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:

youngreddragon_20_1_1024x1024.jpeg
succubus_1024x1024.jpeg
smokemephit_1024x1024.jpeg
reddragonwyrmling_1024x1024.jpeg
nalfeshnee_1024x1024.jpeg
nightmare_1024x1024.jpeg
lizardfolkwarrior_1024x1024.jpeg
hobgoblin_1024x1024.jpeg
gnolldemoniac_1024x1024.jpeg
helmedhorror_1024x1024.jpeg
ghast_1024x1024.jpeg
fireelemental_1024x1024.jpeg
deathcultist_1024x1024.jpeg
deathdog_1024x1024.jpeg
blackpudding_1024x1024.jpeg
 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer

The Huge sized Adult Remorhaz premium mini has been revealed as well.
96376--adultremorhazboxedminiature--mockpackaging--webresrender_1024x1024.jpg
adultremorhaz_1024x1024.jpg


Could just be an artist choice OR it could the Cambion not the Succubi, or it could be a more powerful version of a Succubi.
The names of the minis are in the file names of the images on the wizkids store...

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.
Wizkids minis have a good paint quality, even for Medium sized ones. The faces are often tampographed so the eyes and mouths are not askew, like they used to be old old WotC or Mage Knight minis.
Here are a few (Medium) examples from Fizban's Treasury of Dragons.
D&D-Icons of the Realms-Fizban's Treasury of Dragons-02 - Dragon Blessed 01.jpgD&D-Icons of the Realms-Fizban's Treasury of Dragons-16 - Hydroloth 01.jpgD&D-Icons of the Realms-Fizban's Treasury of Dragons-24 - Draconian Mastermind 03.jpgD&D-Icons of the Realms-Fizban's Treasury of Dragons-10 - Blue Dragon Wyrmling 01.jpgD&D-Icons of the Realms-Fizban's Treasury of Dragons-15 - Amethyst Dragonborn 01.jpgD&D-Icons of the Realms-Fizban's Treasury of Dragons-21 - Black Dragon Wyrmling 01.jpg
 

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The Huge sized Adult Remorhaz premium mini has been revealed as well.
View attachment 393542View attachment 393543


The names of the minis are in the file names of the images on the wizkids store...


Wizkids minis have a good paint quality, even for Medium sized ones. The faces are often tampographed so the eyes and mouths are not askew, like they used to be old old WotC or Mage Knight minis.
Here are a few (Medium) examples from Fizban's Treasury of Dragons.
View attachment 393546View attachment 393547View attachment 393548View attachment 393549View attachment 393550View attachment 393551
That remorhaz is gorgeous!
 

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?
Boneyard, for me. By a significant margin. These are some of my favourites (I've repainted them a bit).

Atropal.jpg


Bone Whelk.jpg


Sibriex.jpg


Zombie T-Rex.jpg
 

For those asking about a favorite WizKids D&D set, I’d probably pick the Witchlight set, just because there were so many unique designs and I like Feywild stuff. I also quite enjoyed many of the 50th anniversary models, particularly the 1st edition inspired designs.
The new ones look pretty decent, but already have soooo many miniatures! It might be a problem!
 


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.

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.

View attachment 393482
I don't buy a many minatures anymore, but I think the Wizkids Tiamat and dragons have been very good. So much so I preordered the black and red adult dragons in the new design. I eagerly await their arrival!
 


I don't buy a many minatures anymore, but I think the Wizkids Tiamat and dragons have been very good. So much so I preordered the black and red adult dragons in the new design. I eagerly await their arrival!
Some of their monster figures are pretty good. I own three of their dragon models. My FLGS had a sale and I was able to pick up two adult white dragon models for $40 each and I own their young silver dragon. I think I can sum up my criticism of WizKids by saying most of their models look like really good board game pieces. This was true even for their frameworks line which was way overpriced for what you got.

IMG_2554.jpeg
 


From the 2000s to now these minis have come such a long way. I have a handful from 3e era and the comparison to the most recent offerings is night and day.

Agreed wholeheartedly! Like the metal slags of the early 80s to reaper metal or dark sword minis, the plastic minis like you mentioned are so much better now. Heck even the 2012 ish first set they made for pathfinder to now is a huge improvement.
 
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