So I recently got a 3D Printer and needed to find a project to test it out on so I decided to make a 3D Settlers of Catan board. I knew I wanted to make six separate styles of models with a settlement, city, and road for each. I was thinking of what I would use for models and I thought of how Starcraft and Warcraft’s central buildings have evolved which would work perfectly.
This idea worked great for the Human, Zerg and Orc bases. The Undead, Terran, and Night Elf upgraded bases don’t look all that different from the standard version so I decided to put the upgraded buildings on circular platforms to make them more distinguishable. I ended up not being able to make a model for the Night Elf that I was happy with so I just stuck with the 6 other races. The Protoss were a problem because their central base doesn’t have any other forms. Fortunately the model changed a good amount from Starcraft 1 to Starcraft 2 so I just used the Starcraft 1 model as the settlement and and the Starcraft 2 model as the city.
For the roads I knew I wanted to have the workers for each race walking on a road that is unique to their race. This was able to come together surprisingly easily. Zerg have their creep, Terran have metal platforms, and Protoss have energy platforms. For the Undead I have their worker going through a graveyard and the Orcs and Humans just have normal roads with walls of their various styles.
To paint these things I originally tried to do supper detailed and realistic work but because at the most these pieces are 2.6cm wide that proved a little difficult and the colors just got washed together. As cool as it is to make these as true to the Blizzard Universe as possible in the end they are for playing a game so I decided to limit each race to 1-3 main colors that aren’t shared with any other one. I’m super happy with how they turned out!
The final decision I had to make was what figure I should replace the robber with. I figured I should make it a bad guy from one of the games that wasn’t part of the 6 races. So I thought of a Starcraft Hybrid or a Warcraft Dreadlord. I eventually figured that since I have the other two main Blizzard franchises represented I should round it out and have Diablo as the thief.
Diablo is the only figure in this set apart from the number markers that I did not model myself from scratch. I found a model on Thingiverse where someone had uploaded a scan of a Diablo figurine. I only needed to make some minor tweaks to the model and it turned out great. I decided to have Diablo be the only piece that I didn’t paint (apart from his base) because I was so happy with how he looked in the red plastic.
3D Blizzard Catan Board 
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