» Reporter falls prey to another collectible game
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Reporter falls prey to another collectible game
Okay, so I wasn’t that impressed with the initial release of the D&D Miniatures Game. The figures looked good, but not outstanding, and I didn’t want to get sucked into another collectible product line. But there’s no hope for me now: I’m hooked. The D&D Miniatures Game is growing on me like a patch of green slime, and there’s little doubt I’ll be checking out the Archfiends expansion when it arrives in March. I’ve heard there’s a gorgeous Silver Dragon that’s part of the 60 figure set as well, but there’s no Archfiends previews yet on the official WotC page.
Wizards of the Coast press release follows:
ARCHFIENDS ADDED TO DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® MINIS LINE!
Latest D&D™ Minis Expansion Features Monsters, Villains and Other Creatures!
January 28, 2004 (Renton, Wash.) – Fans of Dungeons & Dragons can look forward to even more iconic miniature figures drawn from the classic fantasy roleplaying game. This March, Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS), will release the latest expansion in its line of Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures. The Archfiends™ set features 60 monsters, villains, and a horde of other outsiders taken straight from a wide variety of popular D&D rulebooks. Like all D&D Miniatures, Archfiends are ready for battle right out of the box, and can be used to play a stand-alone game, or as exciting supplements to already-existing campaigns.
“Since its 2003 release, the D&D minis line has been wildly popular with fantasy roleplayers, and we’re confident this latest expansion will continue to delight D&D fans everywhere,” said Chris Toepker, Miniatures Category Manager for Wizards of the Coast. “The best feature of the minis is that players can use them immediately for head-to-head-competition, but they’re also ideal for deepening the storytelling aspect of roleplaying as well.”
Each Archfiends expansion pack contains 8 randomly selected, pre-painted, fully assembled, collectible miniatures with double-sided statistic cards for use with the D&D roleplaying game or for fast-paced head-to-head combat. Archfiends includes a popular selection of monsters and villains taken straight from such D&D accessory titles as the Monster Manual™, Forgotten Realms® Campaign Setting, Miniatures Handbook, Psionics Handbook, Savage Species and characters from our New York Times bestselling novel lines. Archfiends expansion packs will retail for MSRP $12.99.
The Minis Success Story
Since the debut of the initial 80-figure Harbinger™ set in the form of Entry and Expansion Packs in September 2003, Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures have proved highly successful with players, selling over four million individual units. The Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Handbook, released last October, offers expanded rules for skirmishes and mass combats, new classes, feats, spells and more. In December, the 60-figure Dragoneye™ set introduced multiple dragon figures of varying sizes. This summer, players can look forward to Giants of Legend™, another 60-figure set based on popular characters drawn directly from D&D lore.
Future expansions will continue to provide both roleplaying and miniatures players with an ever-widening range of D&D figures to enhance their collections. More information regarding the development of D&D Miniatures and a special online gallery featuring many of the initial miniatures are currently available at wizards.com/dnd.
Dungeons & Dragons products have been the benchmark for adventure roleplaying game excellence since the game’s introduction in 1974. Over the years, the Dungeons & Dragons experience has steadily evolved. The miniatures, along with the new Dungeons & Dragons v.3.5 core rulebooks, are designed to take players through this year’s 30th anniversary and beyond. All new products are compatible with previously released Dungeons & Dragons adventure products.
Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS), is a worldwide leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game categories, and a leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products. The company holds an exclusive patent on trading card games (TCGs) and their method of play and produces the premier trading card game, Magic: The Gathering®, among many other trading card games and family card and board games. Wizards is also a leading publisher of roleplaying games, such as Dungeons & Dragons®, and publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times bestsellers. For more information, visit the Wizards of the Coast website at wizards.com
Back to the 
Doccus Says: January 27th, 2004 at 3:18 pm
If you haven’t checked out the Vassal game engine add-ons for the D&D minis, you should
I discuss and give links to the tools you’ll need here:
http://doccus.dragon.cx:8080/archives/000088.html
Basically, it allows you to play D&D miniatures over the Internet, provided that both parties know the rules. It’s much like a virtual game desktop. VERY cool
D
zomben Says: January 28th, 2004 at 7:55 am
It’s like crack, no? I’ve been fighting “collectible,” random-sort games forever (the last CCG I played was Jyhad…) but this one is just too much fun.
Not only do I get to use the little minis in the D&D campaign I’m running, but I’ve found the random assortment of figs allows me to try out tactics I might never use. When I play most minis games, I usually pick one army and stick to it. With the random packaging, I get to try out all sorts of different figs.
Sigh… I fought it so long too… and now I’m hooked…
Jeff Says: January 28th, 2004 at 9:41 am
While I do not play the miniatures game, I find the sets are a treasure trove for cheap, prepainted NPCs and beasties for my RPG campaign, though the randomness can be a pain, I rely on ebay to flesh out a group of town guard or pack of ghouls. The only complaint, and it is more about d20 in general, is what WOTC did to halfings, making them miniature humans.
Thomas Says: January 28th, 2004 at 11:30 am
The D&D minis came out just in time to be used with Atlas Games’ Dungeoneer. So I love ‘em of course!
I agree with Jeff – the randomness does suck. And in general I HATE the stylizations of ALL the races in D&D 3e, the elves, gnomes, halflings, half-orcs all SUCK, SUCK, SUCK! The dwarves don’t bug me too badly though.
td
zomben Says: January 28th, 2004 at 12:25 pm
Strangely, I was frustrated by the randomness at first, but now I actually kind of like it. I think it helps to get “out of the rut” of monsters to throw at your players.
I’m been finding that it’s actually a lot of fun designing encounters around what random miniatures I’ve collected. So, if nothing else they’re kind of cool for that.
Also, if you’re playing the skirmish game, it gives you a chance to try out various tactics, and play with a lot of different figures. I don’t get stuck always playing zombies, or goblins, or humans…
Allan Sugarbaker Says: January 29th, 2004 at 12:15 pm
We just got an updated press release from WotC, correcting the MSRP from $9.99 to the new price of $12.99. As if my addiction weren’t expensive enough…
zomben Says: January 29th, 2004 at 2:01 pm
Gack! Guess I better go out and buy a bunch of boosters now before the price hike hits the retail end of the unholy triangle…
pduggie Says: February 13th, 2004 at 8:47 am
the price hike seems to have been recinded