PUBLISHER: WIZKIDS | RELEASE DATE: LATE MARCH
Fantasy and Horror are two genres that have a lot in common. A ghost story can be defined as horror or fantasy (or both) depending on tone, and many classic fantasy creatures and monsters can easily be made into the antagonist of a scary movie (and quite frequently are.)
D&D Icons Of The Realms Miniatures Boneyard Boosters is Wizkid’s latest release of models for Dungeons and Dragons, the world’s most popular roleplaying game. As the name suggests, Boneyard contains horrible monsters and most of these can be found in the booster boxes. They are a total of 45 models and you get 4 in a box. They come in various sizes and by now Wizkids has gotten the distribution of models down to a fine art. It is very, very firmly horror themed, which ties in nicely with the forthcoming Ravenloft release.
Let’s be blunt, this set is awesome if you’re into horrible monsters. It’s got a Zombie Tyrannosaurus Rex in it. It’s a great sculpt; bones jut out at all the right places making it look spikey and grim. The T-Rex’s tiny arms become scary because they’re rotting flesh and bone, and the point job is red raw. It’s such a well posed piece that you can almost smell its breath. We also get a Bone Whelk; a giant slug thing with a shell on its back made out of human skeletons; it’s brilliantly done and charming in its own hideous way.
Another quirky model in the range is the Elder Oblex; a slime monster that can create copies of the people it kills in order to lure in more prey. They’re really creepy thing and the piece is really well done; a transluscent blob of red plastic with tentacles and faces coming out of it, connected to a regular looking guy. It’s both evil and subtle.
Unlike the Sibriek, which is very much in your face. In the game, a Sibriekis a floating cacophony of demonic flesh and chains, dripping ichor and blood. The model is a Clive Barker-like nightmare of eyes, teeth, chains and gore. It’s horrible and great in equal measure. Sticking with this theme is Wizkid’s take on a Atropal, a sort of unborn evil god spawn thing and the stuff of nightmares. Like everything else in this release it’s well painted, sculpted in an inspired way and utterly vile.
This release has two offers that are limited release. Ork Skeletons can be found via you local games shop and Kobolds Skeletons are available if you pre-order online. The orcs are cleverly done; they’re wearing bulking armour so they still look like axe-wielding brutes, just ones with skulls for heads. The kobolds are slight and spooky; Kobolds tend to look delicate anyway, but these animated skeletal kobolds are just terrifying, their thin bodies and empty eyes hammering home the point that they are dead.
Another notable piece is the Mindwitness. This is a blend of two iconic D&D monsters; the floating eyeball like Beholder and the Squid-faced Mindflayer. This model is a horrifying mix of eyes and tentacles in a flesh-pink style colour scheme. Impressive but not something to leave on the coffee table when the Vicar comes round for tea.
On the less esoteric (but equally horrible) side, we have things such as the Ogre Zombie (which may be of interest to Dungeon Master’s running Icewind Dale). It’s an angry looking model and they’ve really highlighted all the wounds this horror has taken before it died. Of course, it’s guts are hanging out.
The Rot Troll uses translucent plastic to give it an effect that it’s body is filled with necrotic power and it’s got a face straight out of an 80’s horror movie. Other fun models include a very excited looking lich, a magic wielding mummy lord and a Death Knight. Any one of these characters could spell doom for a long-running D&D campaign, so it’s good that the models are sharp looking and memorable.
This range, especially when combined with something like a Dracolich will inspire many a spooky game for years to come. Great gory fun.
