SDE Monsters 08 - Crypt Spider and Death Spectre

As I draw closer to the end of my reviews of the figures from the Von Drakk Manor expansion set it is time to look at a couple of the "big guns" of this set - the Crypt Spider and the Death Spectre.

Spiders are favoured guardians of the many crypts and barrows of the Glauerdoom. They have no interest in the dead nor in their treasures. Cruel, cunning and immeasurably patient they wait in elaborately spun webs. They know the lure of treasure and plunder is irresistible to the living. Soon enough foolish Heroes will come and then the Crypt Spider will feast.

A Crypt Spider is a denizen spawned from the Pumpkin Patch. It costs 3 Skulls to spawn, has 3 Wounds and 3 Actions per turn. With an Attack stat of 2 red dice and an Armour stat of 3 blue dice it is a fearsome foe. It has one ability - Surefoot, which allows it to move across dangerous terrain without penalty. Its one Special Ability is Silk Spinner which has Spray 3 (hits targets in a cone up to 3 squares in range), Slow (causes the target to halve its Movement score, rounding up, during its activation) and Dangerous, meaning it affects friendly models as well as enemies. Finally, it comes with one Special Attack, which costs 2 points to activate. This is Enervating Bite which grants it +1 red die to hit and causes Poison as well as a wound. A model suffering from Poison loses 1 action point during its activation.

Death comes to us all, but within the shrouded mists and fog of Glauerdoom Moor death is all too common.  One might even say that death is a certainty.
The Death Spectre is an Undead Mini-Boss. It costs 4 Skulls to activate, has 4 wounds, 3 Actions per turn and an unbelievably low movement rate of just 1. However, this is not that big a disadvantage, as you will see below.

The Death Spectre has no normal abilities but does have one Special Ability - Ghost Form. This allows it to Teleport up to 10 squares away and in line of sight of his current square. He has a very poor Attack stat of just 1 blue die but this is countered by his one Special Attack, which is quite awesome! Lifesap has a range of 1 square. The Death Spectre does not roll to hit. Instead the target automatically takes 1 Wound and Death immediately heals 1 Wound. Damn, but that is nasty!
This are BIG models. You'll see just how big when I publish a group photo of the Von Drakk Manor Undead figures next time. Soda Pop Miniature figures now come pre-assembled and in most cases this is a good thing, although I certainly didn't mind making the figures from the basic boxed set. However, as soon as I saw the Crypt Spider I could see it was going to be a bitch to paint its underbelly. Fortunately, it was only attached to the wall behind it by one peg in its belly. I deliberately cut this peg to detach the spider from the wall, thus making it far easier to paint both spider and wall. I'd recommend doing this if you are at all concerned about painting it properly. I then glued it back in place once I'd finished painting both parts. I also added a spot of superglue to the ends of its legs to make the spider even more secure in place.
Moving on to the Death Spectre when you look at his stats he is not particularly impressive. In fact his Movement value of 1 and his 1 blue die for Attack are downright pitiful. But, and it is a big but, he is one of the nastiest Mini Bosses in the game. His two abilities more than make up for those low stats. With Teleport there is no hiding from him. As for Lifesap, there is no defence against it and he can use it even if he isn't wounded. The only downside to Lifesap, if you're playing the bad guys, is he can only use it a maximum of three times in a turn. Still, that's three guaranteed hits and in two Turns he can kill ANY Hero without having to roll a single die, provided they don't heal. Just think about that! Death Spectre can be killed but your Heroes had better make sure they inflict 4 Wounds on him in one Turn. He is one extremely scary dude!
The two figures are superbly sculpted. The Crypt Spider would not look out of place in any fantasy game. There is nothing Chibi-esque about him. As for the Death Spectre, if you thought Chibi meant cute then I suggest you reconsider. He looks evil and he is evil!