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A New Look at Some Old Friends

Friday, December 11, 2015

With the January release date for The Rusty Dragon Inn right around the corner and everything entering "pause" territory for the upcoming holiday, I don't have any new figures to show off for this week's Pathfinder Battles previews. I DO, however, have a few new images of some old friends to show off, so in the holiday spirit, I thought I'd share a look at actual final figures from December's Pathfinder Battles Iconic Heroes Set 4. (These figures hit the Paizo warehouse too late to go out with December subscription shipments, and will be fulfilled in late-December/January.)

WizKids has continued their tradition of providing amazing paint jobs for the entire Iconic Heroes line, and Set 4 is certainly no exception. Below, I've outlined the six figures in the set with "final" photographed images of the actual release figures. Sometimes, zooming in super close on figures like this has a way of highlighting some of a figure's minor blemishes, but overall I think these photos are a good representation of what you get in the box.

Let's take a look!

First we've got Crowe, Human Bloodrager, from the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide. Crowe puts the "show" in Shoanti. Did you know superstar Pathfinder artist Wayne Reynolds based the look of Crowe on his own Pathfinder character? While I have little doubt that Wayne could produce an absolutely KILLER paint job on a blank Crowe figure, I also have little doubt that there is only Wayne Reynolds, and we can't all be great at art. For the rest of us, Iconic Heroes Set 4 does all the work, resulting in a beautiful figure.

Our first crack at Lirianne, Half-Elf Gunslinger, came in the Skull & Shackles set. While I adore the attention to detail and fine points of the costuming on that figure, I was never quite satisfied with the way Lirianne's face sort of fell into the overall composition, leading to a somewhat compromised miniature altogether. I'm pleased to report that Iconic Heroes Set 4 does away with compromise to present a figure that is awesome from top to bottom.

Next up is Hakon, most famous for being the iconic skald in the Advanced Class Guide, but more beloved to me personally for being the brother of the greatest Pathfinder RPG character who ever lived, Ostog the Unslain*. Hakon's face tattoos and eye tampos look better in hand than under the unforgiving magnification of digital photography, and overall I'm very pleased with how he turned out. He works great for any kind of axe-wielding warrior, and I can see this piece getting a lot of use at my table fighting with or against the player characters.

By my eyes, this figure turned out the best in the entire set. Here we have Jirelle, Half-Elf Swashbuckler, again from the Advanced Class Guide. Jirelle has a remarkably complex costume, so I've always been a little concerned with how the final figure would turn out. I needn't have worried. She looks fantastic.

Although the straight-on angle of this photo makes it difficult to see, my favorite thing about the Shardra, Dwarf Shaman figure is its three-dimensionality. I think this is the best dwarf we've created for Pathfinder Battles so far, and the morningstar/censer combination makes her great for any kind of ceremonial dwarf—a race that always stands on ceremony.

Shardra would feel quite lonely without her spirit animal Kolo, a rambunctious rock lizard. Perfect for use as a familiar, animal companion, or even just a random lizard in a subterranean encounter, Kolo has a message on its little scroll that says: Beware! I kick ass.

And that's it for Iconic Heroes Set 4! I'll be back next week with one more preview for 2015, and after that, we'll all have visions of brand new minis dancing in our heads!

Until then, I remain,

Erik Mona
Publisher

*Not guaranteed.

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Tags: Iconic Heroes Miniatures Pathfinder Battles
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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I'm hoping that the "his photo" is a typo for "this photo" in the entry beneath Shardra
Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

Derp. Yes. Typo.
Shadow Lodge
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder LO Special Edition, PF Special Edition Subscriber

Love them. The iconics continue to excelled the detail is fantastic. Not sure which is my favourite this time, which is testimony to the sets quality. My only criticism - crowe's armour may be a little too shiny! Surely he hasn't cleaned it?

When do we get to see hayato? I'm really hanging out to see the samurai.

Do we get an announcement next week about the next set? Huges perhaps?
Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Announcement soon. Hayato soon.
Shadow Lodge
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder LO Special Edition, PF Special Edition Subscriber

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Silver Crusade Contributor

Really looking forward to picking these up! ^_^

Plus, since the Aethera Campaign Setting cleared its Kickstarter goal, I'll be able to get my case of Dungeons Deep in time!

returns to writing
Cat-thulhu wrote:
My only criticism - crowe's armour may be a little too shiny! Surely he hasn't cleaned it?

adventuring with a Prestidigitation wielding Gnome does that to armour.

Dark Archive

Must get a Kolo on the secondary market! Not much need for the others but Kolo rocks!
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Erik Mona wrote:

Derp. Yes. Typo.

Fixed (along with a couple others).

Is Jirelle naturally that tan?
Silver Crusade Contributor

She's supposed to be fairly dark, I believe. The art wildly varies on that point.
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Jirelle's father is a Mwangi human, so the mini looks about right. I actually made the opposite of Berselius's complaint about the cover of Heroes of the Streets.
Dark Archive

This set is not available yet ANYWHERE.
Lately wizkids shipping delays are becoming a real nuisance, at least with Pathfinder products.

I guess this will arrive together with my Rusty Dragon Inn case on january 27th - the same time when Iconic Heroes Set 5 is supposed to come out...

Cool Stuff Inc. lists the street date as 12/23/15. Rusty Dragon Inn is listed as 01/06/16.
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Vernon Fults wrote:
Cool Stuff Inc. lists the street date as 12/23/15. Rusty Dragon Inn is listed as 01/06/16.

The first could be.

The second - i don't know, seems a little early.

Maybe Eric Mona can shed some light on these dates?

Thx Vernon and Eric
Dark Archive

So, no friday preview again...

With x-mas next week and new years eve the week after that we will have had 4 weeks of no minis news if we get a preview on january 8th.
That's sad.

But by then Iconic Heroes Set 4 will hopefully be in the hands of some of us (there still is no official release date).

The Rusty Dragon Inn will not be (as january 6th is most propably wrong).
Marco Massoudi wrote:
But by then Iconic Heroes Set 4 will hopefully be in the hands of some of us (there still is no official release date).

December 23rd.

Dark Archive
Joana wrote:
Marco Massoudi wrote:
But by then Iconic Heroes Set 4 will hopefully be in the hands of some of us (there still is no official release date).
December 23rd.

Thx Joana.

Is this set on the market now?

Also, what is the ETA of Rusty Dragon Inn?

Thanks!
Dark Archive
Young Boromir wrote:

Is this set on the market now?

Also, what is the ETA of Rusty Dragon Inn?

Thanks!

We just got ours today at our FLGS, and they're gorgeous! Kolo is by far my favorite - I squeed :)

The FLGS had Iconic Heroes 4 this weekend. The paint jobs are excellent. Rusty Dragon is hopefully still on track for 01/06/16 release.

Thanks Alanya and Vernon Fults.

I'm excited to see both Set 4 of Iconic Heroes and the Rusty Dragon Inn set.
Dark Archive
Vernon Fults wrote:
The FLGS had Iconic Heroes 4 this weekend. The paint jobs are excellent. Rusty Dragon is hopefully still on track for 01/06/16 release.

As far as i know the relase date is still january 27th.

Coolstuffinc is the only site that lists january 6th and they even say it's an estimate that is subject to change.

If RDI is pushed back to 01/27/16, that means IH-5 and IH-6 will also be pushed back. :(
Dark Archive
Vernon Fults wrote:
If RDI is pushed back to 01/27/16, that means IH-5 and IH-6 will also be pushed back. :(

It has not been pushed back.

January 27th was and is the intended january release date which has been confirmed in the new release shipping thread.

Considering the low quality of set 4 that i have been hearing of (i dont have it yet) and the release of The Rusty Dragon Inn i personally would appreciate pushing back set 5 and 6 a month.
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Marco Massoudi wrote:
Considering the low quality of set 4 that i have been hearing of (i dont have it yet) and the release of The Rusty Dragon Inn i personally would appreciate pushing back set 5 and 6 a month.

I'll just point out that 2 different posters just 4 and 5 posts above yours used the words "gorgeous" and "excellent" to describe sets they've actually seen in person...

Silver Crusade Contributor
Vic Wertz wrote:
Marco Massoudi wrote:
Considering the low quality of set 4 that i have been hearing of (i dont have it yet) and the release of The Rusty Dragon Inn i personally would appreciate pushing back set 5 and 6 a month.
I'll just point out that 2 different posters just 4 and 5 posts above yours used the words "gorgeous" and "excellent" to describe sets they've actually seen in person...

I'm trying to make time to go over mine and leave a review, but I'll say here - while they weren't as good as set #2, those were the best-painted minis I've ever seen, second only to a studio-quality piece I ordered from overseas.

Set #4 was a step down from that. It was still great.

I'm patiently waiting for a new review. I do not have high hopes for today, since the Red Dragon Inn subscriptions just started kicking in.

Set 4 has great painting. I mean great. The figures are all very cool.

Kolo is cute. The 5 humanoids are so detailed - I keep noticing more features on each that really bring out character.

I think these rank among the best pre-painted I've seen. Wow!
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