Pathfinder Battles Preview: Unleash the Undead Horde!

Friday, June 14, 2013

This week I'm pleased to announce the latest release in the Pathfinder Battles line of prepainted plastic fantasy gaming figures: the Undead Horde Builder Series! Our first Builder Series release, We Be Goblins, just came out this week, and has been receiving positive reviews both online and here at the Origins Game Fair, where I'm writing today's blog. In September, we plan to follow up this week's set with a new release packed with 12 sculpts of classic undead creatures, including four all-new sculpts and new paintjobs for popular undead figures from previous sets.

Undead Horde figures come one to a pack, in both common and rare varieties. Gamers who pick up a full "gravity feed" display box of 24 figures should receive a complete set (although with all randomly packed product, collation is not guaranteed). A full display should include one each of the six rare figures and three each of the six common figures. Each single-figure pack has a retail price of $2.99.

This week I'd like to preview half of the figures in the set. Next week I'll show off the other half, and then we'll get back to our regularly scheduled reveals of August's 55-figure Skull & Shackles set.

Up first we have the Skeleton, an old friend from our very first release, Heroes & Monsters. This figure's all-new paint scheme presents a more bleached, older skeleton. When our partners at WizKids brought this figure to our office a couple of weeks ago, all of us agreed that the new paint scheme is an improvement on the original. And since all of us liked the original Skeleton, that's really saying something. The Skeleton is a common figure.

Here we have a brand new sculpt of a classic undead horror—the Wight! Drawn from the creature's illustration in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, this Wight has a bit of nautical flair, making him a good match for several of the figures in the Skull & Shackles set. The Wight is a common figure.

Here's another amazing new sculpt culled straight from the pages of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. Many of you probably remember our original Zombie from Heroes & Monsters. That figure already got a repaint in the Champions of Evil Encounter Pack, so I didn't think it was appropriate to include that sculpt in this new set. But come on, the set is called Undead Horde! It's got to have a zombie! Anyway, I figure most GMs need as many interesting Zombie sculpts as possible, and with arrows and spears sticking through this one, I thought it made for a perfect fit. The Zombie is a common figure.

Here we have the Mummy Lord, an alternative paint scheme of the Mummy Cleric from the Shattered Star set. We've given him a red cloak and tabard, and we think he looks just as menacing as ever—and perhaps more so! The Mummy Lord is a rare figure.

The Lich was always one of my favorite figures in the Heroes & Monsters set. He looks like a serious badass, especially with his new Undead Horde paint scheme. The new version turns up the contrast to a chilling effect. This was another one that everyone in the room when it came in agreed was an improvement on an already awesome original. The Lich is a rare figure.

Last up this week we've got another rare figure, perhaps the coolest in the whole set. I give you the Grave Knight, star of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 cover and one of the most popular monsters in the entire book. WizKids' sculptors did a great job combining details from the cover painting and interior illustration to bring us an imposing figure in a suit of haunted full plate armor. This figure is sure to inspire a ton of horrible ideas about how you can use it to scare the pants off of your player characters. I know I can't wait to drop it on mine!

All figures in the Undead Horde Builder Series set are Medium.

I suspect you are going to love them. I do.

At this point it's probably not surprising to hear that we are already plotting with WizKids to develop the NEXT Builder Series release. I can't tell you what it is yet, but I can tell you that we have big expectations for this product format. It's a great way to add some cool new figures while offering a chance to build up large groups of key monsters at a reasonable per-figure price. I'd love to hear what sorts of Builder Series releases YOU would like to see in the comments to this post.

Set up an ongoing Pathfinder Battles subscription today to make sure you don't miss a single figure! The Undead Horde Builder Series is not formally part of the subscription, but subscribers can use their Encounter Pack/Builder Series discount codes to receive a 20% discount on display boxes (the code does not apply to single pack purchases).

That's it for this week. Next week I'll reveal six more figures. After that, we're back to revealing the rest of the Skull & Shackles set!

See you then! I'm off to get in some gaming here at Origins!

Erik Mona
Publisher

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Tags: Miniatures Pathfinder Adventure Path Pathfinder Battles Undead Horde
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Dark Archive

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

So next week, we get another six minis, of which 3 will be common, 3 rare, and one new. I'm confident the Vampire will be one of the rares, the ghoul one of the commons. The Spectre might be a common, although like the zombie it's already had a repaint. There's the Wraith from Runelords which would probably be common, and the Skeletal champion which could go either Common or Rare. Azaven is probably too specific to get a repaint, as is the Skinsaw man.There was an uncommon Mummy in H&M, but it might be too much to have two mummy's in the set. As for the last new mini, there's a reasonable range of unmoddelled undead out there, so it's anyone's guess...


Repaints - Skeleton (Nice, can never have too many of those), Mummy Cleric (renamed Mummy Lord for the set, OK, one Noble one Priest; can deal with that), & Lich (Wow, I said when I reviewed the Lich in H&M that is was the best prepainted plastic Lich available on the market, and you've managed to improve it. Only way you can top this one is to do a mini of the Whispering Tyrant in prepainted plastic).

The New Sculpts - Zombie (Cool one, better than the H&M one), Wight (Nice, a low-mid level horde undead) and the Grave Knight (Honestly, a bit of a disappointment, its a wonderful sculpt, but a Grave Knight just isn't a Grave Knight without a steed)

And these are just the 1st half of the set. Waiting impatiently for the second half of the set.

And a question, I realize that all of the Minis in this set are Medium sized, but are they all of human extraction? Non-human undead get far too little support in minis (in any form, in all prepainted sets so far I can only think of a handful that were not human, and those were monstrous races like Orcs and Troglodytes. Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings / Gnomes are really under represented in the Rot Brigade.)

Lantern Lodge Customer Service Manager

Removed a post and fixed the issue in question from the product page.

Liberty's Edge

That grave knight is AWESOME!!!!

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

Yes, all of the undead in this set are basically humans. You make a good point about racial diversity in undead, however. We'll eventually get to nonhuman undead, I'm sure, but this early on we're still filling out a lot of the basics.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I think they are all quite nice and undead are always a must for any gamer. You can never have too many. Both the wight and zombie have a nautical feel to them which I like. Still are wights and zombies, but would do well for undead pirates or something. Very nice set.

I think a set revolving around fey creatures would be a nice addition. They are a somewhat underrepresented creature type.

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

We don't currently have enough existing fey sculpts to do a Builder Series set, and probably won't for another year or more, unfortunately.

Shadow Lodge

Will there be a Whispering Tyrant mini in this undead horde set?

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

No.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

First goblins, then undead! Two things you can never have too many of. Great choice. And if this Builder Set follows the rarity quantity of the We Be Goblins set, three skeletons, wights and zombies is a great ratio to the big guys. Are these going to be an evergreen product like the Goblins? Having the ability to pick these up at any given time is such a great idea, since they are such staples of adventuring.

Erik, you have to get cracking on some orcs in the other sets so you can put enough sculpts together for one of these sets!


Got my goblins today, love the idea of these "mini-sets". If you paint some green eyes and worms onto the grave knight he will be useful as a Kyuss Knight from another famous AP. Keep em coming.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

I like that undead will be the next builder set. As always, you can never have too many.

For the next set? Tough to say. There aren't enough animals, orcs, or other similar types of creatures to do a set themed around them.

The only thing I can think up on the top of my head is a set based around Summon Monster Spells. That means all the medium elementals, plus giant spiders, wolves, dire rats, and a few new creatures which are common summons.

Grand Lodge

Received my Goblins today too. So it is appropriate to announce the next Builder Set. The Goblins are great. I look forward to this undead set. That detail on the Zombie is fantastic. The Grave Knight looks menacing. Nice!


DonalGraeme wrote:
I like that undead will be the next builder set. As always, you can never have too many.

Absolutely. I ran a Slumbering Tsar encounter a couple months back that called for - literally - a hundred skeletons. Well, I couldn't quite pull that off. But when I dumped out my random undead box it turned out I did have a hundred undead. Not bad.

And yet I've just placed this in my sidecart. That says something for the quality and usefulness of these things.

P.S. Kudos for the quality improvement on the pictures.

Contributor

Hrm. So here's what we know:

• 12 Figures in all.
• 4 New Sculpts with three revealed (New Zombie and Wright at Common and the Grave Knight at Rare).
• All Undead are Medium creatures (excludes the Dullahan from SS).
• The note that the Zombie has already been repainted once implies that none of the figures in the set have ever been repainted before. (Seemingly excludes the Spectre, as it was repainted under the name Festering Spirit for last year's PaizoCon).
• Erik has also stated that all of the set's undead are formed from humans.

We know the following:

Common
1. Zombie (New)
2. Skeleton
3. Wight (New)

Rare
1. Lich
2. Mummy Lord
3. Grave Knight (New)

Which leaves three Common figures and three Rare figures that are unknown. I am going to assume that based on what we have, the third new sculpt is at the Rare variety for symmetry; this is an assumption. The theme also seems to be "iconic undead," so I don't think we're going to see many Paizo newbies.

So ... Predictions!

Common
4. Ghoul
5. Wraith
6. Skeletal Champion

4. Vampire
5. Demilich
6. Draugr (New)

Reasoning: Ghouls and Skeletal Champions are iconic monsters that everyone uses in their combats, and the Wraith model is a good stand-in for a generic incorporeal undead model. You can't have an undead set without the Vampire, the Demilich was a very nice model that has a lot of gaming history, and the Draugr is a Lovecraftian horror undead that fits well with the themes of the new Skulls and Shackles set.


Too bad no Baykok!

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

The brief hope of the Whispering Tyrant made me realize how badly I want Inner Sea Legends (or other applicable title) as a set.


Alexander Augunas wrote:

Hrm. So here's what we know:

• 12 Figures in all.
• 4 New Sculpts with three revealed (New Zombie and Wright at Common and the Grave Knight at Rare).
• All Undead are Medium creatures (excludes the Dullahan from SS).
• The note that the Zombie has already been repainted once implies that none of the figures in the set have ever been repainted before. (Seemingly excludes the Spectre, as it was repainted under the name Festering Spirit for last year's PaizoCon).
• Erik has also stated that all of the set's undead are formed from humans.

We know the following:

Common
1. Zombie (New)
2. Skeleton
3. Wight (New)

Rare
1. Lich
2. Mummy Lord
3. Grave Knight (New)

Which leaves three Common figures and three Rare figures that are unknown. I am going to assume that based on what we have, the third new sculpt is at the Rare variety for symmetry; this is an assumption. The theme also seems to be "iconic undead," so I don't think we're going to see many Paizo newbies.

So ... Predictions!

Common
4. Ghoul
5. Wraith
6. Skeletal Champion

4. Vampire
5. Demilich
6. Draugr (New)

Reasoning: Ghouls and Skeletal Champions are iconic monsters that everyone uses in their combats, and the Wraith model is a good stand-in for a generic incorporeal undead model. You can't have an undead set without the Vampire, the Demilich was a very nice model that has a lot of gaming history, and the Draugr is a Lovecraftian horror undead that fits well with the themes of the new Skulls and Shackles set.

I suspect that either the Wraith or Skeletal Champion (more likely) will be included as the rares, and a mummy takes its place as one of the commons. The Demilich is nice, but I think it is much more niche than the others and will not be included.

As for the Draugr, I wouldn't be shocked if that was actually in the S&S set, since when I expressed before (when he revealed Whalebone Pilk) my desire that there be more undead in the set Erik said "Stay Tuned!".


Erik Mona wrote:
I'd love to hear what sorts of Builder Series releases YOU would like to see in the comments to this post.

*beats on the drums of orcish doom to get everyone's attention*

Orcs! Of course for this to happen, there needs to be more than 2 orc sculpts :)

Dark Archive

These look fantastic. I like the new paint schemes, and the format of these little "mini sets" works well to help me get my fix between larger expansions.

The set of these that I would most want to see doesn't have any past minis that could get a repaint, so I would assume at this time it would be impossible. However, I have found that the type of mini that I never have enough of and that I frequently need to use is an unarmed commoner. Yep, that's right: the set like this that I would be most impressed if Paizo released would be COMMONERS!

Please think about it, Erik! Thanks!

(Also, if you could throw out an albino half orc bartender mini, that would be aces!)

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

3 people marked this as a favorite.

I would LOVE to do a townsfolk set down the line. I'm currently seeding appropriate minis in the next few sets to build up a good basis for this type of thing.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Did anyone click the set box picture.....the lovely lady on the front looks like a new ghoul to me.....

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

Whaaaaa?


Awesome theme for a set, and the sculpts look very nice. But...$4 a pop is a little steep, especially considering re-cycled sculpts. This seems like a fairly "evergreen" product, so might it be possible to increase the "print" run to drive down the cost-per-figure?

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Runelord151 wrote:
Did anyone click the set box picture.....the lovely lady on the front looks like a new ghoul to me.....

I recognize the art of that ghoul from a Paizo product... just don't recall the specific one. It does seem odd to include that art but not have a ghoul that reflects it.

And a girl ghoul min would be nice ;-)

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

So are the boosters going to be $3.99 or $2.99 each? The product page is currently showing $2.99 each. I think I like that price better. :)

Paizo Employee CEO

1970Zombie wrote:
So are the boosters going to be $3.99 or $2.99 each? The product page is currently showing $2.99 each. I think I like that price better. :)

I just looked at the WizKids solicit PDF and it is indeed going to be $2.99. We'll get the blog fixed at some point. Nice catch!

-Lisa

Paizo Employee CEO

bugleyman wrote:

Awesome theme for a set, and the sculpts look very nice. But...$4 a pop is a little steep, especially considering re-cycled sculpts. This seems like a fairly "evergreen" product, so might it be possible to increase the "print" run to drive down the cost-per-figure?

It is $2.99 per figure. Erik got the price wrong in his blog.

-Lisa

Webstore Gninja Minion

Blog has been corrected with the right price!

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

Yep. Sorry about the brain fart. $2.99 per mini.

Shadow Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber
Runelord151 wrote:
Did anyone click the set box picture.....the lovely lady on the front looks like a new ghoul to me.....

Ships whore, from the skull and shackles AP - and yes it's a ghoul.

I'm hoping the other 6 could be

Vampire
Ghoul
New Ghoul - new sculpt based on ships whore art (which I was hoping would be in skull and shackles), could be a ghoul queen for ghould queen and 3 ghouls per display.
Mummy (then you get a mummy lord and 3 mummies)
Skeletal champion - 3 skeletons and this guy in a box
Lamatar Bayden (could be a wight lord for 3 wights and a wight lord) plus the side box art looks vaguely like him (from an angle if you squint and imagine)

As for future sets - can't see enough themed minis in the existing sets to really do one without a lot of new sculpts. I'd would love to see monstrous humanoids - troglodytes, gnolls, boggards, orcs. Or a mixed set - say trogs and boggs or something.


Shoot, I was really hoping today's announcement would be Heroes and Monsters II. Good news for my bank account, though.

Shadow Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

Given it was "big news" I was hoping it was about huge minis - my ever hopeful mind zoomed in on the "big" part. I'm pretty excited for this - and at least it's easier on the bank account like you say Brocimus

Paizo Employee CEO

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Cat-thulhu wrote:
Given it was "big news" I was hoping it was about huge minis - my ever hopeful mind zoomed in on the "big" part. I'm pretty excited for this - and at least it's easier on the bank account like you say Brocimus

Don't worry, WizKids has your bank account square in its sights. There is a lot of cool stuff coming down the turnpike that we haven't even hinted about yet. Until now. :)

-Lisa

Scarab Sages

2 people marked this as a favorite.

How about a builder set for Kobolds?

Shadow Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber
Lisa Stevens wrote:

Don't worry, WizKids has your bank account square in its sights. There is a lot of cool stuff coming down the turnpike that we haven't even hinted about yet. Until now. :)

-Lisa

I have no doubts - but then getting me to part with money is like getting blood from a st...err the blood bank. Now spill the beans what is this cool stuff of which you speak....

Tietar wrote:
How about a builder set for Kobolds?

Yeah, I'd love to see this too, but with only a single sculpt to date this could be a while.

Liberty's Edge

I too would very much like to see kobolds. You need to come up with a bunch of sculpts for that, but it'd be cool. My dream list would be all the major kobold types from D1: Crown of the Kobold King.

As an aside, I just picked up my box of WBG minis and they're very nice. I am, however, concerned about the amount of packaging for each mini. Front and back shells plus a bag? Seems a little excessive to me in this time of the three R's.


I'd like a giants builder series, if the concept is workable for non medium minis.


Lisa Stevens wrote:

It is $2.99 per figure. Erik got the price wrong in his blog.

-Lisa

Excellent...complaint withdrawn. Impressive product!

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

Packaging is a double-edged sword. Too little and the minis break. Too much and it's environmentally unfriendly. I think the current set-up is an improvement on the original Heroes & Monsters single-figure boosters, and the foil packs allow retailers to hang packs on j-hooks, which is good for their merchandising.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Compromise: Do a Beasts of the Wild set and pack it in mulch!

Liberty's Edge

I agree about the fine balance in packaging, but does it have to be plastic? Those shells made from paper fiber seem good enough to package computer parts, so what about minis?

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

I dunno. I'll ask WizKids.

Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I would love to see an animal companion set. Tigers, bears, wolves, and other that work great for rangers and druids.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I suspect that an animal companion and/or familiar set would be a very big hit.


An animal/vermin set would be solid. We already have sculpts for dire rats, wolves, giant spiders, snakes and "bloodbugs." Some good additions would be boars, weasels and/or wolverines, a giant scorpion, a giant centipede, giant frog, giant crab, etc.

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

2 people marked this as a favorite.

I'm working on laying the groundwork for that sort of set, too. We're not quite there yet, but we'll be a lot closer after the next few sets hit.

Liberty's Edge

Thus is what I love about your company. Not only do you create awesome stuff, you listen to your customers. +5 too brand loyalty unlocked.


Xuttah wrote:
Thus is what I love about your company. Not only do you create awesome stuff, you listen to your customers. +5 too brand loyalty unlocked.

I realize this is "sort of" off-topic, but yes this to me is why Paizo is the king of the gaming companies! After visiting last year's GenCon, I couldn't help but to make an obvious observation. The Paizo booth was smaller that the D&D booth. The D&D booth had about 12-15 products available for sale. Paizo had over 250+ roleplaying products that support ed the Pathfinder line. Not only do they listen to their customers, but they provide huge amounts of support for their own products. I don't care how great D&D Next may be... I refuse to support a product that is not even being supported by the company that makes it. All hail Paizo! *end rant*

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