Bronze Wyrmling (1/72): Well done little uncommon. Young enough that you could pass it off as almost any metallic dragon of this size, although it does look bronzish. The green eyes and red tongue make the mini.
Dwarf Sergeant (2/72): Looks more like a female berserker, and the shield looks like she tore the door off of a spaceship. There is an odd little hook at the end of her hair. Maybe so you can hang her up when you're done? Not my favorite, but not terrible. She does have a command rating, if you use the mini combat rules.
Standardbearer (3/72): Not bad, although the sword is a little iffy. Not really a wandering monster type. From a combat rules perspective, it has an interesting ability: it can relay the orders of another commander on the field.
Stone Golem (4/72): Me like. Not as chunky as the clay golem. The zebra motif threw me at first, but I got over it.
Sword of Glory (5/72): This is what Darth Maul would look like in full plate. Not bad, but I've never been a fan of the two-bladed sword.
Warforged Fighter (6/72): An Eberron mini. It actually looks pretty cool, and even folks not into Eberron could use it as some type of magical construct.
Warmage (7/72): Not one of the better ones. The Warmage is dressed in boring brown, with a blurry face and an odd looking spear on his back. Yes, this is "Gear Eye for the Mage Guy."
Young Master (8/72): The only mini to come with a power-chord-filled training montage theme song! Actually, this is a well-detailed little mini. You can even see his pupils. Good mini for a monk character.
Aramil, Adventurer (9/72): I don't know, it seems like putting the title "adventurer" on your resume in a fantasy world is kind of like having a Liberal Arts degree. Do you have any practical, day-to-day skills? The figure is nicely done, and represents an elfish sorcerer. Another humanoid with pupils, yeh!
Eberk, Adventurer (10/72): An attractive dwarven mini. He is supposed to be a cleric, but any dwarf with a hammer would work.
Protectar (11/72): A well-done, black-skinned angel. The feathers on the wings are particularly nice. There haven't been a plethora of good extraplanar minis (e.g., hound archon), so this is a nice addition to the set.
Regdar, Adventurer (12/72): Gah, Regdar looks like a drooling zombie. This is one mini that is better from the back. Basically, this is just another fighter with a big sword (do we have issues?) wrapped in tinfoil.
Basilisk (13/72): D&D basilisks have always seemed a little curmudgeonly to me. I guess you don't have to work too hard if your food turns to stone when you look at it. This mini captures that sense of, "hm, food, I'll get there eventually..."
Deepshadow Elf (14/72): An elf, in a green cloak, with a bow and a sword. That is it. Functional, but not terribly exciting.
Fire Genasi Dervish (15/72): Great if you like your elemental-blooded folks to look a little spastic. He has two swords, but one is a fantasy sword-type object. For some reason, this guy looks better next to the fire giants. I'll have to compare him to the azer, at some point. The Dervish, by the way, comes from Complete Warrior.
Githyanki Renegade (16/72): Sorry, struck out on this one. Maybe next pack.
Half-Giant Psychic Warrior (17/72): This is a cool-looking mini. It could serve as a hulking barbarian type, too. Not sure about the psychic warrior connection. I figure that if I'm a half-giant, I'm pretty much into "Hulk smash!" rather than the powers of the mind.
Inspiring Marshal (18/72): The "inspiring" marshal has a shield that looks like a hubcap. He has a command rating of 4, which is good, if not all that inspiring. This mini is meant to represent the Marshal from the Mini Handbook. He suffers from black eye and mouth syndrome.
Lidda, Adventurer (19/72): Lidda's last mini was pretty pathetic looking. This one is much better, and she even has pupils. Her eyes are a little big, but what do you expect for a rogue?
Medium Astral Construct (20/72): Honestly, this guy kind of looks like a phlegm golem. Since that isn't a bad description of an astral construct, I guess it serves its purpose.
War Chanter (21/72): Another Complete Warrior class. This is actually a pretty decent mini, and the lute on his back makes him a good bard mini.
Xeph Soulknife (22/72): Straight from the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Xeph are close enough to pass for a dark-skinned human soulknife.
City Guard (23/72): "I have no eyes, but I must guard." This isn't a bad generic guard figure, but it literally has no eyes. Kind of eye-ronic.
Crucian (24/72): In case you didn't have enough cannon fodder, we have yet another new race from the Mini Handbook. They are basically humanoid turtles. They seem better suited for an Oriental Adventures campaign.
Dire Wolf (25/72): Nope, no mini.
Mordenkainen the Mage (26/72): No baldy, either.
Otyugh (27/72): No, and this one I regret not having. Back to the store for more packs!
Bladeling Fighter (28/72): They're supposed to be covered in blades. The look more like they're covered in thorns, but they get the idea across.
Blue (29/72): These little guys are pretty detailed, with red eyes and tusks. They look kind of creepy, actually. They may be my favorite small mini so far. (Blues are psionic goblins, if you're in the dark about that.)
Dire Rat (30/72): At last, a horde of beasties that actually come in hordes! ("When you turn the corner, you are set upon by a large group of Snig the Axes!") They are sufficiently nasty with long pink tails that will make the squemish squirm.
Fire Giant (31/72): These miniatures are guaranteed to make a group of adventurers use language inappropriate for small children. Nothing like a big, honking fire giant to ruin your day. Boo-yah! I got two of 'em.
Hobgoblin Sergeant (32/72): The color is a little off from the previous hobgoblins, but otherwise they are suitable for adding a little variety to your goblinoid war bands.
King Snurre (33/72): Everything I said about the fire giants applies to the big guy, here, only more so. He is wearing the hide of a white dragon, and you can count the teeth. You can count his teeth, too. Very dentally intimidating.
Lemure (34/72): These look like angry cones of strawberry softserve ice cream. Not terribly intimidating, although appropriate if you are off to rescue the Dairy Queen.
Lizardfolk Rogue (35/72): More lizardfolk. They could just as easily be warriors or fighters, as any properly done lizardfolk looks like he could beat the tar out of you, and these are properly done.
Lord Soth (36/72): He is a death knight from the Dragonlance setting (or so it says on the card). The mini is well done, and would be appropriate for any villian not totally divorced from the concepts of "death" and "knight."
Manticore (37/72): No, drat it.
Rakshasa (38/72): No, and I was really looking forward to checking out the backward hands.
Scarlet Brotherhood Monk (39/72): Think Aryan Brotherhood Monk. This blond-haired, blue-eyed muscle-head looks like he would fit perfectly well in an SS uniform. I have no idea if that is deliberate, given the nature of the Scarlet Brotherhood, or just a random Germanic monk look.
Zombie (40/72): The zombies in earlier sets have all looked like mooks. These seem to be yelling, "Brains!" Creepier, scarier, and all around better. You might want to save these for enhanced zombies, lest they be killed too quickly.
Blue Slaad (41/72): Slaad are creatures of chaos, viscious and dangerous. And yet, this one looks like a cross between Wolverine from Marvel Comics and a giant smurf. They should have used a deeper shade of blue. On the plus side, sadistic DMs can play the smurf theme song while this 8 HD monster tears the party to shreds.
Bugbear Footpad (42/72): I like these. They are well done, even if "bugbear" and "footpad" don't seem to belong in the same sentence.
Displacer Serpent (43/72): Good mini. Who cares about the beast from the Mini Handbook? This is the first figure in four sets that can be used to properly represent a giant snake. What would dungeons be like without giant snakes?
Drider Sorcerer (44/72): Nope. Nada.
Drow Fighter (45/72): Better than some of the other Drow minis, if you can get over the fact that he appears to be go-go dancing.
Drow Rogue (46/72): Very nice hooded drow skulking with a dagger. Also can stand in for "Drow Politician."
Ettercap (47/72): It is impressive that Wizards of the Coast can make a mini the same color as Barney the Dinosaur and have it not look stupid. The veiny stomachs give it that right hint of grossness that ettercaps should convey.
Frost Giant (48/72): (Sigh)
Ghast (49/72): Better than the lame ghoul minis. Drop those and use these instead.
Gnoll Sergeant (50/72): Much better as a gnoll melee combatant than the archer in the previous set. They look feral and glaring, which is good.
Grick (51/72): When I first saw the Grick in the 3rd Edition Monster Manual, I though, "what a stupid looking monster." These minis do not look stupid. If I were only an inch tall, I would not want to be caught alone in an ally with these minis.
Lareth the Beautiful (52/72): Nope.
Lich Necromancer (53/72): No, but are there any lichs who aren't necromancers?
Minotaur (54/72): Nope.
Minotaur Skeleton (55/72): For some reason, an undead minotaur just doesn't seem as scary as a live one. It is a perfectly servicable large skeleton, however.
Orc Brute (56/72): Yech. These are very poor. The faces just look weird. There is also something wrong with somebody wearing cool, black leather armor with chains wielding something as simple as a club. There are so many other orcs minis, you can pass on these.
Quasit (57/72): They obviously wanted to get the first tiny mini correct. These look very good. The only complaint is that the text on the bottom of the base is hard to read, which is not a big problem.
Red Wyrmling (58/72): Nope.
Tanarukk (59/72): Pretty good rendition of this Forgotten Realms half-breed. They look a little silly until you've seen the actual picture in "Races of Faerun."
Werewolf (60/72): Females, so these are slim and neatly groomed. One assumes that the previous, unkept versions were all males. These look to be the better of the two. There is something psychologically disturbing to many folks about women who become monsters.
Huge Gold Dragon (61/72): No, or rather, not yet.
Cloud Giant (62/72): This mini is cool, but there are two things that lessen my opinion. The first is that he has a really generic-looking morning star, and the second is that his hair and mustache remind me of the seventies. Other than that, I give it two thumbs up.
Storm Giant (63/72): No.
Treant (64/72): I always liked the name "Ent" better than "Treant." Treant sounds like some guy with a sweater tied to his waist who hangs out with Biff and Whitey. Nevertheless, this figure makes for a very aggressive looking tree. Think more "Wizard of Oz" trees than Peter Jackson's absent-minded, slow-moving tree shepherds.
Warforged Titan (65/72): No.
Behir (66/72): This one is just neat. The behir is actually more intimidating than most of the dragon minis. One of the best of the bunch.
Bulette (67/72): I never realized that Bulette's had metallic paintjobs. I wonder if they come with rustproofing? The mini is appealing, but far more amusing if you imagine it burrowing into Bag End after Mr. Frodo.
Fiendish Tyrannosaurus (68/72): More than sufficient to freak out Jeff Goldblum. It says something about how overpowered characters in D&D are, though. A regular tyrannosaurus wasn't much of a threat, I guess, so we have a FIENDISH tyrannosaurus...
Fomorian (69/72): I went to high school with a guy who looked like this. Big, dumb giant with big spiked club. Not bad, but not my favorite.
Glabrezu (70/72): Now we're talking! I break into a cold sweat just looking at the miniature. Worth having multiples, if only because of Summon Tanar'ri. Also works well with the Vrock mini from Archfiends for the same reason.
Huge Red Dragon (71/72): This is sufficently scary to make a party think twice, but I can't help but be a tiny bit disappointed. For whatever reason, the behir looks better. Part of the problem is that the mini is mostly wings, without a lot of bulk to the body. Maybe good for perspective, but it loses something in the translation. Still, it is well sculpted and painted, and it will loom large over any PC on the table.
Nightwalker (72/72): I can't help but think that the nightwalker is the result of somebody sitting around, saying, "what would be scarier than a lich?" Still, it has a jet black eeriness to it that makes it worthwhile (must have been easy to paint). By the way, this tops out the point scale at 393 points. It should make picking your team easy...
Overall, the miniatures are mostly very good. A lot of the commons and uncommons are improvements over previous sets. The huge minis are impressive in their heft, and they go far toward showing players how their heros stack up to the bigger baddies in the world. More than that, this set has taken a few monsters I was never that impressed with, such as the Grick and the Behir, and made me think twice about them.
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