The Carrion Crawler is one of the iconic D&D monsters, but there are almost no miniatures that accurately capture the segmented, worm-like appearance of the creature illustrated by David Sutherland in the AD&D Monster Manual.
The two miniatures that I have are both pretty difficult to find. On the left side is the Archive Miniatures Rotting Crawler (Dungeon Nasties 761). On the right is the MPC Carrion Crawler from one of the AD&D Action Scenes kits.
The MPC crawler is much harder to find, particularly with all the legs and tentacles intact (I have two MPC carrion crawlers - the one in the photo below, with a couple of broken off legs, and another one with all the legs intact, but most of the tentacles broken off).
The Archive crawler looks a bit like the OD&D carrion crawler, while the MPC crawler is much closer in appearance to the AD&D version.
Both miniatures only have a single row of nodules down the back. The LJN Carrion Crawler also shares this feature, so somewhere along the line, this seems to have become official. The illustration in the AD&D Monster Manual, however, shows that the monster has two rows of nodules down its back, although this is more apparent on the back cover of the book.
There is also a Citadel Carrion Crawler that is pretty close in appearance to the Monster Manual illustration. It has two rows of nodules down its back, but the legs are just too long and thick to look right. I'm also not sure how big it is, and am inclined to believe that it is probably too big for use with 1/72 figures.
Unfortunately, only the Archive crawler is suitable for gaming, as the MPC model is just too fragile for the table top. I just may have to try my hand at sculpting something up on my own.
8 comments:
These posts about D and D monsters are great. The Citadel Carrion Crawler you link to is way too big for 1/72 as you say, but this fellow is fine for that scale.
http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/File:FFimage88.jpg
Admittedly is doesn't look too much like the original, but it's meant to be the same beastie.
Hi Springinsfeld,
Glad you like the posts, and thanks for the tip about the Fiend Factory crawler. I forgot all about that fellow.
So many wonderful souvenirs with this D&D monster...well done!
Reaper Bones figures includes some similar creatures.
The problem with the Reaper Bones minis (from a 1/72 perspective) is twofold:
1. They're much larger ("large" 28mm) than 1/72 (which is roughly 20mm); and
2. They don't look too much like the illustrations of the Carrior Crawler in with OD&D or 1st edition.
I have to agree with the Red Cardinal there. The Reaper minis follow the 3rd/4th ed. design, which does not fit into my 1st ed. fantasy world.
I believe that the 3rd/4th ed. rules do include an "enormous" category for these guys though, so it's possible they could be used as that type in 1/72 scale.
There are 2 versions of the citadel carrion crawler, the ad&d one that has already been mentioned and an earlier fiend factory one. The fiend factory one is much smaller and would be perfect for 20mm.
http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/File:FFimage88.jpg
Thanks for the info Ben. Many of the old Fiend Factory minis are true 25mm, but it's hard to know for sure without actual verification.
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