So I was really disappointed with the amount of face time Atarin actually received in the original campaign. I spent a while painting his figure and getting him ready for an epic battle, but his spirit was on the board longer than he was. For those of you who have played through the expansion does he pop up again? I don't need specifics as to how but I feel really let down on the amount of face time this great mini actually received. Makes buying and painting these extra figures kind of worthless.

Did not come up in my playthrough, though I'm not sure if there is randomness involved that might allow for it. None of the boss miniatures from the first campaigns came up in my Shadowed Paths playthrough.

Depending on the choices you make during one scenario of the base campaign, Atarin will make an early appearance before the final scenario.

On 8/27/2020 at 11:52 AM, starman1014 said:

So I was really disappointed with the amount of face time Atarin actually received in the original campaign. I spent a while painting his figure and getting him ready for an epic battle, but his spirit was on the board longer than he was. For those of you who have played through the expansion does he pop up again? I don't need specifics as to how but I feel really let down on the amount of face time this great mini actually received. Makes buying and painting these extra figures kind of worthless.

I'm pretty sure he will only show up in Bones or Arnor.

At the end of the day, the miniatures are just for quality of life. For some, myself included, the idea of using a barbarian as the big bad is so comical and cheap I would sooner proxy something cool, or in this case have a special model for him. The real value are the cards included in the set which isn't a tremendous amount but for a dedicated fan will still be worth it. It's definitely not the highest value product though.

On 8/30/2020 at 4:51 PM, Valhalla Gaming said:

At the end of the day, the miniatures are just for quality of life. For some, myself included, the idea of using a barbarian as the big bad is so comical and cheap I would sooner proxy something cool, or in this case have a special model for him. The real value are the cards included in the set which isn't a tremendous amount but for a dedicated fan will still be worth it. It's definitely not the highest value product though.

Agreed here. I actually picked up Villains of Eriador before ever running into Atarin in my campaign, thankfully. I knew Gulgotar was replaced with a generic Orc Marauder, and that Coalfang was obviously replaced with a generic warg in the Ember Crown. But I was left scratching my head as to what Atarin would've been replaced with if you didn't have his mini. When I found out later that it was just a generic Ruffian, I couldn't stop laughing at just how anti-climactic that must've felt for anyone that reached him and saw that.

Getting the Silent Scepter item is definitely the biggest benefit of buying Villains of Eriador, but not having the final battle derailed by that anti-climax is probably worth at least something. I suppose there's no reason why you can't just use Atarin's mini for his spirit anyway though. Plus, Gulgotar and Coalfang at least stick around long enough in their respective campaigns that it still feels worth something. I haven't played Shadowed Paths yet, but I'm hoping the new villains there appear at least slightly more frequently than Atarin.