Kroop looks amazing, and I love that we get Black-Hearted Bezebel on his shoulder! I mean, just how many poultry miniatures are there? And that is the meanest, filthiest looking rat swarm yet. Great work!
"Over the course of several sets, it's our intention to provide all sorts of "menial" NPCs, from barkeepers to bouncers to barmaids, from watch captains to politicians. When I first saw the art for Ambrose Kroop come through during the course of publishing the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path campaign, I just knew I had to include him in a set. Ambrose Kroop is an uncommon figure."
This part makes me really happy. I love townfolk npc's so much so I snagged all the reaper ones.
It's wonderful to be able to have a city scene without having to pack the streets with minis in action stances with weapons.
Though I guess he could use the chicken in a fight!
Kroon is fantastic. I look forward to more minis like himinfuture sets.
I am always worried about swarms as minis. They have to engulf their targets to do damage. I think a 'map tiles' that we could cut like they did with vehicles would be a lot better.
I am always worried about swarms as minis. They have to engulf their targets to do damage. I think a 'map tiles' that we could cut like they did with vehicles would be a lot better.
Actually, this is one of the first swarms that I have seen on a small base (the other being the grub swarm from Shattered Star). They can be placed in and around medium characters much more easily than the medium swarms we have been given before.
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3 for 3, again. This is definately a must have set. All 3 look fantastic. Thnak you for providing the menials - Kroop is a very nice, not sure I'll need 3 or 4 of him as an uncommon but I love the idea and the execution. More like this would most sertainly be welcome - maybe a few more town guards type as well.
The rat swarm is excellent. I was a little our on the "piles up" swarms, but having used the grubs form the last set I tend to agree Feros above, the small size makes them eminently useable. I like the look of this one, you can even see their toothy grins.
As for the last, wow Wizkids have outdone themselves. Gilbrook is a truly sweet mini, at rare I'll need to hope for two, but I see him geting used a lot as a druid/cleric in addition to the AP. I hope it's a impressive in hand - really nice, complex and exciting sculpt.
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Love the cook! Can't have too many NPC minis, and this is something really new.
For people looking for demilitarized NPC's, while we wait for Paizo/Wizkids to provide them in prepainted plastic, it's worth looking at Dryw the Harper's Imperfect People paper minis at www.onemonk.com in the meantime. Best part: They're free! Though they require some cutting and gluing on your end. I've gotten great use out of them in encounters like this.
I still think the swarms should be flat so figures can be stacked on them. This hill of rats, while fun to look at, are not as useful.
Now the other two, those are both great figures.
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That is a fine pile of rats.
Gilbrok is definitely on the weird side of things. Great Druid mini. I like.
Kroop will be an often used mini, mostly as a town vendor, or townsfolk in town encounters. You may have a bartender up front, but there is often a cook in the back, so he will be used in tavern encounters. And as he was made, as one of the ship's crew in ship encounters. Well done!
Not much interest in a cook, I must admit. I don't use minis unless there's a battle so non combatants have very limited uses.
Rat Swarm is nothing great as they should be flat, plus I already have rat swarms. The other two are quite nice. Ambrose is very nice. Although she looks typical any, good DM can use this mini to fool their players into innocence and then.....! Love this mini. Now, I am not saying to make every mini a simple, typical one, but give this type some character and potential and I am satisfied!
I am thrilled that Paizo will produce "menial" NPC's. I have the Reaper Townsfolk I set, all of Mega Miniatures town folk and castle NPC's, the DCM townspeople, and even a set of educational medieval villagers I found. The cook looks spectacular and I am looking forward to the rest in future sets.
I must agree with the other posters about swarms however. Paizo listens to their customers, so I hope future sets will bring us flat swarms we can place miniatures upon.
It might be able to work. Probably easier than making a Wasp-swarm Mini.
I like swarms. And when they are suitable for the game, I usually get enough pieces to sport 4 or 5 complete swarms. But so far, the Pathfinder Battles variety just aren't working for me. It's a shame, because the artwork for them is great. I just can't place the unfortunate victims of swarms on top of fulcrums and expect them to stay put...
But the WotC swarms aren't actually flat! i have minis tip over all of the time using those things. The paizo way is actually quite usable. The small based swarm can be set on a portion of the medium or large based victim to show the swarms location. Easy and more interesting looking minis!
Does that guy have cotton candy?
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While they may look better, and I think they do, I agree with Berk that the flat swarms WOTC put out are more useful to me. Don't kow about mini's tipping over on them, but mine seem to stay put just fine.
The cook is amusing to me, especially since I have a player with a reputation for slaughtering cooks every chance he gets.
I have a bunch of mixed feedback to provide on this set. My mindset for minis is primarily their usefulness in gameplay, so this will greatly be reflected in my comments:
Rat Swarm: a good, detailed swarming infestation of rats, however since they will typically occupy a player's square, something with a flatter top (and maybe less height) would make this more useful in play.
Kroop: I sort of prefer my pc/npc to be a little but on the generic side so that they can be used in a variety of settings. For this reason, I think the chicken on his shoulder is a little too much. (I would prefer pets to be made separately, maybe as an encounter pack, rather than as moulding them as part of the miniature.) Visually though, (even with the chicken), I really like this mini and it is directly useful for me as I am running a S&S campaign.
Gilbrok: This is a mini where I think the pet ruins it for me for use in any other game. It is a great looking mini, and the monkey really makes me chuckle -- however I fear this is destined to sit in my storage cabinet and never see use after my S&S game. When it does come time to use him in my S&S game though, the players are going to love the mini :)
Bless you for listening to your customers and producing NPC mini's like cooks, and small sized swarms.
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There are so many minis in my collection, most from WotC, that are fantastic; but will likely never see game play because they were designed for a PC's use or for the Skirmish game. Since I plan to run S&S, having a mini to precisely fit the NPC or monster is nothing short of awesome. Even if it is just for one day, if the mini adds to the game that day it is worth it and treasured.
I get it that if you never plan to run S&S this full set of minis may not be for you. For me, by Paizo producing these minis they have inspired me to run these APs. Maybe not today, but someday. And that is very cool. WotC never produced a set specifically designed to support their modules. I believed this was a mistake. Paizo's plan to bring out lines of minis to support their APs is brilliant. It is a perfect tool to support their other publications; and inevitably produce minis that has never been produced before. You don't have to buy a case, I am sure there will be singles available for you in the after market.
I have a bunch of the flat DDM rat swarms. These are great to represent the rats when the swarm is in the same square. This S&S swarm will compliment the others to represent the swarm when they are NOT in the same square. :)
I get it that if you never plan to run S&S this full set of minis may not be for you.
You have helped me change my perspective on this set :) My mind is so stuck in the "non-theme" set, mindset that I sort of overlooked the purpose of the set. In non-theme sets I really do desire minis that will see use on the gaming table. For those that want playable minis and don't plan to run S&S, then they are likely best off just buying singles from this set of specific minis.
I am running an S&S campaign, so I am really excited about all the minis made in this set -- and I can't wait for my players to see them as well.
My observation about Paizo and swarm representation: As people can see I am a pawn subscriber and have received the AP ones as well. They have swarms as small base as well with enough pawns to make up a 10 ft x 10 ft (2 inch x 2 inch) but not enough to field the number of swarms needed for the design encounter unless you use each pawn by itself.
I think the intent is to put the pawn/mini on the axis of the 2x2 so it touches all four squares.
Swarms don't always take a 2x2 square configuration. So using the mini on the axis doesn't work all the time.
And even if I don't run Skull and Shackles, I think I ought to be able to work a Druid with a monkey animal companion in somewhere in one of my home brews. Same with many of the other NPC's that have been created.
Add me to the swarms should be flat camp, making them like this is following the huge mistake WotC [we only trade cr@p] made with swarms. Silly mistake.
As a side - the pawn lines should be released at the same time as an AP starts... sort it out.
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I hear (but don't necessarily obey yet) on the swarm front. That said, many swarms are not low to the ground, so it presents a bit of an interesting conundrum.
Could you do flying swarms in a similar way to the torch bearer markers?
Edit: Perhaps you could even keep the standard base if you put the pole right on one edge and then put a PC mini on top of the swarm's base?
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The thing about minis is that you want to be able to use them. Outside of using them for this specific adventure path, this set has little appeal in that area.
I'm feeling the same way. I'm torn over whether to unsub for this set and see what comes next. Wondering what the Encounter Packs I'd lose my discount on are going to be.
is the monkey a separate glued on piece. Wondering if i wanted to use Gilbrok as an evil mage/pc necromancer down the line how difficult it would be.
I just LOVE Ambrose. And it's awesome hearing we will be seeing more menial figures in the coming sets. We do a lot of RPing in our campaigns, so we need the normal NPCs as well!
And is that a butcher knife on Ambrose's side?
I hear (but don't necessarily obey yet) on the swarm front. That said, many swarms are not low to the ground, so it presents a bit of an interesting conundrum.
But rot grubs and rats are low to the ground! They'd have been great as flat pieces. And, I don't think a flying swarm is going to look any better as a conical pile than as a flat piece. Another solution altogether is needed for them.
BTW, I just want to iterate that although I do disagree on the swarm front, they are such a small piece of what else is a fantastic line of miniatures. So many wonderful things have been produced so far that a few less than useful swarms isn't going to deter me from collecting. Besides, between Paizo and Wizkids, I'm sure some sort of innovative alternative is bound to show up regarding how swarms are depicted.
Just how big is a Paizo small base? A lot of previous swarm minis have been flat 1" by 1" squares so figures can stand on/in them, but if these new swarms are small enough that they can share a space with another figure I don't see a real problem. I like the sculpt of the rat pile (as that's what rats do in confined areas) and I'm curious to see what else Paizo has up their sleeves for other "area" critters. Flying swarms are always a pain in the rear to represent on the table, so I'm definitely ready for some new ideas there.
(Absolutely love the Fishguts mini, BTW. Ambrose is my favorite NPC in the AP so far, and I converted a Megaminis "Butcher" figure to represent him in my game, chicken and all.)
anyone seen the heroclix bat swarm? Could be a cheap idea for flying swarms.