Wizards of the Coast announced on its Website that it will not be releasing the two non-randomized miniatures products: Orc War Party and Outlaw War Party.  These two expansions for its D&D Collectible Miniatures Game were scheduled to be released in February 2004.  All the other expansions for the D&D CMG--Archfiends, Dragonseye, and Harbinger--are randomized and come in opaque packaging so consumers won't know what they are getting until they purchase the expansion pack and open it.  This little bit of legalized gambling is the secret behind the success of both collectible card games and collectible miniature games--consumers buy additional booster packs in the hope of obtaining a rare or ultra-rate card or miniature figure.

 

Chris Toepker, WotC's category manager for miniatures, explained to ICv2 that the non-randomized figure collections were originally intended for RPG players 'looking for specific figures,' to use while playing D&D.  But all indications are that RPG players do not have a problem with the randomized booster packs and WotC now feels that it is unnecessary to produce the non-randomized sets.