By Ed Fortune
If you’ve been inspired by the new Dungeons & Dragons movie, you might have decided to get into the game itself and might want to go that extra step and get some models and terrain pieces so you can play the more tactical aspects of the game. You don’t need models to play D&D, but they do add to the fun (and make it easier to figure out where the fireball is going.) One of the quickest ways to do this is to pick up one of Wizkid’s pre-painted Icons of The Realms Warbands, especially if you’re looking for specific units.
The Icons of The Realms Dragon Army Warband are a collection of human-shaped warriors with an evil bent, intended for use with the Dragonlance Shadow Of The Dragon Queen adventure but suitable for anyone looking for six bad-guy warriors. We get one officer, who is an angry-looking bald chap in heavy armour, two knights, who have very spikey-looking weapons and horned, face-obscuring helmets and three soldiers, each armed with a spiky shield, long sword and a nervous expression. These are nicely done, reasonably well painted and durable. Very useful for any fantasy game.
Sticking with Dragonlance warbands, The Icons of The Realms Draconian Warband features five dragon-shaped humanoids. Draconians are the corrupted young of good dragons, turned into shock troops for the Dragon Queen. We get seven models in the pack. We get two identical Baaz Draconians, hunch over dragon-men brutes, hiding their misshapen wings under a red cloak and carrying a wicked blade. The two identical Bozak draconians carry tridents, are proudly displaying their wings and look a little pot-bellied thanks to their scrappy armour. We get one Aurak Draconian, which has no wings, a tattered cloak and a noble bearing. It carries no weapon, but it is casting a spell. The Kapak Draconian is sat in a pouncing pose, wings spread and dagger drawn. Finally, we get one large Sivak draconian, a silver creature with massive swords and wings. The is a fun set of monsters that, in true Wizkids style, follow the descriptions from the books very closely. Perfect for your evil dragon people’s needs.
The Icons of The Realms Kalaman Military Warband stays in the Dragonlance setting, also. These are the ‘good’ guy defenders of the city of Kalaman and are set up similarly to the Dragon Army Warband units in the sense that we get an officer, two knights and three soldiers. The officer is a lady with a short haircut, decent armour and a stern look. The two knights look like tinned food for a dragon but have cool-looking shields with the city’s logo on them. The soldiers have similar buckler shields and are armed with spears and good footwear, all the better to run away with. Nice models and a good set, though you may want to redo the shields with a dab of paint if you’re using them generically.
Next up is the Icons of the Realms Hobgoblin Warband. Hobgoblins are the red or orange-skinned tall goblins that are much more of a serious threat to a low-level adventuring party and tend to turn up in force. This set is a bit of an odd mix. We get one regular hobgoblin with a bow and another with a sword, and they’re both well-armoured and posed. We get one captain and one warlord, and they’re a little interchangeable; the captain is more dynamic with two swords, and the other has a shield, but both of them look like officers. The Hobgoblin Devastator is dressed and posed as a wizard/priest-like miniature, and that very useful for certain encounters. Finally, we get a thing called a Hobgoblin Iron Shadow, which is a demonic ninja-type dude in a martial arts pose. Limited use, but a fun piece. This is a useful set.
Icons of the Realms Undead Armies is a collection of six skeletal warriors. Any good DM knows you can’t have enough skeletons. The Warband is led by a thing called a Skull Lord, a very skinny-looking armoured wizard with three skulls for a head. Nicely creepy. The rest are skeletal variations of existing D&D races. We get a skeletal Tabaxi cat person wielding two blades and with a very thin tail. Somehow it’s still cute. The skeleton Tiefling still looks a pit like a devil, albeit an underfed one and the undead gnome is still dressed as a wizard. There’s an elf skeleton, still in fine (but tattered) clothes and a very angry-looking lizard-folk skeleton, wielding a very jagged sword. We also get a regular human skeleton warrior who looks like they may have been a barbarian in life. These are robust, well-thought-out pieces that work well.
Finally, we have Voices of the Realms: Band of Heroes. This more a collection of adventurers than a war band, and this set features models based on existing D&D art geared towards diversity and inclusion. We get a human paladin who looks very stern and has very shiny armour, a halfling wizard, a very dapper human warlock, a shiny and gold dwarf fighter, a very plain-looking druid and a very dynamic elven ranger. These are good pieces and certainly handy when your players pick heroes.
All of these models are reasonably well painted (though if you have the skills, you may want to touch them up to suit your games). They’re made of a flexible plastic that holds just enough detail whilst still being robust and is of universally good quality, with a good sense of design to each. Overall, the new Icons of Realms Warbands are well worth a look.
