Rogue Space - MECHS: Paper Miniatures

I was asked about what I used for miniatures in my Rogue Space MECHS campaign. I used paper standees. I didn't want Jarom to have to draw everything out on the game because A) that's a lot of work, and B) he is one of the players, revealing possible spoilers.

When making custom simple paper minis, there is one key website that proves to be the greatest resource: Google Image Search

My campaign I did was a near future earth where mechs dominate the battlefield and have changed warfare. The players are part of a United Nations task force (this allows for a mixture of different nationalities for the players, so they don't feel restricted to one country). One of the major influences for this setting is the video game Front Mission. I like their mech designs so i used them as base. This campaign isn't a Front Mission campaign, but it worked for the look and feel.

So a simple search of "front mission wanzer" revealed a host of white-background mechs. Perfect for making minis. When you are thinking of a theme of mechs you wish to use, try not searching the game or title, but searching the actual names of the mechs. In Front Mission they are called wanzers (pronounced 'vanzer' - german for wanderpanzer, or walking tank).

Other great search examples:

• gundam mobile suit
• heavy gear
• armored core
• battlemech
• mech (this one has a ton of random useables)

All of those provide many excellent workable pictures to slap on standees.

Next I used a couple simple steps in Microsoft Publisher to make the standees. These steps can be duplicated in other programs, like photoshop or even powerpoint. Although they may be called something different, and there may be easier ways to do it, but this is how I did mine.

I made little 1 inch square templates. It consisted of 2 squares stacked on top of each other. 1 inch wide, and 1.5 inch tall. Then 2 smaller squares on the top and bottom. These get glued together to make the bottoms.

Then I imported one of the pictures I got off Google, cropped it, and shrunk it down to fit inside.

Next I copied the shrunken image flipped it horizontally and placed it in the box above. This would make a mirror of the mech when the standee is folded together.

I didn't want both sides to be the exact same, I wanted to be able to easily tell the back from front. So I made the backs of the standees a solid black silhouette.

I did this by setting the transparent color on the 'back image' to be its background (in this case white).

That way when I darkened it to complete black (using the less brightness button), the whole box wouldn't black out, just the mech.

Make as many as you want or copy them as many times you want and print on a card stock. Cut them out, fold them, glue the bottoms together, and you have simple mech standees with silhouetted backsides.

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.