Hobby Update: Varangur Frost Giant

Yikes. It's been a few months since my last post. March saw some nice weather, and a fair bit of priming, but my KoW hobbying hasn't been a big part of life these last few months. 

While it hasn't been prominent, I've actually done some hobbying in the interim, and I'll try to get the blog current, starting with the Varangur Frost Giant here!

The model is from ReaperMini, my go-to for monster minis. Their minis can be difficult to work with, as the plastic is soft, and many models (Bones) aren't designed to be used with primer... fortunately you can work around both issues.

Using Primer

The Bones line is designed to paint right out of the box. But primer helps a bit, if you do it right. Just wash the mini in some soapy water (a toothbrush or something helps get the suds into the nooks), rinse, and let dry. That should remove the "no primer needed" chemical, and let the primer stick.

Bendy Mini
If your mini comes bent anywhere, you can fix it with water! This video does an excellent job explaining and showing the process. Essentially you heat up water, immerse the model until it becomes pliable, adjust as needed, and then "shock" in a cold water bath to essentially "save" your changes. You can do this multiple times if you don't quite get it the first time.

This model had its' legs squeezed together, so it wouldn't stand flat, and also a warped ax haft. Both were fixed with this trick, and I think came out pretty good.

I decided to go with a blue skin-tone to sell the "Frost" aspect. Nothing groundbreaking there. Still, turned out nice.

I like the model, as it comes across like a "giant dwarf," which strikes me as silly. I haven't kept up at all with KoW fluff or releases, but I am (vaguely) aware of something called the Northern Alliance, which seems a mix of Varangur, Dwarves, and other stuff. I've always wanted to start a little dwarf army, so maybe some Alliance Dwarves will come to reinforce my Varangur in the future...

As for uses in game, this guy seems like a beast, but as ever, games are in short supply, and despite this being my third giant... I have yet to get a game in with any of them. So take my hot take with a whole shaker of salt!

Stat-wise, he's a Colossal Giant. He's got a mediocre Melee value, but anything that hits should be doing damage with the CS4. He's got a good Defense and a great Nerve, so I would imagine he'd be hard to shift, particularly if you support him on the battlefield.

One neat thing he's got going for him is the ability to cast spells! He's a monster, so at Height 4, he should be able to see a lot of things... the legendary spell Blizzard (36" range, indirect fire, Blast D6) seems appropriate and potent, giving the usually melee-focused Varangur another way to get some damage in early. Whenever he hits the table, he will be a force to be reckoned with.

Finishing up the Frost Giant brings me pretty close to 9k of Varangur sitting around (including ~1250 in Ogre Allies). While I still have some potential projects and prospective purchases... I think they'll all remain pending for now. The Varangur are big enough, and there are a handful of smaller projects I'd like to wrap up first.