Wizkids Return of the Dragons Review - Great For A New Collector

If there's anything that I enjoy more than Dungeons… It's Dragons, so I was incredibly happy to hear that Wizkids was releasing a set of miniatures to represent the initial D&D 5E adventure, Tyranny of Dragons (aka Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat). Wizkids Dungeons & Dragons Icons of the Realms Return of the Dragons features a variety of minis that will help you bring your Tyranny of Dragons campaign to life.

Much like other releases this collection is made up of a number of blind boxes, featuring a variety of minis relevant to the campaign alongside some much larger stand alone minis representing the different dragons that you'd face along the way. 

Wizkids sent us eight of the blind boxes to take a look and try our chances at getting some cool minis, and cool minis we did receive. Included in this set the minis obtained ranged from stand-ins for player characters, minis for key faction members, a healthy number of dragons, and even some impressive Giant characters.

Inside each Blind Box you'll find 3-4 miniatures, normally one is a medium-sized mini while the others are smaller tucked in around the plastic frame.

Choose Your Character

From the blind boxes I obtained, I ended up with seven different generic enough characters that could become player characters. These were:

• Barbarian (13/44)
• Gnome Wizard (1/44)
• Halfling Bard (2/44)
• Hobgoblin Fighter (12/44)
• Orc Fighter (10/44)
• Orog Fighter (14/44)
• Svirfneblin Fighter (4/44)

While there was an interesting lead towards Fighters I was really impressed with the variety of species that was present. Players might not be familiar with an Orog (offspring of an Orc and Ogre) or might not know that Deep Gnome's proper title is Svirfneblin but it prompts players to take a playable race and see what tweaks they can make to make them more unique to the experience.

Each of the melee characters wields an axe or sword, the wizard with their staff, and the Bard poses playing their violin ready to support the party with all kinds of magics and inspiration. While there are set names for each of these I could imagine just as easily the characters like the Hobgoblin being a Paladin, Rogue, or even a Ranger allowing it, and each of the others to fit into any table.

Of all of these, my favorite is the Orog, standing two heads over the Orc (even if more hunched) the comparison really allows you to understand how the Ogre blood would alter this creature. The blueish hue of its skin against its dark armor and axe makes it a very imposing figure.

There Be Monsters In Them Boxes

The offering of opponents for a party to fight against was also incredibly healthy. I got standard enemies – like Kobold (5/44), Bugbears (21/44), Needleblight (11/44), and a Wraith (23/44) – alongside some key members of different factions that play a larger role in the story. A Sun Elf Guard (9/44), Dragonclaw (20/44), Human Zhentarim Bandit (18/44), and a Red Wizard (34/44).

Going through the blind box approach for the standard bad guys is a bit of a rough go. You'll get one or two Red Wizards, but when an encounter calls for 3, 4, or even 10 of them you're not going to want to be going to these blind boxes for the answer.

On top of those already mentioned other monsters that I got were the Quickling (3/44), Doppelganger (8/44), Mind Flayer (35/44), Manes (7/44), Guard Drake (22/44), and even a Ballista (19/44).

Large And Up

From the medium and larger monsters I received I was incredible happy. The Oni (25/44) and Pegasus (28/44) were unexpected to receive, but what I did get was a healthy amount of dragons.

Inside my eight blind boxes I received four different Dragons (kinda). I got the Young Blue Dragon (41/44), Young Green Dragon (31/44), Young Copper Dragon (32/44), and a Wyvern (29/44). If I was purchasing this expansion dragons of a variety would be what I was after and in that sense this expansion completely delivered.

On top of the range of dragons included I was most impressed by the range on their poses. The seated Copper and Green Dragons flare their brilliant wings out or keep them close respectively, while the Blue Dragon is in mid-flap allowing it to powerfully ascend.

Bigger than the dragons are the Hill Giant and Frost Giant (that come in two easily assembled pieces). With strange body proportions and unique armor styles both of these are incredibly eyecatching. While not as unique as some of the giants that came with the Bigby Presents collection these are going to get far more versatile use on the table.

A Classic Assortment Of D&D Minis

Something that I loved so much about Tyranny of Dragons when I ran it was that it was a quintessential D&D adventure. You have all kinds of hallmark monster encounters, dark cults, strange wizards, and a battle to stop the world being taken over by evil dragons. That same vibe is alive through the array of miniatures available in this blind box.

For a new DM wanting to start out their collection of higher quality minis there's a lot here that will be useful like the player characters of different races, different fodder enemies for along the way, and a few great setpiece monsters.

As I said above you'll never have the consistency for a multi-monster encounter, but if you can even show your players what one Red Wizard looks like, while filling the rest of the ranks with a Bugbear or Bandit then it creates a more visually enticing experience.

Wizkids Return of the Dragons Review | Final Thoughts

Return of the Dragons, much like the campaign it's based on, is a quintessential collection of minis that are incredibly versatile and appealing for any game you're going to be running. With a good collection of characters for players to take on, interesting yet frequently faced monsters adding repeated use, and dragons for your Dungeons & Dragons game there's a lot here.

The major complaint that I have, with any blind box, is that it puts everything up to chance. For a campaign where there is a 10 Red Wizard encounter, or even one where you need 3 then you're going to have issues fielding the team.

This review was completed with miniatures provided to TechRaptor by Wizkids. All photos were taken by the reviewer.