Pathfinder Battles Preview: Hoist the Black Flag: Skull & Shackles!

Alephtau wrote:

this might be the first PF minis set that I pass on.

I doubt it. ;)

Well then, I look forward to you proving me wrong :). Mostly depends on how many of the minis would be useful outside of a pirate campaign, since I am just not interested in nautical campaigns at all, piratical or otherwise.

WOW!! I kinda, sorta didn't see this coming. (I mean it was talked about in some other thread (and I commented there) but, as not to thread-jack/derail I won't repeat it here). :)

Holy Moley! That Gargantuan Skeletal Dragon looks AMAZING! (Haven't had something like that before in PPM). ;)

Sahuagin have long been my favorite monstrous humanoids (since AD&D 2nd Edition and the "Monstrous Arcana" series, in which they had a trilogy starring them, and a wonderful supplement "Sea Devils"). Man ... good times ... so, really looking forward to a couple (a few?) sahuagin minis (and maybe a malenti)?

And Lisa (and Erik) it's good to hear that the next set will be a little more "utility" or "generic" to (hopefully) fill in some much needed monster gaps.

Oh, and Vic ... looking forward to the "HUGE" news that you hinted at.

***So, is this going to be an August set?*** Just bought Shattered Star ... gives me plenty of time to pay down the credit card by then. :)

Dean

Wow, just... Wow. Not the AP I was expecting, but definitely the one I was secretly hoping for. I was totally convinced it would be a few years before we saw a mini with a gun due to the controversy of the class that wields them.
Thank you so much T-T

Excellent choice! Sea based minis are lacking in PPM. This set will likely be popular with a wide variety of gamers.

The Skeletal Dragon's pose is great. I look forward to getting one in hand. It looks like he will tower over the DDM War of the Dragon Queen's Dracolich. Together they should give some players nightmares.

The Scrag needs an orthodontist. Just kidding. He looks awesome. The clevers are a nice crazy touch. He should induce both fear and a smile at the gaming table.

The detail on the Pirate is fantastic. More Pirates are so badly needed. Sea based adventures are a staple in my campaign.

Look forward to the next preview.

Side note: Just last night a PC summoned a Large Earth Elemental. I was able to pull the one from Shattered Star. The oohs and aahs that followed are a testiment to the very high quality Wizkids are putting into these miniatures. It really looked good on the gaming table. Thanks Paizo.

As a gm who likes to run swashbuckling games, I'm so pleased with this announcement! I need lots of pirate-ish, lightly armored figures for my games. Thanks, Paizo!

Regards,

V

I wanted to ask this when the mini line was first introduced, but would you guys ever consider doing a contest open to the public to design a mini in a upcoming release?? A character bio or a lucky drawing at a convention?? Heck that would be great for a sweet win at Paizo-Con and Gen-Con. Get a shot at Designing a MINI!!! Just a thought :D

(casts Mass Charm Person on Paizo Staff)and if that doesnt work I jump genres (waves a hand in front of Paizo Staff using the Force)

I do love me some Battles Previews. I always look forward to when the miniatures get blogged about. Thanks Eric!

Initial thoughts:

Pirate mooks: Cool. I'm assuming they'll be common and I'll get a bunch of them in a case. That's great. I like having a pile of different sculpts that all share a motif. Could easily double as a gang of landlubbering bandits. PC's always fight bandits.

Scrag: Awesome! Detail and colors look great. Dual-wielding cleavers is sweet. You can bet I'm writing up an encounter feature Scrags just because of this guy.

Skeletal Dragon: Cool. I agree that the pose looks great. Though I'm concerned that he'll be 1) top heavy and 2) easily detached from his base much like the blue dragon in the Shattered Star set. I think I'd be way more excited for this guy if I wasn't already getting Kaladrax, the Reborn from the Reaper Bones Kickstarter. But that's not Paizo's fault.

Overall I'd rate my enthusiasm for the upcoming set at a 5/10. I'm always excited to see new sculpts, but I'm not currently running nor do I have plans to run Skull and Shackles. I don't actually even own it. It's still early though and I expect there will be a number of other miniatures in the set that will wow me as much as the Scrag. Looking forward to the next Battles Preview

The Skeletal Dragon is fantastic. And I'm really looking forward to more aquatic creatures.

If you have a Hobby Lobby in your area, check out the animal packs you can get in the section with model train terrain. These come in tubes and there are a lot to choose from. The sea creatures pack has sharks, rays, and sea turtles, all of similar scale to 25-28mm figures.

I'm very excited about this set! Skull & Shackles is one of the campaigns I'm running, and one of my favourites from Paizo!

If the quality of the minis is as good as the Shattered Star set (with an improvement with packaging mentioned above by Erik I think), I'm definitely considering ordering two cases.

I'm not sure what I was expecting with the new set, really, but pirates was not high up on the list. As a fan of dinosaur and animal skeleton toys from when I was a child, I'm already really excited by Brinebones and just how nice it looks! I've mentioned to retailers how nice the sculpts in Shattered Star look, usually while opening a pack at the store, and I'm sure S&S will take another step up the quality ladder, like it's been doing regularly for the last couple years.

My initial thought on seeing Brinebones was immediately that of Memento Mortis's, however. Not that there's anything wrong with having two differently sized dragon skeletons, of course.

My one critique would be, in addition to the already frequently mentioned packaging issues, that larger figures with multiple pieces be glued together with finer precision. I've found that a number of the Large and Huge pieces I have contain sizable gaps between parts, almost as if the head or whatnot is ready to detach. In some cases, parts fall off immediately after opening. This isn't a fragility issue, but rather a constructive construction criticism. This is also, ultimately, a very minor problem, as separated parts are easier to reattach than completely broken ones. The majority of the figures are completely fine.

All in all, I'm very interested to see what else the Shackles set has in store. Maybe some tentacles? Cecaelia? Dagon fish people? I'm all for more Lovecraft-inspired sculpts!

It might just be me, but I always find it a bit strange when aquatic creatures are armed with non-piercing weapons.

Why can't you guys release pawns and minis WITH the AP instead of months after?

Why can't you guys release pawns and minis WITH the AP instead of months after?

There was an attempt to sync up the Shattered Star AP with the Shattered Star minis. Several of the Devs have commented about how stressful it was to decide on what minis to create months in advance of the individual sections of the AP getting finalized. It actually resulted in a cpuple minis getting made of characters that had a significantly diminshed role in the final AP books. I know James has said (and I'm paraphrasing here) that if they never did it again he'd be ok with that.

DonalGraeme wrote:

So Lisa, does that mean you won't be doing any Huge minis for this set? I would really like to see some more huges that are new, and this set has a number of great ones. A huge shark would be awesome. Actually, several sizes of sharks would be awesome.

We have other ideas about how to deal with Huge minis. You'll learn about one such idea very soon.

I look forward to hearing further about this. Including several huge minis into sets have always greatly/significantly increased the price of sets.

It would great if these minis were either just sold separately, or as part of an encounter set.

(Note: Huge minis released as the 1 promo in sets would still be good, however given the amount of time that the sets take to produce and release, the release of huge minis is greatly hampered.)

It also meant that some of the coolest illustrations from Shattered Star do not have miniatures, because the illustrations themselves (and in some cases the entire adventures in which they appeared) did not exist for months after we had to finalize the list of figures in the Shattered Star set.

The lead time for miniatures is about 8 months longer than the lead time for printed books. In the end, we decided it just isn't worth it.

This Skull & Shackles miniatures set has now added to PathfinderMinis.com

I have used extensive javascript for this new gallery. Javascript is completely new to me, so if you notice any display errors, please use the forum link on the Home Page to report any errors.

Thanks again Paizo for always striving and succeeding in out-doing yourselves. This set is another shining example of the "awesomeness" that is Paizo!

ARRRRRGGH

Just when I had decided to stop buying minis along comes this..sobs..another £300 to find

Starts saving

Erik Mona wrote:

Yep. His name for the moment is "Pirate". It'll likely change, but that's the name for now. He is not, in any event, a specific character from the campaign. Those come later. :)

And because I know folks are wondering, the set does include about five figures armed with pistols or that have something to do with gunpowder. Jus enough to please folks who want it, but no enough to spoil the set for those who don't.

I would like to suggest that the pirate gets named "Albert" as that seems like a name that would bring lots of childhood teasing and result in a life of piracy.

Nay, he be called Arrrdal.

I really hope the Reefclaw is amongst the new sculpts.

ARRRRRGGH

Just when I had decided to stop buying minis along comes this..sobs..another £300 to find

Starts saving

I misread this as "Starts starving" which made me LOL.

DM Wellard wrote:

ARRRRRGGH

Just when I had decided to stop buying minis along comes this..sobs..another £300 to find

Starts saving

I misread this as "Starts starving" which made me LOL.

Starving and saving are kind of the same thing for some right? LOL

This is so Awesome. Paizo did it again....

First to do kill Rasputin.

Second convince Paizo for a Mi-Go mini. Çompliment Jacobs for the Enigma Vaults.

Third finish Skulls AP. With miniatures.

Try to not die in Tsar...Again.

Maybe I speak only for myself, but I'm totally thrilled that you're going back to do minis for APs that already exist. My group moves at a snail's pace, so by the time we're ready for our next AP, I'll have at least a couple new APs to pick from all kitted out with minis, and there are so many Paths I've read through and would love to run that it's not that important to me that the new APs get their own minis right away. I also imagine that every time you release minis for an earlier AP, you're going to see a big surge in purchases of all the stuff related to that AP as more people go back to revisit it. That said, the earlier Paths I'd most like to see supported are, in descending order: Kingmaker (!!!! -- fey please!), Serpent's Skull (think of all the faction opportunities!), and Jade Regent (not enough Asian-themed minis out there!).

For variety and its sake, I think this is the best choice.

Kieviel wrote:

Has there been any discussion regarding packaging?

Yes, lots! WizKids knows that that's the number one area where they need to improve, and are committed to doing so.

Thanks the gods. no more infirmed minis!!

You're not alone Cleanthes. I have a pool of AP in wich i can choose the one to play. Doing minis for APs that already exist is a great support for them. And the Anniversary edition coupled with the minis of Rise of the Runelords is a genius, as this AP was not originally made for Pathfinder.

I would love anniversary editions of the 3 others APs to enhance them in Pathfinder rules, with cool minis.

In descending order i would love :
1) Curse of the Crimson Throne (with an anniversary edition, because it was the best AP ever publish by Paizo)
2) Second Darkness (with an anniversary edition, Drows, Creatures of the Darklands, Demons, a themed AP with cools minis)
3) Kingmaker (because it was Kingmaker, the second best AP, and because Faes)
4) Skulls and Shackles (an aquatic themed AP, pretty cool. Aquatic minis are cool, and pirates too : oh they would made it, happy)
5) Legacy of fire (with an anniversary edition. a themed AP, not enough minis with this theme. Genies,Deserts nomads, Gnolls, Pugwampis and others monsters with arabian themed. I like the ancient Al Qadim, and Katapesh is great too.)

We got a ravenous ooze in the last set, any chance we'll get a large size ooze, pudding or jelly in this set?

Hopefully we get a cannon golem too, that would be wicked.

I love the Pathfinder minis, however I do wish they would make the Pathfinder Pawns and Pathfinder Miniatures lines spread over different AP's first so we could get a wider coverage between the two lines until finally they get caught up with the AP's on both sides.

That being said, I still plan on keeping my subscriptions to both even if they don't.

About packaging, I felt the Shattered Star was among the better packaging of their line. Those blisters of 3 seemed to work real well and I liked how they were Recyclable. It was the first line I got where I didn't have any broken miniatures.

I do feel that Wizkid's return policy I read was really bad. They don't guarantee you will get the same miniature you sent back in. I instead am going to glue the miniature back together myself once I find a really good adhesive to use on the miniatures.

While I am not a fan of the Pirate theme in any mini line, I am still looking forward to this release. Paizo has yet to disapoint me with their miniatures. And the ones I don't want, I will trade or give to friends.

I do feel that Wizkid's return policy I read was really bad. They don't guarantee you will get the same miniature you sent back in. I instead am going to glue the miniature back together myself once I find a really good adhesive to use on the miniatures.

Based on an e-mail I received from WizKids after I sent in my broken minis, they do attempt to replace the minis with the same ones. In my case, 2 were none in stock so I was advised that they are on hold until they are in stock.

In descending order i would love :

3) Kingmaker (because it was Kingmaker, the second best AP, and because Faes)

I must say I would like a Kingmaker set soon. That is one of my favorite AP's and having minis for a lot of the creatures and a few of the key NPC's would be cool.

I don't want to spoil too much.

We'd love to do Kingmaker minis one day. That's been one of our most popular Adventure Paths.

Heck, I'd love to do all of them, and probably will so long as folks keep buying 'em!

Leomund wrote:

In descending order i would love :

3) Kingmaker (because it was Kingmaker, the second best AP, and because Faes)

I must say I would like a Kingmaker set soon. That is one of my favorite AP's and having minis for a lot of the creatures and a few of the key NPC's would be cool.

Also, will the tatzylwyrm (sp?) ever get a mini? There isn't one from Reaper or the Battles line. This a creature from very early on and it hasn't got a mini yet.

Check these out if you are really itching for one (or three as the case may be).

Cheaper here.

Pirates: Meh.

Gun characters: Not in my campaigns.

Aquatic Monsters: Hell yeah!

This'll probably be a mostly ebay singles set for me. It looks like almost half the set will be stuff I don't want.

Another option for a tatzylwyrm mini is from the Dreamblade line. Check out the Deathwish Dragon. It needs to be rebased to look right, but that's not hard at all (just slice it off its old base and glue it to a blank base.) I think it's actually pretty close, and is reasonably inexpensive to boot.

Heck, I'd love to do all of them, and probably will so long as folks keep buying 'em!

Well I'm with you!

I don't want to spoil too much.

We'd love to do Kingmaker minis one day. That's been one of our most popular Adventure Paths.

Heck, I'd love to do all of them, and probably will so long as folks keep buying 'em!

Yes please!

If it matters to anyone, I bought a case and the blue dragon and only had a couple of rattlers and no breakage. I couldn't possibly dream of passing on this set. I have searched for a better word to describe my feelings about this set but amazing will have to do. I, for one, have been 100% satisfied with every set, I have purchased cases, bundles and all the promos. They really do keep getting better, very excited about this set. People seem to have forgotten about the greatest AP ever, Age of Worms, and that skeletal dragon would do nicely for a certain Dracolich. Keep em comin!

Its.....its a gargantuan Dracolich!!!!

DRAGOTHA!!!!

I have not yet run Age of Worms. My players move along VERY slowly since we have a once a month game session. We are still playing Shackled City. Next will be Age of Worms, then Savage Tide, then Rise of the Runelords and so on.
So to say we are a bit behind is an understatement. :)

All I know is Im getting a Dragotha figure and I could not be more thrilled.

A+++ for today's preview....Espcially with a Scrag. Fastest way to my heart is making minis of monsters or race/gender/class combos not seen before.

Im kind of interseted as im running it but I note that it's only 55 mini's. I was kind of hoping it may be more as there are so many NPC's in this campaign and finding mini's for some is really difficult. It would have been great to have had mini's for all of the crew of the wormwood for instance but I can understand why there won't be. It does need to have a lot of monsters though as the ap references a lot of creatures that are just not availble anywhere. For me I'll think I'll wait to see the product list and get individual ones if needs be and stick with the brilliant paper minis sets for now. But the undead dragon does look REALLY good! :)

I don't want to spoil too much.

We'd love to do Kingmaker minis one day. That's been one of our most popular Adventure Paths.

Heck, I'd love to do all of them, and probably will so long as folks keep buying 'em!

It would be beautiful to see the Kingmaker paper miniatures line completed. People are clamoring for book 3 and it's been delayed forever!

Not as excited for this set as I am for others, but will of course still be purchasing my cases through my subscription.

Love the sculpt of the Skeletal Dragon! However, still have an issue on the size, at least from what I can see of the photo shot.

I picture a Gargantuan along the lines of the white dragon from the D&D Iconic line, and it just seems the huge Black and now huge blue seem small for their size category.

Am I the only one who feels this?

Erik Mona wrote:

I don't want to spoil too much.

We'd love to do Kingmaker minis one day. That's been one of our most popular Adventure Paths.

Heck, I'd love to do all of them, and probably will so long as folks keep buying 'em!

It would be beautiful to see the Kingmaker paper miniatures line completed. People are clamoring for book 3 and it's been delayed forever!

Paizo doesn't do the paper miniatures. It's a 3rd party license product.

That said, it's organized and done by some posters (and employees), so keeping the word out can't hurt.

I am so excited for this! I'm really hoping for a Sea Hag and some Merfolk characters! <3

I've never purchased any of the Pathfinder Battles miniatures before, will these be available as singles from Day 1?

The reason I ask, I've already purchased the Skull & Shackles paper miniatures and the pawn set. Between those and the Bestiary pawn set we're pretty much covered for Paizo-specific minis. It would be great to pull out a BBEG miniature at the culmination of a book or for the next time Captain Harrigan appears to have him show up in all his 3D glory.

You know....the more I look at the size comparison photo. The Dragon Skeleton looks like it should fit on a huge base.

Is that really a Gargantuan?

Im still excited to get a Gargantuan Dracolich...but compared to the Gargantuan Dragons D&D put out this guy is kinda small.

Does anyone own the G Blue Dragon from Shattered Star? How big is she compared to the G Black or G White that D&D made?

MJinthePitt wrote:

Erik Mona wrote:

I don't want to spoil too much.

We'd love to do Kingmaker minis one day. That's been one of our most popular Adventure Paths.

Heck, I'd love to do all of them, and probably will so long as folks keep buying 'em!

It would be beautiful to see the Kingmaker paper miniatures line completed. People are clamoring for book 3 and it's been delayed forever!

Paizo doesn't do the paper miniatures. It's a 3rd party license product.

That said, it's organized and done by some posters (and employees), so keeping the word out can't hurt.

The third set just went up today, here!

You know....the more I look at the size comparison photo. The Dragon Skeleton looks like it should fit on a huge base.

Is that really a Gargantuan?

Im still excited to get a Gargantuan Dracolich...but compared to the Gargantuan Dragons D&D put out this guy is kinda small.

Does anyone own the G Blue Dragon from Shattered Star? How big is she compared to the G Black or G White that D&D made?

Jason, that was the point I was trying to make in my post above, it doesn’t seem like the Gargantuan Blue (in SS) compares in size to the G Black and G White D&D Iconic line. They are noticeably bigger.

Granted, the sculpt is MUCH better on the G Blue, but it just seems the Blue, and now maybe the Skeletal, are a bit small for a gargantuan.

I have both gargantuan blues. The Pathfinder version is slightly smaller in footprint and decidedly smaller in body mass. The D&D versions is a bit of a brick. But the Pathfinder version is sufficiently larger than the D&D huge to be noticeably gargantuan.

I'm a little worried about the size of the large elementals in Shattered Star. They are so big that huge versions will have to be borderline gargantuan to compete. But hey, I guess bigger is better.