Last week, we announced the Kingmaker set of Pathfinder Battles pre-painted miniatures and the associated case incentive figures: Huge earth and water elementals. But they don't come out until October! What will fans of elementals do until then?
Fear not, valiant Pathfinders, for our partners at WizKids have you covered with their next wave of Pathfinder Battles Deep Cuts unpainted plastic miniatures! Due out in July, these non-randomized figures are pre-primed with Acrylicos Vallejo primer, making them ready to paint straight out of the box. The preview images in this blog show digital renders of both the unpainted sculpt and a sample paint scheme to serve as inspiration. Each 2-piece blister pack comes with two copies of the same figure, in the same pose, so you can easily build an army of identical elemental warriors, or paint variant versions of the same figure.
First among this wave's elementals is the Medium earth elemental. Pathfinder Battles fans will recognize this sculpt as a boulder-throwing variant of the similarly named (and out of print) figure from the Shattered Star set from way back in 2013. Just like the sample paint scheme illustrated here, that figure had granite and emerald coloration, but this figure's unpainted finish means you can customize your earth elemental to fit whatever setting you want! Need a desert elemental? Paint it a tan, sandstone color with topaz or turquiose accents. Is your party facing an earth elemental on a tropical, volcanic island? Paint its body black, with ruby accents. And if it's especially lava-bound, try putting bright orange or yellow in the cracks of its body to give it a magma glow (see the lava lurker promotional figure for inspiration).
Next we have the Medium water elemental, again varying up the pose of the similarly named (and out of print) figure from Shattered Star. Composed of clear plastic, the figure maintains the sense of transparency that makes water elemental figures so much fun to use at the table. Whether you want a clear blue elemental from tropical waters, or a muddy, murky gray or brown from a swamp or sewer, this figure can be customized with a thin ink wash. If you're using a pre-existing map, like a Pathfinder Flip-Mat, you can even paint the mini to match the color of whatever body of water it's going to rise out of in your game! Give it an appearance of being icy or particularly roiling with some white dry-brushing to make the whorls and wave caps really pop.
What good is a water elemental if there isn't a fire elemental for it to quench? The Medium fire elemental is—you guessed it—a resculpt of the Shattered Star figure of the same name. Also composed of clear plastic, this figure can be customized with a variety of shades of red, orange, and yellow for traditional flames, or other colors like green and blue for more supernatural elementals summoned by strange rituals or specialized spellcasters. You can even give the figure a smoky look with a dry-brushing of sooty black.
And that's it. Just three elementals.
Nah, I'm just kidding. Of course there's a Medium air elemental to complete the set. One of the best things about this figure is that you can use it straight out of the box without getting your brushes dirty as any number of invisible air creatures. If you are looking to paint it, however, the clear plastic again allows for a lot of variety with different ink washes. Cool blues or pale whites can capture the brisk chill of a winter breeze, while darker colors like gray or even black can give the swirling elemental the look of a raging tornado. With a bit more customization, you can attach small green or brown "leaves" to the figure's surface to represent the detritus sucked up into the whirlwind in forested or autumnal settings.
While this is our first Deep Cuts blog, these are far from the first figures in the line, with dozens already in the wild in your local game store or here on paizo.com. Rather than go back and show off these unpainted figures, I'd rather give the community the chance to show off your finished Deep Cuts from the myriad figures we've previously released. Post your painted Pathfinder Battles Deep Cuts figures on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with the hashtag #PathfinderBattles and tag the official accounts for Paizo and WizKids, and we'll collect and show off our favorites in a future blog.
Next week we'll examine the wave's batch of gnome spellcasters. The "shortlist," if you will. Until then, keep your paintbrushes wet.
Mark Moreland
Franchise Manager
