Frost Giant Bodyguard

Now that's a Giant Beard! Once again, a Reaper Bones miniature. This time it's the Frost Giant Bodyguard. He was sculpted explicitly for the Bones line (the prior two Frost Giants originally came out in metal), and it shows. His details are a bit less intricate and work better in this medium.

I really like how the beard came out. It was pretty simple too. It's just Adminstratum Grey, a "wash" of Guilliman Blue, and a drybrush of Pallid Wych Flesh. The only issue I might have with him is that his pose is pretty static, but it's a classic pose and isn't a problem with the rest of their Frost Giant line (so I don't really have a problem with it).

Frost Giant Jarl

I am the ... Jarl? What the heck is a Jarl?!?!?

I'm on a Giant roll, it's the Frost Giant Jarl Boerogg Blackrime. Reaper makes 2 old-style Frost Giants, this one and the Princess from a few days ago. I figured I'd finish off both of those first. These are more tribal and a bit smaller than the Viking aesthetic the other 4 Frost Giants in their line. I'll probably paint the other 4 similar to this one, but I'll still use them as Cloud/Storm Giants in our D&D campaign.

This sculpt has a few things that annoy me. He suffers from a common problem with the old Reaper Giant line, he's staring at the ground. I guess that would look good if you put a player character in front of him, but it made it really hard to photograph his face (and detracts from the miniature as a whole). The other is his sword is kinda hideous. A third, bonus issue, I had with him is that his fetishes are not too defined.

I painted him with the same color pallette as the Princess. Lots of shades of browns with pale bluish white skin. The skin was painted white, followed by a thinned down flesh wash (1:1), a thinned down blue wash (1:1), and highlighted with Pallid Wych Flesh.

BTW, I know a Jarl is a Norse Chieftain, I just thought it was a funny word. :-)

Frost Giant Princess

Brrrr ... is it getting cold in here. It's the Frost Giant Princess from Reaper's Bones line.

I have mixed thoughts on this miniature, she doesn't really fit in with the other Frost Giants in Reaper's line. She has a very primal look to her. I suspect she's loosely based on Princess Monoke (given the mask, pelts, fetishes and spear). She was very much an exercise in painting various shades of brown. Her skin is supposed to be a pale bluish white, and I think it mostly worked. It'll be interesting to see how it works on the frost giants that are showing more skin.

I did mess up on her legs a bit, it's not very apparent, but I think the sculpt is wearing skintight leggings (there's some stitching hidden beneath the spear and next to the frills of her "dress"). I didn't realize that was the case until I had already painted those parts bare, so I just carried on.

Fire Giant King

Hail to the King!

It's the big guy himself ... Reaper's Fire Giant King, Skorg Ironskull. Yes, his sword is also really massive. He looks a bit old for Vanja the Fire Giant Queen, but maybe it's a May/December romance. I actually started to like this sculpt more as I painted him. I think it was his beard that sold me, he has a proper Giant beard. He does have the classic, "I'm going to point in a direction I'm not looking" pose, which always seemed a bit off to me (who does that?). It is popular with various sculptors though.

He's the last of the Fire Giants I'm going to paint (at this time). Reaper actually makes another 3, but all 3 are just smaller versions of ones I've already painted (the Queen, the King, and the Bodyguard). If I were to rank them: Jailer, Queen, King, Bodyguard, Warrior.

Fire Giant Bodyguard

Yes ... another Fire Giant. This time it's the Fire Giant Bodyguard ... and yes ... his sword really is that big. So big that I had problems getting both him and his sword in the same picture.

This one is a remake of an older sculpt, only bigger and "cleaner". There is surprisingly few other painted examples of this miniature on the web (although it's really quite nice). I like how he has a number of visual cues (i.e. the shape of the various doodads around his armor) that tie him in with the other Reaper Fire Giants. My only complaint is the beard and hair is a bit oddly shaped/undefined. If I had been willing to take the time, I might have green-stuffed a bit more volume to his facial hair.

Fire Giant Jailer

Another Fire Giant! It's Reaper's Fire Giant Jailer. Not a lot to say about him, same color pallet as the other Fire Giants. I might give him another wash of Nuln Oil & Lahmia Medium over his back to blend in the highlights a bit more. I always thought the chain whip looked a bit weird. He looks like he's just standing there looking tough, while the whip is "whipping" about by itself.

Fire Giant Queen

She's a Killer Queen 

Gunpowder, gelatin 
Dynamite with a laser beam 
Guaranteed to blow your mind…

So it's Reaper's Fire Giant Queen Vanja this time. Painted her the same style I did the previous fire giant, but with a bit more gold. I really like her cape and pose. I also like how she's mostly armored on her legs (cause that's where a giant is going to take the most hits), with less armor up top. I have mixed thoughts on the hair, but it's the style I chose for all of the Fire Giants hair, she just has a lot of it. I'm not sure the flame technique I used works as well for large areas as it does for smaller flames.

Storm Giant

Another Giant, this time it's the Storm Giant from the Reaper Bones line. I wasn't as enthused by this sculpt as I was by the Iron Golem, the huge pauldron on his shoulder detracts/distracts from his face (which should be the focal point of the miniature). It's not helped that, like a lot of the older Reaper Giants, he's looking slightly downward. His big sword is also almost impossible to keep straight (I straightened it with boiling water multiple times, and it always slowly returns to it's bent shape).

I'm fairly happy with the overall paint job though. I was shooting for a "white marble"/porcelain like finish to his skin tone, and I think I mostly achieved it.