Why Use Paper Minis in Wargaming

In this video I will show you my portable wargaming setup using 2D paper miniatures and terrain.
I hope that this is inspiring to you. I think this is a great way to meet someone and hang out at in public for wargaming. This can also be a great way to host demo games to show people how to get into war-gaming in general.
#ageoffantasy #onepagerules #squaretableunion

[@HighwalkerGaming]

Would love to see a video on how you make your paper minis. Mine don't fold up as neat

[@SquareTableUnion]

I’ll work on that

[@hariszark7396]

You have to choose the right paper.

[@shawnvaljean9260]

I was about to leave the same comments. I have some paper minis that I just printed on standard printer paper and they are pretty flimsy and rough looking.

[@SquareTableUnion]

@@shawnvaljean9260 I have a video uploading now. If I don't release it tomorrow, it will be soon.

[@Wolf359inc]

I love my plastic crack, and my 3D printers love to go “brrrr”, but you do make a great argument for paper minis and terrain…

[@dinihtis]

Easily portable minis and terrain showcase, actionable advises. Great video!

[@Donnyjohnsonbooks]

I truly need a video on how you make your minis and bases 😂❤

[@SquareTableUnion]

That has been a popular request. I’ll get on it.

[@desertwynd30]

If the tabletop portion of the hobby was what I cared for the most I would. As it stands I love to assemble and paint units. It scratches that itch in my brain.

[@SquareTableUnion]

I totally get that

[@kylereese3343]

For me personally, I LOVE paper minis. I’m about playing a ton of factions and I don’t have the space to buy a lot of different models. So paper minis work for me. Saves space, inexpensive, and I can play whatever factions I want. Thank you for the video! Your minis look outstanding

[@SquareTableUnion]

Thanks, yeah I’d be way behind on learning and getting used to the game without paper minis. Especially just trying out new units. I basically find the units I like and then slowly replace them with legit 3D minis.

[@somesz83]

@@SquareTableUnion Exactly what I'm planning to do so. Forge some skirmish warbands, try them out, print more then get the 3D minis of those I like.

[@andersonfaleiro6527]

This video is a vibe. wonderful production. I'm loving seeing the wargame crowd supporting more paper minis as a way of making it easier to get closer to the hobby.

[@Tanith.1stAO]

Highly inspired by this video, has brought back the love of TT war games Thank you.

[@okumartsgames]

Packable and portable was what got me interested in making paper minis but also the arts and craft of it. Great video.

[@SquareTableUnion]

Thanks, yeah I’m starting to get a good collection of 3D miniatures and I’m struggling with storage at the moment.

[@gideongallant1185]

This is a great idea! Time to put together a budget I think this would be really useful to just sorta whip out at a family or friend gathering and ask if anyone wants to play a quick game if there's time. I can already see this seeing some use with my younger family members and college friends

[@SquareTableUnion]

Yeah, we rented a beach house a few weeks ago and I had this binder with me. Works great.

[@Ggggggmmmm324]

This brings me back to grade school when me and my friends would draw minis on paper then play wargames on recess. These look nice!

[@kevinjhubert]

Mf terrain be looking 12x better than my grey plastic collection. And he's spittin facts.

[@SquareTableUnion]

Lol

[@devonmarr9872]

Printing is dirt cheap. Format the images onto 4x6 size and a 4x6 print at Walmart is like $0.14 a page. Using Gimp it's easy.

[@SquareTableUnion]

That Walmart print is a great idea!

[@devonmarr9872]

​@@SquareTableUnionThanks. I use printheroes and the free paper minis from onepagerules for the majority of my needs. I appreciate your content and your comment.

[@G3N0M3501DI3R]

When you revealed the secret of your table I was actually shocked. Grade A stuff!

[@SquareTableUnion]

Nice

[@thomaskiser3886]

wonderful informative video!

[@thulyover9000]

This is a great idea! I'd love to know what paper stock and cutters you use.

[@SquareTableUnion]

I think everything in this video, I print on typical copier paper around 20lbs. And then use a spray adhesive to glue that printed page onto 110lb paper. That works great for terrain. Lately for minis, I’ve just been printing directly onto 60 or 65lb paper and after you fold them, they seem fine.

[@pjsines4705]

Great Video! Crooked Staff Terrain and Paper Forge are also making great 2D products.

[@SquareTableUnion]

Thanks for the info.

[@jeffreykershner440]

I love crooked staff!

[@davidk6269]

Great job with the impressive paper minis!

[@30035XD]

Dude, you have to check out Peter's Paperboys!

[@SquareTableUnion]

Just did. Thanks!

[@RedLucarian]

Came here to say the same thing. I have been converted to paper minis for years now thanks to Peter's wonderful range and beautiful artwork.

[@deltapi8859]

Love the idea of bringing paper standees into wargaming. Your minis look professional and beautiful, nice work. I also made my own with FDM printing and label paper cutted with a hobby plotter. 20 minis in one hand. Can't beat the space efficiency and sometimes they have better contrast than a painted mini. Also love that you went papercraft style with the terrain. Terrain is such an important feature for wargames, because they give game design tactics. Also wondered why the tt wargame community looked down on papercraft for terrain and found it to be stuck up. Paper standees and terrain give young people an ally more active and creative and create their own things. Which teaches creativity and taking things in you own hand. You are not just a mindless consumer. Also: it shows that you don't need to be fully rigged with expensive and sophisticated materials to play the game. The fun is in the foreground. Honestly I think wargamer are such a cool crowd, but they some times seem elitist, because of the amount of work and money that go into playing games, when you hear people saying "I don't play with players with unpainted minis or proxies". Wargaming tradition used to be very different than that. So you could say "what stops people from simply playing with papercrafts?", but it dismisses the perception of people on how to play the game "the right way", increasing entry barrier. So I really like the example you are setting.

[@SquareTableUnion]

Thanks, yeah I’ve only had a few negative comments for this video both here and Facebook. Nothing really hateful, but people definitely feel like they need to draw a line. Which is interesting to me because I’m not anti legit models, I’m just saying that there is no reason not to have both.

[@deltapi8859]

@@SquareTableUnion 100% agree.

[@andersand6576]

When making a new army paper minis are great to try out. Looking for an easy way of making some bases that are a bit more sturdy then folding them though, as i often end up goving them away so others can tey the army out.

[@lemuelbecc]

2:00 if you ever come to Houston, do NOT leave a backpack in a locked car unless you want to lose both the pack and the windows.

[@SquareTableUnion]

Not to worried about my town. I did used to have family in Houston. I couldn’t believe how hot it was there.

[@MarkNiceyard]

Pretty cool table.

[@BD-si8kg]

Love the video thanks for posting!

[@st0ox]

The hottest thing about paper minis is that they can have two prints for each side. Since I play more strategy games than rpgs I had to learn to differentiate all my minions by their backside 😅

[@SquareTableUnion]

Totally, I’ve just started writing want each unit is on the back side of the base. It is even more complicated with strategy games because similar looking models can have different weapons and upgrades.

[@marchanna]

Nice music but it's more suited to a high-end wine bar experience. Clever idea though. thanks for the vid.

[@TheInsaneupsdriver]

I started pulling pictures from my Palladium sysytem books and throwing them into the AI engine in Bamboo Labs and making the models. only problem i've run into is scaling with each other.

[@SquareTableUnion]

When you say, “AI engine and Bamboo Labs”, are you converting them to 3d?

[@TheInsaneupsdriver]

@@SquareTableUnion yes! about half don't work out but the other ones like 2 of the skycycles, abolisher hellraiser and a whole slew of others. they're not perfect but more then enough to tell what it is your looking at.

[@davestranger1553]

Hey man. Just found your channel tonight and subbed. I like it. Good content well presented. I gotta ask.... what is that guitar behind your left shoulder in this vid? It's beautiful.

[@SquareTableUnion]

Thanks! That is a Godin A6 Ultra. It’s sort of an acoustic/electric hybrid. It has two output jack so you can split the acoustic and electric pickups to two different amps.

[@davestranger1553]

Looks great man. Also, dunno if you've heard of them but arcknight do 'flat plastic miniatures' that are kinda like the paper ones here, but imo better. Might be worth checking out for you.

[@SquareTableUnion]

@@davestranger1553 cool, yeah I’ll check them out.

[@JonathanTomhave]

Cool video!

[@swervbe]

Great work promoting paper mini's. Resin/plastic mini's are ridiculously expensive these days. Convincing younger players that they are good enough to use instead of the "real thing" though is a different matter!

[@SquareTableUnion]

Thanks, I’m impressed with how much positive feedback I’ve gotten with promoting paper.

[@nothingatall544]

Thank for the video! I'll have to check out Dave Graffam, cause that terrain looks awesome Can you share a bit of the process you used to make it? I love the idea of having a binder of terrain but I'm not quite putting together all the dots on how to make the terrain flatten out like that

[@SquareTableUnion]

I’ve had another request on how I do the minis. I’ve noted this and will ether add that to the same video or make a stand alone.

[@deltapi8859]

Honestly I feel you would be a cool guy to play a session with :-)

[@SquareTableUnion]

Thanks, takes a cool person to know a cool person.

[@deltapi8859]

@@SquareTableUnion haha, thank you. A wargamer with social skills :D

[@goldendragonbringer]

Thanks for the video. I have not seen many paper minis. But one time I did, the paper mini's were cut and stood in a unique way. It is hard to describe since I don't know what that style is called. Bear with me. Imagine one mini. The mini is made of 2 cutouts. One cutout has a cut from the middle-top, down to the center. The other cutout has a cut from the middle-bottom, up to the center. The two cutouts slide into each other from their cuts. It looks appealing to see the paper cutout from any position on the table and it stood upright reliably. If you know of this paper mini version, what is your opinion on them?

[@SquareTableUnion]

I totally understand what you are describing but I don’t know anyone off the top of my head that offers that.

[@cgs7226]

Salutations-great job! Firstly, while you are not the first person to use paper miniatures it’s always good to see the ingenuity of individuals to make the hobby more accessible to the masses. Secondly, while to date I have never personally used OPR(have nothing against it), do they offer something akin to Legion Imperialis? If they do how do you generate 15mm paper minis for that game(or any similar game) that can be useable on the table-do you print them out on a heavy card stock for stability? Thirdly, the walls you have travel on one axis. How do you handle 2-sided walls or 2 to 3 story walls(I don’t know if OPR has rules for that)?Lastly, are those Gibsons🎸 in the background-cannot see because of the bokeh😀. Thx!

[@SquareTableUnion]

Greetings, OPR as far as futuristic power suites only have a faction called the Blessed Sisters in paper minis. And the only other faction that I would call humanoid are the Eternal Dynasty, which are basically space samurai. I can’t remember all they have for 3D STLs but they haven’t really released anything yet that is like space marine armor. I’m guessing that they are assuming that people already have those models. I haven’t tried 15mm in paper yet but that is interesting. If anyone is familiar with any graphic software, then I guess the sky is the limit. Id guess I’d add a group of models on to on single base. I think that OPR is fine with resizing and combining any of their models. As far as walls and buildings, you can find multiple level builds for paper terrain but I haven’t built any yet. The guitars are both Godins. I actually don’t own a true Gibson. I’d like to have one but I currently have an ESP that is modeled in the Les Paul style. A lot of my guitars are what I call gig worthy, in which they are not crazy expensive but I’ve personally set them up and upgraded parts the make them nice.

[@MortalGingy]

Great video! What kind of paper do you use? The models looked a little more stiff than stock paper!

[@SquareTableUnion]

Thanks, these ones in this video I print on a typical paper (around 25 lbs). And then I glue that sheet to a thicker 110 lb card stock using a spray adhesive . Then I use packing tape to laminate each image before I cut them all out.

[@MortalGingy]

@@SquareTableUnion brilliant! Thanks!

[@tavorua2307]

looks very nice. Pls make a video how u build this

[@mikaelpettersson2052]

Cool 😮

[@kudosbudo]

Given the difficulty in fidning X-wing minis now, this might be a great way to fill out and use all those card bases i got from teh conversion kits.

[@Karlmakesstuff]

Papercraft minis are a great way to get started, especially for new players. The portability you've got here is intriguing though. What do you do to the buildings so they survive repeated folding and unfolding?

[@SquareTableUnion]

I think any type of clear tape would fix any rips and such.

[@Karlmakesstuff]

@@SquareTableUnion that works :)

[@richardmullens4707]

You said in the video that you took your setup to the beach. Surely paper minis and scenery would blow over in the wind if you play outdoors?

[@SquareTableUnion]

No we didn’t play outdoors, I took it to the beach house we rent. I probably should have specified.

[@gozer87]

I use paper minis for DnD as well. Great for traveling.

[@Self-replicating_whatnot]

How do i get a paper opponent to go with my paper minis?

[@SquareTableUnion]

I like printableheroes .com. It is a good resource for miniatures.

[@SavageBruski]

Paper/Card doll minis is definitely a way to go with minimal hobby behind it, but I dunno. I still like actual minis and all that. Even for demo games.

[@jaymeU2]

Love making paper minis. My 3D printer can't handle printing minis. Paperforge is great.

[@BunnyNiyori]

The question is not why should you, but why should you not. One look at my home, and it is clear I CAN afford models. But, I sure ain't in a hurry to become a cash slave to GW. Nor Hasbro either. Paper minis are fun, and the weight is nice and storage simple. I have gone from 35th scale to 48th scale to 72nd scale in the search for how to collect more and not need a larger home. I've even considered GHQ and 285th scale. So, yeah, it should be no surprise I have a growing collection of paper wargaming. For someone to scorn my paper for a wargame, would be to laugh at them and tell them, fine, play with yourself.

[@SquareTableUnion]

It has been interesting reading the comments and how polarizing some people can be. I have fun with both. I’m still collecting actual models, and storage and space is definitely becoming a problem.

[@SgtOddballz]

i need new printer, what would you reccomend that doesnt break budget?

[@SquareTableUnion]

I’ve just bought an Epson ET-2800. It is one of those that you can refill the ink tanks. I’ve been pretty happy with it for the price.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

Yes someone else expressing the vitues of 2D printing! Which what no one takes about is how cheap and fast it is to have littlerly thusends of 25mm minis! Like I can fit a good hundred or so on a page and have an ecotank printer so I pay $35 for 4 bottles of ink and even with my old inkjet being $100 it was faster so more cost efftive because time... Not that a single sheet costs all that much time mind you and alternivly you could just write the name of the unit on note paper and use them which has to be the cheapest way to wargame beyond theater of the mind.

[@okcomics1635]

I love paper minis too but I'd scrap the idea of using them to play in a park. It's true they are cheap and quick to make but you don't want to be replacing them after every session. Wind is the bane of my existence.

[@SquareTableUnion]

lol, I thought about that after I said it, but I was in a roll and didn’t want to start over.

[@corvus_armatura7595]

I suppose using metal weights might be enough to keep them on the table.

[@monkeymule1286]

no shade at the amazing terrain and minis that folks and companies craft, but its paper dolls for me, cheap, iterative, and kindling when you tire of it. Hadn't found onepagerule yet though, a great resource! cheers mate.

[@IaijutsuRonin]

Why Not? Because i will lose every „pile“ of shame competition…

[@SquareTableUnion]

I have gigs of unprinted STL files of shame before I can even make a pile. But honestly, I kinda have a pile as well.

[@jfm.d5180]

Hear me out... use your imagination. Free your mind. Free yourself from miniatures.

[@grizzlyblackpowder1960]

This whole comment section, and the channel its attatched to seems to be doing more to destroy wargaming than making it accessible for everyone. If you print your models(paper or otherwise) and then dowload the rules you are essentially stealing from the creators. Heavy dislike.

[@SquareTableUnion]

This video features products from creators such as One Page Rules and Printable Hero’s. Both creators offer both free and paid content. I personally am subscribed to both and pay them monthly. It is not stealing if they are giving it away as stater packs. So I’ll need to disagree with you about destroying wargaming. I’m actually helping to promote small business. I will agree that self printing takes away from store owners, but that is something that but us players and store owners need to adapt to.

[@A13_Mk1]

The way I see it is that, if you aren't in a position to afford / store miniatures, go ahead and get paper alternatives, otherwise, at least try to get some miniatures from the shops too! But with prices from Games Workshop recently... I can see why some people opt for paper.

[@JoseAlvaroLlopez-yz3ye]

Yo uso los paper minis para jugar a D and dragóns,aquí en la España Sánchista,no llegan miniaturas

[@5150madawg]

this may be a hot take but if i go to play warhammer with a 2000pt army that i spent up to 100+ hr painting and some guy pulls out a bunch of tabs of paper im packing it up . i would rather help you paint your army than play with paper minis . the whole point of it is to see all the bad ass minis on the map ......

[@SquareTableUnion]

True, with Warhammer. A lot of that hobby is almost more of model collecting than playing the game. Insanely good looking models out there. For others, some of us are just trying to play a quick skirmish game with friends. Which was the point of this video.

[@theoandernack8427]

I would not. I feel like you've never played against a army of empty fricking bases. That was way worst xD

[@5150madawg]

@@theoandernack8427 hilarious