Yet another reason I have to think ettins are pathetic. An ettin attacked my fort. But it never made it there. A vulture attacked it, ripping off a finger, a nose, and three eyes. The vulture retreated away from the fight, and the ettin died of blood loss. Pathetic ettin.
Compare this to the Cyclops I fought: I embarked on a cave, prepared for !!FUN!!, actually hoping for a dragon. Instead, I got a cyclops. I'd brought a copper hammer and shield, plus a bronze breastplate and helm for everyone but the wood cutter, who had a copper axe. One guy was in full bronze plate, with a mail shirt and cloaks and hood. He had a silver war hammer. I also had twelve dogs that I promptly trained for war. Setting the wood cutter to clear a large chunk of the forest, I sent off the dogs and militia to deal with the cyclops. He emerged from his cave, fighting a group of gorillas and elk birds. He came out of killing six elk birds and four gorillas unharmed. I took this as my chance to attack, while he was still tired. All six dwarves were proficient in hammer, with three levels in armour and two in shield. My dwarves fought that cyclops for two weeks, three of them being strangled to death, all the dogs exploded into gore against tree trunks, the other three dwarves simply bludgeoned. He had two bruises and a finger cut open. He charged after my last dwarf after finishing off some troglodytes. This wood cutter was just minding his own business, cutting down a glumprong. Just as the cyclops reached two meters from him, the tree was felled. A log came down and exploded the cyclops' chest into gore.
An ettin: beaten by a vulture.
A cyclops: killed six dwarves, twelve dogs, six elk birds, four gorillas, and eight troglodytes with two bruises and a cut on his finger. Died to a falling glumprong log.