Dungeon Dressing Singles Online!

Friday, July 3, 2015

Welcome everyone to the Friday Publisher Preview, and another look at some of the sweet Pathfinder Battles miniatures coming up in November's The Rusty Dragon Inn set of prepainted plastic gaming figures. Before we get to that, however, I'd like to talk a little bit about the PREVIOUS set, Dungeons Deep. Specifically, I'd like to discuss dungeon dressing.

Dungeon dressing is a new type of figure introduced in Dungeons Deep. That set saw the release of six different sculpts, the Anghazan Idol, Bubbling Cauldron, Burning Brazier, Chest, Iron Maiden, and Sarcophagus.

Based on online commentary, it appears as though dungeon dressing has been very popular, and some of the singles have been selling for crazy money on the secondary market. From my perspective, that's primarily due to a small handful of factors. The most important is availability.

In order to test the market for this sort of miniature, WizKids inserted them in place of uncommon figures in randomly selected boosters, with at least a full set of each figure in each case (case collation not guaranteed, etc., etc., etc.). In practice, that makes them equivalent to rares at the very least, which is probably fitting in some sense. Since we announced dungeon dressing, a minority of customers have been very against the idea, either because they don't use "props" on their table, or simply because they'd prefer another monster or character mini.

This sort of distribution for dungeon dressing has another effect—it significantly reduced the number of figures we at paizo.com have to sell. That's meant that, until today, zero dungeon dressing singles have appeared on our web store.

Well, that changes as of now, with one major caveat. As of this moment, customers can order dungeon dressing from paizo.com. However, we know that the demand for these pieces will be very high, so in order to spread their distribution as widely as possible, we are limiting sales of dungeon dressing minis to one of each piece per customer account. I want to stress that we have an extremely limited supply of these pieces, so even with the one-per-customer limit I do not expect them to last very long. We'll evaluate how this goes for the next set, and I'll do my best to keep you updated here over the months between now and November.

But wait, I hear some of you saying. One Sarcophagus or Iron Maiden might be enough, but how about that awesome Burning Brazier? I want like a dozen of those things!

Happily, I anticipated the demand for the Burning Brazier immediately upon seing the final brilliant design by WizKids, and I immediately ordered a special repaint Burning Brazier Promo Mini, that is available exclusively from paizo.com. They are online right now, with no per-customer limit. Trick out your whole dungeon in these things!

I also made sure to differentiate the Burning Brazier Promo from the regular Burning Brazier figure by changing up the colors. The promo version is a flat silver metal color, whereas the Dungeons Deep version has a gold color to it. That means you can set up an encounter with several "normal" Promo Burning Braziers and use the more rare "gold" version as some kind of "special" set piece.

So buy away to your heart's content!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a promo version of the Chest (probably the best other candidate from this set), and there's no guarantee I'll be able to do this with "common" dungeon dressing in future sets. But I knew people would want more than one of those braziers, and I did what I could to make that possible.

And Now, Back to The Rusty Dragon Inn

With that out of the way, let's take a look at two pieces of dungeon dressing from November's The Rusty Dragon Inn set. As many of you have suspected, the dressing in this set follows the theme of the set in general—the tavern. Let's take a look!

Here we have a Cart that will look great as part of a campsite, to liven up an urban street encounter, or carry around random junk. I don't have final outputs of any of the Rusty Dragon figures yet, but the idea is to make the back of this thing big enough to fit a figure into, so it also makes a crude chariot. To my knowledge, the wheels on the cart are stationary, so (as with all figures), you'll have to use a bit of imagination.

Even cooler than the cart is its older brother, the Wagon. This simple wood-textured vehicle has a ton of uses. Cart around a player character! Pick up several to fashion a crude barricade! Carry your dungeon treasure back to town in style!

So, there you have it. Two of The Rusty Dragon Inn's dungeon dressing figures. But wait! I hear your questions already!

"Hey Erik," I hear you say. "Just who is supposed to pull around this cart and wagon? Our player characters?"

"Why no," I reply calmly. "I expect the set's Draft Horse to pull them."

The Draft Horse is a Large, uncommon figure.

See you next week!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Crazy Good Commons

Friday, June 26, 2015

One of my favorite things about November's The Rusty Dragon Inn set of prepainted Pathfinder Battles figures is the strength of the common figures in the set. Picking the right rarities for figures is both an art and a science, and we've been doing our best to get the balance correct since the start. I'm very pleased with how things shook out for The Rusty Dragon, and hope that you agree!

First up this week is a staple of tavern life, the Dancing Girl! She works great as a solo performer or as part of a troupe, and if you imagine her hands are raised for a purpose other than a seductive dance, it's also possible to see her as a spellcaster. Her cultural details suggest the Varisian race of the Pathfinder world, which means she'd also work as a Harrower or a commoner NPC. Anyway, I think her sculpt turned out pretty well! The Dancing Girl is a Medium, common figure.

Last week we revealed the Guard, and this week we introduce his better-armored, haughtier cousin, the Pious Guard. His illustration comes from page 117 of the Pathfinder RPG NPC Codex, where he is depicted as a 10th-level paladin of Iomedae, but he could just as easily be a temple guardian or a heroic player character. Heck, he might even work as a cleric or even a member of the city watch. The Pious Guard is a Medium, common figure.

Although the general theme of The Rusty Dragon Inn set is taverns and the folks who patronize them, not all figures in the set slavishly follow the theme. For players wanting more creatures than barmaids and commoners we have a variety of honest-to-goodness monsters in the set, including several examples of my personal favorite low-level undead critters—ghouls. This Ghoul Cultist looks best in large numbers, surrounding your player characters at the culmination of a profane ritual. Luckily, he's a common, so you'll be able to build a coven of these guys pretty easily! The Ghoul Cultist is a Medium figure.

And that's it for this week! The Sun is shining in Seattle, and I'm ready for the weekend. See you in seven days for more previews of The Rusty Dragon Inn!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Men and Monsters

Friday, June 19, 2015

I'm pleased to see that our current Pathinder Battles set, Dungeons Deep, is arriving in stores and in the hands of collectors, and early reaction to the set has been very encouraging. We put a lot of effort into making Dungeons Deep the best and most useful set of figures we've done to date, and with tons of high-utility figures, it looks like we either achieved or came very close to that goal (hey, we've done some great sets in the past too, so the competition is fierce!).

This week I'd like to move on from Dungeons Deep to present three figures from our NEXT set, November's The Rusty Dragon Inn. After I announced that we planned a tavern-themed set at this year's PaizoCon, a few miniature collectors expressed some concern about a set with so many non-combatant figures. I guess the taverns in my campaigns see a lot more fighting than the national average, but never fear! In addition to barmaids, bartenders, and other NPC figures, The Rusty Dragon Inn set also includes a good number of monsters or fight-ready humanoids.

Here are three of them.

Every location needs a Guard, and I knew I had to make a miniature of this guy as soon as I first saw his image on page 267 of the NPC Codex. Good guy, bad guy, you be the judge. The only thing that's certain is he is way, way lower-level than your player characters, and he's probably going to die in large numbers. That's why we made this Medium figure a common!

We've already produced a couple of frost giants in the Pathinder Battles line, but I'm not convinced we've created enough to build a truly meaningful battle royale. Thus, I present to you the Frost Giant Ice Mage, a regal figure who could just as easily double as a cleric or leader type. What's a frost giant doing at the Rusty Dragon Inn, you ask? Shhhh. Shhhh. Not everything has to fit the theme perfectly, you guys. There's always room for more monsters. The Frost Giant Ice Mage is a Large, uncommon figure.

Last up this week is a real winner, the mounted Orc Rider on Dire Wolf. I'd like to see the look on the faces of bar patrons when this dude wanders into town. The Orc Rider on Dire Wolf comes with a sword and a battle standard bearing the symbol of the Hold of Belkzen, where orcs have carved out a bit of a nation for themselves. Will he carve out a place at your tavern table? The Orc Rider on Dire Wolf is a Large, rare figure, and I can't wait to see what he looks like in his final form!

That's it for this week. Tune in next Friday for another early glimpse at digital sculpts from The Rusty Dragon Inn!

Until then, I remain,

Erik Mona
Publisher

One Last Look at Dungeons Deep

Friday, June 12, 2015

Last week, I previewed some Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic figures from the upcoming set, Dungeons Deep that had originally leaked to the Internet thanks to trade show photos, which often don’t reveal the figures in the best possible light, or even from a decent angle. And, while I’m eager to show off a bunch more figures from Dungeons Deep now being shipped to paizo.com customers and appearing in retail stores, today seems like the best time to make up for that omission.

So, without further ado, here are most (if not all) of the remaining Dungeons Deep figures, now available as singles or in booster boxes from paizo.com and elsewhere. Thanks especially to our crack Community Team members Liz Courts and Chris Lambertz for taking snazzy new photos of the final figures from the entire set, which you can browse in our singles gallery here.

First up this week is the Nuglub Gremlin, one of my favorite creatures from Bestiary 2! The Nuglub’s three eyes shine with a pearlescent blue paint that adds a touch of color to this dastardly figure. The Nuglub Gremlin is a Small, common figure.

The Pukwudgie was originally intended for the Reign of Winter set, but got bumped to Dungeons Deep for a variety of reasons. Its statistics appear in Bestiary 3. The final figure features some really nice paintwork for a Small common, including picked-out fingernails and a wash on the garment that adds a nice sense of three-dimensionality.

The Andrazku Demon is another refugee from the Reign of Winter set. Its statistics appear in Pathfinder Adventure Path #69: "Maiden, Mother, Crone", which among other things details powers like “icewalking” and “mutilating gouge.” WizKids did a nice job with the Andrazku’s sculpt, giving the creature a great, menacing scream. The Andrazku Demon is a common, Medium figure.

Here we have the Dire Bat, a long-anticipated creature for the line. Based on the illustration from page 30 of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary, the mini depicts the Dire Bat hovering in flight, facing its enemies directly. This pose gives it a strange, almost humanoid appearance that, for my money, makes the figure great as a proxy for any number of bat-like foes. The Dire Bat is a Large, uncommon figure.

Dungeons Deep is the first set to greatly benefit from the amazing art in the NPC Codex, and almost as soon as we saw the Half-Orc Adept on page 245, we knew we needed to add him to a Pathfinder Battles set. With a mace, blade, and a nasty mask, this guy works great for any orcish villain or for a decidedly nasty player character. The Half-Orc Adept is a Medium, rare figure.

Our last figure today actually comes from the very first volume of the Pathfinder Adventure Path—the adventuring hero Eando Kline! The first 18 Pathfinder Journals depicted Eando’s field reports to his Pathfinder Society masters, and in the years since his 2007 debut we’ve come to think of old Eando as the “iconic Pathfinder.” He’s subsequently appeared on the cover of the Pathfinder Society Field Guide, and he was an NPC in the Serpent’s Skull Adventure Path. And we definitely haven’t seen the last of him, either. Based on fantastic art by PaizoCon 2015 Artist Guest of Honor Jason A. Engle, Eando Kline is a GREAT choice for a player character figure, an NPC Pathfinder Society agent, or really just any sweet-looking human warrior with a sword. Eando is one of my favorite figures in the set, and not just for reasons of nostalgia. Eando Kline is a Medium, rare figure.

All of these figures and more than 40 others are currently available in the Dungeons Deep set. Snap them up before they’re gone forever!

Until next week, I remain…

Erik Mona
Publisher

Catching Up, Looking Ahead

Friday, June 5, 2015

Whew! What a roller-coaster the last few weeks have been here at Paizo HQ and beyond! Two weeks ago from this moment we were deep in the throes of PaizoCon 2015, which is rapidly earning a place in my heart as the best PaizoCon to date! It's always such a wonderful experience getting to spend a weekend with Pathfinder players tossing dice and throwing back beers, and this year's show was no exception.

Actually, it was a bit of an exception in that the new, larger hotel space at the Doubletree Hotel allowed for more focused gaming and a slightly more relaxed atmosphere, conjuring memories of the earliest PaizoCons. I had a wonderful time chatting about Pathfinder Battles with fellow minis enthusiasts, and from the attendee reports I've read so far, everyone on hand seemed to appreciate the two full booster boxes of Pathfinder Battles figures we packed in every attendee's goodie bag. These packs primed the pump for my favorite PaizoCon event, Erik Mona's Miniatures Trading Afterparty, now in its SEVENTH consecutive year.

This year I seeded the party with a few samples from the forthcoming Dungeons Deep set, which is now shipping to paizo.com customers and should be hitting retail stores any day now. Folks were very positive about the new figures, and I was very proud to show them off. Dungeons Deep is one of my favorite Pathfinder Battles sets to date, and I'm confident you're going to really enjoy it.

PaizoCon was also special from a Pathfinder Battles perspective in that I announced the very next set of Pathfinder Battles figures at the Preview Banquet—The Rusty Dragon Inn! I've long wanted to base a set loosely around a tavern theme. Not only does it provide a great excuse to produce dungeon dressing suitable for the tavern environment, but it also allows us to feature several NPC and even player character-appropriate figures in a naturalistic way. Of course, The Rusty Dragon Inn set will also include a nice mix of monsters, but we'll get to those shortly.

Before that, however, let's preview the one figure from Dungeons Deep that somehow slipped through the cracks: the Anghazan Idol! Anghazan is an ape demon lord in the Pathfinder campaign setting, and his blood-soaked idol—based on one of the first metal miniatures Paizo ever created back in 2006—seemed like a natural (ahem) fit for our first round of dungeon dressing.

The Anghazan Idol comes complete with blood-stained hands and cheeks, and works well as any primitive stone idol, either in a dungeon or in the wilderness. I've teamed it up with a gaggle of dancing Charu-ka from Legends of Golarion in the photo above to put it in its proper context.

While out in the Sun, I noticed the idol's special, somewhat secret feature. The green gem at the crown of the idol is, in fact, translucent plastic, and it caught the light of the Sun in a really interesting way (did I mention that I love summers in Seattle—these outdoor dioramas will definitely be vanishing in a couple months as our weather turns terrible). Check out the gem in particular in this close-up shot:

Anyway, the Anghazan idol is, in many ways, the most modest of the dungeon dressing in Dungeons Deep, but I hope you'll discover that it's got a charm all its own.

But what about the Rusty Dragon Inn?

The big Pathfinder Battles news out of PaizoCon was, of course, The Rusty Dragon Inn, currently set for release in the fourth quarter of 2015! As I said, I've wanted to do a tavern-themed set for a long time, and I'm thrilled with the characters, creeps, and critters we've been able to fit into this set.

Ever since the line debuted, I've been trying to balance the different requests I get from customers and retailers. Generally speaking, super-collectors want stuff they don't already have, while retailers (who often break boosters down for singles) say they want figures suitable for player characters, since that's what their customers most often want to buy.

Well, the Iconic Heroes boxed sets are serving the need for straight-up heroes admirably (and sets 4, 5, and 6 are currently in the works!), but that still leaves the need for NPCs. But again, they should be NPCs that not everyone already has—a tall order after 15 years of prepainted plastic figures.

Anyway, I think we did a pretty good job making our selections. Honestly I'll be thrilled to have the figures in The Rusty Dragon Inn set for my own gaming, in which fights seem to break out in taverns nearly as often as they do in dungeons!

Let's take a quick look at many of the figures I revealed at PaizoCon, and get into some of the whys and details I didn't have time to cover during my banquet presentation.

No tavern set would be complete without a Serving Girl, here with a tray laden with food and drinks. This figure takes inspiration from Wayne Reynolds's cover to the NPC Codex, and I can see plenty of uses for this figure—mostly involving getting caught in an area of effect spell, but hey, that's tactically important too! The Serving Girl is a Medium, common figure.

There always seems to be a Merchant lurking about in the inn right before things go down, so he was another obvious inclusion in The Rusty Dragon Inn set. Whether you use this guy as an NPC to be protected, as an alchemist player character or adversary, or as a villain with an amazing mustache to twirl, he's bound to make an impression on your players. The Merchant is a Medium, uncommon figure.

We've been doling out city watchmen for a long time in the Pathfinder Battles line, and with The Rusty Dragon Inn, we're finally providing a no-nonsense commander. Decked out in the familiar blue from previous watch figures, the City Watch Commander cuts an imposing figure, fists on hips, ready to kick some ass. We based her look on Kasadei, a character from both Dawn of the Scarlet Sun and the Pathfinder Comics series, but she can really be anyone you want, including a player character. The City Watch Commander is a Medium, uncommon figure.

Of course, a set filled with nothing by NPCs would likely doom the line, so I'm pleased to report that The Rusty Dragon Inn also includes a bunch of monsters!

We've had really good luck picking a couple of adversary types and providing multiple figures within a set, and The Rusty Dragon Inn is no exception. This time, we're focusing on monsters that, while not exactly welcome in an urban setting, certainly aren't out of place there.

The first focus race this time is GHOULS, one of my all-time favorite fantasy races. Yes, we've done a few ghouls in previous sets, but The Rusty Dragon Inn allows us to plumb the pages of the Monster Codex in particular to present even more ghoulish goodness. The Ghoul Champion depicted here, for example, is just one of a small handful of amazing ghouls that we'll reveal over the weeks to come. He's a Medium, rare figure.

The set also focuses on bugbears, a staple humanoid enemy race that has long been plagued by inconsistent or just flat-out unappealing figures. Here we see the imposing Bugbear Tyrant, a Medium, uncommon figure.

And, because I love you guys, here's a bonus reveal that we didn't show off at PaizoCon. It's one of my favorite figures in the set, a nasty, sticky… thing we can only call: the Quivering Cube. The Quivering Cube is a Large, rare figure that comes complete with skeletal remains and some gear visible within it. Hooray!

Lastly this week I'd like to mention that the replacement figures for the badly produced Feiya and King Irovetti figures that were originally going to appear in Dungeons Deep have been moved to The Rusty Dragon Inn instead. WizKids simply wasn't happy with the quality of the figures, and they want to make them as awesome as possible. I'm eager to see how they turn out.

And that's it for this week, folks. Tune in next Friday for even more amazing reveals of all-new figures from The Rusty Dragon Inn!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Summon Monster X

Friday, May 15, 2015

We're getting closer and closer to the June release of Dungeons Deep, the latest, greatest set of prepainted plastic Pathfinder Battles miniatures from our friends at WizKids! By my count, we've revealed nearly the entire set so far, but I've been holding off on two figures in particular, waiting for the right time to show them off. Lots of folks have been asking if Dungeons Deep will have any iconic characters, now that we're also releasing those characters in the form of the spectacularly detailed Iconic Heroes Base Sets. The answer, my friends, is a resounding YES, and this set's iconic hero rounds out the ranks of the iconic characters we featured in our second class-centered RPG release, the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide.

I speak, of course of Balazar the summoner and his beloved "pet," the otherworldly eidolon Padrig!

Let's take a closer look at Balazar, Gnome Summoner.

Balazar's sculpt captures him mid-spell, or perhaps directing the actions of his eidolon from afar. While the sculpt is similar to Balazar's appearance in the just-released Iconic Heroes Set 3, here the colors are somewhat brighter, and if I'm being honest I think I like this version of Balazar just a little bit more than the Iconic Heroes version, which is a bit darker. Balazar is, as I mentioned, the final iconic character of the original 17 to appear as a prepainted miniature in one of the random Pathfinder Battles sets. While the stand-alone Iconic Heroes boxes will delve further into the ranks of iconic heroes from the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide (and possibly beyond), Balazar is also the last iconic character to show up in the regular Pathfinder Battles line, at least for the next set, which contains none.

So let's take a moment to celebrate our tour through the iconic characters of our first two major hardcover rulebook releases. We knew we'd get to you eventually, little guy! Balazar, Gnome Summoner is a Small, rare figure.

Balazar is just a wee gnome without his best buddy Padrig, who in Dungeons Deep is called simply "Eidolon." The Eidolon represents a class feature with lots of variability, so it's probably fitting that Padrig is a weird snake/chicken hybrid. He'll see plenty of table use for folks playing the Balazar pregenerated character in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild organized play program, but I'm also hoping he gets use as a generic eidolon figure, or just as a weird monster used to throw off players who think they have every Bestiary memorized.

The sculpt here is a bit meatier than the Padrig figure in Iconic Heroes Set 3. Check out the back view to see Padrig's snake body fading away into clear plastic, taking a cue from his original Wayne Reynolds illustration. The figure twists and turns with some real dynamism, and it's growing on me even more as I sit and look at it now. Yes, he's a weirdo, but he's a fun weirdo. The Eidolon is a rare, Medium figure.

I leave you this week with a look at Balazar and his Eidolon as they face off against the vicious Gargantuan Red Dragon Case Incentive figure from the Dungeons Deep set.

Don't forget to order our most recent Iconic Heroes boxed sets: Iconic Heroes Set 1, Iconic Heroes Set 2, and Iconic Heroes Set 3, all of which are shipping now to paizo.com customers.

Better yet, set up a Pathfinder Battles Ongoing Case Subscription to unlock a whopping 30% discount on Iconic Heroes box purchases (the discount for new subscribers goes into effect only after your first case ships next month). Existing subscribers should also consider ordering the Iconic Heroes sets soon, as they've proven to be very popular and they will not last forever!

There will be no Pathfinder Battles preview blog next week, as we'll all be rolling dice and hanging out with fellow gamers at PaizoCon 2015! I'm going to try to have the entire Dungeons Deep set on display in the Paizo store at the convention, so swing by there to see these awesome figures in person.

I'd also like to remind all PaizoCon attendees that I host an annual Miniatures Trading Afterparty in the hotel bar following the formal close of the show. I'll have a bunch of Pathfinder Battles figures for trade, as well as remnants from my own personal miniatures collection that I'm looking to unload. We've been doing this event for something like 6 years now, and it's always a highlight of the show. Bring any minis (painted preferred, but there's a market in unpainted figures too) you don't want and trade them with other gamers for figures you do. It's awesome, and I'll see you there!

Until then, I remain,

Erik Mona
Publisher

Creepy, Crawlie, Terror Birdie

Friday, May 8, 2015

We're getting closer and closer to the June release of the Dungeons Deep set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic miniatures, and I couldn't be more excited! This set focuses (for the most part) on the nasty critters that live in dungeons and the people that kill them. That means demons and adventurers and oozes and such, but it also means some horrible denizens of the animal and insect kingdoms, as well. This week we reveal photos of three such menaces from the set.

Up first is the Mining Beetle, the slightly more powerful cousin of the Fire Beetle, from page 33 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. Beetles tend to get overlooked in minis, but they're a great low-level dungeon monster, so I wanted to make sure to include at least one in this set. The Mining Beetle is a Small, common figure.

But beetles aren't the only creepy-crawlies to be found in dungeons. Here we have a Giant Centipede. Hint: He isn't reaching out to hug your player characters. The Giant Centipede is a Medium, common figure.

And here's a back view to show off a few more details.

Last up today is one of my favorites from the set, the Terror Bird. This feathered fiend was originally going to appear in the Reign of Winter set ages ago, but got bounced to Dungeons Deep when we had to cut a few minis from that set. We're happy to have him. The Terror Bird is a Large, uncommon figure.

And that's it for this week. Next week I'll reveal two brand new figures from the set I don't believe anyone has seen outside the office, so be sure to come back in seven days!

Erik Mona
Publisher

I Can See Clearly Now

Friday, May 1, 2015

We're now a little over a month away from the release of the Dungeons Deep set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic figures, and I'm getting very excited! I can see the set clearly on the horizon, so today let's talk about some of the "clear" figures in the set!

Clear plastic is one of my very favorite "tricks" WizKids pulls to make our figures look incredible. From the elementals and incorporeal undead of past sets to a few knock-outs from Dungeons Deep, these figures always seem to deliver something special.

Here we have the Ochre Jelly, one of the deadliest oozes in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. You definitely don't want to get enveloped by one of these acidic bastards, that's for sure. The Ochre Jelly is a Large, uncommon figure, making it the first Large ooze we've yet created for the line. Best of all, the clear plastic of the Ochre Jelly allows us to take a peek at what he's been eating, as you can clearly see skeletal remains floating around inside him. Or it. I dunno how to sex a jelly.

The Daughter of Urgathoa appears on page 309 of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea World Guide hardcover. Clocking in at an imposing CR 8, the Daughter of Urgathoa are monstrous undead creatures "promoted" from Urgathoa's wickedest priestesses at the moment of their death. As the book says, "Even after their transformation into things of pestilence and dead flesh, Daughters of Urgathoa remain social beings who typically surround themselves with fanatical cults." We've already supplied lots of cultists (notably in The Lost Coast), so we thought it high time to add something worth idolizing to the line. The Daughter's diaphanous dress is a chilling blue clear plastic fading up into a dark black skirt. It looks gorgeous.

Ladies and gentlemen, step right up and meet the Pickled Punk, a disgusting little creature straight from the pages of Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4! You may not have realized that you need a "deformed, often humanoid fetus raised by necromancers and stored in jars of embalming fluid" until now, but once you get a look at this adorable little rascal, you'll want to adopt him into your campaigns with no time to lose. Although the Pickled Punk is quite small relative to the other figures in the Dungeons Deep set (and especially when compared to the other figures in this week's preview), he is exceptionally gross, and rewards you with some new discovery each time you look at him (not unlike an adorable child). The contours of his skin folds mix with expert inking to create a hideous skin texture I really think you will enjoy. Here's looking at you, kid! The Pickled Punk is a Small, rare figure.

And that's it for this week. Be sure to check back next week for an early look at three more figures from the Dungeons Deep set!

In the meantime, please swing by my donation page for Paizo's team in this year's "The Gauntlet" Seattle area game company charity tournament. This year we're raising money for Hopelink, a great charity that helps homeless families, and your support will help the Paizo team get the edge it needs to retain the Gauntlet trophy, which we won last year. I've added some fun personal "thank-you" rewards to folks who participate, so if you're in a giving mood, please swing by the link and help us out if you can!

Thanks, and we'll see you next week!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Happy Birthday to Me!

Friday, April 24, 2015

As I mentioned in last week's preview, Wednesday was my birthday, so for this week's preview blog, I want to be a bit selfish and focus on three of MY personal favorite figures from June's Dungeons Deep set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic gaming figures.

Without further ado (and because I'm old now, and I'm rapidly losing patience), let's get on with it!

Here we have my favorite figure in the whole set, the Cruel Conjurer, from page 190 of the Pathfinder RPG NPC Codex. The Conjurer in that book is statted up as a 15th-level human wizard, but I think the figure works for just about any sort of evil mystic. I say evil because of the various hooked chains and things hanging from his belt, and for the foreboding hood he wears, but we all know a lot of player characters like to look a little tough now and again, so I can even see the Cruel Conjurer used as a player character mini. The Cruel Conjurer is a Medium, uncommon figure you won't believe isn't a rare.

Aside from a great sculpt and an awesome paint job, the Cruel Conjurer has two unusual elements that push it to the top tier of minis, in my opinion. The first is the unusual swirl of green mystical energy keeping him levitated off the ground. This is a weird effect for a mini in general, making the Cruel Conjurer stand out from the crowd, but the really exciting element here is the color of the energy. It's difficult to describe, and I'm not certain it comes out perfectly in the photos, but the green WizKids used here is an AMAZING shade of green. It's got just the right level of tone and opacity to create a very special effect. Whenever I take the Dungeons Deep figures around the office, the Cruel Conjurer is one that everybody highlights as a favorite.

But really, the coolest aspect of the Cruel Conjurer is his grimoire, which balances atop the green energy. WizKids went above and beyond with the tampo stamp effects on this guy to the point that his magic book even has magical writing on the pages! The photo above is a little rough and blurry, but you can see over his shoulder that this mini is reading a bit more than the usual blank pages so common among his 30mm peers. I love it, and consider the Cruel Conjurer the greatest birthday gift of the entire set.

But the Cruel Conjurer isn't the only disturbing figure in the set. For my favorite of the gross figures we've got the Mouth Horror, a familiar creature from page 153 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. Dude is gross. I don't know what else to tell you except that you probably need three of them. The Mouth Horror is a Medium, uncommon figure.

And here's a figure that no one outside the office has seen yet, as we haven't taken him to any of our spring trade shows—the Emperor Cobra! Oversized snakes are a staple of fantasy fiction and gaming, and when it came time to add our own to the ranks of prepainted plastic, I just knew we had to go cobra. Inspired by Wayne Reynolds's cover illustration for Pathfinder Adventure Path #9: Escape from Old Korvosa, the Emperor Cobra stands well higher than a Medium adventurer, and its open mouth promises a nasty poison bite. He's even got a cool symbol on the back of his hood, as seen below. The Emperor Cobra is a Large, uncommon figure.

And that's it for my birthday favorites! Actually, there are so many cool figures in this set that I could add a handful more, but hey, I've got to make these previews last through June!

And now I leave you as a broken old man, crippled with age and arthritis, shuffling off into the slow decline into retirement.

Godspeed, all.

Erik Mona
Publisher

GOLEMANIA!

Friday, April 17, 2015

This week I'm revealing two amazing figures from June's Dungeons Deep set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic figures. The idea behind this set is to present high-utility figures based around a rough "dungeon" theme. This allows us to include whatever figures we want to, rather than attempting to adapt a specific adventure or Adventure Path. That's resulted in a few "dealer's choice" selections, letting us pick whatever we want for no reason other than "we think it looks cool."

Up until about a two years ago, "we think it looks cool" really meant "Erik Mona thinks it looks cool," as before that point I was more or less solely responsible for the selections in each set. That all changed when we added our Licensing Coordinator Michael Kenway to our team to help me out with the miniatures and other projects that involve working with teams outside the Paizo office to create cool Pathfinder-related content. Mike has been an invaluable assistant to me as he ushers sculpts, paint plans, comic sketches, soundsets, and scripts through the approval process.

But Mike Kenway is much more than just a paper-pusher. He got his start here at Paizo as an editorial intern, and has always had a keen interest in the Pathfinder RPG. In fact, every day at noon you can find Mike in our employee break room, running or playing in a daily Pathfinder campaign with several members of the Paizo staff. He knows his stuff, and his attention to detail is absolutely amazing.

So, a few sets back, I decided to reward Mike's excellent work by giving him an opportunity to choose a miniature of his own to include in a set—I think it was Legends of Golarion. Unfortunately, that set was the first to see a scale-back in the number of figures per set from 55 to 45, and Mike's enthusiastic selection didn't make the original cut for a variety of reasons. But it's been waiting silently in the shadows since then, eager for a chance to spread carnage when a slot became available.

Mike's first choice was this horrific Bone Golem:

The Bone Golem appears on page 133 of Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3, where it clocks in at CR 8 and includes a creeptastic power known as "Bone Prison," in which it tosses some of its constituent bones at you to form a cage of bones that crushes you. A great guy to have at a party, or to protect the evil lair of a necromancer. In the image above we see the Bone Golem from the front, a jumble of skulls, ribcages, and muscle tissue just waiting to give a great big bear hug to your deserving player characters. The detail on this figure is insane. Take a look at his back:

More skulls. Maybe one day he'll add yours to his collection? The Bone Golem is a Large, rare creature. Way to go, Mike!

While we're on the subject of golems, let's check out the set's other major construct:

Here we have the Clockwork Golem, from page 137 of Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2. If you're familiar with that book, you'll note that the design here is quite different. While the original version has a cool illustration, it didn't really sell the "clockwork" element as much as we would have liked, and its unusual limbs seemed ill-suited for a 3D miniature. So we had the creature re-illustrated for the Pathfinder Pawns Bestiary 2 Box, and that's the version we used as the basis for this miniature. The Clockwork Golem is a Large, rare figure.

And that's it for this week! To make sure you don't miss either of these two cool figures, please consider setting up a Pathfinder Battles Ongoing Case Subscription!

I'll be back next week (unfortunately one year older, as my birthday is Tuesday) with a special birthday treat—my personal favorite figures from the Dungeons Deep set!

Until then, I remain...

Erik Mona
Publisher

Two from the Codex

Friday, April 10, 2015

We've already revealed a ton of cool monsters and dungeon dressing from June's Dungeons Deep set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic miniatures, and there are more to come in the weeks between now and the set's release. But Dungeons Deep has more than just creepy crawlies, and this week I'd like to focus on two figures from the set that are drawn from the fantastic art in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: NPC Codex.

Do you have the NPC Codex? I absolutely adore this book. Using the ready-made stats provided there has cut my prep time considerably in my own games, and it's great to have a whole army of classed characters at my fingertips. The book's excellent art is also a great resource for Pathfinder Battles.

As I travel around the country from convention to convention, I always enjoy chatting with hobby retailers and with folks selling our minis at their booths. And they almost always tell me the same thing: "We need more player character minis!"

It's unusual feedback, from a certain perspective. Hard-core minis collectors are often in the opposite camp. Over the years, they've already got a ton of humans, dwarves, and elves, and would much prefer that we focus our efforts on monsters, particularly monsters than have never before been made in prepainted plastic. Unfortunately, you can't run a successful miniatures business catering only to the hard-core collectors, as a set filled with nothing but catoblepases and flail snails is unlikely to impress the more casual collectors, who outnumber the hard-cores by at least an order of magnitude. And yet those hard-core collectors are the heart of the line, the folks who keep me always seeking out new and fun things to do with the minis line, and who support us release after release.

Customers at retail stores, generally speaking, come in looking for a figure to represent their character (a tough job for a catoblepas). The new Iconic Heroes boxed sets are a good answer to that type of customer, but the fact of the matter is that the mainline Pathfinder Battles sets need to serve both constituencies, which means I've got my job cut out for me when deciding which player character figures to include in a set. Too many, and I lose the hard-core collectors. Too few, and I lose the retailers.

In this environment, the NPC Codex is a godsend. Filled with awesome images of awesome characters, it gives me a great chance to pick and choose the figures I think will have the most appeal to just about everyone.

Here are a couple of my selections for Dungeons Deep.

This dashing gentleman is the Paladin of Abadar, Golarion's god of commerce and law. I've been looking for an excuse to include a "super good guy" mini in the line for a long time, and when I saw this guy's art on page 126 of the NPC Codex, I knew I'd found my man. He's perfect for any paladin or armored crusader in your campaign, whether as a player character or a haughty, annoying NPC. The Paladin of Abadar is a Medium, rare figure.

The imposing Dragon Smiter is also a paladin, but you wouldn't know that from looking at her. In fact, she's so covered in armor that it's difficult to tell much about her at all, except that you definitely don't want to get on her bad side. (Honestly, the figure is so heavily armored that it works as a male or female, and probably could be a human, elf, or half-elf with no one batting an eye.) The Dragon Smiter appears on page 120 of the NPC Codex, where she's a lawful good human paladin. For my money, she could just as easily be a villain. Either way, she looks cooool. The Dragon Smiter is a Medium, uncommon figure.

And here's a shot of both final figures together, haunting a plant in my office. I think they came out great!

See you next week for another look at upcoming figures from the Pathfinder Battles line!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Things That Should Not Be

Friday, April 3, 2015

We love H. P. Lovecraft. The old gentleman not only wrote some of the most chilling and flat-out awesome horror stories of the Twentieth Century, but he also knew how to get his monster on. Fantasy author China Miéville, one of my personal favorite modern writers, was one of the first to point out to me that fantasy fiction monsters could basically be divided into pre-Lovecraft and post-Lovecraft, and my own obsession with reading early Twentieth Century genre stuff suggests he has a point. Before Lovecraft, monsters in fiction were usually giant animals, human-animal hybrids, or basically animals with multiple limbs. A few writers, like Edgar Rice Burroughs, mixed things up enough to invent awesome stuff like plant men with mouths on the palms of their hands, but for the most part you were looking at a field of giant animals.

Lovecraft changed all of that with an assortment of alien, eldritch beings designed to scare the crap out of his protagonists—and his readers. Many of those monsters have gone on to inspire tabletop games and the gamers who make them, and we here at Paizo are very much in thrall of Lovecraft's creations. Judging by the response to our past dabbling with his themes and creatures, such as the now-classic Greg A. Vaughan Carrion Crown adventure "Wake of the Watcher" and the monster article that accompanied it, Pathfinder players also love his creations.

So it seemed like a good idea to get some of them out in prepainted plastic.

Here then are three Lovecraftian monsters from June's Dungeons Deep set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted fantasy miniatures.

One of Lovecraft's most famous monsters is the brain-stealing Mi-Go, a flying alien creature that just loves to experiment on mankind. We've featured Mi-Go in a few Pathfinder adventures to date (notably in James Jacobs's Emerald Spire Superdungeon level), and in the Iron Gods Adventure Path's awesomely named "Valley of the Brain Collectors". The Mi-Go in Dungeons Deep is a Medium, uncommon creature.

The Elder Thing, or Old One, is one of the foremost stars of Lovecraft's famous novella "At the Mountains of Madness," one of our favorite of his tales. It was thus a certainty that we'd get to them as prepainted miniatures. The Elder Thing, like the Mi-Go, appears in Bestiary 4, where we learn that in addition to having the ability to fly around in outer space, Elder Things "possess a boundless capacity for war and egotism." The Elder Thing is a Medium, uncommon creature.

The Yithians starred in Lovecraft's tale "The Shadow out of Time," where they play the role of a prehistoric time-traveling race responsible for populating much of the Earth. Bestiary 3 describes them as planetary explorers eager to discover new worlds, where they fancy swapping minds with natives to experience strange planets from a local perspective. The Yithian, from my perspective, is one of the most impressive-looking figures in the set, a true "WTF" alien to drop on your unsuspecting player characters. The Yithian is a Large, uncommon figure.

That's it for this week! Tune in next Friday for another glimpse at the horrors and wonders yet to come in the Dungeons Deep set!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Deeper into the Dungeon

Friday, March 13, 2015

We're just a few days away from next week's GAMA Trade Show, where I intend to show off about half of June's Dungeons Deep set for our Pathfinder Battles line of prepainted plastic gaming figures. In preparation for that, WizKids sent us a very early production set of the figures, and I've got to say, I'm absolutely THRILLED with how this set has turned out!

For starters, the Gargantuan Red Dragon limited edition "case incentive" figure is one of the best figures we've done to date, and easily ranks as my favorite Pathfinder Battles dragon thus far. From the moment I set the figure up in my office I've had a parade of Paizonians pounding on my door to get a closer look. It's phenomenal.

I'm also pleased with the general utility of the Dungeons Deep set. From "dungeon dressing" props like chests and braziers to enemies like four different gnoll figures, a large ooze, and dungeon critters like giant centipedes and beetles, I see the figures in this set hitting game tables again and again, which really excites me.

Here's an early look at three additional figures that I'm excited about, even more so now that I've got production-run samples in-hand.

First up this week is the Deinonychus, a creepy little dinosaur from page 84 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. We're excited about this guy not just because he's a dinosaur, but because it's one of our first chances to create a feathered dinosaur more in fitting with modern science's understanding of how dinosaurs might actually have looked. As a common, Medium miniature, case subscribers can be sure to get a whole pack of them to menace their player characters.

Previous animals like ravens, falcons, and even pigs have proven popular additions to the Pathfinder Battles line. Now that we're venturing into the dungeon, it's only fitting that we include the Bat in Dungeons Deep. The Bat is a Small, common figure.

I mentioned gnolls up above. This guy here, the Gnoll Leader, is perfect for the Big Boss of a gnoll encounter. His breastplate even has the symbol of the evil beast-god Rovagug printed on it. Awesome! The Gnoll Leader is a Medium, rare figure.

That's it for this week. Expect a bunch of cool photos to leak out of the GAMA Trade Show next week. I'll still be in Las Vegas next Friday, so there's a good chance those photos won't show up here until a week from next Friday, but keep your eyes on the Internet.

They'll be out there!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Short But Sweet!

Friday, March 6, 2015

With ToyFair behind us and the hobby game industry's annual GAMA Trade Show only about a week away, things here at Preview Central are busier than a four-armed girallon in a handshaking contest. Expect a few more trade show photos to leak at GAMA, but until then, I wanted to show off a digital sculpt of two figures I'm very excited for in June's Dungeons Deep set.

Up first is the Mad Prophet, a deranged gnome culled from the pages of the NPC Codex. This maniac has my favorite eyes in the set since the Leaping Boggard in The Lost Coast and I think he doubles easily for a fanatical gnome spellcaster player character (which is to say, "a" gnome spellcaster PC). The Mad Prophet is a Small, uncommon figure.

Speaking of short player character minis, here we have the Sundering Axe, one of my favorite female dwarf images in the NPC Codex. The Sundering Axe is just as happy to flatten you with her hammer than to cleave you with her axe. Take your pick, orcs! The Sundering Axe is a Medium, uncommon figure.

That's it for this week! I've got to ration these guys out, as it's a long time until June!

See you next week when I'll reveal more new figures from the Dungeons Deep set!

Erik Mona
Publisher

ToyFair (Part 2)

Friday, February 27, 2015

I've been in the office only 5 days since returning from my ToyFair trip, but that time has gone by like a flash. When I think back to my time at ToyFair, it seems like only yesterday that I was checking out the latest action figures, playsets, statues, and other cool stuff on display. And I'm especially pleased that this year, we had a nice display of Pathfinder items to show off at the show, as well.

Last Friday, I showed off a few of my personal camera-phone photos of upcoming Pathfinder Battles figures from our friends and partners at WizKids. WizKids had plenty of Pathfinder on display, from the first three Iconic Heroes sets to about a third of June's Dungeons Deep set.

Here are a few more shots from their booth. These are production-run versions of these figures, so expect the finals to look pretty much exactly like this.

Let's start by focusing on a few shots of figures from the Iconic Heroes boxed sets.

This is Harsk, Dwarf Ranger from Iconic Heroes Set #2. Check out his eye for a good sense of the level of detail WizKids is going to to make sure these sets are of the finest quality possible. It took all of my willpower not to simply walk away with this figure.

The phone I was using focused a bit strangely in these photos, but I wanted to include them anyway for historical reasons. Our very first WizKids release, Beginner Box Heroes featured a Kyra figure that blew away the expectations of collectors (and the Paizo staff) with the quality of design work, in particular on Kyra's very detailed cloak. Here's the new version, and I think the detail here is even more impressive. Kyra, Human Cleric also appears in Iconic Heroes Set #2.

Next up is Amiri, Human Barbarian. WizKids did an amazing job on all of the little details on this figure, and she looks fantastic. I'm also quite partial to Amiri because, while I was at ToyFair, the first issue of the new Pathfinder Origins comic series released in comic shops, and Amiri is the special guest star. I wrote Pathfinder Origins #1, and hope you guys have had a chance to check it out. Our favorite barbarian more than accounts for herself, that's for sure! Amiri is also in Iconic Heroes Set #2.

Here we have another denizen of Iconic Heroes Set #2, Ezren, Human Wizard. Great, great detail work on this figure.

Let's move on to Iconic Heroes Set #3, with a look at Damiel, Elf Alchemist. I confess this is not the sharpest photo in the world, but it gives a good sense of the level of amazing detail WizKids is putting into these figures. I can't wait to add Damiel to my personal collection.

Next up is Balazar, Gnome Summoner. For such a cute little guy, his miniature packs a ton of awesome details. Balazar is included in Iconic Heroes Set #3.

Balazar the summoner is lost without his eidolon, Padrig. Here he is from front to back. Padrig comes in Iconic Heroes Set #3.

Let's move on to Dungeons Deep, which is rapidly shaping up to be one of my favorite sets in the line, with tons of high-utility figures. One of my favorites is the Giant Crawling Hand, a Medium undead monstrosity just waiting to slide some (rotting) skin with your player characters. I'm thrilled that the Hand is a common figure, as I can't wait to give my player characters a "round of applause" for their tireless heroism.

Every GM needs a great Griffon figure, and this set gave me the perfect opportunity to slip one into Pathfinder Battles. The Griffon is a Large, uncommon figure.

Last up this week is the Veiled Master, a variant aboleth that first appeared in my Paizo-staff "Kings of Absalom" in-office campaign, where they were revealed to have been heavily involved in the last days and ultimate fall of the ancient Empire of Azlant. They subsequently appeared in the Inner Sea Bestiary, and you can expect to see them again in the not too distant future. The Veiled Master looks fantastic in plastic. It's a Large, rare figure with tons of cool details.

And that's it for this week, and for my storehouse of ToyFair images. Check back in this space next week for more cool reveals for upcoming Pathfinder Battles releases!

Erik Mona
Publisher

ToyFair Eve

Friday, February 13, 2015

I just landed in New York City in advance of ToyFair, the annual toy business trade show that launches tomorrow. While Paizo does not have a booth at the show (yet!), it's become an invaluable stop for me to catch up with some of our licensing partners, including the fine folks at WizKids, who manufacture the Pathfinder Battles line. I've got it on good authority that WizKids will have an entire production-run set of Dungeons Deep on hand for their display, and I hope to snap a few key photos to show off what some of the figures look like in hand. Next week's blog will, I hope, feature some images of upcoming Pathfinder Battles figures, and perhaps some additional surprises as well!

But the thing I'm really excited about at the moment is Pathfinder Battles: Iconic Heroes Set #1, which arrived in the Paizo warehouse yesterday, and will hit stores and subscribers very shortly.

When WizKids told us they were aiming for a super-premium production on the Iconic Heroes line, I was very excited to see how that commitment would translate to the final figure. It's relatively easy for a professional painter to produce a killer paint master, for example, but it's another thing entirely for everything to go right at the factory in a way that really raises the bar. Frankly, I think WizKids has been raising the bar set after set with Pathfinder Battles, so while I was excited to see what they could do with Iconic Heroes, I confess my enthusiasm was tinged with at least a little bit of skepticism. I mean, how much better could they be, really?

Well, I'm holding them in my hands right now, and I can tell you the answer is "much better." I don't think I've seen such polished prepainted plastic figures from any manufacturer since the birth of prepainted minis. WizKids has really set a new bar for figures that I honestly don't see how they (or anyone else) will exceed. The figures look fantastic. They have blazed by the threshold of "probably better than I could do myself" to "way, way, way better than I could do myself." I am very excited to see what you think of them.

I do apologize that this shot is a little bit on the blurry side (all the others I took are completely unusable). I'm not dealing with optimal lighting conditions in my hotel room, and my phone is within 72 hours of being death-marched to the Manhattan Apple store, where it will be replaced by an upgraded and superior model.

"Upgraded and superior models." That's a good tagline for Iconic Heroes Set #1!

But enough about Iconic Heroes (for now), let's move on to our next big set, Dungeons Deep, which releases in a few months.

First up this week, is the Goblin Archer. I was astonished to discover, upon adding this guy to the set, that Paizo did not actually own a full-body image of a goblin archer appropriate for use as miniatures reference, so we commissioned an original illustration for the sole purpose of the minis line—the first time this has happened to date (though not the last!). The Goblin Archer is a Small, common figure.

We've already revealed a couple of gnolls in Dungeons Deep, so I thought it might be fun to keep fleshing out their ranks. Here we have the Gnoll Slaver, fresh out of the pages of the Monster Codex. The image above is a digital sculpt, but I've seen the paint master for this villain, and it looks incredible. I can hardly believe it's a COMMON. It's also Medium.

That's it for this week's preview. Tune in next Friday for what I hope will be some shots of Pathfinder Battles goodies from the WizKids booth, ideally taken with a new camera phone!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Endless Chest

Friday, February 6, 2015

Aloha!

I'm still on vacation in Hawaii, but that seems like a rotten reason to deprive you of previews from the upcoming Dungeons Deep set for Pathfinder Battles. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, Dungeons Deep features a new type of figure we're calling dungeon dressing—props and "stuff" beyond creatures to help you flesh out your tabletop combats. We've previously revealed a Sarcophagus, Bubbling Cauldron, and Burning Brazier.

This week I plan to reveal two figures, one piece of dungeon dressing and one very important creature that goes along with it.

Let's start with the Chest. This was, frankly, a no-brainer. You can use it for treasure rooms, footlockers, or basically anywhere you want to stuff some goodies for your PCs to loot. Trapped, untrapped, it's your call.

Because folks know that the Sarcophagus and one other piece of dungeon dressing we've not yet revealed open up, when I've shown the Chest around the office, my colleagues have often asked me if the chest "opens up."

"Yes," I answer. "In a manner of speaking."

Here we have the Mimic. Watch out, or he may bite your character's greedy little hands right off! The Mimic is a Medium figure at the uncommon rarity.

And with that, I'm off for my last day of sunlight before venturing back to the squalid darkness of Seattle later tonight.

ALOHA!

Erik Mona
Publisher

You Guys, You Guys!!!

Friday, January 23, 2015

I just got out of the final paint master approval meeting for June's Dungeons Deep set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic miniatures, and my jaw still hasn't come up from the floor.

We reviewed 28 figures today, including the breathtaking Gargantuan Red Dragon limited-edition "case incentive" figure, and I'm prepared to make the prediction that this will be our best set yet.

I've already extolled the virtues of WizKids's digital sculpting process for releases like Iconic Heroes Set #1, but this is the first time we've been able to implement the process within the context of a large set. All I can say, after handling and reviewing all those figures today, is that the difference is palpable and significant. Not only has the process allowed us tighter control during the sculpt approval phase, but it's also resulted in generally better-looking, more detailed figures across the board. I am SO EXCITED for this set I can't even handle it. I wanted to steal the paint masters and use them in my own games immediately, but somehow made my saving throw against abject greed.

Wow, wow, wow.

Let's start with the Frost Giant.

To be totally honest, this is the figure I was most worried about in this set. Conceptually, I love her. It's long been a personal goal to produce a male and female of every major giant race in the Pathfinder RPG, so the figure definitely hits the mark there. The original illustration—and even to some extent the digital sculpt shown of above—always struck me as a little top-heavy. I was, I must say, a little worried. Having just held the final miniature in my hand, I can say that all of my concerns evaporated. Some of the other members of our approval team (I won't name names, but it rhymes with Meesa Shmeevins) audibly gasped as the figure hit the table. So, so awesome. The Frost Giant is a Large, uncommon figure.

A few weeks back, I mentioned that Dungeons Deep contains a creature type that we have not yet done in previous Pathfinder Battles sets. I should have said "sub-type," really, but at last I can officially reveal that that creature type is GNOLLS. Here we have the first in the set, the Gnoll Warrior. I'm very, very happy with how this guy turned out. I'm also happy that he will have several gnoll brothers and sisters elsewhere in the set. The Gnoll Warrior is a Medium, common figure.

And because I am as giddy as a schoolgirl, I've decided to go ahead and reveal my absolute favorite piece of dungeon dressing that will be included in the set: the Sarcophagus. Oh. My. God, this thing is amazing. For starters, we're looking at a three-piece figure, here. Sarcophagus, lid, and an actual MUMMY that easily comes in and out of the tomb. Best of all, the mummy has entirely flat feet, so you can easily use him as a genuine figure. Bonus! There are six pieces of dungeon dressing in the set. They'll be randomly inserted into eight boosters in every case (so case subscribers can be sure to get a full set). Trust me, you do not want to miss this figure. It is one of the most amazing miniatures we've produced so far!

And lastly, before I leave you for this week, I'd like to make one more push for our Ongoing Case Subscription service. We'll deliver a factory-sealed case direct to you at a substantial discount over the full retail price. The sub also comes with other benefits like an across-the-board discount on singles and other Pathfinder Battles releases (like our forthcoming Iconic Heroes sets). We've seen a nice, steady increase in subscribers since the last set, but I'm hoping we can increase those numbers significantly. Retailers are getting increasingly choosy with the large number of prepainted fantasty miniatures on the market at the moment, and a healthy number of subscribers is the best way to ensure the line's future by providing a core group of customers who we can count on to support each release. If you appreciate what we're doing with Pathfinder Battles and want to help us continue well into the future, please consider setting up an Ongoing Case Subscription today. It really is the best thing you can do to keep the Pathfinder Battles miniatures goodness coming!

I'm on vacation (in Maui!) next Friday. I MAY pre-load a preview blog for next week if I can carve out the time early next week. Otherwise, I'll see you guys in February!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Here There Be Dragon!

Friday, January 16, 2015

Last week I revealed the next big set for Pathfinder Battles: Dungeons Deep! The new set includes 51 figures, counting 6 pieces of "dungeon dressing" like the Bubbling Cauldron I revealed last week. That total also includes the amazing limited-edition case incentive figure for the set, the Gargantuan Red Dragon.

I've been eager to add a Gargantuan Red Dragon to the Pathfinder Battles line for a while, to help us fill out the ranks of the evil chromatic dragons. WizKids (using an illustration by the incomparable Ben Wootten) managed to create something truly beautiful and terrifying with their sculpt.

BEHOLD!

As usual, customers with an Ongoing Case Subscription and folks who preorder a full case of Dungeons Deep qualify to buy one Gargantuan Red Dragon per case ordered.

I love the way the dragon is screaming at the sky, and the way that his left paw is raised for a killing swipe. This is definitely a figure that will have your players vacating their bowels when it hits the table, so plan accordingly.

Here are some other cool figures from the Dungeons Deep set!

This lovely little fellow is the dreaded Chupacabra, the legendary goat-sucker of South American cryptozoology and star of Bestiary 2. We see here the Chupacabra in mid sneak, about to stick his teeth into some unwitting livestock. Or, more likely in the Pathfinder world, some unwitting player character. The Chupacabra is a Small, common figure.

It's been a long, long time since we've had a proper Dire Boar in prepainted plastic, so Dungeons Deep comes to the rescue with this grumpy guy. I really like this figure, and think he'll get a lot of utility at the game table. The Dire Boar is a Large, uncommon figure.

Last up this week is the Burning Brazier, one of the 6 "dungeon dressing" items in the set. This is a new type of figure for Pathfinder Battles, with a new kind of rarity and distribution model. One in four Dungeons Deep booster packs will contain a dungeon dressing figure, which will replace a regular figure's spot in that pack. That means customers can expect 2 pieces of dungeon dressing per brick, and 8 per case. As you can see, some dungeon dressing will not come on a standard base, to aid in the verisimilitude of the dungeon environments you create on your tabletop.

We'll be back next week with more previews from the Dungeons Deep set. Until then, keep on delving!

Erik Mona
Publisher

New Year, New Set: Dungeons Deep!

Friday, January 9, 2015

Welcome back to the first 2015 installment of my weekly Publisher's Preview blog! As diligent readers know, I've been eager to share news of the next big Pathfinder Battles set with you, and I'm pleased to say that the day has finally arrived! The next full set of Pathfinder Battles figures will be Dungeons Deep, a 51-figure set inspired by the deadly dungeon dwellers of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game! The all-new set is expected to debut in June 2015.

Unlike previous sets, Dungeons Deep features six non-creature figures that we're calling "dungeon dressing," an experiment we plan to continue with future sets going forward. I'll have a lot more to say about dungeon dressing in the next few weeks. I am SUPER excited about this development, and WizKids has gone above and beyond to create some truly unique pieces I am sure you will all enjoy.

Let's take a look at three digital sculpts for the set!

Up first is one of my favorite figures from the set, the mighty Sasquatch! Sure, sasquatches are not known for living in dungeons, but I chose this guy to preview first because he's one of my favorites from the set and to illustrate that this theme is pretty loose—don't expect every single figure to be a literal dungeon dweller. Some stuff made it in simply because we thought it was cool! The Sasquatch is a Medium, uncommon figure.

This is the Dwarf Barbarian, one of several dwarf figures in this set. Dungeon denizens need heroes to slay, so we've included several in this set as well. The Dwarf Barbarian has a great pose, and is based on the illustration on page 10 of the NPC Codex. The Dwarf Barbarian is a Medium, uncommon figure.

Here is the first piece of dungeon dressing, the Bubbling Cauldron. The cauldron features clear plastic fire and clear plastic goo, and is a nice accompaniment to a witch or hag villain's lair, or a savage humanoid's kitchen! I'll go into more depth on the rarity of the dungeon dressing in a future post (because I've honestly forgotten how it will work), so please hold questions on that until next week. I know at the least that there will be at least one of each bit of dressing in a case, but I think there are more. I'll clarify next week when I show off another one.

So that's it for this week. While June is certainly a long time to wait for Dungeons Deep, WizKids plans to fill that time with monthly Iconic Heroes non-random sets, each of which features six premium-painted iconic heroes and exclusive Pathfinder Adventure Card Game cards to go with each one! Thanks to an overseas shipping delay, the series is set to kick off with Valeros, Seoni, Sajan, Seelah, Lini, and Droogami the Snow Leopard in February, and will continue with regular monthly releases from that point forward. I've got the final versions of the first set on my desk now, and they are gorgeous. They are going to blow you away with how awesome they look!

Glad to be back in the swing of things in 2015! We'll see you here next week for more reveals, more information, and more sweet minis!

Erik Mona
Publisher