Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Spiga

Kumonga (クモンガ) is a kaiju from the Godzilla franchise known to English-speaking audiences as Spiga, and inspiration for the Arduin creature of that later name.

GIANT ARMORED SPIDERS. 50% MAGIC RESISTANT VS. 11TH LEVEL MAGE SPELLS. ITS WEB HAS A RANGE OF THIRTY FEET. IT CAN SPIT UP TO SIXTY FEET. THE LARGER ONES ARE ARMOR CLASS 2.
SUGGESTED BY THE FILM "GODZILLA'S REVENGE".

All The World's Monsters, Volume 2

The original spider is described as being 45m in height and 45m in length.

Kumonga 1967

The more recent version is described as 35m in height and 60m in length.

Kumonga 2004

Hargrave is said to have envisioned the spiga as having a body almost 50' long, but since there is a range of HD for these spiders, I imagine that there are others that are a lot smaller.

SPIGA: HD: 5+1 to 24+1; AC: 2 to 2+5; Speed: 16" to 36"; Dext: 18 to 24; Numbers: 1 to 4; % Liar: 95%; Attacks: 2 leg hits for 1-4 to 3-36, 1 bite for 1-6 to 4-48, plus a paralyzing venom that is 1/2 of the Spiga's HD or 1 web (a 25' to 90' long by 15' to 45' wide cone). The web will hold anything caught in it equal to its own HD plus 50%. Looks: Metallic silver, gold, or blue giant armored spiders. Notes: They are 50% magik resistant, 100% lightning, fire, poison/venom, and paralysis proof. Cold does 50% more damage. They are cruel and intelligent and hate humans.

The Arduin Grimoire, Volume 1

I chose plastic Warhammer Giant Spiders from the Forest Goblin Spider Rider set to represent my spiga (which I guess might fall in the 5-8 HD category). There are a total of eight spiders in the kit.


The eight spiders can be sorted into four varieties based primarily on differences between their abdominal carapaces.



Three of the four varieties look like proper giant spiders, but I felt the fourth with the skull pattern on the back was a bit hokey (says the person painting garish metallic colored spiders).


The models are single piece, so no assembly is required, but I modified some of them so that their forelegs were in different positions. I might modify the rear legs on some of the spiders later as well.

Spiga poised to attack or cast spells.

Overall, I like the spiders. The legs do not look overly thick like with many spider models, though having all the legs touching the ground for stability would have been nice. The underside of the models are poorly represented, with a blocky sternum and hollow abdomen, but most people won't view them from that angle anyway.

I'm not sure if the metallic colors can be made to look more "realistic" given how unnatural they are in the first place, but I suppose an option could have been to use iridescent colors. Still, I am fine with being literal and taking Hargrave's description at face value.


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