Terror From The Tabletop : WizKid’s ‘D&D Classic Collection: Monsters’

Welcome to the table,

I love monsters. I’m sure it’s a combination of growing up reading a steady stream of mythology, folklore, dime-store novels, and comic books filled with weird and wonderful creatures. I’m a fan of almost all the monsters out there. That includes everything from the classics, like vampires and mummies, to the strange, such as the hounds of Tindalos and the skittering, sentient hand from the stories about Solomon Kane.

The biggest influence, however, came from the various Dungeons & Dragons and 3rd-party Monster Manuals, Fiend Folios, and Creature Collections. These came packed full of rad art, delightful lore, and stats and abilities to enhance the tabletop experience that was making up a large part of my escape from the true terrors of a very weird youth.

With the spooky season drawing to a close, I thought it could be fun to share some really rad monsters that I feel go a little unsung from my pals over at WizKids.

WizKid’s D&D Classic Collection: Monsters has some really rad and iconic monsters who feel super aligned with the Spooky Season. These box sets come in cool book-shaped display cases that look beautiful lined up on your gaming shelf. I know this firsthand. WizKids has sent me this collection over the years. They have a dedicated space alongside my other Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books that the cover of the display case is styled after.

Each of these alphabetically coded offerings contains a multitude of monsters styled after the classic creatures that I grew up being fascinated by. Below, I am going to show you a selection of my favorites from this collection. Each creature is contained in the volume that shares the first letter of their name L for Lich, V for Vampire, and so forth.

Fire Elemental

The Fire Elemental is this vaguely humanoid entity, comprised of living flame, that brings devastation wherever it moves on the material plane. I love the sculpt on this particular miniature. Its wide, lidless ice blue eyes, hovering in the semitransparent orange flame-shaped plastic, gives the whole thing this unearthly inhuman feel, while still maintaining a sense of sentience that betrays a mind that is more than just the consuming hunger of a natural force of destruction.

This menace is ready to lumber down a tight collection of alleyways to chase after an already exhausted party of adventurers or crawling forth from an ash-stained ancient furnace to engage with unsuspecting explorers in a seemingly abandoned stronghold. The Fire Elemental, especially in this form, really elevates the primal force of fire to something truly scary.

Lich

There are a multitude of undead minis that the fine folks over at WizKids have produced over the years. The sculpt on this classic Lich is easily one of my favorites. It embodies everything that is haunting and ancient about an undead spellcaster who has used their lifelong study of magic to transfer their soul into a profane object so they can use it as a focus to animate their own corpse and continue to study strange magics and grow in power.

The ragged robes, the gaunt and desiccated humanoid form beneath the cowl and cloak, and the strange crown and trappings of gold cord that cling to the frail, magically powered frame really make this miniature a standout at the table. It’s iconic enough that it elevates above just a “monster” and can be considered on the list of miniatures a storyteller could use for a campaign villain alongside some of the named devils and demons or the undead icon Vecna himself.

The Mummy

I have raved about this one before because I love it so much. I’m constantly working mummies into the adventures I run for my players. I like the aesthetics of a bandaged, wrapped undead with a solid slam attack, and the ability to spread “mummy rot,” an undead disease that will truly mess up a mid- to low-level part is a favorite of mine.

The Classic Collection sculpt is coming out of its sarcophagus as haunting dust and spectral smoke billow around its feet. This gives not only a cool presence at the gaming table, but also makes this miniature really solid for shelf display. It seems to suspend the moment the mummy awakens from its slumber to harrow adventurers and unsuspecting explorers who have dared to enter its tomb or whatever ancient temple it has been dormant within.

Wight

I find Wights fascinating as they are these humanoid undead entities who tend to inhabit burial mounds and catacombs. They have large hands and feet. These are perfect for burrowing in the soft grave dirt. From a distance, especially in the dark, they can appear as just a normal run-of-the-mill, slightly tired humanoid standing under the branches of an ancient tree at the edge of a clearing or lurking in the shadows of a crumbling archway to some old forgotten church at the edge of a rural village.

Wights, upon closer inspection, normally, as they are rushing up towards you to rend you limb from limb, are these nightmarish reflections of a humanoid form. They have claws, fangs, eyes that burn with an inner undead hatred, and skin like ancient leather stretched over oversized bones. They are haunting, monstrous, and amazing enemies to launch at low-level parties, or if you want to get really devious, like those vampires in New York City, you can unleash a whole collection of them on a higher-level party letting them pick away at their spells, armor, and hit points as a seemingly endless collection of these creatures crawls forth from the shadows to consume them under a moonlit sky.

Vampire

The Vampire miniature from the Classic Collection is nothing short of iconic. It feels like the intent from the sculptors and painters on this project was to pay homage to the icon, Strad, as he appears on the cover of the IG AD&D adventure module Ravenloft. Now, this does not have to serve as Strad at your table, there are plenty of rad Strad minis out there, but this mini, with its bat-wing-like cape, high collar, slicked-back hair, and swirling mists around its feet, truly comes off as the Dread Lord himself.

Much like the mummy from this collection, the Vampire really feels like it works well as both a tabletop mini you can use in your game and a display mini that would look rad on your shelf.

Until next time, I hope you had a safe and spooky Halloween, and if you have the opportunity to carry the spirits of the season into the rest of the year, do that… It’s always more fun that way.