Pathfinder Battles Preview: Two for Turkey Day!

Could you please add the Pathfinder Battles tag (and others, if applicable) to the blog post to make this easier to find in the future?

Thanks.

Mammoth from Schleich

Yeah, there are a couple of Mammoths out there, but that one is going for $50+ on Amazon and similar prices on Ebay, so that's not real likely for me. There's a Safari Ltd. one that's cheaper, but I haven't seen a picture that gives a sense of scale. I wouldn't buy one until I could be sure it would look right on the table. Has anyone held these Mammoths in hand? Do they size right for RPG use?

The Amazon listing says "Product Dimensions: 3.1 x 7 x 4.9 inches ; 10.6 ounces."

Yeah, $50 is way too high for that.

My local Target and Fred Meyer have many Schleich animals, I wonder if they have the mammoth or could order one...

Tags added

Re: Mammoths, I picked up a Safari Ltd. one at Michaels today for $10, and it seems sized about right for a Huge. So I retract my earlier claim; at least one reasonably priced Mammoth is out there on the toy market.
This does not, however, change the fact that I hope we see one made by Paizo :P

I've been playing for nearly 25 years, but I'm pretty new to the miniature scene. I just started collecting with the Shattered Star set, but have managed to drop a pretty penny on the sets before it, along with many of the DDM miniatures. I've also been active in searching for certain animals, dinosaurs, dragons, etc.

I want to throw my vote in for Huge Elementals. I suppose packaging could get weird, but if four huge minis together were just too much, then I suggest Fire & Water, Air & Earth as two packs. I think you could release both sets at once and do alright. I really feel like they'd be your safest bet all around as your next huge minis. From talking to other miniature collectors and from posts on message boards I've seen, there is legit disappointment that DDM never made Huge elementals beyond the Fire one.

It sounds like you're in agreement, Erik, that Huge Elementals would be the next logical Huge miniature to make. But in case you hesitate, here is my argument in favor of them:
1. Besides the Fire Elemental, there is no DDM or Pathfinder pre-painted miniature available.
2. Unlike the Medium and Large elementals, each Huge-sized elemental miniature would actually cover three particular stat blocks; Huge, Greater and Elder.
3. Each Huge tier of these three miniatures show up in many of the Adventure Paths the company puts together. In addition, they are pretty common among just about every campaign I've ever been a part of, and I'm willing to bet it is the same for most players.
4. Elementals serve as more than just creatures to fight against, they also serve as creatures the PC's can change into or Summon.
5. Because of the multi-use of the elementals, I'd definitely by a minimum of four cases of each pack. It might sound crazy, but it isn't uncommon to have three or four of a particular type of element going at once during our battles.
6. The artwork in the Bestiary 1 book is excellent, especially the Earth and Water elementals.
7. While doing the ones in the Bestiary 1 make the most sense, they'd actually do well to serve as a barometer for how well those found in the Bestiary 2 would sell. And in my opinion, the artwork for the four found in the Bestiary 2 is outstanding.
8. Because Elementals are rather universal in RPG games, they'd likely sell even to those who don't play the pathfinder line.

So that's my pitch for Huge Elementals. I'd suggest scaling them to the Greater Elemental for a happy medium of size, although I wouldn't shed a tear if they scaled to the Elder-size if you were looking to cover your bases.

As for other potential Huge-sized miniatures from Paizo, here are my thoughts:

--The Mammoth would be neat to see, but there are several that can be had from other toy lines that I have found that are more than adequate. If people are interested, I'll post links.

--I get where you are coming from with the Dinosaurs, but after extensive searching, there are none of all the dinosaurs covered in the bestiaries (yours or those in the DD books) that have favorable scaling. But unfortunately, dinosaurs are actually pretty tough to add to campaigns unless you do a sort of Savage Lands thing. I've played in hundreds of campaigns, usually many different ones every year. There have been times where I've gone years without encountering a dinosaur in any campaign. While I always do my best to incorporate them in any campaign I run, I realize I'm in the minority. So while I think a line of Dinosaurs in appropriate scale would be well received from core collectors, I'm not sure they're a big enough niche to make them worth it.

--Having said all that about the dinosaurs, might I suggest some sort of Kickstarter campaign for them? I feel like that would allow you to do a limited run and not take any real risk to the company.

--The person who suggested a Black Pudding that could be put together to form an even bigger size has an excellent idea. Might I suggest a Huge Black Pudding miniature that would come in four variants. Each variant could have interlocking parts with the other variants. When all four variants are put together, the Ooze would become a Carnivorous Blob (Colossal size). I realize the colors would be different, but I'm sure you could come up with a way to get around that.

--I'd love to see the metallic dragons begin popping up in the Paizo sets. I'd also love to see Huge (and larger) versions appear. I'm hoping the White and Red Evolution sets have been popular enough to warrant Blue and Green Evolution lines. We've already got a Medium and Huge black dragon. I'm guessing at some point we'll see a Large version in one of the Pathfinder Battles sets. Once the Blue & Green get their due, I'm hoping we'll see the metallic versions receive some love.

--If keeping Huge-sized miniatures to two per package is ideal, I'd love to see more packages begin popping up. I'm assuming the chance of this occurring likely depends on how this Reign of Winter Huge-sized set sells. If it sells well then I'd hope we will see one for each coming Pathfinder: Battles set from here on out.

--If you decide just to make them more of a random thing, I'd love to see different types put together, like two Aberrations, or two Magical Beasts.

--I'm excited that the upcoming Reign of Winter Battles line looks to have more animals in it. I'm hoping we get a couple of Fey, too. I realize that can prove challenging, as half of them appear to be of Tiny size or smaller, while many others have a similar human-like appearance. Still, a guy can hope..

--If there is one particular type of creature I'd love to see represented more in your miniature lines, it is the Plant type. I consider this type underrepresented in DDM, and I'm hoping the same doesn't befall the Pathfinder lines. While I know that many of them look similar, there are plenty that look very different from one another. I love the different Plant types Paizo offers, including most of the artwork, and I'd love to see them included more in future lines.

Anyways, that's my input for your lines.

Keep on making these amazing miniatures, including these great looking Huge ones. I've already pre-ordered two cases and will likely be purchasing a couple more of the Svathurim since they can run in warbands

For those looking for Dinosaurs, I made do.

These are the right size or close:

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qh2v?Dinosaur-Miniatures/

Hope this helps people!

From talking to other miniature collectors and from posts on message boards I've seen, there is legit disappointment that DDM never made Huge elementals beyond the Fire one.

I too would like to see Huge Elementals, but I do think WotC made more than just the Fire Elemental. They made one called an Earth Titan and one called the Thunderblast Cyclone. The latter clearly is useable as an Huge Air Elemental, and the former can do nicely for an Huge Earth Elemental. So far as I know, though, no one has ever done a Huge Water Elemental, although Dungeon Crawler tried to do one in a Kickstarter that failed.

@Lorian - Thank you. The help is much appreciated!

@Cleanthes - Yes, I'm aware of the miniatures. I guess you're right about the Earth Titan getting the job done for a Huge Earth Elemental. I find the Thunderblast Cyclone to be a bit underwhelming as a miniature, though. Still, you're right, I can make do with it.

We probably won't do dinosaurs, so it's safe to cross them off any wishlists. Huge slots are so precious that it doesn't make sense to use them on creatures that are so easily represented by a plastic toy.

Froghemoth is an obvious one I'd really like to do. I think the elementals would sell well, but you'd need to do four of them so the packaging is a little strange. Two sets of two?

Dragon Turtle is one I'd like to do, probably paired with some other sort of aquatic dragon.

I'm glad to hear that. Dinosaurs are probably the last thing I'd want to see in a mini set as I could most likely pick up toy dinos cheaper than Pathfinder Minis.

I'd LOVE a Dragon Turtle, and really like (can't remember who it was) the idea of evolution sets for elementals. Despite having the Med and Large Ele's from the prior sets, I'd love to see a new/diff sculpt for Small through Huge Elementals of each type. Heck, maybe even make it a bridge between the evolutions and the larger collector sets with maybe 8 minis? (3 small, 3 Med, 1 Large, 1 Huge) Why not think "outside the box" as the Evolution-sized boxes can hold more than 3 minis with a modified plastic insert.