D&D Icons of the Realms, Dungeon of the Mad Mage miniatures

Kor · Mar 16, 2019

Last week WizKids released their latest pre-painted miniature set.

I have high-quality photos of most of the miniatures now posted:
https://www.minisgallery.com/dnd/dnd20.htm

Here is a link to a great video review The Gallant Goblin has done on this set:
https://youtu.be/zXBR-d8a3MM

pogre · Mar 17, 2019

Maybe it is just the photos, but these seem really bad, even for pre-paints.

ccs · Mar 17, 2019

pogre said:
Maybe it is just the photos, but these seem really bad, even for pre-paints.

Having seen most of them in person I'd rate them as average (for pre-painted D&D stuff).

Kor · Mar 17, 2019

I would consider the paint application on these minis to be somewhere between average and above average. While the quality of the paint application may not be great, many of these miniatures have a significant amount of paint steps applied to them. Because of this, I do think they are slightly above average.

The downside of taking photos with a macro lense, is that it will show off every little flaw on the mini -- it is sort of like placing the mini right in front of your eyeball. For general table top use, in which you would be sitting about 2-feet away from the minis, you will not notice these flaws and imperfections.

For mass-manufactured minis made at a fairly reasonable price, the paint application is going to have these types of imperfections -- the main challenge for the makers of pre-painted miniatures is to ensure the level of flaws and imperfections do not detract from the overall appearance or to decrease the amount of satisfaction one feels when using the miniatures. I think WizKids has met the goal of this challenge.

However, if anyone is comparing the minis in this set to WizKids' Pathfinder Battles minis, then you may note that the overall paint application of the D&D miniatures is not at the same level of quality.

pogre · Mar 19, 2019

Kor said:
I
The downside of taking photos with a macro lense, is that it will show off every little flaw on the mini -- it is sort of like placing the mini right in front of your eyeball. For general table top use, in which you would be sitting about 2-feet away from the minis, you will not notice these flaws and imperfections.

Oh, I am keenly aware of the dastardly macro lense! I always think I have painted well until I get the figures in a photo tent.

Kor said:
For mass-manufactured minis made at a fairly reasonable price, the paint application is going to have these types of imperfections -- the main challenge for the makers of pre-painted miniatures is to ensure the level of flaws and imperfections do not detract from the overall appearance or to decrease the amount of satisfaction one feels when using the miniatures. I think WizKids has met the goal of this challenge.

We call it the "two-foot good" paint job.

Kor said:
However, if anyone is comparing the minis in this set to WizKids' Pathfinder Battles minis, then you may note that the overall paint application of the D&D miniatures is not at the same level of quality.

Interesting - is the price point of the Pathfinder miniatures significantly higher?

Imaculata · Mar 19, 2019

I really like the dungeon furniture. I have got to get me some of those.

jasper · Mar 19, 2019

I have bought some and they good and some are ugly. My friends have gotten lucky and drew rares and ultra rares including Halastar.

Kor · Mar 20, 2019

pogre said:
Interesting - is the price point of the Pathfinder miniatures significantly higher?

Same price point from what I remember.

Imaculata · Mar 23, 2019

I just ordered the dungeon furniture from ebay, because you can never haver enough of that. I still want to get that metal scorpion as well, because it fits a monster I want to use some time in my current campaign. Most of the other minis are a bit meh though.

Imaculata · Apr 9, 2019

Update: I received above mentioned order in perfect condition, and I am very happy with it. Some of the smaller props are not as useful (such as the crystal ball and the demon claw thingy), but the tables, closet, candleholders and stacked books are just what I needed to spice up my dungeons.

The paint job on these is pretty good as far as prepainted miniatures go. No complaints really.