Scott Young's page

It's clear this zombie died of starvation before reanimation... he's really skinny in comparison to the other humans in the set. :) He does have a great facial expression, and the pose kind of works, but also kind of looks like he's in the Thriller video. Not my favorite, but nice as one of many zombies shuffling across your table.

This wolf looks great, but it's in such a specific pose that I can't see using more than one at the table. If you put four of these guys out in a pack, ti would look like they were in a conga line or something. Would have been a good third option for a wolf, but as the only one it's a bit limiting. Of course, there are other wolves out there from other sources that will work as companions to this one.

This guy is a good match for his guardsman subordinate. His shield is a bit too simple for me - sure, it's a simple steel shield, but it's too big of a piece of plastic to leave plain like that without it looking... plain. Room for a painted or decalled town logo, though...

I love this guy - simple, but exactly what I imagine when I think of the "town guard". The lantern is a great touch - who calls the guard during the day anyway?

Only complaint: in two bricks, I got one guard, but three officers to boss him around.

This is a nice serpent, although I'm still not sold on the "red = poisonous" theme, which makes this mini (and the spider) a bit garish. Still, I want a bunch so I can repaint them and have different versions... why through one poisonous snake at a party when you can throw half a dozen at them!

Nothing about this guy really screams "vampire" to me... and that's good. He can stand in as a gentleman from Ustalav, or any old, creepy guy with a sword in your campaign. Use him as a patron for your PCs if you want to mess with the meta-gamers' heads! ("The GM is using the Vampire mini for this guy... he must be evil!")

This one could have been a five-star if it was in scale... it seems really small for a troll, in fact, almost as small as some WotC Medium creatures. Also, that lower lip/jaw is just a bit much - how does he close that mouth to chew? While it looks like the artwork from the Bestiary, I think this is an example of a concept that worked well in 2D but not as well in 3D. S

A nice miniature. The wings are great, and the slightly-elevated pose on the rock outcrop makes it look equally like she's standing or flying.

This is one I wish could have been molded in translucent plastic - it seems just too solid. The wisps of material at the bottom just contribute to a sense of bulk. Still, it's a creepy mini, great detail and expression, and the paint job highlights the detail nicely. Still nice as-is; would be better than the ettin if it was in translucent plastic.

While he looks a bit skinny compared to other minis, the skeleton actually appears to be in scale with the other humans in the set. Nice detail and a few holes where there should be holes.

This is one of the minis where all that silver paint is perfectly appropriate. Gleaming armor and sword, nicely detailed shield and gear... a great hero figure. You'll only need one, probably, but most folks are reporting multiples are a greater frequency than other rare figures.

This guy is almost as good as the Orc Brute, but his sword and shield are a bit simplistic and also a bit too "clean" for orcish gear. They will work nicely with the pre-painted orc warriors from Reaper, as well - skin tones and overall look are close enough most folks won't notice the discrepancy. Need more of these!

This mini shows that not all of the great sculpts went on goblins. The two orc figures in the set are both top-notch as well. This one is my favorite of the two - in my top five for the set.

Another one taken right from the pages of Paizo, this Ogre looks just like the one in the Bestiary (although in a different pose). Still, he looks a bit odd - torso big, head very small, legs in between leave this figure looking misproportioned... but that actually makes sense for a ogre, somehow. Still, not as nice as so many of the others in the set. (While I give him 3 stars to differentiate between the 4's and 5's, really everything in this set is at the "very good" or better level.)

While the level of detail and expression on this mummy is great, it's just so... skinny. You get the sense that this corpse has desiccated and wasted away, not been imbued with power and negative energy. Maybe it's a scaling issue. One of the candidates in my "least favorite of the set".

Another one of the top five in this set. "Minotaur with axe" has been done before, but this one has nice detail and a face that looks almost fiendish. He could stand to be a bit taller, but looks great. Has me looking for a PFS scenario with minotaurs in it.

I predict lots of single sales for this one, one of the "must-haves" of the set. While simply painted, the hair and pose are great, and the add-on snake is a great touch. (Looks like it's molded separately then glued on later.) It's also nice that she's depicted in a non-combat pose - I have enough medusa archers already, and this is a refreshing take on a classic subject.

I like this one - the face, while a bit larger than a lion's head, has the right mix of lion and human to make this disturbing. Dynamic pose, the wings are a bit small overall but it makes the mini easier to handle than bigger, more "realistic" wings would have. Like.

This one is a bit odd - I'd have preferred a basic lizardfolk instead of a "champion". This guy seems like a leader with his trident, and he needs some followers. Also, the face is a bit odd as well - big teeth and blue lips seems a bit more kuo-toa or Deep One than reptilian. I got two of these in my 2 bricks, and one of them broke off the base as I removed it from the packaging. Easily fixed.

A few people have commented that this guy should be a halfling.. but I like this guy, a mysterious stranger, assassin, or sneak thief to menace your PCs. His hat/hood is a little long and "Seven Dwarfs"-y, but that's easily fixed if it really bugs you. Like most of the uncommon PC/NPC characters, you probably only need one or two of these, but they'll be useful.

This pose is straight from the Kingmaker adventure path... great pose, overall nicely detailed, but the face seems a bit blank. Not the paint job, the sculpt - the face is a bit flat. Still, a good archer figure for your PC or NPC guide/hunter.

While this is a nicely-detailed mini, I'm bewildered by her choice of weapon. "This is Smother, my +2 defending bedroll..." Actually, it's fine that she doesn't have a weapon, but of all the items to feature her holding... a bedroll? Or maybe it's a giant scroll. Still, it is a nice mini, I'll probably find a recurrent NPC to use her for as well.

Again, I like this guy even though I don't usually like PC/NPC figures. Dynamic pose, and a bit more expression and body language than most.

I usually don't care for PC/NPC figures - give me monsters and bad guys any day! (I mostly GM.) I really like this guy,s pose, though - don't know exactly what it is, but this one is almost as nice of a paint as the iconics. Very happy with this one, will have to find a use for him - probably a recurrent NPC or something.

As good as the others - love them. It is too bad that the planned goblin spellcaster got dropped, though. The next set will hopefully have a few more goblins, maybe a goblin dog or two. In the meantime, these little freaks should give you a nice array of goblins to throw at your PCs.

Again, a great goblin. This is not the same sculpt as the other goblin warrior - they seem to be different in arm positions.

I do have one complaint about the goblins, actually: their swords. Pristine silver, shiny, without wear, and the dogslicers don't have any holes in them. I understand the holes thing, too difficult to do in plastic at this scale, but the colour bugs me. Needs a dark wash or some rust or something. In addition, the part of the wooden handle that extends above the hand is not painted the same as the handle, it's just smeared in silver. Still, I like it - these are easily-fixed issues for those with the inclination.

Same sculpt as the other goblin hero, different paint job. Like this one as much as the other one.

Full disclosure: I love Paizo goblins. I have all the Reaper ones, and these look similar in style but come fully painted and ready to go. My chief complaint is that I only have 6 goblins (of the four styles, not just of this one) - a pretty pitiful raiding force. A pack of goblins would sell at least as well as the four-pack of iconics, I'm betting... maybe even better.

Love.

Not my favorite of the set... it's a decent pose, and the weapon choice (a short sword) is versatile enough to cover for a fighter, a rogue, a bard, or almost any other martial gnome. As for colour - well, it seems halfway between "adventurer drab" and "gnome fashion" - not really one or the other. Bright green and white clothing isn't as flamboyant as you might see on some gnomes, but hardly camouflage either. The orange hair is a bit much for me - again, I might repaint it purple or green (if I change the clothing colour). Scale seems about right compared the the other humanoids.

I really like this figure's pose - not an unrealistic rearing-up-style, but basically a spider crawling relentlessly towards you. The paint job seems a bit garish to me, I know "red = venomous" in some cases, but at this scale it seems a bit too much. I may repaint a couple of them in more drab tones, but I will use lots of these ones.

The gargoyle looks very evil, and somehow more realistic and less cartoon-y than some of the WotC gargoyles done in the past. He seems like a sleek flying machine, and his face just screams "evil". Not a lot of colour of this guy obviously, a dark wash or some texturing could bring him up another notch, but really nice as-is.

The frost giant looks imposing, at least until you put him next to the ettin... then he looks a bit anemic. Nicely detailed, good paint job. You get two weapons you can switch out - a great axe and a sword - but I wouldn't suggest switching them too regularly. The socket which holds the peg on the weapon is a snug fit, and repeated use will eventually loosen up the fit, until the weapon sags. I don't expect this will happen often, but at that point you're probably better picking your favorite and gluing the weapon in. I'm on the hunt for a second one so I can have a permanent one of each.

This guy is intimidating! Great detail, and you really feel the weight of all that plastic when you pick him up. Might actually be a bit too big compared to scale, but I don't care. I am putting ettins in all my campaigns from now on, so I can use him. If you only get one mini out of curiosity, get this one.

OK, not a lot of detail compared to other minis (but hey, it's a wizard in a robe, what do you want?) but still nice. The ears seem a bit too large, along the lines of the early elf art in the first Adventure Paths (Shelalu in Rise of the Rune Lords comes to mind).

This is a great mini, nice detail with a nice paint scheme as well. Right from the back cover of the Inner Sea World Guide, as well. Tempted to change my new PFS dwarf character's weapon to an axe, just so I can use this guy.

This is one of the best dire rat minis I've seen, bar none. The detail is great, it looks nasty! But, it's probably 1/3 too big to be in scale with the other minis. Paizo has said this was a learning process for them, and that scaling issues were one of the things they learned - which is great. I'd love to see these guys remolded at a proper scale - they really are fantastic, but too large for dire rats. Maybe R.O.U.S's or wererats?

The chimera is not bad, although the heads seem a tad compressed. Hard to do a great paint job on this due to the wraparound wings - the faint green/black paint on the chests presumably is to show the transition between lion body and goat or dragon head, but it ends up looking like a smudge. Not the best of the set, but still pretty cool.

Ran this for the first time last night for a table of 6 at the low tier. It was a challenging scenario, in part because we had 2 clerics, a positive-channelling oracle, a fire sorcerer, and a fighter. Lots of healing but less damage potential than many groups - and boy, did they need the healing!

There are fun moments to roleplay near the beginning, especially if you ignore the box text intro and actually play out the interview with V-C Amara Li and then the journey with the mountain guides. This doesn't take long, but really gives a chance for roleplaying with some fun characters. Also, this is likely the PC's first time visiting Tien Xia, so there's a chance to set the scene for the rest of the series and really have fun with the new world they're in.

Combats were challenging for a number of reasons - the environmental conditions force a change of tactics that everyone found refreshing. Individual opponents could deal a lot of damage, so it's a good thing the three healers could keep everyone up. We skipped the optional encounter and I think that's best, since the time is better spent at the beginning as indiciated above.

Overall, another great Season 3 scenario, up there with Frostfur Captives.

Ran this for the first time last night - Tier 6-7 (playing up with APL 5.5) , a weird group with 3 rogues, an alchemist with sneak attack, and a paladin. They loved it, 1 PC death, a second one (the paladin) saved by a healing potion at the last possible second, and several times when no one knew if they would make it out alive.

Scenario starts with a bang - the first encounter was a tough one, resulting in the one death despite having a tank optimized for the foe. Second encounter could be weak if you just throw them at the party, but with some subtlety could be cool as well. (I didn't manage this, as the party's 3 rogues spotted them coming a mile away.)

Puzzles and roleplaying opportunities round this module out nicely.

One criticism is that the end foe's tactics are just too time-consuming, especially for the last encounter when you've already had a puzzle and some roleplaying to eat up your slot time. I had to behave differently to avoid the scenario running out of time. If you have 5 hours this is less of an issue, but in 3.5-4 it's not realistic time-wise. Luckily, your PCs probably won't make the listed tactic easy anyway, so you're on your own.

My suggestion: play this at Tier 6-7, though. Tier 3-4 foes are not as good of a match for PCs, and the Tier 6-7 fights can be epic. Also, don't skip the optional encounter - it was another great one, and gave me the "paladin 1 round from death" result.

Players enjoyed themselves, some memorable moments, and we created one new Osirion faction member as the dead rogue became one of Pharaoh's Risen Guards.

Highly recommend it - just don't try to rush it, and don't run it without some prep time or you'll miss out on the cool moments.

This is a great module to run!

I *love* maps, so it's no surprise I rate this highly. The level of detail is very high, although not uniform as some regions have been developed in more detail than others. There are locations for most of the little towns and sites from the various adventure paths and modules, as well as plenty of sites I can't find easy reference to. Well done!