Best of the Best Discussion - Against the Giants

[coyotee]

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

Please use this thread to discuss your favorite minis from this set.

Set Link:
https://www.minisgallery.com/index.php? ... he-giants

Poll Link:
viewtopic.php?t=2610

[Guyra]

This is a cool set with a bunch of nice minis in it! Too bad I only have a few of these, myself.

Blackroot Treant - I really like this Treant design! A Treant that works well as an outright evil entity in a corrupted forest.



Voracious Ice Devil - I just really like this Ice Devil design. Same with the Blood War one. So much that I repainted my PFB ones to the same colour scheme.



Yuan-Ti Anathema - Although the bright green makes it look a bit too much like a children's toy IMO, I really like the design and sculpt of this mini. And it easily beats the tiny Wizkids one with the weird arms.



Honorable mentions
The Chain Golem and Earth Titan are two cool, hulking monsters to pop down on the table. Also really like the Elder White Dragon, and the Young Adamantine Dragon, which I believe is the only Adamantine Dragon we've gotten. The Fire Giant Raider also has a really nice design to it.

[coyotee]

Pretty good set but some of the sculpts start to get a little flat and cheap toy looking.

Bugbear Lance Breaker – I think this is the second best bugbear in the DDMs. The best being that duel wielding Bugbear Gang Leader from unhallowed. (Though the reaper bones bugbears beats them all!).
This is a Great boss mini for a mid/high level paladin/fighter. All the details look good and the action pose is great.

Dragonborn Myrmidon – 4 colours is all that was needed to pull off this amazing mini. Excellent sculpt details!

Cockatrice- Best version of this creature we have! Wish I had more of these.

Honorable Mention (I could swap either of these with the Bugbear)

Hobgoblin Guard – This is the gold standard for Hobgoblins for me. This sculpt perfectly captures the militant nature, armor, weapons, of what the Hobgob is. I got about 4 of these guys. Another simple paintjob works great, because the sculpt is so solid.

Skull Cleave Warrior – sweat mini. Well executed.

Dwarf Warsword – Love this guy. On par with the dragonborn Myrmidon. My go to mini for a Dwarven Rogue.

[coyotee]

On another note.... I am looking forward to seeing what the new Archdevils line of Icons minis does when/if they get to Doresain the Ghoul King. They just introduced that lack luster Ghouls warband set....maybe thats forshadowing??

Not meaning to complane but the Doresain in this set leaves lots of room for improvement.

[deadsmurf]

I think that this set actually showed some growing pains as the DDM line was transitioning from traditionally sculpted minis to 3d modeling on computers first, and that resulted in a lot of "blocky" for lack of better words, minis. You see a bit of it in the set before and after too, Things were mostly fine sculpt-wise again by the attempted 4e "monster manual series" revamp, but a lot of these guys in Against the Giants are smooth, simplified and kinda boring. A bunch of the humanoids have a bit of a case of 'doofy-looking' faces. There are some standouts though that hold up.

The Shifter Claw adept has great details, and I really like the pose. Still my Favourite unarmed Shifter.
The two Dragonborn in this set are so expensive on the secondary market for a reason - great sculpts.
Eladrin Pyromancer is a great action sculpt for a PC elf or Eladrin that holds up to now.
The Orchre Jelly is a great sculpt, and so useful once a larger sized version of the mini splits - I'd love to have this one came back in clear plastic, but otherwise unchanged.

[coyotee]

I think that this set actually showed some growing pains as the DDM line was transitioning from traditionally sculpted minis to 3d modeling on computers first, and that resulted in a lot of "blocky" for lack of better words, minis. You see a bit of it in the set before and after too, Things were mostly fine sculpt-wise again by the attempted 4e "monster manual series" revamp, but a lot of these guys in Against the Giants are smooth, simplified and kinda boring.

So that's what happened... I always hated that minis suddenly started to loose the depth in sculpt details. There are a lot of older minis that take touch up paint jobs really well, because there is most texture/layers for the paint to grab on highlights and dry brushes.

[coyotee]

I think that this set actually showed some growing pains as the DDM line was transitioning from traditionally sculpted minis to 3d modeling on computers first, and that resulted in a lot of "blocky" for lack of better words, minis. You see a bit of it in the set before and after too, Things were mostly fine sculpt-wise again by the attempted 4e "monster manual series" revamp, but a lot of these guys in Against the Giants are smooth, simplified and kinda boring.

So that's what happened... I always hated that minis suddenly started to loose the depth in sculpt details. There are a lot of older minis that take touch up paint jobs really well, because there is most texture/layers for the paint to grab on highlights and dry brushes.

[berk the black]

I still like many of the minis in this set. Some have suffered for more iterations coming out in other later sets, but a lot are still quite strong. Here was my votes:

[DnDYuan-Ti]

I don't have many from this set, but I like my Feybound Halfling. The paint is a little too glossy and one-note, but it's a fun sculpt. Might touch it up at some point although my history of painting smaller minis is a mixed bag.

[coyotee]

I don't have many from this set, but I like my Feybound Halfling. The paint is a little too glossy and one-note, but it's a fun sculpt. Might touch it up at some point although my history of painting smaller minis is a mixed bag.

If you are worried about pulling off painting a smaller mini, I bet that halfling would look great with just a brown wash over the green clothing. It would dull the gloss, and give some depth to the flat green.

[DnDYuan-Ti]

I don't have many from this set, but I like my Feybound Halfling. The paint is a little too glossy and one-note, but it's a fun sculpt. Might touch it up at some point although my history of painting smaller minis is a mixed bag.

If you are worried about pulling off painting a smaller mini, I bet that halfling would look great with just a brown wash over the green clothing. It would dull the gloss, and give some depth to the flat green.

That's actually a good idea! Thank you!!