In my never-ending quest to add more and more projects to never be finished onto the pile of projects that have yet to be finished, I have set upon a quest for the perfect troll figures. Now, mind you that I am not in search of any ordinary troll, but a troll of a particular sort. The trolls I am looking for are not gangly and and carrot-nosed with hollow-socketed eyes nor are they the sort with floppy gremlin ear and cartoonish scaley hides. And let me not forget the other sort of trolls that I am not after - the sorts wit hthe pug-faces that come for a land rules by a cyclopic god wizard or the other tiny sort with fuzzy neon hair and wishing jewels in their gut. No, what I am looking for are trolls of a mor classic sort.
The trolls I want are those who have a look of intelligence in their smirking, leering faces. They wear clothes and carry weapons though they may be of a filthy and unfinished or downtrodden sort. The trolls I seek have hair and though their ears and noses may be big, they the sort that snuffle and ogle menacingly as they seek to devour you. They are the Mountain King and the tricksters and tormentors of simple folk and the defeaters of warriors.
Now, all poetry aside, what I am looking for are troll miniatures that are evocative of the more classic Scandinavian trolls and not GW trolls, D&D trolls or Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trolls. The trolls I want look much more like those to be found in the old animated Hobbit and Return of the King movies or in the nicknacks of your old Norwegian grannies living room. What I also want are trolls that will look right if I set them on a table across from perfectly historical Vikings and other Dark Age sorts.
This quest has led me to a few miniatures, some new and some old. A few of them are even OOP but so nice.
OOP Julie Guthrie Troll By Grenadier - Pack #706
Two of the old Ral Partha Trolls nicely painted from the Witchhunter.net site
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Your troll description makes me think of this artist
ReplyDeletehttp://bauer.artpassions.net/
Not sure if I've seen any miniatures.
Very nice. I think my favourite trolls were the 1980's Asgard ones. I've got a couple of them one has a stone hammer and the other has a mace & chain over his back.
ReplyDeleteThe old Citadel Fantasy Tribe Trolls also fit this description (although some aren't wearing any clothes). Occasionally found on eBay...
ReplyDeleteI've been using the Dwarf Wars Orcs as Trolls for my Ragnarok project.
ReplyDelete-J
Reaper has some good ones. I've got this one http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/troll/sku-down/02421 and this one http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/troll/sku-down/02117. Although they might be too mannish looking.
ReplyDeleteTrolls in Scandinavian stories often have multiple heads. Are you looking for ettin models too?
ReplyDeleteVendel has an interesting troll that looks more like what I would call an ogre. It hears a tunic and pants, with a Moe (from the 3 Stooges) haircut. They also sell scale-covered trolls, which is an interesting variant on the troll idea.
I am looking for some of the old two-headed trolls done by Ral Partha or Citadel back in the day.
ReplyDeleteWould you mind if I reprinted the photos of the minatures you've displayed in work I'm publishing? Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteGo ahead. They are not my miniatures, but imiages found online to illustrate the topic of the post.
ReplyDeleteThe first Ral Partha troll up there (and some others from that latish RP line) were recast in the MageKnight plastics line, so there are a fair number available on the secondary market. I have two of them, and a couple like that with swords, as well as a couple of others in metal. Very nice. Bob Olley sculpted them, I think.
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