1/72 Multiverse: Mirelurks

Yurians are the crustacean people of the D&D world that have evolved from the crabmen of the Fiend Folio to the Aldani of D&D 5E.

The original crabmen are only represented in miniature form by Citadel in their Fiend Factory line.

The Citadel figure is difficult to find, and from what I can tell, way too big to use for 1/72 scale.

Citadel also made a Crab Man as part of their C38 Chaos Beastmen line, which I think was previously known as the Bird Man from the C27 Chaos Beastmen line. But outside of having crab claws for hands, it isn't really crab-like.

In 15mm, Khurasan Miniatures makes Sponks that are similar to 2nd/3rd edition crabmen.

Each set comes with three different bodies, and six different claws. The models are designed with pins on the arms that fit into sockets in the body, allowing not only different combinations for the arms and bodies, but a degree of posability as well. Some of the holes did need to be drilled out a bit, but I appreciate the consideration that went into the design of these models.

For my three models, I copied the builds used for the Khurasan showcase pieces. The bases are really narrow, and one of the miniatures kept falling over after its claws were attached.

The Sponks also resemble the Mirelurks from the Fallout video game series. Though they lack the horseshoe crab-like tail, they seem to be about the right size for 1/72 scale.

Mirelurks first appeared in Fallout 3, and just like the Yurians of D&D, they underwent design changes with newer editions of the game.

In Fallout 4, Mirelurks start to look like Garthim from Dark Crystal. The design from Fallout 5 might have been inspired by London Fashion Week.

I still prefer the original Mirelurk from Fallout 3 myself.

Reaper makes an amazing giant crabman that looks very similar to the 2nd edition crabman as well, but I think it is entirely too large for 1/72 scale. Still, I'm tempted to get one to use as a giant mutated Nukalurk.

Bones Black 44110

Another type of Mirelurk is the Mirelurk Hunter. The original Hunter looked no different than other Mirelurks in Fallout 3. The new version in Fallout 4 is said to have mutated from lobsters.

It reminds me a lot of the Aldani from 5E, albeit with a regular lobster head instead of a humanoid head. I guess the Lobstrok from World of Warcraft might be a better Aldani analog, but I don't mind using them as Mirelurk Hunters.

The first figure is a regular Aldani (Tomb of Annihilation #13). The second one is armed with net and trident (Tomb of Annihilation #17). The third is a modified Aldani that I removed the net and trident from.

The last member of the crustacean-like Mirelurks is the Mirelurk Queen.

My own inclination is just to use the D&D CMG Chuul (Legendary Evils #09) or the Reaper Tidal Lurker (Bones Black 44099) as Queens.

The Tidal Lurker looks closer in appearance to the Queen in the video game, but neither are particularly similar. They do complement the Aldani though.