Some breaking news out of the NYC Toy Fair (at which I was originally supposed to be today, but unfortunately my plans had to be changed last-minute) regarding the plans for Wizkids’ upcoming D&D miniatures line, as posted originally on ICv2.
There will be two lines of minis; a regular D&D Miniatures line, and a whole game unto itself called D&D Attack Wing, with both lines sharing some (but not all) figures. The D&D Miniatures line will have both 6-figure starter packs whose contents are known, and 4-character booster packs that will have blind content, meaning that, much like Obamacare, you have to buy it to see what’s inside it.
Gotta say, that pretty much ends my interest in D&D Miniatures right there. If I’m a DM, I want to be able to buy specific figures that are applicable to my game. If I need a dozen skeletons, I want to be able to buy a dozen skeletons, not buy a half-dozen booster packs and hope that I get enough of what I need. They’re looking at the figures as collectibles, and I’m looking at them as tools to assist play at the table. If anything, I’ll just get them on the after-market.
The other line, D&D Attack Wing, actually sounds kinda cool:
“It will follow the formats that we’ve defined with Star Trek Attack Wing, except this will be dogfighting dragons,” [WizKids CEO Justin] Ziran said. “And the new twist on this is ok, you have dogfighting dragons, but what about ground troops? And so now you’re going to have giants, and ballistas, and magic users fighting the dragons up above and the dragons raining fire down on the guys on the ground. It’s a very interesting take.”
The product configuration will be the same template and SKU configuration as Star Trek Attack Wing, which is a box set with visible contents, and visible boosters.
Dogfighting dragons dodging boulders hurled by giants and catapults? Count me in. More details about the game to come out at the GAMA trade show next month. Although the choice of name is really odd. “Attack wing” makes sense for a game built around starship combat, because a “wing” is an air force unit of organization (either above or below a group, depending on which air force you’re talking about). But it doesn’t make a lick of sense when you’re talking about dragons, even if dragons have wings. Hopefully the name will undergo a change before the game is released in “late Autumn.”
I'm not that bothered about the random packs because a few months later the secondary market will come through (I find most of my needs are fulfilled with $1-$2 commons at the Gencon dealers).
I'm with Roger. The WotC plastics had some very nice figures (along with a lot of garbage). I'm looking forward to seeing bins of loose minis at cons and FLGS. In the meantime if you need a dozen skeletons, Reaper bones is a good deal.
I have no interest in blind buys or bin scrounging. So not for me.
More and more I'm coming to appreciate print-and-play minis. Especially since I don't have time to paint metal figs anymore. Though one day… one day…
The Dragonlance modules featured units formed of ground troops and aerial troops composed of dragons, and the name "Wing" was used, since dragons where the most powerful and important units.
Also like Obamacare, this scheme sounds like it'll induce bankruptcy in the buyers and providers.
It seems like this is more like what 4e should have been. Just market it as a tactical combat game using the D&D brand and IP and not bothering to make an RPG out of it. This would be more like the audience they were going for with 4e to begin with.