Occasionally, a question pops into the hobby that stops you mid-brushstroke, and the one I tackle in this video definitely fits that description. It came from Evangelos Georgopoulos, who reached out to me through my blog to highlight an article he’d written and to ask for wider opinions on a rather provocative topic: will AI eventually paint our miniatures? It’s the kind of question that makes you smile nervously, look at your paint desk, and wonder whether the machines are quietly plotting behind your back.
This blog post accompanies the full video discussion, where I take a deeper look at how developments in 3D printing, colour-print technology, and AI-assisted tools might reshape the future of our hobby. Only a few years ago, colour 3D printers were clumsy, experimental machines that produced chunky, multicoloured blocks. Today, they’re edging toward the ability to print miniatures in full colour at resolutions sharp enough to compete with hand painting—at least at tabletop distance. When those printers eventually become affordable for everyday wargamers, the landscape could shift dramatically.
The video explores this evolution from early 3D printing to the modern resin revolution, and into the rapidly expanding world of AI. Sculpting tools are already becoming smarter, slicing software is increasingly automated, and digital workflows are accelerating. The next logical step is a printer that produces fully 'painted' miniatures straight out of the machine... and it is starting to feel less like science fiction and more like something quietly creeping over the horizon.
But the real heart of the discussion isn’t just technological; it’s psychological. Will wargamers choose convenience over craft? Will traditional painting become a niche pursuit? Or are miniature painters simply too passionate, too stubborn, and too invested in the creative process to be replaced? Add in the wider issue of “AI slop” on social media, and the question gets even more complex. We’re already learning to spot fake images online; the physical world might turn out to be far less forgiving.
If you’re curious about where all of this might lead, the video digs into the possibilities, and as always, the conversation is the best part.
Big Lee,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the very interesting and thought-provoking video. I suspect that within the next ten years we will see ‘print and play’ ready-coloured figures … but I think that there will still be a few ‘traditionalists’ who will want to paint their own figures.
In the past I’ve bought painted figures and found that until I have added some minor detail of my own and rebased them, they don’t feel ‘right’ and I’m not happy using them.
All the best,
Bob
Cheers Lee, I have been saying for a couple of years that 3D printing will advance at a rapid pace.
ReplyDeleteI expect in a couple of years we will be able to visit a local 3D print shop, pay our money and have a ready painted and printed army the next day (think of when we went to Pronto print in the 80's - 90's). Armies will be printed unpainted, basic colour, detailed colour, super detailed colour all at appropriate prices. The competition gamers will be the first to embrace 3D printing, everybody with the same level of painted figures and same rules. For myself having a 3D printed and painted army would be very tempting, a detailed colour print and then ink wash and adding more detail by myself would work for me. Also would make family buying Crimbo presents a lot easier.
Happy gaming,
Willz.
Thanks for another thoughtful piece, Lee. Painting has long been one of those necessary chores. I think it was Don Featherstone's War Games that discusses how little effort it would take to get a box of Airfix 1:72 ACW figures to tabletop standard, so that the whole club can use them in a campaign. Then we've had hand-painted miniatures from the shop - not great painting, but my early forces of Britains plastic or Timpo could still go straight onto the table.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the first output of an AI with a 3D printer will be some kind of "army men", not historical or specific, but soldiers of a sort?