Five-pointed star counter with a raised face. The 'arms' of the stars are designed with a very subtle curve for a more aesthetically appealing outline. I designed this counter for use with a boardgame that I wanted to enhance. Although these counters, as a result of the raised face, are stackable, the relatively fragile plastic used for 3D printing is likely to wear in time, so I probably wouldn't recommend storing them stacked together.
In the example photos above the counters are shown in use with "Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia" by Stonemaier Games, being used as authority tokens instead of cardboard stars. You could also use them for any other games where star-shaped tokens would be appropriate.
Designer notes
- Shapeways do not yet offer Black Strong Flexible as a polished plastic, so the surface of black items will be slightly rougher than that of the other colours.
- Designing the counters on a sprue keeps the cost down (generally a sprue of six is about the price of two counters made individually!). I recommend using nail clippers or strong scissors to cut the sprue close to each counter, then a scalpel or craft knife to (carefully!) remove the stub end of sprue that will be left. The sprues are as thin as the current Shapeways process will allow for reliable printing.
- The material used for most of the 3D printed plastic sculpts has the colour on the surface only; the interior being white. Thus when these coloured pieces are cut, the face of the cut reveals white plastic. So the sprues connect to a part of the component where the small white circles from the sprue's removal won't be seen, or will be the least noticeable. This means the sprue is often slightly longer than if the connected the items side-by-side, but gives a better end result.