Wizkids Seas And Shores Icons of the Realms Review - I Love Crab

Whether you're setting a whole adventure seaside, or putting your players through a rough patchy of stormy waters, having the right minis can greatly help with immersion. That's why, seeing as I can never pass up throwing my players onto the deck of a galleon or down into an underwater city, had to check out Wizkids' new Dungeons And Dragons: Icons of the Realms Seas and Shores line of prepainted plastic miniatures.

We're real mini lovers over here, and have recently had a lot of fun covering Wizkids other new releases, from lumbering giants in the Bigby Presents Glory of the Giants mini line, to the Adventure in a Box Mindflayer Voyage, we're big fans of these little minis. Now, Wizkids sent along Seas and Shores for me to check out, so let's dive in (I'm sorry, water puns are just going to be a part of this whole thing, you're going to have to go with the flow).

What's Included In The Wizkids Seas And Shores Icons Of The Realms Miniature Line?

Included in the Wizkids Seas And Shores line of miniatures are 48 miniatures, ranging from medium to large bases, and one special edition box containing the Maw of Sekolah. Like many of Wizkids miniature releases, Seas and Shores comes to the consumer in the form of a booster box containing one random large miniature and three random medium minis.

Wizkids sent me a brick of booster boxes, but also forwarded along the Maw of Sekolah. So let's take a look at this two-headed beastie first before moving onto everything else I opened!

Wizkids Seas And Shores Maw Of Sekolah

The Maw of Sekolah stands apart from the other 48 models in this set with its own box release, which is good news for people who don't want to go digging through booster boxes to get a copy. Originally released in the Ghosts of Saltmarch supplement, this two-headed shark is the avatar of a hungry Sahuagin god, adorned by the Sahuagin with colorful silks and golds.

I love the look of this miniature. From the dynamic angling of both of its heads, to the way the scarves of fabric seem to flutter through the water on its fins, I think this is a really engaging miniature. Also, any time a mini comes packaged in its own box, you know it's going to come out unbent (which will be a slight problem for some booster box minis, as I'll speak to in a moment).

Wizkids Seas And Shores - Medium Miniatures

Now that we've seen the Maw in all its glory, let's move on to some of the miniatures contained in the booster boxes. I've divided the coverage here between Medium and Large mins.

I consider this first batch of minis the "You wouldn't want this crew to sail up beside your boat" gang. Firstly, I love the Tortle, and we'll see an even cooler Tortle right after this. But I'm also really impressed at the look and feel of all of these minis.

The Sea Elf Druid is a mini I didn't think I needed, but seeing him on the board makes me want to build a session around him. I don't run a ton of pirate content in my games (sorry, I'm not a sea shanty guy!), but could still find good use for these models.

This next batch of minis features the absolutely incredible-looking Tortle Druid. Behind him is a regular druid (well, regular when compared to a giant turtle hurling a ball of water), some Locathah stand next to him, and the very oddly-posed Sea Hag.

I don't know what's going on with this Sea Hag, she looks like she's sort of stuck in the middle of a strange dance. She also came so bent in her box that one of her feet was snapped off of the base. This happens sometimes with booster boxes, and while it wasn't a widespread problem across the eight I opened, its worth mentioning that it can happen from time to time.

For this final picture, I wanted to group together a nice variety of the rest of the baddies I opened in these Wizkids Seas And Shores booster boxes. All in all, after opening these boosters, we're left with a very healthy mixture of miniatures for adventures on the high seas and on coastal towns. Plus... look at that incredible crab (more on him later).

Wizkids Seas And Shores - Large Miniatures

Now its time to check out the large miniatures. As I'd mentioned previously, each box comes with one large miniature and three small ones, so we've got eight minis to check out here.

I was pleasantly surprised to open a box and see this Plesiosaurus, and love the movement of the Sahuagin Hatchling Swarm.

The eel, for me, is the standout in the photo because of how it's situated on top of its rock. I love a little bit of environment creeping into a mini.

If my players read this article: know that your DM now has an Aboleth mini. I love the blind, creeping horror of the Aboleth, and find it to be one of the most unsettling monsters in D&D. The Giant Octopus here also looks great, I especially like the way it spills over its base.

But this Sea Lion... I mean, talk about a bad pun. This is, in my opinion, a pretty corny Dungeons & Dragons monster, and it makes for a pretty corny looking mini, too.

To finish up the review, we have our final two large minis from the eight booster boxes I opened. While the Giant Lizard is fine (and it's always nice to have a menagerie of "normal animals made giant"), I'm really drawn to the Hippogriff. I don't necessarily think of a Hippogriff as an ocean or sands monster, but there may be something in the lore I'm missing.

The being said, this is truly a great looking miniature, giving a lot of attitude in its pose. Now, before we move onto my final thoughts, I want to gush, if you'll indulge me for a moment, on my favorite mini out of everything opened...

Behold... the Giant Crab!

Just look at this gorgeous mini. Set on a medium base, this is just a hyper-realistic looking crab. And I love him. I don't know why I'm so drawn to this miniature. I think, in part, because it's just kind of funny to have a crab mini. Especially one that's not like covered in spikes or some weird color. It's just... a crab! Brilliant!

Wizkids Seas And Shores Final Thoughts

Earlier in this review I mentioned wanting to build a whole session around the Sea Elf Druid, just based on how cool the mini was. That, I think, is really what's most fun about opening booster boxes of miniatures - there's that sense of inherent surprise and discovery built in - though I acknowledge how frustrating it can be to have to go digging for that one mini you really need.

With this set, box after box, I found a miniature that surprised me, made me laugh, or impressed me with its construction. There are no big, wild, trick-shot style miniatures that I've come across in this set yet, but I still find them all really well constructed, with only minor detail loss at its smaller size.

If you like what you see and want to get a box for yourself, check out your friendly local game store, or head to Wizkids' D&D Mini site to learn more.

The products used in the creation of this review were provided by Wizkids. All photos courtesy of the author.