Fi-Fie-Fo- Fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread.
Jack and the Beanstalk (1890), Joseph Jacobs
I recently managed to get a sweet deal locally on an old Ral Partha AD&D Mountain Giant. I really love the figures from the 2nd edition range because in addition to the inevitable nostalgia from owning some back in the day, they were also very nice figures. The range began in the the late 1980s introduced to support the relaunch of 2nd ed and as far as I know carried on into the mid 90s including figures for other campaign setting as well as the early beasts plucked from the pages of the Monstrous Compendiums.
Unfortunately scale creep across the industry has relegated most of the human sized figures to the stature of precocious kiddies so I don't have much use for them. Fortunately the catalogue of monsters that graced the range are more than imposing enough to blend in with any models I plan on putting them on the table with.
Mountain Giants were yet another of the subspecies of giants introduced into the game. Maybe long serving players had been dismissing Hill Giants, and lumping them in with Ogres; Whatever the reason the smelly, fur wearing, unrepentant luddites of the giant race got a new big bad. The giant is a one piece casting that doesn't suffer as much from that as I thought he might. His pose is static but it showcases his imposing stature, so it's very easy to imagine him looming over a party of brave adventurers, fleeing peasants or terrified livestock. He is good sculpt with an abundance of texture on his trunk club, foul fur outfit, and flesh. The body is muscular, with a thick belly. He won't win any IBF trophies, but he can tote bales.
I painted enjoyed painting the flesh. I wanted a complexion that ran a bit ruddy but pale enough I could get good contrast with his shaggy mane, and the browns of his furs and leathers. Once I finished the skin I applied some thin black washes to his jawline and around his body. Some of the flesh had rough texture suggesting hair which I didn't really like. I think it would have been neater to have avoided the oversized hairlines. I found it interfered with laying down the hair washes cleanly and disrupted the flesh I was trying to paint. I mounted the base of the figure on a 40mm round, added some groundwork and after the paint was done added some clumps and static grass.
This model says classic giant to me so I should be able to get a lot of use out of him. He would be a fine giant in a D&D game, and could also make appearances in the Frostgrave bestiary and in Blood Eagle. This is the kind of giant I could see causing trouble for a small Saxon village. He could be demanding tribute or just helping himself to goats and pigs; I have some goats and pigs on order. It looks ike a job for some heroes. Watch out! He obviously isn't starving but he still looks hungry.
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