Outwitted Ogre

‘Tell us a bedtime story, papa,’ said Aida.

‘What would you like to hear?’ I asked as we sat down near the hearth.

‘Tell us about Hassan and Mehdi, papa!’ Abbas said.

‘You’ll have nightmares,’ I responded.

‘Pleeaase’ my children said in unison.

‘We know how it ends,’ Aida protested.

‘Alright,’ I said, ‘the story begins many years ago, when your grandfather was still alive…’

“I’m beginning to have second thoughts about this undertaking,” Hassan said after two hours walking in silence with the desert on the horizon.

“Aye,” Mehdi responded, “fame and glory isn’t as alluring once that task is at hand. But we volunteered and could not show our heads around the Wither Woods if we retreated now. And think of the poor Modiri family."

“Yeah, they had no warning. It must have gotten their dog first. Most times people run away and just lose some livestock,” Hassan said as they walked on. “How far into the desert do you think it makes its home?"

“Can’t be too deep. But no one has ever ventured this far,” Mehdi answered. “The trail is clear and I think even the sand won’t cover these tracks too quick."

‘They followed the tracks into the desert as night fell and the air cooled,’ I said continuing the story. ‘They walked on past midnight, carrying their long weapons.’

“What do I see in the distance?” Mehdi asked as a crescent moon shown overhead and lit the otherwise flat landscape with a faint light.

“Must be a large rock formation the Westersands haven’t worn away,” Hassan replied. “Do you hear that noise?"

‘A reticent but hash sound fell on our heroes’ ears as they stopped and looked at each other with hesitant glances.’

“I think we’ve found the beast’s haunt,” Mehdi suggested. After a pause, “We can use those rocks to our advantage.”

“But it’ll surely see, or smell, us coming - there is no other cover around."

“Not if one of us cycles around and approaches from the back side. He could sneak up those rocks and get the jump while-"

“While the other is bait?!” Hassan protested.

“Well, if the timing were right, the danger would be low - and less than both of us facing it head on,” Mehdi explained.

“Are you offering to be the bait?"

“Draw straws?"

‘So Mehdi grabbed two straws and Hassan picked.’

“I’ll wait here until the sunrise,” Hassan said with the short straw in hand.

“And I’ll walk around a mile and start climbing just before,” Mehdi said before departing into the desert night.

‘At the first sign of daylight, Hassan stood up and prepared himself for a fight. Just before sunrise, he saw the beast behemoth awake - something had caught its attention behind the rock it was laying against. Just as it was standing up, Hassan rushed forward and shouted, “HEY!”

‘Upon heading the sound the creature turned around right as the sun broke over the horizon. Standing in front of Hassan was the huge ogre that was responsible for so much loss of life and livestock. In its hand a humongous, spiked club. Just as Hassan was preparing to defend himself against a fatal blow, Mehdi leapt from the rock bringing his halberd down hard on the back of the ogre’s head.

“You were early,” Mehdi said.

“You were just in time,” Hassan replied.

‘And now it is time for bed,’ I said.

About the Build

I created this MOC for the Summer Joust’s Going Big category. I chose miniland as the scale. Building the ogre definitely took me out of my comfort zone, as I do not have much experience with ‘constraction’ builds, and using sand green added to the challenge piece-wise.

I also used the MOC in LOLUG’s June meeting competition, which featured the white fang/horn (88513) as the seed piece.

Background Image

The background is Green Grasses on Sahara Desert by Greg Gulik used under the CC license.

Source of Inspiration

I had the general desert rock concept in my head but after seeing Grant Davis’s Desert the idea was solidified.

I was unable to come up with a helmet design I liked, so I borrowed one from Letranger Absurde.

I found these other brick-built ogres interesting:

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