Ral Partha Trolls, by Bob Olley

Well, I finally got around to taking photos for my second Bob Olley installment: Ral Partha Trolls, circa the early 1990s. 

Trolls come in all shapes and sizes.  Every edition of D&D seemed to have a new concept art of the creature, and modelling companies added their own ideas to the already large mix. 

The Ral Partha Fantasy Armies sculpts by Bob Olley in the early 1990s were done in a similar style to his Ogre line.  These models however, while being the same height, are thinner in the face and arms.  A gangly look permeates the whole line.  These trolls do not claw or bite; they hack you to death with sword, axe and scythe (or hit you with a rock).  Then they eat you.

The Fantasy Armies line consists of 12 sculpts, 9 of which are shown below.  The Shaman, Standard Bearer and Leader are in my lead pile.  I saw no real reason yet to finish them ahead of other projects.  All of these can be purchased from Ral Partha Europe at very reasonable prices.

The Family

The nice thing about these sculpts is that they fit very nicely into Bobs Ogre line.  They can easily pass for a different kind of Ogre, similar to how there are different kinds of human beings.  Since my goal was to build a large army fit for Warhammer or Kings of War I decided to paint this line in the same color scheme as my Ogres: Reaper Master Series Olive Skin Tone Triad.   This gives me a large model selection with almost no duplicate models.  This not normally possible with older metal model ranges.

I followed the same tartan pattern as my Ogres: Ritterlich Blue, Brilliant Blue and Cyan Blue, with Swamp Green, Military Green and Camo Green lines.

Most fur was done in Walnut Brown, drybrushed with Blacked Brown and then Intense Brown (another Reaper triad).

Ral Partha Troll Rock Throwers, with additional ammunition

Stones were done with the Reaper Master series Stone Triad (what a surprise).

Ral Partha Rock Thrower 1

Ral Partha Troll Rock Thrower 2

Ral Partha Troll Rock Thrower 3

Ral Partha Troll Heavy with Axe

 Weapon hafts and shields were done in Woodstain Brown, dry-brushed with Shield Brown and then Driftwood Brown.


Ral Partha Troll with sword

 Bases were done with Basic Dirt, dry-brushed with Brown Sand and Yellowed Bone.

Ral Partha Troll Drummer

Ral Partha Heavy Troll with Greatsword

 Metallic pieces were done in Blackened Steed, washed black and then glazed with Tarnished Steel.


Ral Partha Troll with Sword

 Hair was painted Stormcover Grey, then washed with a highly diluted black.  Then dry-brushed with Ritterlich Blue.  I use dark blues when highlighting black since it is a rich color and looks better than grey.

Ral Partha Troll with Scythe

Overall I am very pleased with this line.  The models fit perfectly with Bobs other sculpts (both from Ral Partha and Reaper).   Hopefully they will eat some new friends soon.