Pathfinder Battles Preview: Did I Mention There Are Demons?

Friday, December 13, 2013

We're about a month away from the official January release date of the Wrath of the Righteous set of 55 prepainted Pathfinder Battles miniatures, and I've got to tell you—I am starting to get seriously psyched. This week WizKids stopped by the Paizo offices to deliver the first brick of sealed boosters for the Wrath of the Righteous set, and I'm happy to say that the quality on the final figures is phenomenal.

Although we love all of our children equally, it's fair to say that there were some paint deco struggles on the last set, Legends of Golarion. Reports of questionable paint jobs on that set started coming through just as this one was going into production, and we were able to take some steps to prevent some of the issues that crept in last time. Most significantly, we've simplified the paint masters, often in extremely subtle ways, to make it easier for the factory to apply the paint in the time allotted. Wrath of the Righteous features less complex color blends, more judicious use of inks, and less fetishism for painting every single buckle on every single figure. While it might seem like that's a step backward, in practice the final figures are less sloppy and much better executed. I think everyone will really appreciate the new approach.

These photos, and indeed all of the photos we've shown for this set so far, are under the new paradigm, so if you like what you've been seeing here, chances are very, very high that you'll love the final production figures.

By the way, did you know that this set includes a very large number of demons? We've already previewed several, but this week I wanted to reveal five more. Here we go!

Known as “wrecker demons,” Abrikandilu Demons delight in destroying beauty, be it the rending of a fine painting to shreds, reducing a magnificent statue to rubble, or scarring a lovely face. This fine gentleman here is depicted defacing a beautiful book (the Core Rulebook, perhaps?). Abrikandilus are formed from the tortured souls of vandals and mortals who destroyed beauty out of jealousy. They often serve as ground troops in Abyssal armies, and appear somewhat frequently in the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path. The Abrikandilu Demon is a Medium figure slated at the common rarity. Its statistics can be found on page 42 of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound.

The vile Invidiaks dwell in the deepest shadows, always looking for mortals to possess. The incorporeal creatures thrive in darkness, blending perfectly into their shadowy surroundings to spring shuddering surprises on their prey. Molded in clear plastic shaded in dark tones, this Medium figure is slated at the common rarity. Its statistics can be found on page 67 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary.

Legends of Golarion already gave us the Greater Death Demon, one of the most beloved figures in that set. Now we present the lesser version, simply called the Death Demon. I don't know what else to say about this figure other than that I love it like a child. It makes the perfect companion to its cousin. The Death Demon is a (somewhat large) Medium creature, and is slated at the uncommon rarity. It appears under a different name on page 64 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary.

Faxon here isn't technically a demon, but there's no question that he has demons roosting somewhere in his family tree. This tiefling witch plays an important role in the very first Wrath of the Righteous adventure, The Worldwound Incursion. He's got an amazing sculpt, and though you can't see it on the paint master photograph, he's also got a cool demonic sigil on his chest. Faxon is a Medium figure slated at the rare rarity.

Last up today is one of the most important villains of the entire campaign, the mighty fire demon Khorramzadeh! The leader of the Worldwound armies and the most powerful of the true demons that serve the demon lord Deskari, Khorramzadeh the Storm King rules over the ruins of the city of Iz, at the heart of the Worldwound. I know some of you will be saying “But Erik, there was already a fire demon in Legends of Golarion!” True, says I, but this one is even BIGGER and even AWESOMER. And I hate to tell your player characters, but you're going to need several fire demons to pull off the campaign appropriately. As befitting his status, this quite Large figure is slated at the rare rarity.

PHEW! That's mostly it for demons in this set, though there are a few more yet to be revealed. What else is coming up? More good guys, more disgusting monsters, and the figure that gets my vote for the coolest mini we've done so far, a creature whose audacity as a sculpt rivals the Shattered Star's Clockwork Reliquary. I get shudders just thinking about how great it is. Soon you too will behold it in all its glory.

Just not quite yet.

Until next week, I remain…

Erik Mona
Publisher

More Paizo Blog.
Tags: Miniatures Pathfinder Battles
Liberty's Edge

2 people marked this as a favorite.

I am glad to hear you are fixing the paint job issue. LoG was pathetic and I would rather dry rush reaper bones (at a lower price point.) If RotR is that bad, I will be done with pathfinder battles. I will cross my fingers for the beast.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

Oooooh ... am I first?

Erik, this is an awesome preview an I like that Khorramzadeh the Storm King has a mini, despite (as you say) we had (have) a "fire demon" in Legends of Golarion.

I'm hoping to see Areelu Vorlash(sp?) and Arueshalae in mini form (as well as many of the other allies and enemies of this AP). :)

Edit: Nope, not first - but second. ;)


1 person marked this as a favorite.

"And I hate to tell your player characters, but you're going to need several fire demons to pull off the campaign appropriately."

Oh, my. I've yet to ever work one of these guys into a campaign, let alone multiples. But as fearsome as Khorramzadeh looks, I relish the opportunity.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, PF Special Edition Subscriber

The Greater Death Demon was one of my favorites from LoG, so having a normal one is cool. I'm also happy to receive another Balor.

We've doubled up on Serpent, Death and Fire now, if I'm counting correctly.

Shadow Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

Glad to hear the painting issues are resolved - admittedly I must have got lucky with LoG since it was only the Irovetti that was a disappointment for me, the rest was quite fine. If these are better win all around I say.

I like all of these but I am so glad to see the Abrikandilu in there. Now all I need is a small Brimorak and I will be ecstatic.

That tiefling is also among the best I have seen, it's a real pity he is rare, hopefully we get more in the set if they can live up to that aesthetic.

The Storm King. Well I kind of expected him here and was surprised to get a Balor in the previous set. I'm always a fan of 2 or more sculpts of mini so I'm happy to have a second Balor. I think it looks better than the LoG one and it's just similar enough to mesh with the previous one, nice idea to swap the weapons around.

Well 37 down and only with only 18 to go, 17 really since we know Deskari is there.

Dark Archive

I for one am a bit distressed that there will be less paint steps, the last company to do prepainted minis started cutting corners and next thing you knew we had some really awful figures. This concerns me especially at the price of these.

Contributor

Oh man, dat shadow demon ....

Can we get some regular shades soon, Erik?

Shadow Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber
Mine all mine...don't touch wrote:

I for one am a bit distressed that there will be less paint steps, the last company to do prepainted minis started cutting corners and next thing you knew we had some really awful figures. This concerns me especially at the price of these.

I'd wait and see I can't see a lot of difference between these paint masters and the earlier sets. If its a subtle reduction you probably won't notice, and I'm pretty sure Erik is determined to make the line the best he can.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Mine all mine...don't touch wrote:
I for one am a bit distressed that there will be less paint steps, the last company to do prepainted minis started cutting corners and next thing you knew we had some really awful figures. This concerns me especially at the price of these.

If less steps means I get finished figures rather than half finished figures, figures painted with care rather than sloppy paint jobs with more steps, then I can't see how you can call it "cutting coners". For me cutting corners is slapping paint on a face area so it globs on or half painted faces like my Goblin Pyros. I couldn't care less about steps if the figure looks bad.

As for the preview, some nice looking figures here. I like Faxon, he will make a great NPC bad guy.

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

Mine all mine...don't touch wrote:

I for one am a bit distressed that there will be less paint steps, the last company to do prepainted minis started cutting corners and next thing you knew we had some really awful figures. This concerns me especially at the price of these.

I really doubt you'll be able to detect much of a difference. A lot of it has to do with specific shading techniques used on paint masters. The Schir Demon, which we already previewed on the blog, came back from the factory spec'd at 50 paint steps. Our painter made some minor adjustments and it cut about 30 touches off the figure. I've seen both figures next to each other and a lay person would be hard pressed to tell you the difference between them. I've also seen a final production figure, and it looks very, very good.

You don't have to take my word on it, as the actual figures will be out in a few weeks and you'll be able to see for yourself.


Erik Mona wrote:

You don't have to take my word on it, as the actual figures will be out in a few weeks and you'll be able to see for yourself.

Ack! C'mon, Christmas money! Daddy needs new minis!

I wonder sometimes whether this particular obsession is more a temptation to Greed, Vanity, or Pride. Or, when I'm having a hard time landing a rare mini, Envy.

Grand Lodge

What an EVIL preview.

I really like the Death Demon and the Invidiak.


Glad their resolving the paint jobs. My Efreet from LoG looks like someone bashed in part of his face and left the other side completely untouched. Its just really odd looking.


These look fantastic. The death demon, in particular, looks awesome, and Korramzadeh....dat sexy beast. But where are the brimoraks?!?!?! I need the little guys!!


I'm still holding out for a derakni mini!


Yeah we need some brimoraks and deraknis.

I hate to say this but Korramzadeh's face is... ugly, with the upper eyes not aligned with the lower pair. It also doesn't have the unique appearance we have been seeing in the WotR AP. He looks like another standard fire demon with a silvery sword and armor.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Sc8rpi8n_mjd wrote:

Yeah we need some brimoraks and deraknis.

I hate to say this but Korramzadeh's face is... ugly, with the upper eyes not aligned with the lower pair. It also doesn't have the unique appearance we have been seeing in the WotR AP. He looks like another standard fire demon with a silvery sword and armor.

Agreed on the Brimoraxen and Derakni, but I have to disagree strongly on Korramzadeh. They upper set of eyes being spaced the way they are actually makes sense, given that it widens his peripheral vision in a way that them being one above another wouldn't have. This is actually a consistent structure among those critters in the real world that have more than 2 eyes (mainly insects and arachnids). As for not matching up with the WotR art, well, your milage may vary, but aren't the minis generally based directly on a piece of art from the source material?

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

There's a little bit of drift in Korramzadeh's face throughout the AP, actually. This take is very much inspired by the Wayne Reynolds cover to the first installment. Some of the head and shoulders shots in the issues themselves look a little bit different.


So I have been revisiting the previews so far and realized how much I would like to run this AP. Seems like it coudl be quite dark.

I am looking forward to my case Erik.


Do we know the rarity breakdown of the set? It seems like we have not seen many large uncommon figures or medium/small rares.

Grand Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Illius wrote:
Do we know the rarity breakdown of the set? It seems like we have not seen many large uncommon figures or medium/small rares.

AFAIK, the 55-figure sets have all been consistent so far. Shattered Star, Skull & Shackles, and Legends of Golarion have all had 15 commons + 22 uncommons + 17 rares (and the 1 special). I haven't read anywhere that Wraith of the Righteous is going to deviate from that.

-Skeld

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Skeld wrote:
Illius wrote:
Do we know the rarity breakdown of the set? It seems like we have not seen many large uncommon figures or medium/small rares.

AFAIK, the 55-figure sets have all been consistent so far. Shattered Star, Skull & Shackles, and Legends of Golarion have all had 15 commons + 22 uncommons + 17 rares (and the 1 special). I haven't read anywhere that Wraith of the Righteous is going to deviate from that.

-Skeld

Of which 9 uncommons and 7 rares are large


Enlight_Bystand wrote:
Skeld wrote:
Illius wrote:
Do we know the rarity breakdown of the set? It seems like we have not seen many large uncommon figures or medium/small rares.

AFAIK, the 55-figure sets have all been consistent so far. Shattered Star, Skull & Shackles, and Legends of Golarion have all had 15 commons + 22 uncommons + 17 rares (and the 1 special). I haven't read anywhere that Wraith of the Righteous is going to deviate from that.

-Skeld

Of which 9 uncommons and 7 rares are large

So if I am correct we have 4 more commons to go as well as 3 more large uncommons, a single large rare, 6 medium/small rares, and 1 more medium/small uncommon.

Given that, I am hoping for the following:
Derakni at large uncommon
Brimorak at common/medium uncommon
Some form of generic good crusader or paladin, most likely at common
Arueshalae at medium rare (I will be heartbroken if she isn't included)
Queen Galfrey at medium rare
A Tiefling of sorts at common
Vescavor Swarm at common (most of the past sets have featured swarms, so why not this one?)
A Worm That Walks (this one will probably be rare)
Oh and there should be a will-o'-wisp mini, perhaps at common, but this could easily be in another set.
There just doesn't seem to be enough room to fit all of the awesome stuff from this AP into a 55 figure set, however I am VERY excited for this set of minis and whatever ends up being in the final list, wont change that.

Shadow Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

And we still have 3 more volumes to go in the AP.

Community / Forums / Paizo / Licensed Products / Miniatures / Paizo Blog: Pathfinder Battles Preview: Did I Mention There Are Demons? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Miniatures