AdamH’s Skaven month five - Leader(s) Month!

OK, so I went kind of mad this month. I had a plan, knew what I wanted to paint and had it prepared. Then saw a model that had been sat on my painting pile for ages and decided to add that to the mix. Then I remembered an old conversion I made and sold and decided to remake that as well.

What I ended up with is a huge amount of characters/leaders that I couldn’t possibly play in a single game but that now give me a bunch of options so that is nice.

So I am going to start small and build from there; first up we have some assassins. Up until now I had just been using some Gutter Runners painted in a previous challenge as assassins however I wanted to have some of the newer models ready to use:

Next up we have some Warlock Engineers. I wanted to try and have one model to represent each of the wizard level available to them, plus the Arch Warlock himself, Ikit Claw! This also gives me a few equipment options like the Brass Orb and Warlock Pistol:

Next up is the conversion I mentioned at the start of this entry. So many years ago (15 I think?) I restarted the hobby and built a Skaven army, it was mostly the then-current plastics, I ended up selling this army along with all my Warhammer during one of those phases where I was questioning what I was spending my time on. Well there were a number of conversions in that army that I miss and this is one of them. Therefore I decided to try my best to re-create it and got pretty close! Here is a WiP shot:

Plus I made it so that the “Grey Seer” can be removed from the top and put on a standard base should I want to run him on foot. There are magnets under the base, in the top of the “Bell” tower, and under the seer:

I plan to use this as a Screaming Bell proxy (since a bell can technically be put in a unit of Plague Monks I wanted a thematically consistent one), or if I play later versions of Warhammer I suppose it could also be a Plague Claw catapult. Anyway here it is all finished:

Finally we have the big boi that has been sitting unpainted in my pile for years. I’m just going to show the pictures here, not much to say other than I have two Vermin Lords now apparently, so that’s cool:

Month five stats:

Models painted: 9?

Total points: 1,934 (lol)

Glowy rocks painted: Many

Next up is the final month! Yay! I have the Jezzails as well as a few other bits I have been working on throughout the challenge and will try and get everything finished together for a nice big finish. Good luck everyone!

AdamH’s Skaven month three rank and file - Stimky boys

This month was one of those big model count units that you just get your head down and get painting on.

I wanted to expand on my existing Plague Monk unit and add another smaller one. With everything I painted this month I can run a big unit of 40 and a smaller one of about 15, or alternatively a couple of medium size units.

With this I have no painted pretty much all of the Plague Monk models I own, other than a few extra Censer Bearers and a couple of broken models that I may try and use in another project that is it.

Both groups of the metal releases of Plague Monks (the original 80’s and the 90’s models) are among my favourite Skaven figures. I am very happy to finally have a good sized collection of painted fanatics such as these:

Finally a close up of the command models for the unit, taking this picture made me realise that I either never had, or have misplaced my second unit champion so I guess I will have to track another down at some point.

Month three stats:

Models painted: 33

Total points: 245

Times I have been sick this month totally unrelated to painting these plague invested vermin: several

Another big unit next month as I am going to try and get through the Clan Rats, but it should be easy sailing from there as all that is left after will be the Jezzails and Heros.

AdamH’s OWAC VII Intro Post – The rats are back in town!

Why do I hate myself... a question I have been asking for years without an answer. 

Here we are again, me plus over 100 rats. You might be thinking that surely I must have run out of Skaven models by now? Ha, I laugh, I could probably do the challenge another two times with what I have left in my box of shame.

But yea, once more around Skavenblight we go:

Just like my previous Skaven entry I am looking at filling out my existing force with missing units as well as bolstering the core:

Mainly this means some additional Clan Skyre units in the form of a unit of Globadiers and while not technically from 4th/5th edition a couple of Warplightning Cannons:

As well as a few Jezzails:

And who better to lead this part of the army but a selection of Warlock Engineers:

I am also filling out a few older units with additional options, mainly this means random command models:

and some more Plague Monks:

For this year’s challenge I am targeting the following list:

Every time I do Skaven for the challenge I increase the number that I plan to paint, and somehow I manage to get them done. This time is no different, this is the most models I will have attempted in an OWAC yet (as long as we don't account the many small Giant Rats from last time). But if I can get them done I think my army will be touching 5k points when fully equipped! (On a side note if anyone in the UK fancies a game hit me up!)

Best of luck to the rest of the competitors as always, and especially to my fellow #TeamSkaven!

JohnR's Month 3 - Rank and File (1063.5 points)

 Another month of painting, another month of wrestling with the camera trying to get decent photos :)

I started with the dark elves this month and their contingent is pretty much done. 5 doom steeds, 18 witch elves, an assassin and the contingent commander to add to the crossbows done in January.

Dark elf characters. On the left is the contingent commander: Baron Susrucha. He was sent to the empire of the Hobgobler Khan as an ambassador by a minor Naggaroth noble house. However the house was wiped out in one of the interminable internecine struggles of that dark kingdom and Susrucha has found himself adrift in a hostile land. He's joined the Axis of Evil while he works out his next move. He's very loosely based on Hasekura Tsunenaga.

5 doom steeds led by a level 5 hero.

The witch elves. I took a few photos of the unit on its own but they were all cr*p. At least this one shows the shields (which are drawing pins). Their hair also got a bit 'Bubblegum Crisis' but I think it looks pretty cool and adds some colour variation to the army. Also I never repaint anything: once it's done, it's done.

I finished the dark elves with some time to spare so dipped into the reinforcements / lead pile and painted a unit of plague monks for the skaven. Plague monks are pretty bobbins in 3rd. If I remember correctly they don't get frenzy, can't have more than basic hand weapons and are limited to a unit size of 20. They're led by the plague priest Derek (front right with warp scroll) and include 2 censer bearers.

Derek loathes Aksys. He suspects that the names the skaven have been given are not, as Aksys giggling told them, those of mighty human heroes but rather some kind of joke. Jabberwock or not he thinks they should slit the old codger's throat in his sleep.

This month's output:

17 witch elves: standard and musician, crossbows and poisoned weapons:     374 points

4 doom steeds (+2 shock elite): light armour, lance, shield, barding:               164 points

Level 5 witch elf hero: light armour, shield, crossbow, poisoned weapons:       56 points

Level 5 dark elf hero: lance, light armour, shield, warhorse and barding:          63 points

Level 10 dark elf assassin: light armour, poison, additional hand weapon:        94 points

Level 15 dark elf hero: light armour, shield, crossbow, poisoned weapons:     137 points

19 plague Monks: standard and musician:                                                          94.5 points                      

2 Plague censer bearers:                                                                                      80 points

Level 10 skaven hero:                                                                                         50 points

The army so far. Not sure what I'll paint next month - work and home life have got a bit hectic and we're supposed to be going abroad for the last two weeks of April. So if I haven't posted by then it'll probably be a mulligan lol.

Graeme's purveyors of pestilence for March (234.5 points)

The Skaven tactics are cunning and effective. The scouting parties infiltrate first, to measure the strength of their prey. Then, to weaken their enemies before the ravening hordes attack, Clan Pestilens is sent forth to spread disease and sickness...

My theme for March turned out to be unintentionally topical, as it was dedicated to Clan Pestilens: Plague Monks and Plague Censor Bearers

Plague Censer Bearers - 120 points
Three Plague Censer Bearers to hide in units, waiting for unsuspecting units to venture too close...
These were my expensive troops for this month and saved the day in terms of reaching the 200 point target.

Leader and 1st rank of the Plague Monks

2nd rank of the Plague Monks

3rd rank of the Plague Monks

Plague monks with a standard (totem) bearer, led by a level 5 Hero - 114.5 points
Fourteen Plague Monks with a totem, led by a level a Clan Chieftain. There are not many Plague Monk models for 3rd edition, so I chose to vary some of the colours I used, to make it less uniform. I went for a more subdued, sickly palette to best reflect their background. I tried to be a little more subtle with my shading of robes and was fairly pleased with the results.

Clan Chieftain (Level 5 Hero ), with halberd and light armour - 32 points
14 Plague Monks, with hand weapons and light armour - 82.5 points (including extra 5.5 points for the standard-bearer)

Who's a pretty boy then?

I had a handful of these models but decided to only use one since I was originally thinking of using it as a wizard. In the end, I decided to use it as a regular Plague Monk, to add some variety to the unit and was pretty happy with how he turned out.

All the purveyors of pestilence

3 Plague Censer Bearers - 120 points
Clan Chieftain (Level 5 Hero ) - 32 points
14 Plague Monks - 82.5 points (including extra 5.5 points for the standard-bearer)

Total for March: 234.5 points

Total for the army: 661 points

Next month the work on building up my rank-and-file troops continues. I've also been experimenting with banners, so hope to add at least one. If I have time, maybe some conversions too, to reinforce my Plague Monks unit with some chaotic brethren.

Hope everyone is safe and well and stays that way. Until next month!

AdamH’s sneaky, skulking, smelly Skaven – (211 Points)

“I bet you wish-wish you had run when you had the chance? Now you are stuck in my den-warren without escape.

Perhaps you think you see eyes following you in the dark? Do you feel the weight of danger when you try to shut eyes? Then maybe you are not completely see-blind like most furless ones. My secret guards follow all who enter here and they have look-watched you for a while now, let me introduce you before they introduce you to a long, painful sleep.”

We have a new unit this month! Wooo I hear you say and you are right to woo because it is in my opinion some of the most characterful models in the old Skaven line, the Gutter/Night Runners:

In contrast to everything else in my army I imagine that the forces of clan Eshin have both the means and desire to keep their equipment in decent (for a Skaven) condition. Thus there is no rust in sight here, however you may be able to see some green hue to their weapons.

Yay more monks, this brings me up to 21 in total, or three ranks of seven. I will probably do at least one more rank of seven during the challenge but I think next month I will be taking a break from egg shell green:

Next up more clanrats! Woo again. This takes me up to 19 in total, why 19 you ask? Well that is because as I was painting the 10 for this month I realised that one of the models was in fact a slave and I didn’t think to build any more clanrats… so I will fix this when I start painting up more clanrats in a future month but for now they are a rat short:

Finally in my monthly tradition of painting something high value this month we have Lord Skrolk who is moonlighting as a regular Plague Priest:

I think I will be including at least one other Plague Priest in this force, one who will be a mage (this one) and another who will be a combat character.

To summarise, this month’s entry is:

Plague Monks x4, Additional Hand Weapons [28]

Clanrats x9 [54]

Gutter Runners, Additional Hand Weapons, Throwing Stars [56]

Plague Priest [73]

Total – 211 points

As is customary at the mid-point of the challenge here is a picture of what I have tackled so far:

So half-way and I am still going, honestly I am surprised as I thought if any army would kill the challenge for me it would be my Skaven. I think I have managed to keep the pace because as I think I said in my intro post, Skaven were my first Warhammer love and I genuinely love the figures. Normally I try and get an hour a night in painting then spend some time elsewhere but when painting my Skaven I have found myself painting pretty much in all my free time. If I can keep this pace I should hopefully have an impressively large numbered force by the end!

As always, I wish the rest of the challengers the best of luck, be safe in these virus ridden times (nothing to do with my monks, I promise) and stay inside painting!