The WizKids line of role playing game miniatures is back. After releasing a set celebrating the past 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons, they have now just released a line featuring people and creatures from the popular Baldur’s Gate 3 videogame. Last summer saw the release of a 50th Anniversary set which is fun from a nostalgic collector’s standpoint, but I think the Baldur’s Gate 3 set is the best set I’ve seen in a long time. One of the drawbacks to randomly assorted miniatures is the need to create many different things in order to offer up something new in each box. This can result in opening up a box to find rather specialized miniatures that may be hard to casually work into a game. Both of these sets specialize in the common sorts of creatures one might find in an everyday game of D&D. A half-crystal elf from the far realm (I made that up, feel free to rip it off, Wizkids) may look really cool as a mini, but just how many times am I going to be able to work that into my adventure? With the Baldur’s Gate 3 release, most every box has something I know I’ll be using in the near future.

Adventures from Baldur’s Gate

For fans of the Baldur’s Gate 3 video game, the big draw of this set will be the named characters one encounters in the game. Many player favorites have been recreated in plastic, with a few of them (that I received) shown below. They’re standard RPG scale so they’re not going to stand out on a shelf like a 6” or larger figure, but they would be perfect for setting up one’s own Baldur’s Gate diorama. Of course, plopping them down in the middle of your campaign is fun, too.

Back row: Dror Ragzlin, Grin the Red, Lump the Enlightened, Zevlor
Front row: Priestess Gut, Omeluum, Halsin (who you could argue is also comes as a bear…)

This set is great even if you’re not a fan of the Baldur’s Gate series. Because the game was a sort of introduction to Dungeons & Dragons for many players, it was designed to feature many of the classic, core creatures in the game. The game takes players from a low level up to a medium level so many of the people and creatures encountered would fit in just right in a typical D&D home game.

A variety of classic creatures like the spectator, shambling mound, bulette, cute little hollyphant, and a phase spider.

The spectator is just right for giving low levels a little “Beholder “scare. The bulette is probably my favorite mini of the set. It’s got a great metallic sheen and its sculpt is perfect to capture its surprise digging ability. You don’t want to see this thing popping out of a hole next to you! The hollphant makes for a cute, helpful companion (who will be of great use by the DM to helpfully get the players in all sorts of trouble.) Finally, the phase spider makes a great change-up for your players next “spee-I-der” encounter.

How often do your characters walk through a forest or visit a local farm? Yet, plain-old animal minis tend to be few and far between. (At times I feel like I’m playing in Avatar: The Last Airbender, where everything is a duck-bear, mouse-bird, or lizard-goat…) This set sports something for forests (bear), farms (ox), and your local goblin cave (worg.) 

Rounding out the Baldur’s Gate set are a bunch of NPCs hand for friendly or combat encounters. Some of the minis I received include several types of fighters, sneaky-looking guys, a minotaur, bugbear, Duergar, and a couple of goblin options.

D&D 50th Anniversary Set

It’s been a minute (released last summer) but I thought I’d throw in a note about the 50th Anniversary collection of minis.  The main idea of the set is to release pairs of minis of iconic creatures from the earliest days of D&D. Each creature appears in a version reflecting the (sometimes odd) art of first edition D&D as well as a version of the same creature as it is represented in the new 5th edition. 

Right off the cover of the 1st Edition DMG Glabrezu & Eidolon on the left, with the 5th Edition refresh on the right. These really exemplify how the modern, 5th Edition art tends to emphasize action.

I have to admit the art in 1st edition shows its age, so the equivalent minis are pretty funny at times. I won’t be using them for any serious gaming but they could fit into a funny moment or two. I think they would be most attractive to folks who maintain nostalgia for those early days of gaming. It’s fun to have the 1st edition and 5th edition of a creature side by side on my shelf. Thus, this set is best for nostalgia-minded collectors, rather than someone looking for minis to put into their game.

Skeleton Knight, Gnoll, and Bugbear 1st Edition vs 5th. That 1st Edition Bugbear wins the prize for the weirdest figure in the set… go 1st Edition art!

Kobold, Lemure, and Blink dog 1st vs 5th edition. These all fared well with time but its hard to compete with a blink dog jumping out of a blue translucent portal!

In addition to the “regular” offerings in the set, there is a chase (ie. very rare) figure for each main character from the old Dungeons & Dragons 80s cartoon. There are minis for each character (barbarian/wizard/thief) as well as the Uni the unicorn and the enigmatic Dungeon Master.

In conclusion, let me address the elephant in the room. Large collections of miniatures can be somewhat expensive, but having a few miniatures on the table when playing an RPG adds some great flavor to the game. The minis are great to help visualize the tactical part of the game, and having some concrete touchstones on the table helps to ratchet up the immersion.  In particular, I love the shock effect when a big-bad monster is just dropped on the table in the midst of the adventuring party. These sets do better than most – providing minis that will easily fit into most campaigns – with the slight disadvantage that there are fewer centerpiece minis (ones on which to build an entire adventure/campaign around) in these. I’d take several more generic minis (like orcs, goblins, and animals) over a set piece mini (dragon, demon, big old undead, etc…) any day.

If you are a nostalgic sort of person, check out the 50th Anniversary set. Meanwhile, fans of Baldur’s Gate or anyone wishing to build up a basic stock of minis would be well served by the Baldur’s Gate set.

<Disclosure, I was sent some minis from Wizkids in order to put together this review…>

Tags: Game Reviews, Misc