Review Category: Merch

The D&D scenario Waterdeep: Dragon Heist is a low-level heist style adventure designed to ease players into the Forgotten Realms and familiarise the party with some of the more colourful creatures that lurk in Waterdeep, aka The City of Splendours. Waterdeep is meant to be one of most cosmopolitan cities in D&D canon, so the adventures set their tend to be wild and memorable.

Wizkids have thoughtfully produced two sets of pre-painted miniatures to accompany the Dragon Heist book (and add flavour to any Waterdeep campaign). Set One is comprised of characters of potential villains; all larger than life types who can become the Big Bad End Guy for your D&D party.

Notably Set One features the Beholder, Xanathar. The quirky flying eye-ball monster is smaller than your average beholder but it also happens to be a deadly crime-lord. Think Jabba The Hutt, but with tentacles that can shoot magical eye-beams.  The model is fun, if a little goofy, and the eye-stalks are all pointed at one thing, as if Xanathar is really paying attention to you. The box also contains Sylgar, the Beholder’s beloved pet fish. It’s held in a impressive looking goldfish bowl, of course. Woe betide any hero who decides to abscond with that bit of treasure however.

Aurinax is an adult male golden dragon who likes to  use magic to transform into mortals. The set gives us the dwarven form, who is ridiculous looking elderly dwarf. It’s a very nicely done piece and wields a very well realised dragonstaff. Ammalia Cassalanter is a highborn lady who wields incredible magical power and is utterly evil, dealing with the darkest of magics.  The model is well designed take on the character, right down to the huge hand-fan and massive bustles.

The set includes Ammalia’s husband, Victoro.  He’s depicted here as a renaissance era duellist and the model is done very well, with an eye to being used as something else in other games. Great as a villain or character piece, and we were impressed how well the moustache was painted on.

Manshoon is a powerful wizard and agent of that most sinister of conspiracies, the Zhentarim.  Depicted generating magical energy from his hands and accompanied by his pet flying snake, this is a nicely sinister piece.

Also holding their ‘pet’ is the Mindflayer Nihloor. The brain-eating monster can be a key villain in the game, as this kind of monster is incredibly dangerous.  He cradles a weird brain with legs thing called an intellect devourer. It’s a fun if odd piece.

Finally we get Jarlaxle Baenre, a dapper drow who fancies themselves as Lord of the pirate town, Luskan. He’s meant to be an icredible schemer and swordsman. The model does him justice, making him look both heroic and untrustworthy.

Set Two is comprised of potential allies, including the mechanical sword’s man Nimblewright and the surprisingly competent wizard, Barnibus Blastwind.  They are seven models in total in this set and it has more utility; with the exception of Nimblewright these pieces are normal enough to be used as proxies for other characters.

One of the frequent complaints that hobby gamers make about Wizkid’s output is that the pre-painted plastic models are pretty difficult to modify and adapt. Gamers will frequently find themselves looking for a model that is almost perfect, and it’s harder to modify an already painted model.

The people at Wizkids are gamers and hobbyists themselves, and it’s clear that they’ve been looking to expand their range to include more options for a while. The Dungeons and Dragons Frameworks Beholder kit is a fantastic example of how far they’ve come, as it’s a multi-part plastic kit that you assemble, paint and modify yourself.

The Beholder is an excellent choice for a plastic kit. These are one of Dungeons and Dragons more iconic monsters, being essentially a floating eyeball with teeth,  which also has armour plated eye-stalks that can shoot a variety of weird magical effects. Beholders are meant to total maniacs; powerful and malevolent almost alien beings that can easily wipe out a badly prepared party. As such, when a DM introduces one of these horrors into a long running campaign, they’ll want to make it memorable.

This hard plastic kit certainly helps you achieve that. They are plenty of options, from variant tongues to tentacles, and lot’s of ways one can cut into or resculpt portions of the model to achived the abomination you have in mind.  Translucent plastic is included for those who want their beholder is casting spells all the time.

This is a sprue kit and it’s interesting to see how Wizkid’s approaches this sort of thing compared to the likes of say, Games Workshop. The Framework’s sprues are crammed with features and you will end up with plenty of spare parts; however these are the sort of spares that you’ll end up using else where and the whole range has been designed to be very compatible.  It’s a flexible kit, so if you’re looking to make a regular bad-guy or something a bit more special, this is a great choice. Beholders if done poorly can look quite goofy, but this sculpt is all about the malice.

Painting wise, these are hard plastic models, so remember to prime the hard to reach bits before you glue it all together. Planning and some blu-tack  will save a lot of problems here. The flying base options are good enough to present the model, though you’ll probably want to adjust the base itself to suit your needs.

Overall, an exciting piece that we expect to see flying (or possibly floating) off the shelves.

The Legend of Drizzt novels have been enormously influential on the game Dungeons and Dragons. Novelist RA Salvatore has produced almost 40 books detailing the adventures of this drow hero and his companions. This legendary (and well loved) character appeared frequently in the recently released Magic The Gathering  D&D Tie-In alongside his equally famous allies, The Companions of the Hall.

 

The Adventures In The Forgotten Realms Companions of the Hall Starter is a boxed set of five models, celebrating these books and their connection to both Dungeons and Dragons and Magic The Gathering.  They’re all pre-painted and at a scale compatible with other D&D paraphernalia, and work both as fan pieces and as a starter set for a D&D party.

 

The Drizzt Do’Urden model is dynamically posed. The model is mounted on a flying base as the elf is sweeping down cape flying in the air and both his magical swords, Twinkle and Icingdeath drawn. Like many Wizkid’s model, this a 3D version of existing art, and the detail is very good. He is accompanied by his magical panther, Guenhwyvar. This is the simplest model in the box; it’s a big black panther posed mid-pounce. It’s simply painted and though it looks great, it’s a pretty uncomplicated piece.

 

The red-haired archer in this set is Cattie-Brie, one of Drizzt’s closest companions.    It’s a striking pose and a useful model; rangers and archers are pretty common in D&D  and you can easily see what Cattie-Brie is aiming at.  She’s assisted by Bruenor Battlehammer, a Dwarven warrior , master craftsmen and occasional king. He carries and hand-axe and shield, and his posed mid-combat. His face is mostly beard, and his armour and equipment is finely detailed.

 

Finally, the set features Wulfgar of IceWind Dale. In the books, he’s an affable, 7ft tall human with blond hair. The model towers over the other pieces in the set and he posed carrying his massive hammer rather casually.  There’s an inherent humour to this sculpt which complements the set.

 

Fans of Drizzt will likely already have this box on their wishlists, but it’s also a very good starter set for your tabletop, as so many players have created heroes inspired by these books. And if you want to build a diorama featuring a certain Drow Goddess, this box will provide you with some epic heroes.

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&

One of the things that Wizkids are really good at is creating fully painted and fully realised models for  table-top gaming. They’ve also got a decent idea as to what sort of thing gamers might want. Take for example, their Icons of The Realms model, Yeenoghu Beast of Butchery.

Yeenoghu is one of the D&D scariest fiends, not just because he’s a powerful monster, but because it can also doom you to insanity, or permanently transform you into a hyena-like monster called a Gnoll. Yeenoghu is of course, the Lord of Gnolls.  In the lore of Dungeons and Dragons, this huge terror transforms those who follow him into one of its Gnoll servants, and anyone who eats from his table will also become so cursed.  Armed with a three-headed flail,  this creature can rip through most adventuring parties, swatting away close combat specialists then leaping onto spell casters, biting down and savaging it’s prey.

The model itself is nicely done. It’s long, monstrous tail is detached from the model for shipping, but plugs in easily. The rat-like, monstrous fur is highly detailed and painted well and the piece is in a hulking pose. Chains are sculpted onto the model, with piece-meal bits of armour on various key places.  The iconic flail is extremely well done, and each flail-chain is pinned to the base. This will be a problem if you intend to modify the model, but if you’re simply intending to slap this down onto the gaming table, it looks great.

D&D Icons of The Realms –  Yeenoghu Beast of Butchery is a great model to pick-up when you’re a DM planning to wipe out your party, or just really into Gnolls. It’s also a great choice for fantasy gamers looking for a scary were-hyena style horror.

How scary can a D&D monster be given that part of it’s name spells out the word LOL? Apparently, if the creature is Lolth The Spider Queen, very scary indeed.

Lolth, The Spider Queen is one of the major villains in Dungeons and Dragons canon.  A goddess of cold cruelty, deceit, shadows and spiders, acts of pragmatic evil,  torture, murder and malice are her food and drink.  The Queen of the Demonweb pits is worshipped mostly by a murderous cult of elves who dwell in the vast subterranean realm known as the Underdark.

The Magic: The Gathering Miniatures: Adventures In The Forgotten Realms – Lolth, The Spider Queen model is one of those fun examples of a franchise within a franchise. This piece is based on the Magic The Gathering card Lolth The Spider Queen, which itself is based Lolth from the Drizzt Do’Urden novels by RA Salvatore, which themselves drew from the classic Dungeons and Dragon’s adventure Queen of the Demonweb Pits. Or to put it another way, a lot of effort has gone into the character design.

The model itself features elegant elven queen with an enormous spider as their rear-half. The elven part of the piece has too many arms and the face is sculptured to reflect arrogant disregard. Every inch the monster, they’ve done their best to convey ‘inhuman beauty’ and then stuck a massively monstrous backside which happens to a huge fuzzy spider thing. The whole thing simply has too many limbs (more than eight if you count the goddess half)  and will make at least one of your players reach for a pint glass and a postcard when you plonk it down on the table.

It’s a big model, but not so big that it will dominate the board. The paint job is good and there isn’t much that needs changing here. This is a model that you either never use (because your game doesn’t use Lolth) or will use all the time because Lolth, being a Goddess, can be hanging around in the background.  Really though, this is a model that’s intended to look really creepy on someone’s bookshelf, likely surrounded by RA Salvatore novels.

Bronze Dragons are one of the iconic creatures from Dungeons and Dragons. (The game is, after all, named for them.) Each of D&D’s dragon types have a specific look and common personality type. As a rule, dragons with a metallic colouration tend not to be evil, but they’re still powerful flying creatures than fry you as soon as look at you.

In the game, Bronze Dragons lean towards justice and fairness, patrolling coastal areas and hoarding treasures such as sunken treasure and artifacts washed up on the shore. Proud, disciplined and honourable, Bronze Dragon’s make great allies and even more exciting enemies. They breathe lightning and can repel their enemies with magical breathe, making them a pretty dangerous enemy.

The model is very well done, a mix of bronze and greenish hues painted onto a sinuous plastic model. The creature is standing to attention, in a pose that can either hold a conversation or devour a low level party of adventurers.  The head is very well done and engaging. The model is made of a soft plastic so it’s resistant to being plonked roughly onto the gaming table.

This is a more dynamically posed and striking piece when compared to say, Wizkid’s Pathfinder Cloud Dragon. Whereas that model is a big puppy of a beast, the Icons of the Realms Bronze Dragon looks like it misty stepped straight out of the Monster Manual.  Right down to the broad spines on it’s tail and the green stripes across it’s bronze scales,  this is a creature that is exactly as described in the book.

Bronze Dragons are an often overlooked by many DMs, but if you want a wise and kind ally, they’re a great choice and this is a great model for your table.

Introduction sets for Heroclix are the best way to get into the game. As attractive as the various boosters and expansions are the super-hero vs super-hero game is, it can be tricky to get into. Sometimes you want a board, a rule book, some dice and some models in order to get to grips with it all.  Marvel Studios What If? Miniatures Game is not only a great way to start, it’s also a fun game in its own right.

In the box are 10 miniatures of characters from Marvel’s What If mini-series. We get a post apocalyptic Black Widow, Captain Carter,  the Wakanadan Star Lord, Zombie Captain America, Party-Time Thor,  Kill Monger and a bunch more. They’re all pre-painted (and the paint jobs are decent) and most of the rules for them lie in their special ‘clix’ base. A handy card explains the what the various symbols on the base mean, but once you’ve grasped the basics it’s pretty straight forward fun.

We also get a rule book, reference cards, all the counters you need and some chunky double sided ‘map tiles’ . There’s also a bunch of scenarios built into the game rules that form one coherent story. Though this is a skirmish game where you roll dice to simulate combat, it’s also got a story attached. Because of course it does; it’s a Marvel Superheroes game.  This is very colourful, well worked out and quite easy to get to grips with. We played this with some young Marvel fans and it took them about 30 minutes to figure out the game and start running their own stories.

Obviously you can pick up boosters (and if you want to keep in theme the Disney+ boosters are an excellent addition to any collection, though the recent Asgard themed War of the Realms are also worth a look. ) There is a huge legacy of Marvel Heroclix out there, and you can even generate your own cross-over events if you wish.

The set reminds us a lot of the recent Wonder Women Heroclix set;  in the sense that this is a comprehensive miniatures skirmish game designed to introduce pretty much anyone into the hobby, regardless of age or experience. The Marvel Studios What If? Miniatures Game is a great way to get new people into miniatures gaming, and it’s also a lot of fun on it’s own.

Pathfinder is a fantasy table-top game (and expanding franchise) that can trace its origins directly to earlier editions of Dungeons and Dragons. As such, this means the game features a reasonable number of both dragons and dungeons. One such beastie is the Cloud Dragon, a blue flying lighting breathing lizard.

In the world of Pathfinder, cloud dragons are aimless wanderers, who like to travel and explore, finding new treasures and people to talk to.  They live for the moment, essentially draconic flower children who draw their power from air itself. They are poor planners but keen collectors; their hoards tend to be in hard-to-reach places and are filled with strange and unusual things from across the world of Golarion.

The pre-painted plastic model is rather friendly looking. The dragon is light blue, with its wings configured in a way that makes it look like it’s built for speed over grace. It’s buff looking beastie, looking more like a long-tailed and winged pit-bull than something more elegant. Its head is sculpted with four horns and a very positive looking smile (or is that a grimace).  The piece communicates the power and intelligence of these monsters. It’s well put together, robust and cleverly and efficiently painted, as we’ve come to expect from Wizkids.

This piece is interesting to compare to its D&D equivalent, the Icons Of The Realms: Adult Blue Dragon. The blue is a wicked beast and is sculpted appropriately, where as the cloud is almost a friendly puppy of a beast. Both sculpts convey an incredible and inhuman intelligence, but are very different it approach. Wizkid’s dragon models tend to be strong character pieces, and the Adult Cloud Dragon is worthy addition to any Dungeon Master’s dragon collection.

One of the more fun tropes of the fantasy genre is trees that talk. Anyone who’s seen the Lord of the Rings movies will be familiar with Ents, and there’s just something about sentient tree creatures that capture the imagination.  Dimari Daji is a massive and ancient Treant (tree-person) from the Pathfinder’s world of Golarion.  The lovely people at Wizkids have produced a pre-painted model of this huge talking tree, either to decorate your shelf or to add atmosphere to your table-top games.

The model is large, and depicts a very wise looking tree. The gnarled, old-man face sports mushrooms on its bald head and it has a massive ‘beard’ made of vines. Its roots run across it’s base and the creature has two massive arms, with long, spikey looking branches for fingers.

The canopy of the beast are various bubbles of leaves, and though these are quite well detailed, they do look a bit like broccoli stalks in the wrong light. The paint job is good, but those of you good with a brush may want to modify it slightly.  The  plastic use is just flexible enough so if it falls of the table your expensive tree beastie should be okay.

This is a great centre piece for Pathfinder, especially as Dimari Daji is the guardian of the Nemesis Well, a major plot device in many Pathfinder campaigns. It’s also at the right scale to work with other fantasy games, from D&D to Warhammer.  If you’ve collected some of the Booster Boxes for the Mwangi Expanse range, you may also have the (smaller) Arboreal Guardians, who look great accompanying this beast.

If you’re after something a little bit more gothic, Wizkids do a version of the Magic The Gathering tree-creature Wrenn and Seven, but that’s not pre-painted. Dimari is a great model to slap on the table and shock your party.