If you looked at Thinger's trend data for the week of October 5 and squinted at the top twelve models, you might think someone had sorted by "tabletop gaming" by mistake. Eight of the twelve most-printed free models that week were miniatures, dungeon terrain or Gloomhaven scatter. I did not expect to see an OpenForge water wheel and a set of goblins in the top five, and yet here we are. The nights are getting longer, the game tables are getting more elaborate, and a lot of printers are clearly working overtime on something that has a dungeon master involved.
Key takeaways
- 8 of the 12 most-printed free models in Thinger's week of October 5 data were tabletop gaming miniatures or terrain, including five that fit a D&D or fantasy campaign.
- DuncanShadow's Goblins (model 13584, Thingiverse) and Curufin's 28mm Dead Female Villagers (model 13586, Thingiverse) both appear in the week's top five trending models.
- OpenForge, ecaroth's modular terrain system on Thingiverse, placed two pieces in the top 12: the Overgrown Temple Dais and the Open-air Water Wheel Mill, both designed to slot into a larger modular table.
- Rubble for Gloomhaven by RobagoN (model 14477, Thingiverse) is one of three Gloomhaven-specific prints to trend in the past three weeks, reflecting an active community using printed pieces as replacements for the cardboard components.
- Thinger's D&D Miniatures collection and Wargame Terrain collection pull these and hundreds of similar models from Thingiverse, Printables and MakerWorld into one place.
The miniatures
Two models of very different character landed in the top five this week, which is a good snapshot of what the community wants from printed miniatures: encounters with texture.
DuncanShadow's Goblins is a classic set of small fantasy figures, the kind that fill out a dungeon room without needing to be the centre of attention. The poses are properly goblin-like: hunched, asymmetrical, looking like they are up to something. Print a dozen and you have a room. The Goblins have been circulating on Thingiverse long enough to be considered community-standard, and they keep trending because people keep needing them.
Curufin's 28mm Dead Female Villagers are the more unusual entry. The name is accurate: a set of 28mm undead or horror figures, carefully modelled, for campaigns that take a darker turn. Once someone posts a clean paint job of a well-made set, it travels quickly in the hobby community. This is that kind of release.
Valandar's Epic Dwarf Miniature also made the top 12. If you need a single dwarf warrior for a campaign rather than a whole unit, this is a detailed standalone figure that prints cleanly on both FDM and resin. The base fits 25mm and 32mm rounds, which covers most tabletop systems.
The terrain
OpenForge is one of the most ambitious open-source terrain projects in the maker community. ecaroth built it on Thingiverse over several years and the system now spans hundreds of modular tiles, structures and props designed to connect. Two pieces appeared in this week's top 12.
The Place of Power: Overgrown Temple Dais is exactly what it sounds like: a raised platform for a climactic encounter, worn stone with vines creeping over the edges. The kind of terrain that makes a player sit up a little straighter when they walk into the room. The Open-air Water Wheel Mill is calmer: a working mill structure for a village scene, a countryside ambush, or anywhere the adventure calls for a moment outside the dungeon. Both slot into the broader OpenForge system if you want to keep building around them.
The Gloomhaven pile
RobagoN's Rubble for Gloomhaven is a set of scatter tokens that replace the cardboard obstacle markers in the base game. Rubble is one of the most-printed Gloomhaven accessories because the cardboard version is fiddly and the printed version is both more satisfying to handle and more obvious on a crowded table. It shows up in the trend data regularly, usually when a new campaign revival or expansion brings a wave of new players to the game.
Where to find more
The trend data is pointing somewhere specific this week, and it is worth following. Thinger's D&D Miniatures collection covers the full range from heroes and monsters to scenery and props, sourced from Thingiverse, Printables and MakerWorld. For terrain more broadly, the Wargame Terrain collection includes OpenForge modules, scatter pieces and full table setups from multiple creators.
If you want to search across all three platforms at once for whatever comes next, the free Thinger app searches over 600,000 free models and lets you save the ones worth printing. Dice tower is in there too. I am not saying it is mandatory, but the table does look better with one.
