So you want to get a 3D printer to make DnD miniatures, wargames terrain, dice towers, or just neat nerd stuff, but don’t know where to start? Good news! 3D printing technology is getting cheaper and more reliable all the time, and it’s easier than ever before to get started. If you’re looking to start, this guide to lists the best 3D printers for miniatures available in 2023.
3D printing feels like magic, and there are ever more things to use them for. You might want to print custom DnD miniatures that you designed on Hero Forge, or conversion bits to upgrade your Warhammer 40k factions and Age of Sigmar armies. Some of the best board game inserts and upgrades can be found on online file repositories, and there are even 3D printer files to upgrade your gaming table.
The best 3D printers for miniatures in 2023 are:
Anycubic Photon Mono
When we say the Anycubic Photon Mono is the best entry level 3D printer, it’s not because there’s anything low-quality about the results it delivers. Indeed, with an XY resolution of 51 microns, it may not be the most detailed 3D printer on the market, but it’s still pretty precise.
Where the Anycubic Photon Mono really wins out, however, is in price, speed, and usability. It’s cheap, very simple to set up out of the box, and – because it uses an LCD screen to reflect UV light onto the resin (rather than just using a laser like the earliest SLA printers) – printing times are nice and short, each layer taking 1-2 seconds.
One limitation with this 3D printer is a relatively low build volume. You can’t go above a height of 165mm (6.5 inches), so, while the Anycubic Photon Mono is ideal for printing regular D&D minis, large-scale terrain and tanks may be a no-go.
Still, if that’s not an issue for you, the Anycubic Photon Mono will do the job, and do it well – plus, at $199 / £147, it’s a blooming bargain.
ELEGOO Mars 3
Released in 2021, the ELEGOO Mars 3 is simply the best overall 3D printer you can pick up right now. The Mars 3 is a dainty bit of kit, weighing in at only 5.2 kg – but it’s got fantastic precision for the asking price of $468 / £346, with a very impressive XY resolution of 35 microns and a minute minimum layer thickness (Z resolution) of 10 microns.
It boasts some nice quality of life features, such as a front-facing USB port and simple but sizable touchscreen, though sadly it lacks a WiFi connection. It’s also fast – managing one layer every 2.5 seconds – and easy to use: calibrating the build plate is child’s play.
With excellent ease-of-use, speed, and precision, in terms of bang for your buck, the ELEGOO Mars 3 is hard to beat. Which is why we’ve dubbed it the best 3D printer for miniatures overall.
Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K
But if you’re not satisfied with a 3D Printer that can be owned by the hoi polloi, want something a bit more luxurious, and are prepared to fork out the cash ($801 / £592), the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K is the best high-end home 3D printer out there.
It manages an extremely powerful XY resolution of 22 microns, to go with a Z resolution of 10 microns, and – despite the ‘mini’ in its name – has a comparable build volume to our previous recommendations. Currently available to preorder, you won’t find a better 3D printer than the Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K.
…Actually, you might. But you came to a guide for 3D printers for miniatures and wargaming and not for industrial 3D printers, so this is the highest quality you’re going to require, and we’re not going to enable you by showing you anything pricier.
Okay fine, there’s also the $1700 / £1260 Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K (with a mighty, mighty build volume of 330 x 185 x 400mm) if you really need to print, let’s say, a ginormous dragon god Tiamat with every scale lovingly rendered or something. But really, we think you’re just getting silly now.
Creality Ender 3 Pro
Quickly dipping back to a price that won’t make you wince, and a bit of break from the norm, the Creality Ender 3 Pro is the best 3D printer for terrain. Yes, it’s one of those plastic FDM 3D printers we mentioned – but, before you start hissing and spitting, you should know Creality Ender printers have diehard fans in RPG communities, and for good reason.
One of those good reasons is they all have really large build volumes while keeping prices low. With the Creality Ender 3 Pro you’ve got 220 x 220 x 250mm to work with, making it ideal for larger projects. It’s a superb pick if you’ve already got more models than you can ever feasibly paint (you know who you are) and want to experiment with crafting battlefield terrain and arenas instead. No one likes purchasing terrain when they could be buying more minis, so this 3D printer can certainly help you branch out.
Whereas most of the printers we’ve recommended so far come pretty much ready to go, with just a bit of calibration to do and some simple instructions to follow, the Creality Ender 3 Pro requires a bit more assembly. It’s a good 3D printer if you’re a dyed-in-the-wool tinkerer though, as, with a bit of care, you can achieve surprisingly high quality results, even with smaller models.
The prequel printer Creality Ender 3 might be an even better option on that front though, as while the Pro has a few upgrades (it’s quieter for one thing), the original is completely open source, from firmware to print files to schematics.
AnkerMake M5
Successfully kickstarted for $8.8million in 2022, the AnkerMake M5 3D printer won’t be available to buy for a few months yet, but it’s already fanfared as the hot new thing on the 3DP scene. What’s all the fuss about?
Well, so far, even the best 3D printers are still usually something of a compromise. Impressive print quality; ease of use; reliability; affordability: to get one of these, you tend to have to sacrifice one or more of the others. With its debut 3D printer, phone charger firm Anker is aiming to provide an authentic all-rounder that scores in all these categories.
The M5 boasts an impressive array of technical specs, leading with its blistering printing speed of over 250mm per second (boostable to 2500mm/s, which Anker claims is five times faster than comparable machines). That’s allied to a sizable 235 x 235 x 250mm build volume, a marvellous XY resolution of 12.5 microns, and an equally sharp Z resolution of 2 microns.
Where Anker has particularly caught people’s eyes, however, is in ease of use: besides the eye-catching speed stats above, the M5 is designed with an “easy, three step assembly” and comes with a built-in AI-driven camera to monitor your print jobs, which connects to the internet and sends notifications to your phone if your print hits a snag. It’s also marketed with social sharing in mind, as you’ll be able to record time lapse videos of your prints to post online.
When units become available (after Kickstarter backers get theirs in November 2022), the AnkerMake M5 will cost $799 / £635, making it the most expensive machine on our list at the moment. According to Anker, this significant price hike over the standard Kickstarter pledge of $599 / £479 is due to the impact of “the increasing prices of computer chips and aluminium” on manufacturing costs.
Still, if the AnkerMake M5 is everything it’s cracked up to be, the knockout performance and outstanding usability features might make it a true breakthrough 3D printer.
Source: Wargamer
