Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures: Icons Gargantuan Blue Dragon Review
By Ian Strelec, Staff Reviewer
Initiative Round
First in the Icons series was the Gargantuan Black Dragon, a fearsome beast from the swamplands dripping in acidic terror. Next was the Colossal Red, a terrifying force of nature’s fire. Now, the Gargantuan Blue, master of the desert sands.
Built to scale with other D&D minis, the Gargantuan Blue’s is painted in great detail in a pose designed to be awesome. The stats are absolutely amazing as well, with 600 hp, the ability to act twice per phase, and 6 times per round in total, and numerous abilities that make it very, very dangerous. Its breath weapon and crush attacks are particularly dangerous, allowing it to simply blast away or stomp over the opposition with almost ridiculous ease.
Its oversized stat card also comes with its full D&D statistics on the back, simplifying the process of running this beast against players and watching them get eaten alive. Most of its attacks have a higher beginning bonus than the ACs of most pathetic adventurers, (a minimum of +47!!) and a LOT of hp (565!). Needless to say, this thing eats epic characters for breakfast.
Critical Hit
First, the sculpt, paint job, and overall appearance of the figure is astounding and incredible. This mini is worth the money just for the figure, even if you’re not going to use it in skirmishes or if you’ve never bothered with D&D minis before.
The battle map that comes with it is also very cool, regardless of whether you use the dragon for a battle on it or not. It covers, in detail, a desert ruin, with a dragon’s hoard in one corner and a statue of a sphinx in the other, with sand-covered stone rubble marking the area in between.
Critical Fumble
Twisty ties!! Getting these things out of the packaging becomes more and more a battle of wills with little wrapped up pieces of plastic. This is a problem.
Also, while a little unavoidable, I admit, the Miniatures statistics don’t differ greatly from that of the Black, offering little variety in overall game play. This is, however, only a minor concern.
Coup de Grace
While extremely frustrating to get out of the box and somewhat expensive, this mini is worth it just for the figure, let alone the statistics card for skirmish play and the excellent battle map.
Final Grade: A
