Gargantuan Dragons invade Owlbear Lair!

Gargantuan Red and Green Dragons from
the Pathfinder Battles miniatures line.

I’m a bit of a miniatures nut when it comes to dragons (or really, just a miniature nut... period). I was lucky enough to chance upon the Paizo website when they had both the Pathfinder Battles Gargantuan Red and Gargantuan Green dragons temporarily in stock over the summer. Both of these models have been out of print for some time, but Paizo occasionally gets restock from random distributors. The Gargantuan Red Dragon is complete sold out now, but Paizo.com still has the Gargantuan Green Dragon in its store (last chance to pick one up for under $50 with shipping).

I was extremely surprised to see the Gargantuan Red come back in stock, and I’m pretty certain I got one of the last, if not the last one on their shelves. I had been hesitant to buy both of these models earlier due to luke warm reviews, but the Green and Red were the only chromatic dragons I did not yet have in the Gargantuan/Colossal size category. No one else, to my knowledge, has put out a pre-painted green dragon of this size, and the larger pre-painted red dragons are all ridiculously priced on the secondary markets. I kick myself to this day that I did not pick up the ICONS Colossal Red Dragon when they were only about $60!

Both models are beautifully sculpted. From an artistic standpoint, they really do stand out with very dynamic poses. However, they both suffer from what I consider a serious design flaw when it comes to tabletop play… They are both looking up. Both poses have the neck and head craning in something akin to an upward roar. From an artistic standpoint, I suppose I understand why the sculptor went in that direction, but I am disappointed that they are not looking down at the PC miniatures with an “I’m totally going to eat you!” menace.

The Gargantuan Red also has one wing folded inward in what appears to be a packaging consideration. I may try to use the heated water method to see if I can get a little bit more spread from the left wing. The painting on each is reasonably good, although I think the green dragon's color palette could have used a little more contrast.

The Pathfinder Battles Gargantuan Dragons are slightly smaller than the amazing WotC ICONS from 2006 - 2007.

From a size perspective, the models are unsurprisingly smaller than the legendary ICONS miniatures from Wizards of the Coast, but they are decently large, and considerably more bulky than the Elder Dragon models that came out later in the D&D Miniatures line.

While these may not be my absolute favorite dragons in my collection, they are impressive models and I am glad I was able to pick these up for retail pricing. The secondary market for large dragons is quite ridiculous. Don't wait until they are gone!

The Gargantuans fit favorably well in size category with the huge WotC Elder Dragons from 2009 - 2010.