Wizards of the Coast’s latest wave of D&D Miniatures, Monster Manual: Dangerous Delves, hit store shelves yesterday. Ed Katayama, proprietor extraordinaire of A Hidden Fortress in Simi Valley, California, kindly set aside two cases (eight boosters each) for me. As you probably know, the new set differs from previous sets in several significant ways. Most obviously, the packaging now shows off one of the uncommon miniatures. The set contains only 40 miniatures, instead of the 60 that had become customary. WotC still sorts the miniatures in common, uncommon, and rare frequencies; this set includes 16 rares, packed at the rate of one rare per pack. WotC no longer provides statistics for the discontinued skirmish game, but licenses the DDM Guild to produce such cards. However, WotC does include stat block cards for each creature.

The Good: The set covers a broad range of D&D monsters, some not previously touched in the D&D Miniatures line. All figures can be used as monsters in D&D adventures; some can do double duty as PCs (especially after the release of Player’s Handbook 3, which at a minimum includes minotaurs and either githyanki or githzerai as PC races, judging by the cover). The set balances attention between Monster Manual and Monster Manual 2 (released on the same day as Dangerous Delves). Buyers who, inexplicably, don’t own the Monster Manual or Monster Manual 2 can use the included stat cards. The visible minis are particularly well-done. And, oh yeah, the Rust Monster.

The Bad: Long-time collectors of D&D Miniatures will find several retreads (the two goblins, Harpy, Grimlock Minion, Hippogriff, Medusa Archer, Unicorn, Yuan-Ti Fangblade)—new sculpts, but ground that has been covered before. Buyers new to the line won’t mind this at all.

The Ugly: Some of the sculpts continue the cartoonish trend seen in Demonweb (War Devil, for example). Some of the paint jobs fall short (Aspect of Vecna, I’m looking at you).

On the whole, this set bodes well for the future of the D&D Miniatures line. ★★★★

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Before making some more specific comments about individual minatures, I should tell you how happy I am with the distribution of miniatures throughout the packs I received. With only 40 miniatures in the set and only four random miniatures per pack (plus the one visible mini, for a total of five), the math predicts fewer duplications than in past sets. (I still have boxes full of Dungeons of Dread commons in my garage.) I saw my first duplicate miniature from Dangerous Delves in the fifth booster I opened. After opening sixteen boosters, I had only three duplicate rares (Aspect of Vecna, Githyanki Warrior, Medusa Archer) and, correspondingly, I’m only three rares (Beholder Eye Tyrant, Clay Golem, Githzerai Zerth) short of a full set. Honestly, though, I’m not sure that I really need two Hippogriffs, two Unicorns, or two Skalmads.

I’ve already mentioned the “been there, done that” issue, which swings different ways for long-time collectors and new customers. For me, personally, the Gnoll Huntmaster, Goblin Sharpshooter, Grimlock Minion, Harpy (especially), Unicorn, Young Gold Dragon, and Yuan-Ti Fangblade don’t add much value to the set. Even so, I recognize that buyers new to D&D Miniatures will find those miniatures quite useful. Unlike the Player’s Handbook Heroes series, the Monster Manual series has no out-and-out repaints (yet, at least).

For pure aesthetic value, I really like the Aboleth Slime Mage, Bonechill Chimera, Cyclops Crusher, Hippogriff, Orc Eye of Gruumsh, and Skalmad—I rate these as the best-looking miniatures in the set. Some people will put the Bladerager Troll in this category as well, but I found it a bit too dark. I wish the Unicorn didn’t list at such a drastic angle. Among the commons, the Foulspawn Grue actually looks pretty good. The paint job on the Chain Devil is nice, but I like the sculpt of the old Chain Devil better.

Sticking with aesthetics, I found the paint jobs pretty disappointing on the Banshrae Warrior, Githyanki Warrior, and especially the Aspect of Vecna. They have more paint colors on them than commons like the Grimlock Minion—but the quality of the job isn’t noticeably better. I’m not sure why WotC decided to make goblins and kobolds green in 4e, departing from the conventions of earlier D&D Miniatures incarnations of those races. I suppose there can be as many variations in goblin skin tone as there are in human skin tone. (I mean, look at those Twi’leks—wait, wrong story world.) The Xen’drik Drow Stingblade seems awfully large, almost as if he were sculpted at a different scale from the other Xen’drik Drow in earlier DDM sets.

For me, utility can be harder to judge than aesthetics. For DMs running short of basic mook figures, the Goblin Sharpshooter, Orc Terrorblade, and Grimlock Minion will come in handy. The Snake Swarm fills a gap in the growing fraternity of swarm miniatures, and I expect I’ll try to use it sometime (though I can’t say just when). Aesthetically, I like the old Fiendish Monstrous Scorpion better than the new Hellstinger Scorpion, but if I use any giant scorpions in an upcoming desert trek, it will be nice to have two different scorpions on the table. The Ghaele of Winter, Githyanki Warrior, Githzerai Zerth, Minotaur Battle Shaman, and Xen’drik Drow Stingblade could all be used for PCs as well as NPCs/monsters; in fact, if you have a player who wants to run a divine or arcane minotaur hero (from the recent Dragon magazine article or next year’s Player’s Handbook 3), the Minotaur Battle Shaman is currently the best mini suited for that purpose.

In general, the minis I get most excited about are those that practically jump off the table and scream, “Use me in a game!” I’m speaking figuratively, of course, but you know what I mean. The minis in this set that most do that for me are the Aboleth Slime Mage, Bonechill Chimera, Cyclops Crusher, Rust Monster and Snake Swarm. Remember, I can’t comment on the Beholder Eye Tyrant, Clay Golem, and Githzerai Zerth, since I’ve only seen those in pictures.

I do wonder how the secondary market will treat these miniatures, especially the visible ones. I don’t know that I really need two Hippogriffs or Skalmads in my arsenal. But all in all, I’m pretty happy with the set. Especially the Rust Monster.