Pathfinder Battles Preview: Uncommon Courtesy

Friday, October 21, 2011

I’m pleased to report that I have now seen preproduction samples of all 41 miniatures in the Pathfinder Battles Heroes & Monsters set, and I am thrilled with how they look! At long last we have discovered the “perfect” goblin skin tone, and the big meaty Ettin finally has the proper ink wash to make him a truly menacing brute. Things are really coming together, and folks around the Paizo office are blown away by the quality of the sculpts and paint jobs of the entire line. The commons in particular are amazingly impressive, with far better paint jobs than most gamers are used to at that rarity. WizKids has done a tremendous job both in the initial execution, and in keeping up with a bewildering amount of changes and suggestions from Paizo aimed at making these minis as close to perfect as possible.

To that end, we’ve been shaking up the rarity scheme a bit, so while I was planning to reveal the entire uncommon list today, we’re going to have to wait another week since a few minis are moving around and I don’t want to reveal anything that might change later.

But I do want to share some uncommon images with you! As I explained last week, we see the uncommon rarity as the perfect landing point for player character miniatures (the “heroes” in Heroes & Monsters). While everyone needs multiple orcs and goblins, you probably don’t need a whole army of human rangers or dwarf clerics or what have you.

Today’s blog shows off three of the uncommons (that won’t be changing rarities) no one outside the office has seen yet. Two of them are player character types, while the third is a creature you’ll use again and again.

Our first miniature this week is the Dwarf Fighter, a doughty dude in plate armor and a fancy winged helmet. If you’ve got a copy of the Inner Sea World Guide you probably recognize this guy from the back cover. He means business!

Next up is our Half-Elf Cleric, in this case a crusading warrior of Iomedae. I really like the way WizKids emblazoned her holy symbol on her tabard. And since she’s using a sword and wearing plate mail armor, this miniature easily doubles as a fighter or paladin.

Last up this week is a nasty Venomous Snake, whose image comes straight out of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. A bright red coat is nature’s way of saying “I am going to murder you,” and it’ll be fun to watch your players squirm like Indiana Jones when this little guy hits the table.

That’s it for previews this week! But here we are at the end of the post, and I can’t spoil that uncommon list I was planning to, and I feel terrible! So, in order to make up for this egregious slight, here’s a list of a few rares in the set that we haven’t previously announced!

Gargoyle
Half-Orc Barbarian
Spectre
Werewolf
Minotaur
Ogre

There are a lot more rares than that, but I’ve got to hold onto some of my cards. The set doesn’t come out until December, and we’ve got plenty more blogs to go before the set releases!

So let me know if there are other topics you’d like me to cover on these Friday blogs, and I’ll do my best to do so!

Cheers!

Erik Mona
Publisher