I've Seen the New D&D Minis

[Melkor]

Actually, I was comparing a Reaper Elf to the DnD Elf.....but weren't 1st Edition D&D Elves taller than humans (like Tolkien elves) ?

Don't the core books list the D&D minis as being 30mm ? I could have swore I read that in the 3.5 PHB or DMG - although I was under the impression from everything else that I had heard that they were 25mm.

Anyway, remember that it's not just the height of the mini, they also have larger features.

The Orc Archer is "thick" and "hefty", and looks cool. Out of the 3 that I have though, the Lizardman looks the best....He is taller than the other minis, and has the best paint job....The Orc has a passable paint job, but I am going to paint the Elf to make it look better.

 

[ForceUser]

I have three of the Gencon promo minis (Orc Archer, Lizardman, and Elf Ranger), and they are not to scale with any of my Reaper miniatures. In fact, a Reaper Elf when compared to the D&D Elf Ranger looks like a giant. Most people won't be bothered by it, but the really look funny standing next to each other on my Dwarven Forge Master Maze stuff.

My point was that I'm excited about the collectable monsters, not the character minis. If the kobolds and orcs are a little smaller, that's fine. It'll be nice to not have to use dice, pennies, and counters anymore.

 

[kilamanjaro]

Actually, I was comparing a Reaper Elf to the DnD Elf.....but weren't 1st Edition D&D Elves taller than humans (like Tolkien elves) ?

Don't the core books list the D&D minis as being 30mm ? I could have swore I read that in the 3.5 PHB or DMG - although I was under the impression from everything else that I had heard that they were 25mm.

Anyway, remember that it's not just the height of the mini, they also have larger features.

The Orc Archer is "thick" and "hefty", and looks cool. Out of the 3 that I have though, the Lizardman looks the best....He is taller than the other minis, and has the best paint job....The Orc has a passable paint job, but I am going to paint the Elf to make it look better.

D&D elves have always been short, as far as I know. The 1st edition players book has them short. I don't know about OD&D.

 

[Green Knight]

Don't know about 1st edition D&D myself, but yeah, in current D&D elves are shorter than humans. Approximately a foot taller, which makes them about a head shorter than humans. Here's a line-up picture from the WoTC site.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MinisLineUpBySize.jpg

Personally, I'm glad to see that they're the appropriate size. I didn't like it how Chainmail elves were about human size, though in D&D 3E elves are a foot shorter than humans on average.

 

[Wombat]

I just got back from seeing some as well at the FLGS

They look ... like MageKnight

Pleasant enough, if terribly bland. No real individuality will be possible. They just scream "generic".

But then again, I am not the target audience.

 

[redkobold]

The Paint Jobs Make Me Cringe

I am really of a mixed mind. My initial response to the prepainted figures was excitement until I saw the first few pictures posted then I became totally disinterested. In the last few weeks I became excited again and I even bought InQuest #102 that has pics of all of the figures. After studying it for a few hours, I am disappointed again.

The paint jobs are so horrible that I cannot even tell if the sculpts are good. I was considering buying them and touching up the paint jobs or stripping them and completely repainting them.

The 2 factors that have me still interested is that you are guaranteed to get 1 rare in each pack and I like most of the rare monsters. Although I have to say that overall I dislike the random packaging. Happily however they will be selling the two non-random packs that you can see the contents of later.

The second factor is what I consider the fairly low cost.

Is anyone else on the fence with this?

I am really concerned that this product will flop unless they quickly increase the quality of the paint jobs. With the figure base color black, they should look into having a drybrush technique rather than the blob of unshaded, unhighlighted paint that they currently have.

 

[tetsujin28]

The figs are ugly. And making them "collectible" sucks. If you really don't like painting (and that includes me, for the most part), Cardboard Heros from Steve Jackson and the Fiery Dragon Counter Collections (with great art from ENWorld's own Claudio Pozas) are more than sufficient.

 

[tetsujin28]

Actually, I was comparing a Reaper Elf to the DnD Elf.....but weren't 1st Edition D&D Elves taller than humans (like Tolkien elves) ?

Nope. Since 1E, elves have been smalle. IIRC, OD&D doesn't mention whether or not they are, it just assumes you know what an elf is.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Greyhawk (default setting) elves are short and slender, averaging about five feet tall.

Forgotten Realms elves are human height, but slender. They use the human height chart from the PHB, but the half-elf weight chart. Forgotten Realms drow are shorter and slimmer than other elves, and use the elf height and weight charts from the PHB.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I decided to buy some for our PnP game. I prefer to paint my minis, but time has been short lately, and I haven't gotten many done --- and I can always use more generic mooks.

I'm not a fan of "collectible" -- I'd rather see what I'm getting -- but since they'll just be low-quality placeholders, it's not such a big deal. I'll buy & paint specific minis for specific characters/creatures in game.