A Rare Farewell

Friday, October 2, 2015

It's Friday, which means it's time for your (mostly) regularly scheduled preview of upcoming figures from the Pathfinder Battles line of prepainted fantasy gaming figures. Up this week are three early looks at digital sculpts for November's The Rusty Dragon Inn set. I should add here that while these are digital sculpts, I've actually seen and approved all of the paint masters for this set, and they look phenomenal. Because so many of our figures include stamped-on additional details (called "tampos" in the lingo of the business), I don't tend to photograph paint masters, even when I really want to. Once we begin to receive early production samples, we'll shoot several of them and show them off here. But for now, we're still looking at digitals.

I've showed off a lot of the set's common and uncommon figures so far, so this week, in celebration of something special (which I'll get to below), I want to pull back the curtain on some of the set's rare figures. Our partners at WizKids always pack an amazing amount of paint and sculpt details into the rare figures, and this set is no exception. Some of my absolute favorites from the set are found at this rarity.

And so, as my favorite television scientist might say: "Awaaaaaaay we go!"

Here we have the imposing Allevrah, Elf General, looking splendid in her green dragon skin armor. A few months back, as I was working on Pathfinder Battles set lists, my boss and Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens came by and said "Mona, put some more elves in the line. We need more elves!" I decided to fulfill that request in the form of a few figures from The Lost Coast, but I think Allevrah here is the coolest of the bunch. She was, in a slightly different form (NO SPOILERS) a major NPC in the Second Darkness Adventure Path, but I think she works just as well as a major NPC ally or even a player character. There's no denying that she looks ready to kick some serious ass. Allevrah, Elf General is a Medium, rare figure.

Up next is the Goblin Vulture Pilot, from page 109 of the Pathfinder RPG Monster Codex hardcover. I love the way WizKids' sculptors perfectly captured this guy's facial expression, and I can't wait to have him (literally) dive bomb my player characters. This figure looks incredible in hand, and I'm delighted to get more mounted figures into the line. Let me know if there are other mounted monsters and characters you'd like to see, and I'll try to sneak them in somewhere! The Goblin Vulture Pilot is a Medium figure at the rare rarity. (Ok, the goblin himself is Small, but the vulture is Medium and on a Medium base.)

Last up today is one of The Rusty Dragon Inn's stranger visitors, a multi-dimensional merchant of arcane wares known as Zilvazaraat. The towering planar peddler first appeared in Pathfinder Adventure Path #70: The Frozen Stars, and he was originally slated to appear as a miniature in the Reign of Winter set. That set (and a few others at the same time) lost about 10 figures when we went from 55-figure sets to 45-figure sets, and Zilvazaraat here has been waiting for his time to strike ever since. I figured, hey, you never know who might stop by The Rusty Dragon Inn for a bit of drink and some back corner business, so he sauntered his way back into our lives. I think it's fair to say that this creature has never been made before in prepainted plastic. He's a little bit off-kilter, but he's got a gorgeous sculpt and I hope you like him. Given that he appears anywhere to buy, sell, and trade magic items, your players will probably love him. Zilvazaraat is a Large, rare figure.

With the previews behind us, I'd like to reveal some sad news to Pathfinder Battles fans. Although I tend to get a fair amount of credit for the line in public forums based on the regular appearance of this blog, the truth is that making these sets as amazing as they can be is a team effort. Over the last few years, I've been honored to include in that team Paizo's Licensing Coordinator, Mike Kenway. Mike has been an absolute workhorse behind the scenes of Pathfinder Battles, tracking down art, managing the approvals chain with WizKids, and making sure that I don't fall too behind on planning set lists and other Pathfinder Battles business.

We've got Mike to thank for the awesome Bone Golem from Dungeons Deep, and numerous other figures he's championed over the years. A significant part of the line's quality and success can be attributed directly to Mike's keen eye for detail and excellent work ethic.

Unfortunately (at least for us!), Mike has accepted a job with another company, who understands how good he is at this type of thing, and what an asset he is to licensing coordination. Mike's last day in the Paizo office is next Thursday, October 8th, and I wanted to be sure to take this opportunity here in the Friday Publisher Preview to thank Mike for his tireless efforts on behalf of Pathfinder Battles fans. The line would not be what it is today without his hard work, and we will miss him dearly.

That said, time (and minis production) waits for no man, and the show must go on. We're currently looking for Mike's replacement to join the Paizo staff as Licensing Coordinator. Since a major part of the job involves helping me manage the Paizo side of Pathfinder Battles, I thought I'd put a link to the job opening here in the blog, in case some of you miniatures stalwarts might consider a change in career.

I could definitely use the help!

I'm off to New York Comic Con next week, and will try to drop a preview from the road. There's still so much awesome stuff in The Rusty Dragon Inn set that I can hardly believe it!

Until next time, I remain...

Erik Mona
Publisher