Time to turn my attention back to my little collection of sporting rats. You may remember that back in September I put together an Underworld Denizens team by combining my Goblins and Snotlings with a few Skaven. Now it’s time to return to those Skaven and, by adding a few more recruits, turn them into a team of their own. Part of my plan was to get the rest of the team finished but, as I mentioned recently, I’ve got a lot of things on the go at the moment. I’m excited about sporting skaven – but I’m also excited about lots of other things so I’ve got to prioritise. It was at this point however that I remembered some wise advice from that fount of knowledge on all things Blood Bowl – Faust of Double Down Dice – who reminded me of the existence of Blood Bowl Sevens. Sevens is a set of alternative rules for Blood Bowl with the key difference being teams made of just seven players, rather than the standard eleven. So whilst getting my rats ready for a full game of Blood Bowl called for quite a bit of painting Sevens was much more manageable – easily slotted into my jam-packed schedule. Later I’ll try to drum up a few more bodies to bring the team to full strength. To get us started though, here’s a Clanrat Lineman…
…and another one…
Lastly I wanted to add some savage muscle to the team in the form of a Rat Ogre. For this I certainly wasn’t going to pay Forge World prices for the official model, nor was I going to mess around with the plastic kit sold by Games Workshop (I’ve painted enough of those in my lifetime thank you very much!). Instead I had a rummage around on ebay and found myself a Powered Rat Brute, made by ResinWarfare and 3d printed and sold by Mousillon Miniatures.
Here’s the team, all set for action.
Lastly I decided to paint a couple of markers for the team as well.
And there we have it – another team of Seven’s good to go. Next step will be recruiting even more rodents and turning them into a full team, but that’s a job for another day.
Convert or Die 
November 14th, 2022 at 9:33 am
Excellent additions mate – that Rat Ogre proxy is superb!
November 16th, 2022 at 8:06 am
Cheers mate – he’s a beast isn’t he! 😎
November 14th, 2022 at 9:38 am
The title is making me think of something like The Seven Samurai, but with a lot more backstabbing (both metaphorical and literal), squabbling, and probably explosions. Can’t imagine who would be desperate enough to hire Skaven mercs to protect them from bandits, tho 😉
That aside, they look great, and that Rat Ogre is a definite step above any of the GW/FW options. That kit needs a replacement badly. It was never all that great, and it really hasn’t aged well at all.
November 16th, 2022 at 8:13 am
Surely that’s a film that’s crying out to be made! With ideas like these I don’t understand why no-one in Hollywood ever returns our calls!
Glad you like the rats. I know I’m biased but to me the Skaven are the range most in need of a revamp now. They have some great models but some real stinkers too. I didn’t think age could make the rat ogres worse than they already were but somehow they’ve managed it.
November 16th, 2022 at 12:20 pm
The past couple of times they’ve mentioned new Skaven Models, I got excited, thinking they were going to update some of the crappier parts of the range. But nope, just new Heroes that no one really needed.
November 14th, 2022 at 10:42 am
Fantastic looking team Wudu, it’s been a long time since I played BB but between you and Faust, it’s tempting ! LOL The proxy Rat Ogre looks excellent, as do the lineman, I’m guessing the remaining team members will be Stormvermin and Gutter Runners.
November 17th, 2022 at 2:07 pm
Thank you! For me Blood Bowl has been around all my life, I’ve not actually played much but I’ve always had mates who were into it and I really like the aesthetic. Hoping I’ll get some more games in now I’ve got some teams painted though. For the rest of the team I’ll be adding another Stormvermin and another Gutter Runner, and a bunch more linemen to fill out the ranks. I could squeeze in a couple more Gutter Runners but I don’t have models for them so I’d have to find something suitable to convert them out of – as usual my tactical decisions are based on what’s available and/or what I want to build and paint rather than any notion of “strategy”!
November 14th, 2022 at 5:58 pm
A team of vermin will always make for daunting opposition in my book. Cracking looking figures. 🙂
November 17th, 2022 at 2:10 pm
Cheers! Yeah, could you imagine trying to play against a team of rats? Yuk! I used to have a flatmate who kept pet rats and they were great pets, but these look like manky sewer rats as big as a man and I’m not tackling that! Of course, as soon as someone puts together a team of terriers these lads will be in trouble…
November 14th, 2022 at 7:01 pm
Love them – and Skaven are a fun team to play in Blood Bowl. Not that bashy but great fun. The rat ogre looks perfect for the part and very well painted. I love the way the face really well done
November 17th, 2022 at 2:13 pm
Cheers! Skaven were always one of my favourite factions from WHFB and I’ve heard a lot of good things about them in Blood Bowl so I was always going to have to put a team together. Hopefully the Rat Ogre will make up for a lack of bashyness on the rest of the team. As for painting his face it was great fun to do actually, and the model is so well sculpted it practically painted itself. 🙂
November 14th, 2022 at 11:45 pm
Very nice- always had a soft spot for skaven.
Cheers,
Pete.
November 20th, 2022 at 9:34 am
Cheers! The rats are fun aren’t they, one of the best things GW came up with I reckon.
November 15th, 2022 at 10:25 am
Looking great! I really need to get into Skavens.
November 20th, 2022 at 9:37 am
Thanks! Everyone should have a few demented rat-men in their lives!
November 15th, 2022 at 5:55 pm
All look brilliant! 🙂 I do like the rat ogre and the markers!
November 20th, 2022 at 9:38 am
Thanks John! I’m really pleased with the markers myself, easily overlooked in comparison to some of the other stuff but they were fun to do and they’ve come out well I reckon. 🙂
November 15th, 2022 at 8:42 pm
Thanks for the shout out, Wudu! Excellent job on getting a 7s team going. I hadn’t found a Rat Ogre to replace the old one yet, but that model you found has a really nice classic look to it! Love the way you painted it up too, you definitely have a way with the rats! 😃
November 23rd, 2022 at 10:29 am
No worries mate – thanks for the suggestion on 7’s, that looks like it should be fun. Have a nose around at 3d printed models on ebay if you’re looking for a rat ogre. I’d tended to dismiss 3d printed models (because I don’t have a 3d printer natch!) but there’s some good stuff out there that other people are producing. The guys that made this one have quite a range of them, I just thought this one suited Blood Bowl best but if I ever decide to expand my WHFB Skaven I’ll be going back to take another look at their range for sure.
November 23rd, 2022 at 4:53 pm
Do you have a link to their EBay home page? I’m curious what their other stuff looks like. For my Rat Ogre, I’m sticking with my tried and true. He fits in with the team nicely still and just needs a repaint. Plus there is the heavy nostalgia factor for me and all my big guys look a little goofy anyways. I should pick up a Bloodspawn at some point though, and for that I’ll go with a 3D printed one. I recently got some 3D
printed minis and I was pretty impressed. No long assembly time and the cleanup was pretty minimal. And I couldn’t believe I didn’t have to hunt down and scrape mould lines. Can you believe NO MOULD LINES!! 🤪
November 25th, 2022 at 10:49 am
Here you go sir: https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/mousillonminiatures
Looking through their range again they do have some really nice stuff, I almost bought myself more Skaven and a unit of Dwarf warriors (so yeah, thanks for that! My bank account lives another day but you almost lead me into temptation there…). Dunno what their postage to the states is like but maybe there’s a similar company doing licenced 3d printing closer to home?
Aye, the ‘no mould lines’ thing is a revelation isn’t it! Maybe not quite the same as the hover boards we were promised but still one of the best things about living in the future!
November 25th, 2022 at 7:10 pm
Cheers mate, I will check them out!
November 17th, 2022 at 1:44 am
Getting seven done is a solid start and they look magnificent or at least as good as a rat can too! 🙂 I really like the big one. He fits right in with the rest of them despite being not being made by GW.
November 25th, 2022 at 11:03 am
Cheers! Aye, 7 is a nice number – it’s already more than half way to a full team. I’ve got the rest of them ready to go, just need to fit in some painting time for them. The rat ogre fits the bill nicely doesn’t he? A lot of ‘alternative to GW’ end up looking subtly different enough that they stand out (to avoid those shark-like GW lawyers I reckon!) but that big rat fits right in with the rest of the rodents.
November 17th, 2022 at 4:41 am
That rat ogre is great! The rest are nicely done too
November 25th, 2022 at 11:03 am
Cheers!
November 18th, 2022 at 12:27 pm
Great work and that rat orger fits the part perfectly!
November 25th, 2022 at 11:03 am
Thank you! 🙂