my Relaimer Allegiant order of the fist character in my 2d6 game. I do wish they still sold their stuff by the part, but I imagine it wasnt very cost effective
Its more there style and logos that whats needed but that still works
I’ve made one mini for an IKRPG campaign via Hero Forge (a female Allegient of the Fist / Priest) since there was no mini pre-mae for it. I can’t see Privateer making their own service like HF, but I do wonder i HF would do either a branded front or have “The Privateer Collection” of parts as a premium/extra charge (sort of like getting shrimp at Panda Express costs $1.50 more).
So, here are my best arguments as to why Privateer Press should do something like this.
- It provides a use for the older models that they’ve already designed, assuming the process of getting them into the system is relatively easy.
- Market Research. If a bunch of people want to create an iteration of this Idrian holding this sword aloft instead of their kopis - even though it might look a little jank in the software, it communicates to Privateer Press an interest in seeing a character like this in the war game.
And damn it, now I’m picturing an Idrian Marchefolk who awakened as a Warlock during the Claiming but their faith in Menoth gave them a Domesticated Resonance (the animals that have adapted to life in civilizations: horses, dogs, mules, cats) returning to the Marche with the sword of the Paladin who died protecting them when their power awakened. Why do I do this to myself, now I want to play them.
You can always learn to sculpt!
Although Hero Forge does have some good options, and is the parts store open again? If so, great options there. Malfaux and Reaper are great for parts. I also saw some Hell Dorado and Freebooter minis that can work, too.
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Most older models were hand-sculpted, that’s one of the reasons they have to go out-of-print. No idea what the process would be for any of the 3D sculpted stuff, but even if it’s easy it assumes that Hero Forge is willing to include licensed stuff and that the licensing terms are favorable enough for it to be worth PP’s time to have the sculptors convert existing files to Hero Forge vs making new sculpts.
I agree in principle that something akin to HF for IK would be awesome, I just don’t see it happening unless the playerbase for IKRPG grows exponentially. It would be neat if PP is able to eventually offer something like it’s old parts store for the new 3D printed models, but I don’t know what the logistics on that are either.
I suspect there’d be engineering involved that most of us can’t immediately appreciate.
Again, I think the best case is Hero Forge (or a similar service: they’re not the only one now, right?) doing a “premium parts” option or offering a white-label service. I’ve been bugging them for good super-hero options! Imagine them working with a smaller comic company for bits and pieces/styles? Or contacting Cryptic Studio’s current owner and doing stuff with the Champions IP?
It is not an easy process. 
Every model created before (approximately) the Convergence of Cyriss in 2013 was hand-sculpted. Every single one of those models came from a physical master. I don’t think that new models were fully converted to digital sculpts for a few years after that, though I’m not 100% certain which was the last physical sculpt produced.
Even the models that were digitally sculpted prior to Warmachine MK IV are almost assuredly not actually optimized for the current printing process. Those models were created to be cast in a traditional manner; as such, they could afford to spend a lot of time on cleanup on the master.
It really is not as simple as “just print the old models.” (Plus, I doubt the ROI is there for 99.x% of the back catalog.)
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Ah well, I could only hope.
What made me think of them is that they typically come in smaller pieces. So grabbing the power engine from a warcaster and adding it to a trooper might be easier with a 3d model as overlap just gets lost in the model as opposed to filed away with a small file.
While I agree that it’s not just print the old models it’a totally doable to scan the old sculpts to digitalise them.
But it’s an extra step additionally to set up the model for printing (cut the model in pieces, orientate them add supports, doing test prints).
“You just do this thing with a computer, it should be trivially easy”.
The most competent programmers, game developers, 3D sculptors, texture artists, etc. are people who have never once tried to do any of that themselves.
Me, I’d be just happy to have the old parts store available, but I understand how it’s not cost-effective to have PP look for a 15-year-old mold out of their storage and spin a couple of Bartolo Montador’s hats once in a blue moon. They need the molds, the storage, the manpower and the logistics, all of which could be better used for producing more current models.
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Thats why i feel something like hero forge will be good tho it might be a way for people to proxi old modles that are harder to get now or will be harder to get