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This is just a thought I've been milling around in my head, during a leisure read of some of my old 3rd and 4th edition 40K books, and also a bit from Paizo's awesome paper minis lines.

That said, would you find it neat to have paper minis in place of or supplement to regular models?

I'm not saying replace plastic and metal, or take to a GW store and use them, but something as

a. A playtest, try before you buy.

One thing painfully obvious about this hobby is its steep price points to collect even a 1000 point army. Paper craft models/tokens would eat up printer ink, but even that wouldn't be as bad as buying a ton of models. Also, if you want to test run a unit, or army list, it makes it a lot easier then even proxying.

b. Colortest

If you have the model in outline, then print it out (Or use a paint program to color before print) then you can see how the colors line up army wide, before you get 10 squads deep of rainbows and primer armor.

c. Damage Control

A figure falls off the table and shatters, you have to rush for the glue, panically stick the model back together, and hope he doesn't superglue himself to the Hive Tyrant he is fighting. (this actually happened once btw.) Paper figure wouldn't break, and if you loss it, just print another.

Again this is something strictly for home or club, and as a wallet saver, but I was curious if it's been done before and/or it sounds neat.

Id like to see it. I think with a bit of work it could look nice and cheap.

Something I have done before with is a half way approach. I wanted to create a Devastator Squad to test a build so found a nice side on image of a heavy bolter and printed a bunch of them out to the same scale as a 28mm heavy bolter. I then white tacked them onto some extra Tactical marines. I have also done this with other weapons. It gives a great result. Now obviously I had the extra Tactical Marines around to be able to do this… Just an alternative idea

As far as full on paperhammer40K goes. I would say the responsibility is on you to make sure your stand-ins are very clear as to what they are meant to be. There is nothing worse than facing an army where lots of weapons are not clearly defined. Maybe a silhouette will not give enough information. Try to use images from the interwebs or make some composite images in Photoshop.

Cheers Vim

I have 3 paper Chimeras, 2 Warhounds, and a Marauder bomber. I get compliments on them all the time.

 KingmanHighborn wrote:


A figure falls off the table and shatters, you have to rush for the glue, panically stick the model back together, and hope he doesn't superglue himself to the Hive Tyrant he is fighting. (this actually happened once btw.)

Off topic, but do you mind telling us about this? And on topic, the only problem I would have fighting paper enemys is if they had the thin side turned to me, but I suppose this could be fixed by having them turn to who ever is shooting them so you can check line of sight.

It would be horrible! What is the purpose of a modelling hobby without nice models? 40k is a modellig hobby with a game attached. If you just want cheap models to test out in the game you might as well use soda bottles and cardboard boxes.
imo, the game is all about collecting and modelling a nice army. Paper models totally ruin that.
If you enjoy making stuff from paper you should join an origami club or something like that.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/574348-GK%20Paper.html

What do you mean thin side?

 Iron_Captain wrote:
It would be horrible! What is the purpose of a modelling hobby without nice models? 40k is a modellig hobby with a game attached. If you just want cheap models to test out in the game you might as well use soda bottles and cardboard boxes.
imo, the game is all about collecting and modelling a nice army. Paper models totally ruin that.
If you enjoy making stuff from paper you should join an origami club or something like that.

I don't think he wants to completely replace everything, just use some things as stand-ins when you don't have a model and want to give it a try before you buy it. My friends and I have used a stack of Solo cups as drop pods before haha, it didn't ruin the hobby.

Me and some friends did this ages ago. We got little images of the units (guardians, ork boyz, etc) and laid them out on screen for printing. We only did front images but you could do back as well.

Then you print out sheets of them at a time and cut them out. Each one is a long, thin rectangle with a short part at each end with a solid line across, then the remainder is divided into halves with a dotted line. So you get:

==|====¦====|==

(imagine that's a strip of paper an inch wide and five long. You fold along the lines and glue the two short end bits over each other so you have an isosceles triangle with an image of the unit on one face, about 1½" high in all and with a wide enough base it stands up. If you're playing in a windy area, you can stick bits of putty inside to weigh them down, or similar.

Anyway, it takes about half an hour to do the layout and pictures in a graphics program, about five seconds a sheet to print and two minutes with some glue and scissors to do a single sheet. You can get about twelve units per sheet with standard infantry.

One 3,000pt Tyranid army for a few hours work and three quid of ink, paper and electricity.

thepowerfulwill wrote:

 KingmanHighborn wrote:


A figure falls off the table and shatters, you have to rush for the glue, panically stick the model back together, and hope he doesn't superglue himself to the Hive Tyrant he is fighting. (this actually happened once btw.)

Off topic, but do you mind telling us about this? And on topic, the only problem I would have fighting paper enemys is if they had the thin side turned to me, but I suppose this could be fixed by having them turn to who ever is shooting them so you can check line of sight.

Off topic: Sure this guy http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/251390-Daemon%20Prince%20Ghidorah.html?m=2 fell off the table once. (Product of a mountain/volcano for terrain in the middle of 4 x 4 table, and the other guys winged tyrant meeting my prince at the top. Unfortunatly my fat hip hit the corner of the table, and while his tyrant's talons 'stuck' into the mountain, my prince goes rolling off and into the floor and shattering the wings, left hydra arm, and back banner. Now this was at a Hobbytown USA, and so we had a time limit for the tourney we were playing in, so I rush grab my super glue and in a panic 'glue all the things!' so somehow I got glue on the beak of one of the hydra beaks but get him to hold together enough to keep playing. (the wings wouldn't stay on for nothing.) I put him back on the mountain with his tyrant, we continue the game, the hydra beak is touching the tyrants rib cage (this was the alien queen rip off design). Anyway, we get to close to the final turn, His tyrant beats my prince, I go to remove him and he is stuck to the tyrant, a cursory tug and off goes the hydra head, the head loses from the tyrant's torso taking a divot of paint with it. He was a good sport about it though.

Iron_Captain wrote:It would be horrible! What is the purpose of a modelling hobby without nice models? 40k is a modellig hobby with a game attached. If you just want cheap models to test out in the game you might as well use soda bottles and cardboard boxes.
imo, the game is all about collecting and modelling a nice army. Paper models totally ruin that.
If you enjoy making stuff from paper you should join an origami club or something like that.

You do realize papercraft is a hobby and art in it's own way right? Most of my terrain is either sytrofoam, or papercraft: http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/251448-Now%20that%27s%20high%20ground.html?m=2

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/476355-Tact%20Squads.html?m=2

Mythra wrote:http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/574348-GK%20Paper.html

What do you mean thin side?

Those Chimeras... Very nice. That said Paizo's paper minis have plastic slotta sized round bases, to hold the mini. So you can still have the bases to measure from.

knas ser wrote:Me and some friends did this ages ago. We got little images of the units (guardians, ork boyz, etc) and laid them out on screen for printing. We only did front images but you could do back as well.

Then you print out sheets of them at a time and cut them out. Each one is a long, thin rectangle with a short part at each end with a solid line across, then the remainder is divided into halves with a dotted line. So you get:

==|====¦====|==

(imagine that's a strip of paper an inch wide and five long. You fold along the lines and glue the two short end bits over each other so you have an isosceles triangle with an image of the unit on one face, about 1½" high in all and with a wide enough base it stands up. If you're playing in a windy area, you can stick bits of putty inside to weigh them down, or similar.

Anyway, it takes about half an hour to do the layout and pictures in a graphics program, about five seconds a sheet to print and two minutes with some glue and scissors to do a single sheet. You can get about twelve units per sheet with standard infantry.

One 3,000pt Tyranid army for a few hours work and three quid of ink, paper and electricity.

That is awesome.

knas ser wrote:
Me and some friends did this ages ago. We got little images of the units (guardians, ork boyz, etc) and laid them out on screen for printing. We only did front images but you could do back as well.

Then you print out sheets of them at a time and cut them out. Each one is a long, thin rectangle with a short part at each end with a solid line across, then the remainder is divided into halves with a dotted line. So you get:

==|====¦====|==

(imagine that's a strip of paper an inch wide and five long. You fold along the lines and glue the two short end bits over each other so you have an isosceles triangle with an image of the unit on one face, about 1½" high in all and with a wide enough base it stands up. If you're playing in a windy area, you can stick bits of putty inside to weigh them down, or similar.

Anyway, it takes about half an hour to do the layout and pictures in a graphics program, about five seconds a sheet to print and two minutes with some glue and scissors to do a single sheet. You can get about twelve units per sheet with standard infantry.

One 3,000pt Tyranid army for a few hours work and three quid of ink, paper and electricity.

I used to do something very similar to this myself, but the only difference is that I glued the back of the larger rectangles together and folded the base (a 12mm tab on each end) outwards rather than forming a triangle, I've found it to be more stable.

I've seen some bitchin' paper craft models here that I'd enjoy a game against.

I've also seen some crappy "Kleenex Box with 'Rhino, LOL'" written on the side, too. Those games I would not enjoy.

The green "flower foam" comes in "bricks" that are the erfect size to cut rhinos out of.
I agree, if your gonna do it, do it right.

 Paradigm wrote:

knas ser wrote:
Me and some friends did this ages ago. We got little images of the units (guardians, ork boyz, etc) and laid them out on screen for printing. We only did front images but you could do back as well.

Then you print out sheets of them at a time and cut them out. Each one is a long, thin rectangle with a short part at each end with a solid line across, then the remainder is divided into halves with a dotted line. So you get:

==|====¦====|==

(imagine that's a strip of paper an inch wide and five long. You fold along the lines and glue the two short end bits over each other so you have an isosceles triangle with an image of the unit on one face, about 1½" high in all and with a wide enough base it stands up. If you're playing in a windy area, you can stick bits of putty inside to weigh them down, or similar.

Anyway, it takes about half an hour to do the layout and pictures in a graphics program, about five seconds a sheet to print and two minutes with some glue and scissors to do a single sheet. You can get about twelve units per sheet with standard infantry.

One 3,000pt Tyranid army for a few hours work and three quid of ink, paper and electricity.

I used to do something very similar to this myself, but the only difference is that I glued the back of the larger rectangles together and folded the base (a 12mm tab on each end) outwards rather than forming a triangle, I've found it to be more stable.

That's a good idea. It will be more stable because the curve of the paper will naturally be against the table, whereas the triangles have a mild tendency to roll. I guess it depends how patient one is.

I would use a light spray glue designed for paper and card in that case, to avoid bubbles / lumps inbetween the two sides.

I've seen everything from well done papercraft vehicles to color printouts of the models from GW's website, glued onto bases and standing up. Personally I'm not a fan of the latter since I play this game as much for the spectacle as anything else, but I can see the reasoning for it.

For playtesting, we'll use whatever is handy. It might be another model, a bottle of paint or even a cup depending upon the size needed.

Not sure I'd color test on paper. It's hard getting a computer / printer properly calibrated such that the color you think is "Xerxes Purple" comes out that way. Much better to just paint a model or two to see what it looks like. Especially considering things like your primer may have a radical impact on how that base coat really looks.

I'm not entirely sure if "damage control" really applies. Paper can be destroyed by that random "guy" which spills his coke on the table. Or if it gets folded wrong for storage. I've never really had the problem of a dropped mini exploding into a million parts BUT I do have a problem pulling some out of foam... Spiky bits like to get caught up in it and break. So, this would be a draw.

--------------

All in all, if you have a well constructed paper army (not just the 2D stuff that used to show up in old games a long time ago) then I'd be happy to play you in any forum: pickup, league, tournament.

 KingmanHighborn wrote:
This is just a thought I've been milling around in my head, during a leisure read of some of my old 3rd and 4th edition 40K books, and also a bit from Paizo's awesome paper minis lines.

That said, would you find it neat to have paper minis in place of or supplement to regular models?

Do a web search on Paperhammer 40k or 40 paper armies and you'll find sources for such things. A friend who just doesn't get paid as much wanted to play a larger battle so got a hold of and printed out a large number of paper figures for his tau army and supplmented his force with them. I enjoyed the game because it meant I could use more of my cool toys on the table, and he was able to enjoy a larger sized battle using *his* army and not one of mine. It is perfectly fine among friends. You just have to be tricky about turning the 2D figures towards units aiming at them and checking line of sight to be able to target them. This is only a small thing and once you've played a couple turns being sure to turn the facing kind of comes naturally instead of having to be an extra step. Would I like to see games played like that all the time no, not really, but does it hurt from time to time to try things out and have a bigger game than normal, not in the least. Only real complaint is that sometimes WYSIWYG is tougher to discern sometimes, but is adaptable.

I've known folks who play that way 100% and if it makes them happy then fine by them. I prefer minis most of the time, though.

Skriker


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
It would be horrible! What is the purpose of a modelling hobby without nice models? 40k is a modellig hobby with a game attached. If you just want cheap models to test out in the game you might as well use soda bottles and cardboard boxes.
imo, the game is all about collecting and modelling a nice army. Paper models totally ruin that.
If you enjoy making stuff from paper you should join an origami club or something like that.

Or they can play the game however they like and can afford. Just because you feel the hobby is about collecting and modeling a nice army doesn't mean everyone else has to toe that same line. 40k has lots of parts and if someone just wants to focus on playing the game with what they can scrounge up that is their business. Also the tired old, just use soda bottles and cardboard boxes type response is getting boring. Such extremes are silly. A 2D printed rendering of a Tau fire warrior or a space marine will look like an actual trooper and will be engaging and interesting to look at and hardly the extreme of a soda bottle that looks nothing like the miniature trooper or vehicle it is supposed to represent. If your immediate thoughts go to your silly extremes of course you are not going to want anything to do with paper models. I suggest you actually look at some first because getting so set in your thoughts...

Skriker

I'd prefer to play against actual models, but honestly, put some effort into your paper cutout dudes and you'll get no complaints here