A Frosty Welcome

I'm a big fan of toys for fantasy gaming; snobs and purists be damned, the point of fantasy gaming is it can be what you want.  Gamers who refuse to play against unofficial models can get lost frankly.  Sure, I'm not going to use wildly unhistorical miniatures in my fact based forces, but these are never going to be on a table facing Austrian Hussars, US Marines or Roman Legionaries, so none of those concerns apply.

Point being, when I spotted a range of toys in one of the local bargain shops, I was struck with inspiration.  The models looked nicely detailed - well enough to make one presume, correctly, they were copied from/inspired by something else - but pretty averagely painted.

 

Branded as 'Orcs'  they could fulfill only one role in my mind, given their size.  Giants.

 Stan, the standard bearer, for scale...

 There was a fair amount of work to tidy up the models, cleaning the worst mould lines and filling gaps.  As a first stage I based the models on MDF to make it easier to work on  them; each model was taken apart and reassembled with superglue.  A little light conversion was undertaken and an extra weapon was knocked up from the bits box.

Finally the figures were given a good coat of spray undercoat.

 

 Now in the past I have had issues with undercoat on soft plastics, and I thought I would again here.  The models were initially tacky to the touch.  But I put them to one side whilst other projects were completed. A week of monitoring the models revealed the tackiness gradually disappearing, until after about six days it had gone entirely.  So I can conclude the problem in the past has been haste; the oils/chemicals in spray primer takes maybe a week to cure out of the paint, but perhaps painting over it with other paint seals it in and keeps the sticky effect more or less permanently.  Patience is a virtue!

Painting commenced and other than working on much larger models than normal, it was all very simple.  Given the scale of the models I went for five layers of progressive highlights on the flesh and some of the other big areas of detail.  It took a while, but not too long, about the same as a normal unit of 20-24 figures.

It was only natural to finish the models on some wintry basing, given the final paint scheme...

 An army of five

 A clan of Frost Giants from the icy north thus arrived in TML towers.  A few close ups should give the right impression:

 

  

 

 

 I was particularly pleased with the flesh tones, and decided on a generally muted palette for the rest of the figures, so as not to detract from the impact.  A look of cold was carried through into the bases, relying on the old Bicarbonate of Soda trick.  Yes it might yellow with time, but if push comes to shove I can always paint over it!

Finally a a little scale comparison to a WIP Reaper Evil Knight.  He clocks in at a modest 38mm high...

 

Thus, these five models make for a complete 24 point Dragon Rampant army, on the basis of Reduced figure units; Alternately, they could reflect an allied contingent of giants in Kings of War, perhaps worth a 1,000 points.

Either way, at a total sum of £5, I can't really complain.

And so, onto projects new...