Beholder pack of minis this fall

[I'm A Banana]

A box of several different types of beholders doesn't really grab me. What I'd be thrilled to buy is an "encounter in a box." For example, if you had a "drow encounter in a box," you could have some drow warriors and spiders, a drow cleric, a drider or two, and a small handfull of grimlock minions. Then have a sheet with a matrix telling you which monsters to include for an encounter of a given level.

That is the sort of product I'd snap up in a heartbeat, even if I already owned some of the minis in the set.

This would be the bestest.

Include a little poster map or something, maybe trap cards and environmental effects, and I'm sold.

 

[Kunimatyu]

I think minis as "luxury" items is the direction they're going, and it makes a lot of sense.

Tokens are fine for the mook orcs you're fighting, but when you bust out a demon lord or a dragon, you want your players to ooh and ahh. For some DMs, it's worth having that demon, dragon, or beholder when you have a big "boss" battle.

If the limited-edition sets do well, we might see things like archfiends, the classic non-Orcus demon lords, and some other iconic D&D villains.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

You'll only be able to purchase these through your local hobby stores

WTH?! I can't get ot my "local" game store bar a handful of times a year, grrr. I buy vi a Amazon and EBay for good reason

 

[Nebulous]

For anybody that regularly buys WotC minis, $35 for 4 beholders is not a terrible price. Unless you think too hard about the fact that you're just buying *plastic*. I already i have a lot of beholders, i would have to see this set first and decide to get it or not.

 

[Perram]

I don't use beholders a lot, but if the poses are good enough and the paint jobs are nice enough, I'll buy it. $35 isn't bad for 4 large or larger minis, as metal minis at that size usually go for $12+ anyway.

If they look like junk, though... I'll pass.

 

[Nebulous]

This would be the bestest.

Include a little poster map or something, maybe trap cards and environmental effects, and I'm sold.

Oh my, what a fantastic idea. I hope someone at Wizards is paying attention. I would SO buy encounter sets that came with a map and maybe a few 3D props and minis.

 

[karlindel]

I'll have to see what they look like. I'm torn, because I know they'd probably never get used in a game (I've used beholders a handful of times in the last ten years of gaming). However, beholders are really cool. I agree with those that say the $35 price point isn't bad. It's not cheap, but getting four beholders through other means would be even more expensive.

I don't mind random minis packs, as it's helpful to have lots of the commons and uncommons for some enemies and you don't need a lot of certain types of enemies. I'm also fine with lots of PC race minis, as this gives some to use as PCs and also a lot to use as NPC bad enemies. That said, there was an over-proliferation of certain types and not enough of others (i.e. too many elven archers, too man dwarven fighter-types, etc.). Still, I think the real problem with the non-random minis lines were that the non-random minis weren't all that desirable. Almost all of them had at least one mini included that didn't look very good, and there were a lot of unusual choices (dragonborn rogue with gold armor with a handcrossbow and a dagger, I'm looking at you).

 

[Nifft]

Perhaps it's possible to do a semi-randomized encounter-inna-box:

Kobolds! - 1 Slinger, 1 Dragonshield, 2 Minions (guaranteed), plus 2 uncommon Kobold types and 2 monsters (one uncommon, one rare)

Do something similar for other critter types. The idea would be that each box has some minis that the customer knows he'll get good use from, and the rest are "cheap" due to randomization.

Cheers, -- N

 

[brainstorm]

Although the "encounter in a box" idea sounds good, I just don't see how it could be viable. First of all, the encounter could be used only once. That means you're paying a higher price point for non-randomized minis for a 1-shot item. Sure, you can use the elements of such a product more than once, but there's also the little matter of levels. What level do you design the encounter for? Most would have to be made for the Heroic tier, as I'm guessing that most D&D players play in that tier most often. That means lots of orc, goblin, hobgoblin, kobold, skeleton, etc., encounters. For a DDM collector like me, that would be pretty worthless, as I can create a ton of those kinds of encounters with my existing collection. So, this product would mostly appeal to non-DDM or casual collectors. This could alienate a lot of the existing customer base, which isn't smart. The existing collectors need something new that they don't already have. Terrain or scenery pieces might do it, I'd like that, but I don't know if it would be enough for me to spring for a whole set - guess it depends on the price point..

 

[JoeGKushner]

I'm amazed that there was no miniatures pack to go along with the PHB3.

I mean, they've been previewing it for like a year now. Not enough lead time? Seriously? They couldn't figure out how to get some of these races and calss combos out in an PHB3 style packaging where perhaps like the 'gift' set last year you could buy a pack of miniatures with the book? Of a heroic line of miniatures featured only from character/classes here?

It shouldn't surprise me though. The game is going on several years now and we have how many dragonborn miniatures?