Another round of nifty little plastic figures have been released by WizKids. A new line of minis complements the recent Pathfinder Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path. In addition, two special sets of player-character minis have been released under the Dungeons and Dragon label. The pair of releases are interesting because each contains the same six characters, but the first release shows them at a low level while the follow-up release arms the miniatures with much more advanced and/or epic looking weapons, armor, and tools. As usual, these prepainted minis aren’t cheap, but they’re fun to have on hand to help set the tone and sort through the complexities of battle.

Icons of the Realms: Starter Set and Epic Level Starter

Players looking for a cool new miniature option should check out the recent (last winter and this past spring) Starter Sets by Wizkids. Each starter contains the same figures: a Gold Dwarf Cleric, Human Ranger, Sun Elf Wizard, Northlands Fighter, Lightfoot Halfling Rogue, and a Wood Elf Druid. You can see them in the clear packaging. What is unique here is that the first starter set and the epic level starter set contain the same six characters, but equipped with high level gear. The Epic Starter also includes a nice little paper map of a campsite, to give your characters a starting point on their next adventure.

You can see the dwarf’s axe becomes a flaming weapon while the sun elf’s simple magic becomes grander with help from her impressive staff.

The halfling rogue’s epic version even comes with an alternate clear figure, for use when the rogue is hiding or is simply invisible.

Even if a player doesn’t use the same figure from low to high levels, it is always nice to have another good figure option for high level play.

*Note: The “Starter Set” referred to here is from last Fall (2016.) There is a “Starter Set” from 2014 that essentially includes the same set of characters with a different paint scheme. However, the 2014 starter included a figure of Drizzt Do’urdan while the new (Starter & Epic) sets have a wood elf druid.

Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs
Pathfinder’s most recent big book was the “Adventure Path” Curse of the Crimson Throne. As I mentioned in my previous article<LINKS HERE>, this was a huge (almost 500 page) campaign sized adventure in and around the city of Korvosa, climaxing in a showdown with the Queen of the city in her throne room. Concurrent with the Crimson Throne adventure path, WizKids have released a line of prepainted minis entitled Crown of Fangs. As the title suggests, many of the minis have ties to the adventure path. While they could be used in any campaign, several are designed to represent key monsters and NPCs encountered in the campaign. There are 51 minis in all but, as is normal with minis, some are more common than others. Most are monsters and animals, but six of them are “dungeon dressing.” These are minis, like a lectern or well, that aren’t antagonists but can be used to spruce up the table.

Regarding the dungeon dressing. Players might find a use for multiple spiders, skeletons, guards, etc.. but multiples of some items, like distinct characters, are less useful. These objects are then set up to be “rare” within the set. For the same reason, most of the dungeon dressing is also “rare.” Unfortunately, this is double-edged. Since I already have some tables, it is particularly annoying to get yet another table in the “rare” slot in one of my boxes. I would have much preferred a more interesting “rare” figure.

The release has a wide range of creatures, some are specific to the adventure path, but even those are pretty easily dropped into other games. Of note, I like the flying death figure elevated on a clear plastic rod and a skeleton version of an owlbear. It is a good mix of the mundane (I found some knight squires, a boy, a girl, and a dog) with some more far-out creatures.

I really like the spiders, the large one looks menacing and the dream spiders look really cool on their webs. I do have one minor quibble. While RPGs have been doing a pretty good job at getting away from the whole scantily clad women thing, the snake-lady Issaya figure could have used a bit more clothing, at least from my family-friendly point of view.

Those who are going all-in on the adventure path or have a bit more money to burn may want to take a look at the Crown of Fangs “Premium Figure” available for the set. It models the throne room of Queen Ileosa and includes two thrones, seated queen & king figures, dinner at a table, six imposing pillars, and a decorative guillotine complete with a very menacing gnome executioner.

Verdict:
The Wizkids line of RPG minis continues. I felt this wave of figures was perhaps just a smidge below average for me. I like some of the mundane things like the little kids or lower level fighters, but then I was a bit annoyed to find something like yet another table in my “rare” slot. I’m not a big fan of randomized packages with rarities, so am biased towards those “rare” figures packing an extra punch. On the other hand, once again there was something in almost every box that made my sons go “cool” when opened, and that serves as a decent recommendation for any dad.

Once again, the promotional “Crown of Fangs” was pretty incredible. While it does tend to look a bit on the ominous side, I could easily plug it in for any “meet the king” setting that occurs in my campaign.

Kid Factor:
My one comment on the snake-lady figure still stands – a bit more clothing please. However, that is only one of may figures so there’s still plenty of good stuff here. The figures are made of flexible plastic, so they can take a bit of pounding. Don’t let your youngest eat them, and keep the older kids from losing them or checking their tensile strength. The paint on these things tends to do OK over time, although if you put everything in one big box and shake it around all the time you might get a few chips. If you treat them with even a small amount of care they will hold up just fine.

(Review samples provided by Wizkids)

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