Pathfinder Battles—Reign of Winter

If I could do it all over again I would have bought the singles that I wanted the most. With so many poor minis it isn't with the gamble opening booster packs.

Out of 44 minis i rated:
1 star: 4 minis,
2 stars: 8 minis,
3 stars: 15 minis,
4 stars: 8 minis,
5 stars: 9 minis!

I love the animals and don´t like half of the humans (none gets 5 stars).
About 10 creatures are almost exclusively usable for the Reign of Winter Adventure Path.
But there are some great minis.
If the worst of 9 Pathfinder sets gets 3 stars the line is extremely good.

If you're like me, you've never said the following sentence.

"Boy, I can't wait for the players to encounter the angry barn owls and goats in this adventure."

And that sums up what makes this a one-star set.

Incidentally, if you have said that sentence, most likely you should learn to read silently, but thank you for reading my review.

See, there are three questions I ask myself of any set of minis I'm interested in. Those three questions are:

1) How does the mini set look?
2) How useful is this set to my games?
3) Do the answers to 1 and 2 justify the price?

Let's answer those questions with regards to this set, shall we?

Question 1. Compared to Wizkids work on the other mini sets, this set looks mediocre at best. Few color contrasts and bright designs are available. The Russian soldiers look so bland, generic dollar store army guys would look better. The maftet are brown on brown on brown with no interesting contrasts. The various nosferatu tend to come off sloppy when they don't come off as grey on gray. Compared to the earlier, far more interesting elementals in, say, RotRL, the ice elementals and golems just look boring - blue plastic drybrushed with white. Faces are sloppy on most of the humanoids. Even the centaurs, one of the most useful models in the set, are dull brown-on-brown with a design that is uninspiring at best. General Malesinder, who should be a simply awesome model, comes off with such dull colors and such a staid color scheme that he's boring - and his model is a bipedal, sword-wielding, large dragon. He's just a grey lump with some cadet blue highlights. Yawn. At least he's not as boring as Rasputin, whose black coat, dark grey pants, dark beard, dark red clothing interior, and sloppy skin coloration make him absolutely a chore to look at. Feiya's face was a splattered mess of that terrible peach color which is supposed to be a skin tone. I had to look closely to see that the catoblepas actually incorporated two colors in its design. It is a flat brown with tusks and hooves highlighted with an unsaturated shade of tan. Needless to say, the effect is ugly and uninspiring. The Russian Soldier is dark grey and silver. The Russian Machine Gunner is dark grey and skin color. Both are eyesores. Finally, the warriors and named characters were so dull I'm having trouble remembering what they were called - and that says all you need to know about how forgettable they were.

There's just a dull, messy, boring aesthetic here coupled with a serious fall-off in quality from earlier sets. Really, the ice trolls were the only models that look pleasing to the eye. They're hands down the best in this set, which sadly would make them middle of the pack for the better sets like RotRL.

Now question 2 is where this set falls apart. Less molds are supposed to drive down costs, but this is still a four hundred dollar set with a subscript. Now, I am sympathetic to real world concerns, but I still want value. I want minis that I might use for something. The Russian Soldier and Russian Machine Gunner are not very useful to me, since I have no intention to run RoW, but they are an integral part of the adventure path and had to be there. What makes no sense is making me pay for goats. My case contained five each of foxes, owls, falcons, goats, and ravens. That's twenty five models I paid for that could be replaced with the barn animals from my local crafts store. That's twenty five models which could have been creatures from the adventure path, warriors, witches, skeletons - in short, twenty five models that are of almost no use in creating an adventure. Can I create an adventure where I use those minis? Sure, if I need to. Could they be familiars or shape-changed imps? Of course. Does that mean that what I look forward to when opening a case of fantasy figurines is a raven and a goat? Hell no. The decision to include those models is a blunder nearly as bad as not thinking through the color scheme of your models before beginning the run. I'm angry that I have now spent money to get those silly farm animal figurines.

Deciding to include these figures was a huge waste. Consider the male and female ice troll, the centaurs, even the ugly General Malesinder. Those models are useful. Nothing would stop me from using any of them in another game. Some models, such as the wollipeds, are of limited use. I might have to think about how or why such a creature might fit in designing an adventure. The barn animals are of almost no use, and I paid for them, and Paizo wants $3.50 for them as singles.

So question three: can I say this set was worth the four hundred I paid?

Not at all.

I finally received my Reign of Winter case.

For those who know me from the Weekly Previews of the Battles line, it's likely that you realize I'm somewhat easily pleased when it comes to miniature selection choice in each line. But if you look at my review of the Legends of Golarion Battles line, you'll also realize I'm not afraid to be scathing in my reviews of product in hand.

Before I start the actual review, I want to point out a couple things that others may not be aware of if you haven't been following along in the Weekly Previews:

--The drop from 55 down to 45 sculpts wasn't done by Erik on a whim. It was done to help keep overall costs low and affordable for the average buyer.

--The drop occurred somewhere in the middle of the Reign of Winter decision-making process. Originally there were 55 sculpts (or more) that had been decided on and approved, but Erik was then tasked with making some cuts.

--Out of every Adventure Path Paizo has produced, the Reign of Winter line is probably the most inopportune path for such cuts to have happened. The Adventure Path spans regions, planes, planets and even other eras of time.

--For months, many of us in the Weekly Previews had been begging for more animals. This included a desire for some aerial animals, too. While Erik can't please all the people all the time, he encourages feedback on what we'd like to see more of in sets. There are so many things that factor into what is ultimately chosen for a set, and for many of the other sets, animals simply wouldn't work.

--Early in the Reign of Winter Previews, Erik mentioned that there was a high concentration of animals in this set, in part because it was the first Adventure Path line they had done in awhile that he felt he could drop in more than one or two animals. This was a chance to give us aerial animals such as the Raven, Owl and Falcon, in addition to some ground creatures. Erik stated early in the Preview process that he could have easily added a handful more animals to this set, had the line been large enough. This was BEFORE the cut was made (or at least announced), so it’s reasonable to think there was an animal or two among the ten miniatures that were cut.

--Erik has stated that while he won't necessarily shy away from adding a relevant (to the Adventure Path) animal or two to future sets, this is likely the highest concentration of animals we'll be seeing in an Adventure Path for the near future. Somewhat similar comments were made about demons during the Wrath of the Righteous Previews, and the Reign of Winter line is completely devoid of such creatures.

--The very nature of Battle Lines that follow Adventure Paths are tricky. While part of the goal is to appeal to those that run these lines, a blind eye cannot be turned to all of those DM's that don't run the path. Instead, many of us prefer to buy these lines for the different monsters and cool-looking NPC/PC-types to add to our collection.

--The Wolliped. In every single Battles Line, Erik gets to choose one creature or character found somewhere throughout the Adventure Path that appeals to him. This is often a creature that looks unique and isn't as well known to most players or DM's that aren't as familiar with the source material. While the creature CAN play a major role in the line, there is no actual requirement that it does. In this particular case, the Wolliped is found on page 90 & 91 in the fourth book of the Reign of Winter Adventure Path (The Frozen Stars). For those uninitiated with the creature, I suggest looking into it. They can be used as animal companions for PC's, in extra bonus for certain PC's.

I wanted to get all of that out of the way first. While they aren't meant as excuses for any disappointment as far as miniature choices are concerned, I feel it's important to at least understand why some of the choices have been made.

For the purpose of this review, I've discounted entirely the actual selection of miniatures chosen for this set. When I was going through the source material before any previews had been shown, I came up with over 90 characters that would have made sense for this line. Add in the fact that Wizkids wanted changes made in the middle of the process, and I feel like the selections here are solid all around.

And finally, one last issue of note. This is for those who are generally unhappy with the amount of animals in this set. Or perhaps those that would like to see more of a certain creature or type in future sets. Please come join the conversations we have in the Weekly Previews thread every Friday. The best way to get what you want is to have your voice heard. And in this case, one of the best places to do that is in the aforementioned thread. We've been discussing how best to incorporate iconic fantasy creatures of Tiny or smaller stature, such as Tiny Fey, into the Battles Line. (These present a challenge from a logistics point of view). We've also been discussing how best to include Huge-sized creatures as future product, and which creatures of said size make the most sense to make. There have been some requests for more Fey, more Plant creatures, etc. Maybe you want to participate in these discussions, or perhaps you feel there is a particular creature or NPC/PC that screams “MAKE ME A MINIATURE”. Regardless, please come join us…we’re all good people and love a good conversation and healthy debate.

Now on to the actual review:

No Battles Line review is complete without first commenting on the faces of Medium-size Humanoids in the line. It seems to be Wizkids/Paizo's kryptonite. These issues have been pretty well documented for the last few Battles lines, and there is a major issue in this release, too.

--Feiya, the Iconic Witch, has a horrible face. Others have commented, so I won’t get into it.

--Russian Machine Gunner - Yikes. This soldier's face is WRECKED. I received five of these in my case, and on every single miniature, the face is HORRIBLE. Between being applied on wrong areas of the sculpt or simply suffering from major smudge issues, all these faces are horribly, horribly done.

Between these two miniatures, I have to knock off a star.

Now here are some standouts:

Small size Miniatures:

--Owl – While I perhaps understand some of the less than enthusiastic reactions to the amount of animals found in the Reign of Winter line, I don’t think it should taint the review of the actual miniatures themselves. In truth, all the small animals are well done. If you’re buying piecemeal, buy with confidence. The owl is perhaps the best, but maybe only because there were a few more patterns to paint on him than the other animals, yet they still got him right. I find it fascinating that on a common miniature of small size, they were able to correctly detail and paint the underside of the feathers, giving the creature a feel of true authenticity and added depth. And don’t forget, Owls generally operate during the night, so this adds extra versatility to any night encounters your party will face.

--Raven – At first glance one might not consider this miniature anything special. Except for the beak, it’s all black, as most ravens tend to be. But if you look at it closely, you’ll realize that much like the Owl, there is clear depth shown along his feather line. Also, this Raven is not only the smallest of the animals in the Reign of Winter line, but he is of Tiny size. This means he matches up with his size description in the Familiar section of the first Bestiary. Ravens appear everywhere in fantasy, and the Reign of Winter path is no exception.

--Falcon – Perhaps the simplest of the three small aerial animals in this set, the falcon is still well done. Like the other birds, there is clear definition of feathers along his wings. One nice thing about this miniature is that because it’s basically just one color, and you get a few in a case, it’s easy to paint into a Hawk or some other big bird familiar/companion that better suits your need. Having a bird stretched wing-to-wing in a flying pose that can represent either type is extremely nice to have for the gaming table.

--Fox – I was worried about the fox. I was so unhappy with the shoddy work on the Snow Leopard from the Legends of Golarion set that it had me nervous for this fox miniature. As it turns out, I shouldn’t have worried. The fox is very well done for a common miniature. The facial features are great, and there is a distinct white underbelly, as found on most foxes. Perhaps the best part of the miniature and the most underrated aspect are the ears. The back of the ear is the same reddish-orange hue of hair that covers most of the fox. But the front part of the ear shows the white tufts with a very thin border of black. When set down on the table, the black provides enough contrast to pull the eye towards the face.

--Goblin Alchemist – Paizo has forced me into liking Goblins, and now I’m a sucker for them. After seeing this guy in the Reign of Winter Adventure Path, I realized there was no way that beautiful artwork would go unnoticed by Erik. He didn’t let me down, and this product in hand doesn’t, either. There is plenty going on here for such a little guy. My favorite thing is that his face maintains the unique Pathfinder Goblin look, while the skin color matches that of the Snow Goblins.

Medium size miniatures:

--Pale Tower Guard – I think I’ve seen some negative comments about this figure. I’m not sure why, as I feel like he’s the best-looking guard to date in the entire Paizo line of miniatures. There is clear definition to his armor, and the colors on my pieces haven’t bled into one another or anything. The crossbow on his back is great, and the big tower shield in his left hand is very nice. His faceplate is fine, and his two eyes are very discernable, if you’re looking at him for that purpose. For my table, he’ll likely serve as the go-to tower guard for any campaign. This guy is no Knight of Ozem or Eagle Knight Officer.

--Commander Pharamol – One of my favorite pieces in the entire set. There is a lot going on with this guy, but the detail—both sculpt and paint—do his illustration justice. Perhaps using him as a Triaxian isn’t your cup of tea. But he’s so well done and can easily pass as a catfolk ranger or something along those lines. His face is well done, and there is no paint overlap anywhere on the piece I received.

--Ratibor The Bold – I’ve seen a couple knocks on him, but every version I received in my case was just fine. His beard is fine and isn’t smeared all over his face. His eyes are accountable and aren’t too far apart. The body of this medium miniature is very well done, and there is no paint smear or overlap as a result of the various items on his belt. His shield doesn’t have any design on it, so perhaps that will bother you, perhaps not. I don’t mind a shield design when well done, but I like having a miniature without an insignia on the shield, so I can use him for more generic purposes in my campaign. In addition to the axe in his hand, this guy has a bow on his back and a quiver of arrows on his side, so you know he’s ready to fight. Buy this guy with confidence and don’t look back.

--Winter Guard Falconer – This character meets my expectations. I was worried he’d be too much to fit on one medium, non-rare figure. He’s not, as his miniature proves. The body of the miniature, including his gear is well done. The face and helmet look good, and I have no problem with his facial hair. If he has one weakness to him, it would be the falcon perched on his arm guard. It doesn’t look horrible or even bad, just not as well detailed as the stand-alone falcon miniature. Put simply, the falcon is no less detailed than the cat that accompanied one of the feamale pieces a few lines back.

--Dragon Legion Dragonrider – This guy makes for a fine soldier NPC or a possible PC piece. He’s a Triaxian, so despite his humanoid shape, his face is more blue-ish/fur-like. Everything about him is well detailed, including the face. His helmet covers a decent part of the outside of his face, but the rest of his face is clear. Unless you look closely, his mouth is a bit hard to make out. However, there is clear definition to be seen there, it’s just all one color. His armor is fine, and there is no overlap of paint anywhere on the pieces I received. If you’re looking to build up a race of Triaxian, or perhaps name them something else in your own campaign, this guy is a great place to start.

--Drakelands Barbarian – This is another of my favorite pieces in the entire line. She’s definitely one of my favorite miniatures. I’ve received a handful of this girl, and there are no imperfections anywhere on any of the pieces I received. Her armor is clearly defined and well painted. Her shield is well done and you can see the grooves in it that make it look like a wooden shield. Her sword is straight and not bendy. Her cloak is phenomenally done. The quiver on her back is evident, despite sharing the same color (but not texture) of her cloak. Her gloves match well with the purple tunic. If you look close enough you can clearly see how the tunic would be underneath her armor. Her face is sculpted nicely and you can clearly see her teeth. If you’re looking for a proxy for a catfolk barbarian, then look no further. I suppose she might even pass for a female barbarian, if you don’t focus on her for too long. I will say that when combined with the other Triaxians in this line, a DM can put together a solid encounter group of a unique type of humanoid for his or her campaign.

--Cesseer of Ning – I’ve seen a few complaints about this piece, but I don’t remember why. The piece I got has no paint issues, and her sculpt is very well done. She obviously works as a Triaxian monk, but can easily pass as a catfolk rogue. While I typically like my PC’s and NPC’s grounded, this works well for anyone that likes action poses. As one should expect, the detail on this piece is great, and you can clearly see the individual lines of her wrappings. There isn’t much else to say, though she’ll be a fine addition to your Triaxian encounter group. Buy her with confidence.

Large size Miniatures:

--Trolls – Both the male and female are absurdly well done, both in detail and paint job. I haven’t had any issues with them, although I’ve seen a few complaints of paint overlap from other people. Still, I received four or five of each in my case, and I didn’t have a single issue. I’m a huge fan of trolls, and these frost trolls are no exception. If you’re buying what you need piecemeal and you like Frost Trolls, then don’t pass on either of these.

--Catoblepas – This creature is excellent. His sculpt is well done and the paint job, while basically just a couple colors, is well applied. You can see the muscles in his body, and his mane is fantastic. His face is surprisingly great. His tusks are well done. I’m pretty sure this is the first Catoblepas in PPM form, and he does not disappoint.

--Wolliped – Whether or not you’re glad they included this creature in the set or not, it’s a well-made miniature. He’s a big, solid piece of plastic, much like the Catoblepas. This gives him that feel that he’s a big, strong creature capable of surviving any artic area.

--Winter Wolf – Another of my favorites in this set, I finally have a winter wolf that I like more than those found in previous lines from other companies. His mane is great, and the fierceness of his face makes it clear he is a creature to be reckoned with.

The four Rare Large sized miniatures are all great, and definitely worth the purchase.

I'm surprised the other reviewers have ranked this set so highly. To me, it feels like the line is getting tired. No doubt exacerbated by the inherent problems of working with licensees, I'm starting to experience a certain sense of deja vu when Erik posts that he's "working with Wizkids to iron out the problems - the next set is going to be awesome..." (or words to that effect).

The paintjobs continue to be sloppy, the number of sculpts has dropped significantly and there were a whole bunch of combat-useful figures omitted so that goats, crows, foxes and owls could be included. It's nice to have those, but not four or five of each at the expense of miniatures with far more utility. I can now plot out a nice farmyard scene but what's the point? The location of each animal is hardly going to be important.

I wouldnt recommend this set to anyone who wasnt an avid collector. I think it would make a poor first impression. Far better to just get a few of the single minis (several of them are quite good - it's the set overall which I found disappointing).