The Reaper Miniatures Great Worm is a modern miniatures classic that I’ve seen pop up in many people’s collections. For a long time I’ve been taken it off the rack in a local games store and putting it back, so as not to add to my painting queue. Last time a gamer friend of mine came to visit, I got caught up in his shopping spree however and finally bought my own version – on the condition I’d paint it up quickly.
There is no particular army, game or even genre I am associating the giant worm with, so it is intended more as a piece of (dangerous) terrain. Rather than painting it purple though, which is the most commonly used colour, I felt more inspired to turn it into a sand worm.
Praetorian guardsmen find that the desert is alive
A desert death world would be a very suitable setting to use the sand worm in. I have a bunch of Rogue Trader era creatures and monsters to work on, which this fits nicely into.
The Tomb Princes of Khemri summon a great sand worm
As a creature of the desert, the giant worm would make an interesting feature in a Khemrian landscape, or for a dungeon adventure in the Lands of the Dead.
Space Wolves encounter the Shaihuludata gigantica
Even for smaller scales the figure is very well suited, as it has no features that suggest its real size – perfect for a Dune/Epic 40k crossover.
It’s astonishing how well it scales, almost looks best, I would say, with the epic minis! Great paint job as always, did you add the larger stones to the base or are they part of the model?
I think once you’ve seen it as a Shai-hulud, you can’t unsee it. Since I went with an all over wash and drybush rather than picking out particular details and areas, that also supports the impression of large size. The stones are all sculpted on already, I only filled in a bit of sand after glueing the model to its base. All quick and easy, and cheap at under £4.
Nice work! 👍
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it.
Excellent job mate – lovely to see some Praetorians too! :-)
Thanks! Yeah, I need to get the Praetorians back onto the painting bench sometime, still a couple of squads to complete.
Pretty cool!
Thank you, it was good to paint something so quite different – and quick!
Love your paint job, the naturalistic feel is perfect! I wanted this model for my Frostgrave worm but kept putting off buying it too. Now I see just how good this is for various periods with your photos I’m kicking myself more. Great work (as always)
Thank you! Now that you mention Frostgrave – painting it as an Ice Worm would also be cool… I think I might end up buying and painting several of these eventually.