Friday Publisher Preview: Three Giant Reveals

Friday, July 18, 2014

With the recent PaizoCon announcement of next year’s Giantslayer Adventure Path, it’s safe to say that we have giants on the brain here at Paizo HQ. November’s The Lost Coast set of prepainted fantasy miniatures from our partners at WizKids gave us the perfect opportunity to add a few more giants to the growing ranks of Pathfinder Battles Large monsters. The set is technically “generic” in that it does not support a specific Adventure Path, but as I’ve mentioned in previous Friday blogs, the Lost Coast location gives us plenty of opportunity to revisit some familiar characters and concepts.

First up this week we have Conna the Wise, a semi-major character in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path and our first ever female stone giant miniature! Conna is an interesting character in that she is presented as either a friend or a foe, and I always wanted to include her back when we did our dedicated Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles set, but there just wasn’t room (or, at the time, an appropriate illustration). I think she goes very well with her stony brethren in that set. I hope to eventually produce female giants of all of the standard giant types, and Conna is just the beginning of that trend (or maybe more of the middle, if you consider the Storm Giant from Rise of the Runelords). Conna the Wise is an uncommon, Large figure.

Here we have the Fire Giant King, a mega-impressive figure I’ve been waiting to unleash on the world since he was cut from the Shattered Star set due to too many awesome Larges. Ironically, the image we used as reference for this figure did not appear in the Shattered Star Adventure Path, but from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Giants Revisited. Specifically, he is Orynox Marchelin, king of the fire giant realm of Kragnaroth in the Mindspin Mountains east of Varisia. The figure is cast in clear plastic, giving his hair a cool “on fire” effect. The Fire Giant King ended up at the uncommon rarity, meaning those of you buying cases might want to consider him more of a “Fire Giant Noble.” He is, of course, a Large figure.

This Hill Giant Chief originally appeared in the Kingmaker Adventure Path, where he is a wandering giant called Munguk. I like to think his political fortunes increased as he traveled west to the Lost Coast, to the point at which he now rules a small, dim-witted tribe of fellow Hill Giants. The actual story is that I fell in love with the picture and didn’t really care that this NPC doesn’t really live in the Lost Coast region of Varisia. If you don’t tell anyone, I won’t, either. Because, hey. Sweet mini. The Hill Giant Chief is a Large, uncommon figure.

And that’s it for this week’s previews! Please join me next week as we take a look at some more exciting images from The Lost Coast!

Erik Mona
Publisher

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Tags: The Lost Coast Miniatures Pathfinder Battles

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

These are all fantastic minis ... I just may have to buy a single of Conna the Wise on principle (since I have the RotR PF Battles set) ... not to mention the other awesome minis that (in Lost Coast) that are also from the Rise of the Runelords. (Although, more or less just finished up GMing the Anniversary Edition of RotR, and very soon I get to be a player after GMing/DMing for several years non-stop).

Dean


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Beware the wangering giant.


Love the idea of Conna, but can't really tell she is female. :(. Still, she's a great sculpt and a must have.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Rulebook Subscriber
Berk the Black wrote:
Love the idea of Conna, but can't really tell she is female. :(. Still, she's a great sculpt and a must have.

I'd rock her.

Sovereign Court Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

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Yay! Munguk!

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Spastic Puma wrote:
Beware the wangering giant.

D'aww, you beat me to it. :)


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Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Rulebook Subscriber

First off, all three of these are amazing. I move ever closer towards the decision to purchase two cases of the Lost Coast Battles line instead of just one.

Second, I love the sculpts of all three of these. I love the tall & slender look of Conna The Wise. It not only keeps up continuity with the other stone giant sculpts, but it's nice to see her breasts aren't nearly close to the proportions of the female Frost Troll. The female frost troll worked, but I think breasts of that size would have looked silly on such a tall, slender species.

I'd also like to point out how happy I am with the sculpt sizes of the other two. The Fire Giant King looks nice and hearty, while the Hill Giant Chief looks incredibly stocky and strong. What a great job on all three of these.

And finally, I'm not entirely sure we'll be hearing from Jimibones this week, as I think it entirely possible he'll explode with excitement from finally getting a Conna The Wise miniature. I'm pretty sure I've seen him (and others) begging for one at least once a reveal for the past three sets. I'm glad he finally gets his wish!


Pathfinder Adventure Path, PF Special Edition Subscriber

Cool to see more giants. I like this fire giant more than the one from the SS set.

Hoping we see newer / better Storm giants, and other varieties as well.

Grand Lodge

Like seeing Conna the Wise. A female Stone Giant is needed. Plus as Berk noted, the gender not being obvious, means she could be used as a male as well. I agree that she is a must have. I could see her gender possibly being more obvious in hand.

It is likewise good to see another Pathfinder style Fire Giant. Being an Uncommon will make it easier to create an encounter with multiples all in the Pathfinder style.

The Hill Giant Chief looks hefty. Again as an Uncommon we can build a good sized war party.

Good to see more Giants. They tend to be a staple in my campaigns.


Not a bad one in the bunch.

Conna the Wise - I like her. Slighter build than the other Stone giants to date, and looks to be a good match for the portrait. I think she looks female, albeit a very lean female. She'll be a nice addition to my mini's alongside my other RotRL minis.

Fire Giant King (or fire giant Noble given his rarity per Mr. Mona) - I like him too, He's a nice replacement for my King Snurre from the DDM line as a leader for my tribe of fire giants.

The Hill Giant Chief - This is the crown jewel of the reveals though. Finally, a hill giant that doesn't look like a stereotypical 'cave man' type giant, and further differentiating Hill Giants from Ogres. This one has the added benefit of being a "twofer," in that it will also double nicely as an Appalachian giant in the Deadlands game I run off and on.

These three more than make up for no Dwarves in this set. Dwarf-squooshers are just as useful.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I absolutely love the Hill Giant Chief.

Shadow Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

Wow. All three look remarkable.

Conna looks to be an almost perfect match for the stone giants from the Runelords set in terms of both scale and color. I for one appreciate the attempts to keep the minis in the line cohesive. The level of detail is fantastic. She has great facial features and the artful use of the bear skin to cover her bare skin in spot on, much better than a tube top for instance. Plus she's uncommon so I can now add 3-4 females to my growing stone giant collection, thankfully theres an AP coming I may be able to use them in.

The Fire Giant is the one that causes me some internal conflict. He looks truly incredible, but he also looks to be much larger and very differently coloured to the one from Shattered Star. Didn't the first have brownish lave like skin? I'll probably use the 3-4 I get as advanced giants if I can overlook the crown. The detail is great, you can even see the individual muscles on his arms! I am curious why he's such a different color to the first one? Why the fiery red skin vs the lava like? Why silver/blue armour instead of gold? Is it just to emphasise the status difference? I do think that crown need a metal finish, gold or silver rather than the yellow it looks to be now.

Munguk looks awesome and is my favourite in the reveal. He was also coincidentally one of my favourite encounters in Kingmaker. He's most definitely going to have to act as an advanced hill giant (advanced and hill giant in one sentence, who's have thunk it) since he looks to be so much larger and bulkier than the previous giant. This one really brings home the attention to detail, from the tendons in the arms to the skull necklace and the dumb look upon his face. Add to that the painted details, the snotty nose and the wine dribbles, and you have a masterpiece. My only concern is the andy-pandy suit he's wearing, but the more I Look the more that grows on me too.

3 for 3 again Erik. As giant leaders these three hit the mark perfectly. Despite their higher status I'm also glad to see them as uncommons. Of course this leaves me wondering what the large rares will be after seeing such great uncommons.

The detail here really leaves me hoping the paint jobs in this set are up to scratch. These minis so far all deserve, no demand, good paintjobs to highlight the efforts that have gone into the sculpts.

Any chance of other giant varieties in the near future? I'm specifically talking cave and ash giants since they stand out in my mind. Since we got the marsh giant in legends I've been eagerly awaiting more subspecies.

Sovereign Court

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I've been wanting to do Kingmaker for awhile. Frankly the Munguk mini pretty much seals the deal. I've had lots of fun thoughts about that particular encounter.

*evil giggle*


Why is the Hill Giant Chief's file named Ogre?

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

No clue. Nothing to see here.

Shadow Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

Yay another Ogre is coming. Hope it's a female Kreeg. See, I can read anything I want into 6 little words.

I also just realised there is only 19 to go and we haven't see any large rares. If it's anything like the previous set that means 4 more medium rares at least and 4 large. Given how good the uncommons look I can't wait to see these rares.

It also means we may see the set by the end of August? Not released until November, so heres; hoping there are some other releases to "fill" the time between now and the release of this set.

These previews will also see me order 2 cases again - assuming I can do that since the capability doesn't appear to exist at the moment.

Sovereign Court

Wooooo, the Wangering Giant!


I like all 3 minis, but I *LOVE* the Hill Giant! When the first Hill Giant mini got released, I remember thinking, "Aw man, why didn't they use Munguk?" That art is just amazing, and the mini looks like it really nailed it. I'm thrilled to have Conna too (and I bet she looks more female in hand). Keep those lady giants coming!

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Cat-thulhu wrote:

Yay another Ogre is coming. Hope it's a female Kreeg. See, I can read anything I want into 6 little words.

I also just realised there is only 19 to go and we haven't see any large rares. If it's anything like the previous set that means 4 more medium rares at least and 4 large. Given how good the uncommons look I can't wait to see these rares.

It also means we may see the set by the end of August? Not released until November, so heres; hoping there are some other releases to "fill" the time between now and the release of this set.

These previews will also see me order 2 cases again - assuming I can do that since the capability doesn't appear to exist at the moment.

I've noted that Erik has subtly renamed this series 'Friday publisher Preview', rather than it's previous minis preview. Presumably this is to justify adding things other than PFB to it - we've already had the minimates, and I suspect around Gencon there will be a break from Lost Coast to get other things previewed


Your are correct Pigravenl. I've mentioned it a few times lol, and I literally just bursted out load a moment ago and got a strange look from my girlfriend.

Eric, you da man

Dark Archive

Hmmm... a hillbilly giant, really? I don't own that particular AP, so I haven't even heard of this guy, but I have to say I don't like the idea of a giant or ogre that seems to come from Louisiana or Georgia and wears overalls patched with modern t-shirts.


"Munguk only pawn in game of life." That one at least will amuse my players what have given him a certain ex troll fort to live in while he patrols their southern border. Its hard to tell but its actually not a t shirt. Its a shirt that has also been patched unfortunately it looks like a pocket.

Liberty's Edge

we need more Kingmaker minis :-)

new edition in 2015? :-)

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

I think Kingmaker is a mixed bag as far as art is concerned, at least from the perspective of making a set of miniatures.

1) There are several "stylistic" pieces that, while cool looking on the page, will NOT translate to three dimensional objects.

2) There is just generally less art in general, and specifically less art of full-body character images, than we have in more "modern" Adventure Paths. Shortly after Kingmaker we increased the art budget on Pathfinder considerably and added the NPC appendix, which called for miniatures-perfect illustrations of all the key NPCs. Kingmaker doesn't have that.

3) Most of the print copies of Kingmaker are unavailable at retail or even on paizo.com.

There are ways of fixing all three of those issues, of course, but those are the roadblocks that a Kingmaker set must face.


Asgetrion wrote:
Hmmm... a hillbilly giant, really? I don't own that particular AP, so I haven't even heard of this guy, but I have to say I don't like the idea of a giant or ogre that seems to come from Louisiana or Georgia and wears overalls patched with modern t-shirts.

Funny that the very thing about the figure that appeals to me is precisely what you dislike about it. To each his own, but it really in a good likeness of Munguk (Rivers Run Red, pg. 30), if only it had his medallions and buttons (particularly, the smiley face, it just seems so appropriate to Munguk's personality).


I don't care if there's an official Kingmaker set, so long as you keep producing minis I can use in the campaign! I'm running it for two groups, one about 1/2 way through Chapter 1, and the other 75% through Chapter 2, and it's going to be years before we're done (if ever), so there's plenty of time for stuff to come out! Just last night I was regretting having to substitute slurk minis for trollhounds.

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

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I'd love to do a trollhound mini.


Erik Mona wrote:

I'd love to do a trollhound mini.

Then, to quote a famous starship captain, "Make it so." Use your super Publisher Powers and put it in a set.

Shadow Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber
Erik Mona wrote:

I'd love to do a trollhound mini.

Agree. I too would love you to do a troll hound! And a red mantis, and a colloxus demon (c'mon fly head), and a shadow giant, and....hmmm quite a lot actually but I'll happily start with a troll hound ( and maybe a huge kakuen taka in a future encounters set?)


I thought that I was going to have to break out the epoxy putty and the paint to make a convincing Conna the Wise. I'm very psyched about that figure. I am also fond of the hill giant; I imagine a banjo strapped to his back and a pet crocodile.

Scarab Sages

Okay, I love the stone giant and the hill giant. The fire giant, however, looks like he should be wearing roller skates. I'm sorry.

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

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Does it help to imagine him singing Olivia Newton John's "Xanadu"?

Scarab Sages

Erik Mona wrote:
Does it help to imagine him singing Olivia Newton John's "Xanadu"?

So, so much!:)

Grand Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

With Conna, Erik continues his trend of releasing cool miniatures after I need them. ;)

-Skeld


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Maps, Rulebook Subscriber
J. Chris Harris wrote:
Okay, I love the stone giant and the hill giant. The fire giant, however, looks like he should be wearing roller skates. I'm sorry.

As long as he's not trying to roller skate in a buffalo herd, he should be okay.


Pigraven wrote:
J. Chris Harris wrote:
Okay, I love the stone giant and the hill giant. The fire giant, however, looks like he should be wearing roller skates. I'm sorry.
As long as he's not trying to roller skate in a buffalo herd, he should be okay.

But he could be happy if he had a mind too.

Grand Lodge

Skeld wrote:

With Conna, Erik continues his trend of releasing cool miniatures after I need them. ;)

-Skeld

That is so much the truth. This set needed to be released a year ago. I really look forward to another opportunity to run Rise of the Runelords.

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