I found Wildspire Miniatures, and thought they were an interesting collection, but by that time I'd decided what I needed, so filed them under 'possibly investigate later'.
I didn't pursue it any further until I noticed that they had a special offer on one of the boxed sets.
At less than 50p a mini (and some of them are big) I thought it worthwhile investigating. The price has since gone back up, but they are still under 60p each.
(A quick note, this is an expansion to the Classic Encounters Essentials set, so is, perhaps, a little less immediately useful. Both sets are available in the Classic Encounters Complete set).
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| That's a small box for 60 minis! |
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| Well packed though |
Contents
An 'Acid Elemental'* and three oozes. I'll admit I thought these might work nicely for some of the elementals in the forge, though in the end they stayed in the box.
They are nicely detailed, and will definitely get some table time. They might get a wash and perhaps a very light highlight, but they're pretty much ready as is.
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| Translucent Green stuff |
Air Elemental and Gas Serpents*. More nicely detailed minis. I do have Air Elementals already, notably Reaper Bones, but a bit of variety is nice. I'm not sure what a gas serpent is, but the minis look fun.
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| Translucent clear minis |
Bugbear, cultist, bandit and unholy knight*. All reasonable minis and pretty useful. They mostly have obvious D&D stats (I'd probably use the unholy knight as a wight). There are four of each of these in the set.
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| A good set of adversaries for most heroes |
Giant worm*, imp, ghoul and werewolf. There are some noticeable gaps on the ghoul and the werewolf, some filler should help here. Again, there are four of each in the set.
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| I'm sure I've seen all these in films |
Dire wolf, boar, harpy and mummy. The wolf is a nice wolf, but small for a dire wolf. It's a refreshing change to have a clothed harpy. Yet again, four of each.
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| Are you my mummy? |
Naga, giant and earth elemental. One of each of these. These are great minis.
If I'm being picky, I like my earth elementals a bit chunkier and the pose could be more threatening.
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| Big stuff |
First Impressions
These are good minis, especially for the price.
There are some odd sizes when compared to the Monster Manual descriptions, but nothing too egregious.
Detail is generally good, though it's occasionally soft on some (the bugbear's face for instance). For some reason, the translucent minis seem better detailed.
Most of these will do the job nicely, though not necessarily better than stuff I've already got painted up in my collection.
What's Next?
I've already started painting some of these (expect posts showing them over the next few weeks). They easily chunk into groups of four so I'm getting through them steadily.
Will I get any more?
I'm tempted if I find any more on offer. I've looked at the creatures here, but they also do sets of heroes, which look interesting, with a wide variety of species and class, and a good mix of male and female characters.
I'll do another post analysing the range and coming to some sort of conclusion if they are a must have for role players, or just a big disappointment (though how can you be disappointed by that giant?)
*Wildspire do a booklet of stats and various other downloads which should explain what some of the less familiar creatures are.
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