So I bought a brick of Rise of the Runelords; I quite enjoyed them and was planning on using them when I run my Rise of the Runelord Anniversary Adventure Path. I went out and bought another brick (from a different store) and I got exactly the same models with no exceptions. I am hugely disappointed by this as I expected some randomization. Maybe someone at the factory needs to be talked to. I don't have the money to go buy more at the moment and I don't even want to as I fear the same thing might happen again.

I did a review of the minis on my site, here. They're good, but probably better if you're running Rise of the Runelords.

I'll also mention that I am running RotR for my Sunday group (really only 2 sessions into it) and while I had to drop out of the case subscription, I found myself with the ability (and money) to buy 3 standard boosters and 3 huge boosters ... and I'm not sorry I did. :)

Let me quickly add in here SPOILER ALERT!!!! (and perhaps this next behind a spoiler tag)

Other goodness includes a goblin dog, a yeti, a faceless stalker, a goblin commando and a redcap. For my HUGES I got the storm giant and the lamia harridan, as well as The other two larges I got (for those keeping count) I think I'll "spoiler" tag 'em as well, they are important "big bads" in later parts of the AP. So, all in all very, very pleased with what I got. If I can afford more boosters in the near future (or somehow afford the case bundle) I will take the plunge. Maybe even buy a few singles of a few "key" villains of chapter 1 that I didn't get. ;) ***And before someone kindly points it out that I may not have a lot of time before I can still "subscribe" to this set ... due to limited premium Rune Giant "miniatures" ... it's a risk I'll have to take.***

Dean

Up front I need to say that I am running Rise of the Runelords. And this set was specifically made for this Adventure Path. But if you use minis and are running this awesome campaign, then these minis are nothing short of essential. Add to the fact that there are simply beautifully made, it is hard for someone running this Adventure Path not to give it five stars. They are expensive. But anything that is a step up in quality will and should cost more. I could see if you are not running the Adventure Path that the whole set may not be useful to you. There are still some nice minis well worth owning no matter what system you may be playing. There are some incredible minis of Player Character types in this set that a player playing a Dwarf Ranger, Human Female Sorceress/Wizard, Human Female Bard, or a number of different Human or Half-Elf Fighter types would find very useful for their PC. And there are monsters like both the Lamia and Lamia Matriarch that has really not been seem before in PPM. The Ogres, Stone Giants, Goblins etc. are all beautifully made and useful no matter the campaign. This is truly a great set.

This review is based on a purchase of three boosters.

I am a long time collector of minis, going back to the Harbinger DDM set, but I had not picked up the Heroes and Monsters set, because for the last few years, I figured I had enough pre-painted plastic. The quality of the RotRL sculpts changed that.

The commons of this set are easily as good quality as many of the uncommons from DDM. The Bugbear Hero has got to be the best common miniature I've ever seen. The large uncommons (I got the lamia matriarch, stone giant champion and ogre brute) were all fantastic - I couldn't believe the stone giant champion wasn't a rare until I looked it up. The humanoid figures all had great poses and distinctive paint-jobs - easily distinguishable among the thousand or so DDM minis I have.

The only negative I can come up with is really minor in the grand scheme of things - the harpy was a little small, in comparison to the other humanoids in the RotRL set and the DDM harpies I have.