Blacktongue Assassins by Artisan Guild: Dark Elf Rogue Miniatures for D&D

If your campaign needs a villain faction with more presence than a pair of cloaked figures in a doorway, the Blacktongue Assassins are worth a look. This is Artisan Guild's January 2024 monthly release: a dark elven assassin guild with a genuinely odd twist. Their operatives don't just work on foot. They ride Zeeks, large insectoid creatures that function as mounts, weapons and unsettling decorative choices for any lair scenery. Alongside the creature cavalry, the range includes three named hero characters and a squad of dark elf blade-wielders. It's a complete faction in a single release.

What's in the Blacktongue Assassins Range

The Full Set (£99.99) covers everything: the assassin infantry squad, the Zeek Riders cavalry, the Ashurak Zeek King boss creature and the three named hero sculpts. For anyone building out a complete villain faction or looking for a self-contained assassin warband, this is the most direct route. Individual units are also stocked separately, useful if you only want certain pieces or if you're building the range out over time.

All models print in 28/32mm SLA resin and ship from the UK.

The Hero Characters

Nephelia Death Dancer (£6.49) is the standout individual piece. A dark elf caught mid-strike with both blades drawn, she has the kind of dynamic pose that reads clearly across a game table. She's a natural fit for a rogue or monk player character, an assassination-contract NPC or a mid-tier duel encounter in a city campaign. At that price, she's worth picking up for a single character slot even if you're not building the full range.

Blademaster Mordin Duskblade (£6.99) carries more weight in his posture, a fighter who got his rank through combat rather than contract work. He works well as a guild master, a corrupt city guard captain, or a villain who prefers a direct confrontation when the situation calls for it.

Shadowmatron Zervana (£7.49) handles the arcane end of the guild. Her tags span Druid, Wizard and Thief, which is exactly what the sculpt looks like: someone who learned magic to make it dangerous rather than formal. A good pick for a shadow caster PC or an arcane villain who doesn't look like they went to school for it.

The Assassin Squad and the Zeeks

The core Assassin Miniatures set gives you a squad of six dark elf thieves and killers for £19.99, enough to fill a guild encounter, guard an objective, or give the players something to work through before they reach the named characters. Individual sculpts within the set are available from £6.49 if you want a specific pose without the full squad.

The Zeek Riders are what give this range its visual identity. A squad of four riders costs £29.99, with individual rider sculpts available from £12.99. Mounted on chitinous, beetle-like creatures with a hard alien carapace, these aren't the standard wolf or horse cavalry. In a dungeon encounter, they read as something the players haven't seen before, which helps given how often this hobby recycles its visual vocabulary.

The Ashurak Avid Zeek King (£22.99) is the creature boss, an insectoid monster that works either as the guild's creature lord or as a standalone dungeon encounter for parties who stumble into the wrong tunnel.

How to Use the Range

For D&D 5e and Pathfinder, the Blacktongue Assassins fit cleanly into Drow faction scenarios, thieves' guild campaigns, or any city-based arc where the party needs a credible villain organisation with a distinct visual identity. The three heroes give you a workable leadership structure: a blade specialist, a command presence and a shadow caster. The Zeek Riders add a creature element that changes the encounter dynamic rather than just adding more bodies.

For skirmish games like Frostgrave or Rangers of Shadow Deep, the range provides a ready-made shadow faction. The insectoid angle works particularly well in underground or ruin settings, where unusual creature types feel earned rather than incongruous.

For painters, the kit offers real variety: near-black armour with purple or teal accent choices on the dark elves, pale skin requiring high contrast highlights, and then the Zeeks offer an entirely different surface challenge in the chitinous carapace and compound eye structures. It's a range that covers multiple painting disciplines without the models looking like they came from different boxes.

Browse the Range

The Blacktongue Assassins Full Set (£99.99) is the complete release in one go. Individual pieces let you pick specific characters for a roster: Nephelia, Mordin or Zervana from £6.49, and the Zeek Riders and Zeek King if you want the creature element without the whole set. Everything prints to order in SLA resin from the UK.

Artisan Guild publish their full design catalogue at artisanguildminiatures.com and run an extensive library on MyMiniFactory. We stock the full Artisan Guild range. Browse everything we carry in the Artisan Guild collection.