New Unpainted miniature line by Wizkidz

MNblockhead · Mar 31, 2017

Listened to the interview of Justin Ziran, head of Wizkids, on Dragon Talk. I wasn't interested in their new line of unpainted miniatures as I just don't have time these days to paint them. But I did like the concept. They are releasing a line of unpainted miniatures with deeper sculpts (more detail that is easier for hand-painters to take advantage of) for all race and class combos. Unlike the pre-painted random boxes, that are targeted at DMs, this new line is targeted at players. Each will some with two miniatures. One that depicts a tier one version of the character and the other a mid-tier version. That way a player can buy a dwarven cleric and have a lower level and higher level version of it. It is a neat idea if they can offers a sufficient range of choices.

megamania · May 12, 2017

Much like the old (1980's) Ral Partha character class sets. Those had three levels depicted.

dunlin · Jul 5, 2017

I dislike the pre-primed idea. If they pre-prime, but don't remove mould lines, they could just as well do no priming at all, because if you want the miniature to look good, you will scrape the primer off anyway.

Flexor the Mighty! · Jul 5, 2017

They look much better than Bones but I'm hip deep in unpainted metal and resin so I'm not going to be any of these.

Not one.

Nope.

Cergorach · Nov 24, 2017

dunlin said:
I dislike the pre-primed idea. If they pre-prime, but don't remove mould lines, they could just as well do no priming at all, because if you want the miniature to look good, you will scrape the primer off anyway.

This, so much this! I got a displacer beast, but the mold lines are pretty bad, far worse then most Reaper bones...

Flexor the Mighty! · Nov 29, 2017

OK I bought some, big wine/beer cask models and some treasure chests. The "primer" was horrible, paint was just rolling off so I hit them with some black spray and they were fine. Big mold lines, but they are furniture so I left them on.

jimtillman · Dec 27, 2017

im not great at painting but painted up these 2

Flexor the Mighty! · Dec 28, 2017

I do like the proportions and size of the figures compared to the reaper bones 28/32mm sizes.

tomBitonti · Jan 3, 2018

I've been painting these in the last three months. Figures in progress:

Spiders (small, x6, two packs)
Spider (large, one pack)
Displacer Beast (one pack)
Beholder (one pack)
Chests (small, x6, two packs)
Cart (one pack)
Transparent hounds (x2, one pack)
Gnolls (x2, one pack)
Umber Hulk (one pack)

I'll see if I can upload some pix.

The material is a bit stiffer than bones; bones has a more rubbery, flexible feel to it than do these. These seem to hold a bit more detail than bones.

There are some issues with mold lines, but nothing I can't live with.

Each pack is $5, which is considerably less than the same figures in metal. If these were metal, I would do quite a bit of preparation -- filing and priming -- but with these I can just wash them and get started painting. Because of the lower investment, my goal is to do just a half-decent job. Not worrying too much has been liberating and has ironically improved the results.

At $5, the Beholder is a steal. It has a fantastic sculpt. That is compared with the same price for three small chests. I do wonder if the store had the miniature miss-priced.

Thx!
TomB

pogre · Jan 7, 2018

I just bought a few of these and my impressions are much like Flexor's. They should quit priming these figures. The mold lines make the primer worthless and paint does not adhere to it. I like the sculpts, but unbending the parts is tough. I don't like the flat bases - I re-based all of the miniatures I bought. If you want a quality paint job you will have to treat these like metal miniatures - wash, file, prime, base.

Positives:
+ quality sculpts
+ price point