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Despite my scepticism of General Kraken's last WoffBoot army, I've come to think that a Giant could be a useful addition to my Savage Orcs.
(So yes, I basically eating my words here. Mmmm... adjectives.)

Much as I like the new Giant model, there are already two of them knocking around the armies of the WoffBoot, and adding another would make them look like a particularly unattractive tribute to The Rockettes.

Kick those legs up, girls.

Moreover, I've tried hard to steer clear of red/pink in my green/brown themed army, so a huge pale-flesh centrepiece (i.e. the Giant model I already have) would spoil that. The only thing for it - I needed to field a giant orc!

After trawling the internet, however, I was unable to locate a suitable model (not even for ready money). Until I happened upon a charming range of children's toys from a French manufacturer named Papo.

The toddler I confiscated it from is still crying.

This chap met a lot of my requirements: he's big enough (9cm head-to-toe), is slightly hunched-over (giving the impression of gargantuan scale) and is carrying 'savage' weapons of stone and rough-hewn wood. And look at that grin - who wouldn't love that grin?

He also cost about £4 - a difficult adjustment when building a Warhammer army, but I persevered.

The first step was the converting:

• There was some definitely non-savage bits that I had to cover up (the metal anklet, the chain, the chestpiece, shoulder guard) - greenstuffing extra furs took care of most of it.
• I really needed to get a sense of scale in there (so he didn't just look like a big orc), mostly achieved by adding plastic skulls and bones.
• I wanted to turn his wussy pilgrim's staff into a massive club, so I greenstuffed the skinny lower half and - on the principle that you can't better nature - added a pebble from my garden. The club is stupidly big, I admit, but at least it looks like it could cause 2D6 wounds.
• Nothing says savage like a bone through the nose, which involved a bit of rhinoplasty. And since I was greenstuffing the face anyway, I made his brows heavier.

He also has a codpiece of boar tusks
 - because sharp, jagged spikes are exactly what you want down there. 

The undercoating was a worrying moment - the model is soft plastic ("chewable and non-toxic!"), rather than the usual surface. But it adhered quite well.

And that's my Bank Holiday sorted.

On the plus side, paint sticks to the model really well - I had visions of layers sloughing off, but if anything it's tougher than regular models.

On the downside, the details aren't sharp - which doesn't help my traditional ink-and-drybrush technique. The furs and skin aren't my best work, but I think I've gotten away with it.

In terms of warpaint (of course he was going to have warpaint), I didn't want to copy the simple block-images of my savage orc infantry. Partly because it wouldn't help with the scale issues, and also because it was a hell of canvas to play with.

I decided (somewhat unwisely) to cover half his body in orky glyphs - random and reasonably small, to give the impression of them having been daubed on by lesser greenskins. It took a while to do, and I was seriously running out of ideas by the time I got to the ankle, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Welcome to the Valley. Ho Ho Ho.

I only have the base to finish, and a few more accessories kindly provided by General Kraken's giant kit, and the big feller is ready to rock.