A Bit Ratty

I've been chipping away as my 30 year old collection of Skaven that were originally intended to for the beginnings of an army for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. This plan never got off the ground as I could field barely three units.

Now focusing them towards Age of Sigmar (possibly due to lower model count) I've reached the last bunch of the original collection and have added another 10 Clanrats to the 30 already painted.

I've needed to get the number of Clanrats painted to get the required models to field two units of 20 and provide a decent chunk of battleline units to my force.

As ever, I have mostly focused on the plastic Skaven from Advanced Heroquest (released in 1989) which do show their age but actually hold up better than many other miniatures of their venerable age.

Painting, as explained in previous posts, has been mainly done with contrast paints to speed things up. Even then I've had to break these 40 into 4 blocks over about a year.

I've never been a fan of batch painting, I think it's because I get bored of the repetitive nature of it. I suspect this is the main reason that I didn't do more painting in my youth.

Obviously, being the last batch, there were a few missing and broken parts involved. As such couple of weapon swaps and variant shield have found their way into the unit.

Additionally, there was more cleaning up to do on these models that had not had mould lines addressed and had probably been twisted of their sprues rather than clipped.

Also, the unit includes these two chaps from the event older Fantasy Regiments box (1987) which included 60 monopose miniatures;10 each of Skaven, Dwarfs, Elves, Orcs, Goblins and Dark Elves. 

The miniatures actually hold up okay and the box actually came with alternate heads for each sculpt allowing for a little bit of variety on the tabletop.

My Age of Sigmar Skaven army currently consists of:

• 1 Grey Seer
• 1 Master Moulder
• 3 Rat Ogres 
• 40 Clanrats (2 units)
• 1 Endless Spell

I still have the wherewithal to add a couple more units and Endless Spells to the army and potentially get it up to 1000 points.

However, I'm glad I'm done with the Clanrats. Younger me was probably right to not start in turning this into a Warhammer Fantasy Battles army, as I would definitely have run out of steam.

Acquired: -95
Painted: 160
Lead Mountain: 394

Leader of the Pack

Following on from my recent posts on 3d printing, I feel it only fair to mention that there has been a lot of time to kill whilst waiting for the magic to happen.

This has given me plenty of time to churn through some neglected projects, such as my Age of Sigmar Skaven.

I don't play Age of Sigmar. I've never played Age of Sigmar. I don't even have any firm plans to play Age of Sigmar in the future.

However, last year I decided to try to make an Age of Sigmar force using only the models that I've had sitting unloved for about thirty years. Initially I focused on trying to emulate the Spearhead force and so I've managed to complete a Grey Seer, two units of 10 Clanrats and three Rat Ogres.

However, in the absence of the other models needed to complete the Spearhead, I've decided to switch focus and aim at just completing a 1000 point force using whatever I have available.

First up is this Master Moulder made from an old metal Clan Moulder Packmaster which I think I originally bought to use as a Blood Bowl head coach.

To make him stand out from the crowd amongst the tide of vermin, I've not only based him on an appropriately larger base and painted him in Clan Moulder colours, but I've also based him with a rodent of unusual size, which I believe came with him when he was first bought.

The rat (rous?) is too big to use alongside other Giant Rat models I own, but definitely suits the idea of being a Clan Moulder bred aberration.

As we're moving away from the Spearhead rules to the main army list, I also need to increase both Clanrats units from 10 to 20.

As before, these are Advanced Heroquest monopost plastic Skaven and were painted in exactly the same slapdash manner as the rest, focusing on contrast paints and washes.

I still have another 10 to do for the second units, but it's not a task that's too onerous and I will probably have plenty more time to kill waiting for other things to print.

Acquired: -78
Painted: 134
Lead Mountain: 440

All Creatures Great & Small

 

All things vile and verminous,
All creatures great and small,
All things wild and wickedness,
The Horned Rat loathes them all.

With the release of the Skaventide box for Age of Sigmar 4th edition, I return to my stop-start attempt to build something useable from my existing backlog.

I'm still focusing on trying to field a Skaven force, just using very old models, and having already put together two units of Clanrats led by a Grey Seer, my attention has turned to something a little heavier.

I've had these three Rat Ogres for something like thirty years (maybe) and they were originally bought for use with Bloodbowl.

Only Boneripper (the one with three arms) ever got a coat of paint as part of my championship winning team, the Pitspike Stealers, and so he needed stripping before assembly, whereas the others needed some old glue chiselling off them.

When it came to painting, I used much the same simple methods that I've used on the rest of the army so far, relying largely on contrast paints for the base coats of the skin (Gulliman Flesh), fur (Wyldwood) and claws and horns (Skeleton Horde).

The fur was drybrushed Ushabti Bone and the metal was given a coat of Leadbelcher before both were washed with Agrax Earthshade.

I'm terms of details, the loincloths were done with Nazdreg Yellow, scarring was picked out with Agrax Earthshade and the gold elements on Boneripper were done with Retributor Armour and washed.

Meanwhile, I made plentiful use of GW technical paints. Wounds were bathed in Blood for the Blood God, pustules were done with Nurgle's Rot over Elysian Green and the eyes were given a glow with Hexwraith Flame.

Bases were done simply as well, with AK Terrain Muddy Ground texture paint with pools of Nurgle's Rot and a black rim.

Although I'm not going to win any awards with these models, I was struck by how easy modern materials make getting miniatures finished to a decent tabletop standard, and I considered just how much more I would have got painted in my youth had they existed.

Luxury! Young whippersnappers, don't know they're born!

I'm addition, the release of the pdf rules for Age of Sigmar 4th edition highlighted that not only are there currently no rules for Giant Rats, but also the Endless Spells (or Manifestations) are something that a player can automatically access.

This made making a decision about what to do with the Giant Rats I had already painted easy, and I based then up as the Vermintide Endless Spell effect.

This was easily done with the right sized base, a few bits of cork and the same basing strategy. In fact, it was so easy I'm not going to count it as a painted model (also, I've already counted the rats).

This decision also gives me a couple more mini-projects to do as I need to put together the other Skaven Endless Spells. Additionally, I think I also need to kitbash some Endless Spells for my Tzeentch Daemons, although I have plenty of spare bits from the Lord of Change that should be useful.

In terms of the Skaven force, I still have models to paint but I don't have anything to use for the Clan Skryre Engineer or Clawlord on Gnaw-Beast to complete the Spearhead force, so I might need to actually...you know...spend money...

Acquired: -82
Painted: 284
Lead Mountain: 686

The Horned Rat Helps Those Who Run Fastest

"I am Grey Seer Thanquol. I am the chosen representative of their malevolent majesties, the Lords of Decay, the Council of Thirteen of holy Skavenblight and the living claws of his most vengeful divinity the Horned Rat. I am the eyes, nose and ears of Skavenblight. I am their judge and their dagger! Know me and tremble, spleenless-mouse, and beg my indulgence for your impiety"

- Grey Seer Thanquol 

As you can see, I've pivoted back painting old Skaven models for potential use in the new edition of Age of Sigmar, and this time I've focused on the first of two leaders included in the soon to be released Spearhead force, a Grey Seer.

But not just any Grey Seer. No-no. The greatest and most powerful Grey Seer to ever scurry through the Under Empire, with the most cunning and devious plan-schemes in creation. Grey Seer Thanquol.

I've had this miniature for a long time, and originally bought him and the first Boneripper (yes, he'll be popping along soon) to add a wizard and a Rat Ogre to my Skaven Bloodbowl team. 

However, unlike Boneripper, he never got painted, and I think this was due to me feeling a bit intimidated by the model, something which time, practice and the existence of contrast paint seems to have abated.

I'm learning that Skaven, especially old metal Skaven, respond fantastically to contrast paints, and it makes painting them much less daunting and time-consuming than I found in the past.

I'm absolutely delighted how Thanquol has turned out, and he's really enthused me to crack on with this project.

"Forward to inevitable victory! Die-die, man-things!"

In other less exciting news, I've painted up the last five plastic Giant Rats.

I've still not fully decided how to use them, but I'm leaning towards using them as a kitbashed Vermintide endless spell, partly because that's a game feature that is unique to Age of Sigmar and it would be interesting to try it out, but also I think putting together a scenic base for them could be fun.

Next up are three Rat Ogres (see, I told you Boneripper was coming), but I need to get hold of some 50mm bases first, and I also need work out what I'm going to do to represent the Clawlord on Gnaw-Beast model to complete my cobbled-together Spearhead force.

Acquired: -82

Painted: 284

Lead Mountain: 686

Bells and Whistles

Not an amazingly exciting post, just me finishing off the two units of Clanrats by providing them with their command models.

Also, I'm taking my first pictures using the Jon Hodgson Sci-Fi Backdrops book I picked up yesterday.

I went for the Sci-Fi Backdrops book as this one had a few pictures that will work fine for fantasy and historical miniatures (such as the one pictured), whereas the Fantasy Backdrops book had nothing that would work for more modern or futuristic urban settings.

I probably need to work on how I light my images, but this should also liberate me from being dependent on getting the right light and dry weather in the garden, an also will bring a bit more narrative to my photos.

The Skaven have been done is exactly the same way that I did the rest of the Clanrats...quickly.

However as these Advanced Heroquest models are monopose, I did have to put a bit of work into making the standard bearers and musicians, which ultimately boiled down to doing hand and weapon swaps (fortunately, Skaven musicians use bells on sticks).

The tricky bit with the standard bearers was to do a hand swap that also angled the banner upwards, however I managed to make it work, and the flags are printable ones I found online and gave a wash of Nazdreg Yellow, which turned out a bit dark.

However, you may have spotted that I'm not massively fussed about any of this project being perfect.

The unit champions are actually newer models than the rest of their units, they are from Warhammer Quest, which was released in 1995, but I think the models were released a couple of years earlier.

Being more heavily armoured and stood slightly taller they make for pretty good champions in these ancient units.

I definitely have at least ten more Clanrats to bring one of these two units up to twenty, but my next stop in this project will be something a bit more exciting, which I can take a bit more time over.

Acquired: -87
Painted: 273
Lead Mountain: 690

Vermintide

Over the years, I've come to realise that there are several motivating factors that get me painting. Obviously, painting to play games with my friends is the biggest of these, but I also often paint miniatures out of nostalgia for my long list youth, and sometimes simply because a setting or range inspires me.

The motivating factor that I don't admit to very often is an extremely petty desire to somehow put one over Games Workshop after they ripped my Undead army in half twenty years ago.

Yes, I should get out more and probably touch some grass.

Anyway, it's this less than noble part of my character that is at play in this post.

I don't play Age of Sigmar. I've never played Age of Sigmar. None of my regular gaming group have any desire to play Age of Sigmar. However, I am painting up Skaven for Age of Sigmar.

Why?

Well, as the advertising for the new edition of Age of Sigmar hit, it occured to me that I actually owned equivalent miniatures to almost all of the Skaven Spearhead force, and that childish and vengeful part of my soul kicked in...

Therefore I'm creating a starter army for Age of Sigmar without handing over any money at all.

Take that GW! Mwa-ha-haaaaa!

More seriously, I made a commitment to myself to paint a 1000 point army of Skaven at the start of the year, but I burned out on sorting out my existing armies for Warhammer: The Old World. So I figured that Age of Sigmar has smaller armies (less painting), I can still get the Skaven painted, and they then at least give me the option to try out a new game (my Daemons of Tzeentch would provide appropriate opposition).

The miniatures that will form the core of the force are the plastic Clanrats from Advanced Heroquest, that have sat unpainted for thirty years.

They are simplistic monopose sculpts (barring slight weapon and shield changes) that are showing their age. Arguably the worst part of the models are the top of their heads, which have no texture, however, other than that they are fine, and better than some of Games Workshop's later monopose sculpts, with some surprising areas of detail, such as the back of the shields.

In terms of painting, I've mainly used contrast paints in order to get things done quickly. These are tabletop standard at best, but I have never had the patience for large scale batch painting, and en masse they'll look fine.

The Skaven Spearhead (which is a starter box which has a reduced version of the game built round it) features two units of 10 Clanrats, and so I'm differentiating the units with slightly different coloured tunics.

I've only done seven for each unit at the moment as I'm going to need to convert champions, standard bearers and musicians to bring them up to full strength.

I have enough models to probably bring one of the two units up to twenty in time.

The Giant Rats don't feature in the Spearhead force, but I figured that I could get them done quickly at the same time.

These are the monopose plastic rats from the Warhammer Quest/Swarms sprues.

I used the same simple painting approach I used on the Clanrats, however I did vary the fur colours on some of them to provide some visual variation. This has also convinced me to do the same if and when I add Clanrats to the existing units.

I've not done the basing on them yet because I want to wait and see if Giant Rats are worth using in the game, or whether I should base them up as Swarms.

A further option would be to base them up as an Endless Spell - lasting magic effects that are built as part of the army list.

The Skaven have an Endless Spell aptly called Vermintide, which uses the above base size, giving me the option to create something scenic, which could be fun. I still have a few more Giant Rats currently having the paint stripped off them, so I should be able to make something that looked appropriate.

Will I ever play Age of Sigmar?

I honestly don't know, but I'm getting miniatures painted out of spite, and I'm sure I'll be able to use them somehow, maybe in 7TV or Five Leagues from the Borderlands.

Acquired: -100
Painted: 290
Lead Mountain: 660

Rats Get Everywhere

It's a myth that you're never more than 6 feet away from a rat, however, when it comes to fantasy, sci-fi and other fictional settings, it doesn't take too much digging to unearth the telltale signs of verminous creatures scurrying around the foul underbelly of whatever world you inhabit.

Whether you're looking for something to bullseye in your T-16 on Tatooine; need a new general for the mutants on Third Earth; or just clearing out the innkeeper's cellar at 1st level, there are always rats, rat-men, ratkin, were-rats or sundry other variants lurking in the shadows.

Obviously, Skaven are the poster-boys of rat-related villains in fantasy settings, and those of you with adequately functioning memories may remember that I made a rather rash commitment to paint up my long neglected Skaven contingent.

Technically, I said I would paint them up for Warhammer: The Old World, but after all the work I've done so far on three other armies that feels like something that would be surplus to requirements.

Therefore I've started to look for other ways to use my small band of Skaven (admittedly this is over 50 models) across other games...

...such as Necromunda.

I know, you're probably thinking, "there are no Skaven in Necromunda," and you'd be right. But there are Giant Rats, and there are Wyrd Beastmasters who can be hired by gangs.

Therefore this pack master and three rats might just find their way into the Underhive if we ever get round to actually playing that campaign again.

I also used these four miniatures as test models for future painting, trying to find a quick and effective way of producing decent looking miniatures using mainly contrast paints, and I think I've found a process I'm happy with.

Also, with Skaven being the newest poster boys for Age of Sigmar, the I may switch my 'paint an army' focus in that direction and finally get round to trying the game out (if I can find someone to play).

I was also pleased to find that there are rats lurking in the recesses of the Fallout setting, mainly because it gives me a chance to use up some of my many Giant Rats, and some of the happily Fallout: Wasteland Warfare sized bases that I have picked up (I think from Wizkids D&D miniatures), but also add to the number and variety of Wasteland creatures that are available for narrative gaming purposes.

Initially I had intended to paint them as Rad Rats from the Nuka-World add-on for Fallout 4. However, Rad Rats are hairless and white and that just didn't work on the furred miniatures I had available.

Apparently, in case you are interested in such things, there are some more game accurate Rat Rats available in one of the STL bundles Modiphius provide for the game.

Therefore I changed focus to the Giant Rats that appear in Fallout: New Vegas (which I haven't played). They are also largely hairless, but by playing with contrast paints and drybrushing I think I've got reasonably close to making my rats approximately right.

I'm not amazingly happy with these two bases, but I am pleased that I've been able to use bits and pieces to add some visual interest to what are essentially beige models on a beige base.

In game I will probably initially use the stat cards for Radroach Swarms, however, with the newer fast-play game Fallout Factions being set in Nuka-World, I wouldn't be surprised to see Rad Rats get statted up soon.

In other news I sold a big bundle of miniatures (mainly 5th edition Bretonnians and Lizardmen) that I wouldn't use. Despite the fuss about Warhammer: The Old World, they didn't make that much money, probably because both of these armies have newer (and arguably much better) miniatures readily available.

However, this does mean that there are some real inroads into the Lead Mountain for the first time this year.

Acquired: -107
Painted: 261
Lead Mountain: 683

The Tale of Four Armies

 So, I've made a bit of a rash promise to myself.

Yesterday, I was writing down my new year's resolutions and an idea struck me that I posted before it was fully formed.

It was to work on four armies for Warhammer: The Old World: Bretonnians, Vampire Counts, Wood Elves and Skaven...at the same time.

This initially appears to be a massive undertaking, but three of those armies are already assembled and painted to varying degrees and the less said about the last one the better (that's the rash bit).

The aim is to get all four armies to specific goal points during the year and play some games with them.

I'm not necessarily going to do work on each army concurrently, or weekly, but I think I will aim to get something achieved with each of them every month and possibly do a round up post in the manner of the original Tale of Four Gamers articles in White Dwarf.

So without further ado, let's look at the challenges I've set myself.

Army 1 - Bretonnia

Challenge: Be able to play each of the scenarios of the Circle of Blood campaign pack with fully painted forces.

Initially, this seems fairly straightforward as I recently announced that my army had just about hit 2000 points of fully painted miniatures.

However, the scenarios offer a specific set of challenges which mean I'll need to paint more units. Not were they designed before the inception of Pegasus Knights, most of the scenarios allow only a single character and put restrictions on what units can be fielded, meaning that I can't currently field an army for any of them.

The first scenario, Night Battle at Mercal, for example, allows only a single unit of Knights Errant and the rest must be peasants. I think I can currently get to about 700 points of the 1000 required.

Also, I just need more knights if I'm actually going to use this army in games with other people.

However, one thing I don't need to do are the special characters as my recent attempts at kitbashing have happily solved this problem before it arose.

Army 2 - Vampire Counts

Challenge: Be able to play each of the scenarios of the Circle of Blood campaign pack with fully painted forces.

Yes, it's the same challenge but with a slightly different focus.

Actually fielding the different armies for each scenario presents less of a challenge to my current army despite the same limit on characters. However, I'm really not happy with the appearance of some (most) of these units as they were done at a time when I really wasn't enjoying painting and some very dodgy strategies were employed to get the army on the table.

I present Exhibit A.

Therefore the main focus of this challenge is to get to the point where I'm not embarrassed to put them out on the table. This will involved highlighting and detailing what are essentially badly done base coats on units like the zombies, and in some cases stripping models to start again.

I also need to sort myself out with a model for the Red Duke himself.

Army 3 - Wood Elves

Challenge: Rebase and restore the army to at least 2000 points.

So these boys need moving back over to Warhammer basing from Kings of War. I'll also need to dig out those models that didn't make it onto the multi-bases and give them the same treatment the rest got (washing and matt varnish) during the first rebasing.

I also want to have a look at highlighting these models up a bit because they seem somewhat flat to my eyes now and I'd like them to pop a bit more.

In all honesty, this is probably the easiest of the four challenges to achieve, something that can't be said for the last one.

Army 4 - Skaven

Challenge: Paint up and play a game with a 1000 point force of Skaven.

So this is the big one.

What you can see in the picture above represents only about 500 points of Skaven, and half of that is the Grey Seer. I'm hoping either Rat Swarms or Giant Rat packs make it into the new edition, as I think painting up the swarm models will be quick and simple.

Even getting all of these done is going to be a bit of an effort.

The Final Challenge

So there we have it. However, I'm going to throw in one final requirement for myself, which ties in to one of my other resolutions.

Challenge: No new models may be bought for an army whilst there are still models for the army in the Lead Mountain.

This should keep me honest and prevent things getting out of hand with four armies on the go.

Admittedly, I don't actually have anything to paint for the Bretonnians, and with the launch date for Warhammer: The Old World having been announced, that's a dangerous position to be in.

Mind you, my first order of business for them is 200 points of peasants, and there's no way I'm paying GW prices for their Men-at-Arms or Bowmen kits. 

This is Cheaphammer after all.

Acquired: 0

Painted: 0

Lead Mountain: 890

"Advance the OLD Guard!"

I hope you all had a nice Christmas.

I had a fairly quiet one and so in the days around it I've been able to find some time for painting some very old miniatures indeed.

I've had most of these Men-at-Arms done the release of Advanced Heroquest in 1989, and I've been intending to add them to an army for much of that time.

At one point they were to be included in an Empire army built with the contents of two reinforcements boxes for Battle Masters, but ultimately they ended up in the pile of shame and we're given to my friends when I moved overseas for a year.

Fast forward twenty years and they've come back into my possession (along with some that belonged to a friend), and with me being caught up in the hype for Warhammer: the Old World, they presented me with the opportunity to paint a unit for 'the game of fantasy battles' for the first time in over a decade.

They are surprisingly good models despite their age, although there were a good number of mould lines to clean (I'm sure I didn't get them all) and there's a circular injection point at the base of the tunics at the rear.

A couple of the weapons had broken off and so I replaced them with sections from the twelve billion spare halberds I have from the 6th edition plastic Men-at-Arms sprues - an example is on the left.

In terms of painting it was almost exactly the same compilation of base coats and washes as I used ten years ago, although I did get all advanced and use Gulliman Flesh contrast paint for the faces.

The shield transfers are from the Reikland Reavers Bloodbowl team that came in the 3rd edition box for that game.

Obviously, monopose models lack the command team that poor quality troops like Bretonnian Men-at-Arms need. Therefore I used one of the of the models with a broken weapon to fashion a standard bearer with bits taken from my metric ton of Bretonnian spares.

Similarly, adding a horn to the belt of another turned him into a much needed musician. It's still WYSIWYG even if you can't see it from the front.

The unit champion is an even older model and is from the Talisman boardgame (actually from the Talisman Adventure expansion) and is from 1986. Clearly a veteran.

The helmet and perpetual Gallic shrug make him blend into a Bretonnian army really well.

I have a number of other Talisman miniatures which I intend to sneak into all sorts of different projects.

Even with the command group, I only had 16 Men-at-Arms, which is not really enough for a melee unit. Therefore I fell back on a tried and tested Cheaphammer practice of using a unit filler.

I had intended to put together a cart full of gear, but I stumbled on some geese I'd inherited from my dad and had an idea 

Using one of the last two archer bodies I still had, I put together a model who could conceivably be ineffectually trying to shoo away some geese that were intent on disrupting the formation.

When put with the rest of the unit it adds a element of comedy, which I think is always important, but often missing, in Warhammer Fantasy, as the unit is essentially being flanked, or, for want of a better term: goosed in the rear.

Recent marketing information has shown that the Bretonnian Men-at-Arms have had a little bit of a glow up in their rules, making them potentially more useful than they were.

Most notably is the addition of the Grail Monk, carrying a blessed tryptich, allowing the unit to hold ground in the face of any enemy for at least a round.

Again, using my last Man-at-Arms body, I cobbled together a Grail Monk to go with my larger (and more likely to get used) unit of Men-at-Arms.

Here he is with his unit, ready to stand against the Hordes of whatever is sent against them...for a short while, at least.

This represents the last of what I have available to paint my Bretonnian army, although I do have one thing that I want to work on, but I need to get my hand on a knight first.

Here's the current army in all its glory.

Yes, I'm aware that I need more knights.

Pleasingly, I now have more than the equivalent of the Bretonnian army box for the release of Warhammer: the Old World, and the rulebook is going to be available separately, meaning that I don't need to buy the box.

The only thing I would be missing out on is the new Royal Pegasus kit, but they will pop up on eBay, I've no doubt. Also, the thing I'm trying to work on might address that issue too.

So that's a sizeable chunk of miniatures painted: 21 if you count the geese as individuals (which I do) but accept that the Grail Monk was in the bits box...bits.

However, astute readers will possibly be asking themselves, "if he has the Men-at-Arms from Advanced Heroquest, does that mean...?

Yes, yes it does.

I have 31 Advanced Heroquest Skaven, along with 16 plastic Clanrats from different generations, 22 Giant Rats, 2 Rat Ogres, a Beastmaster and Grey Seer Thanquol.

On the up side, that's the beginnings of a new army and a potential project for next year.

On the other hand, that's 73 miniatures that are worth about 500 points, and most of that is Thanquol, who can't be used in small games anyway.

And I've still not finished counting all the additions to the Lead Mountain.

However, Christmas was quiet on the gaming front, and the only hobby-related gifts I got were a Horus Heresy character model, and 3 Gondoliers, a Gondola and some more cardboard terrain for Carnevale.

Which, with only a couple of days to go and yet more to count, leaves the current totals as:

Acquired: 290
Painted: 323
Lead Mountain: 589

Ouch!