Against the Giants picture gallery is up!

[ProfessorCirno]

Good lord, these are atrocious.

Edit: Someone help me. My sides hurt. I can't stop laughing over how GOOFY the Golden Wyvern Initiate's face looks

 

[Keith Robinson]

I just don't understand why the quality of the minis had gone downhill so much.

Snipped for berevity.

Jeff, that just about sums up where I'm at with DDM. I have a massive collection, but have been giving serious thought to drawing a line under the collection and just picking up the pieces I want on the secondary market in future. I'll make my final decision after the release of AtG, when I've actually seen the quality.

I also agree that the painting seemed to peak with Giants of legend, and has declined seriously from Dungeons of dread onwards. I have even started repainting some of the figures, which begs the question of why I just don't buy Reaper and paint those? I'm already thinking of repainting the huge red and converting it into a huge blue or green, as the paint job looks terrible. I'll also have to repaint the totally crap storm giant - probably converting it into a fire giant, I guess.

And I totally agree about the paint they're using - slightly glossy and unrealistic looking, kinda what you produce when you first turn your hand to painting these things as a kid. I know the price of oil will have had an impact on the cost of manufacturing these things, but I don't see how WotC can expect to maintain their popularity (of ddm) if they continue to produce sets with too many substandard painted figures and totally bizarre selection of figures and repeats from recent sets. And why include dragonborns as a core 4ed races and then not make a single figure easily available as an uncommon, or even common?

I really just don't get process behind the decision making when it comes to ddm at the moment.

 

[humble minion]

Have to agree it's a pretty damn bad set, in subject selection, in sculpt quality, and in paint job quality. The line has really gone down the tubes in the last couple of sets, and I don't know why. That Storm Giant is just abysmal in quality.

I'll just be heading to Ebay and picking up a couple of specific minis for my current campaign, and one or two PC/standard monster types for general use. Not going near booster, much less cases, on this set. Especially since a fair few of the critters are 4th ed specialties and we're sticking with 3.5.

Two Death Titans (needed for Savage Tide)
Yuan-Ti anathema (ditto)
Two Earth titans (handy for huge elementals)
Two thunderblast Cyclones (ditto)
Captain of the Watch
Dwarf Warsword
Galeb Duhr
Half-elf assassin
A bunch of ochre jellies (can put them in adjacent hexes and use them as any ooze-type thing)
Golden Wyvern Initiate
Xorn Ravager

Shouldn't be too pricey - lots of uncommons. Might add a Skullcleave Warrior, Tomebound Arcanist, Ice Devil, Efreeti, White Dragon, and Fire Giant Raider if they're not too expensive, but I won't be brokenhearted if I can't get them.

I suppose I shouldn't be annoyed - I'm blowing a lot less money on minis than I did in the two-cases-per-set days of Underdark, etc...

 

[Invisible Stalker]

I'm new to collecting the minis for DM purposes and I'm happy with much of the set.

COMMONS
Cultist of Orcus: useful for a minion
Kobold/ Gobiln/ Hobgoblin: all look good to me, I'll need multiples
Galeb Duhr: looks good
Gnaw Demon: a minion for multiple monsters, very useful
Ochre Jelly: very happy with this one
Orc Zombie: not my favorite zombie, but I guess I could use them
Dire Rat: I'll take at least 10

UNCOMMONS (non huge)
Blazing skeleton: love it, wish it was a common
Bugbear lancebreaker: awesome
Captain of the Watch: if I get three can they sing "Stop in the Name of Love?"
Cave Bear: I like this one
Cockatice: an old favorite, definitely want one of these
Deathpriest of Orcus: very good
Dwarf warsword, Eldarin Pyromancer, Elf Arcane Archer, Feybound Halfling: good PCs
Fire Bat: as Vicki Vale once said, "I like bats."
Fist of Moradin, Golden Wyvern Initiate, Half-Elf Assassin: more good PCs/ NPCs
Lizardfolk raider: I need more lizard people
Lurking wraith: good figure, I won't need a lot though
Plaguechanged ghoul/ Visceral devourer/ Xorn thing: meh

RARES I'll be looking for

the two dragonborn: as noted by others I wish they made one an uncommon at least, the greenscale zealot is a decent substitute though

Skullcleave Warrior and Tomebound Archanist both look great for PCs


Figure I least want

Enormous Carrion Crawler: it looks like a 1960s godzilla foe that got left on the cutting room floor

 

[Leatherhead]

Where is my Icons Gargantuan Green Dragon?

 

[Holy Bovine]

Reaper Mini's is already coming out with new stuff (not really designated for 4e but they use names like):

03321: Damien, Helltainted Wizard - who comes with an orb, staff, and wand
03315: Tiviel, Hellborn Rogue
03316: KarDrakir, Dragonman Warrior (or pretty much any Reptus for a dragonborn)

There are tons of player character mini's out there by Reaper.

Will they paint them for me too?

 

[Holy Bovine]

I want that Dragonborn Myrmidon for my Pally!

I got 3 'Dragonborn Fighters' from the War of the Dragon Queen set. Paid pennies for them as no one wanted them. Who's laughing now?!!

 

[Holy Bovine]

Is that Shocktroop Devil really an uncommon?! I want 10 thankyouverymuch.

 

[kboleen]

My single greatest complaint with D&D miniatures is they don't have a very good mix of common figs that are really useful in RPG games. Now, I have only been buying D&D miniatures since Desert of Desolation but I have researched just about all the other expansions looking to buy more of the figs for my games. D&D miniatures really needs to release sets of Kobolds, Gnolls, rats, Skeletons, and Mummys: the type of enemies that are typical dungeon dwellars.

 

[doctorhook]

I got 3 'Dragonborn Fighters' from the War of the Dragon Queen set. Paid pennies for them as no one wanted them. Who's laughing now?!!

lol Have you seen what they're going for on eBay right now? $25 USD a pop. I shoulda got wise, like you, because I sure ain't gonna buy any at that price.