D&D ICONS OF THE REALMS MINIATURES: FANGS AND TALONS – PURPLE WORM PREMIUM SET
PUBLISHER: WIZKIDS GAMES | RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 11th
One of the things that has made Dungeons and Dragons the massively popular game it is today is how willing it is to grab as many cool ideas as possible and use them as story elements for new adventures. The Purple Worm is an enormous underground monster that tears through the ground at an incredible speed. It’s essentially a giant tunnelling creature with a maw big enough to swallow a horse. It’s been part of the game since the game began in the 70s and is clearly inspired by popular science fiction and fantasy from that time.
Wizkids have released a premium model version as part of their D&D Icons Of The Realms Miniatures: Fangs And Talons range. It is a lovely piece. For a star it’s huge puckered mouth is large enough to drop a full-sized model into, so if one of your party is unlikely to get bitten by the thing you can helpfully place the hapless hero between it’s jaws. The model implies many rows of jagged teeth, ready to endlessly tear you apart.
Posed in a way that it looks like it’s just smashed out of the ground and twisted around in order to devour you, this big blind, heavily armoured purple people eater. The paintwork is good and the whole thing has an air of menace to it that will both impress and scare your players. You may also want to use in it any of your games related displays, it certainly makes for a great centre piece.
For a limited time, Wizkids are also including three Yeti Tykes on orders over $100 from selected retailers. These wee monsters turned up as part of our review packet and they are very charming. You get three small sized creatures. They’re IceWind Dale themed, so they have that nice mix of funny and creepy. One is cradling a knuckle-head trout, another has a disturbingly human looking bone and the third just wants a hug; they’re perfect for distracting your players and are really well painted and sculpted. They also act as a great snack for your Purple Worm.
Overall, this is a fun piece that most canny gamers with find a use for, and is nice addition to anyone who collects monsters.