Fighting Fantasy Kickstarter And Otherworld Digital Miniatures

I haven't supported kickstarter projects in nearly 18 months.  One of the last I supported was Darkest Dungeon, a video game that recreates, in large measure, the feel of the Torchbearer RPG.  There have been few projects since then that have attracted my interest.

The new Warlock of Firetop Mountain kickstarter has me intrigued.  The video game itself looks like a bit of retro-fun, and is a digital re-imagining of the first Fighting Fantasy choose-your-adventure gamebook.



What really got me excited was the partnership with Otherworld Miniatures.  It appears that the video game designers have digitized the amazing line of Otherworld Miniatures and are using them as 3D representations of the characters and monsters in the video game.

I'm a big fan of the Otherworld Miniatures line, and this may be the factor that leads me to back this kickstarter project.  I'd love to see a stretch goal where backers could purchase the set of miniatures that were digitized for the video game.

Pathfinder Pre-Painted Miniatures: Lost Coast Gems

The next set of Paizo pre-painted Pathfinder miniatures, designated The Lost Coast, are being released in November 2014. 

I don't expect I will purchase an entire case, as I have done in the past, as the number of unique figures in each case recently dropped from 55 to 45, but there are several figures in this set that are sufficiently useful and well designed that I intend to buy them individually. 

Alahazra, above, is one of my favorite iconic characters, and despite another, perhaps superior Alahazra sculpt being released in early 2015, is on my list of Lost Coast Gems.

Damiel is the other iconic character that makes an appearance in The Lost Coast pre-painted miniatures set.  I think I would have preferred Jirelle over Damiel, but this character is still worth having a miniature for.

Several archers are included in this miniatures set, like the City Watch Sniper, the Forest Shadow, and the Elf Archer (all three displayed below).  These are decent sculpts and can stand in for player characters.

Several worthy Giant sculpts make an appearance in this miniatures set, included a Stone Giant (Conna the Wise), the Fire Giant King, and an Ogre (Malugus Kreeg).  The renditions of giants in Pathfinder have started to grow on me, although I still loathe the Pathfinder versions of trolls.

The last three miniatures to be featured in this post are Pazuzu, Lamashtu and the Mother Of Monsters, three creatures presumably unique to the Pathfinder universe, but interesting enough that I will be including them in my individual Pathfinder pre-painted miniatures purchase.

 

Paizo's Pathfinder Pawns Need Patching!

Even though I'm heavily invested in the Pathfinder miniatures, having purchased every complete set except the most recent, I still found it worthwhile to pick up the Pathfinder Pawns NPC Codex Box.  The cost per cardboard pawn is roughly 10 cents, which compares quite favourably to the $3-4 per miniature.

Truth be told, there are several cardboard pawns in the NPC Codex Box with artwork matching the characters in the new Pathfinder ACG Character Decks, and I wanted to have pawns available to represent those characters, rather than using the included playing-card tokens that otherwise are placed at PACG adventure locations to indicate which location a character is visiting.

Most of the artwork on the pawns in the NPC Codex Box is acceptable or better, but there are several pawns that include artwork that is smaller than it should be.  Rather than complain about the undersized art to Paizo on their website [an arguably futile endeavour], I printed slightly larger character artwork and produced my own replacement pawns.  Here are several of those original pawns, with their replacements.

The Areelu Vorlesh pawn [from Wrath Of The Righteous] was an especially egregious example of undersized art [please excuse the blurriness of the photos, the art on the original pawns and the replacements is actually crisper than the photo suggests].  My replacement pawns for Areelu cut off the mini-dragon and wing-tips respectively, but I don't think you need the entire image on the pawns.

Arueshalae [another pawn from Wrath of the Righteous] was also slightly undersized, so I increased the artwork by a couple of millimeters and produced a new pawn for her.  I suppose I could have adjusted the artwork so she was "higher" on the pawn, but I am, nonetheless, relatively happy with the way this replacement pawn turned out.

While I was printing out replacement pawns for those pawns that Paizo undersized, I created several pawns for the characters included in the Skull and Shackles Base Set and Character Add-On Deck.  It would have been nice if Paizo had better coordinated the release of PACG adventures and the related, prepainted miniature and cardboard pawn.  For example, they produced a prepainted miniature for Lirianne the Gunslinger,

but not one for Jirelle the Swashbuckler [the custom-made cardboard pawn in the center, below].

 

Until a miniature for Jirelle is made available, I can use my custom-made pawn, above, in lieu of the playing-card token included in the PACG Skull and Shackles Base Set.

 

 

Since there is no pre-painted miniature for Alahazra, she received the custom-made pawn treatment as well.  I understand her pre-painted miniature is included in the upcoming Lost Coast miniatures set, but I'm still annoyed about the reduction in the size of the Pathfinder miniatures sets, from 55 to 45 unique miniatures, so I haven't yet made up my mind on investing in more pathfinder miniatures.



Alahazra and Delays in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game OPP

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game organized play program participants received some not altogether unexpected bad news yesterday ... the organized play program launch has been delayed until October 1, due to difficulties with the printing and distribution of the character class decks and OP materials to retailers.

I say the news is not unexpected.  It's been obvious, from official announcements and rumblings within the fanbase, that Paizo has been encountering difficulties with the printing and distribution of the new Skull and Shackles materials for several weeks now.  In my opinion, their difficulties have been compounded by a, frankly, too aggressive adventure release schedule, with planned monthly adventure releases.  

While their fans remain in a holding pattern, Paizo has thrown them a bone by way of an advance peek at the new Alahazra digital miniature sculpt (see above) and a promotional item card for the Skull and Shackles game.

I'm impressed with the new digital character render previews for the Pathfinder iconic characters.  The first set of six minis didn't impress me as much as the second set of six though.

I'm planning to participate in the organized play program at the local game store, and I'm not all disappointed by the delay, as it buys me some time to get better acquainted with the PACG system.

For Sale Wizkids Tyranny Dungeons and Dragons Mindflayer

Still sorting through my figures from the case of new Wizkids Tyranny of Dragons Dungeons and Dragons miniatures that I purchased over the weekend. 

I have several extra figures that I can part with, including this rare Mind Flayer miniature. 

I can ship this to whereever, but i'm in St. Albert, a suburb of Edmonton, so locals can save on shipping if you are looking for a Mindflayer to augment your miniature set. 

The Mindflayers are selling for around $12 from online retailers.  Leave a comment below or email me a link if you find a lower online price.  I might consider letting the Mind Flayer go for less.

EDIT - SEPT 5:  THIS FIGURE HAS BEEN SOLD.

For Sale Wizkids Miniatures Tyranny Dragons Invisible Drizzt Do'Urden

I picked up a case of the new Wizkids Tyranny of Dragons Dungeons and Dragons miniatures over the weekend. 

There are several figures that I don't need, including an extra rare invisible Drizzt Do'Urden miniature.  I have several other extra miniatures from that case as well. 

I'm in St. Albert, a suburb of Edmonton, so some shipping costs can be saved if you are in Edmonton and surrounding area and are looking for an invisible Drizzt, or one of several other miniatures from this set of minis.

Invisible Drizzt is selling for around $30 from the online retailers, but if you can find a lower online price, send me a link, and I might consider letting it go for less.

Wizkids Miniatures Tyranny of Dragons Red Dragon For Sale

I picked up a case of the new Wizkids Tyranny of Dragons Dungeons and Dragons miniatures over the weekend. 

There are several figures that I don't need, including an extra rare Red Dragon miniature.  I have several other extra miniatures from that case as well. 

I'm in St. Albert, a suburb of Edmonton, so some shipping costs can be saved if you are in Edmonton and surrounding area and are looking for a Red Dragon, or one of several other miniatures from this set of minis. 

The Red Dragons are selling for around $30 from the online retailers, but if you can find a lower online price, send me a link, and I might consider letting it go for less.

Miniatures Painting: Paint Brush Kickstarter

I make no apologies for pledging towards this Painting Brush Kickstarter.  It's being run by Games and Gears, who I understand are a reputable brush and hobby accessory company. 

Having suffered through various attempts at painting miniatures using Citadel and other substandard paint brushes, I've finally decided to buy some decent paint brushes to see what sort of impact better brushes have on my painting results.

I've also pledged for some of the synthetic brushes and the paint brush stand that are being offering as add-ons.

If you are dissatisfied with your current paint brushes and are thinking of stepping up your painting game, you might want to check this Kickstarter out.

Pathfinder Minis: Uncovering The Gems

Strangely, no-one at Paizo bothered to ask me why I was cancelling my Pathfinder Miniatures subscription.  I had a similar experience, years ago, with my former Bank: the teller closed the accounts without bothering to find out what had prompted my decision to leave.  I guess it costs less to find new clients than satisfy current ones.

Having decided (at least for this Pathfinder Mini Set) to purchase individual figures rather than a complete case, I have performed a second review of the Reign of Winter figures and have revised my buy list.

I had originally concluded that 24 of the 44 Reign Of Winter figures were on my "suitability" list.  Since I'm now buying singles rather than a complete set, my absolute must-haves represent a somewhat smaller collection than those on the suitability list.  Here are, in my mind, the real gems of the Reign Of Winter set.

Queen Elvanna, with her Ice staff, crown and raven familiar, is a definite buy.  As is Feiya, below.

 

And if you're going to buy Feiya, you may as well purchase her fox familiar, Daji.  Not the best sculpt, mind you.

 

There are several decent animal sculpts in this set, including the Raven, Falcon and Owl, all shown below.

 



 

 

 

There are many excellent human figures in the Reign Of Winter set  that will make excellent player-character proxies.  You very rarely find interesting and heavily garbed axemen, like Ratibor below, so he is a worthwhile addition.

And here is the Falconer, with a falcon on his shoulder.  I really like the number of animals and animal familiars that have been included in the Reign Of Winter set.

I've seen several Pathfinder players complaining that there are "too many" human female figures in the Pathfinder miniatures range.  Considering how many human male figures have been sculpted in other miniature ranges, you'd think people would be a little more open to redressing prior inequities. 

Greta, Nadya and Nazenha, pictured below are three of those offending female figures.

Monsters are strongly represented in the Reign Of Winter miniatures set, but many are of low utility since they are fairly specific to the Pathfinder universe or are already represented by figures in my current collection.  The Faun is a welcome addition as I don't think I have any Satyrs from other miniature lines.

Of the 44 miniatures in the Reign Of Winter set, I can definitely justify the purchase of the above 12.  Based on past individual figure prices, I'm guessing they will total roughly $80, plus shipping.  I would have normally dropped around $400 for a complete case (Paizo's prices have since dropped and a case will now cost $340 including shipping).

Kingdom Death: Monster

Speaking of artistic embellishments, there was no lack in the Kingdom Death: Monster Kickstarter that concluded many moons ago. 

In addition to a multitude of nightmarish monsters and desperate human survivors, the game creator included pinup versions of the available armor selections and heroes as optional rewards during the kickstarter campaign.  The above miniatures are pinup versions of the Survivor and Twilight Knight characters respectively.

If you missed the kickstarter campaign, you can buy a boxed set of 8 pinups featured in the KD:M lineup for $100.  That works out to $12.50 per miniature (the pinup miniatures were $15 each during the kickstarter, and were quoted as $25 retail, so this a heck of a deal).

It was such a good deal, that I bought a set, which arrived in the mail today, even though I pledged for many of the same miniatures during the kickstarter.  I also purchased and received the Experiment Of Death collection, which was the KD:M creator's earlier attempt to produce the miniatures line in PVC plastic.

Experiment Of Death is accompanied by another Twilight Knight pinup, which gives me a chance to improve my painting skills, if I flub the first attempt to paint that miniature. 

Paizo's Pathfinder Miniatures: Self-Defeating Business Decisions

I'm still trying to digest last week's announcement on the Paizo website (see the blog-post entitled "ch-ch-changes") regarding a change to their Pathfinder Miniatures structure. 

I don't play Pathfinder RPG, but I'm a proponent of Paizo, and a supporter of their pre-painted miniatures line. I've been purchasing a case of each of Paizo's pre-painted miniatures sets since they were first released. 

By my calculation, only 70-75% of Paizo's pre-painted miniatures will see play at my table: many Pathfinder pre-painted miniatures are entirely unsuitable for my games, being too specific to Paizo's adventure paths.  A few other miniatures have been re-purposed to represent similar, non-Pathfinder creatures.  To wit, my personal suitability evaluation of each set:


Heroes + Monsters: 31/41 = 76%

Rise Runelords: 48/65 = 74%

Shattered Star: 43/55 = 78%

Skulls + Shackles 39/55 = 71%

Legends Golarion 40/55 = 73%

Wrath Righteous 41/55 = 75%


Nevertheless, the variety of figures in each Pathfinder set has, heretofore, been sufficiently broad to ensure I get very few figures I don't want, while getting more figures that I do want.

That changed during mid-reveal of their newest, Reign of Winter set.  See an excerpt of Paizo's announcement, below:

"Number of Figures Per Set

Starting with Reign of Winter, Pathfinder Battles sets will go [from 54] to 44 figures plus the Gargantuan case incentive figure. This reduction in number of figures per set is designed to help WizKids get its costs in line, and also comes with the added benefit of providing more common and uncommon figures to folks who buy their miniatures by the case (something a lot of customers have been asking for). The number of figures in a case, brick, or booster does not change, just the composition of the set in terms of total sculpts.

A case should still contain a full set (as always in the case of a collated product we can't guarantee this, but it's certainly the goal). Below is the model rarity breakdown for a case:

56 commons,
32 uncommons,
8 rares,
28 large uncommons,
4 large rares.

Here is the figure breakdown for the Reign of Winter set:

7 common (Small),
6 common (Medium),
11 uncommon (Medium),
8 uncommon (Large),
8 rare (Medium), and
4 rare (Large).

The total number of figures per case and the overall price of the case will not change. The specific figure size breakdowns will differ slightly from set to set, but the model rarity breakdown should be stable from release to release."


This reduction, in the number of unique figures, results in 5 fewer rare miniatures, 3 fewer uncommons, and 2 fewer commons, with a corresponding increase in the number of duplicate common and uncommon figures. 

I see this reduction as both a bad business decision and a poorly timed one.  Wizards of the Coast and Wizkids have already announced the introduction of a new line of Dungeons and Dragons miniatures, slated for a summer 2014 release.  Fooling around with Paizo's miniatures format so close to the entry of Wizards of the Coast  into the pre-painted miniatures market seems defensive and suggests financial trouble at Paizo.  And if Paizo really wants to satisfy customer demands for more commons, they should be costing them properly on their website, since they do offer individual miniatures for sale on-line.

So I don't buy Paizo's spin that customers are asking for more commons and uncommons in case-lots.  And suggesting that customer demand is reason for this change is too much.  If Paizo's margins are getting squeezed, they should be raising their wholesale prices to on-line retailers (who are undercutting Paizo's website prices) or raising retail prices, not reducing the quality and quantity of their miniatures line.

With Reign of Winter, this will be the first time, since the launch of the Paizo pre-painted miniatures line (and may not be the last) that I take a pass on purchasing a complete case, or any individual miniatures for that matter. 

Here's hoping that Paizo reconsiders their decision and provides a better quality product with future releases.

Pathfinder RPG: Rise Of The Runelords Miniatures

While the Pathfinder RPG is far too cumbersome for my tastes, I do admire Paizo's related miniatures. 

Reaper produces the unpainted versions, while Wizkids is behind the comparable pre-painted versions.

The Rise of the Runelords pre-painted miniatures were released several weeks ago, but I only recently picked up a case.  The Sentry Box, after no small amount of arm-twisting, finally agreed to sell me a case of 128 miniatures for $400, the same price that Paizo was advertising on their website.

I was looking forward to this set of miniatures, as it includes several miniatures based on the artwork of Wayne Reynolds, an artist whose illustrations I enjoy.

I didn't take photos of all of the miniatures, but here is a fairly representative sample of the figures that come in the Rise of the Runelords set.  Among the figures are several iconic characters, including Seoni (centre) and Harsk, some npcs and what I presume are succubi and harpies.

The grey giants in the back row are stone giants.  There is also a red dragon in the back row and a pair of lamias in the front row, plus some other monsters that must be peculiar to the Pathfinder game.

Here's another stone giant, who appears to be casting some sort of ice globe, flanked by more of those Pathfinder-specific monsters.

The above appear to be more monsters and npcs.  Someone who knows more about the Rise of the Runelords adventure path can probably identify these.  The sculpts and paint jobs are very well done, considering the regular-sized figures cost me only $2.50 each, with the large figures double that.

I'm not much of a fan of the Pathfinder goblins.  As part of the case of miniatures, I came into possession of 11 goblin miniatures:  3 goblin dogs, 2 dog riders, a goblin riding an alligator, and 5 goblins on foot.  I have no use for these (I have 50+ LOTRSBG goblins that I much prefer to these fellows) so if anyone is interested in these figs, i'm willing to part with them for $30, which includes shipping within North America.

Otherworld Miniatures Crowd-Funding: Dungeon Adventurers

Otherworld Miniatures is running a crowd-funding campaign on indiegogo, featuring four, 12-miniature sets of dungeon adventurers.  And you're not participating in this, why?

For $280, you get all four, 12-miniature figure sets (a total of 48 miniatures): male adventurers, demi-humans, females, and hirelings and henchmen.  Plus, as the stretch goals are unlocked, a whole raft of additional figures and adventure-dressing get added to your pledge. 

Check out some of the miniatures that have already been produced for this crowd-funding campaign:  here are the fighter, magic-user, cleric and thief miniatures from the first 12-figure set.

It's no secret that I consider Otherworld Miniatures the premium producer of old-school minis.  I've posted about their miniatures on several occasions, about their pig-faced orcs and lizardmen, both faithful reproductions of the original artwork for those monsters.  They also recently released an awesome lich, which is on my "must-buy" list.

The Dungeon Adventurers crowd-funding campaign is attractive to me because the figures are incredibly old-school, complete with light-sources and backpacks (see below).

Compare that to your typical figure from other manufacturers, which are uniformly heroically posed and are absent any evidence that the represented characters are actually dungeon-delving.

More Pathfinder Minis

Paizo continues to release previews of their Rise of the Runelords miniatures set.  The above Alu-Fiend miniature will be an excellent accompaniment to the Succubus miniature that was included in Paizo's Heroes and Monsters set.  

I'm not all that familiar with the Pathfinder bestiary, so I can't tell you what the above figure represents.  It looks vaguely centaur-like, although both the tail and the tube-top are puzzlements.



I presume the figure above is a Naga.  Looks pretty cool.

The last two figures are named adversaries from the Paizo Rise of the Runelord adventure path.  The first is some sort of mage, the second is a Lich, in the early stages of decay.  Both miniatures seem interesting.

So far, Paizo has previewed 40 of the 65 miniatures in this set.  They are inluding an additional 3-5 Goblin miniatures, which, once again, will go into my re-sale pile, as i'm not a fan of the Pathfinder Goblins.