eBay: THE Citadel Giant, 2021 edition

 Holy Deep Pockets, Batman! Someone shelled out $1,600 GBP ($2,270.64 USD) for this complete in box copy of THE Citadel Giant. I mean, just look at it. All the pieces, unpainted, unassembled and in the original box. Color me jealous, for sure. And since we're talking about a miniature (heh) that is nearly 40 years old, limited to 1,000 models, and originally sold for $25-30 GBP, this is just going to keep going up, up, up in price.

Congrats to the new owner, I'm sure this bad boy will be a centerpiece in your collection.

Grenadier Storm Giant (Lightning Master)

A couple of days ago, I finally began to compile the master inventory list for my miniatures collection. It's a somewhat daunting task, considering we're looking at 40 years of minis both old and new. As always, I only have myself and my procrastinating ways to blame.

Today I was going through my Shelf of Shame, consisting mostly of projects ranging from partially painted, primed, or prepped and awaiting primer. In particular, it was the shelf that holds my favorite subject---giants!

I picked up this Grenadier storm giant and began to look him up on the Lost Minis Wiki. No luck. The Stuff of Legends? No dice. How hard can this be? I know my way around minis, know how to narrow down searches, who the various experts are on the various lines, etc. But WTF, here's a giant that I KNOW is Grenadier because it says "Grenadier @ 1992" and "SM13" on the base. Google shows a few pics of this fella, but still no conclusive ID. I FINALLY found his proper designation after about a half-hour of poking around.

Turns out he's not a storm giant after all. He's a LIGHTNING MASTER. He belongs to Grenadier's Fantasy Legends line, product number 3104. Hopefully if any other collectors stumble across him and want to know his particulars, they will find this blog post and not spend a bunch of time searching in vain like I did.

I should note he can also be found in Terence Gunn's excellent book The Fantastic Worlds of Grenadier. The mini is pictured on page 96 and is listed in the Product Appendix on page 118.

Picture credit: The Lost Minis Wiki

eBay: THE Citadel Giant

DISCLAIMER: This is not my auction, I but thought it was worth noting.

This auction appears to be (and the reason I say appears to be is because I do not see any pics of the contents) for a complete, NIB Citadel Giant. You know, THE Citadel Giant. The starting bid is $850 USD and there is already a bid on this huge hunk of lead. Makes me wonder if any other deep-pocketed collectors are going to join the fray?

Reaper Resin vs Reaper Bones

I love Reaper Miniatures. Great miniatures, great company, great customer service, and an outstanding community. For player characters, there is something for everyone. Our last party was all Reaper, and our new party is once again all Reaper. And the selection of creatures covers pretty much everything in the Monster Manual and then some, so the question is usually how much should I spend?

Some folks don't like to mix scales, but that's not a problem for me. True, some of my venerable 25mm Ral Partha orcs look downright tiny compared to a Reaper DHL 28mm adventurer, and many of the old Heritage and Grenadier sculpts lack the same level of detail as contemporary minis, but I don't look at my collection like that. I buy what I need and I buy what I like, scale and sculpting differences be damned.

To date, I have resisted the siren call of Reaper Bones. I didn't participate in any of the Bones Kickstarters, and did not consider buying any individual Bones minis. While I am a huge fan of how incredibly affordable Bones are, I still prefer the feel and heft of a solid chunk of metal. Another plus for Bones is the light weight. I'm sure I could haul around a lot more Bones than metal minis and still have to carry less overall weight. Finally, Bones get high marks for potential durability. How many weapons and limbs have snapped off a metal mini due to an unfortunate fall off the table or from the ham-fisted handling of my fellow gamers? A lot.

Which brings me to the other day. I was looking for new giants, and I saw the Bones Frost Giant King. That pretty much melted my resolve (no Will save allowed) so I went ahead and bought him. And while I was at it, why not buy another frost giant? Ned (my DM) knows my philosophy is "you can never have too many giants" so I also picked up Boerogg Blackrime in all his resin glory. While both the eBay listing and the Reaper website state Boerogg is resin with metal accessories, my NIB copy is resin with resin accessories. Just an observation, not a criticism.

He followed me home, honest!

Standard Reaper packaging vs Bones

I have been reading up on Bones over the years, mostly on the Reaper forums, but also on various blogs. The first-hand accounts of my fellow painters have been very enlightening with regards to Bones, from priming (to prime or not to prime? That is the question), hardening (some substances can cause Bones minis to stiffen up to varying degrees), and converting (easy, given the soft nature of the plastic). The reason I looked at ways to harden Bones is because I'm NOT a fan of how soft and bendy the king's sword is. If I cannot get it to retain a nice straight form, then I'll have to consider lopping it off and replacing it with a resin or metal blade.

The various bits, side-by-side.

Boerogg Blackrime

Frost Giant King

You can see how much bigger the King is.

So I have removed the giants from their packaging, cleaned them with dish soap, a toothbrush, and cold water, and let them dry. Next step will be to assemble them, clean up any imperfections, and get busy painting! I will leave that for next time, one article for the Bones giant and one for the resin giant. If any of you folks have advice you'd like to share, your input is much appreciated. Thanks!

Reaper Marsh Troll (2609) by Bob Olley

This Reaper Marsh Troll is another great example of why I love painting Reaper minis. There are  always a couple of details that reach out and grab you, even if at first glance it looks somewhat pedestrian. Let me explain: OK, we have a troll moving through a swamp. He's not running, attacking, roaring, or anything dynamic. He looks like he's moving with a purpose, looking ahead, and not necessarily looking for trouble.

But check out the fish he's carrying! When I first saw it, I pictured a large, colorful Asian-style carp, and pretty much knew that would be my chance to add some color to a mini that has a decidedly monochrome look about it. The troll's claws/nails are brighter than the rest of his body, pretty much the only contrast on the troll. So I went with vibrant reds, oranges, and purple on the carp. There's even a bit of gold on it that doesn't really show up in the pictures, but it's there. And I used some nice light greens on the base to add a bit more color as well.

Here's a closeup of his face. I thought about giving him some black hair, or even bright green, but in the end decided against it, if only to stay consistent with his overall look.

Have a great weekend!

Grenadier Giant's Club Fire Giant (3501)

This is the third fire giant I painted a few months ago, and also happens to be the third Giant's Club giant I have finished in my ongoing project of painting all the GC giants. Not very pleased with some of the color choices in hindsight, specifically the green and blue patches on the pants, as well as the green trim on the shield. Probably should have gone with some more neutral colors on the pants, and maybe red or yellow on the shield trim. Ah well, he's done and I'm happy.

And here is the group shot of my completed Giant's Club giants to date:

I can't say that I'm too crazy about the fire giant's pose. It's like he's taking a leisurely stroll through The Hall of the Fire Giant King or something, sword casually resting on his shoulder. Oh well, I guess even giants get a day off every now and then.

Grenadier Fire Giant (713) by Julie Guthrie

I picked up this guy back in 2012, and it only took me what, four years to tackle him? I painted a trio of fire giants at the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016, and this Julie Guthrie model is the second of the three I am presenting today.

This is just an outstanding example of Julie Guthrie's work. To me, it captures the look and feel of the illustration from the first Monster Manual, except this brute is hefting an axe instead of a sword. The mix of plate and dragon hide armor is perfect, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

The axe is pretty plain, but if that's my only gripe about this mini, I think I can let it slide.

Citadel C28 Fire Giant aka Darth Maul

I do love the Citadel C28 line of giants. There are 9 different bodies, 10 heads, and 8 weapons according to the CCM wiki, so it offers the discerning collector a chance to mix and match to their heart's content. As soon as I had this particular C28 giant in my hands, I knew exactly what it was going to be: I give you Darth Maul, fire giant.

I mean, come on, how could I NOT paint this guy up as a fire giant with red head spikes? I briefly toyed with the notion of giving him some red face paint, but quickly decided against it. It's OK to use Darth Maul as a creative inspiration, but I didn't need to go all the way.

Darth didn't come with a weapon, so I made him a placeholder axe out of various bits. The haft is way too long, so the proportions are out of whack. But it will do for now until I am able to replace it with something more suitable (I think the C28 sword or mace would do just fine).

You can see some nicely painted C28 giants on Orclord's SOL page (along with a veritable treasure trove of giants and many, many other creatures).

Ral Partha 11-488 Cyclops repaint

I've always loved this particular sculpt from the AD&D 11-series. He's big, muscular, looks pissed off, and is about to ruin some adventurer's day with the rock in his hand. I wish I had taken a "before" pic so I had something to compare it to now, but I'll remember that down the road. I know it saw a lot of use on the gaming table, but time and a smallish base took their toll. The paint was chipped in strategic locations (the parts that made contact with the table every time it fell over) and he was starting to look quite ragged. So into the stripper he went, and then a new base was crafted to keep him stable. Look ma, no more tipovers!

I anticipate this newly refurbished cyclops will once again see a lot of use on the gaming table, terrorizing the PCs and causing mayhem, as giants are wont to do. Only this time, he won't be constantly tipping over!

DragonTooth GI-6, Big Meg and Her Stewpot

It's been way too long since I finished a project, much less one of my favorite subjects - DragonTooth giants. Last time I finished a DT giant was back in 2012, so I'm a bit overdue. Big Meg has been sitting on the workbench since 2010, when I picked her up in a nice lot of giants. I was working on her and a repaint of my Ral Partha 11-488 Cyclops over the past several weeks, so it was nice to finish not just one but two (two!) projects. I know that's peanuts compared to some of you more dedicated painters, but it's progress for me.

What can I say about Meg? How about she's so ugly she's beautiful. Her face is kinda flat and broad, with one bug eye and a single snaggly tooth. Her limbs are thick and beefy, and Sir Mix-A-Lot would be a fan of her rear end and then some. Tom Loback was such a wonderful artist, so good at adding life and character to inanimate bits of lead. Big Meg has that "it factor" in spades, at least in my opinion.

Painting her presented a new challenge for me, as she is of course nearly naked. I don't think I've ever painted this much bare flesh on any miniature, much less one this large. Lots of creases, folds, and random dimples to deal with. I was trying to achieve a pale, pasty complexion, with dirt and grime in the appropriate areas, as I picture Meg hanging out in a cave lair. That explains why her feet are dirty, from scuffling around her cave, hunched over a cooking fire, tending her stew.

She has a unibrow. Hawt!

Why did I paint her stew green? I don't know, isn't all giant stew green? Actually, it was purely for aesthetic reasons. It was the only place I thought a pop of color would look appropriate, and the stew in Conan the Barbarian (remember the orgy scene where they kidnap the princess?) was kind of a sickly whitish-greenish glop, so that was my inspiration. The only non-OEM part on Meg is the stewpot handle. I fashioned mine out of wire, as the ones I made out of Green Stuff and Milliput both proved to be too brittle and broke.

And here's a picture with both of my completed DT giants side-by-side. I would hate to run into these two, although I could totally picture them in The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief. Such a cute couple!

A Throne Fit For A (Giant) King

I am still in over my head with real life matters, so painting, blogging, and other hobby-related pursuits are quite secondary at this point in time. I still make a little bit of time to surf eBay and see if anything interesting has surfaced, but it's mostly window shopping.

There was, however, a recent auction that I could not take a pass on: This lot of 8 Grenadier Giant's Club boxed sets. At $82 total, that is barely over $10 per box. And with one exception, each box is complete with all parts and the paper inserts! The only exception was the missing Chaos Giant, but that should not be a problem to remedy. Now if I told you I already own 5 out of the 8 boxes in the lot, you may ask "Why? Why would Tom do such a thing?" This is why:

It is the Giant King's Throne! Same idea as the Dragon of the Month mail order special (The Dragon Lord) this promotion requires you to collect all of the giants from the Giant's Club series (10 sets) and send in the voucher and UPCs from the boxes, and you received the Giant King's Throne directly from Grenadier.

To me, this is an actual rare, limited edition miniature. There probably were not too many leadheads who actually bought all 10 Giant's Club sets, cut out the UPCs and mailed them in. I wonder if anyone from Grenadier knows how many Thrones were made and how many were actually sent out? So you can call it I bought 8 giants and got the Throne for free, or I bought the Throne and got 8 giants for free. Either way, it was $82 I was happy to part with, no matter how you look at it.

When I make some time in the near future, I'll add the Giant King's Throne to the Lost Minis Wiki and fill in the various missing pics in the Giant's Club section under Grenadier.

My apologies for the poor quality of the photos - they are quick snaps with my new phone. I will take some nicer pics with my camera and lightbox when I can set up that shoot.

Until next time (whenever that may be), happy painting and happy collecting! Thanks for stopping by.

A Giant Painting Contest!

Oh snap, how on earth did I ever miss this one? I just now read about the 2014 Year of the Giants painting contest over on the Reaper forums. It was posted way back in February, so I managed to overlook this one for about 9 months. Sweet.

Anyhow, all is not lost. I have about 6 weeks to complete at least one giant mini and enter it in the contest. If I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll complete two entries, one for the Reaper category and one for the non-Reaper category. I'm not going to even think about the Diorama category.

This is just what I needed to light a fire under me and apply some paint to some lead on my favorite category of minis!

So Hrugnir, Big Meg, and Cumulus walk in to a bar...

I could have also titled this post "Third Time's A Charm" as I missed out on adding Hrugnir the two previous occasions I have seen him up for auction. This time, fate & fortune have smiled upon me and I am now the proud owner of my very own Hrugnir! It always helps when the auction doesn't specifically mention relevant details like "DragonTooth" or "Hrugnir" anywhere in the listing, and the auction title is "Vintage Dungeons and Dragons Metal Figure, HUGE Giant" or something similarly generic and non-specific.

Last time Hrugnir surfaced, he was paired with Cumulus and they sold for $224.50. Just the kind of auction I look for, but it was too pricey for my budget. And before that, this Hrugnir sold for $119.50. Just the figure I was looking for, but once again, too rich for my blood. Don't get me wrong, $55.26 is still a LOT of money for a single miniature, but I'm quite pleased that my Hrugnir only cost me about half the going rate.

Well, time to send Hrugnir off to his much-needed bath in paint stripper. While he soaks, I will ponder things like basing options and potential paint schemes. He and Big Meg (still languishing on my bench) both deserve the royal treatment, much like my GI5 Horned Hill Giant project.

For those of you curious about Hrugnir's dimensions, I must say that he is truly a big-ass hunk of lead goodness. He tips the scales at a whopping 1 pound 11 ounces (760g)! He stands 3.25" tall, 2.75" wide, and 1.5" deep. His base is 2.25" wide by 1" deep.