Bandai’s new Gundam Assemble 3D printing miniatures policy takes a page from GW and bans scans, recasts, derivative kits, and proxies at official events before the game even launches.
If you were planning to print proxies for Gundam Assemble, Bandai just slammed that door shut five months before the game even hits shelves.
Bandai dropped the announcement on its site, with new organized-play rules cracking down on scans, recasts, fan-made minis, and unauthorized models. On top of that, they reinforced that this policy will be enforced at every official event.
This is Bandai giving the polite version of “no proxies, no chinacast, no STLs,” but in reality, it’s them firing a shot at 3D printers and getting out ahead of the current battle Games Workshop is fighting.
It’s the loudest pre-launch shot anyone has fired at the 3D printing miniature scene since Games Workshop went after Ghamak’s designs.
Bandai’s 5 Rules Spell Out What’s Off-Limits
- Bandai banned uploaded scans, recasts, and derivative miniatures: any data or model substantially reproducing a Bandai Spirits kit is off-limits, with or without commercial intent.
- No unauthorized proxies at official organized play: counterfeit, recast, or fan-printed minis won’t be allowed at Gundam Assemble events once the Floor Rules drop.
- The policy is pre-launch, not reactive: the game does not ship until October 2026, and Bandai is calling its shot before the first kit is on a table.
The Bandai announcement lays out five regulations that all amount to the same idea: no Gundam Assemble model data, no Gundam Assemble derivative kits, and no unauthorized minis at the events that count.
Here’s the short version of what they’re saying:
- No uploading, distributing, or selling scan data of any Bandai Spirits miniature.
- No miniatures, components, or digital files derived from, copied from, scanned from, or substantially reproducing the shapes, designs, or data of Bandai Spirits releases.
- No data or models incorporating Mobile Suits, characters, or Gundam-related artwork is to be uploaded, distributed, or sold.
- No miniatures or game components built around Mobile Suits, characters, or Gundam artwork are to be distributed or sold.
- Unauthorized reproductions, scans, recasts, counterfeit minis, and infringing items are banned from official Gundam Assemble organized play, with specifics landing in the Floor Rules.
Bandai also notes the policy is subject to modification at their discretion and is not a waiver of any legal rights. Translation: this is the floor, not the ceiling.
Bandai Skips the GW Lawsuit Playbook
Games Workshop’s approach to 3D printing has been a years-long chase. We’ve covered the Ghamak lawsuit, the $10M global seller takedown, and the war against 3D artists that has gone on for the better part of a decade. But all of that is GW reacting to a problem that was already in the wild.
Bandai is doing this before the game even lands on shelves, or the first organized-play event runs. That’s a different message to the community, and might stop prints before they ever happen.
Bandai didn’t do this out of the blue, either. There are Reddit threads sharing free 3D printable Gundam Assemble figures made from high-quality 3D scans, Cults3D and Yeggi collections tagged Gundam Assemble, and a Facebook group dedicated to 3D printed Gunpla-Assemble customs, already!
Other Games Live With 3D Printing, But Gundam Isn’t Other Games
The newer wave of skirmish games has gone the other direction. One Page Rules ships free STLs on its Patreon every month and shrugs at proxies, betting that the rules are the product and the models are the player’s choice. Plenty of indie systems lean the same way, like Warmachine and Trench Crusade.
The catch is that those games don’t carry a fifty-year-old global IP behind them. Gundam isn’t a generic mecha brand. It’s a franchise with feature films, anime series, a TCG, decades of Gunpla, and licensors that expect protection. If Bandai let unaltered scans of Gundam Assemble miniatures float around free, the brand value of the entire Gundam tabletop line would be on the table, and so would the relationship with every licensor that already trusts Bandai with the IP.
That doesn’t make the policy easier to swallow if you were planning to print a squad of Zakus before October, of course. Still, it does explain why Bandai isn’t taking the “lean into it” route that newer games can afford.
Final Thoughts on Gundam Assemble 3D Printing
The timing of this is really what’s wild, dropping months out from the pre-launch of the game, not just a week or two. Bandai is drawing the line before the game even ships, which means the 3D printing rules they reference are going to be the ground floor for all organized play. Meanwhile, the enforcement question is <still a little up in the air, the one nobody has answered yet.
Will we see a polite “please remove your post” on Cults, or will the Bandai legal team be going after sellers the way GW did with Ghamak? The policy doesn’t say.
The actual enforcement rules drop next, and that’s where we’ll see how serious Bandai is about the policy. The next real test is whether Bandai starts swinging at the existing Reddit and Cults3D scan dumps before October, because if they order takedowns, this is more than just a notice.
For now, the next move belongs to everyone else…
🔗 Related Reads:
- The Full Gundam Assemble Game Guide
- GW vs Ghamak: The Cease and Desist War Over 3D Models
- $10M Global Warhammer Seller Takedown
- How One Page Rules Is Changing Miniature Games
- 3D Printing Articles Hub
