WizKids is shortly re-establishing themselves because the premier Dungeons & Dragons figures, as evidenced by their upcoming “Fangs and Talons” line. WizKids has been within the D&D/TTRPG miniatures enterprise for a very long time, however the firm has drastically upped its game over the previous few years. After vastly increasing its unpainted miniatures line to offer gamers with the chance to customise their participant characters, the corporate has launched a number of units of nice D&D miniatures and figures in 2019 and 2020. WizKids’ most up-to-date set – Fangs and Talons – options a few of their most spectacular figures but, together with a terrifying Purple Worm that redefines the monster on the tabletop.
For these unfamiliar with WizKids’ line of D&D miniatures, the corporate produces a number of units of miniatures a yr which might be offered in booster packing containers, every of which comprise a random assortment of 4 pre-painted miniatures. Each field comes with one massive or enormous miniature and three medium or small miniatures. The miniatures in every set additionally are available in three rarity ranges – frequent, unusual, and uncommon. You do not know what you will get earlier than opening the field, so it is as much as WizKids to launch units which have sufficient cool miniatures to justify you spending $17 on random miniatures that you could be or could not use on the desk.
WizKids supplied over 20 completely different miniatures from the upcoming Fangs and Talons set for evaluate, together with the Purple Worm determine, which is on the market as a separate premium determine. As we have famous in earlier critiques and previews, WizKids has actually elevated the standard of its miniatures, each when it comes to the sculpts and the precise paintwork. WizKids has made a number of different improvements to its miniature line – utilizing clear bases as an alternative of black bases together with making greater sculpts with their grid dimension depicted with an opaque circle on the bottom. For occasion, the Young Blue Dragon that seems on this set is considerably bigger than what we have seen from “massive” dragons up to now. The bigger sculpt provides WizKids extra room so as to add extra particulars that may be correctly accentuated with paint. It’s a giant enchancment and makes these monsters look much more threatening compared to customary medium sized miniatures with out compromising the precise nuances of grid fight.
The Fangs and Talons set comprises a hodgepodge of creatures that have not appeared in previous miniatures units. Personally, I appreciated the give attention to much less iconic monsters. The Nightwalker, a uncommon enormous determine on this set, seems to be extraordinarily terrifying and may encourage any DM to toss one into their marketing campaign. Other nice miniatures embrace the disgusting Dire Troll, the goofy Flail Snail, and the majestic Ki-Rin. Some a lot overdue monsters additionally seem on this set, such because the banshee, incubus, and Yuan-Ti Anathema, all of which look splendidly harmful.
The Purple Worm, one in all Dungeons & Dragons’ most iconic monsters, can be included in Fangs and Talons as a premium determine out there to buy by itself. WizKids beforehand made a Purple Worm as a part of its “Classic Creatures” boxed set again in 2017, however this one seems to be a lot extra visually spectacular and terrifying. While the worm continues to be proven rising from the bottom, its head is way decrease to the bottom with an open mouth displaying off rows of tooth. The spikes and difficult conceal make this monster seem like an actual menace to gamers as an alternative of a wierd holdover from previous editions.
I feel the largest praise that I may give the upcoming Fangs and Talons line is that the figures makes you wish to use the depicted monsters in your marketing campaign. WizKids continues to lift the bar for Dungeons & Dragons miniatures, which may make for a golden period for miniatures collectors over the following couple of years.
Individual Booster Boxes of the D&D Icons of the Realm: Fangs and Talons set, in addition to the Purple Worm Premium Figure go on sale on November 11th.
