Worst of the Worst -War Drums

[coyotee]

To go along with the the "Best of the Best" polls....

Over the next several months, we will be polling users on their LEAST favorite miniatures from past sets.

Set Link: https://www.minisgallery.com/index.php ... -war-drums

Poll Link: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=641

[coyotee]

SAND GIANT – Phallic and boarder line race joke. No one will convince me this was accidental.

LION OF TALISID – The detail and paint is good, but I just have no use for whatever this is.

FLAME SKULL – I want to like it, but it is so tiny that it is irritating to use;, it falls over, and just a tiny green smudge you cant tell what it is. It needed to be more stable and eye level to the PCs.

KHUMAT- Detail and paint are solid, but I cant take this thing serious with that loin cloth and giant heeeead. Look at him, and imagine that this monstrous creature gets up in the morning and puts on that G string stink rag. I doubt he can reach around with those arms, or look down with that giant head. Stoopid.

[berk the black]

This is an interesting set. I had a tough time with coming up with three minis that stood above the rest in the set, but then I found it even harder to pick the three worst. I eventually went with two because of the goofy creature, not the mini representation of them.

I have several Arcane Ballista, but only because there was no decent ballista offering for such a long time. Only having magical self shooting ballista was a bit limiting for my normal use. This seems like an early attempt at “dungeon dressing” when the minis also still had to support the miniatures game as well.

I never used the Elemental Wall as a Walking Wall, which is probably why it just seems like a specialized Earth Elemental to me. It seems like this creature is an elemental Shield Guardian. As a construct, the concept makes more sense, as someone designed the creature to be that way. To me, elementals are not created for a mortals purpose, although they can certainly be summoned and utilized.

The last on my list is Shuluth. In this case, it’s not the concept, but the miniature execution that got my vote. A mind flayer decked out with gear seems to make sense to me. But the mini is just too big for a mind flayer. I’d like to see Wizkids take a crack at this guy, because he is a pretty cool nemesis.

[berk the black]

FLAME SKULL – I want to like it, but it is so tiny you can do anything with it, it falls over, and just a tiny green smudge you cant tell what it is.

This makes me sad. Thinking like this is most likely why tiny miniatures faded out, even during the DDM era. Some creatures are simply that small, and to me, it is important to show their proper size (and base size) relative to the other mini in proximately.

[Guyra]

Sand Giant - I do like having POC represented, but I'm not quite sure this is it, and the pose is also so stiff and unnatural.

Hunting Cougar - Why so stiff? Did someone put invisible paper roll tubes on its legs? Because that's what it looks like!

Khumat - Though perhaps more due to the design the mini is based on, this one's just silly, with that giant crocodile head.

FLAME SKULL – I want to like it, but it is so tiny you can do anything with it, it falls over, and just a tiny green smudge you cant tell what it is.

This makes me sad. Thinking like this is most likely why tiny miniatures faded out, even during the DDM era. Some creatures are simply that small, and to me, it is important to show their proper size (and base size) relative to the other mini in proximately.

Yeah, I agree. I think it's a really nice mini, and have a fondness for the tiny ones. But I do understand Coyotee's point of view.

[coyotee]

FLAME SKULL – I want to like it, but it is so tiny you can do anything with it, it falls over, and just a tiny green smudge you cant tell what it is.

This makes me sad. Thinking like this is most likely why tiny miniatures faded out, even during the DDM era. Some creatures are simply that small, and to me, it is important to show their proper size (and base size) relative to the other mini in proximately.

I hear you man... I do. I agree with every word. but thats the reality of it. Its a pain in the ass to play with. If it wasnt,,,,we would have more tiny minis. and we may soon, looking at the Adult WHite dragon that uses a larger clear base but has a line to mare the small actual size

[coyotee]

The last on my list is Shuluth. In this case, it’s not the concept, but the miniature execution that got my vote. A mind flayer decked out with gear seems to make sense to me. But the mini is just too big for a mind flayer. I’d like to see Wizkids take a crack at this guy, because he is a pretty cool nemesis.

Ahh, but a mind flayer can be any size, right? Depends on who they spawn off of.....human...giant....goliath......we got a gnome sized flayer in Icewind Dale set, which I want to find silly, but that is the same as laughing at anyones height. damn you wizkids !!!!

[Marco]

1. Lion of Talisad
I never used this mini.

2. Steelheart Archer
The pose is unusable

3. Troglodyte Thug
A troglodyte decked out as a street gangster?

[coyotee]

Sand Giant - I do like having POC represented, but I'm not quite sure this is it, and the pose is also so stiff and unnatural.

Yeep....he looks super stiff.....

[The Schwartz]

frost dwarf actual miniature

frost dwarf.jpg (7.38 KiB) Viewed 3240 times

The frost dwarf was pretty awful. The actual minis did not look like the studio photos.

[coyotee]

frost dwarf.jpg
The frost dwarf was pretty awful. The actual minis did not look like the studio photos.

Ya I noticed that. I think they cheaped out on the final paint, or it was an error and they said "no time, ship them now". I have a few of them but only used once so never go around to doing touch up paint. There is lots of detail so I bet it comes out really nice.

[RhydurMeith]

Frost Dwarf: A plain jane dwarf fighter sculpt with a terrible paint job. Worse even is that there has never ever been another frost dwarf mini made.

Elemental Wall: A ridiculous concept, basically another version of an earth elemental. The sculpt is not horrible but the paint is single color with no noticeable highlights or details.

Sacred Watcher: As if the original spectre figure wasn't bad enough, being basically a bland fighter sculpt blobbed white, at least is was rare. This blob of white paint was an uncommon, meaning I've got about a half dozen of them taking up space in my undead box. At least the original spectre had broken sword, giving it some character. The sacred watcher on the other, seems to be channeling Riff Raff from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

[Felony]

Frost Dwarf: A plain jane dwarf fighter sculpt with a terrible paint job. Worse even is that there has never ever been another frost dwarf mini made.

It's noteworthy that the promo version, while far from perfect, received a more reasonable paint job. I skipped on the original mini and got like 10 or so copies of the promo. It looks decent enough from a normal playing distance. The one shown in the gallery looks a bit worse than most of the ones that I got, but I would shamelessly put it on the table, if I were in need of a Frost Dwarf.



Some other minis that were mentioned:

I actually like Steelheart Archer. The one copy that I bought as single has a pretty good paint job, on par with various PC-like rares. I like how the pose is different from the typical archer poses that have been reused over and over again over the years.

I don't mind Troglodyte Thug, either. I won't use him as a troglodyte, but I could see some not-so-primitive Lizardmen dress up as humans to roam the streets by night. It's a decent sculpt with a good pose.

[coyotee]

The sacred watcher on the other, seems to be channeling Riff Raff from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Hmm. The ghost of Riff Raff. You actually helped this minis image out a bit.

[The Schwartz]

The sacred watcher on the other, seems to be channeling Riff Raff from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Now that you've said this, I can't unsee it!