The RPG Room: Spell Miniatures

I Put a Spell on You: A review of the new D&D Spell Effect Miniatures

I began collecting miniatures in or around 2011, starting with the various pre-painted sets made by Hasbro for Wizards of the Coast. They bore an official D&D license, came in sealed “blind” boxes with a random assortment of miniatures within (a format still employed today by Wizkids for their Wizards of the Coast and Paizo Publishing licensed pre-painted product), and were some of the coolest nerdy things I owned, as my own abilities as a painter in the beginning were not enough to replicate their average quality. Among the greatest offerings of that entire line is what I still consider to be more or less the pinnacle of my pre-painted collection, the Beholder Collector's Set. These, however, were generally discontinued at or shortly after the time in which I was buying them, as the shift from 3.5 to 4th edition D&D and the failure of several attempts to make a tactical board game to compete with something like Wizkids cash-cow HeroClix brought an end to the Hasbro line of figures, leaving me to collect what I could of stock that my FLGS and various online retailers had.

I did not have to wait too long, or shift to solely collecting and painting metal or plastic miniatures from the likes of Reaper, Games Workshop, or others. By the end of 2012, the next big revolution in miniatures had hit. Reaper had given me a near-infinite mountain of things to paint with the release and immensely successful kickstarter campaign (the first of four and counting) for their budget-priced Bones line, and Wizkids had entered into the market of miniatures that don’t come on proprietary Clix bases with their Paizo Publishing-licensed Pathfinder Battles line. It was through this that I first got a taste of what would become the theme for years to come. Those early sets of Pathfinder Battles, and a few years later the first few sets of official D&D minis also produced by Wizkids were inconsistent to say the least. I certainly expected it to take a while for the Wizkids line to measure up to the same level of quality in construction, sculpts, and paint application as the old Hasbro line. In some ways I remain disappointed to this day. There has yet to be a single set of the Wizkids lines which I would consider as having truly surpassed the Hasbro line in every way. That said, there have been several sets which have done so on average, and for every strangely painted Naga with visible seams where the parts connect, or every Waterdeep noble with the face of a blonde Mr. Potatohead, there are generally at least two imposing Storm Giants with translucent lightning bolts or gorgeous Gynosphinxes with exquisitely dry-brushed feathers and the expertly painted face of Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra.

The resemblance is uncanny, no? 

In the last year or two, we have seen yet another level of development in both pre-painted and unpainted plastic miniatures coming from Wizkids. Not only have we had some of the best sets ever produced under the D&D and Pathfinder banners (the Monster Menagerie sets and Pathfinder’s Rusty Dragon Inn and Deadly Foes come to mind), but also the release, and then rapid expansion of the unpainted lines such as Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures and Pathfinder Battles: Deep Cuts. Recently, my FLGS has had to double the amount of peg board on the wall just to accommodate all the new stock brought on by the expansion of the sets -which comes at a pace perhaps only eclipsed by Reaper’s Bones line- and with it, the release of whole new sets of special case-incentive figures, character collections, and other excellent accompaniments to their already wide range.

Among the most recent offerings by Wizkids, are the subject of this review, the two sets of Wizards-licensed D&D spell effect miniatures. One set offers a collection of translucent plastic figures depicting many of the classic spells used by D&D spellcasters over the years. Within can be found representations of mage hand, Tenser’s floating disk, multiple forms of Bigby’s Hand, a phantom steed, and just about any kind of magically summoned weapon you could possibly want. The other set contains a physically imposing collection of effects markers for the spells Wall of Fire, and Wall of Ice, of which each has six pieces. The pieces themselves are cast from translucent orange and blue plastic respectively, and painted well, with just enough dry-brushing to bring out detail, but not so much paint that one would be lost on the fact that they are translucent. All in all, through thorough examination in my FLGS, I can definitely say that I am impressed with the quality and presentation of these miniatures.

The one thing that I am less than impressed with, however, is the price. I acknowledge that this business can sometimes be a risky one, and that all companies are out there to make a profit at the end of the day, but given that these retail for 40 bucks a box ($31.99 US on certain online retailers), I did not feel the temptation to actually purchase any of them. When compared to the unpainted, but Vallejo primed Green, White, and Red Dragons which have also just released as part of the Pathfinder Battles: Deep Cuts line, and which retail for $29.99, I have to say that this pricing was a bit of a misstep on Wizkids’ part, and that despite the fact that their pre-painted nature commands a premium for good reason, there really isn’t much justification to having a set of minis that look like things that could happen, rather than the characters and monsters on which the game is focused, sell at such a price point is a bit ridiculous on some level. Why would I pay that much for things that have been historically handled in the “theater-of-the-mind” even while miniatures are present?

All of that said, they are excellent quality figures, and I would also not be surprised if unpainted versions are released as part of a coming expansion to the Nolzur’s line, likely retailing for something like 9.99 a box for one of the Wall spells or 4.99 a blister-pack for 2-4 of the smaller spell effects. If you happen to be in that stage of your career where you have disposable income to dump into your RPG hobby for days continously though, and if you also happen to play as or run for a party that includes a Wizard, I couldn’t recommend these figures highly enough.

The Verdict: Cool, but not 40 bucks cool

If you happened to stumble upon this, thanks for reading. If you found anything above helpful, feel free to pass it along to your friends. I do not own any part of Wizards of the Coast, Wizkids, Reaper Miniatures, or any of their intellectual properties. Any references or pictures above are intended solely for the purposes of review, praise of, and occasional complaint about their products, of which I remain an avid consumer.

May your road lead ever onward to adventure,

-Armstrong