I’ve never been much of a sports fan, so I don’t quite know how fantasy football leagues work. What I do know, however, is that 3D printing technology is the perfect way to make it a tabletop game. But in this case, I’m not talking about the conventional game of fantasy football, but instead, the one that’s played with fantasy creatures like goblins and trolls. Italy-based Crosslances Studio was founded by three artists who share a common passion for games. They learned about the world of 3D printed miniatures from Greebo Games, which worked on the 3D printed miniatures for the War of Wonders tabletop RPG game, and now make and sell their own models, along with digital miniatures prototyping. The studio also offers miniature sculpting and painting services, along with illustrating, and is about to launch its third Kickstarter campaign for Fantasy Football miniatures this coming Monday, July 17th.
Here’s a little more information on the tabletop Fantasy Football game – two teams play a game of American football, in a fantasy world home to creatures like elves and goblins, on a boxed playground. Miniatures, typically between 28-35 mm, represent the players, which attempt to wound and mutilate the opposing team, in order to reduce the number of opponents standing in the way of a touchdown. In its soon-to-launch campaign, Crosslances is selling the STL files for 3D printing these players.
Crosslances Studio has collaborated with the Labmasu gaming company, and with Megalith Games on its Godslayer tabletop game, so the artists are clearly making a name for themselves. The studio has had two previous successful Kickstarter campaigns for 3D printable gaming miniatures, and believes that the future of the field is 3D printing. Their latest crowdfunding effort is called “NurGoblin: Your first 3D team for fantasy football.” It’s offering two teams, Goblins and Putrids, where the players have “crooked, genetically modified abominations.”
According to the campaign, “From tentacles to tails, pustules to scars, in this team nothing is held back to instill fear in your opponent! They are as bad as they are ugly!”
In order to achieve high quality details, the 3D printable miniatures, which come in 28 mm and 35 mm sizes, were sculpted in Pixologic ZBrush.
The nice thing about being able to purchase the STL files for the players, and not the 3D printed miniatures themselves, is that there is no shipping cost – you can just download the purchased files and print the miniatures as many times as you want. You can decide your own 3D printing dimensions, in case you’d prefer to have a life-sized Goblin, and you can use the miniatures as proxy players in other fantasy tabletop games, such as The 9th Age.
The NurGoblin 3D printable miniatures feature ten linemen, each one with a unique mutation like horns or multiple eyes, and four Superplayers:
- A bomber, which throws explosive heads
- A chain warrior, which has either a head or a hen attached to a chain
- A player with a chainsaw, which is actually a sawfish arm mutation
- A jumper, which gets its ability from its seahorse mutation
Then, there are four Pestilent Warriors, which have rhino mutations, four Putrid Warriors, with elephant mutations like trunks and tusks, and two Beast-Trolls, which resemble giant wild boars. You can also get several add-on miniatures, including a Fat Cat Coach, Foxy Cheerleaders, two Heroes (which still look like monsters to me…), and two Goblin tokens.
If you’re not sure yet how interested you are in playing Fantasy Football with these 3D printable grotesques, it’s only €3 to get one miniature. To purchase the Level 2 Kickstarter reward, you’ll need to pay €16 to get STL files for the Goblin Team, made up of ten linemen, four Superplayers, and two Beast-Trolls; Level 3, the Putrid Team, is the same amount of money, and you’ll get ten linemen, the eight Putrid and Pestilent Warriors, and two Beast-Trolls. If you’re interested in owning the entire collection, plus any present and future add-ons, the STL files for Level 4 will only cost you €25. Level 5 ramps up to €250, but you’ll have the chance to create your own 3D printable Fantasy Football character!
Mark your calendar – the Kickstarter campaign for Crosslances Studio’s 3D printable NurGoblin Fantasy Football miniatures starts this Monday. Discuss in the Crosslances forum at 3DPB.com.
