Darklands Rising: From the Vaults

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

This week, we conclude our preview of the forthcoming Pathfinder Battles: Darklands Rising set of prepainted plastic miniatures from our partners at WizKids. Before we get into looking at the final figures in the set, I wanted to provide an update on Darklands Rising’s release. Due to a number of logistical issues, some game distributors have not received their orders of Darklands Rising, so WizKids has pushed the release date back 2 weeks to February 3, 2021. This should give the remaining product time to make it to distributors and then to retail stores in time for everyone to have the same street date. We hope this won’t cause anyone any problems, and thank the community for your understanding.

And now, we delve back into the bowels of the earth to reveal the final batch of figures in this amazing set! We’ve shown off the many Darklands denizens like drow, deep gnomes, and urdefhans in the set, but none of the fey, so let’s remedy that, shall we? Here’s we’ve got the Leprechaun, Grodair, Lurker in Light, and Norn. Of these, none is really linked heavily to the Darklands, but they can nevertheless serve as potential foes or allies of adventurers in just about any campaign, including those set beneath Golarion’s surface. The Leprechaun is a Small common figure, the Grodair a Medium common, Lurker in Light a Small uncommon, and the Norn is a Large rare.

Mini figure of of a leprechaun with ginger muttonchops, a green jacket and tophat, and a bag of gold Grodair Minifigure:  A large, four eyed, piraña-like fish with its mouth wide open, revealing many teeth Lurker in the Light Mini Figure: a small fairy-like creature with large yellow eyes and ram-like horns Norn Mini Figure: a yellow eyed being with long blond braids and a brown furred cloak, holding a spindle and scissors

Fey are generally represented as the guardians or custodians of the natural world, so it’s fitting that we also included the Arboreal Regent in this set to accompany them. This Huge uncommon figure can serve both as a treefolk character as well as an animated or awakened tree (which isn’t the same thing!) Similarly, the Wood Giant, also a Huge uncommon figure, can serve as friend or foe depending on what the party wants to do with the forests it calls home. The decidedly less amiable Cavern Troll, a Large uncommon figure, serves a less foliated, more crystalline foil to his fellow giants, and fits right in among the Darklands’ many threats.

Arboreal Regent mini figure: a large tree-folk being with dark eyes and branches growing from their head and shoulders Wood Giant Mini figure: a green skinned giant in leather armor, holding a bow and arrow at the ready Cavern Troll: A large troll with stone-like skin and jagged crystalline teeth, with crystals protruding from its arms and shoulders

Rounding things out in Darklands Rising are two rather frightening animals, two classic fantasy beasts, and a weird aquatic aberration. They are the Emperor Cobra (Large uncommon), Giant Toad (Large uncommon), Leucrotta (Large uncommon), Peryton (Medium common), and Quoppopak (Large uncommon).

Emperor Cobra Mini figure: A large, rearing, grey cobra with spiked scales and deep red eyes Giant Toad mini figure:  a large toad with red and yellow spots along its back with a mouth full of sharp teeth
Leucrotta mini figure: a mix creatures with the head of a striped badger, the body of a cat and the feet of a stag Peryton mini figure: a mix creatures with the head of a wolf, antlers of a stag, and wings and back legs of an eagle Quoppopak mini figure: a many eyed, purple, octopus-like creature

And that, as they say in show business, is a wrap! Pathfinder Battles: Darklands Rising is available for preorder now and will be available everywhere miniatures are sold on February 3. Next week, we’ll take off for the far horizons of distant worlds as we take our first look at Starfinder Battles: Planets of Peril, the first full set of prepainted plastic miniatures based on the Starfinder game and setting. See you then!

Mark Moreland
Director of Brand Strategy

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Tags: Miniatures Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Pathfinder Battles Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Pathfinder Second Edition

That peryton is awesome! Toad is scary...

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Love the luecrotta design!

Wayfinders

Cannot wait to get my hands on this case.

And I cannot wait for the Starfinder preview also. I am hoping there will be a Starfinder Battles subscription also.

Any word on this?


Beautiful figures!

Marketing & Media Manager

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FullMetalPope wrote:

Cannot wait to get my hands on this case.

And I cannot wait for the Starfinder preview also. I am hoping there will be a Starfinder Battles subscription also.

Any word on this?

Pathfinder Battles Darklands Rising Release date was moved to February 3 by WizKids. Starfinder Battles preview blogs start here in a week or so. I have no data on a subscription, but will inquire.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

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Because folks have asked for previews that include photos of production minis, we are delaying the Starfinder preview blogs until we can get those. I hope to have them soon enough to do both earlier and more accurate previews for the next set later this year.

Dark Archive

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Aaron Shanks wrote:
FullMetalPope wrote:

Cannot wait to get my hands on this case.

And I cannot wait for the Starfinder preview also. I am hoping there will be a Starfinder Battles subscription also.

Any word on this?

Pathfinder Battles Darklands Rising Release date was moved to February 3 by WizKids. Starfinder Battles preview blogs start here in a week or so. I have no data on a subscription, but will inquire.

While i love that you will show us pictures of actual minis in the future, the march release date of "Planets of Peril" is very close.

Is it possible to get a set list with the miniature name and rarity (in spoiler tag), because i would love to decide if i need to order one case or more to get the right quantity of the creatures included?

Thank you for your time and dedication.

Scarab Sages

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Well....this turned out to be my most disappointing set ever. Maybe I've been really lucky in the past, but I'm guessing I've had maybe 20 broken figures in the entire line of Cases from Heroes and Monsters to present (I'm not counting singles here, just ones from Cases). 11 of the broken were in this set, including all 4 Skavelings and 3 of the 4 Leng Spiders. Had 2 Rares among the breaks as well (D'ziriak and Tengu Jinx Eater).

The distribution seemed off as well. I had 6 Uncommons where I only got 1 figure - Attic Whisperer, Lurker in Light, Blood Mist, Drow Priestess, Scarecrow, and Drow Warrior (Rapier). That was better than Gnome Warrior and Drow Warrior (crossbow) where I didn't get any.

One of the guys in my group is really handy at fixing the broken ones so it's not the end of the world, but it's still a bit disappointing.(I know both issues are WizKids issues, not Paizo).


Wizkids are apparently excellent about replacing broken minis, if you've never explored that route. (I've never had the need to do it myself, but I've heard only good reports).

The distribution appears to have deviated a lot this time around. I'm seeing way more people not get a full set than is usual. I hope that's not a "new normal" - the fact I could order a case confident I'd only miss one or two rare minis, with a decent scattering of the other rarities was the main draw for buying by the case.

Scarab Sages

The only one I ever had to replace was a Greta from Reign of Winter, who only had one arm (thoroughly searched that booster for it to no avail). My friend is good, but not that good! It was before I knew about the WizKids replacement policy, but Paizo sent me out the replacement.

Most of the breaks are the clear plastic "posts" holding the figure aloft had snapped. As long as they can be fixed, I can live with the repairs. For me, it feels wasteful to get them to ship something out when we can fix it. Plus you may have to ship the broken ones back to them and there may be shipping costs too.


Yeah - I don't know the details of their process. There may well be a cost.

Almost all of my breakages have been those transparent poles - largely D&D minis, rather than PF. I've usually had enough to cover it (and also have a guy in the group who likes tinkering with that kind of thing). For me the change in distribution methodology is of more concern (if that is a real thing and not just some sampling error or something).

Scarab Sages

I've only once prior had a case where I didn't get one figure. Think it was was the Morrigna Psychopomp from Lastwall, which was a Rare at least. I tracked one down later for completion, but that was one that was just a shrug for me.

It was weird getting a 0 for an Uncommon though. The gnome warrior is a repaint of the deep gnome warrior in the same set, and I did get 5 of the latter. Did the repaints throw off the collation? Took a real close look at the 5, and they are all the deep gnome paint job.

The drow warrior (crossbow) was a variant, along with the (rapier) one - wondering if the 2 of them are collectively Uncommon instead of each being Uncommon in its own right?

I always buy some post-case singles anyway, so I got to buy more of the cheaply priced figures this time around. I got more of the big figures than I thought I would get (leng spiders, admantine golems, treants/regents), so that helped out there.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber

I didn’t get the uncommon gnome warrior. And two of the leng spiders disconnected from their base. Easy enough to fix.

The Jabberwock rocks! The show goth and other aberrations, even the giant amoeba are great.

TomB

Dark Archive

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The title for the next PFB set has been announced:

"Pathfinder Battles: Bestiary Unleashed" (set 20)!
will be in stores somewhen in july 2021.

The premium set is called:
"Pathfinder Battles: Bestiary Unleashed: Treerazer premium set"!

Treerazer is a huge nascent Demon Lord, so unless Whizkids scales him up to gargantuan, i think/hope that the set will include something else.
I think with a name like "Bestiary Unleashed" all creatures from the Bestiary and Bestiary 2 that havn't been done yet and that are huge or smaller could be in this set.
Bestiary 3 hasn't been published yet, so i guess that there won't be (m)any creatures from it in this set.

I'll check my Bestiaries when i get home for any ideas.

Four months to go.
Let the previews start!

Dark Archive

So it's 16 weeks(111 days) until "Bestiary Unleashed" releases on july 28th.

When will the previews start?

Grand Archive

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

If I remember correctly, last time they said they would try to do the preview once they get the actual mini to photograph because there were complaints about the render previews. So when Wizards send some to them, when they are ready. So probably closer to release than render previews.

[EDIT] Scrolling up a bit I found the actual post mentioning they would delay the Starfinder preview to do exactly that. I don't know if it was considered a success and if they will stick with that strategy going forward.

Grand Archive

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Actually, I should have looked it up in the product thread, it was already answered:
In this Post by Aaron

Aaron Shanks wrote:
Preview blogs are scheduled to begin the first Monday in May.

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