3D Printed Counters/Markers Ideas - Now available for sale!

[swiftmus]

Hey all,

I recently picked up a 3D printer and would like to try and be productive with it and use it as more than just an expensive toy. One idea I have had is to make some tokens/counters for use in AoS as reminders but I'd like to know what sort of things people find themselves wanting the most. 

So far I'm thinking of a marker to represent a unit that has had mystic shield cast on it. Some sort of wound counter would be possible too, although I'd appreciate suggestions about how this would work (perhaps a little post with removable rings on it).

Perhaps there are other spells which would be useful to have markers for, I play wanderers so a shield of thorns counter could be good etc.

As for the markers themselves (and a little market research as it were), if you were buying would you prefer bare plastic (to be left blank or painted yourself) or pre-painted?
Would you pay any extra for pre-painted markers?
Do you prefer flat tokens (like coins with a design), or something more 3D (ie for mystic shield, a shield standing on its end on a small base)?

Suggestions appreciated and I'll add more questions if I think of any.

[Durant]

I do not think that pre painted stuff would sell, reason is that that kind of tokens are both by people that are way way in the hobby and they are usually good painters (or desent once like me )

[Lucio]

Personally I think that what tokens really need is unit reference cards that sit easily by the table edge for them to be put on. In that case, you want flat tokens, that are a contrasting colour to the card they sit on.

[Urauloth]

Flat tokens in plain plastic, personally.

[jamierk]

I was thinking of doing some wound markers recently, since i hate having dice and/or counters following units around the board. I was thinking of using small resin skulls with a magnet embedded and a magnet under the model's base so they would 'stick' to the base easily.

[Tiger]

I prefer pre-painted flat tokens. Warmachine tokens are cool, but I do have small dislike for the need to clean the previously blank ones after the game. I don't mind spending few euro extra to get more of them or to have them in a nice colour. 3D status tokens are otherwise neat and add to my game experience.

 

[swiftmus]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I think I'll start then with some flat tokens. I haven't had much chance to actually play AoS yet so I'll need some help coming up with the most useful things to tokenize. 

So far I can come up with:

- Mystic Shield 
- Battleshock (to mark a unit that loses models)

Also helpful would be the numbers of these to include in a pack. I don't think it would be cost effective to sell individual markers as the postage cost is probably gonna be about the same for any number considering how light they are. So for example I'd say 2 Mystic Shield markers in the pack (one for each player since no duplicate spells). Two or three battleshock markers maybe.

[Durant]

Start simple, Mystic shield, buff (it is any special rule that may be activated), battleshock, debuff. Also do them i 4 diferent themes each for alliance.

I case of numbers per set I would go 2 shields, 4 buffs, 2 debuffs, and 4 battleshock 

[swiftmus]

That sounds good Durant, I hadn't thought about making them alliance themed.

As for listing these for sale, say on ebay, can I say they are tokens designed with Warhammer in mind (ie. 'Mystic Shield marker' and 'battleshock marker') or should I keep the information more generic? (ie. 'Wargames shield marker' etc).

[fartsocks]

For wounds, you could have separate counters for each number, or make a dice type counter. Maybe a hexagonal (or decagonal or whatever) prism so it doesn't look like a normal dice.

[Garxia]

I completely agree with the idea of making them alliance based even if it's a simple twist like different colors, but like all the more elaborate, the better (Alliance Symbols and different colors maybe?).

IMO some staples in a counters set should be: Mystic shield (or +1 save), Inspiring presence (or Command Ability), Battleshock then some +1 and -1 (generic or specific with the most used like to hit or to wound).

Good luck with the project.

[swiftmus]

The current plan will be to make them bare plastic but I may paint up some examples myself and see how it goes. Right now I can print in black or clear plastic. For painting either base colour works and the clear probably looks better if left bare. I haven't got round to testing the clear just yet though.

A wound counting dice sounds good, just like the spindown dice for Magic the Gathering. I think one that goes up to 12 would be best (most monster heroes I've seen have about 12) and perhaps a 6 or an 8 as smaller ones.

I want to make the designs fit the alliance theme but be generic enough that they are not affiliated with the Warhammer brand in any way. For example the Death mystic shield I'm thinking a round, rough wooden shield with a skull icon (think the old Vampire Counts skeletons).

Command ability is another great idea, thanks for that! 

[Lucio]

A generic spell buff token marked number 1 through 6 would be useful for the newer army books to match up with the d6 spell number too.

[Durant]

As for wound markers, perhaps think about 10 sides, in that case you can show any number, some monsters have more then 12 wounds and it is with them that you need the markers the most.

Ideas for non warhammer markers are easy, just make destruction on bone and savegery, order on well order and nice, chaos on demons ect. and death on skulls. I think you can write that they are design as a help in games like Warhammer, but ask a layer first

[swiftmus]

Looks like I may be able to use the Chaos Star for chaos themed pieces. A short bit of research seems to suggest that the 8 pointed star is a universal symbol for chaos across fantasy literature.

Due to certain restraints (mainly resolution- my printer isn't exactly top end industrial level) I've decided I will theme the shield and command ability markers. The rest (battleshock, buffs and spell number reminders) will be generic. This is because to add extra subtlety to the designs to theme these markers, they would end up being quite large and unwieldy. 

Ideas for the spell number markers would be nice, rather than a circle or square with a number I'd like some sort of generic magic symbol, perhaps a 4 pointed star shape, with the number raised or indented into the material. Would you prefer Roman numerals or simple numbers?

For the command ability I'm toying with an opened scroll with a symbol at the bottom to represent like a seal. This symbol can then be one of 4, one for each alliance.

As for selling sets of tokens, I will probably print them to order and allow the buyer to state which themes they want in their set. So for example if a set contains 2 shield markers the buyer will be able to customise whether they want 2 of the same, or one Death and one Destruction etc.

I made some simple plus and minus tokens to help test size and printer settings, currently printing now and I'll let you know how they turn out.

EDIT: The buff counters came out ok, I need to get some sandpaper to smooth them out a bit but the size seems fine, they are 20mm circles.

Here is what I came up with for an Order mystic shield marker:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1737770

For now I will carry on aiming to create one themed shield and command icon for each alliance, but there's no reason why any simple design to represent individual factions could not be used in the future.

Thanks again for all the help so far! 

[Durant]

The shield is ok the symbol too but i thik it can be too Sigmar for the GW. Try some thing like fist or sword or even a hammer.

Nice one

[swiftmus]

I don't think GW can claim any instance of a generic comet logo, but if anyone knows better do please inform me!

I've put the completed marker set up for sale in the Market section of the forum:

Pictures can be found in the market thread, I'm very happy with how they turned out.

[Lucio]

20 hours ago, swiftmus said:

I don't think GW can claim any instance of a generic comet logo, but if anyone knows better do please inform me!

I've put the completed marker set up for sale in the Market section of the forum:

Pictures can be found in the market thread, I'm very happy with how they turned out.

You need to be massively cautious when it comes to anything approaching GW's IP. The best practice is to phrase things as a generic product and avoid all words and images you'd associate with GW and ideally, have a conversation with their licencing team as to whether or not your product idea violates anything.