Battlefront Valkyrie Introduction

I think Battlefront Valkyrie is most interesting if you look at it as both a starship game and a 3D printing project. The starter set is available through Wargame Vault, and the same listing may also be useful through DriveThruRPG if that is where you keep your gaming PDFs and STL purchases. There are plenty of space combat rules out there, and some of them are deeper or older, but this one has a very clear hobby pitch: download the files, print the ships, print the markers, put a fleet on the table, and start fighting battles without waiting for a boxed range to appear in a shop.

The game comes from Fat Dragon Games, who have been around the print-and-play and 3D-printable terrain scene for a long time. Their official page describes the models as optimised for FDM printers and designed to print without supports. That is the part that matters for me. A game that says it is 3D printable but quietly assumes a resin printer, careful supports, and a lot of cleaning is a different proposition from a game aimed at everyday filament printing.

This is a fan introduction, not an official review or rules reference. I am not trying to cover every expansion, ship profile, or scenario. The aim is to give you a practical sense of what Battlefront Valkyrie offers, with a bit more attention on the printing side because that is the part that makes it stand out.

What you get

The starter set is built around printable starship combat. The official listing mentions ships, asteroids, dial counters for hull and engine damage, game counters, templates, a full-colour rulebook, an assembly manual, ship cards, drones, and mines. That is a useful spread because it means the printable part is not just the ships. The table furniture and play aids are part of the package as well.

That matters more than it first appears. A small starship game can fall down if the ships are nice but the markers are awkward, or if every player has to improvise half the components before the first turn. Battlefront Valkyrie looks like it understands that a printable game needs to be printable as a game, not just as a collection of models. Counters, templates, and terrain pieces are not glamorous, but they are what make a set usable on a normal table.

You can also get the rulebook through Wargame Vault, which is helpful if you want to read before committing to a full bundle. I would always do that first with a print-and-play or STL-heavy game. Rules are cheap to store. Unused plastic piles are less charming after the third storage box.

The 3d printing angle

The big selling point is FDM printing. Resin can produce lovely small spacecraft, but not everyone wants resin in the house, and not every gaming club wants to deal with gloves, wash stations, curing, fumes, brittle parts, and the quiet dread of a failed vat. FDM has its own annoyances, but for a lot of hobbyists it is cheaper, cleaner, and easier to run in the background.

Supportless printing is also a real practical advantage. Supports take time, waste material, leave marks, and turn simple batch printing into a little workshop job. If a ship can print cleanly without supports, you are much more likely to print enough ships to play. That sounds basic, but it is the difference between a game becoming a project and a game becoming a shelf of half-finished experiments.

The model instructions are more specific than my first draft was. Fat Dragon recommend a 0.2mm or 0.3mm nozzle for the best results on these ships, while also noting that a 0.4mm nozzle can still print them successfully. That is an important distinction. If you already have a normal 0.4mm setup, you can try the game without rebuilding your printer. If you want the sharper small-ship detail, the smaller nozzle is the intended route.

The guide also points users toward official Fat Dragon slicer profiles. For Cura, they say to use the minis profile. For Bambu Studio, they say to use the starship profile. I would follow that before inventing settings from scratch. The Fat Dragon Games printing resources are the sensible starting point for Cura material, and they also have Bambu Studio profiles for the A1 Mini. Even if your exact printer is different, those profiles give you a better baseline than guessing.

For the actual model settings, the guide recommends fine layers for game models such as ships and mines, roughly 0.08mm to 0.1mm. Bases and counters can be printed more coarsely at 0.2mm. That is a useful split. Spend the time where detail matters, and do not waste it on flat play aids that mainly need to be readable and durable.

Filament advice is plain as well: use PLA. Fat Dragon mention Hatchbox PLA for their Creality printers and Sunlu PLA Meta for their Bambu Lab printers. I would not treat those as the only workable choices, but they are useful named starting points if you are trying to remove variables from the first few prints. They also recommend 10 percent infill for the models, which makes sense for small tabletop pieces where shell quality matters more than internal strength.

Bed adhesion is still the boring part that decides whether your evening goes well. The guide says a textured surface can work, but a smooth print bed is preferred for best results. It also recommends using a brim, and if you are getting curling or adhesion trouble, adding a 5mm brim with a small gap from the object. That gives the print more grip without turning cleanup into a punishment detail.

Printing A Fleet

The nice thing about a starship game is that a fleet can be a manageable printing project. You are not producing a hundred infantry models with weapons, backpacks, faces, and bases. You are printing ships that can be batch painted, drybrushed, shaded, and put into service fairly quickly. That makes Battlefront Valkyrie a good candidate for someone who wants a complete game project rather than another army that will be finished in theory.

I would print in stages. First, enough ships for a small learning game. Then the counters and templates. Then asteroids and battlefield pieces. After that, add more ships once you know which parts of the game you actually like. Printing everything because the files are there is tempting, but it is also how you end up with a box of grey plastic and no games played.

The printed paper parts deserve a little care too. The instructions suggest glossy photo paper for ship base art, drone counters, dials, and similar pieces. They also suggest rubber cement for attaching paper to PLA bases, because it works well and can be peeled up later if needed. A black marker around the cut edges is a simple trick for hiding imperfect circles once the paper is on a black plastic base. This is exactly the sort of small practical note that makes a printable game easier to finish neatly.

For painting, simple methods should work well. Prime dark, drybrush up through grey or metal, pick out engine glow or weapon points, then add a wash if the detail needs help. Spacecraft are forgiving. They do not need eyes. They do not complain if the uniform piping is the wrong colour. A clean fleet with matching bases and readable damage dials will look good enough for play.

How it plays

At the table, Battlefront Valkyrie is aiming at fleet battles with starships, drones, mines, asteroids, and damage tracking. I would approach it as a playable tactical game first, not as a perfect simulation of naval warfare in space. That fits the printable format. You want something you can teach, set up, and use with the models you have just made.

The presence of hull and engine damage dials is a nice touch because it keeps ship status visible. In small fleet games, hidden paperwork can slow things down quickly. A clear dial or marker makes it easier for both players to see which ships are still dangerous and which ones are limping. As with most starship games, the fun is often in deciding whether to finish a damaged ship, press the objective, or turn away before your own fleet starts coming apart.

I would keep early scenarios simple. Use asteroids, a few ships, and the basic counters. Add drones and mines when both players are comfortable with movement and firing. A printable game should encourage tinkering, so if your group needs a shorter scenario or a smaller table for the first night, adjust it. Get a clean game played before worrying about using every component.

Reviews

If you want a quick outside pointer, Tabletop Minions covered Battlefront Valkyrie in the 2024 Tabletop Minions Awards video. That is useful mainly because the channel tends to look at games from a practical hobby angle rather than only from a rules-theory angle. It is also a reminder that printable games are now part of the normal wargaming conversation, not just a side alley for people with too much filament and not enough restraint.

If you are new to FDM printing, the Tomb of 3D Printed Horrors channel is also worth having nearby. It is Fat Dragon's own printing help channel, and it is the right sort of resource for build videos, troubleshooting, and basic setup questions.

Why it is worth a look

Battlefront Valkyrie is worth a look if you like the idea of a game that can be built at home. It is not just model agnostic. It gives you the models, the counters, the terrain pieces, and the rules framework in one printable direction. That makes it useful for clubs, home tables, and anyone who wants a space combat project that can be expanded without hunting for discontinued miniatures.

The main caveat is that 3D printing is still a hobby inside the hobby. You will need to manage files, slicer settings, failed prints, storage, and painting. If that sounds like work, it is. If it sounds like part of the fun, then Battlefront Valkyrie is very much in your lane.

My suggestion is simple: read the rules, print a small test force, play a modest game, and only then decide how deep you want to go. Use whatever works for your printer and your group. The best printable game is not the one with the largest folder of STLs. It is the one that actually makes it onto the table.

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