This is part of my Troll army, created for my Asgardian themed Warhammer project. I made the Thor army and then my Frost Giants. The trolls seemed like a welcome change from painting bronzed barbarian flesh!

Because my Giants are so big, the GW trolls looked like they would be no match for them so I needed to go bigger! Looking at the kits available i decided on the Glottkin, Maggoth Lord and some parts from the Slaughter Brute kit to make all the trolls. This was challenging to make every one a character in its own right, but also to link parts so they looked like they were from the same race. The model I am most pleased with has the body and claws of the Maggoth kit and the arms, legs and head from the slaughter brute. This Troll came out looking really evil which is how i wanted the trolls to look. Often they can appear almost comical in appearance.

The largest troll has a tree on his back and some rocks as if he has woken from a long deep hibernation. The idea for the tree was given to me from a friend. Thanks mate!

The puppet master was a bit of a strange idea I had, mainly came about from playing with the pose of the model. He is controlling Thor and Loki puppets made from bits of corpses, put together by the troll-kin. The trollkin were made from Nurgle models. I saw these as half breed troll/humans. The soldiers for their masters.

The painting scheme was really easy! I don’t enjoy painting very much, but loved doing these. I used my wash technique that i tested out for my Dreadfleet models. White undercoat and washes applied over the top. I can’t really add too much more to that! The hardest part is choosing the colours, but in the end i used a bit of everything!

40 Comments on “The shiver of startling and dreadful things – Ice Trolls

  1. Wow these are stunning. I love the conversions and your paint jobs have come out excellently. It is only a preference thing but I think round bases would look much better for them :). Just prefer the look of the round personally, makes more of a diorama for the base, which I think would work fantastically for these models

  2. I’m absolutely blown away by these. I keep looking at the eye of the largest troll with the tree on his back, I swear he looks alive.

  3. Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated. I also prefer round bases, but sometimes i just use what i have! Lol.
    Glad you noticed the eye, really pleased with how that came out, black with a white spot and gloss varnish, sometimes simple is best!

  4. You have a gloriously wicked imagination – and talent to boot. Among the best nurgle models I´ve ever seen.

    Good show, sir. Good show indeed.

  5. This is incredibly creative and innovative stuff Julian!

    I will second Mr. Vader…some of the most original stuff seen for a long time. The Northern Wastes crawls out of these fell creatures. Wow.

  6. Epic!! Love your work. Truly inspiring stuff, you’ve managed to capture the imposing and playful nature of Nurgle perfectly.

  7. Julian, these are gorgeous. You’ve invested imagination and care were it matters the most and the watercolory blast of colors does everything it needs to and no more for a very coherent, original and beautiful finish. Thanks for sharing!!

  8. Winters was long to wait the coming of the Trolls for The rumor said that they had crossed the border. And there at a crossroads in the ice-cold air of the early morning, not the red of the blood on the snow but the ice-cold decay of Nurgle.
    One more time bravo Mister Bayliss your talent enchants our spirits.

  9. I didn’t know there were so many poets on the ex-profundis site! Lol. Lovely words guys! Really pleased you like them.

  10. Gorgeous work, and very inventive use of the larger nurgle kits. I really like the comparatively frail fingers on the tree backed troll, they look so delicate compared to the diseased bulk that makes up the rest of him. And that eye! I seriously love this model.
    The daemonettes look amazing as well, especially the one on the left. I’d really like to see some extra pictures of those.

    • 2 of the daemonettes are kingdom death model conversions. The other is built from lots of GW parts and green stuff. The one you like is a KD model that i got from china for about £8 from Ali Express, must be a re-cast, but looks as good as the originals. Glad you like them, cheers!

  11. Very very impressive. They are like a walking hell frozen over. Disease, decay, rot and malice. A perfect mix of the darkest sides of chaos.

    • Thanks Alexander, love your description of them! Awesome! Lol

  12. Fantastic job on these! It would be really cool seeing these in a woodland scenery though I doubt I’d be going to the family cabin anytime soon after seeing something like that :D Man these sure gave me some ideas on my PtG project.

    • Thanks for your comments, they would look good coming out of the trees!

  13. These are fantastic, the head on the puppet master reminds me of the hell dogs head on the first ghostbusters movie! (The ones that come out of the Statues) great work, very vivid!

  14. These are so incredible. Coolest thing I’ve seen on this site, and that’s saying something. Nothing weird, but I wanna eat your brain and steal your knowledge.

  15. Thanks for the comments guys. Totally get the ghost busters reference! Lol. Cheers!

  16. Nice work – I like how they read as trolls rather than being particularly Nurgly, despite being based off Nurgle kits. Love the Puppet Master especially – that’s particularly weird!

    • Cheers, really pleased you can see them as trolls, limited with parts to use at this scale, hoped the nurgle bits would work as troll parts just as well!

  17. Really amazing. So full of character and movement. And not just scary and gross but sad too, the way chaos should be. The wierd leech-mouthed ones in particular have a weary look to them which I love.

    They also embody one of the fun contrasts inherent int he idea of the realm of chaos being at the north pole; all that bubbling, chaotic, seething life in an environment which we think of as slow, frozen, dead.

  18. I’ve said it before but will say it again. Amazing work, man! Your hobby will always be an inspiration to my own. These Trolls compliment your Giants and Asgardians so nicely.

  19. Julian, your art amazes and stun me. Fantastic!

    I’d like to learn from you! What kind of washes do you use? Do you thin them down?
    Especially your black wash doesn’t seem to stick to higher areas at all. Did you add a lot of flow enhancer or do you dry brush the areas again after washing?

    • Hi Matthias, sorry i haven’t replied earlier, just seen your comment. Thanks for your kind words. I use the old GW washes and some of the new ones. I water them down and build up layers. I don’t do anything special…i start off with the brown wash all over, thinned down a little. Then a green wash. To be honest i just play about with different colours. I use brown and black in the recesses to add more depth, sometimes purple.If the wash is going where you don’t want it, have a clean brush ready to absorb the excess paint! Works like a sponge. You can drybrush afterwards to highlight if you want to. I like painting like this because its easy and you just paint freely, not worrying too much about it.Never heard of a flow enhancer! Lol. Don’t know if this helps or not!

  20. Love these guys! Paint scheme is wonderful too. I am really impressed by how coherent they look – it’s such a challenge with “heavily mutated” models to make them look like complete creatures, rather than mashed-up chaos spawn. I gave it a shot with a Khorgorath once, but I was not nearly as successful as you!

    • Thanks, the coherence is down to using the same parts. Mostly 3 models, the 2 nurgle beasts and the slaughterbrute kit. Mixing body parts around and filling in gaps with green stuff! Lol. Glad you like them.

  21. Wow, just came across you blog and it has blown my mind! So many amazing things.
    With these trolls, how did you create the saliva? Its a small detail but really stood out to me, great pieces!
    Thanks

  22. Hi Matt, so sorry mate, just found your comment, a late answer to your question is the saliva is made using UHU glue. Its a crap glue, really stringy, but that makes it great for drool! Lol. You can put some in the mouth on the end of a cock tail stick and then tease it down. Takes a bit of practice, but not difficult, more about quantities, not too much or it makes a mess, too little won’t really show up. Cheers.

  23. I’m blown away. Sorry to say this but I am going to try to rebuild this. Just awesome!

  24. I can’t believe they want you to ruin these gems with round bases, don’t do it.

  25. Hi I bought most of this troll frost army, but I missed out on a few do you plan on making more?

    • Hi Robert, just found your message, so sorry i haven’t seen it before! Thanks for buying them, so pleased you like them. I stopped doing the hobby and sold my entire collection. Glad these have gone to a good home! I would consider doing commissions if there was something specific you wanted me to do. Cheers

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