Review Details

D&D Nolzur's Marvelous Unpainted Minis: W11 Young Red Dragon

Product Review (submitted on April 4, 2020):

Finally, WizKids completes the dragon collection with the red, gold, and silver dragons. So far, the red is the only one I've finished. I really enjoyed painting it and making it come to life. What do I think?

Game Play--4. The only reason it's not a 5 is the usual issue of Wizkids calling these Young dragons when they have bases the size of Adults. It's better just to use these unpainted dragons as adults since they are bigger than the dragons released in Tyranny of Dragons, and those have the 2x2 base of young dragons. But hey, if this mini is all you can get, it will serve well nonetheless. Players probably won't care as long as it's an epic and memorable battle. Properly assembled, I'd wager that this is actually the most imposing of the dragons so far, since it is facing you directly and on the offensive, yet still flying to show that you are beneath it, like the vain and arrogant tyrant it is.

Quality--4. The figure is very well sculpted with many individual scales to paint if fine detail is your thing. The base is rather plain, but you can spice it up with some hobby diorama dirt and rocks if you are so inclined, or just dry-brush some highlights on. The fire breath is very nicely done, and being translucent allows for some light to shine inside and illuminate the flame even with some opaque paints on it.

A small negative is that the wings are cinched together by the elastic holding the figure to the packaging. I understand this is to keep the dragon from rattling around during shipment, and a minute or two with a heat gun or hair dryer will get those wings spread out and back in place. Not a big deal.

The biggest issue I have with this mini, however, is the fact that the dragon has a hard time staying on the peg. I think there's some leftover space in the dragon's chest where the peg goes and that allows some free movement and the figure has fallen off for me many times. I ended up having to super-glue the peg into the dragon's chest, which I have never had to do for any other figure.

Price--5. $15 MSRP for this? Heck yeah! It's cheaper here, but do keep shipping in mind.

Value--5. Again, $15 MSRP is AMAZING for a red dragon. Being THE iconic dragon, the pre-painted minis run from $15 for the wyrmlings to nearly $500 for the one colossal dragon. I bought a 4e huge red dragon for $100 a while back, and if I knew at the time that this was coming, I would not have bought it. This is so much better. If you can paint well, this will actually make a good young red dragon if you don't have any from Tyranny of Dragons.

Despite my biggest gripe of not staying in place, I think this is a fantastic dragon well worth the price here or in any game store. I could just be biased toward red dragons, though.