In what seems like a first for these late fall Pathfinder Battles preview blogs, it's actually not raining outside our Washington State offices as I write this. But don't worry, I'm sure it soon will be. These last few weeks have shown us all the devastating power of nature, so I thought it might make a good occasion to show you two water-themed creatures from January's Shattered Star set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures.
I'm speaking, of course, of water elementals.
This set (and the Shattered Star Adventure Path that inspired it) features two different sizes of water elementals, the Medium Water Elemental and the Large Water Elemental. As with the Fire Elementals we've already previewed, water elementals are a staple of Pathfinder RPG play. Making miniatures of our elementals is somewhat problematic, however, as the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary features images that are not really suitable for turning into 3D figurines, and not all sizes are covered by those illustrations, anyway.
In this case, we already faced a similar problem when we put together our Pathfinder Pawns Bestiary Box collection of cardboard pawns. For that set, we enlisted one of our favorite artists, Tyler Walpole, to create brand new images for Small, Medium, and Large elementals of the four common types. I happened to be building the Pathfinder Battles Shattered Star list at the same time, so we asked Tyler to pull double duty on his assignment, creating images that would work for both Pathfinder Pawns and Pathfinder Battles figures.
While the Shattered Star set does not contain Small elementals of any type, it's probably not too big a spoiler to reveal that it does contain Medium and Large elementals of the four main types: air, earth, fire, and water.
WizKids did a great job sculpting Tyler's images into three dimensions. Here we have the Medium Water Elemental, a common figure:
As with all the elementals in this set, this guy is sculpted in clear plastic, so it looks really cool when held up to the light. The Medium Water Elemental looms over other Medium creatures, casting an imposing shadow upon his enemies.
Speaking of imposing, it's pretty hard to imagine a cooler Large Water Elemental than this:
The clear effects are more pronounced on this Large figure, which really pushes the envelope on what can be considered Large in the Pathfinder game. Even action figures would have reason to fear a drowning at this "miniature's" hands.
Don't believe me? Check out what both of these figures look like on my desk facing of against our Medium iconic fighter, Valeros. I hope he brought his swimming trunks!
That's it for this week. See you here in seven days for more cool reveals from the upcoming Shattered Star set!
OK, that large water elemental is by far one of the nicest elemental figures I have ever seen. It is so much more dynamic than the large "wave" water elemental I got from DDM long ago. Sweet!
I have to say, that large water elemental is really top notch. Not to say that the medium elemental is bad, but there is something about that large which I really like. Maybe its the sharp lines, they provide a contrast missing for many elemental minis.
Sigh.. It breaks my heart that I can't afford more Paizo stuff. That is gorgeous.. The picture with the figures on the table with the book behind them is really striking.
Those are brilliant and probably the nicest figures to date. More! MORE!
I know that these sets are themed, but I would really like to see a set without theme that has many of the figures that are used often (i.e. elementals, dogs, small demons, etc.) How about a summoner set?
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I agree with Jim, that image in front of the AP book is great to show perspective. Both are very nice. Thanks again for starting my weekend off on a positive note.
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DOes this mean we can expect air and earth elementals as well? They may upset some, since these hace all been done before. OF course if the earth and air even come close to these two who can complain? Well done again, these are very nice elementals. Very dynamic, nice colour. Oh, and thank you for the last pic, that in itself "sold" these ones for me, it shows perfectly the grand scale and the tabletop impact of both. My only concern is the transparency. I recently aquired 5 of the festering spirit (also in transparent, but green) and the transpaency is almost lost in the heavy drybrushing applied to the figure. THese also look as though the transparency is a little overwhelmend by the paint?
On a different note - just looking at the cover of the last book. When do we get the skeleton in the walking jar mini - that is just amazing art.
t's probably not too big a spoiler to reveal that it does contain Medium and Large elementals of the four main types: air, earth, fire, and water.
I am so very excited. A previous poster said these have been done before, but they'd be costly to acquire in the secondary market now. I'm glad Paizo is covering all the bases.
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Laschoni wrote:
A previous poster said these have been done before, but they'd be costly to acquire in the secondary market now. I'm glad Paizo is covering all the bases.
Don't get me wrong. I love that these are coming out, and I have a huge collection of miniatures which includes 4 of every size elemental. The ones in this set look much better than the ones I currently have, and I will leap at the opportunity to get these. Will probably give some of my others away to some of the kids I teach. Sadly I noticed on a lot of posts and boards that there seems to be a huge amount of criticism directed at the fact that minis in this set, and Runelords, have all been done before (look at the blue dragon posts). I don't personally feel this way, since I think the line has a fair bit of life in it (especially at these standards) and we'll get what we want eventually, simply because Erik listens.
I really, really just hope that air and earth make it into this set as well, but then I hate waiting for anything (Is it January yet?)
I really, really just hope that air and earth make it into this set as well, but then I hate waiting for anything (Is it January yet?)
Erik Mona wrote:
While the Shattered Star set does not contain Small elementals of any type, it's probably not too big a spoiler to reveal that it does contain Medium and Large elementals of the four main types: air, earth, fire, and water.
Sigh.. It breaks my heart that I can't afford more Paizo stuff.
I think you just need to write more scenarios and ask to be paid in minis! Actually, I just want more Jim Groves adventures - perhaps one that has a large water elemental in it so I can use this mini!
To keep this on topic, I'll agree with everyone above and say that I also love both of these minis. I'm glad the large is big enough that it could stand in for a huge water elemental; as far as I know, no one has made one of those yet.
DOes this mean we can expect air and earth elementals as well? They may upset some, since these hace all been done before. OF course if the earth and air even come close to these two who can complain? Well done again, these are very nice elementals. Very dynamic, nice colour. Oh, and thank you for the last pic, that in itself "sold" these ones for me, it shows perfectly the grand scale and the tabletop impact of both. My only concern is the transparency. I recently aquired 5 of the festering spirit (also in transparent, but green) and the transpaency is almost lost in the heavy drybrushing applied to the figure. THese also look as though the transparency is a little overwhelmend by the paint?
On a different note - just looking at the cover of the last book. When do we get the skeleton in the walking jar mini - that is just amazing art.
No comment on that last question.... FOR NOW.
As to the transparency issue, to be totally honest, the paint does cover up a lot of the transparent effect, which is mostly visible when you hold the mini up to the light. In all three cases, WizKids provided us with about three different versions with varying amounts of paint. In almost every instance, the consensus of our team was that the figures with the most paint on them looked better than the ones that were mostly transparent (the air elemental is an exception to this). So we went with what looks best at the end of the day, and I'm confident we made the right decision.
"As with all the elementals in this set, this guy is sculpted in clear plastic,"
Are their earth elementals in this set?
Yes, and they've been sculpted in clear plastic, even though you can't really tell. Originally this was because they have crystals sticking out of them, and we thought it would look really cool to have those crystals clear, but in fact we ended up going with a shiny opalescent paint on the crystals, anyway, so you can't really tell.
Until we start doing promotional repaints, of course. Dun dun dunnnnnn!
"As with all the elementals in this set, this guy is sculpted in clear plastic,"
Are their earth elementals in this set?
Yes, and they've been sculpted in clear plastic, even though you can't really tell. Originally this was because they have crystals sticking out of them, and we thought it would look really cool to have those crystals clear, but in fact we ended up going with a shiny opalescent paint on the crystals, anyway, so you can't really tell.
Until we start doing promotional repaints, of course. Dun dun dunnnnnn!
I agree with the previous poster, but green clear plastic. Something that would be great for promotional value would be to have different colored plastic underneath (to create certain "gem" based earth elementals) and maybe one with the crystals painted color of earth but orange plastic underneath and various "cracks" to represent a volcanic based earth elemental!
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thunderspirit wrote:
Erik Mona wrote:
While the Shattered Star set does not contain Small elementals of any type, it's probably not too big a spoiler to reveal that it does contain Medium and Large elementals of the four main types: air, earth, fire, and water.
So there you go!
Wow, now I feel aweful dumb! Means I missed it aboutg half a dozen times, doh! Of course I could blame Erik for blinding me with watery elemental goodness?
I really appreciate that you paint the transparent plastic minis. This really adds to their appearance and makes them look less "cheap". When WotC did this, I saw them relying more and more on transparent plastic minis which helped them bring down costs at the expense of a quality miniature. I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the elementals.
The Medium Water Elemental is a common, and the Large Water Elemental is a rare. This is true across all four elemental types. No Small or Huge elementals yet. Those will have to wait for future sets.
