Updated for 2026
There are a lot of 3d printers out there, many which are quite good. You might be wondering:
Which 3D Printer Should You Buy?
The market is constantly changing, and the technology is improving at an astronomical rate. Because of that, it can feel quite frustrating to find the right 3d printer for your needs.
Since we have tens of thousands of printing hours under our belts, we can easily give you recommendations that will lower your frustrations and make your 3d printing experience much better.
Here are the printers and accessories that I recommend.
The Best 3D Printer for Printing Terrain
The Bambu Lab P1S FDM 3D Printer
This slot used to belong to the Bambu Lab X1 Carbon. I had assumed that because the P1S was roughly half as expensive as the X1 Carbon that it wouldn't be as good.
Boy was I wrong.
For 3D printing terrain, there is no better printer (right now) that I've experienced than the Bambu Lab P1S.
Important Note: You do NOT have to buy the AMS (the thing that let's you print in multiple colors) unless you are interested in printing in multiple colors, or you like the convenience of having it store extra folls of PLA for you.
The Best 3D Printer for Printing Miniatures
This one is a tie between two Elegoo printers. The one you should choose depends on your needs.
The Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra
We've gone through a lot of printers in the MiniWarGaming Forge, and the Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra has proven the most reliable and easy to use.
It's a great price, the auto tilting vat makes it print super fast and with way less failures, and it's easy to use.
However, if you aren't printing a metric ton of miniatures like we are, then your best bet might be the smaller version:
The Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra
This has pretty much all of the same features as the Saturn 4 Ultra, but is smaller, and almost half the price of the Saturn.
For most people this will be more than enough for home printing, and it will save you money and space.
Other Supplies You Will Need
A Good ABS-Like Resin for Printing Resin Miniatures
Elegoo PLA Plus (for FDM printers)
A Respirator (for Resin printing)
A Backup Power Supply (great for when the power goes out)
A note on power supplies: Many printers come with a "remember where you left off" feature, but some (like the Bambu Labs printers) don't automatically restart, and so you can lose printing time overnight.
If that is not an issue, then save your money and don't bother buying one of these.
Nitrile Gloves (Latex gloves will NOT be good enough)
IPA Alcohol (99.9%) - For cleaning resin
Many many paper towels
