Black Scroll Games: Minotaur Miniature

I think it’s no surprise at this point that I like 3D printing and I generally like the work Black Scroll Games does. They generally do good sculpts that don’t require supports, and great looking 3D styled maps. Recently they released a Minotaur miniature, and I hope to give my thoughts on it.

Be afraid. Absolutely adore the axe and how it's also used as a support.

Print Settings

I printed the model at 50 microns, 60 degree Celsius print bed and 195 degree Celsius extruder. I’m sure it would look great at 100 as well, but I typically print miniatures at 50. Some printers are different than others but the temperature settings are the standard ones I use for almost everything. You may need to play around with your printer a bit, but it's probably a good starting point.

Sculpt

The sculpt looks great when placed on the table. The weapon details, the horns, the texture on the back, it's a great miniature. Black Scroll Games did a great job with this one. The texture of the base is great too. I mentioned it before, but I’ve always appreciated how they design their sculpts to incorporate supports so they blend into the design. However, it had a few artifacts, which I didn’t see on their werewolf model. These artifacts were on the underside legs of the model and hard to see, especially when placed on the table. It could be my printer and print settings, since it is printed on pretty cheap printer, but be aware regardless. 

Uses

Minotaurs are a classic baddie to throw at low level parties. A group of low level players fighting against a massive beast that leaves characters bleeding out in one hit is a frightening thing to behold. You could also throw parties of Minotaurs at players, but I think such setups are less common. There are exceptions of course. I've played in a campaign where hunting groups of minotaurs were not uncommon as elite units of a marauding army. However, I think this miniatures will most likely be used in a climatic final fight, whether at the end of an arc or a campaign. This makes the miniature not as reusable as a set of skeletons, which are extremely common, but it looks good enough to be worthy of ending a session or campaign. 

DRAGONLOCK Ultimate: Dungeon Separate Walls Review

Review copy courtesy of Fat Dragon Games.

Pros

• Variety of wall components provided allow for all kinds of corners and attachments
• Can be used with the other sets in order to fill holes and define different kinds of areas
• Easy to print and I had no issues with warping
• Results in a good fit when used with the Dragon Bite V3 clips
• Allows for very versatile layouts that would take multiple sets using the previous Fat Dragon method (narrow hallways, wide rooms, etc.) if you commit to the new design
• Includes instructions complete with images and recommended settings. You don't realize how badly you miss these things until you don't have them

Could Go Either Way

• Instead of the 1/2 square borders that the other sets had for wall pieces, this set results in no such border when linked to a floor piece. If you didn't like the old system this is great. If you did like that extra border in order to allow space for parts of miniatures that poke outside their base size, you might not like this.
• Combing this set with the sample set allows you almost every kind of room layout you could ever want. However, when combined with the sample wall you'll have one side that has a 1/2 square border and another that does not. The difference in layout can be useful and allow for more variety, but some would like it more consistent. Personally, I like the extra option.

Cons

• There are no alternate floor pieces included. One of the big advantage to this kind of system is that you can replace floors without needing to spend filament on brand new walls too. An alternate smooth floor would've just pushed the value over the top (this is a bit of a nitpick)

Corner piece made from the pieces included in the set. As you can see, it lacks the 1/2 square outer edge. Still looks nice though.

Introduction

At this point it should come as no surprise that I like terrain and tiles. While I am perfectly capable of playing using theatre of mind, I tend to prefer the precision that tiles give. There is no confusion about where things are when you lay down some awesome looking tiles and miniatures on the table. And with my recent acquisition of a 3D printer as well as look at 3D printable terrain, it should also come as no surprise that I've been itching for some 3D printed terrain. That's where the DRAGONLOCK Ultimate: Dungeon Separate Walls set comes in. In general I think it's a very good set and quite versatile, but let's jump straight into it. My apologies for my less than stellar pictures in advance.

The four non-diagonal wall pieces. I use them to make a corner piece further down.

Printer Settings

Everything here was printed with a 0.4mm nozzle. The door itself was printed at 100 microns but everything else was done at 150. One thing I have to give the sets that Fat Dragon make is that they always have complete instructions complete with images.

What's Included

The set you get here is rather complete. You get a square base, and a triangle base to attach the walls to. The walls themselves are interesting. There is a every size of wall you could want in order to add walls to the perimeter of your tiles. This is done by creating 4 different sizes of walls that can be attached by the DRAGONLOCK system. On top of that, there is a door piece that prints in 3 parts, a 1/2 square edge (though this doesn't help to recreate the old style as a result of geometry and that only one side has a connector slot), and a wall that print in 2 parts. This allows you to switch the tops of the walls and by doing so decide if you want pegs or not. This was a rather nice addition and surprise, though I tend to prefer the single piece variants at this point.

Sounds like a good diversity of pieces, right? There are also diagonal walls included as well, which I think are best seen to be understood. They are a nice additional and I'm glad they are included, though they are more niche in their application.

As mentioned earlier, one of the big advantages of this kind of design is that it easily lets you swap out the design of the floor while using the same walls or vice-versa. As a result, it would have been nice to have one alternate design that would have had a smoother look to the stone. If it had that, it would leave me with few complaints. It was probably unreasonable to expect such a thing, but would've really pushed the value over the edge.

Pretty nice looking door piece, isn't it? Being able to put these where-ever you want is rather useful and I'd say that the ability to do so is one of the most powerful parts of these kinds of sets. It fit together rather nicely.

 

Appearance

If you've seen the sample set, you know what to expect here. It is very much in the same style. One thing I've commented on in the past is that I really like the texture of the terrain that Fat Dragon make. That positive is very much kept here. Don't expect much from the base 2x2 piece though, as it appears to be the same as the one from the sample set. I wouldn't hold it against them as it's convenient and I don't expect them to go to the trouble of making minor changes to it, especially when it already looked good. The wall pieces, however, do seem to be different from the walls used in the other tiles. The layout of the bricks is different and I like the difference compared to the wall pieces from the sample set, though I also have to admit that it could have been closer to one of the sets that I don't have.

I would suggest taking a look at the sample set. While it isn't exactly the same, it gives a very close impression of what you'd be getting. It can also be used with the walls in this set. I'm a big proponent for trying something before buying if you can as it often gives the best impression.

Connections

One of the concerns that I immediately have with these kinds of tiles is the connections. The way the tiles connect together is rather important for any 3D terrain. At the very least you don't want it to shift as players move their minis around the tiles. And naturally, as you have and more connections, things tend to get more wobbly. That's just how things are. One solid piece is more stable than the same sized piece made with connectors. The V3 connectors result in rather close connections and while there is small amount of wobble, the way that the clips wrap around a post inside the tile means that there is very little change of the pieces separating unless you apply significant force to do so. Put another way, while they might wobble a bit they won't detach. The walls don't connect to each other in this design: they instead connect to the base. When places on the table the wobble is far less noticeable as well, though still more than the previous design. To really understand what I mean you really should print out a couple of pieces and try it but I doubt it would bother many people. It's really rather impressively solid. 

Ease of Printing

I found these tiles very easy to print. I had quite a few problems printing other separate wall sets because they would lift and warp. These, however, had no such problems. Not a single one I printed experienced lifting or warping despite how much less surface area they have compared to the old style found in the sample set. Good job Fat Dragon. I'm impressed and like this very much. It wouldn't have been much of an issue if it required a brim, and if you find that you aren't as lucky as me you may want to use one, but it is rather convenient that I didn't need one. It doesn't take very long to remove a brim but it can add up with many models and it's just nice to not need to deal with it.

Designs

The great thing about these walls is that they can be used to enhance designs mainly created by the other tile sets as well as being used on their own. This typically takes the form of thinner alcoves or walling off areas to make smaller but more interesting layouts. You could make similar layouts without the walls, but they would result in larger tile layouts or needing more sets. The versatility gained from this is very nice. I took a look through the other sets and besides the starter sets, I think this would be one of the sets I would naturally gravitate to first. However, you get the most benefit from it if you decide to completely embrace the new style and don't mix it with the previous system. This is less than ideal if you have many of the previous sets. In those cases, you'll find yourself using it to supplement what you already have. It's still useful in this way and allows for improvising if you don't have enough pieces as well as different layouts. It's just not as useful and easy compared to completely embracing the new style. 

Corner piece made from the pieces included in the set. As you can see, it lacks the 1/2 square outer edge. Still looks nice though.

What can happen when not carefully mixing the two styles of tiles. It can be avoided but requires planning or completely embracing the new style. Of course, there are use cases where you might want something like this as well. These pieces are linked together using the DRAGONBITE clip.

 

Price

The set costs $8.99 USD here. It's not a bad price due to the versatility I think, but some might like to have more tiles in a set or to wait on sale. As always this is one of the more subjective parts of a review and I hope what I've said so far helps you reads make a choice you are happy with.

Newsletter

I think it's worth mentioning that Fat Dragon have a newsletter, and they give out free 3D models every now and then. The last one was a 3D printable crate. Use this knowledge as you will but I felt it was worth mentioning. It's a good way to keep up to date with their work and see some samples if you are interested. 

DRAGONBITE

In the past, DRAGONLOCK tiles used a different system of locking. I've been informed that they all now use the DRAGONBITE locking system, so they should all be easily compatible with each other from that perspective. Locking system incompatibility can definitely be a concern so it's good to know that you can just pick out the sets you like instead of also doing your homework on what kind of locking system they use.

Summary

It's a good set and allows for many different layouts. When combined with the sample set, it allows for a large number of different layouts to be created. The advantages of separate walls help extend the usefulness of this set and probably makes it the most powerful set Fat Dragon made. It allows you to do in a few pieces what it would previously take multiple sets to do. Long narrow hallways? Easy. Hideaways from 3 walls? Also easy. And if you prefer to make layouts without the 1/2 square gaps found in the normal Fat Dragon tiles but love the appearance, you'll be happy with this set. The best results are felt when completely committing to the new design. However, you can still get a surprising amount of mileage through combing these new walls with other sets. This leaves few reasons to avoid this set, in my opinion, unless you'd prefer the classic design where the wall is incorporated into the tile, you'd prefer a different and more specialized set, or you like a different brand of tiles.

Black Scroll Games 3D Prints

Review copies courtesy of Black Scroll Games.

What's a dungeon without things to populate it with? You know, besides an empty dungeon. Even without printing spools worth of 3D tiles and instead using paper tiles, 3D details can really make things pop. Black Scroll Games are probably best known for their 2D but 3D styled tile sets such as the Modular Inn tiles I reviewed.  They also have very impressive looking sets of tiles on Kickstarter right now in much the same style. However, in addition to that they also have an assortment of 3D printable materials that help bring dungeons to life. Honestly, I've had my eye on some of 3D printable stuff for a while (especially the chests). If there is one thing this experience taught me it's that it takes a while to amass a large enough assortment of 3D printed tiles to make it practical in play. Paper tiles though are quick and easy and with such highlights look even more amazing. So far, I've liked what I've seen and I hope to see more of their work in the future. Especially some undead miniatures and more objects for decorating dungeons. Their Patreon is here. They also have some of their older work here. They provide some 3D printable sandbags for war gaming as pay what you want. If you want to get a feel for their work, this is a great way to do so.

The two chest types available in the 3D Dungeon Chests pack.

Settings

Everything here was printed at 100 microns with a 0.4mm nozzle. It's a standard and unimpressive setting. Not impressive at all from the printer side of things, and very common.

Chests

The chests that Black Scroll Games came up with look amazing and actually open up. Need different treasure inside? You can just easily swap the insert, and there are a total of 7 inserts provided. It's a great design and is very adaptable. Out of all the 3D printable chests I've seen so far, they are my favourite. That said, there are some problems. I found that the inserts do not fit into the V2 chest properly. The chest is slightly too big so the insert will fall in. This is easily fixed by printing at 97% size, but I think they should be already sized for the insert out of the box. That way they are in step, and makes resizing the two together much easier. I hope the other sets also don't require such minor tweaking. I also wish that there was another alternate version missing the skull for the V2 chest, a version without the locks, and possibly a variant without the hinge. That way you could have the insert, the removable lid but also the aesthetic of the lack of hinge on the outside of the model. This last one is more a nitpick and would require more work to ensure it somehow stays in place, but would really push the set over the edge and make it something very hard to find faults with in my view. Sure, if I wanted that I could get a different set where the chest is one piece. However, I like how these ones look and would've liked the option with these chests. You can be sure these guys will and have been featured in my tabletop games. 

Pretty wolf, isn't he? He is from their Patreon page.

Werewolf

The werewolf mini is nice as well. It looks really nice when printed and the design doesn't need supports. If you are the kind of person who doesn't like terrain in their minis, you might not like the design compared to some others that only have the miniature on a base. However, you'd need some supports for that design because you wouldn't be able to incorporate them into the sculpt in the same way. I tend to prefer my miniatures without terrain on the base but here it doesn't bother me at all. The one thing that I didn't like was the head peg. The miniatures is printed in two pieces and they just didn't fit right for me. I had to file down the peg and I think providing a version without the peg would have been easy and removed this issue. Printing miniatures seems to be giving me the most trouble but this one went rather well.

This is the smallest and most broken looking of the columns.

Columns

These guys look nice and are easy to print. If you need broken columns for the ruins of a temple or something, it's definitely a good choice for that. There are 7 different variations and some of them have lanterns. They aren't vastly different styles of columns but have varying degrees of disrepair and the variety is appreciated. I think the picture will do a better job of explaining the appearance than my words.

Quick Look: DRAGONLOCK vs. OpenLOCK

I finally did it. For years I admired those people who could print tiles and terrain to their heart's content, or at the very least for as long as their filament lasted. I am happy to say I am now part of their ranks as I now have access to a 3D printer. It was easier and harder in ways I didn't expect at the start. And for that reason I hope to share some of my experiences on the matter. Since I was still trying to decide which way I wanted to go (or neither since OpenForge is an option), this post is purely focused on the trial sets of the Rampage and DRAGONLOCK systems. You can bet I'll be writing more on this topic later since I can't hope to cover it in one post. I have to start somewhere though. If you want the Rampage system you can get it here and the sample DRAGONLOCK set can be found here.

Overview

I printed everything using a 0.4 sized nozzle and at 150 microns.

DRAGONLOCK on the left and Rampage on the right.

Dungeon Tiles

One of the first things that comes to mind is printing all kinds of cool 3D tiles. And the first two sets that grabbed my eye were the Printable Scenery Rampage and the Fat Dragon DRAGONLOCK systems. They look great and allow dungeons to be easily constructed. Naturally, before I used a whole spool on these things I wanted to take a quick test print of their trial packs and see what I thought of them.

Rampage

The Rampage system is quite interesting for a number of reasons. Disconnecting the wall from the floor like this system does means that it becomes much easier to create rooms. I don't need as many big specialized pieces, such as corner pieces, and instead need column adapters. This means that with very few pieces I have many options at my disposal and I absolutely love that feature.

The OpenLOCK connector is also interesting and is important. Since we are connecting more pieces in order to achieve the same result, the connection needs to be strong and well thought out. I also really like these connectors for a few reasons. That it's an open standard is very nice and means that quite a few OpenForge tiles can be connected. I won't be going too far into OpenForge here, but free and open tiles? That is great and them having such a great connection system is a massive benefit to the hobby in general. The other nice thing is that this connection system keeps the pieces close together. They don't wobble very much and there are many points of connections. Even the walls connect to other walls with 2 connectors. If you use the full total of connectors that the system allows, the setup is very sturdy. You can cause some shifting and experience some wobbling if you only use one clip. I'd recommend it only for smaller rooms or for connect rooms to each other over the course of the game. Otherwise use 2. All that said, I've found that the middle connector doesn't work as nicely as the outer 2. If you use one of the outer connectors it works fairly well and if you use both it is a very good connection. The only down side here is that it requires a lot of connectors compared to other systems but the sturdiness is nice.

I also have to commend the starter set. It gives you everything you need to make all the rooms you want. What's that, you want more? There is also a castle set provided. As far as starter sets go, this is very nice. Need floors? It's here. Need doorways? It's here (well, it's an open arch way or with a grate but it's better than nothing for sure). Need corner pieces? They can be built using all of the columns provided here. I wish the floor was more stone square style or at least one was included though. I think that style would be more versatile.

The biggest thing to note here is that the print quality really matters. The walls in particular have 2 connectors, one low and one high. If you get warping like my first one did, you'll end up with an unusable lower connector on the wall. One will still leave the piece functional but you'd want both to work so you will want to print using a brim. It is far easier if you do so for this set, and I'd say is essential for the walls and columns.

The designs are quite nice here. The wall is well detailed and textured. I like how the floor piece and how it resembles a floor due to its smoothness. It looks like the kind of thing purpose made to be walked on instead of being rough. And again, the connector works well.

Dragonlock

This set is a more traditional wall-attached-to-floor affair. However, it looks great and has some advantages to the other design from a printing perspective. The wall pieces are obviously going to be more stable since they are a single piece instead of being 2 connected pieces. Being attached to the wall like this, no brim was needed either. The wall piece was one of my very first prints out of my printer and it came out slightly warped due to me needing to adjust the bed level, but it still attaches perfectly to the other tiles. This is another nice thing from this set compared to the Rampage system. Warping doesn't cause nearly as many issues from my experience.

The clip design here is different and also interesting. I've found the Dragonbite v2 to be a bit wobblier than OpenLOCK. The clip allows the pieces to be moved apart a slight bit. If you did that much with OpenLOCK, they would separate. The v3 clips are better in this regard and have a much better fit. My trial pack, however, came with the v2 set and I had to download the v3 after printing a whole bunch of v2s. So make sure you print the v3s. They also have connectors only at the bases, which means large rooms can flex a bit when lifted off the table. When placed on the table, none of this matters or affects things.

I really like the look of these tiles. The back wall in particular looks great. I think a good part of this comes from the texture of it. I absolutely love it. The floor is nice as well but it's on the rough side. A few people I've shown them to said that they thought it was too rough for a floor meant for something meant for humanoid feet. They said it's more like the floor of a cave or mine, but the walls suggest otherwise. I can understand why someone might prefer a smoother design for the floor, perhaps with cracked stones due to time, but I still like it because of the texture it has. If you wanted that smoother style, you'd probably want to check OpenForge. I'll definitely need to take a look at them later, especially since they now use the OpenLOCK connection system.

The starter set contains no door pieces or corner pieces, in contrast with the Rampage system. If you want to make use of the free trial pack, you'll need to combine them with tiles from OpenForge or the Rampage system. This is really a shame from the trial set and makes it a far inferior as a complete set. It really is more of a trial set where as the Rampage system provides a starter set. If I had the starter sets for both sets though, it would become a lot more even. These tiles are very good from an aesthetic, usefulness (the connectors are very good), and ease of printing perspective.

Update: This comparison is out of date now that there is the DRAGONLOCK Ultimate: Dungeon Separate Walls set. This set allows you to attach walls in much the same way as the OpenLOCK system. These parts must be purchased, however, and the starter set remains as I reviewed it. I will be taking an in-depth look at the set shortly. It's very nice to have this option as well and removes the distinction between the approaches. Now you can use them both in the DRAGONLOCK system. 

Closing Thoughts

I'm not sure which I prefer. It's a hard choice and may depend on which side of the bed I'm waking up on. I took a quick look at the other offerings from both and I think I like the Dragonlock door better than the Rampage one including in the trial set, but I don't have the set yet so I couldn't print it. When taking the whole complete set into account it becomes far more even and that's why I'm having trouble choosing. As plain trial sets go, the completeness of the Rampage system makes it far more usable. So if your budget is free, Rampage and OpenForge will get you into the 3D printing game. It's nice that we have this kind of choice and we have even more options to choose from as well. However, I think this much will need to be enough for now.