Recently, the many members of the pre-painted miniatures community at www.minisgallery.com, voted for the best pre-painted miniature products which were released in 2021. This is a fun, annual poll event for the fans of pre-painted minis. This year, the Astral Deva, from the Pathfinder Battles: Bestiary Unleashed set won the "Best Medium-sized Pre-painted Miniature" award. Congratulations Paizo! Paizo appeared to have this category locked, as the second most voted miniature in this category was Allevrah Azrinae, from the Pathfinder Battles: Darklands Rising set. To view a full list of the awards click here.
I'm would like to update my gallery and database at www.minisgallery.com, and I have not been able to find a lot of information about some of the promos and their status for the last 2 years. I was wondering if anyone here has attended recent conventions and may know if any of these miniatures were provided, and if so, at what convention? 1. Gnome Hook Hammer Lurker *1 (Image)
*1 Announced December 28, 2020: https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6shiw?The-Last-Minis-Preview
The last one, the Kobold Spearmaster was recently found on eBay recently, but that was the first I have heard of this. Are there any other Pathfinder Battles promo minis I have not currently recorded? MinisGallery Pathfinder Battles Promos
Please cancel my Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription once #162 (Agents of Edgewatch 6 of 6) has been finalized for shipment -- which I believe it already has been, based on an e-mail I received this morning. Thank you.
I am really happy to see Pathfinder miniatures added to the Premium Miniatures lines. While this set is more male focused, the Pathfinder Battles lines of miniatures have done a great job in offering many pc/npc (and monsters) in female appearance as well. In fact several past PB sets had more female pc/npc minis than male. As a veteran gamer, I have seen the game and it's players grow from the predominant white male player base it started with. Based solely on my attendance at conventions (and gaming stores in my Canadian city which embraces multiculturalism) I still see the majority of the player base as being white males (although the ratio has greatly changed) -- and white males predominantly pick white male characters to play. I can understand why there are so many white male pc/player options, as often marketing and product development efforts are highly focused on the primary demographics of the persons buying the products. A major drawback of that type of focus though is that you alienate persons outside of the target market -- which are potential customers. I really credit Paizo in always promoting an image of inclusivity, in all aspects (race, gender, and sexual orientation). With so many more female players and non-Caucasian players coming to the hobby over the last decade or two, it is important to ensure that they feel fully supported/embraced -- something Paizo has done well. Surely part of the reason it took these players so long to make the leap, was because based on the art/images/visuals/products they were seeing in the past, they weren't feeling welcomed. Also, just because I'm a white male, doesn't limit me to playing white male characters. I have enjoyed roleplaying many different characters from a variety of race / ethnic backgrounds. However, when I have played non-Caucasian appearing characters, I obviously did not really have any options in pre-painted plastic minis. Sure I could just break out the paints and remedy that, but all gamers should be represented in the products being made for them. Paizo has done a good job over the years in introducing female pc/npc character options in pre-painted plastic minis, but all miniature lines have done a very poor job in representing persons of color. My two main recommendations for Paizo for the Pathfinder Battles are: 1. If the standard flesh tone applied to miniatures was a little darker, the miniature could still be used for representing Caucasians, but could also be used to represent a variety of most other races. Even persons of the same race are not all of the same skin tone, so going with a more neutral flesh tone could really appeal to a wider audience. If someone wants to play a pasty-white, flesh toned character and they believe it is important that their miniature reflects that -- they can break out a paint set :) 2. Ever since Pathfinder Battles has been produced, I have repeatedly requested race/ethnic/region-themed sets. Golarion has such a rich and ethnically diverse culture, I would like to have a decent selection of minis available from each region. I envision buying a themed set of say 6-8 minis, all of the same region, depicting different classes typical from region. (i.e. Shoanti, Garundi, Tian, Mwangi) Each of these could be their own themed set, and would go a long ways towards correcting the imbalance which currently exists with pre-painted miniature options.
The City of Lost Omens gallery is now updated with this last batch of reveals: www.minisgallery.com/index.php?id=pathfinder-battles-city-of-omens Currently (not including the premium dragons) there have been 39 minis revealed. Since the Watch Cadets were identified as variants, and the Watch Officers were not, this means we should have at least 12 more miniatures left (and possibly 1 more variant) to be revealed based on this: 44 minis (33 revealed -- not including the Cadet variant)
* Typically past sets have included 6 dungeon dressings, but I don't know if they have officially confirmed if there are 6 in this set).
The decision to move to clear bases was made by WizKids for all of their pre-painted miniature lines. They believe that players want to see through the bases -- especially for large, huge or gargantuan minis, and additionally when battle maps or other aids are used which display graphical representations of the terrain in the area. The lettering on the bottom of the mini bases is going to be made more faint so that it is less of a distraction. WizKids has routinely been reprinting sets and these too will have clear bases. Another change announced is over-sized bases. These over-sized bases will be used to help in stability for either tall creatures that may topple over easily or for flight-stand creatures where there is a similar balance issue. The over-sized bases will contain an extra 1-inch wide ring around the base, denoted with a fine white printed line. (i.e.: a huge dragon that would normally be on a 3-inch in diameter base will now be on a 4-inch in diameter base and will have fine line stamped on the base to denote the edge of where the 3-inch base would normally end.) Concerns have also been noted that the over-sized bases may be problematic when playing with with any 3D terrain elements -- especially inside areas with walls. I am hoping that these bases will only be used when absolutely needed and will not become the norm. These are indeed some pretty big changes and will take some getting used to. A poll I conducted about 2 years ago did show a distinct preference for black bases at that time. I also like consistency and having a mix of clear and black bases is certainly not my preference -- but I suspect I will eventually just get use to it. For die-hard conformists -- I guess they can start replacing their old black bases with clear bases when an older set is reprinted. (I realize though that this will not help when also using the old WotC DDM minis).
I do like themed sets of minis like the city watch. While we do already have a past similarly themed set of watch minis -- these are very different in appearance and would be my preferred watch group over the past release(s). It is also nice to see some other of the other humanoid races in the themed set. It would have been nice to actually make the humanoid slot a variant slot. In example: #3a would be a half-orc, and #3b would be a dwarf.
MinisGallery.com is conducting a live interview with WizKids on May 7, 2020 for their pre-painted miniatures products. We are hoping that they might have some updates to provide on the release dates of their upcoming sets, including June's Pathfinder Battles release of City of Lost Omens, and July's release of the Heroes and Monsters, Starfinder Battles packs. For more information about this, please visit:
I have now received my set of Legendary Adventures miniatures and Goblin Village incentive. There are many great things about this set -- especially the goblin village. However, as an orc fan I have to say that the orcs in this set are deplorable. The sculpts are a sad departure from many of the Pathfinder Battles past orcs -- most of which are clearly the best orc sculpts in pre-painted miniatures. I find the orc sculpts in this set to be absolutely the worst sculpts. Could we please get more quality control on future orc sculpts as I would like to see them return to their former glory. Thank you. Edit: On the subject of quality control:
That is sweet. Is that outfitted with the Komplement pull-out tray? Or something custom? Yes, it is the Komplement pull out tray. I placed a shelf liner on the bottom to keep the minis from sliding. I then cut some strips of wood from panel board, and also cut some 1", 2" and 3" spacers. Perhaps a little too OCD, but it does help me to maximize the storage space while not getting all the minis tangled up with each other.
Ikea PAX Wardrobe: https://www.minisgallery.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=4961#p4961 Also, if you look all the way through the message thread I linked you will see other ways people store their miniatures.
All of the minis previewed are now available in the Legendary Adventures gallery:
For those that are interested -- the following pre-painted miniatures were provided as promos at GenCon in their Organized Play room: - Cinderlands Lizards
These minis have been added to Paizo Exclusives Gallery at: www.pathfinderminis.com/gallery0.htm I would like to pass on a special thank you to Tonya Woldridge for helping to connect me with these miniatures to obtain pictures for the website.
In retrospect, we probably should have cheated their size up a bit and grouped them together into a bunch instead of being individual urns. I definitely prefer the individual urns. I sort of wish all 4 could have been made -- the art for them looks really great. It is also great to see the Whispering Tyrant in plastic! These have been added to the gallery page which now shows the full set:
Fortunately my favorite mini out of these 7 is a common -- so I will be getting lots of the Lastwall Soldiers :)
These are generally all painted by hand in a mass assembly facility, likely in Shenzhen, China. Sometimes they will apply washes, but highlighting is extremely rare. Some of the basecoats might be airbrushed on, but is most certainly a human manipulated airbush, and not a machine-driven airbrush. Because of the hand painting being done, there can be great inconsistency from mini to mini. This will also depend on who is painting that step of the mini. One person does not paint an entire mini. At one person's painting station, they will assigned 1 painting task (a step). Once they finish their step, it gets passed onto someone else to do the next step -- like an assembly line. These factories work in shifts, so the people painting any given step will be rotated throughout the day/night. (Some of these factories are open 24 hours).
Swarms are tough to do in miniature form, because they don't always take a square shape, and they are at their best when they are sharing a square with other creatures. That has resulted in many, many swarm figures looking more like bumpy coins than the creatures they're meant to represent. So we went with a more cinematic look for the army ant swarm, a common Medium figure, which is a 4-foot-tall mass of insects that have already stripped an earlier victim to the bone. I know swarm mini appearance is always a hot topic, however I think you could in theory appease both sides of this topic. Imagine this:
This would be a 2-piece miniature. The removable top would just fit somewhat snug on top of the base. I know this would increase the cost slightly, however since swarms don't typically require a lot of paint steps, there shouldn't be much of a cost increase to paint it.
The same thing happened to me when I first connected tonight. Once I clicked on one of the forum paths though, then everything loaded just fine.
Speaking of GenCon, if anyone has pictures or information on any promotion pre-painted miniatures which Paizo may have been released at GenCon (usually there are at least 2), could you please post info here, or submit pictures to me through www.minisgallery.com Thank you.
These are some unique sculpts, and I really like the inclusion of the ratfolk, however the alchemist seems a little too much like a Skaven plague rat to me. I think a ratfolk rogue would have been more appropriate. I have extreme dislike for the "smoke" coming from the alchemist's vial. I've never been a big "sculpted spell effects" fan, so to me this glowing smoke trail really detracts from what is a pretty neat figure. On the plus side, a quick alteration with some clippers will fix that problem. I've also never been a big fan of the alchemist class as a whole, so I also don't like this mini because of that -- but again with a small alteration and perhaps gluing on a shield to the potion hand will really improve the appearance of the mini for me. As others have mentioned I am also disappointed that the "pretty goblin" is a common. One of these is enough for a collector, and I'm not even sure if non-collectors would even want one. This really should have been a rare. I really do not want 4+ of these in my case. With all that aside, it great to see the level of detail and paint steps which have been applied to these small figures. Typically small figures lack both (especially in the competitor's line) so these all look great.
Slightly off topic here, but I'm hoping someone from Paizo might be able to answer this. I have noticed that the Kobold Devilspeaker and Bugbear Lurker (Wikkawak) which were GenCon 2016 promos have not been added to the Promotional Miniatures store area. (http://paizo.com/pathfinderbattles/singles/promos) Could you please advise if there are there any plans to still add these, or are there none left? (These are the first 2 minis that appear on the Special Release Miniatures, PathfinderMinis.com gallery: http://www.pathfinderminis.com/gallery0.htm)
Reading the title of the post, I was hoping for a peasent with a cart ;-) "But, he's not dead yet!"
Slightly off topic here, but I'm hoping someone from Paizo might be able to answer this. I have noticed that the Kobold Devilspeaker and Bugbear Lurker (Wikkawak) which were GenCon 2016 promos have not been added to the Promotional Miniatures store area. (http://paizo.com/pathfinderbattles/singles/promos) Could you please advise if there are there any plans to still add these, or are there none left? (These are the first 2 minis that appear on the Special Release Miniatures, PathfinderMinis.com gallery: http://www.pathfinderminis.com/gallery0.htm)
I don't think "alas" means what you think it means. Given that I only have a few mere seconds to peruse the forums and make the occasional post, I rarely have time to proof read my posts. The important thing is, is that I think most people read that as it was intended: "at long last".
Getting real tired of the delays -.- It is unfortunate that we have these pauses, however given how many other things Erik is involved with, to some degree they are inevitable. Add into that mix convention season, and the pressures on his time are even greater. Erik is also the point person on the miniatures line, so it may not be a task he could really delegate. Given that Paizo's competitor has no set schedule for reveals, and appears to give little value in building interest and excitement around the release of a new set, I'd say we are still getting a decent amount of reveals from Paizo.
Its been a long marathon, but alas the Behemoth has made it to the finish line!
Although we unfortunately have no official Paizo preview this week, I have added another promo miniature image to the Pathfinder Battles gallery, courtesy of Kalindlara. Guard mini from PaizoCon 2016:
And that doesn´t even take pictures of prototypes or actual production miniatures into account, nor other miniature product news like boxed sets or mini-mate goblins or the unpainted minis line set for a fall release date. I would really like to see photos of the paint masters/production minis. While the renders usually do a good job matching the actual minis, its still nice to see what we are actually going to get.
It looks like they came out of the promo bags. The bags even had their names on them, so I would say yes, these are the official repaints... unofficially :) The store that sold them is a large retailer of minis, so its unlikely they were trying to scam anyone.
I think the project is quite a ways ahead of where it was last time. From what I recall it was at $17,000, and then with 5 days left I approached ENWorld and they were kind enough to do a post about the campaign. In the last 5 days it soared up to $29,000. That was an increase of $12,000 in 5 days which would make this campaign succeed if it occurred again. I have approached several news sites and game publishers, however they all have a strict criteria for what they expect out of Kickstarter hosts before they will throw their support in. (They don't want put their support behind a project that appears destined to fail, and they also don't want to be relied upon as the primary method for promoting the product). Based on input I have received from these news sites and publishers, they are not impressed with the lack of promotion this Kickstarter host has done. I remain hopeful that this project will succeed but for many reasons I wish not to delve into, I suspect that it won't. There's more than enough time to make it happen though, and hopefully the fans of this project can help promote this mini and give it the extra boost in promotion that it both requires and deserves!
Is this exactly the same game mechanics as the Pathfinder (3.5 ed) system, or will there be changes? I've really been hoping that Paizo/Pathfinder would eventually release a simplified and streamlined version of Pathfinder similar to 5e. While sometimes I do find 5e a little too simple, the game just runs so smoothly and quickly... even at high levels!
Thanks again for your keen ability to find these so quickly :) I have updated the gallery accordingly.
On a side note Marco, I can't remember if you have a forum account at Plasticrypt.com, but if you don't it would be great if you could register one there. There is a thread there that is for posting info on the Monster Menagerie set. I mention this, as I suspect Paizo might have some concerns about promoting another company's product, on a message thread that was intended to promote their own product :) With regards to the monsters they have revealed, there seems to be quite a bit of duplication with minis which Paizo has recently released -- and as usual -- Paizo's minis clearly appear better in sculpt and paint application than WotC's.
First, I just want to say that I have faith in this game. Honestly, out of all of the MMOs in production right now, I think PFO has the most potential. The only way to fix the poor interface, bad graphics, lack of in-game content, and clumsy game mechanics is pretty much a complete rebuild from the ground up. I applaud them for going with a skill-based character development system over a level-based character development system, but that was the only thing that I believe was done well. So yes, if they wish to rebuild the game and spend millions more money, then yes there is potential. Anything short of that, is flushing good money down the toilet. While I enjoy the "sense of risk vs reward" that the pvp aspect brings in, bottom-line there are not enough pvp'rs out there to make this type of game a profitable venture, if the primary focus is pvp. Neverwinter Online had/has the best model out there. (Too bad Mod 6 ruined the game and the player base). Neverwinter has:
For any MMO to survive and prosper, you must have all of the above. Now in addition, if PFO did all the above, plus added in it's sandbox elements and it's skill-based character development, then I think you would have a winner. Add-in player housing that you can customize (such as in Ultima Online -- and I think Everquest Next was/is planning to do), then you could really have a great game with a personal touch. Of course everything I described above requires money & time. So yes, if PFO (via their new developer) did all the above, then yes it would be a great game. Golarion is a world rich in content -- let's see it and experience it online!
the time till january 27th is so long without your previws.You mean we won't have previews of the set after Rusty Dragon starting in a week or two? If I recall correctly from the past sets, Erik may now follow up with photos of either the paint masters or the actual minis now.
I just remember the comments when RotRL came out - it seems to me there is a significant slice of the market for whom price is an issue. Going to a randomised model may well turn some people off as well. Unfortunately the randomized model is a more successful model, and helps to clear retailer inventory quicker. It also allows the producer to have rare minis that cost significantly more to produce (they have more complexity/components/assembly involved and with more paint steps applied) in which they can spread the extra cost across the entire line. (Although admittedly in my 6 minis set suggestion, I'm not sure the small size of the set would fully allow for this). Fingers crossed I'm wrong - but I'm cognizant of the fact that what the fans say they'll support isn't always born out when it comes time to spending actual money. Very true!
Pathfinder Society players are a pretty dedicated lot, so I'm sure some of you must have attended GenCon 2015? I host a pre-painted miniatures gallery site (<url=http://www.pathfinderminis.com>www.pathfinderminis.com</url& gt;), and I have been trying to find someone who has 2 of the special miniatures which were handed out to players at the convention. The miniatures were a "Fire Beetle" and a "Duergar Soldier". If by any chance you have these miniatures, could you please take a picture of them and send it to me (admin@pathfinderminis.com). If you have a camera with a macro setting, that would be great, but at this stage I'll take any photo I can get that shows the miniatures in relative clarity. Thank you.
Thank you for the replies Erik. While we are on the subject of buying singles, do you know when (if) the elusive Fire Beetle and Duergar Soldier may be available in the Paizo store? I am still completely amazed that a picture of these has not turned up, and eBay seems to be devoid of them. On a side note, if anyone out there has these 2 minis, could you please take a picture of them and send them to me so that I can update the PathfinderMinis gallery. My e-mail address is at the bottom of the page at http://www.pathfinderminis.com
Erik, it seems like it has been quite awhile since this question was last asked, and with the release date for this set coming in perhaps 2 months, now seemed like a good time to ask: Do you still anticipate that the new and improved Feiya and King Irovetti minis will be available with the release of the Rusty Dragon Inn set? If yes: 1) I believe the original plan was to include each of these miniatures within a case of Rusty Dragon Inn. I just wanted to confirm if this was still the plan? (Those boosters/bricks are all packed into their cases pretty tight, so I am unsure how this will be done unless these are extra minis that are placed into a booster -- or perhaps they will be included with the case promo?) 2) For those that don't order any cases, is there anyway they can purchases these minis? (Will Paizo be getting a specific stock of them or will you only be getting them the same way everyone else is?) 3) Do you know if WizKids will be making these available in their replacement program? (I realize you probably won't have the answer for this one. Since these minis are from old sets, their typical method of replacement would be to replace the mailed in miniature with a miniature with a similar rarity from the most recent set. I am hoping that they would convey to the staff who handle replacements, to replace Feiya and King Irovetti with the new ones.) 4) Does Paizo plan to offer their own replacement option for these 2 minis?
Dwarf Wizard: A great looking mini and a versatile sculpt for most any caster class. My only concern is the "spell effect" that is on his hand -- this sort of takes away from the versatility of the mini. (It still looks great with the spell effect, but its nice to have more versatile appearing figures.) Gnome Wizard: A fantastic looking mini! She definitely appears as more of a melee type than a wizard, but is most certainly a highly versatile mini. Its definitely going to be my favorite ppm female gnome (not that there is much to choose from). Kobold Trapmaker: Another great looking kobold from Paizo! The one I just received from WotC's Elemental Evil minis, is a really poor sculpt that further got ruined by a splotchy paint job. Even if this Trapmaker gets a poor paintjob he is still going to look far better that WotC's kobold! I know pc/npc focused sets are not everyone's preference, but I already am so happy with this set because of it, and it just keeps getting better with every reveal!
As a big supporter of having more pc/npc choices, this set continues to build my anticipation as being one of the best sets made. Since Paizo is now just making 2 large sets a year, it would be great if 1 of those sets was always city/pc/npc focused (identical to Rusty Dragon Inn set, where we also get mounts and generic/common monsters), and the other set was more dungeon/wilderness/adventure path themed and would include some of Pathfinder's more unique monsters.
I actually thought that you were doing a pretty good job of taking on the task of trying to please ALL of us :) There is of course no set formula that will work to please everyone, and its always much easier for people to talk about in detail why they don't like 5 minis of the set as opposed to the other 40 that they do like. I appreciate that you spend a lot of time (likely a lot of it being your personal time) perusing the ppm forums, looking for feedback to guide you in future sets. While it is great that you are taking into account all of our feedback, historically you have shown good judgement for set composition and balance and you probably don't even need our feedback. You have taken on the impossible task of trying to please everyone, and you are doing a good job in my books. If I like 75% of the miniatures in a set, then it is a "win" for me as a collector and a case-buyer. People need to be realistic in their expectations. A case is an expensive purchase and I do understand why some people base their decision to buy a case, based on the percentage of figures they like in a case. Although sometimes people declare their refusal to buy a case based on your inability to fully satisfy their needs -- I have yet to see an ex-case buyer declare that they will not be buying "any" of the miniatures in a set. As long as they are still buying some of the minis, you have indeed succeeded :)
Speaking as a Hard Core collector, I am very happy to see more pc/npc figures available. While I really like Paizo's take on most every monster they have made, I really don't need multiple sculpts of generic monsters (i.e. wyverns). I would rather have have more pc/npc's. I find that GM's and players greatly appreciate having a selection of minis to choose from to find one that best depicts their pc/npc. Its great to see more presence of pc/npc's, and I am really looking forward to the release of this set.
Hi all, I am currently looking for submissions for a special gallery I am considering hosting. I greatly enjoy looking at some of the repainted Pathfinder Battles miniatures that others have done and they give me great inspiration when repainting some of my own. The 1 mini that I have added to the gallery is a perfect example of that. http://www.pathfinderminis.com/custom.htm If you are interested in submitting your own pictures, then please read the submission information at the bottom of the page. Please note that I am only accepting submissions for repainted/modified Pathfinder Battles miniatures.
Although I fear the prices these pieces of dungeon dressing will be going for on the secondary market, I am also happy to see that the focus of the set is still on the miniatures and not the dressing.. On the plus side, I'm just happy WizKids didn't talk Erik into making these items "chase" figures, like they did with their D&D line (in which a case would only get you 4 of the 8 available ultra rare minis). A case is very expensive as is, so when I buy a case I EXPECT to get all the minis :)
I think I just spotted a few more minis from this set.... These were "revealed" about 2 weeks ago. I try to keep this site update with the latest known images: www.pathfinderminis.com
you missed the update here Thanks. I got the gallery site all updated now :)
Erik, was there a change in the paint scheme for the Shemhazian? The previously previewed mini has a lot of green paint on it, where-as the one depicted at the Con appears red & black?
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