Apparently, WizKids produces one nowadays (pictured to the left). Looking at it, I suppose I've inadvertently explained why there haven't been any such miniatures before: what purpose would they serve? The intent behind piercers, assuming I can fathom the mind of Gary Gygax (or whoever it was that originally created it), is that its appearance is a surprise. Looking like an ordinary stalactite, no one is supposed to notice it until it attacks. Placing a miniature of it on the table would be a dead giveaway of its presence, thereby negating its one and only purpose.
On the other hand, there have been a lot of odd Dungeons & Dragons miniatures over the years. I doubt the piercer would have been the oddest.
I think this looks amazing! It serves absolutely no purpose except for looking cool. (which is how some gamers feel about all miniatures, I guess)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Grenadier; they made a line of modules too for dnd? My google search tells me yes. Were there more plans to pick up on that? Sorry for the off topic
ReplyDeleteI don't recall ever seeing any D&D modules from Grenadier, just for Traveller and Call of Cthulhu. Are you perhaps thinking of the monster book they published?
DeleteThey made a quartet of very short adventures in 1984, one of which was called Cloudland and made for AD&D. The only one I've ever seen was Secret of Monhegan Island for Call of Cthulhu, which was nothing to get excited about. You can see the listings (but only one image, for a Mercenaries, Spoes & Private Eyes adventure) over here:
Deletehttps://miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Adventure_Modules_(Grenadier)
I never saw Cloudland or knew of its existence till now. Live and learn!
DeleteI made one because I could. https://theverticaljungle.blogspot.com/2014/08/piercer.html
ReplyDeleteThe obvious reason for why there have been few piercer minis is on display in that image - how do you sculpt one so that it's hanging from the ceiling? "Awkwardly" is the answer. You could hypothetically do one that's already dropped and have it messily impaling some poor henchman or stuck in a rib cage or something, or have one on its side trying to crawl back to a wall and then the cavern roof to launch another ambush, but that's going to look more like a dropped ice cream cone than a monster. Add the fact that your average grade schooler can manage to sculpt a stalactite and who'd going to buy a piercer mini even if you made one?
ReplyDeleteYou need to sell hundreds, preferably thousands of any given mini to make it worth adding to your catalog, and these things are more corner case buys than a flumph. Unlike (say) a roper (which are meant to be indistinguishable from stalagmites at first) this just isn't a visually interesting monster at any point. If it sprouted tentacles or insectoid limbs after landing you might have something. Imagine the thing deploying its legs like that spider-robot in the old Jonny Quest cartoon and then skittering around jabbing at people with the pointy end of its carapace, you could do something with that. But as written? Too boring to merit a miniature.