I should point out that each set of D&D Heroes mini's comes with one Power card to add to your 4e game. I have not used these mini's in a 4e game yet, only in Pathfinder games, so I have no use for the Power cards; you'll find no comment on their utility or balance against other 4e powers here. I am primarily reviewing the miniatures themselves.
For $10.99 you get three mini's. The mini's are made of a semi-flexible plastic, come pre-painted, and are sized to serve as Small or Medium creatures on a standard 1" square grid or hex map. They are fixed to round bases so they stand up with no problem (at least the ones I purchased do, some of the others have very long swords which might be a different matter).
The mini's are based on the Player's Handbook races and classes, and the packaging implies there will be other lines of mini's that are based on other books, though those are not available at this time. Each set of mini's is based thematically on one of the Power Sources of 4e D&D. So, for example, I purchased "Player's Handbook Heroes: Series 2 - Primal Heroes 2." It includes 3 figures of classes powered by the Primal power source. They consist of 1 white male barbarian-looking guy; 1 dark-skinned female with blue scale armour and sword poised to strike; and one very weak-looking small-sized white halfling or elf male dressed in woodsy colours and apparently performing martial arts. I've dubbed him Nodwick.
I had a hard time choosing which set to buy. Since each set includes three heroes all powered by the same power source, and are thus thematically similar, I feel like I would need to buy 3 or 4 packs to get a collection of 4 or 5 mini's that make a good NPC team or represent our group of PCs. I don't know if this was a design oversight or money grab on Wizards' part, but it is irritating to think that I bought an unarmed halfling kung-fu wannabe just so I could get an awesome mini for the female Druid in our group. To some extent this is inevitable when buying sets of "collectibles" - you have to buy some you don't want to get the ones you do want. But I think organizing them into sets of diverse characters would make it easier to be excited by what one is getting. It's rare that a group has 3 fighter types for instance so a pack of 3 Martial characters will just not be a fulfulling purchase.
The assortment is also somewhat lacking. The Wizards of the Coast website shows only 12 packs of heroes available, with 3 figures per pack. In addition there 3 packs that appear to contain multiple monsters and 4 that seem to be a single larger monster. Compared to nearly 90 packs of 7 characters or monsters available from Heroscape, I find myself less eager to collect more and mix and match the sets offered by the D&D line.
But as I said in my previous review, a mini line cannot be judged by variety alone. I subjected the D&D Heroes to the same trio of unscientific tests that I subjected the Heroscape mini's to. They are:
Test #1: The Nail. Does the paint wear off when rubbed and scraped with my finger nail? NO! Just like the Heroscape mini's, the paint is impervious to the human nail.
Test #2: The Grapple. Does the paint wear off when I rigorously rub and scrape two of the mini's together? NO! Again, showing the same durability as Heroscape, the mini's cannot harm each other!
Test #3: Bending. Do the mini's rebound after being bent? This is where there is a difference between the two products. Whereas the Heroscape mini's were flexible and would rebound from being bent, the D&D Heroes mini's are more rigid. This means they don't seem to bend as much in the first place, making the question of rebounding moot. None of the D&D Heroes figures were bent in their package when purchased and none bent easily by hand. To me this is a double-edged sword as I don't need to worry about someone's sword looking like it's made of spaghetti but I do worry that accidental pressure or improper storage (the only kind of storage my group uses) could lead to one of these mini's breaking. A more flexible mini on the other hand would survive such circumstances. Ultimately it is a matter of personal taste, whether you want your mini's to be Strong Like Oak or Flexible Like Willow.
So durability is good. Next up, what about the paint job?
I have to say this is where the D&D Heroes mini's really shine. The paint jobs are impeccable. Rich shading and metallic touches lead to a very deep, 3-dimensional seeming finish. If someone sees a pile of mini's sitting on a table, these are likely to be the first ones that they pick up and look at more closely. It's nice to see realisatic skin tone, layered colours in hair, different finishes for metal, leather and cloth, shadow in the low parts, etc. These mini's definitely earn high marks as far as their paint jobs go.
The design of the sculptures is also very good, with one gripe. One of the figures in my set has a line running down the centre of his face, certainly the seam of the mold the plastic was injected into. While I'm sure that hiding the seams from the casting process is difficult to do, this is just sloppy to me. If it is considered acceptable then it is bad design, whereas if it is unintentional it should have been caught by Q.C. Other mini's either don't show the seams (filed off?) or place them less conspicuously. I think this should be the standard for all mini's.
However the sculptures are otherwise well-done, with good poses and attention to detail on the gear. The style definitely emphasises the so-called "Dungeon Punk" that both 4e D&D and Pathfinder sourcebooks have favoured in recent years. If that is to your liking then these will be at the front of your collection.
So those are the mini's. A mix of good and bad. Are they worth the price? I personally feel they are not. You pay $10.99 for 3 figures which works out to $3.66 per figure. Compare that to $1.86 per figure by buying a Heroscape pack of 7 at $12.99 total. The D&D Heroes figures are more attractive, but no more durable, which leads me to feel that you are primarily paying for the brand name. These are official D&D products and so they cost more than equivalent figures released by a different company.
On a related note I do want to say a few words about the Power card that comes with each set of figures. Some may disagree, but I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand it costs Wizards very little to add a card with a new power and it could be of use to your character, who presumably uses the same power source as the figures in the pack you just bought. On the other hand I feel like Wizards is really trying to blur the line between a tabletop RPG and a trading card/collectible game. Even if you buy all the official D&D 4e books you don't have all the powers, feats and options for your character. Instead you need to join D&DI online and purchase ancillary products like the miniatures or you'll never have the complete panoply of game options. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth because to me an RPG should be run from books while other products like maps, mini's, dungeon tiles, etc. should all be extras that aren't needed. When you start to spread the RPG rules out over these other products you change the nature of the industry and what is needed to participate in the hobby. This is a conscious decision by Wizards of the Coast with obvious marketing benefits. Some players seem fine with it and even like the added content in other products, while some like me feel put off to see some Powers made available only through non-rulebook products.
The Heroscape minis feature something similar, in the form of stat cards with each set of mini's. For some reason this was more palatable to me. Perhaps it is because Heroscape is, by definition, a collectible figurine game; just like Pokemon cards, the expansion packs and the rules for each individual creature are necessarily packaged together. Collecting new creatures and their stats to build your army is what the game is about. D&D however is an RPG, and in an earlier era RPG's kept all their rules for spells and special powers in a big central rulebook. So even though I only wanted the mini's, and not the cards from each product, I found it more acceptable to see stat cards added into the Heroscape line of mini's than Power cards added into the D&D Heroes line.
My neo-grognard tendencies aside, the mini's are still an impressive find. Overall I gave them a 4 on Style. Despite the line through the face of one of them, they are beautiful to behold and you can tell that some talented artists and precision machines went into producing them.
For Substance on the other hand I feel a 3 is a generous score. For literally twice the per-mini price of their competitor, I would expect something truly in a league all its own. However there is nothing making D&D Heroes mini's any more durable than any other plastic mini's, and you get less selection per pack. The paint job doesn't make up for the price difference so I feel the product is lacking in substance. There just isn't as much content (literally) in the package. If there were 4 or 5 figures per pack at the same price, and more variety among the figures in each pack, it would be a better buy.
The package says something like "Choose the one that best represents YOUR character!" and that is exactly spot on. If a mini catches your eye as being just *perfect* for the character you play, then snag the pack. You won't regret seeing your character out on the battle mat in glorious detailed colour, and you'll find some use for the other two figures that came with it. However, if you are looking to pad your mini collection so that there is always a selection of NPCs, new PCs, and enemies at your table then my recommendation is to go first to the Heroscape expanion sets and consider those mini's instead. The Dungeons & Dragons Heroes miniatures just do not deliver enough gaming fun for their price tag.
