Really?
"Not _________” minis have been a thing for decades now from companies big and small. 3d printing just gets than to the table faster.
Yeah, really. Before you had a company having a model sculpted, making master moulds and production molds and handling all the logistic. You could save some bucks making a not* miniature, but in general that was a minor move and very few companies became famous making not* miniatures exclusively.
Now the *only* cost is sculpting. And concepts. If you remove the concepts the time-for-miniature is reduced greatly, allows you to seriously cripple original creators. Wanna do not-Sardaukars? Very well, come up with cool new designs that resemble the original and go for it. Something that "could totally work for Sardaukars".
If you're just lazily copying the design, even though the miniature is awesome, you DO deserve a C&D. Considering that the same company is also making Star wars knock-offs, it gets even less simpathy.
EDIT: they're making around 10k per month on Patreon. So no, this is NOT ok.
Love the minis. Given more time and budget, Dune is definitely the universe I'd put some effort into gaming
That said, I agree, it's a perfect universe for wargaming!