How about 3D printing?

Behold our first 3D printed insert! 😁

The design is not mine, the credit goes to thingiverse user “PreNic” for this one, but I wanted to print something flashy. And why not for Merv, which is a game I really want to play a lot more (I managed to get rid of more than 15 plastic baggies, making the game that much easier to set up). ✌️

I have been making inserts out of foam core and enjoying it, but I really wanted to start making them digitally too - now we finally had room to get an FDM printer. Not only can I make more advanced layouts this way, but I can also share the files afterwards with people. With foamcore I usually only had a bunch of illegible scribbles and calculations afterwards. 😅 Can’t wait to have a bit more time on my hands and start designing! 

We did have a resin 3D printer before (the other kind which uses UV light to harden liquid resin layer by layer to get the finished model). It’s pretty amazing too, giving you much more detailed models, but it can be a huge hassle - cleaning the toxic goo that gets everywhere and dealing with the horrible smell... If you have one, you get what I mean. 😬

3D printing has almost endless uses, but I think it’s an especially cool technology if you are into board gaming, tabletop rpgs or wargaming. With resin printers you can print legions of miniatures to paint, or terrain pieces to dress up your adventures and battlefields. We have also printed a bunch of things for board games before, like volcanoes for Tikal, temples to adorn the cogs of Tzolk’in or Mount Doom for War of the Ring. There are so many files available, even if you aren’t into 3D modeling. 😍 FDM printers are better suited for bigger or more functional things, like inserts, which I am super excited about! 🥰