Rodents Of Unusual Size – June Part 1

Because I’m aiming to finish something for my Skaven every month I usually end up sitting on whatever I paint (figuratively not literally) until the end of the month and then showcasing it all in one go. However as I’ve pledged to paint six plague monks for Azazel’s Junit challenge, and as part of the point of these challenges is for everyone involved to encourage and inspire each other, I reckon a mid-month progress report wouldn’t go amiss. Plus it’s the 13th which is a very auspicious date for a Skaven, so here goes;

As it stands four of the monks are still very much at a WIP stage as this somewhat ugly picture shows.

However two of them are now finished and can go scuttling off the painting desk to join their brothers.

I’m still hopeful I can finish off the rest of the squad by the end of the month (hence the suitably optimistic use of the words “Part 1” in the title!) but at least I’ve managed to complete my requisite minimum number of Skaven models for June in good time. In the meantime here’s a look at the squad as it stands so far.

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Rodents Of Unusual Size – May

The plague monks really are terrible models aren’t they? Surely by now the Skaven – one of GW’s most iconic races – are deserving of some new miniatures, replacing some of the ghastly sculpts of yesteryear with sharp-looking modern models. Perhaps if I get my existing plague monks painted the seerlords in Nottingham will take pity on me and send some reinforcements that aren’t quite so ghastly. Alas after all my progress last month it’s been hard to maintain momentum now I’ve moved onto the ugly monks.

In spite of my complaints about the models I did at least have fun with this banner.

My hope was that by painting them in a suitably filthy and disease ridden style I’d be able to cover up, at least in part, the fact that the models themselves are so ugly. To some extent I think it worked but I can’t pretend they’ve been a joy to paint. Indeed I’ve been starting to fear that I would soon abandon them all together, shoving them to the back of the shelf in favour of better looking rats. However before it comes to that Azazel’s latest challenge, “Junit“, drew my attention. Now I must admit that I wasn’t planning on taking part, preferring to take it easy and pursue whatever took my fancy after the (ultimately very successful) challenge of Neglected Model May. However it strikes me that there really aren’t a lot of plague monks left to paint. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to try to get them all done in June and I can sail into July free in the knowledge that these hideous miniatures need never trouble me again.

Rodents Of Unusual Size – April

It’s been more than a year now since I started my campaign to add at least one painted miniature to my Skaven collection every month. Sometimes progress has been good, sometimes rather less so, but never before have the rats marched in numbers like these!

First up we have these clanrats armed with hand weapons.

Following close behind however we have more armed with spears.

With the addition of these 20 rodents both squads now stand at forty models apiece, making them hordes in old Warhammer and raising the total number of clanrats in the army to eighty.

I’ve got another 20 unpainted clanrats so I’m currently debating whether to add another squad to the army or simply expand these two squads by another ten rats each. Either way with the rank and file now starting to attain the proportions I’ve always dreamed of it’s time to look at adding a few more specialists, elite units and warmachines over the next few months.

Rodents Of Unusual Size – March

What happened to March? One moment it was just arriving, full of promise and opportunities to paint lots and lots of rats, the next it was gone and without a massive increase in the verminous ranks to show for my efforts. Still every little helps, as some filthy corporate supermarket or other assures us, so here’s a Warlock Engineer ready to maintain the infernal contraptions I’m planning to add over the coming months.

I also painted up the first of my plague monks, mostly by way of an experiment. Although not quite as awful as the rat ogres the monks are desperately in need a revamp. Still, he holds up well enough in filthy yellow that I’ll be happy enough incorporating him and his pestilent brothers into the army.

Incidentally many people are now asking what’s going to happen now that plastic Sisters of Battle models have finally been confirmed, leaving Warhammer fans with nothing to complain about. Let me reassure you all that there is no cause for alarm, the complaints will continue, at least until we have new Plague Monks, Rat Ogres, Night Runners, Warplock Jezzails, Plague Censers, Noise Marines, Khorne Berserkers, Chaos Marines, Armageddon Steel Legion, Vostroyan Firstborn, Zombies, Squigs, Warbuggies…

Rodents Of Unusual Size – February

It’s the end of February and time once again to take a look at what I’ve added to my Skaven horde this month. This time I’ve only managed to finish one miniature, but on the other paw it’s not just anyone – it’s Clan Eshin’s finest, the greatest assassin of the Old World (yeah, you heard me Shadowblade); Deathmaster Snikch.

Not many Skaven get to be imposing yet Snikch manages it. Sadly before he reached me the elegant swirl of his cape had become caked in a foul mix of uncured greenstuff, glue and fluff so I snipped it back, which also helps to make him a bit more gritty and realistic.

I actually found the little rats on his base were a lot of fun to paint. Often these smaller vermin are quite lumpen and lacking in detail (unsurprising as they’re downright minute) but these are actually quite sharply detailed and about as full of character as a base-detail a few millimetres long can manage.

…Sorry Shadowblade. I didn’t mean to slight you. Please don’t come for me in my sleep…

Rodents Of Unusual Size – January

Back at the tail end of 2016 I found myself looking at my Skaven collection and wondering what to do with them. I’d loved the ratmen for a very long time, indeed the first miniature I ever owned was a skaven given to me by a friend when I was just a nipper, and my verminous host was long overdue for paint. Indeed, inspired by dreams of Skavenblight’s dominance I bought another friend’s army when she decided to get rid of it and added a whole new mountain of grey plastic to the one I’d already accrued myself. Now the thought of actually climbing that mountain appeared beyond my capabilities, it was just so vast a task that I found myself doubting I was up to the challenge. Enter “The Year of the Rat”.

My challenge to myself was simple – every month of 2017 I would finish something for my Skaven collection, no matter how small or insignificant. Some months it was indeed next to nothing, others I managed to churn out a reasonably sized host, but no matter the result the ball kept rolling, the army kept growing and I started to believe that I could do this, that someday I would be general to a rat army not a shameful, unpainted blob. By the time 2017 rolled to a close I didn’t want it to end, and I feared that without this goal to keep things rolling my Skaven would soon stall. Of course the answer had to be – why stop at all? In spite of the progress I’d made there are still plenty of unpainted rats waiting for attention. I may not have reached the summit of that unpainted mountain in 2017 but I’d crossed the foothills, now it’s time to shoulder my metaphorical pack once more and make for the summit.

At the same time as I was making the decision to forge onwards with my rats Azazel of Azazel’s Bitz Box blogged about Painting Decemb-uary, a hobby challenge which takes some effort to say and is damn near impossible to spell. Essentially the idea is to make use of the Christmas/New Year holiday and, for those of us in the northern hemisphere, the darkness of midwinter that keeps us indoors anyway, to paint something big. Whilst some hobbyists are naturally drawn to the big, impressive kits and struggle to finish a single foot-soldier others – and I count myself amongst their number – can paint infantrymen until the cows come home but fly into a panic at the sight of anything larger than a dreadnaught. Azazel’s challenge to us was to tackle those centrepiece models that we otherwise cower from, and I knew just the one I wanted to take on; the Screaming Bell.

If I had my time again one thing I’d definitely do differently is the building of this kit. I bought it fully assembled and, somewhat foolishly, thought that meant the job was partway done already. Heed my advice if you’re planning a screaming bell of your own because this proved to be a real error and an unmitigated headache. By trying to paint the model fully assembled (bar the grey seer himself who’d broken off along the way) I found myself struggling with numerous sections which proved next to impossible to reach with a paintbrush. Worse the open appearance of the model means that rather than being hidden these awkward corners are displayed for all to see, making getting in to fix them was even more imperative, if no less difficult. Hopefully my perseverance paid off although I’m still dreading the (highly likely) possibility that one of you will spot a section I’ve missed. If you do feel free to hoist me by my own habit of encouraging conversation on this blog and draw my attention to my error in the comment’s box. I’ll even thank you (albeit through gritted teeth…)

Of course the completion of such an imposing centre-piece model is a fine excuse for another group shot, even if it is only a month since the last one.

Once again my thanks to Azazel for setting up this challenge and giving me the push to get this model finished. If you’re not already familiar with his blog I really do recommend you take a look, both for the quality of his own work and to see the creative output of everyone else who joined in with Painting Decemb-uary.

The Year Of The Rat – December

And so, as the lights go down on 2017, it’s time for a final update on the progress of my Skaven army. Roughly a year ago I made a promise, to add something to my Skaven army every single month in 2017 – even if it was only a lone clanrat. For too long my dreamed-of verminous horde was nothing more than unpainted, unlovely grey plastic. At times I would pick up a model or two and get painting but the scale of the task was too great and time and again they were set aside in favour of more immediate projects, or the next idea to captive my feverish imagination. By setting a modest target however I kept the ball rolling, I forced myself to keep picking up those rats and stopped the motivation from guttering out. Of course some months I managed more than others (turning out just a single model in November, compared with a rather more inspiring 14 In July) but all in all it’s been enough to transform my Skaven collection from this…

…to this…

In old Warhammer money that’s a tidy little army of 1151 points. I’m afraid I’m still behind the times with Age of Sigmar so I’m not sure what it tallies up to nowadays but it looks good to my eye anyway.

Indeed so pleased am I by the success of this little project that I’ve decided to do it all again next year (albeit under a new title – “The Second Year of the Rat” would sound a bit silly and, as keeps being pointed out to me, this wasn’t the year of the rat anyway). However before we get onto that let’s take a look at what I’ve managed to add this month.

I decided to make December all about finishing squads (or at least bringing them up to fighting strength – despite the fact that I’m highly unlikely to play any games with them any time soon). Most in need of bolstering were the stormvermin who gained a banner last month but still needed a Fangleader…

…and a musician.

With the squad’s commanders suitably bolstered the whole pack is ready for action.

That done I turned my attention to the hulking rat ogres that act as the muscle for the army. In my opinion these are some of the ugliest models still in the GW range (against stiff competition from the likes of the zombies and the Khorne berserkers). The best I could hope to do was turn their ugliness to my advantage and try to create something in keeping with the hideous lab-experiments that the Skaven use as shock troops. After all if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, and if you can’t make something less ugly try making it more ugly.

Two heads are better than one and all that.

Back in May I added a warpfire thrower to support one of my clanrat squads so, in the interests of preventing any inter-squad jealousy boiling over in vicious backstabbing, I decided it was about time I added a poison-wind mortar to accompany the other.

That may be all the finished models for this year but there’s still plenty to come for my verminous horde. Lurching its way onto my painting desk comes a rather bigger model than I usually tackle, the wonderfully ramshackle screaming bell. This one’s been waiting for a coat of paint for a while and, thanks to Azazel of Azazel’s Bitz Box its time has come at last.

In order to encourage his fellow hobbyists to tackle those bigger, centre-piece kits that tend to get pushed to the back of the shelf (something I’m extremely guilty of) in favour of smaller and easier to completely infantry models, Azazel has inaugurated Decemb-uary. The aim of the exercise – simply to get a big model painted up between the start of December and the end of January. As it stands the bell still has a fair way to go but the early layers and down, the first washes are applied and the whole crumbling edifice is slowly rolling in the right direction.

Whilst the bell itself still needs a lot more work before it can be called complete the grey seer that rides on it is pretty close to being finished (unless of course someone points out a glaring flaw that I’ve overlooked).

Beyond that I’m planning to paint up a warlord to replace Queek at the head of the army, the battle standard bearer I showed back in July, a few ramshackle warmachines and, of course, lots and lots of clanrats. Roll on 2018!