Chicago Skirmish Wargames

Though I still haven't done any wargaming in the Harry Potter universe, I continue to be intrigued by the possibilities. The Nano Metalfigs line of  toy figures represents a quick an affordable way to acquire figures for HP wargaming that are about 38mm (1/43) in scale and only cost about a buck each. Jada toys has released  and I have reviewed various Harry Potter figures and a Gryffindor Tower playset.  Now a 20 pack of figures has been released and may be the easiest way yet to get almost all the currently available Harry Potter figures.

Here' it is, the 20 pack which retails for $20 at Target.

Inside the box.

It Contains:

• Harry Potter (Year 1)
• Harry Potter (Year 7)
• Ron Weasley (Year 1)
• Hermione Granger (Year 1)
• Albus Dumbledore (Year 1)
• Lord Voldemort
• Draco Malfoy (Quidditch)
• Nearly Headless Nick
• Dementor
• Harry Potter (Year 4)
• Harry Potter (Quidditch)
• Ron Weasley (Year 7)
• Hermione Granger (Year 7)
• Alastor Moody
• Rubeus Hagrid
• Neville Longbottom
• Percy Weasley
• Arthur Weasley
• Marcus Flint
• Ginny Weasley (Quidditch).

Notably missing from this list are: Severus Snape and Professor McGonagall. At  this point Severus is only available in the Gryffindor Tower playset and McGonagall is only in the 5-pack pictured below.

Most interestingly to me, there are 4 Characters in this set that are not available anywhere else and thus were not pictured in my earlier review.

Ginny, Moody Neville and Hagrid.  All on par with earlier stuff, though Hagrid really should be noticeably taller.

There are also 4 versions of previously-released characters that are new.

Ron and Hermione from Year 7, Harry Potter Year 4 and Harry Potter Quiddich (not pictured). At first I was not impressed with having different versions of the same character, but it does open up more gaming opportunities .

One other thing that this set offers us for the first time, is a pictorial rundown on the back of the box of what and how the figures are being released.  The picture of the "Single Pack Wave 1" first release lines up well with what figures are currently available singly.

This second group of individual figures have not been seen in stores yet, though all but the Blue Robed Dumbledore, Snape and regular grey robed Malfoy are included in the 20 pack. If the list is to be believed Snape will soon be available outside the Gryffindor Tower Playset.

The last two simply show the contents of the currently available 5 packs. The first contains nothing not available elsewhere and all of them are in the 20 pack.

The second is still the only place to acquire the McGonagall figure and all the rest are in the 20 pack.

A bit of advice for potential buyers: At this point the cheapest way to acquire all the figures is to buy the 20 pack, the 5 pack with McGonnagall, and if you want Snape purchase the Gryffindor Tower playset. That will be an outlay of about $55 and should only leave you with 4 repeat figures. (All from the 5-pack).

If you are patient, and wait until wave two of the single packs is released (assuming it is) you may be able to get Snape without buying the playset as well as the versions of Malfoy and Dumbledore that are not currently released and save yourself about $20 or so.

Lastly, I did experiment with putting matte varnish over one of these figures and while it cut the shine quite a bit, the sparkley metalic paint still looks obviously toy-like. As-is they are probably fine for some family gaming but the best solution for those wishing to wargame with these might be to strip the paint off with MEK (as I showed in my earlier post) and repaint.

So at the end of all of this, I've got every available HP figure except the as-yet-unreleased Dumbledore (blue) and Malfoy (grey) figures. I'll keep an eye out for them, but I'm in no rush. Now, all that remains is to find a suitable ruleset for wargaming in the Harry Potter universe. I've just downloaded the "Kooky Teenage Monster Hunters" (AKA Buffy wargame rules) from Ganesha Games and will give that a look over to see if it could work. If you've got a ruleset you think would work please put it in the comments section below.