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So I play 40k with my sister. We don't have a lot of money so i used DND miniatures to represent the armies. I've seen the prices that GW puts on their Tyranid miniatures and have also seen some of them 3d printed. But what if I printed out of paper? It would be easy to create armies that cost a lot of points and to accurately size the models. I've printed a small 500 point simple army of Tyranids and it works but I'm only using them for personal use right now, so no one go freaking out about my doing so. But seriously, what if we had these in tournaments?

Personal time, do whatever you want. Tournaments? No thanks. I like the showcase of modeling and painting, and paper leads to a lot of potential for abuse in games.

Just make sure they're on proper bases and proper sized and your gold.

Just don't think Tournaments will accept this at all.

If both players are fine with it, go ahead, GW isn't going to be sending its SWAT team through your window.

Personally, I would refuse to play against you in even the most casual of games let alone a tournament.

I'm sorry but if you don't have the money for monitored this is not the hobby for you. There's shadow wars where you need minimal models and can make scenery out if stuff in your house or computer games set in the 40k universe but you're kind of missing the point if you're playing full sized 40k games with bits of paper...

Ignore these guys. You play the game how you and your opponent want, not some rando on the internet's way. All that matters is your opponent doesn't care. Try talking to your local "Scene" and see who isn't a tight-ass, and play them. Maybe you get money for 40K, maybe you don't. You do you.


If we, as a community, would be more open to these ideas, maybe we wouldn't be so stagnant.

Do whatever you want among friends and family. You might want to check out Wyloch on youtube (the 4 episodes linked below). He's made loads of paper flat miniatures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWWu9Ny8cW8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foQj8PDNF9w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQe0LJv9BOE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srpNOjjt-3k

I think it would be very rude though, to bring paper marines to a store, club or convention that is run in connection with someone who sells miniatures.

If people are willing to play with you, then who cares?
Personally, I don't know why one would bother with 7th edition rules without the models to back them up. I personally wouldn't be happy with paper models unless someone wanted to try it out for one game.

This is a paper model

Depends on the effort you're putting into the paper models, the tank in the post above was pretty cool.
Casual I could easily tolerate a base sized piece of paper with names and load-outs written on them.
For a tournament your paper better be three dimensional and detailed.


That'd satisfy me.

I am sorry, but if you can't afford the hobby, then don't do it, or stick casually playing with your sister OP. Just my opinion.

 Rippy wrote:
I am sorry, but if you can't afford the hobby, then don't do it, or stick casually playing with your sister OP. Just my opinion.

Why do you get to define "this hobby" for other people? Or do you mean just because the OP asked about tournaments and only not for tournaments? If so, I agree.

I agree that tournaments should use actual miniatures only. And they should all be painted. It's a matter of sportsmanship to give the opponent a great gaming experience. Tournaments are also often connected with stores that sell miniatures. It would be very rude to bring models that basically say "Ha! I found a way not to buy the sponsor's products!" If even a small percentage of people did that stores and miniature companies might stop supporting events with either space to run them in or with prizes. I know a couple local conventions would collapse without the support of the retailers that sponsor them.

What I would tell someone on a budget is to get into terrain making and painting as a starting point. There are so many great youtube videos on it and they often use very economical materials. Many channels use dollar store materials and craft paint and make great stuff. You can end up with like what Wyloch has with his terrain and paper armies and then down the road get into real miniatures if that works out.

Paper miniatures are for home use and can be awesome for that.

Just between you and your sister do what you want. However I definitely wouldn't use them for tournaments. In casual play I wouldn't mind playing vs a paper army 2-3 times but I would want to see the paper phased out for plastic over time if it was going to be a long term thing, maybe 1 more plastic squad each time we played.
Have you tried looking on ebay for cheaper models?
I doubt stores would want you playing with paper either unless you were gradually building up a plastic army that you were buying from them, which would probably be more expensive than buying from ebay.

There's still tons of games that use cardboard chits and paper hex maps instead of miniatures and plastic terrain. They're often very well-designed and many of them fit in a small box that you can take on road trips, camping, etc. Well worth checking out if you're into paper gaming.

For 40K, the visual appeal is more important than the rules, so I wouldn't want to play against a paper proxy army myself.

No. Most of the appeal of 40k is the aesthetic value of the models, and paper models* look like garbage. You can do whatever you like in private, but if you try to bring your paper army to a pickup game you shouldn't expect to find many people willing to play against it. And you have essentially zero chance of getting to use it in any kind of tournament or formal event.

*Unless you are one of the few god-level artists making stuff that looks as good as the plastic kits but takes vastly more time and effort to build. You aren't one of those people.

They are allowed GW even sold them not that long ago its is just that most players and store owners don't like it if you play with them. I would not enjoy a game vs cut out 2d paper mini's, however good paper craft 3d mini's that have been painted to a decent standard I can enjoy. They can be made to look better than most of the unpainted blobs that are all too common.

In my opinion armies that lack conversions and/or scratch built models are just expensive toys.

Paper models can be extremely cool, if done proper. Always better than original models badly painted. Just keep in mind and respect the WYSIWYG rule.

Plasticard vehicles and green stuff sculptures/conversions are very nice too. An army like orks for example can't be played with 8 identical original plastic trukks. There shouldn't be two identical orks or two orks vehicles that look too similar.

I'd rather play a game with a sporting player that uses a lot of scratch built models than facing a win-at-any-cost dude that plays the most overpowered list available with every model painted in a golden demon level.

About tournaments there isn't a general rule, you have to ask the organizers.

hi,

newbie posted. But had to post on this.

DO NONE OF YOU REMEMBER WHAT THE LAST 10 PAGES OF ROGUE TRADER WERE THEN? the blue paper pages.....

any of you?

 Peregrine wrote:
No. Most of the appeal of 40k is the aesthetic value of the models, and paper models* look like garbage. You can do whatever you like in private, but if you try to bring your paper army to a pickup game you shouldn't expect to find many people willing to play against it. And you have essentially zero chance of getting to use it in any kind of tournament or formal event.

*Unless you are one of the few god-level artists making stuff that looks as good as the plastic kits but takes vastly more time and effort to build. You aren't one of those people.

Most of the appeal of 40k FOR YOU is the aesthetic value of the models.

You cannot speak for anyone else or the value they get out of any other aspect of the hobby.

 frozenwastes wrote:

 Rippy wrote:
I am sorry, but if you can't afford the hobby, then don't do it, or stick casually playing with your sister OP. Just my opinion.

Why do you get to define "this hobby" for other people? Or do you mean just because the OP asked about tournaments and only not for tournaments? If so, I agree.

I mean in tournaments. But don't expect a game with me if you are using all 2D cut outs​, glued on bases.

only been playing since a couple months into 7e.

Id have no issue playing against your paper minis. specially if they look like that tank.

Honestly most of my games are against a couple neighbors. One has some necrons that are painted, the other main opponent has most every army just primed. On of my largest games was 4k points a side. half the orks i fought didnt have heads, or arms or in some cases legs. Ive played with a slip of paper w stats taped to a base to be my figures a few time while stuff was in mail.

Tourneys.. those guys/gals are pretty anal about only using GW minis and not too happy to see 3rd party bits let alone a NON-GW figure being something in your army.

Stores - no clue.. i play in my garage..

id battle against you though. sure id love to see figures instead of paper, but i wouldnt limit you to 1 game or 3 games before you needed figures. Half the fun for me is watching the figures i fight against turn from grey plastic to black or white prime to full colored.

If, for you, 40k is just the game, play any way you can. Game away all you like, with paper troops, coke cans drop pods, books for hills, etc.
If you take that army to a mate's house, it's up to them if they play you.
Playing at a club is the same, but people will want to see some models eventually.
Playing in a store or tournament needs fully painted and based models all the way.

So, of you want to, use paper. You will get to know the game better, and get to know what kind of army you like to play.
But, as shown in so much above, expect people other than your sister to grumble or refuse to play you.
Or, get really good at making paper models

If they are paper craft like the tank pictured above, even most tournaments would have no issue playing you. Cut outs won't fly at tournaments. For pick up play I think you risk people getting salty pretty quickly if you don't start to build models at some point (for cutouts). Especially if you "power game" at all. I would play against paper minis if they were proxies for an army you were intending on building, and you slowly collected in If you just continually brought the "new hotness" and stomped my army that I spent time to collect and build, I'd opt out pretty quick. I'd also say that if I had a choice of opponents and one had minis and the other cut outs, all other things being equal I'd play the minis.

I think the best bet is to start buying some minis, I think people will be more likely to be ok with cut outs if they view you as a new player who is slowly building up an army (and see evidence of you doing so.)

As others have suggested try ebay, find some stuff you can afford. You may not end up with your ideal build but you will find some minis you can afford. Just a quick look shows me a squad of 30 gaunts for $20, Several genestealer broods 5 for $15, older hive tyrant models for $20 (some winged for $30-40). I see a mixed lot of a ton of stuff for $26.

So over time I'm sure you can make it work.

If your talking about additive printing of a 3d printed paper army. That would be cool to see. LIke one printed on a MCOR arke.

bipolarbob wrote:
hi,

newbie posted. But had to post on this.

DO NONE OF YOU REMEMBER WHAT THE LAST 10 PAGES OF ROGUE TRADER WERE THEN? the blue paper pages.....

any of you?

I remember these. Played my first few games of 40k using them back in the day. Had lots of fun.
Would I do it these days, no - but by the same token, I wouldn't play the current edition with models, either.

I would allow it provided that you promise me you will eventually replace them with real models (although if you use cardstock to build models that are near indistinguishable from the real thing, that's fine too).

This hobby is expensive so it's understandable that you may not actually have all the models you need at once. However this is a hobby first, not just a game, and the models are an integral part of it. You would be missing out on a lot of the fun if you just played it for the game aspect (especially the pride of owning a model or even army that you converted/sculpted and then painted).

Fine with me. Less money for gw seems good.

As long as your friends opponents are ok with it, and the printed paper accurately represents what it is supposed to be then I would have no problem with it. When I started playing I had a friend who used torn up pieces of paper to represent part of his Tyranid army. It was annoying because it was hard to remember what units the pieces represented and some of them were smaller than the base of a unit would be, so he could have them closer together and get more around you. Also when I started out my painting skills were not what they were now, and I am sure others here were the same. Units were painted but they did not look the greatest. And we all run into opponents who are starting out with armies like that.

So again, if it is a 3d paper that looks like the unit it is supposed to represent and is appropriately sized I would not have a problem with it and I don't think others should either. As far as tournaments go, if the rules say you have to have models, then those are the rules, if it were not specified, I would ask the tournament organizer before showing up. If they say its ok, then go with it. If anyone at the tournament has a problem with it, that's their issue.

I think playing against a nicely printed paper army would be as good as or better than playing against a poorly painted miniature army that everyone has had at one point or another.

While the game is more important as an aesthetic experience for me - I think it is more enjoyable with painted models than not - I wouldn't deny a game against paper proxies as long as some effort went into them. There are levels to it, of course - torn scraps of printer paper and color coded bottle caps would be pretty lame, while color printed and mounted card stock would be better. As long as it seems like you put some effort in it's fine.

As far as playing in stores or tournaments though, there's the store owners to think about. Most game stores provide space to play as an investment to bring customers in. If you're putting in effort to avoid being a customer while still benefiting from the space they provide it's less likely that they'll be hospitable to you.

As this thread indicates, paper models may make the grumps at the gamestore flinch, but they are absolutely a viable option for play with anyone who isn't going to be that way.

In my day, we were young, poor, and company's didn't make as much as they do now, so everything was cardboard and improve. The original Battletech boxed sets even came with cardboard standees to use for Mech's. (Google "Battletech cardboard" for examples) And, as mentioned above, the 2nd Ed 40k box had a card standee Ork dreadnought. (Although, as I recall, I made my own out of the missile launcher arm from a Destroid toy, some ork bits from a buggy kit, and a couple of the cheapie AT-ST walker kits. It was ugly, but it was orky. )

So, if I were playing you, I'd gladly play your paper army. And if I was feeling snooty and felt it wasn't up to snuff, I would lend my photoshop skills and supply of printer cardstock to help you make an even nicer version. So long as you're rolling dice and telling stories, you're doing it right.