Frameworks is Wizkids range of hard plastic, unpainted miniatures, currently targeted at Dungeons and Dragons fans. The pieces have to be clipped out of the sprue, prepared, assembled and painted yourself. The material is high quality, takes paint well, shows fine detail and each kit has a wide variety of options.
We’ve previously looked larger kits such as The Stone Giant and the completely wild looking Beholder, as well as some smaller kits for Orcs, NightHags, Mindflayer’s, Spider-like Driders and Minotaurs. We’ve enjoyed all of these pieces, both for their flexibility in design and the sheer amount of grey plastic you get in the box. They’re also quite reasonably priced compared to similar competitors (most of whom can be found in Nottingham, England.)
A Dungeons and Dragons range revolves not on the monsters the range can provide, but the heroes. The point of being able to paint and customise hero models is that it becomes easier to make that model look like the character you play. If you have enough of these kits, your bits box will be filled with various options. These models are all at the 25/28mm scale, a standard with this sort of thing.
The Dwarf Cleric kit is a good example. This is a lady dwarf (though if you have the bits or some green stuff you can add a beard). We have helmeted or unhelmeted heads, various types of shields, a choice between a mace or a hammer, and flagons of ale to use in building the model. This model features some pieces that are readily swappable with the Dwarf Barbarian kit, who is a little less packed with options, but looks quite fierce. The Dwarf Fighter is a heavily armoured chap, wielding a Warhammer, pick-axe or a flail and shield. Plenty to build and those with decent conversion skills can get some fun results with these kits.
Elf fans get a ranger, a monk and a wizard. Of these, the wizard has the most interesting additions, as it comes with a small sprue of translucent plastic, evoking two distinct D&D spells, Magic Missile and Bigby’s Hand. The Ranger has enough options that you can get pretty much any elf ranger cliché created as long as the paint job is good enough (and yes, that includes two swords), and the monk is simply packed with options, though he does look a little like Santa Claus.
Humans get a lot of great options in this range. We particular liked the criminal looking (and extremely dodgy) rogue, The Human Wizard and Monk. The Wizard has some great spell and equipment pieces, and the monk is equally nicely posed. The Human Warlock is literally summoning a demon, which is a great touch.
The Tiefling Warlock is distinct from the Human Warlock and has good head options, though we’d have liked more. Equally the Tiefling Rogue looks deadly and fun to build, but is very much its own thing.
This is a solid range and we can’t wait to see how it progresses. Wizkids have proven that they can do good kits, we just need to see more.
