One of Magic The Gathering’s more exciting recent releases has been the Forgotten Realms tie-in, combining the world’s biggest collectible card game with the similarly massive Dungeons and Dragons. (It helps that both properties belong to the same company.) The inevitable miniatures tie-in comes in the form of Adventuring Party Starter, five pre-painted models produced by Wizkids.

So the idea here is that these are D&D characters based on Magic The Gathering cards that you can use as characters in a regular game of D&D. It’s a weird mix of models but given that most D&D parties tend to be a bit odd, this is probably for the best.

First up is the generically named Yuanti Rogue. This snake person is armed with jet black armour around it’s upper torse and is painted  a shaded purple. It’s posed in mid-sneak, and the face is impressively cobra-like.  This model seems to have been added to fill out the box; the rest are named characters who feature heavily in the art-work of the Adventures In The Forgotten Realms card game.

Next is Varis Silvermoon, an elven ranger. This pre-painted piece is much more convincingly rendered. Posed in a crouch, they look as if they’ve just been tracking some missing halflings.  Armed with a bow and two long-swords.  They are assisted by the Ruin Seeker, Hama Pashar. This wizard character is intended to be an archivist and explorter. The model is a robed human woman bearing a staff. The tip of the staff has translucent blue plastic, simulating power glowing from the staff. It makes a good, if standard, wizard model.

Nadaar The Selfess Paladin is a green dragonborn knight. Carrying a sun-blade (a fantasy light-sabre), bearing a generic looking kite-shield and clothed in heavy armour, this is a neat model. The dragon-born’s tail snakes neatly from beyond the armour and it’s posed for action.

Finally, we have a model for Ellywick Tumblstrum, a fey-touched gnome who is canonically described as the most powerful bard in the multiverse. This is nice piece. Elly is accompanied by who toad familiar and on her loot is a Deck of Many Things, a cursed set of magical cards that have not doomed Elly thus far. The model is a nice (if specific) take on a gnome bard, and it’s a fun piece.

The paint-jobs on these models are okay;  some of the pieces are little small and the detail is quite fine. These are fun pieces that work as both merchandise for Adventures In The Forgotten Realms and a starter set for D&