WizKids Announces D&D Monster Manual Minis, Featuring New Designs

WizKids has announced a new collection of miniatures featuring monsters inspired by the 2025 Monster Manual. The D&D Icons of the Realms: Monster Manual Collection 1 will include 47 miniatures in the collection, all of which were sculpted based on the artwork found in the new Monster Manual due out next month. Monsters confirmed for the set include Nightmares, nalfeshnee, ghasts, helmed horrors, black puddings, cultists, lizardfolk, death dogs, fire elementals, hobgoblins, succubi, red dragons, smoke mephits, and a gnoll variant called a gnoll demoniac. No release date for the set was announced, but it will likely be after May 2025, which is when the Underdark Expeditions set is released.

WizKids previously announced huge miniatures of the red dragon and black dragon based on their 2024 designs.

One point of emphasis for the new Monster Manual is artwork showcasing the various creatures and monsters in more fearsome and action-packed imagery. The 2014 Monster Manual featured very static images of monsters, which was great for miniature models but didn't always inspire the imagination in the proper way.

Previews of the miniatures can be seen below:

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Some nice sculpts there. Love the mummy gnoll (or whatever it is?)

It looks to be called a Gnoll Demoniac

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Figure it out.

 

[Older Beholder]

It looks to be called a Gnoll Demoniac

I missed the list in the OP, was trying to find the name on the image, lol.
I like that it could also be used for a homebrewed Gnoll Mummy.

 

[Dire Bare]

It’s actually a Ghast Mage.

I think you mean Ghast Air Guitar Champion!!!

 

[Stormonu]

Sadly, the actual minis never look near as good as the renders.

I don't think I have a death dog mini, but I'm already overflowing with miniatures as it is - they clearly outnumber my dice!

 

[EthanSental]

Some nice sculpts there. Love the mummy gnoll (or whatever it is?)

I’ll have to see the full set, I think my days of buying a brick of each set is behind me. Overall I think the quality of WizKids minis has improved over time, I just have pretty much everything I need at this point.

I’m curious for people that have been collecting, did u have a favourite set?

I haven’t picked a favorite yet but the 50th anniversary set was nicely done with some great minis…enough where I brick and eBuy i got most of them, something I haven’t done before. I usually just get single of a set off second stores and eBay.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I rather like the Succubi's appearance, relieved in fact.

Also the more I think about it, the more I like splitting Incubi off from Succubi just on a practical level because you don't have to mention both succubi & incubi when talking about the creatures because they are now separate you just use 1 name no matter the sex for ever species of fiend your talking about.

 

[Bae'zel]

Personally, I hate blind boxes, I'd rather get a 3D resin printed mini of the figures I want and paint them myself (although I have the priviledge of being slightly better at painting than the quality that you usually get from these blind boxes).

 

[Charlaquin]

I hope the actual minis look nicer than these renders, cause they’re not really exciting me. The huge dragons they’ve shown so far look beautiful, but these smaller ones seem a bit underwhelming to me.

 

[Charlaquin]

I've got some decidedly mixed feelings about WizKids model. My avatar here is one of their Beholders, and I actually think it's quite a good miniature, but for the most part, I don't have a lot of nice things to say about their products. They lack detail and they're not fun to paint, but they're relatively inexpensive. My theory is WizKids is marketing this to the wider D&D audience and they're not concerned about miniature painters such as myself. Which is fair.

I feel like they’ve had a quality drop. When the Nozlur’s line first started I felt like they had decent detail and nice dynamic poses, but there were not that many options available. Then they started ramping up the pace at which they released new designs, but the new designs were far less interesting to me.

The models don't look like they've been painted, I'm guessing they used something like Adobe to add a little color. The dragons sculpts up there are a bit underwhelming. They just don't look particularly menacing. I'm impressed by one of the sculpts. I don't know if this guy is a druid or what, but I think he looks great. The detail on the face, the robes, and the armor look fantastic. I'll probably buy this one if I see it. I'll probably also buy a few of their monsters since many of them look pretty good even now.

These are just 3d renders, the actual sculpts haven’t been finalized yet.