Nanotechnology: first impressions of Dangerous Delves
With today’s D&D Miniatures update, Wizards of the Coast shows off the last five unrevealed creatures from the upcoming Dangerous Delves set. I’ve already pre-ordered a bunch from my friendly local game store, A Hidden Fortress in Simi Valley, California—but my feelings about the set remain mixed.
Pros: I can hardly wait to get my grubby little hands on the Rust Monster. The Bonechill Chimera might make its way into one of my adventures sometime, once the PCs attain a level sufficient to encounter it. Although the Minotaur Battle Shaman looks a bit too smooth in the pictures, it’s nice to have a minotaur who’s not wielding an axe—and since a recent issue of Dragon magazine gave D&D Insider subscribers the minotaur as a playable race, this mini could potentially do double duty as a PC. The Medusa Archer looks better (in photos), though less active, than the previous versions (in Harbinger and Night Below). The Xen’drik Drow Stingblade obviously made it into the set to build up excitement for the Eberron supplements coming later in the summer, and I suppose it looks different enough from Angelfire’s Scorpion Clan Drow Fighter, despite being dressed and armed identically. The pictures of the Hippogriff look great, though I don’t really know where one will be useful in my campaign. The picture of Snake Swarm doesn’t show many details, but I’ll be happy to have a couple.
Cons: Dangerous Delves seems to continue the “cartoonish” trend in sculpts, coloration, and paint job that seemed to start with Dungeons of Dread. I’ll reserve final judgment on that until I see the sculpts. Since I have been actively collecting D&D Miniatures since the Giants of Legend set and have worked hard to backfill the missing elements in my collection, I’m a little disappointed at the number of “retreads” in Dangerous Delves. With the Beholder from Deathknell, the Beholder Lich from Unhallowed, and the Eye of Flame from Dungeons of Dread, I’m not particularly excited about the Beholder Eye Tyrant, even though it looks great in the pictures. I don’t care at all about the Gnoll Huntmaster, Goblin Delver, or Goblin Sharpshooter, as I already have those roles covered in my existing collection. Funny, though, I don’t feel the same way about the orcs. Yet another Harpy does nothing for me, and the Yuan-Ti Fangblade looks enough like the Yuan-Ti Swiftscale (2008 starter game) that he doesn’t light my fire. I’m not that excited about another Frost Giant, either. I recognize, though, that a lot of newer players, or those who never bought the earlier sets of D&D MIniatures, will feel entirely differently about these “revisits.”
I’ll share more of my impressions after I have the physical miniatures in my hand.
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