Review - World of Warcraft: Miniatures Game - Core Set Booster

World of Warcraft: Miniatures GamePublished by Upper Deck Entertainment
Designed by a whole bunch of people
For 2 players, aged 14 to adult

What seems like a very long time ago indeed, I picked up the basic starter set for the imaginatively titled World of Warcraft: Miniatures Game. I thought it seemed like a pretty decent game, but it was hard to tell from the four miniatures provided in the starter.

I really wanted to get the deluxe starter, but that's like hen's teeth these days... Really pointy. Or something.

Anyway, I did the next best thing. I managed to grab two Core Set boosters for the princely sum of £2 each. Frankly, £4 for six prepainted miniatures and a bunch of cards (one character card and two skill cards per figure) is a hard deal to pass up, and I am a sucker for a bargain.

I wasn't really sure what I would get with these boosters. I knew the game had three factions (Horde, Alliance, and Beasts), but I didn't know anything about rarity levels, or how figures were distributed throughout the boxes.

As it turns out, the boosters are random, but all three figures in each booster come from the same faction, which is a really nice touch The two boosters I bought had different pictures on the front, but I have no idea if that is in any way related to which faction the booster is for. I happened to get one booster containing Alliance dudes, and one booster with Horde dudes, so when combined with my starter set, I ended up with five characters for each of those factions, which is just enough for a bit of variety. I would have really liked a set of Beasts, as they seem more interesting to me; but hey... You can't have everything.

Now, it may surprise some people, but I have never played the World of Warcraft computer game. It never really appealed to me, and I don't really have the time to invest in something like that. However, I do know a few things about the game, and I have heard the story of the infamous Leeroy Jenkins. So, it was with a great degree of pleasure, that I realised the first character to pop out of my Alliance booster was no less than the chicken-loving paladin.

"Leeeerrrroooooyyyy Jeeeennnnkkkiiinnss!"

Honestly, that one figure alone made it all worthwhile.

As it turns out, my other alliance characters were pretty cool too. A chunky Drenai shaman (does David Gemmell get royalties for them using that name?), and a dark elf mage. Big, imposing characters, in cool poses. The elf even has translucent bits on her staff. I like that sort of thing. I'm weird.



Character cards.

After that, opening the second box was always likely to be a disappointment. And yeah... It was.

I got a wimpy looking blood elf archer, a forsaken (undead?) rogue that I had to bath in boiling water because she was a bit tipsy, and an orc shaman that is half the size of the awesome orc from the starter set.

Blah.

So, I was not particularly blown away with my Horde figures, possibly because they were all so small compared to the Alliance guys. I think of the Horde as the bad guys, so I always imagine they should look more imposing and threatening.



The rogue (front right) looks thoroughly annoyed with Leeroy, dontcha think?

Still, overall, I am happy with what I got from two boosters. If I can find more at a really good price I will buy them (I really want some of those Beasts), but if that never happens, I think the ten figures I have gives a good amount of variety.