Pathfinder Battles Preview: A Very Important Column
Friday, August 24, 2012
We’re back from Gen Con, and holy cow things went great for Paizo at this year’s show! I was very pleased at the reception of our new Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic fantasy miniatures, as con-goers surrounded our display of all the unboxed figures throughout the exhibit hall hours, and I kept seeing the figures (along with our new Bestiary Box Pawns) all over the 95 tables of Pathfinder Society games that ran every slot of the convention.
I was especially pleased to accept the gold Gen Con/ENnie award for Best Miniatures Product for our very first Pathfinder Battles set, Heroes & Monsters. As proud as I am of that initial offering, from my perspective the Pathfinder Battles sets just keep getting better and better, so I’m eager to see what next year’s judges and voters think of Rise of the Runelords and the upcoming Shattered Star minis set!
We ended up selling out of all the Rise of the Runelords minis by Sunday, and I was pleased to see several gamers getting in line two or three times with piles of boosters in hand as they hunted down that one specific figure or simply augmented their growing collection of Pathfinder Battles miniatures. Reaction to the new four-figure standard booster format was very positive, and it was really cool to see people so excited about a product line I’ve personally poured a ton of attention and sweat into over the last year. I was pleased to see that our partners at WizKids felt similarly, and your support made both of our conventions among the best ever.
Of course, as much as I love the Rise of the Runelords figures, these days I’ve been spending an awful lot of time with that set’s younger, hotter cousin, the Shattered Star! This set of 55 miniatures is currently slated for a January 2013 release, coinciding with the publication of the final volume of the Shattered Star Adventure Path!
Shattered Star was our first opportunity to develop a set of miniatures to support an Adventure Path at the same time that that Adventure Path was being outlined. I’ve spoken before in earlier columns about the difficulties associated with such a plan (we have to make LOTS of decisions MUCH sooner than we’re used to in order to pull it off given the extremely long lead-time involved with miniatures production), but one of the great things about this approach is that I got to sneak a few miniatures into the set (and hence into the Adventure Path outline) that have never before been released as prepainted plastic miniatures.
Which leads us to today’s figure: The Caryatid Column!
This creature has a long history in fantasy gaming, but its inspiration has an even longer history in, well, history. Caryatids—which is to say columns in the form of maidens—have been a part of architecture since the ancient Greeks. Their use dates back to at least the 6th century BC. I was able to see one of the famous caryatids at the British Museum while visiting London after Gen Con UK a few years back, and the sculpting was so realistic that the stone dresses worn by the figure looked soft to the touch, almost like it was real cloth on a real woman.
Happily, in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Caryatid Columns actually DO come alive, making them near-perfect low(ish)-level constructs. Plus, hitting them has a way of breaking the PCs’ weapons, which is always fun for the GM.
When I decided to include a Caryatid Column in the Shattered Star set, I took a look at the drawing included in the Pathfinder Bestiary 3. a neat enough illustration, but it lacks the sort of clothing effects I expect to see on a Caryatid Column inspired by the genuine articles. Instead I asked WizKids’ artists to base their sculpt upon an actual, real-life Caryatid Column from the ancient world. I think the resulting figure looks a lot better than a straight translation of the art from the Bestiary.
By sculpting our Caryatid Column figure in “column form,” the miniature doubles as any sort of pillar you might want to throw on your game table. I’m eager to set up whole rows of these guys (or gals, as the case may be) in my dungeons. Maybe some of them are ordinary pillars, while others are monsters waiting patiently for the arrival of the heroes. Who knows? Well, I know, of course, which is one of the reasons I prefer to be the GM.
Lastly, because I’m a nice guy and because I’m sure a few of you out there are wrongly clicking your tongues and thinking “big deal, so it’s a column,” I’m going to drop ONE MORE preview on you.
That column is awesome. I was considering dropping my sub after RotRL but the minis so far and the assumed smaller cost will be enough to keep me in the ranks.
(I'm not complaining, I am seriously excited about my Runelords set. I just also like to put extra money on my car payments.)
Woot love the column. I am a bit shakey with the coloration of the night hag. But overall still an awesome mini.
Honestly, that was my first, immediate thought as well. Then I looked at it for ten or fifteen seconds and decided I loved the paint job, because (1) who's to say all hags have to have warty green skin, (2) there's only one night hag in my game, and no one has met her yet, so I can tailor her appearance to match the figure exactly, and (3) it could also be used as a voodoo priestess, dark-skinned death cleric, or a number of other characters.
I am Soooooo in love with this version of the Night Hag, so much better than the old DDM version (and that one was pretty good, it fit the feel of the game, not really appropriate for Pathfinder). I am also in love with the Caryatid Column, now (thank you Lilith) all we need is an Atlantid column as a creature in Pathfinder and a mini of it as well.
Great choice on patterning the column after the real things. I agree with Mazra that we'll all probably want more than one. And the hag is excellent as well. Her hair and attire really sell her that evil aura. I can't decide if I only need one of her or three.
We haven't set rarities for this set yet, but I will do what I can to make the column as common as possible. Given the relatively simple paint job (and, really, sculpt), I'm sure WizKids will be happy to oblige.
Wow, I sure like the column... too bad I can't get a bunch of 'em for the next session. :)
I have to say I don't like the night hag as much... the leather skirt looks just weird on this mini, and if I didn't know which monster this is I'd probably guess wrong.
While we're on hags, please register a vote for a Large Annis Hag at some point. They show up with some frequency in adventures, but I don't think I've ever seen a prepainted mini of one.
That said, I like the new night hag, except for the amount of leg she shows. I never imagined a night hag being that...showy.
Can I just say that I am a RABID mini collector and I really appreciate seeing monsters that I have not seen as minis before, and more monsters than PCs in general from a minis set. That said, the one issue I had with Rise of the Runelords was that it was hard to build a big army of commons. Ever consider bumping the number of commons or offering an uncommon/common army builder alternate booster?
Can I just say that I am a RABID mini collector and I really appreciate seeing monsters that I have not seen as minis before, and more monsters than PCs in general from a minis set. That said, the one issue I had with Rise of the Runelords was that it was hard to build a big army of commons. Ever consider bumping the number of commons or offering an uncommon/common army builder alternate booster?
Thanks again for these minis!!!
Like a common exclusive booster? That sounds like a great idea. I thought there woulda been more of those encounters packs kinda like that my self. I can understand if paizo is too busy, look at all the stuff they put out, right.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Deluxe Comics, Battles Case Subscriber
You know that the singles pricing from some retailers for commons is actually not too bad. Check out Auggie's for instance. This may be a great way to fill out the multiples you need in commons.
