Papercraft

I just wanted to point you all to another blog I stumbled on that I really got into reading. Fantalonia is a blog dedicated to paper terrain, papers minis, and solo gaming.

Look through all his past posts, he has several that are very interesting. Reviews on cheap print and play boardgames, articles on solo gaming, some paper minis and terrain he has created himself, etc.

I guess I should talk some about papercraft and gaming. It's an awesome thing, but like miniature painting, it still takes time, money, and work. A lot of people see stuff like pictured above and think its an easy way out, and in some ways it is. You don't need that particular artistic skill which makes minis look decent on the table, but you do need patience.

Companies and people who design this stuff is generally cheap. Not cheap in quality, but in price. Some of it is even free. However the real price is in the printing. If you have a decent printer, you are going to frequently get your cartridges refilled or replaced the more of this stuff you print. And building and assembling needs some techniques which most companies are willing to give tutorials for.

All in all it is a great alternative to tabletop terrain and minis, and when you put some time and effort into it, you can really get amazing results. I even did an article here for making your own stackable square terrain(here, here and here). And one of my most memorable DnD games I made a papercraft ship that the players and some pirates captured.

For those of you that want some more links, here are the most prominent papercraft sites I follow:

• WorldWorlksGames: The most beautiful artwork I have seen on papercraft ever. This stuff is magnificent. They have a neat terrain building system and when everything is put together it makes truly unique works of art. A little more pricey than the others, but their stuff is worth it for how detailed and gorgeous it is.
• One Monk Miniatures: A site chock full of free paper minis for any genre. Everything is cartoonish and stylized but definitely good. You aren't getting stick figures on paper.
• Fat Dragon Games: Mostly paper terrain and dungeon tiles. Good basic and easy to work with designs and stuff here. Cheaper than WorldWorks. They have even been working on some cool papercraft wargames. Check 'em out.
• Armor Grid Games: Another blog that has designed a paper craft mech game. Some wargaming terrain there as well.