Games Workshop hates 3D printers. There's a good reason: a quick search of Warhammer forums will reveal multiple people selling competing 3D printed miniatures or even versions of Games Workshop’s own products. Some people don’t sell the models, just access to the files with the designs so that the buyer can print at their leisure.
Obviously 3D prints that flaunt Workshop’s IP are swiftly dealt with, but there is a whole world of legally-distinct figures available for reasonable prices if players are willing to step outside of Warhammer’s long shadow. Using those miniatures in Games Workshop stores and tournaments would be frowned upon, but with friends or in different systems? Knock yourself out. Despite the more accessible pricing (not so much for buying files that require you to own an expensive 3D printer, but for the miniatures themselves), it’s easy to see why Games Workshop is prejudiced against the format: in the company’s eyes, it’s an easy way for players to avoid buying their models, and in some cases, buy them illegally.
However, there is a universe in which I can see Games Workshop embracing 3D printing. I don’t think we’ll ever see it sell STL files of Space Marines for you to print at home – personal 3D printers aren’t widespread enough for it to be profitable and the company has invested too much in its manufacturing facilities – but there are avenues that it could explore. This is an idea that comes from playing too much Rogue Trader.
I’ve already talked about how Rogue Trader is the Warhammer game I’ve always wanted, and I’ve grown attached to my character, Rogue Trader Teresa Valpuren. She was born of the Warp, and has worked her way up as a swashbuckling Naval Captain. I spent more time than I’d care to admit placing her tattoos and augmetic implants, giving her an appropriate portrait and deciding on the minutiae of her backstory. She relies on her intellect rather than her trigger finger, and she’s currently navigating her way through a particularly tricky trade deal.
Now I want a miniature of her. I could feasibly convert one – and yes, I’ve already started looking for bits and pieces that would work – but this feels like somewhere that Workshop could innovate. It probably has the final say in the customisation options in the character creator, so why can’t it give us a version which allows us to 3D print our results?
We’ve recently started playing Dungeons & Dragons at work, and I used Hero Forge to create my character. It’s a character creator with myriad options. I made the perfect recreation of my Grung Swashbuckler, posed it in the exact way I wanted, picked his weapons, and snapped a screenshot for my colleagues to reference. But it has the option to 3D print your character. Warhammer is missing out by not developing its own version of this. It could set its own parameters within the 40k or Age of Sigmar universes, give us the same options as the character creator in its latest video game, and let us print out our OCs to put on a shelf as we play.
Games Workshop will never fully embrace 3D printing, but I would love a Hero Forge-esque character creator to match its games. As it lends its IP to more studios, and gives players more freedom to create their own characters, it should give us the option to print those characters too. I know this is a long shot, but Games Workshop listened to me when I asked for PowerWash Simulator DLC, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.