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Cardboard Miniature Stands

I like paper miniatures like Cardboard Heroes. The price per figure is tiny compared to miniatures, they don't have to be painted, and they're easy to flatten out and store. Unfortunately, they're not particularly durable (though, with digital files where you can print as many as you like, that's a significantly smaller problem these days--go a head and set fire to those orcs when you kill them; I'll just make more) and their light weight makes them liable to being knocked down if someone bumps the gaming table or a light breeze blows through the room.

The Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game contains a very nice accessory: plastic stands to put the miniatures in. They're sized for the cardboard on which the DFRPG figures were printed, but they do a perfectly good job with folded paper ones, particularly if it's thick stock. They line up nicely with the hex grid, add a little heft, and bring the center of gravity down to make them even harder to knock over. The drawback there, though, is that they only come in one size. If you want, say, horses or big dragons, you're kind of out of luck even if you do have the figures.

Once again, it's 3d printing to the rescue. It's quite simple, really. A thin hexagon for the base plus parallel boxes to hold the figure. Slap a few together in a row or other configurations for multi-hex creatures. Result?


I've got about a zillion other projects going on, but I hope at some point to build a few more of those for other large critters. Say, six-hex or nine-hex versions for really big creatures.

Another variation I've considered is making the base textured. For example, an outdoor terrain or stone floor sort of thing. There's so little room on the single-hex base that it's hardly worth the effort, but there's space on the larger ones, making it a viable option for them.

And should anybody be interested in printing their own, I've put the design up on Thingiverse.

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