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.

Thanks so much for the answers Mark.

It looks like there is a change of format for the next Pathfinder Battles set: Impossible Lands.

Impossible Lands gallery at MinisGallery.com

The order information available to retailer's on WizKid's Solicits page, reflects the following:

Impossible Lands consists of 6 Boxed sets of miniatures:
97538 $79.99 Pathfinder Battles: Impossible Lands - Impossible Foes Boxed Set (8 minis)
97539 $79.99 Pathfinder Battles: Impossible Lands - Accursed Constructs Boxed Set (8 minis)
97541 $49.99 Pathfinder Battles: Impossible Lands - Heroes and Villains Boxed Set (8 minis)
97542 $49.99 Pathfinder Battles: Impossible Lands - Masters of Magic Boxed Set (8 minis)
97540 $49.99 Pathfinder Battles: Impossible Lands - Mukradi Boxed Figure (1 mini)
97543 $79.99 Pathfinder Battles: Impossible Lands - Adult Umbral Dragon Boxed Figure (1 mini)

While the image names for these sets include a reference to a miniature number (ranging from 001 to 047), it appears that only 34 minis will be included in this set.

I'm hoping that someone from Paizo can please answer these questions:

1. Has this set been changed in format from 47 minis in a random booster box format to 32 minis to a visible box format?
2. Can you advise if the other 15 minis cut from this set will also be offered/available for sale any time soon?
3. Will this be the new standard format for all "core set" Pathfinder Battles miniatures?
4. Will this also be the new standard format for all "core set" Starfinder Battles miniatures?

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)
2. Aiudeen Elf Rogue *1 (Image)
3. Ekujau Elf Swashbuckler *1 (Image)
4. Gateborn Rogue *1 (Image)
5. Leaf Leshy (autumn themed) *2 (Image)
6. Dwarf Sharpshooter *2 (Image)
7. Watch Cadet *3 (Image)
8. Harpy *4 (Image)
9. Kobold Spearmaster: No announcement found, however a listing for this miniature was seen on eBay: (Package Image from eBay)

*1 Announced December 28, 2020: https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6shiw?The-Last-Minis-Preview
*2 Announced June 1, 2020: https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6sh8u?These-Are-The-People-In-Your -Neighborhood
*3 Announced May 11, 2020: https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6sh81?Minis-at-the-Center-of-the-W orld
*4 Announced June 8, 2020: https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6sh90?Dont-Go-Beyond-The-Wall

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

Grolick wrote:

I see the same clear bases are on these minis. Has a change been made to make them readable? I could only read the huge ones in the last set.

Yes, there was time during production of this set to implement changes based on feedback from the previous one. WizKids increased the opacity of the paint used for labeling the figures and they're much more readable now.

Thank you. Definitely much easier to read now.

Base Comparison Photo

I’ve never understood the randomized booster business model.

It is a long read, but is well explained here:

If you are looking to buy very specific miniatures, then the secondary market (i.e. Miniature Market, Auggies Games, etc.) are where you should buy the minis -- especially if you are just looking for player character types of miniatures. The painted premium figures which are sold as singles are also a good option -- but you are paying considerably for them.

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.
Terry

Criticism on the whiteness and maleness of this wave are fair and have been passed on to WizKids. There are literally thousands of potential combinations of ancestry, class, and gender, and we'll never get to them all, but that's no reason not to try for more variety in the products we do offer.

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)
6 dungeon dressing (5 revealed)*

* 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).

Kor - Orc Scrollkeeper wrote:

Mark, on the subject of release dates -- the Pathfinder Battles: Thieves Guild Premium set is due for a June release. I am not trying to find things to add to your existing work load after your recent (and much anticipated) return, but if there is any way you could squeeze in some previews of this set soon it would be great.

That premium set and the premium figures for City of Lost Omens will be the focus of next week's preview (along with some other figures that are thematically relevant).

Oh nice. I'm greatly looking forward to seeing both of those. Next week can't come soon enough now :)

Mark, on the subject of release dates -- the Pathfinder Battles: Thieves Guild Premium set is due for a June release. I am not trying to find things to add to your existing work load after your recent (and much anticipated) return, but if there is any way you could squeeze in some previews of this set soon it would be great.

On the topic of minis: has there been any news about the Wizkids Starfinder Battles minis line, since it was announced last year? Of course, everything is a bit topsy-turvy this year; just wondering if anything's been announced.

The Pandemic has only affected WizKids shipping dates for products that had release dates for April and May. Currently, June and July releases are still proceeding as planned.

Starfinder Battles miniatures are slated for a July release.

Mark, could you please confirm the rarity and base size for the Gogiteth. I suspect it is a Large Rare?

What is up with clear bases for large creatures btw? Besides meaning it will be easier to see when I forget to clean dust off them? :'D

WizKids is currently transitioning all their bases to clear bases. By the end of the year, all of their pre-painted miniatures moving forward will have clear bases.

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:
WizKids Interview

PC1

Benison: 1d20 ⇒ 4

HP: 1d4 + 1d12 ⇒ (2) + (12) = 14

PC2

Secret 1d7 ⇒ 6

HP: 1d4 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + (4) + 2 = 9

PC3

1d4 + 1d12 ⇒ (3) + (2) = 5

1d8 ⇒ 3

Set 1

1: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 5) = 8
2: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 1) = 7
3: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 2) = 10
4: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 5, 2) = 11
5: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 6) = 14
6: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 1, 5) = 8

Birth Augur: 1d30 ⇒ 20
Origin: 1d8 ⇒ 7
Quarter: 1d12 ⇒ 6

B: 1d20 ⇒ 14
D: 1d20 ⇒ 9

I: 1d100 ⇒ 20

Set 2

1: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 6) = 11
2: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 2) = 7
3: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 1) = 10
4: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 5) = 13
5: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 4) = 11
6: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 2) = 10

Birth Augur: 1d30 ⇒ 17
Origin: 1d8 ⇒ 5
Quarter: 1d12 ⇒ 1

B: 1d20 ⇒ 2
D: 1d20 ⇒ 19

I: 1d100 ⇒ 57

Set 3

1: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 5) = 12
2: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 4) = 9
3: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 3, 6) = 10
4: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 5) = 11
5: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 2) = 11
6: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 1) = 10

Birth Augur: 1d30 ⇒ 30
Origin: 1d8 ⇒ 5
Quarter: 1d12 ⇒ 5

B: 1d20 ⇒ 12
D: 1d20 ⇒ 16

I: 1d100 ⇒ 50

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:
Gnome Rogue

How much time do you spend organizing? Do you have them alphabetically, and make room as new stuff comes in, or do you organize them by case or something so you don’t have to adjust too much?

I have each tray organized by themes, so when I get new minis its very quick to put them away. Some themes are dedicated to an entire tray, where-as some trays have 2 or more themes. The trays for humanoids have such themes as:

All the monster types are in their themes of course: Undead, Demons & Devils, Elementals, Aberrations, etc.

The key is, to leave room in each drawer for expansion. Although, with the rate the sets have been coming, most of my expansion areas are now full. I will soon have to do a re-organization -- but the current sections have held up for over 5 years now. If I only have to do 1 major re-organization every 5 years I am fine with that.

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:

www.pathfinderminis.com/gallery34.htm

For those that are interested -- the following pre-painted miniatures were provided as promos at GenCon in their Organized Play room:

- Cinderlands Lizards
- Wereleopard (Also provided at the 2019 PaizoCon)
- Bloodbriar Goblin Raider (Also provided at the 2014 PaizoCon)
- Radioactive Skeleton (available to anyone who made a purchase of over $50.00 at the Paizo booth)

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.

I'm guessing that GenCon has kept everyone busy and affected delays to the normal quick responses we receive here :)

I spoke to Sara Marie at the Paizo booth at GenCon and she said that she does not believe that this will be part of the Pathfinder Battles subscription.

Could you please confirm if these are part of the Pathfinder Battles subscription, or will I need to order it separately?

I also received a message from someone saying that those are just internal fencing. Now that I look closer, I can see that they are on the smaller side. The palisade walls would be much larger, and I've been advised that Mark Moreland has confirmed that there are several palisade walls included.

Thank you for posting that picture. Sorry it has taken so long for me to reply to your post. I have now updated the pathfinderminis.com exclusive miniatures gallery with this image. Thank you.

http://www.pathfinderminis.com/gallery0.htm

We got a preview of some of the pieces for this set back in Feb 2019. ICv2 has now posted more preview pictures:

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/43437/wizkids-visits-the-goblin-village

The gate is within a palisade wall, however all the wall pieces of the set are not palisades. Thematically, the gate and the walls really don't seem to go together?

I'm just curious if this was always the plan or did keeping down costs necessitate a redesign of palisade walls to fence-like walls?

(I do like the design of the fence walls, but I have to admit that I sort of preferred the idea of palisade walls as I could see those coming into use a lot more than fence-like walls.)

If any promo minis were given out, could you please let me know what the names are and what mini they are a repaint of.

If you happen to have one and would be willing to take a photo for me, please message me.

Thank you.

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:

www.pathfinderminis.com/gallery31.htm

Have they announced the cool bonus figure for this set? Its the only thing I buy from each of these sets now

You can also visit pathfinderminis.com to see what has been revealed for the set so far:

http://www.pathfinderminis.com/gallery31.htm

Fortunately my favorite mini out of these 7 is a common -- so I will be getting lots of the Lastwall Soldiers :)

Yes, please ship them out as soon as possible since it looks like they missed getting shipped out with my last Pathfinder Battles shipment (which is my only subscription, and the next release won't be for several months).

I have the following order in my side cart (has been there for about 1 year due to some unfortunate developer delays):

Starfinder Miniatures: Iconic Heroes Set 1
Starfinder Miniatures: Iconic Heroes Set 2

These items are now on the shelves of retailers. Could you please advise if Paizo has received these, or if somehow my order was missed.

Thank you.

@Asgetrion I don't think they're painted by people; they're mass produced. The painting is done by machine-driven airbrush; there is no washing or dry brushing, and any highlighting is done by more spraying. And the more layers and colors you plan on, the longer each mini has to stay in the airbrush booth, which pushes up manufacturing time (and hence costs).

So the painting is just never going to be as nice as something done by a human. I paint minis, and I like to think I'm reasonably competent at it. But I spend about fifteen or twenty hours per figure. So I'm grateful to have some half-way decent prepainted ones to supplement my own work, because there's not enough time in the world to paint all the minis I need.

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).

It's a brambly bush. It was supposed to be previewed last week, but that blog appears to have disappeared. Maybe it'll show up soon? It's not the final blog this one alludes to, so when it does show up, pretend it came out before this one.

I was contemplating setting up betting squares for people to guess it's name . We've had quite a few creative names come out for it already :)

Thank you for confirming the proper name for this miniature.

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:
A large pile of ants crawling all over a skull. When this swarm engulfs a character, then you pick up the pile of ants and you are left with a base, with a flat-ish surface of ants which you can place a figure on top of.

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.

There was also the "Mold Boss", a repaint of the mold runt figure. I'll see about getting some pictures of them for the gallery.

Hi Mark, sorry to be a bother but is there any chance you could find us some pictures of the elusive Mold Boss?

Usually between posting in the forums here and at ENWorld, I can usually find someone with pictures but this year the GenCon minis seem to be in hiding -- even eBay seems void of these.

Thank you,
Kor
www.pathfinderminis.com
www.minisgallery.com

I love this hill giant. This is so much better than the hill giant that looks like it walked off the set of Deliverance.

While my drawer of giants is bulging at the seams... this is a must have hill giant for me as well! I really like the sculpt and agree it's a great alternative to the other one mentioned.

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.

There was also the "Mold Boss", a repaint of the mold runt figure. I'll see about getting some pictures of them for the gallery.

Thanks Mark, that would be great.

Paizo has traditionally provided 1-2 miniatures at GenCon either for those making purchases at their on-site store and/or for those partaking in sessions in the Paizo gaming room.

Does anyone know if this happened again this year?

If minis were provided, could you please let me know what they were.

Also, if anyone is able to take a photo of the promo mini(s) provided and provide it to me, I would be greatly appreciative. You can either e-mail me the photos or post them on the forum at:
www.minisgallery.com

Mark, are there any Starfinder news?

These four ppm sets were supposed to be in stores this month...

Update is here.

According to Paizo, it will be the end of September.

Paizo, I want to express my sincere gratitude for keeping us up to date with the status of these pre-painted miniatures.

I have written Ninja Division on several occasions and have never received a reply. I even would have been happy with a "the release of these miniatures has been delay and we will announce further news about them on a later date" generic response.

I had actually forgotten about this thread and was about to remove these miniatures from the www.minisgallery.com website.

I'm happy to see that Paizo has been continuing to liaise with Ninja Division on these, and look forward to seeing the final product in my hands.

From what you have described, it sounds like these should be available by the end of September, so I will update minisgallery.com accordingly.

Wow, these are all great looking minis! Really looking forward to this set.

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.

The Spriggans looks great, and I would like to echo Cat-thulhu's subtle hint for a small and large Duergar. I also really like Tristian's sculpt/pose.