Trolling

The origins of various words and phrases can be very interesting because definitions are affected by usage and can stray from the original intended meaning.

This may occur when people either intentionally or inadvertently misuse a word in a context where it was not originally meant to be used, and the misuse gains traction and eventually becomes popularly accepted as truth — which is how this:

Trolling

Became this:

Trolling

Anyway, enough digression. The subject of this particular post is obviously the troll.

In Norse myth, trolls were closely related to giants (it is even believed that troll is just a negative synonym of jötunn), but the term was also used to describe various smaller mythological beings including huldra.

On to the miniatures (grouped roughly by size and proportions):

The largest trolls in this group are from RAFM, and include a Troll Warrior (Demons of Darkness RAF3723), and an Undead Troll (Demons of Darkness RAF3724).

The next pair is a Giant Troll attacking with Spiked Club (Fiend Factory FF16-1) and a Reaper Marsh Troll (Dark Heaven Legends 02609).

The Marsh Troll was sculpted by Bob Olley, and bears the characteristic facial features of all Olley trolls.

Two more Olley trolls, but this time they are older Ral Partha trolls that stand about 1cm shorter than the newer Reaper sculpt. On the left is one of the Troll Heavy Infantry figures (Fantasy Armies 02-143), while on the right is one of the Troll Rock Throwers (Fantasy Armies 02-142).

Some of these Ral Partha sculpts were used for Mage Knight, and include the Krugg Heaver (Whirlwind #040, #041,#042), Krugg Thug (Whirlwind #037, #038, #039), and the Krugg Headhunter (Minions #082, #083, #084/Nexus #102).

I repainted my figures to eliminate the awful yellow-blue-red colors originally used on them.

The Krugg heaver is one of the Troll Rock Throwers, while the Krugg thug is one of the Fantasy Armies Troll Light Infantry sculpts. The Krugg Headhunter is a modified version of the Fantasy Armies Troll Leader.

I cut off all of the trophies from one of the headhunters because I don't like figures that are covered with skulls or decapitated heads. It is a painstaking process, and will require additional work to make the figure presentable.

I really like these Olley trolls, as they remind me of the Fjeltroll from The Sundering Trilogy by Jacqueline Carey.

Next are a pair of Heritage trolls. The one on the left is a Troll of Moria (Lord of the Rings 1760), while the other one is a regular Troll (Dungeon Dwellers 1246).

A Grenadier War Troll (MM84) and Female Troll (MM86), both from the Monster Manuscript Vol.X box set.

Two Citadel C20 Trolls: Grog Stuntycrusher (left), and Hobol Firebreath (right).

Another Citadel troll (Marauder MM40) and a Reaper Cave Troll (Bones 77004).

Citadel Fantasy Tribe Trolls, sculpted by Tom Meier.

These are the early sculpts, and I believe there were later releases with their "naughty bits" covered up.

Next is a Large Troll with Club (minus the club) from Asgard (Fantasy Monsters FM66), a TSR troll (AD&D Monster Tribes 5305), and a very similarly posed Grenadier troll from the Horrors of the Marsh boxed set (Dragon Lords 2010).

A Ral Partha Troll (AD&D Monsters 11-408), and a pair of Grenadier Trolls (Julie Guthrie 706) are next.

The Ral Partha troll in particular bears the characteristics of the classic troll from the AD&D Monster Manual. The AD&D troll was obviously modeled after the troll from Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson (which may in turn have been influenced from elsewhere?).

I also have the Grenadier Denizens of the Swamp troll that is even closer in appearance to the Sutherland illustration from the Monster Manual, but unfortunately it suffered an accident while I was gathering up all my troll miniatures for photography.

More Ral Partha trolls include True Trolls (Personalities and Things that go Bump in the Night 01-063), and a Hill Troll (Personalities and Things that go Bump in the Night 01-010 v2).

Some unconventional trolls are the Archive Bridge Troll (Middle Earth 540), and the Ral Partha Draken (Personalities and Things that go Bump in the Night 01-123).

The figures are kind of similar, and remind me a bit of the Fremont Troll.

More unconventional trolls are the Uz of Glorantha. From left to right are a Trollkin with Spear, Trollkin with Sling, and Dark Troll with Large Axe from the Citadel Trolls and Trollkin box set (Runequest Box 3). The final figure is a Troll Adventurer from the Citadel Adventurers box set (Runequest Box 2).

The Runequest trolls seem a bit undersized for their intended scale, since Uz are supposed to be larger than humans, but they're just about right compared to 1/72 humans. The trollkin are okay, but having even smaller ones would be nice.

Additional candidates for trollkin are cave imps from Splintered Light Miniatures. The following miniatures were purchased as part of the Cave Imp Army (BOX21).

The figures look as if they may have been modeled after the Dam troll, and I'm going to paint them up as such. The product line has been sold to C-P Models, but a boxed set appears to still be sold by Splintered Light. I'm not sure if they actually come in a box though, since I received my figures in a single ziploc bag.

Last are my 15mm trolls, with figures from Chariot (GOB10) and Alternative Armies (HOT3) on the left, while to the right is a Splintered Light Troll Throwing Rock (ORC04) and a 25mm Heritage River Troll (Fantasy 1315).

These smaller trolls would be ideal for a low fantasy game in which monsters are not of gigantic proportions.

The Heritage troll is a 25mm figure, but it is barely taller than the SLM troll. The Chariot figure looks like a typical Warhammer troll, while the HOT troll would fit well stylistically with the Olley trolls (while still being unique). I just wish there was a 25mm version of the HOT figure so that it really could be used alongside the Olley trolls.

A nasty-looking troll, brandishing a bloody axe,
blocks all passages out of the room.