So I picked up
Dungeon Command: Heart of Cormyr and
Sting of Lolth today. I always planned on doing so (I'm a sucker for pre-painted plastic minis) but Merric's review certainly did whet my appetite and
actually had me interested in the underlying game. That was something I didn't expect.
My FLGS,
401 Games here in Toronto had these on for reasonably cheap at $32.75 CDN, each. This is a low price point for the product in Toronto, where this is typically being sold closer to $39. In all honesty, I think it will probably sell at either price point, but there will definitely be diminishing returns. $30-$35 seemed about right to me for this product so far.
I have yet to try the game, but I >>also<< am tempted to actually try the game out this weekend. Given the inherent *meh* which went with past D&D minis games I think this is a very favorable reaction. I'll see if I can try this one out with my son.
I think it is important to be clear that I bought the game for the minis, but I'm happy about my purchase (so far at least) due to the overall packaging, tray and the rest of the components. I liked the tiles and I think over time, this could prove to be an interesting "deckbuilder" style minis game.
While I don't disagree with Merric's comments on the cardboard box -- I nevertheless actually liked the design of the lid, the folding card clasp and the finish to the exterior cardstock. These are difficult concepts to discuss in a meaningful manner without sounding entirely superficial and banal, but the point is that *I liked it* and that I did not have any buyer's remorse.
I was not tempted even in the slightest to throw away the rest of the components. Yes, I bought
Dungeon Command for the minis -- but I'm keeping it all together as a game -- at least for now.
As noted above, the sculpts were certainly not all original and most I have already. I did not have the PDK so I was happy to get it -- and spiders and driders are always cool and you can never have too many of those.
The repaint jobs were competent and definitely themed in terms of color choices. Still, the paint jobs clearly had relatively few paint steps and there
no shading on the minis at all. Frankly, I think all of these minis would benefit from a Minwax dip. I would peg these minis at the "Good" (Common) to "Medium" ("Uncommon") quality paint job 3E minis, if you know what I mean. That said, the overall accuracy of the paint jobs were certainly a cut above the slap-dash efforts which hurt so many of the 4E era D&D mini releases prior to
Lords of Madness.
Overall, I was pleased with the product and quite impressed with the packaging, tray insert and the rest of the components at this price point. In fact, the tray insert held the minis so nicely, I'm storing them in the tray. That probably doesn't augur very well for how much tabletop use I'll get out of these, but ...whatever.
I'll certainly buy the Goblin faction box when it is released in September and probably the follow-up to that set in November, too. What can I say? I'm a sucker for minis. Still, I was much happier with this purchase overall than I was with the
Dragon Collector's Set.
I'm not sure this is going to be a *hit* -- but based on my overall reaction to the product, I do think it's going to be successful, especially if they can keep the price far closer to $30 than $40.
I am interested to see how the game plays and if there is significant replay value. Again, the fact that I am even
thinking about this product in terms of the formal game that these minis and components are intended to be used to play speaks volumes about
Dungeon Command. As a RPG pre-painted miniature buyer and collector, I really did not expect to have that genuine curiosity about
Dungeon Command as a game.
Kudos to WotC on this new product line. After so many missteps, it's nice to see WotC land a solid base hit for a change.