WizKids Adventure In A Box Mind Flayer Voyage Review - Some Assembly Required

WizKids has made some pretty incredible miniatures (and some more Giant miniatures) for Dungeons & Dragons allowing DMs and players to fill their games with accurate representations of the world. For those who don't just want minis but also maps Wizkids has released Adventure In A Box Mind Flayer Voyage.

Adventure In A Box Mind Flayer Voyage is a complete box experience that doesn't just provide players with a group of thematically selected minis but also a number of props and maps. The idea behind this box is that you can create a short but high-quality adventure without having to pull minis from one place, a map from another, and any other props from a third location.

What comes in Adventure In A Box Mind Flayer Voyage?

Opening up this adventure players will find not only enemy minis but also maps for each of the different floors of the Nautiloid, and even a few creepy Illithid props to be placed around the ship. The full contents of the box includes:

• Monster Minis
  • 4x Intellect Devourers (In two different poses)
  • 2x Mind Flayers
  • 1x Ulitharid
  • 1x Mindwitness
• Props
  • 2x Ceremorphosis Pods
  • 1x Helm
  • 1x Spawning Pool
• Maps
  • 1x Nautiloid Bridge Deck Map
  • 1x Nautiloid Battle Deck Map
  • 1x Nautiloid Cargo Deck Map
  • 1x Nautiloid Prison Deck Map

I was impressed with the mix of monsters that were included in this box. You've got a few little guys to push around, some medium-level threats, and then much larger threats like that of the Ulitharid and the Mindwitness.

The Ulitharid is a Mind Flayer made from the tadpole of the Elder Brain's Brine Pool, whereas the Mindwitness is what becomes of a Beholder that has been drawn into Brine Pool of an Elder Brain, where four of its eye stalks are replaced by tentacles.

Put the Adventure into Adventure In A Box

One of the strangest omissions from the Adventure In A Box Mind Flayer Voyage is that there's no adventure. You'll get all of the pieces to have this adventure, but no glue to hold it together.

Creating the adventure that this is based on will be up to the DM to craft. Looking at these pieces it wouldn't be difficult for a mildly experienced DM to craft an adventure, but there's still legwork that needs to be done. 

For example, you might create a simple adventure of a jailbreak from the Prison Deck of the ship, where other souls are still trapped in their Ceremorphosis Pod. Spawning Pools may need to be destroyed, lest reinforcements arrive.

Beginning your adventure against a Mind Flayer and an Intellect Devourer as jail guards, each floor of the Nautiloid could inspire a greater challenge until you come face to face with either the Mindwitness or if you really want to challenge your party, the Ulitharid.

I do believe the lack of even a one-page adventure, or a few plot hooks to stir creativity, is a bit of a detriment to the idea of an "Adventure In A Box".

If you wish to drop this into a campaign you're currently running, such as Spelljammer or the upcoming Planescape, the contents of this box will provide for an excellent encounter along the way.

Maps looking ship-shape

WizKids has long offered high-quality miniatures representative of the artwork that they come from. I've done comparisons in the past talking about how they always manage to nail the look of the creatures, but I haven't seen much from them in the past about maps.

The four levels of the Nautiloid are pulled straight from the pages of Spelljammer: Adventures in Space and blown up to fit a standard mini. Each floor of the Nautiloid is hard cardboard designed to flip and fold for easy storage too.

The backs of these maps also contain what floor they are, along with where the stern and bow are so you can make sure as you lay out the maps they are the correct way around.

With such a high-quality recreation I'd almost want to create a scaffold for them to all sit upon allowing for the creation of a 3D representation of each of the floors.

Getting to see the detail of the ships from the cracked floors, small staircases, and even light shining in from the Battle and Bridge deck windows immediately brings these maps to life.

It's like they turned Baldur's Gate 3 into Dungeons & Dragons

A funny parallel that I couldn't help noticing was how easy it would be to create the intro scenes to Baldur's Gate 3 with this Adventure in a Box. I'm sure it's no accident, but if you have friends who enjoyed Baldur's Gate 3 and want to try out Dungeons & Dragons this might be the perfect balance of familiar terrain and TTRPG for them to get a taste of it.

What are our final thoughts on WizKids Adventure In A Box Mind Flayer Voyage?

For someone who is looking to create their next high-quality one-shot or wants to throw some Illithid at their current party, I think the Adventure In A Box Mind Flayer Voyage does a good job at equipping the DM.

As the first Adventure In A Box from WizKids with maps included I would love to see WizKids delve more into this. Perhaps not creating folding maps for all encounters in a book, but at least creating maps for different Spelljammers or Boats for parties going on seafaring adventures.

I do still believe that the lack of a one-page adventure does hold this back a bit from being a true Adventure in a Box. In the same way that the D&D Starter Sets are so popular as it's a way to get a group together and play, a simple adventure that you can pull out of the box and start rolling would be a very fun idea.

Should you buy Wizkids Adventure In A Box Mind Flayer Voyage?

Whether as a one-off adventure or as a way to introduce a whole Nautiloid and its crew to your party the Adventure In A Box Mind Flayer Voyage is a fun way to be immediately ready for an encounter.

There are resources for creating higher production value D&D games all over the place, but this is a neat one-and-done package that will provide you with Mind Flayer-themed enemies from lowly Intellect Devourers to some of the 'big bads' of the Illithid world.

If you like Illithids, or want to kickstart an Illithid one-shot (or your own actual play of Baldur's Gate 3) this is a great set. As always though if you aren't planning on going near Illithid or any tentacle-based cosmic horror then this obviously won't be for you.

If you're a DM that doesn't have any plans for anything long-form but are interested in a 2-3 session game themed around Illithids this should be a great purchase.

The copy of Wizkids Adventure In A Box Mind Flayer Voyage used to produce this review was provided by the Publisher. All photos were taken by the reviewer over the course of the review.