D&D 5E Warduke, Kelek, Strongheart Miniatures!

The official miniatures sets from WizKids for The Wild Beyond the Witchlight include 'The League of Malevolence' set and the 'Valor's Call' set, and contain a whole bunch of characters from the 1980s D&D action toys set and the cartoon.

The League of Malevolence set includes Warduke (the evil fighter) and Kelek (the evil wizard), as well as Skylla (Ringlerun's former apprentice), Zarak (the half orc assassin), and Zargash (the evil cleric).

The Valor's Call set includes Strongheart (the paladin). Ringlerun (the wizard, who was on the cover on 1983's AD&D Player's Handbook!), Molliver (the good thief), Elkhorn (dwarf fighter), and Mercion (the cleric).

D&D 5E - Wild Beyond the Witchlight Features Warduke & More!

While we've had the back cover text for some time, Amazon has revealed more information about the Wild Beyond the Witchlight! The adventure includes Warduke, a figure dating back to the 1980s, and indicates that all encounters can be resolved without combat. The book also includes two new races...

www.enworld.org

And here's Ringlerun, painted by Jeff Easley for the AD&D Player's Handbook back in 1983!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

$30 for 5 minis? What is this Warhammer?

They're painted, and they no longer pay hand-painters $1 an hour sweatshop wages like they used to. (I like to say "Good for Human Rights, bad for miniature prices!")

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

For those interested . . . if you go over to dndmini.com (a WizKids site), you can preorder these two sets, plus a bunch of other Witchlight products. Shipping is free for orders over $50, and if you pre-order any Witchlight product, you get a bonus pack of three harengon brigands (bunny-people bandits).

Damn it, I zeroed out my Reaper Bones Kickstarter order during the pandemic (I was going to get the new box of dungeon basics, which looks great). The Witchlight collector's box and harengon brigands is tempting as hell, though.

 

[Parmandur]

Add the main D&D cartoon characters to Witchlight, you cowards!

I mean, maybe they have already: Perkins said in the revised Issue 38 of Dragon+ that there are a large number of old references sprinkled in the book.

 

[MGibster]

$30 for 5 minis? What is this Warhammer?

$6.00 a miniature is not at all unreasonable. Even Reaper Miniatures line of unpainted plastics, which aren't very good plastic mind you, will run you $3.00 a pop at the cheapest level.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I mean, maybe they have already: Perkins said in the revised Issue 38 of Dragon+ that there are a large number of old references sprinkled in the book.

If Uni or the Dungeon Master were in Witchlight, they would not keep it a secret. They'd have a whole boxed set of the heroes of the cartoon heroes ready to sell.

I'm pretty sure their absence, along with Venger's, suggests that the rights are too much of a mess for them to use them.

 

[ehren37]

Damn it, I zeroed out my Reaper Bones Kickstarter order during the pandemic (I was going to get the new box of dungeon basics, which looks great). The Witchlight collector's box and harengon brigands is tempting as hell, though.

Not to highjack, but they just re-opened the Bones 5 pledge manager and accept late pledges if you are wanting to pick something up.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not to highjack, but they just re-opened the Bones 5 pledge manager and accept late pledges if you are wanting to pick something up.

I know. I am wrestling with it, especially as that boxed set is one of the ones still available. But I had been getting away from using minis even before the pandemic, so I'm not sure if this would be more than a $50 collector of dust for me. (It's a great boxed set, though, especially for people who need a low level dungeon starter set.)

 

[ehren37]

Waiting to see if GF9 releases are planned and if they have the better sculpts. If not, I'll get these, strip em bare, and repaint. Wizkids often has pretty good sculpts under their goopy paint. The Deep Cuts/Nolzur's lines are better than Reaper Bones IMO.

 

[cbwjm]

I'm tempted to order these for the nostalgia alone.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Here's a preview map of Warduke's homeworld: MOTHERLAND—The World of ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Action Figures.
From an upcoming aficionado-crafted worldbook. Michael Gray co-designed the world. Mike is the author of the only D&D adventure (prior to Witchlight) to feature Warduke: the 1984 module XL1: Quest for the Heartstone. He chose the world to be square, selected the shape of the continents, and designed many other features of the setting; for example, he named the duchy of which Warduke is the "duke" of: the Duchy of Wargrave!

I like this a lot; if I ever run Witchlight and Warduke survives, it would be fun for the PCs to follow him back to his world to either aide him in taking back his Dukedom, or overthrow him!

 

[Wardook]

What is this craziness. Consider it bought.

 

[lkj]

If Uni or the Dungeon Master were in Witchlight, they would not keep it a secret. They'd have a whole boxed set of the heroes of the cartoon heroes ready to sell.

I'm pretty sure their absence, along with Venger's, suggests that the rights are too much of a mess for them to use them.

This seems unlikely since they are showing up on Magic cards

Saturday Morning D&D

It’s 1983. It’s Saturday morning. You douse a bowl of sugary cereal with a splash of milk, then run over to the TV. (You try not spill, but...

secretlair.wizards.com

Which they did promote during D&D Live.

Oh, and they also said there will be nods to the cartoon in Witchlight:

Dungeons & Dragons Will Bring Back 1980s Cartoon Characters in Upcoming Adventure

The next Dungeons & Dragons adventure will contain several characters from the 1980s Saturday [...]

comicbook.com

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[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This seems unlikely since they are showing up on Magic cards

Saturday Morning D&D

It’s 1983. It’s Saturday morning. You douse a bowl of sugary cereal with a splash of milk, then run over to the TV. (You try not spill, but...

secretlair.wizards.com

Secret Lair stuff, I believe, is special collector's only editions, not standard MTG cards.

Oh, and they also said there will be nods to the cartoon in Witchlight:

Dungeons & Dragons Will Bring Back 1980s Cartoon Characters in Upcoming Adventure

The next Dungeons & Dragons adventure will contain several characters from the 1980s Saturday [...]

comicbook.com

They seem to mean the action figure characters who showed up in the cartoon, along with the design of the rollercoaster:

The return of Warduke, Strongheart, Kelek and other classic Dungeons & Dragons characters

Given how popular the cartoon is amongst oldsters and Brazilian gamers, it seems unlikely they'd be promoting Kelek if they had the stars of the cartoon available to them.

 

[Parmandur]

Secret Lair stuff, I believe, is special collector's only editions, not standard MTG cards.

Yes, but it means they got the rights to be able.to sell products with those characters and likenesses.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yes, but it means they got the rights to be able.to sell products with those characters and likenesses.

Fair. So why not make miniatures with them or mention any of them by name? I can see keeping Venger a secret, but why not Bobby, Diana, Eric, Hank, Presto or Sheila?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Also, can we talk about the fact that Voldemort totally ripped off his look from Venger?

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Okay, I have absolutely no nostalgia for Warheart and Strongduke or whatever their names are, and I'm absolutely not buying these minis (although they look fairly good quality for their price), but I just wanted to come in here and say that I love the enthusiasm about this. I hope that when I get old enough to be nostalgic for parts of D&D 5e that I'll be as excited about it as you guys are for these minis and characters being in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight.

Carry on, and feel free to yell at me about getting the names wrong. I can take it.

 

[Parmandur]

Okay, I have absolutely no nostalgia for Warheart and Strongduke or whatever their names are, and I'm absolutely not buying these minis (although they look fairly good quality for their price), but I just wanted to come in here and say that I love the enthusiasm about this. I hope that when I get old enough to be nostalgic for parts of D&D 5e that I'll be as excited about it as you guys are for these minis and characters being in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight.

Carry on, and feel free to yell at me about getting the names wrong. I can take it.

It's before my.time, too (he Inpicked up XL1 secondhand), but it's cool that Chris Perkins goes for the deep cuts.

 

[lkj]

Secret Lair stuff, I believe, is special collector's only editions, not standard MTG cards.

They seem to mean the action figure characters who showed up in the cartoon, along with the design of the rollercoaster:

Given how popular the cartoon is amongst oldsters and Brazilian gamers, it seems unlikely they'd be promoting Kelek if they had the stars of the cartoon available to them.

I just meant that it seems unlikely there are rights issues if they are using them in other contexts.

As for why they aren't using them in this book (if that's true), it's possible they have other plans. Or maybe it's as simple as the fact that Kelek, Strongheart, etc. fit far more easily into the storyline than Hank and crew. Who knows. Any of a dozen reasons. But I wouldn't be stunned to hear they are doing something with the other characters farther down the road.

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[Kor - Orc Scrollkeeper]

Why are they called "Starter Sets?"
Is this going to be starting a new minis line? Is the adventure considered a starter adventure?

Starter Sets for WizKid's pre-painted miniature sets are typically sets of player character adventurers. It is an efficient way for WizKids to sell a package of popular player character minis, without people having to buy randomized blind boosters of minis.

In case this may be on interest to you, I have just updated the Witchlight gallery with all the current reveals for the Witchlight sets:

MinisGallery - D&D The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

Gallery of Pre-Painted Plastic Miniatures Images and Pictures for Roleplaying Games like Dungeons and Dragons, D&D and Pathfinder

www.minisgallery.com