The Wrath of CONNNNNNNNNN!

Friday, July 29, 2016

It's that magical time of year again when I break my time into 30 minute chunks as I leap from state to state and country to country for the annual ritual of level-draining known as "Con Season." I only just returned to the States from (the absolutely wonderful, it must be said) PaizoCon UK, and here I sit in my office with only a few more working hours before it's time to head out to the big one—GEN CON!

This year marks my 22nd consecutive year at the convention, and I'm still just as excited about going as I was that very first year. Since I haven't gotten a chance to actually play a game at Gen Con since the 1990s*, these days the aspect of the convention that most gets my blood pumping is the chance to see old friends from all over the world in the evenings. Also, for about an hour on Sunday, after all the business meetings and seminars and media interviews are over, I like to speed-walk the trade hall on the hunt for new miniatures!

All of the best minis manufacturers are present at the show, displaying their latest and greatest offerings. Because of strange timing this year, WE don't have any brand new WizKids Pathfinder Battles sets to show off, though we will have a few cases of The Rusty Dragon Inn that we managed to find recently. So if you missed that much-in-demand set the first time, you'll have a chance to check it out in the Paizo booth (#103).

We'll also have a few new metal miniatures from our friends at Reaper Miniatures making their debut in the Paizo store, including iconic characters from Occult Adventures and a few other exciting surprises.

As in past years, we've set up a special promotional repaint miniature FREE with purchases of $50 or more at the Paizo booth. This year's promo mini is the Blue Guard, a repaint of the Guard from The Rusty Dragon Inn that we've produced in extremely limited quantities. We should have a FEW of this guy left over for sale here on paizo.com after we get back from the show, but I wouldn't expect him to last long. He's really cool, and guards are the type of figures most GMs want by the small handful.

We'll also be giving away top-secret promo repaints to all ticketed players of the Friday and Saturday night Pathfinder Society Specials in the massive Sagamore Ballroom. If you're there on Friday night especially, there's a good chance that I or a member of the Paizo editorial staff will hand-deliver your limited-edition figure, just by way of saying "thanks" for playing Pathfinder and enjoying what we do. We couldn't do it without you, and a free miniature every once in a while is but a token of our appreciation for your continued gaming loyalty and support.

But most of you won't be at Gen Con, and you're probably eager to see more previews of figures from the upcoming Deadly Foes set. I've been on the road at conventions the last two Fridays, so it's understandable if everyone is a little bit starved of previews.

So let's get on with it!

It's unbelievably hot in Seattle right now, so today's previews both involve FIRE! Up first we have the Peri, from Bestiary 3. Peris are a race of celestials native to the good-aligned Outer Planes, but they are often found in the company of mortals on the Material Plane. Sworn enemies of divs, Peris are drawn from Persian mythology, and their fiery wings certainly give them a nifty appearance. At CR 14, you're gonna want a pretty titanic battle to make up for these guys being in the Common rarity slot, but hey, at least they look really sweet with clear wings and a great sculpt. The Peri is a Medium figure.

As I sit here writing this, the sun is beating into my office, which has surely grown as hot as the flaming bow of this incredible Erinyes devil. It's difficult to believe it's taken us this long to create one of the most iconic and beloved devils, but some of our early sets were so filled with winged female fiends that I wanted to wait for the right time for this specific creature to strike. WizKids has done a phenomenal job with the sculpt—don't let the relatively simple paint job fool you. This one is a winner. The Erinyes is a Medium, uncommon figure.

And that's it! I'm off to Gen Con. If you can catch me between meetings in the Paizo booth, I'd love to chat with you about Pathfinder Battles, miniatures in general, or pretty much whatever! It's great to get to see our customers face-to-face at the show, and more than a few of those conversations have resulted in figures added to the line, so you never know! I'm always open to suggestions.

See you at the show, or see you back here in a couple weeks!

Until then, I remain...

Erik Mona
Publisher

* Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration! I'm actually playing in a LIVE Pathfinder game this year with Jason Bulmahn, F. Wesley Schneider, and Crystal Frasier! It's the Live RPG Plus "celebrity" gaming event on Saturday night at 7:00 in the Westin Capitol III room. I understand tickets are still available. You can find more information HERE!