Customer Reviews

D&D Miniatures Harbinger Booster Pack: A D&D Miniatures Game Product (D&D Miniatures Product)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The expansion pack contains 8 prepainted flexible plastic figures, in a typical distribution of 4 commons, 3 uncommons and 1 rare. Also contained are 8 related cards for each of the figures, with rules for use in the D&D Miniature Skirmish game on one side and the D&D roleplaying game on the reverse side. If you wish to play the skirmish game, you will need access to one copy of the D&D Entry Pack which is also availible through Amazon. Since the expansion pack has no rules for the game, I will concentrate this review on the quality of the figures.

Are they perfect? Not in the least. I agree with some points from a review written by the reader in Florida. (The one who thinks I sound like a company plant.) There are sections of the figures which have not been fully painted. My Umber Hulk figure (a Rare) has what looks to be a half centemeter light brown spot which is probably caused by a drip from an overloaded paint brush. You'll have figures without the eyes painted. Many of the sculptures pale when next to the majority of quality metal figures on the market.

There are other options to these miniatures. There is a company that have small sets of 5 prepainted non-random metal figures which are much better than these D&D figures, but they also cost $25 for a set of 5. A typical unpainted metal figure will cost on the order of $3, with some of the larger figures around $5. Games Workshop puts out several sets of plastic figures which are unpainted but a similar price. At first glance, the Mage Knight prepainted figures look to be of higher quality, but once you take into account that they're a larger scale (35 mm tall as opposed to the more historical 25-28mm D&D Miniature scale) the overall quality is about the same. There are plenty of options availible for those people who wish to pay more money.

That's the key point to my review for this product. At $1.25 a miniature, the number one advantage is that these miniatures are cheap and you need to spend no time painting them. These figures are not works of art and shouldn't be viewed as so. They're tokens for a game. Some are absolutely delightful, like the tiny common Kobold figure. Some figures are horrible; the rare elf called the Arcane Archer looks like it was painted with a cotton swab. (I feel that the elves are a general weakness in this line.)

Would I like a higher quality? Sure, but it would drive the cost up. I can understand how people might not like these figures -- they're the ramen noodles of the miniature world: cheap, usually bland, but they get the job done. Considering the inexpensive price and the time saved by not needing to paint hordes of miniatures, I highly recommend these figures, and I look forward to the future sets.

The D&D miniatures game is a lot of fun to play-- all the excitement of a simplified D&D without any prep time. You will need to buy at least one "Entry Pack" to play. This expansion pack just gives you more miniatures. It takes a few expansion packs (~4) to really have a good set to choose from. Commanders, a fairly important type of piece are a little too rare for my tastes.

The miniatures themselves are so-so. I understand they have to be plastic to make the product affordable, but that was tough for this "real" miniature-lover to accept. They must truly be hand-painted, because the paint jobs on similar pieces varies quite a bit.

If you want quality miniatures, buy metal (no longer lead) and paint them yourself. If you want a fun new D&D product, or aren't picky about your miniatures, then this is for you.

Having read the many mixed reviews of the new D&D miniatures, it was with some hesitation that I took the plunge and bought a few packs. Like those reviewers whom I found most convincing, I think the miniatures, while flawed, are a good value for the money spent.

As others have said, quality of painting and sculpting varies wildly from figure to figure. Most of them -- say, 70 to 75 percent -- stack up pretty well against the typical amateur's paint job. A few -- 20 percent -- are noticeably better, and a very few -- 5 to 10 percent (Axe Sister, anyone?) -- are horrendous.

Here's the short version:

If you like painting your own figures, and have the time to do so in the numbers a typical D&D game requires, these probably aren't for you. But if you'd like to assemble and use anywhere from a dozen to a couple hundred colorful models, sized and sculpted specifically for D&D ... the D&D miniatures are worth your $1.25 each.

The Harbinger and Dragon Eye expansions are a great way of accumulating miniatures for your roleplaying enjoyment. Don't expect any professional paint jobs using dry brush and ink techniques, and you'll be well pleased. For the price, this is the way to go to quickly enjoy miniatures battles.

For those that enjoy customizing/painting miniatures, these provide a suitable paint foundation to expand upon. Rather than having to start from the ground up as you would w/typical miniatures you buy for $5 a pop, you can quickly improve upon the look of the miniature through your own drybrush and inking techniques straight out of the box. Add ground cover and you've got a professional looking miniature that closely rivals lead-based.

Another advantage of using plastic miniatures is their ability to withstand being tossed around more during battle, or in storage. Paint on lead-based miniatures tend to chip more often due to their shear weight and inflexibility when colliding with other miniatures or objects.

The drawback w/plastic is that many long swords on these miniatures look more like melted taffy than strong and dangerous instruments of destruction.

Have fun!

I picked up a few of these to check them out. I have played with minis for over 20 years. Most of my minis are metal figures I picked up over 20 years ago - I have about 150 of them. And in all that time I've only managed to paint about 30-40 of them. I do enjoy painting them and I think they are very good figures. They also cost me 3-8 dollars each and required an investment in paint, brushes, and a lot of time just to get a handful of them painted. Contrast that to a price of $1.25-$1.00 each (or less, there are places where you can get them cheaper than that) and it becomes obvious what the value of these figures are. Are they lower quality than a painted metal figure. Of course. That is a ridiculous comparison, because they cost so much less. If you want a collection of 100 orcs, all painted, in metal, you are welcome to spend $500 to do so, and take a year off of work to paint them. For me, I'm happy to still paint those figures that I have (and pick up other singles that I really like) and I'll use the cheap, painted, plastic ones as more than adequate figures for a supporting role my game.

Merric's Law of Miniatures: Non-Random Packaging, Cheap Prices, and a Large Range of Figures: Choose two

Okay, I have to admit I don't love random packaging, but it dose have it's advantages.
It allows retailers to carry the product with less fear of less popular models colecting dust and costing them money.
It allows for singluar packaging design, and random allotment on the maufacturing end.
It allows the Customer to get 8 FULLY PAINTED plastic miniatures for the price of 2-3 of their unpainted, unassembled, metal counterparts.
Also since plastic is cheaper than tin/pewter the figures tend to be larger and more robustly sculpted.

Personally the convenience of them being prepainted alone is incentive enough for me. When it comes down to getting 7 painted figures or 2-3 I'll never get around to painting myslef, the choice is clear.

Painting miniatures is a hobby in itself and not one we all have the time to indulge in.

The miniatures come with dual stat cards for each figure. D&D Miniatures skirmish rules and D$D 3.5 stats. These cards are valuable enough that they could be a product by themselves and their value should not be understated.

For a complete review of the harbinger miniature line, please see my post on the entry pack...

What should be stated in addition to that previous post is that the price per miniature is cheaper (even though it provides fewer miniatures than the entry pack) - the expansion packs DO NOT provide the terrain cards, fold-out map, 20-sided die, or rulebook. Expansions packs are a great way to bulk-up on your collection. However, as you start to collect more expansion packs - you will increasingly be provided with the common miniatures that you no longer want and will still be missing some of the more rare miniatures that you desire. This is the result of randomized packaging. Your only hope is to sell your undesired miniatures individually or hope to trade groups of them for a single rare miniature (others like having tons of common miniatures for mass battles).

I only gave the expansion pack 3 stars because I would like to see the price per miniature to be lower, or for them to increase the number of miniatures per package. It should also be noted that the Harbinger series is going to be the BASE miniature line for D&D for maybe a year. After the next series, Dragoneye, is released - the harbinger expansion packs are likely to become unavailable (although the entry packs should be available for the year).

I was really excited to see the miniatures when I received it by mail. I opened the box and was really surprised of the quality of the miniatures. They are extremely well sculpted and 95% of the time they are reasonably to very well painted. They save lots of painting hours thats for sure!
Great buy!

I learned to play D&D in 1979 and I've played ever since. I've also painted a few good miniatures in my day. Unfortunately, the folks making these not only can't paint inside the lines, they frequently left parts completely unpainted in my set. Beware of the reviewer from Wisconsin, who makes what sounds like a company-planted pitch and apology by commenting (essentially) "What can you expect for about $1.25 each?" I think we can all expect a lot better, frankly. My elven archer didn't even have her bow painted! It was black like the plastic it's made from. When the company's own site shows the figure with a bow painted the color brown, you know someone screwed up. STAY AWAY from these miniature until Wizards of the Coast announced it has improved quality control.

I learned to play D&D in 1979 and I've played ever since. I've also painted a few good miniatures in my day. Unfortunately, the folks making these not only can't paint inside the lines, they frequently left parts completely unpainted in my set. For the entry pack, which I also have, one reviewer from Wisconsin made what sounds like a company-planted pitch and apology by commenting (essentially) "What can you expect for about $1.25 each?" I think we can all expect a lot better, frankly. My elven archer didn't even have her bow painted! It was black like the plastic it's made from. When the company's own site shows the figure with a bow painted the color brown, you know someone screwed up. STAY AWAY from these miniature until Wizards of the Coast announced it has improved quality control.