Ballista for Late Romans


  • I purchased 2 of these ballistas from a seller on Etsy and plan to create crews from the Wargames Atlantic Roman box. Anyone else use 3D printed models? I've heard they're more fragile than the type of hard plastic used in model kits. Hopefully we'll see WA release a ballista kit in the future!



  • Looks like a good model.

    Resin can be a bit more brittle than many hard plastic kits but with careful handling you should be ok in my experience....as long as you are not trying to do any conversion work.

    Warlord Games does Roman ballistas (scorpions) in plastic I believe.


  • Eccentric Miniatures, a little one-man made-in-the-USA miniatures company, does some nice generic medieval European 28mm ballistas and crews as injection-molded plastic kits; the crew might not be dressed as Roman soldiers, but if you can roll with that, the kits are quite affordable, and I've had only positive experiences with ordering from the company:

     


  • As GG states resin is "more brittle" then plastic but that being said this seems to be fairly stout, my concerns with resin are parts that are scale thin and long such as rifle barrels or the handle of an entrenching tool. I think your ballistas will hold up well under normal play. 


  • A "siege weapon sprue" with some weapons and sprues with different crews from different periods of antiquity could work for some sets?


  • I have mwtal, hard injected plastic and 3D printed Roman artillery - scorpions, ballista, onagers, catapults etc. All are particularly usable on the wargames table. Since most of my games involve the grandchildren surviving the "drop test" is important.  In which case the 3D printed ones are best then the hard plastic ones and last come the metal ones. The main reason, as far as my experience goes, is that the 3D printed ones have fewer parts to break or are one piece prints. Once painted and crewed there is virtually no visible difference. Assuming that a good 3D printer and stl file are used.

    Incidentally I find resin almost useless for figures when playing out games when grandchildren participate - hard plastic or metal only.


  • Another bright side of the 3D printed ones is that if you have the printer, filement, and time, you can always print replacements.

    I really ought to get around to learning how to use my 3D printer.  I tried printing a 3D mini on it, but never quite got the hang of adding the supports and all the fiddly little settings involved....


  • Ballista crews using WA bodies and Gripping Beast heads


  • These are my completed ballistas. I used WA bodies with Gripping Beast heads to match the rest of my Roman units. 


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