Building a Skaven retinue

Skaven then... Even if I'm building a 24-point warband for Dragon Rampant, I still try to stick to the spirit of the Warhammer Armies lists: slaves and clanrat warriors for a start, then we'll see!

So:

• 1 point: 12 slaves, count as Serfs
• 3 points: 12 clanrat warriors, count as Foot Yeomen

Then:

• 6 points: 3 Rat Ogres, count as Greater warbeasts 
• 4 points: 3 Jezzail teams, count as Handgonnes 
• 4 points: 12 Clanrat Stormvermins, count as Foot Serjeants
• 2 points: 6 Eshin Gutter runners, count as Bidowers

And I have still 4 points to spend... I'm considering a rat pack of 6 models, but I have no equivalence in mind for them. I'm also considering 3 warpfire-thrower teams, count as Handgonnes again. Last solution would be a new batch of slaves and clanrat warriors, but this would mean 24 additional models to paint... Not sure it's a good idea... unless I consider that Giant rats equal Serfs. So, for the the moment, let us conclude with:

• 1 point: 9 Giant rats and 3 Moulder beastmasters, count as Serfs,
• 3 points: 12 Clanrat warriors, count as Foot Yeomen.

And now my first attempt to paint a Stormvermin. Considering the limited equipment, he may eventually join the clanrat warriors.


(wooden shield sculpted by Kev Adams for Hasslefree Miniatures)

Stupid idea

Remember the posts where I was trying to encourage people to build other armies than dwarves? Well, good news... it worked!
...
On me :/

I've recently started to buy the old Jes Goodwin's skaven to make my own ratmen force. Since I totally lack imagination, I'm dutifully following the list given in WD 137 as a mail order special offer. As I am a reasonable guy (well sort of...), I've decided to focus on the battle force...which is 1500 points worth 'only'. Knowing the cost of a skaven, it means about 80 miniatures!

So, if we recap the current state of my force:

• 1 White skaven sorcerer with halberd: got it
• 1 Clan Chieftain with army standard: got it
• 1 Clan Eshin Assassin: still searching the proper model to convert
• 36 clanrats warriors: only 15 models
• 25 skavenslaves: only 16 models, most of them armed with spears
• 10 Gutter Runners: only 3 models
• 3 Fire Thrower Teams: got them
• 2 Jezzailachis Teams: got them (my favorite!)
• 2 Poison Wind Globadiers: got them
• 2 Beast Masters and 4 Rat Ogres: got them

So if you suffer from an excess of OOP Citadel ratmen, let me know! Below are the models I'm still looking for: the green dots are totally missing, and I don't have any spare of the uncrossed ones, so I could be interested too.


And as I couldn't finish a post without showing a single mini, here is the only skaven model I have ever painted. It was in 2005, and as you can see, there are some dwarf bits too :o)

-

Next time hopefully, I'll be able to show some new models.

Buy Skaven, sell dwarfs!

OK, step 2 of my plan: the legendary pages featuring Mr. Chambers' ratmen. I think I've read this article at least a thousand times: the amazing number of painted models, the choice of colors, the banners, the conversion ideas... should you buy a White Dwarf issue in your life, this is definitely number 137.

Now, you have an excellent reason to sell your dwarfs to buy these magnificent models sculpted by the grandmaster himself, Jes Goodwin!

Damn', I'm pretty sure I've seen the screaming bell Andy mentions in his conclusions in another issue of WD... sadly, I can't find it.

P.S. Don't forget to visit Nico's blog, he painted a great skaven army last year.