Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I've been getting into papercrafting a lot lately because I had to buy a new printer for work (plus I can expense the ink). I've been making Pokymans and houses, and I was wondering if you guys know of any games that specifically call for papercrafted models. I'm looking for something a bit more than hex and counter. I'm sure I could just find some model templates, make them, then find a ruleset, but it would be neat if there's already a game that has these elements.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Basically, this whole search started when I recently saw that people play BFG/Epic 40k with paper models. And, sure I could play those games, but if I could give money to an actual developer that would be much better.

I always wanted to give this one a try, because it did look neat in the pics:
http://www.worldworksgames.com/store/index.php?view=product&product=86

Websites like RPGNow, DrivethruRPG and Wargames Vault all have complete games, rules, figures and terrain available to download for a minimal cost. Just Google 'card building downloads' to find more sites.

I've had a lot of card building downloads from Wargames Vault and they have all been excellent.

Actually, it was browsing around wargames vault that got me looking up "paper Epic 40k".

This one:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/104114/Black-Sun-Wars-RPG-Starship-Starter-set&affiliate_id=372237

gave me some nerd tingles. I suppose it's up to me to find some rules that, well, rule.

Funny enough, I am the author of one of the first results of a "paper epic 40K" search, lol.

I play both Epic and BFG with high-detail paper flats, but it was not originally by choice. The collectors market on Specialist games has made it far too expensive to play those games casually- especially if you want multiple armies for either game (I am usually the host of such games, and need a selection of forces for both myself and my opponent, be it my buddy or my wife). But in all honesty, "converting" and creating the sprites I am using for those two games has become a relaxing art form for me. My wife call it my "virtual painting/modelling".

I have a couple of large fleets for BFG from years ago, but man, it's idiotically expensive to build any more nowadays if I want a budget for other minis games, too. And I at least use actual models for all my knights and titans for my various Epic: Armageddon armies, because those are just too cool of models to not use.

I definitely think games like Wormhole, Mech Attack, and Lost Reich (three off the top of my head) are very rewarding games because they let you make some really cool paper models (don't forget the added fun of 3-D paper terrain), and the games are also fun to play!

Search for "Flipit paper combat" and you can find another really neat free print-n-play minis wargame.


I am a huge fan of print and play, I will return later with some other games I know of.

Mech Attack has paper 2.5d mechs.
http://www.wargamevault.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=3148&products_id=79303
I use Mechwarrior clix instead,but the mosty-flat models aren't bad. The rules are great.

SWEET!

Glad you liked them. The models in Mech Attack are around 15mm. In case you want some buildings to fight around, here's some good ones. They are all nominally 10mm, so you will have to decide whether or not you want to re-scale. It shouldn't be hard if you have a good printer that will print on bigger paper, but Mech Attack isn't a game that necessarily needs exactly scaled models, so you could probably get away with using them as-is.

Mechwarrior Buildings.
These are 10mm scale buldings intended for Mechwarrior games, aparently scaled up from an original set of 6mm paper models intended for Battletech..
http://www.dungeoncrawlers.com/files/paper-terrain/mechwarrior
I've built a few and they work well.

Heavy Gear Buildings
My 10mm games so far have used buildings that are a combination of plastic models, and papercraft models from the link above and from Heavy Gear. They're not as easy to find on the website as they once were, but you'll find them on these pages:
http://www.dp9.com/search/node/papercraft

Dropzone Commander Buldings.
Lastly, I haven't built any yet, but the Dropzone Commander Papercraft buildings look pretty amazing. AFAIK, it's the same designs you get in the boxed set, just the files.
http://www.hawkwargames.com/pages/downloads

I'll leave you with some pics for inspiration. The larger grey buildings are Mechwarrior, the smaller ones with angled corners are HG/DP9. They are based on pieces of vinyl tile (VCT) from the hardware store. The tiles are stock except that Iv'e painted the edges grey where I cut them up.



You can find more of them at our blog by searching for the various games we use them for, "Alpha Strike", "Mech Attack" or "Panzer 8".
Enjoy!

The rules for Mech Attack are perfect for if you want the "feel" of Battletech (Heat effects, etc) but you want to play a laid-back beer and pretzels ruleset. They are super easy to learn, but cover pretty much all the basics of a mech game, except maybe some esoteric things like jump-jets. But if you want to have a game where a half-dozen mechs blast the crap out of each other, it's great.

Hawk Wargames downloadable buildings are perfect for Epic 40K (or any 6mm game) if you just size them at 50%. Even without a photoshop program, I just printed them at 2 pages per sheet of letter paper for an automatic 50% reduction. They have a really cool art-deco feel without the overdose of Gothic grimdark.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
The rules for Mech Attack are perfect for if you want the "feel" of Battletech (Heat effects, etc) but you want to play a laid-back beer and pretzels ruleset. They are super easy to learn, but cover pretty much all the basics of a mech game, except maybe some esoteric things like jump-jets. But if you want to have a game where a half-dozen mechs blast the crap out of each other, it's great.

This is a good description of the game it's alot of battletech'ish elements (Heat effects, Damage grid, customizable units, mulitple weapons systems, combined arms etc) but in a really fast playing package. Like Battletech it begins to bog down around 2 lances (10 units) or so per player, but if you want to play larger battles, then I'd go with "Alpha Strike" which is made for such things.

I've made stats for a bunch of my Mechwarrior Mechs, Vehicles and Infantry. I'll attach them below. They are not combat optimized, rather they are as close as possible to the look of the mini and it's armament. Games with unit-creation-mechanics like Mech Attack get pretty boring with power-gamers anyway since there are inevitably certain configurations that will be better than others and that's all anyone will take. Far better to stat based on appearance and play scenarios.

If nothing else, the stats are a good place to start when building your own.

Very cool! This spreadsheet is giving me some "heat effects".

I found some sight long ago called Junior General that was based a paper craft for historicals.

Paper models and terrain can be awesome.

I have a tables worth of modern buildings, that are all paper models mounted to foamcore, and a horde of OneMonk style paper miniatures I've gotten lots of use from.

I've built and used these are Veer-myn Drillers for Warpath


I have an exensive collection of BFG ships, but if I were to start a new campaign I would absolutely encourage any new players to use printed BFG flats.

That's what I am doing to introduce my wife to BFG. I have sizeable Ork and Imperial fleets, but to get comparatively sized fleets for the other races is way too expensive now. But flats are the price of adhesive paper and something to stick them to (I use a rectangle of super-thick card (Vellum), or craft foam)

It doesn't get you the fun of making model fleets, but it also doesn't let the difficulty of obtaining said fleets nowadays keep you from the fun of playing the game. I am doing the same with Epic Armageddon.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/623920.page

So far everything I own for Epic Armageddon other than titans is papercraft, even the terrain (Hawk Wargames 10mm DZC buildings printed at half-scale). And I can play BFG with nearly every ship variant for every race other than Tyranids.