While browsing obscure miniatures, I fell head over heels with Grenadier’s “Goblin War Giant”. Originally released in the 1980s, the model spent many years in collectors’ obscurity, selling for hundreds on eBay and trade groups.
The giant has since been relicensed and recast by Mirliton, and is available for a more reasonable sum — substantially cheaper, I should add, than today’s mass manufactured plastic “Mega Gargants”.
Encouraged by the Miniatures Corner’s writeup, I ordered my giant in May. Knowing he would consume several weeks of hobby time, I set the model aside for the darker seasons ahead. As Autumn beckoned, so too did the treetrunk legs and shaggy beard of my oversized friend…
A True Colossus
This “miniature” is huge – bigger than I dared hope. Weighing well over 1kg and made of 20+ parts, the model is hobby heaven and hell combined: gluing, pinning, greenstuff, basing, mounting. Through thick and thin, I certainly didn’t get bored bringing this brute to life!
The details on the giant were great, but the goblins that clung to him looked a little flat. I replaced their heads with those from an Arachnarok howdah, kindly supplied by one of my gaming opponents. I threw in a few extras, including a poor goblin that got tangled up in the giant’s beard.
Tangled up in beard! 
The old Goblin sculpts from Grenadier
The metal bolt throwers supplied looked a little puny. I replaced these with D&D ballistas, then magnetised their bottoms so I can use them elsewhere.
The giant wields enormous platforms for his goblins to perch on. These too were magnetised. I’m glad I did so, otherwise I probably would have broken him somewhere in the process. It made reaching those wretched goblins a little easier!
I fitted extra branches to the platform, then sprinkled a few 15mm goblins as “snotlings”. I want this guy to be a greenskin magnet, attracting wretches of every shape and size from across the Badlands.
Painting the damn thing
The sheer weight of the giant meant I couldn’t just pick it up and poke at the armpits. It was both heavy and fragile, awkward to hold and liable to poke or be broken by my clumsy hands.
I settled on mounting him to a block of wood, then kneeling down to get at his underparts. I’m sure that made a sorry sight for anyone who happened to peer through my office window.
The downside to sub assemblies was I spent a disproportionate amount of time highlighting areas that would never be seen!
And that’s that! 1.5kg of white metal, 21 greenskins and many weeks of studious hobby. His name is Gunthor, and he’ll be serve as a “boss battle” for unsuspecting Warhammer Fantasy opponents – stay tuned for a custom ruleset. For now, he will sit proudly at my desk like a medieval Oscar trophy. I promise not to drop him.
Hey mate, I love your work. I produce a tabletop gaming magazine called Donkjonker 40000, I wondered if you’d be interested in contributing some of your pics and writing. I’m still in the early stages and have only released 1 episode so far… but I’m putting together an article for episode 2 on Fantasy Warriors and I’d love to include pics of your goblin war giant. The giant was one of my favourite mini’s back in the day and I still think it’s amazing. I can’t pay anything at this stage, but I hope that would change if I can get the magazine off the ground and grow it into something really cool. I could include links to your page so people could check out the rest of your works. Episode 1 has only been out for a couple of weeks and it’s had a good reception so far, I hope to put out episode 2 in September. Let me know if you’re keen on some kind of collaboration or contributing some content, maybe becoming a regular contributor if you are interested.
Hey Don, thanks very much! The model is a beast isn’t it, I’m not surprised he made an impression! I’d be happy for you to feature these in your magazine. I’ve written some custom rules for him which I plan on publishing at some point… If it’s possible to put a link back to this blog that would be appreciated, and if you need any further info let me know – you can find me at hello@rollforwounds.com
Look forward to episode 2!
What a beast! It was useful hearing the difficulties and workarounds involved in this, as it has made me realise I don’t have it in me to take on a project like this.
Well done though, you’ve done a great job there.
Thanks Will! It was a slog, to be sure. Not something I could manage outside a pandemic!
I have an original one of these Ive still yet to make, bought him a while back & i paid the grand sum of £35 for him ! youve done a great job there, hope mine looks that good when i eventually get round to him.
Thanks Mark! Assembling him is quite the workout – brace yourself!
I bought this set in the mid 90s I believe and painted it. It was a slog even without the changes like switching out goblin parts or the ballista. When I bought it was $18.00. I did mount it on a cut section of a tree, glued on false grass and such then a bunch of plastic trees including some that were ‘broken in his path’. Wound up selling it then for $200. It was a ton of fun.
That’s brilliant! And to think, your tree-felling giant is probably still lurking somewhere… hopefully still squashing weedy humans. Thanks for stopping by!