The future may be here as Hero Forge is crushing it on Kickstarter with thier 3D printer color “painted” miniature offering. Check this out.
Hero Forge is pushing the hobby limits by bringing color-printed minis that are hugely customizable. If you need a dwarf samurai archer or a classic muscled-out barbarian in a combat pose, Hero Forge has got it. While this isn’t anything new for the company, they’ve also just announced a Kickstarter for the same customizable miniature options but in color print.
What is Hero Forge?
Stepping a bit deeper into the hobby company themselves… Hero Forge has all kinds of races, poses, and other minor details to give you the exact character you need for your tabletop campaigns. If you play anything like D&D or Pathfinder, you can rest assured that you’ll find a combination that pretty much depicts your character to a “T”.
On top of that, you can even choose the material your mini is made out of. You might prefer the ease and cheapness of plastic. Or maybe you prefer the hefty weight of actual metal. You’ve got plenty of options.
Hero Forge Kickstarter Brings in Color-Printed Miniatures!
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If you can believe it, they started the Kickstarter at the time of writing this roughly a day ago and already has nearly $1.5 million in support with nearly 20,000 backers. It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to see that the hobby community is all about this.
Pledge today to get early access to the new color tools. Be among the first to order custom, full-color figures of your own design, printed with cutting-edge full-color 3D printing technology or hand-painted by our favorite mini painters!
When you hear “color print” you might think that you have the basic color options to choose from with nothing really fancy. After all, 3D printing is still in its infancy. However, Hero Forge is bringing all kinds of options to the table. Allowing you to pick hundreds of different shades of each color on the spectrum.
Call it a Day With a 3D Color Printed Mini
Taken the model from above, here’s exactly what it looks like when it’s printed.
Being crystal clear on the product, sure, a hand-painted version of the mini will naturally capture more detail. However, the 3D color printed option allows for two things. It’s a base for you to build off of and touch-up with your paintbrush- even with Contrast paint.
Or, if you need a few minor characters/NPCs in your campaign, you can get the 3D printed version and call it a day. You don’t always need the intensely-detailed minis for wanderers you stumble across once down a dirt path!
You Can Get Professionally Painted Minis As an Option
At the time of checkout, you’ll also be able to opt for a professional painter to take your custom mini and throw their talent on it. Remember, this is all a Kickstarter, however, if all goes according to plan, you’ll get a mini with painting detail similar to the ones above!
For the traditionalist, we are also offering professionally hand-painted options. Design your color scheme online and have your miniature sent directly to professional artists who will recreate your digital color designs by hand!
We are working with top-notch painting studios like Den of Imagination and Mixed Dimension to bring you high-quality display-worthy professional paint jobs that are true to your digital design.
Custom Token Maker Announced
On top of color printed characters, you’ll be able to make tokens for your minis.
Design and export unlimited custom “tokens” for use in your favorite virtual tabletop platform. Available in both ‘profile picture’ and ‘overhead view’ style, you will be able to easily populate a virtual tabletop world with your hand-crafted character tokens formatted for easy drag-and-drop use.
This feature represents one of several new “pro tools” we will roll out in the coming year. Pledge for a year of Token Maker access, or pledge more for lifetime access with no future recurring subscription cost.
When Will It All Officially Begin?
On their Kickstarter, pledges start from $10 and go all the way up to $1500 offering different incentives to pledge for each. But looking forward to the timeline of things, here are the dates they gave:
February 2020: We begin updating our library of thousands of parts for color compatibility.
May 2020: Finalized user interface for color application, and the launch of beta access to color tools for all Kickstarter backers, and launch Token Maker Unlimited.
June 2020: We will open order submission to Kickstarter backer for both 3D printed color and hand-painted color custom miniatures. While we ultimately expect to reach our typical fulfillment speeds, note that orders placed during this closed beta may take several months for fulfillment as we ramp up capacity. Fulfillment will be gradual, as we work through orders in the order they are received.
While they are in the early stages of all this… The bottom line is that this is all expected to begin moving before the year is out. If you’ve got any more questions about what Hero Forge is doing and want to jump into the details, check out their question thread on Reddit. They are answering all sorts of questions, comments, and concerns that may help you make the decision to pledge!
With all of this on the horizon for the hobby, will you be pledging some money to get a custom colored mini? What race do you play in your D&D campaign? Do you use a Hero Forge mini already?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at the Las Vegas Open, each of which attracts thousands of players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the 2011 Adepticon 40k Team Tournament. He was even featured for his painting in issue #304 of Games Workshop’s White Dwarf Magazine.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
