Horus Heresy - Customising Miniatures: 3D Printed parts

Hi Everyone!  Tylar here to talk to you about the realms of customising your Horus Heresy miniatures and using 3D printed parts as the secret to your success.  The post is a little later than planned mainly due to a new arrival in the Tylar household and a few adjustments in the forge 😉

Now before I get into the cool stuff I have a quick point I'd like to make.  We're not here to discuss the morale conundrum of 3D printing that’s a different debate and not one we wish to have here for the purposes of this post.  What I will be presenting are some of the things I've been able to print and how we as a blog intend to use them for our personal miniatures to enhance both the fluff factor and the aesthetically cool options they give us.

The blog does not advocate the theft of IP nor does it encourage the sale of printed items for profit.

So if we have you intrigued buckle in and be prepared for some really cool stuff.

Having been in the hobby for over 30 years you tend to end up with a significant bits box of parts for making conversions and kit-bashing cool things.  However when it comes to shoulder pads, certain weapon types or even un-helmeted heads there are only so many versions you can choose from or that are available in certain ranges.  Sculpting additional hair or beards with GS was an option or removing hair etc with scalpel and finally adding bionics seemed to be the only way.

Now that's all changed.  There are many individuals out there with skills I'm yet to master when it comes to digitally sculpting alternative options for miniatures.  As a result sites like Thingiverse, Cults3D and Shapeways have been a conduit and outlet to allow those people to share their abilities with the world.  With the current 3D resin printers that sit at the entry level being roughly £220-240 it’s hard not to look at buying one to widen your arsenal of hobby tools.
I bought an Anycubic Photon and if I'm honest looking back I wish I’d bought one sooner.
There are lots of pitfalls and you need to do a little research and some YouTube watching to get the basics down.  But when you look at it like an airbrush, another tool and extension to the hobby, it’s really no different.  And wow does it open up the possibilities.

Here are some of the examples of things available that can really enhance your customisations and kitbashes.

(These are credited to a Cults3D creator feel free to email us for further info)

And here are some examples that I printed for use on my miniatures:

There are of course many weapon options, in fact too many to mention.  Chain glaives, Chain axes, swords, shields and some are already in versions for your favourite army.  A few of my favourites are the Revolver styled weapons and some of the specific army sets.  A good search and you can find many other options for your own army or even just generic weapons to allow you to customise your minis.

For me this is perfect as its often hard at times just to find that single weapon you want for a kit-bash or conversion or you have to pay through the nose to a 3rd party for a set of 5 when the one would suffice.  Having the ability to print on demand is a real game changer and at a fraction of the cost.

The best part about a lot of the content/file creators out there is some of the really great minis that fit within the aesthetic of the HH and yet not created to fill a gap.  There are also some companies that have decided early to provide some of their lines as stl files for print.  Cutting their requirement to produce them and increasing the availability to the wider community another game changing step that GW/FW seem to be missing in my opinion.

Anvil Industries have created a digital forge on their Patreon page where each month you gain access to new mini files for a monthly fee.  Their recent release includes these awesome automata that range from simple infantry sized robots to larger elite sized weapon platform automata.  Here are a few examples:

For me one of the great examples of this self printing option are from Reptilian Overlords.  I’ve recently decided that after reading some of the excellent Siege novels the ‘human element’ in books play a major role that would be great to represent on the battlefield.  It's becoming increasing popular in the HH community to have a horde or Militia based army as something different to present within narrative gaming.  Some of Reptilian Overlords examples below include the Desert Raider minis and the rather cool alternative tank they've created.

Always the hobby butterfly I looked at creating a Militia Force by recycling/repurposing an old Imp Guard armoured company that I’m never likely to play in 40K.
To that end I found the miniatures of Reptilian Overlords perfect for what I was looking for.
At this point I realised that having the ability to print my own minis I knew there was a collaboration in the offering and linked in with long time friend of the blog and great gaming opponent Dan Porter from Phosphex Party fame and we could look to create two sides of the same coin.

A loyalist Militia and a Renegade Militia using the same minis, but with slightly differing narratives.  Putting what I'd learnt into practice I looked into being able to create as many mini's as possible in the least amount of print space and time.  The result is four separate build plate files that allow me to print an entire 20 man Squad in a day.  That's right.  I can print a 20 man unit in day for the fraction of the cost of alternative miniatures with the same quality, or sometimes better, than the big boys we buy our resin and plastic crack from.

Love these folding stock rifles.  They really give the aesthetic of a light armoured, fast paced force.

Dan’s superb Militia, with a brilliant guide of how he achieved his first unit, are coming in a follow-up article with some great pictures of the finished first squad.  And we hope to bring you further examples of our collaboration over the coming months.  Here’s a taste of what he’s achieved with the models in question and some additional parts using the plastic Cadian kits.

A rather impressive shot of Dan's first Militia Squad ready for priming and paint:

Next up for the Militia project will be specialised weapon options with a look to killing from afar so keep your 'eyes peeled' for these as we move forwards 😉

As I stated earlier the files you've seen here are not created by me and unless stated otherwise they are  all free files available on either Cults3D or Thingiverse.  There are too many to name by content creator but if you search on either you'll find a plethora of parts, weapons and miniatures.
For ease I've provided a few quick links for you guys so you can search and view at your own leisure:

Go and check out Dan's awesome Insta at: Dan Porter - Partianshot

These guys aren't the only ones out there creating their own files for you to buy but these are just some of the examples we'll be using going forwards.

Reptilian Overlords

Anvil Digital Forge

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Only in Death Does Duty End

- UnityB4Heresy Team