Showcase of Icons of the Realms: Curse of Strahd: Covens and Covenants
Perhaps the most beloved of all the Dungeons and Dragons 5e adventures is The Curse of Strahd. Although your favorite adventure may depend upon personal preference, your DM’s ability as a story teller, and the group dynamic. But most players agree that their journey into Barovia is among their favorites. Adapted from the Ravenloft adventure, which was printed in 1983, The Curse of Strahd was printed in 2016. Since its printing, the gothic horrors of Barovia have delighted, excited, and terrified adventurers!
The adventure is so popular, that even years later, products are still coming out to support it! Last month WizKids released two sets of minifigures to go with the scary encounters. And what better time to review and showcase these figures than the weeks leading up to Halloween? Before you is my showcase of WizKids Icons of the Realm: Covens and Covenants!
So break out the candy and scary movies while I try to answer the following questions for you: Are the figures of high quality? Do they visually capture the characters they represent? And what use can a DM or player get from these figures outside of the Strahd adventure?
A fair warning, I will providing character names and possibly some background information on the figures. Therefore, if you wish to avoid any sort of spoilers, please skip the written portions of this review. You can just use the pictures to decide if these figures are the right ones for your collection!
Fair is foul and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air! And check out these three minifigures! Someone get my black cat and cauldron! These three figures represent Morgantha, Bella Sunbane, and Offalia Wormwiggle. And you can just look at them and just guess what they are up to! All three of these figures look perfect for their roles in the Strahd adventure and can also fill roles outside of the adventure too.
Morgantha sits comfortably on the fence of being creepy and wholesome. You could easily write her in as an evil witch or hag. Or she could be a NPC’s loving granny who wants to bake the party a pie. What is in the pie though? Is it apples or something more sinister? Bella Sunbane would make an excellent witch or hag figure as well. I can just see her alone in the woods with a cauldron awaiting the players to stumble upon her wicked machinations. Last but not least, Offalia Wormwiggle could also fill the role of witch or hag. But she could also be a poor and unfortunate NPC begging on the streets of some town. Maybe an adventurer will help this poor lady cross the street? And maybe they would end up in one of Morgantha’s pies as a reward!
Next we have The Abbot, Vasilika, and Rose! All three of these minifigures are outstanding and Rose is probably my favorite in the set! The Abbot looks perfect for the role the figure fills in the adventure and would make an excellent cult leader/zealot in other adventures. I can’t see this character filling any role outside of an NPC. Unless one of your players is a huge Sally Fields fan and wants to roleplay as her character in The Flying Nun. Thank you to the one person who got that reference.
Vasilika is another fantastic minifigure! She also completely embodies the character and feel from the adventure. She looks like Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, if her favorite song was Lady in Red by Chris de Burgh! This figure is excellent, but I would struggle to find use for it outside of the Strahd adventure.
And now we have Rose! I really like this minifigure because there is a picture of the character in The Curse of Strahd adventure book and this mini is on point! Outside of the Strahd adventure, she could fill many roles. I think that she could pass as a teifling or gothic human and could easily be an NPC or a player character. I know the outfit is different, but I am getting some serious Lydia from Beetlejuice the Animated Series vibes from this minifigure. Which is no doubt why I like her so much!
The last character of the review is Thorn… have you ever wanted to wake up in the middle of the night with all of your other minifigures trying to cuddle with you out of fear? Then as you look at the foot of the bed, you see Thorn sitting there looking at you? Well, you’re in for a treat. Because this creepy little nightmare will make that happen! Seriously, those twins from The Shinning would be the only guests at Thorn’s birthday. Joking aside, he is perfectly sculpted and looks exactly like a picture which depicts him in the adventure book. I don’t see much application for him outside of the Strahd adventure. But I think he could pass as a gnome/svirfneblin NPC or player character. Perhaps as a warlock or some other spellcaster.
In conclusion this set is excellent and will be an spooky addition to any collection! Also, keep in mind that although some of these characters may have been produced before, these are all unique sculpts for this set. The figures are the high quality we have come to expect from WizKids, the paint jobs are great, and they accurately depict the characters from the Strahd adventure. Additionally, these figures can fill many roles outside of The Curse of Strahd.
So there you have it, the line up of figures from the D&D Icons of the Realms: Curse of Strahd Covens and Covenants! The set has an MSRP of $39.99 and is available now at your local game store. If you can, support your local game store and purchase the set from them. But if you cannot, it is available online as well. Tune in next week when I review D&D Icons of the Realms: Curse of Strahd: Legends of Barovia, where I will get to introduce you to the pernicious title character!