#critrole3

With Andrew Harshman

An archive and analysis of the minis used on CR.

Almost went another sesh without miniatures. But in the final minutes we got this awesome little skirmish crawler race teaser! Very excited to see these models in action. 

Uhmmmmm, we requested red paint, it’s time for Crit Role Miniature Rollout Campaign 3 Episode 27!

The List

Campaign 3 Party Minis Wizkids Sculpts

Lightfoot Halfing Rogue Epic Level Starter Set

D&D Premium Painted Figure: W4 Female Half-Orc Fighter

Deadly Foes #37 Technic League Captain

Maze of Death #07 Pitborn Fighter

Rise of the Runelords #04 Goblin Warchanter / We Be Goblins #04 Goblin Warchanter

Pathfinder Battles: Amiri Iconic Heroes Set #2

Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica - Companion Starter Set 1 Human Rogue

Arkhan the Cruel & the Dark Order Berserker

Yet to be identified skirmish crawler vehicles

Lorenzo Deadly Foes #37 Technic League Captain Mini images sourced from minisgallery.com

Lorenzo has returned from the dead! Obviously I don’t actually think this is Lorenzo from Campaign 2, but I am intrigued by the miniature choice. Reusing an iconic villain model is eyebrow raising. Perhaps the Technic League Captain miniature was chosen because of the face and chest tattoos. There are not may prepainted tattooed models. We’ll see what the NPC description is. 

Dual Wielding Crawler Driver Maze of Death #07 Pitborn Fighter

The Pitborn Fighter. Born in the pit, live in the pit, die in the pit #pitlife. I like the character design, but the model’s face is so garbled. I wasn’t even sure if he was wearing a mask or something. Looking at the CG preview render, it appears to be his actual face.

Check out them Forged in Fire reject knives. Pretty gnarly. They look like they would be legit painful to use. I guess he’s making it work, more power to ‘em!

Asymmetrical Haircut Crawler Pathfinder Battles: Amiri Iconic Heroes Set #2 Mini image sourced from Wizkids.com

Hey, hey, another familiar miniature. It’s the original Yasha mini used at the beginning of Campaign 2. Mighty fine Mighty Nein model. Dope dynamic pose. And fashion wise, definitely makes a good crawler ganger. Oooo, and sweet barbarian-barber spikey hair!

Sneaky Crawler Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica - Companion Starter Set 1 Human Rogue

Yo it is way too hot to be trench coat Matrix cosplayin’ in the desert. What’s she thinkin’? Maybe it’s magically enchanted with a cool breeze aura of some sort. This model doesn’t have the best detail, but I like the kinetic, pro-active sneak attack pose.

Skull-Helm Helmsman Arkhan the Cruel & the Dark Order Berserker

Ah yes, the under utilized barbarian subclass Road Rage Berserker. Like the  Amiri model, this fellow has got the desert Crawler ganger clothing aesthetic. Lookin’ rad, lookin’ metal. 

Final Thoughts

Miniatures are fun. Fun to play with, fun to collect, fun to marvel at. Prepainted miniatures are super convenient. Not always the highest quality sculpts and paint jobs. But the convenience of just being able to unbox a table-ready miniatures is fantastic. And the best prepainted miniatures are the one’s that look good from across the table.

The crawler vehicles on the other hand, definitely not prepainted (I’m guessing resin prints or kitbashes). Looking forward to seeing more of them next ep when the race begins!

See ya next sesh!

Obvious spoilers for c3e1 so keep scrolling if you don’t want that! 

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Ashton - considering the clasp symbol on his sleeve and the fact that he chooses to live in a place where people who want to disappear live, my guess is he was a former clasp member in his youth (he reads young 20′s to me) and decided to bounce for one reason or another. He’s been hiding out in Jrusar since trying to just live his life. Probably left the Clasp because of like, bureaucracy or something––might not work great with people telling him what to do. Possibly was kicked out but I don’t buy that as much.

F.C.G - You Are A Human Soul Trapped In A Little Robot Body And Do Not Know Otherwise. Dancer is either a well-intentioned but frazzled and morally grey scientist type or absolutely off her rockers and trying to find some secret to immortality, I think.

Sir Bertram Bell - Hubris and possible renown from your adventures in Search For Bob caught up to you and you gambled away your fortune and reputation over the years and can only cling to your connections to Vox Machina. Lying old geezer (affectionate) who might be running from debt (since he made the comment about if anyone was hunting any of the others).

Laudna - Ashley really said “huh old hag in the woods harassed me last campaign time to harass everyone else this campaign”. I don’t have a ton of theories on her yet, she and Imogen are the most mysterious I think in terms of their deal. But I’m interested in the idea that she might be some leftover experiment from the Briarwoods possibly experimenting with the Hollowed. I’m also deeply interested in who her patron is––perhaps one of the Betrayer Gods?

With Andrew Harshman

An archive and analysis of the minis used on CR.

Lots of action and plot development this sesh! New villain, new miniatures, new moon, and new questing horizons. Plenty of plastic and resin on display this episode, let us analyze the new models.

Buy yourself a chisel and bark at the moon, it’s time for Crit Role Miniature Rollout Campaign 3 Episode 11!

Chest and Trove 5E Condition Rings

Dwarven Forge Dungeons

Dwarven Forge Dungeons of Doom

Dwarven Forge Chair

Dwarven Forge Castle Stone Stairs

Dwarven Forge Dungeons of Doom Cages

Dwarven Forge Dungeons of Doom Vaulted Open Arch Wall

Dwarven Forge Powerstone Charger

Dwarven Forge Dungeons of Doom Bars Insert

Dwarven Forge Pathfinder Plaguestone - Alchemy Poisoner's Bench

Dwarven Forge Dungeons of Doom Vaulted Large Curved Walls

Pathfinder Battles Crown of Fangs: Court of the Crimson Throne Torch Pillars

Terrain Crate Round Table

Terrain Crate Torture Rack

Terrain Crate Debris Barricades

Dungeon Lair Chair

Hirst Arts Large Crate

Halaster’s Lab Candles and Summoning Circle

Tiny Furniture Dark Magister Workplace (barrel on top shelf iteration)

Arcknight Spell Effects

Custom Campaign 3 Party Minis

D&D® Icons of the Realms: Spell Effects: Mighty Conjurations Arcane Eye Spiritual Weapon - Warhammer

Volo & Mordenkainen's Foes #27 Boneclaw

Night Below #42 Trained Carrion Crawler

Mythic Odysseys of Theros #03 Oracle

Monster Menagerie #20 Werewolf

Flaming Sphere - Blood War #27 Living Flaming Sphere

Monster Menagerie 2 #001 Giant Rat

Assorted scatter terrain

The Heroes

At last, there’s our boy! Chetney’s miniature looks amazing. Quite the imposing pose. And the paint looks very good from over here.

Like the rest of the party figures, Chetney’s werewolf form appears to also be custom. A very nice werewolf mini, Joe Manganiello would surely approve. But you know what would take this wolfmangnome to the next level? The werewolf’s shorts should really be the same colorful pattern as Chetney’s beanie. Ah what fun that would be. 

The Villains

Nightmare King Volo & Mordenkainen's Foes #27 Boneclaw Mini image sourced from minisgallery.com

Zoinks Scoob, it’s a BUH-BUH-BUH-BUH-BONECLAW! Spoopy. Say, this is a pretty good model. With impressive table presence that makes for an intense looking boss monster, despite the rather flat paint. And for some reason the boneclaw’s skirt looks like it’s made of black pudding ooze:

Screenshot from C2E116

The Nonplayer Characters

Gurge Human Form Mythic Odysseys of Theros #03 Oracle Mini image sourced from minisgallery.com

Wildman Gurge is lookin’ fit. And he’s got that sweet championship belt. No wonder he’s famous, this man’s got an impressive aesthetic. I like this character and I like this miniature.

Gurge Werewolf Form Monster Menagerie #20 Werewolf Mini image sourced from minisgallery.com

Well will you look at that, Matt Mercer picked two miniatures with matching poses. That’s clever as all get out! Well played dungeon master. Not an especially engaging werewolf miniature, but I’ll give it a pass for the pose matching. Spectacular. Inspired mini picks.

Test Subject Monster Night Below #42 Trained Carrion Crawler Mini image sourced from minisgallery.com

A carrion crawler with a beanie, what fun! A bit puzzling, but fun. When I started collecting prepainted D&D miniatures, I kept encountering this model and not purchasing it. Cuz like, when I’m building a miniature collection, I don’t want a trained carrion crawler. I want a buck wild, ferocious carrion crawler! Kind of a curious sculpt with limited uses. But it just so happens that one of those uses is in a fey villain’s secret laboratory. Another great miniature pick.

Closing Thoughts

The mini rain is here after a three episode drought and it feels so refreshing! Now that all the PCs and their miniatures have been revealed, I expect some promotional miniature photos to appear on the Critical Role social media pages. Excited to get a closer look see at these fine figures.

See ya next sesh!

With Andrew Harshman

An archive and analysis of the minis used on CR.

Wowie, that deluxe edish of Tal'dorei Reborn has some fine accessories. Plenty of maps with which to place miniatures upon. However, there are no miniatures to be found this episode, so I’ll be answering some questions instead.

Anonymous submitted: Hi! I have a thing I've always wondered, do you work with minis, or are they just a hobby?

Firstly, thanks for your questions. Appreciate your interest. I am not a member of the miniature manufacturing industry. Minis are a big hobby of mine and this post series is a way for me to exercise my enthusiasm and an enjoyable way to contribute to the CR fandom.

How in the world can you recognize such small pieces that are usually turned away and in shadow? Do you look at it on an 100 inch screen playing the stream at full hd? 

A 100 inch dedicated mini view screen sounds great, I should look into that. Even at full HD, some miniatures are too far away or too obscured to get a proper look at. And in those instances, I have to record them as unknown. Other times, when there’s a clear shot of a model that I do not recognize (or cannot find through research), I take to FB or Reddit to ask for assistance from the community. 

Most of the time, I have a pretty solid sense of which miniatures are which. This is due in large part to the types of miniatures used on Critical Role. The majority of them are prepainted minis from three product lines: the discontinued Hasbro Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures Game (DDM), active Wizkids D&D Icons of the Realms, and active Wizkids Pathfinders Battles. 

I have spent years collecting and gaming with these prepaints, so these sculpts are pretty well imbedded in my memory and I recognize most of them at a glance. I do not always recall the miniature’s exactly title. But I recognize the miniature visually and then confirm the name using miniature sites such as MinisGallery.com

That curiosity aside, when do you think they'll tell us who made this campaign minis? 

Any day now. I imagine they have a bunch of glamour shots of the assembled campaign player character minis. I would guess they have been waiting for the introduction of all the PCs before the grand photo and source reveal. That being said, it’s taking a little longer than I expected. So perhaps there are bigger campaign mini related plans in the works? Or they simply don’t realize there’s a fair bit of public interest?

And do you think they will get a custom nightmare king? Sometimes I think the don't have reason to fight him again and other times I think he will be the first arc's boss. 

I think we will definitely see the Nightmare King again and he will definitely get a custom mini. Given his knowledge of Fearne and his involvement in various plots, I think he’s too embedded in the fabric of the campaign to not reappear. The only way I see the Nightmare King not getting a custom miniature, is if the party makes finding him their main priority and they kill him before Matt can commission a mini.

And lastly, would you maybe consider opening the askbox for anonymous questions to make my life easier?

Done and done. Cheers!

See ya next sesh!