Skaven for War+squeek+

On a quick trip to Warhammer in Jinbocho Tokyo this week I picked up some Warcry cards for my Skaven (as well as treated myself to a 40K chibi pack. Which model did I get? Keep reading...)

I've enjoyed a couple of games of Warcry now using the Starter Set warbands that came in the box, and I have really enjoyed the overall experience. However one of the things that attracted me to the game initially was the opportunity to use other armies. Especially the Skaven, for whom I have a soft (corrupt) spot. After all, we know that Skaven get everywhere, so wouldn't it make sense for them to be exploring that part of the world as well?

So what comes in the cards, and do I have models that will work?

It looks as though I can definitely put together a band based on the majority of the cards, but it does appear I have a gaping hole (wound?) before I even get on the table. 

Let's see what I have. (For today I'll just use some old photos, so they won't exactly match the Warcry cards, but I think I have exact copies somewhere in my warband!). Let's start with one of the most iconic models in Skaven lore. The humble Giant Rat...
...(love these little guys - back in the day they were great little units of 12 or so that could slow our enemies down or nibble on small enemy units).

Check!

Next, one of the biggest units, our old friends the Clanrats. Fearful individually, fearless in big numbers (and they were used in big numbers in Warhammer Fantasy)...

Check!

Plaguemonks! These pustulent fanatics have all sorts of diseases to spread. Thanks to their decaying bodies they also are remarkably tough (for Skaven at least). Do I have any of them?
...Yes! Yes!

Stormvermin always look great ranked up, and I love the lore behind them and their armour and weapons. 

Night Runner (counts as)...

Finally in my current Skaven Clan I do have a Packmaster and Rat Ogres...

What about that gap I mentioned?
There is a gap in my current army. It is a large one too - monstrous in fact. That is Stormfiends. These are really great models that came out some time after I finished up my Skaven clan, and I don't have any of them! Sadly they just happen to be the most powerful cards in the deck (at first glance and judging by the expense.)

However, I'm also not going to try to get hold of any, as most of them seem to come in at 30-50 USD on ebay (before shipping) or more (close to 90 USD here in Japan new and boxed.)

I hope I can put together a fun Warcry warband with what I have. The next step will be researching other Skaven player's bands to see what they have and what is competitive. If anyone has any ideas please let me know!

*Squeek*

p.s. The chibi 40K figure was just for a bit of fun. There are 5 possible models. You guessed it, I got the one I didn't want, the Eversor:

Nevermind!

Skaven Doomwheelin' onto your PC soon...

DoooooM....WHEEEEEEEEEEL!

As much as I love Warhammer 40K, this blog was originally devoted to my Skaven army for Warhammer Fantasy Battle (mainly as a way to keep myself motivated to paint hundreds of the little rat-things...) so it with an evil skweel of delight that I watched the latest trailer for Total War Warhammer, featuring none other than the Skaven...

I've got close to 400 hours of gameplay logged in Steam for TW: Warhammer, mainly playing as Empire and Dwarves, so I am really looking forward to the new game later this year! ESPECIALLY as the "secret" fourth playable race in the game has been confirmed over the last few weeks and months as my favorite race of evil rat-men.

From the trailer above, and other limited-time play through videos, we can see that the all the units we know and love are there, fully animated and ready to take over the Old World...

• Doomwheels
• Queek Headtaker
• Warplock Engineers
• Weapons teams
• Stormvermin
• Rat Ogres
• Screaming Bell
• Hell Pit Abomination
• ...and more!

All of them look really nicely animated and quite fun to play with. Combine this with some in-game mechanics that are unique to the Skaven and it looks like an interesting challenge with some new twists that will keep gameplay fresh (hidden bases, extra units of clanrats tunneling up through the ground mid game).

Fire up those Doomwheels ladies and gentlemen!

p.s. I know a Guinea Pig (as in the opening image) isn't a rat, but it IS a rodent - and the image was just too cute to not use....

:-)

Top Tip - Painting Rust.

This blog started as a way to keep myself motivated to paint large numbers of Skaven and hopefully, to also help other new Skaven players. One way I have tried to do that is with the "How to paint" blog entries, and I hope that some people will find them useful. Another thing I can do is to share any tips that I learn(ed) along the way as a beginner.

I'd like to focus today on something that might be easy to do for the beginning painter, but which makes the final product look a lot better on the tabletop.

RUST!

CC0 Public Domain Image
https://pixabay.com/en/rust-metal-steel-texture-old-872456/ 

This very simple technique adds a lot of character to an army. ANY army that is composed of the (un)dead is a good candidate for this, but it will also add a lot to armies that represent decay, evil, or cunning (or just a lack of discipline). Case in point, Skaven, but other likely candidates include:

• Nurgle
• Anything Chaos(y)
• Tomb Kings/ Skeletons
• Vampires
• Poorly armed peasants

A quick Google search will give you lots of techniques for creating rust effect on your models, for all desired levels of mastery. Companies like GW have created rust effects (Ryza Technical Paint) that you drybrush on and these can look good too (Modelmates have another I think). Scroll down to the bottom to see some examples of this.

In this case though, I'm going to show you a DIY Rust wash

What you need:

One or two colours:
x1 Brown (e.g. GW Mournfang Brown. I used to use Calthan Brown.)
x1 Orange (I used to use Blazing Orange. The closest GW orange is now called "Troll Slayer Orange") I don't think anyone has the old colours now, but if so, here is a conversion chart.

If you don't have that though, even just an orange will work.

What you do:

1. Mix 25/75 Brown/ Orange, very, very watered down (or just the single colour) 
2. Brush onto metallic areas so the wash collects in crevices, around joints and nails etc. 
3. Immediately after applying, dab or wipe away excess using a tissue, leaving the rust wash gathered around the metallic area where rust would probably occur.

TIP 1: Before starting, have the tissue(s) ready, because you will have to work quickly. The longer the wash is left, the stronger the effect.
TIP 2: Twist the tissue into a point, so you can wick away or dab away precisely.

OPTION: Using a very fine brush, paint rusty streaks downwards onto the metal, to show where the rust has washed down or accumulated through exposure to rain.

Rusty streak.

Here are some other examples of how this can turn out:

Rat Ogres (armour):

Warplightning Cannon blades (front)

For comparison, here are some examples using Ryza Rust on some Tomb Kings skeletons from last week or so. I've only just started using this, so I haven't mastered it! I think it will look better if you stipple it on, rather than use drybrushing. Multiple stipplings will look better.

 

 Cheers!

Skaven Warband for Frostgrave

Weez in UR sitty, steelin' UR potionz...

Mid-Feb I posted a Google plus update on which Skaven models I thought would be good to make a Warband for Frostgrave, but I didn't update the blog. 

So here they are! 

The cool thing with Frostgrave is that there aren't any rules about what models you can use so anything goes from your collection (although there are nice official models available) to represent the thieves, soldiers, archers, wizards and barbarians that could make up your crew.

The first warband I thought of had the following members:

✠ Wizard
✠ Apprentice
✠ x1 Infantryman
✠ x2 Men-at-arms
✠ x1 Thief
✠ x3 Thugs
✠ x1 Warhound

A weakness I considered in this merry band was a lack of ranged power, (no archers) but as someone pointed out, I could easily replace a couple of models with a Skaven Gutter runner with a sling. 

Anyway, let's take a look at these models and meet the band...

Wizard (Skaven Grey seer)

At right, Nemo the wizard, leader of our band and seeker of ancient knowledge. At left, Pestilich Seep, apprentice. No less covetous than his master, but sadly only half as talented...

x1 Infantryman (Stormvermin)

Meet Scratch...wielder of the big slicer

x2 Men at Arms

Wenz and Blue. Cowards extraordinaire!

x1 Thief

You'll never see him, and if you do? You're dead.

x3 Thugs (Skaven slaves)

Cheap to hire, and dirt-cheap to replace when dead. These guys think they are going to make it rich, but more than likely they aren't even going to make it to the city center...

From left, Weezil, Diezal and No Tail.

x1 Warhound (Giant rat)

It doesn't have a name, but it doesn't need one! All anyone needs to know is that thanks to the stimulants coursing through its buboe-infested body it will attack anyone and anything.

I really like Skaven, so using these guys should be fun!

:-)

Skaven defeeeat! (and silly mistakes...)

Image Credit: "Shame" by Grey World on Flickr (CC by 2.0)

No self-respecting warlord should ever admit defeat...

(after all, any sign of weakness is bound to hasten your demise or encourage thoughts of rebellion) but that was the undeniable result of a recent game against a combined Warriors of Chaos/ High Elf force, in which Squeek's clan was almost completely wiped-out!

Why was this? 

A simple, horrible, completely amateur deployment error - one that I am almost too embarrassed to admit to in public. 

DISCLAIMER: Now, before I share this error with you, let me say that the opposing commanders definitely led their troops better than me, and they most-certainly deserved to win! 

With that out of the way, what did I do?

Well (hangs head in shame) I placed my Hellpit Abomination and my Doomwheel too close together...

Remember kids...

...Doomwheel  ZZZzap + Multi-wound monster = Disaster.

So of course, first turn, 3 ZZzzap shots from my Doomwheel leave my HPA with only 1 wound, which he immediately loses to a charge. My Doomwheel then gets crushed by  a combination of Chaos cavalry and infantry, so "BOOM!", almost a 1/4 of my army gone on Turn 1 (and arguably my most powerful 2 units).

...and I forgot that I could fire my ZZZZapp in close combat.

.

Never mind! I fought on, and my slaves, plague monks and core did OK, but not well enough to claw back any significant points...

Here are a few shots of this humiliating defeat:

From top: G. Rats, Skaven Slaves, Clanrats, Slaves, Clanrats
Plague Monks, HPA, Doomwheel, Warp Lightning Cannon

High Elves and Chaos (from top): Bolt Thrower, Chaos Cav, High Elf Cav.
Chaos Chariot, Chaos Warlord, Chaos Warriors, White Lions (counts as),
Chaos Chariot, Archers, Silver Helms, Bolt Thrower.

Plague monks fail to drive off Chaos Warriors (even after using the
Plague Banner) and take a Chaos Cav charge in the flank.

My Goblin slave (counts as Skaven Slaves) grind it out with
High Elf Cav, while Clanrats attack a Chaos chariot (at rear)

Another Skaven Slaves unit attacks (counts as) White Lions and
a mage, but couldn't quite destroy the unit by the end of the game.

A hard lesson learned...

...but I will have my revenge! (shakes clenched paw at the sky!)

How to Paint a Skaven Warlitter

In my last post, I described the materials and process in scratch-building a Skaven War-litter. This time, let's look at how to paint it. As always, I'm not claiming to be a good painter! All my painting is just so I can get an army on the table that looks good from a distance.

On reflection, the Skaven Warlitter is actually made of 3 distinct parts:

1. The Skaven Warlord
2. The litter-bearers (crew)
3. The Howdah

As I have posted "How to Paint" guides for both the Skaven Warlord and Skaven Stormvermin before, this post will just focus mainly on the howdah.

Step-by-Step:

1. Assembly 

(see part 1: "How to Make a Skaven War-litter")

2. Undercoat

I use GW Chaos Black spray, but any modelling undercoat spray will be fine! I prefer Black to White as this is a more forgiving colour for beginners. Anything you miss during painting will just appear to be in shadow.

3. Basecoats

Apply basecoats to the model (See list below)

Note: I still have some of "old" GW/ Citadel paints lying around. If you aren't familiar with them, here is a conversion chart I made to match them up with "new" paints.

• Calthan Brown: Wooden planks, giant rats (fur)
• Vermin Brown: Wooden plans (do some planks with this colour, or other, lighter browns, to add some variety to the wood)
• Tallarn Flesh: giant rats (flesh)
• Knarloc Green: Standard/ Flag. Also any warpstone chunks (embedded in skull eyesockets)
• Ice Blue: Skaven Shields.
• Abaddon Black: Arrows (added later)
• Leadbelcher: Metallics - halberd blades, spikes, chains etc.
• Dwarf Bronze: Skaven icon, shield parts.
• Auric Gold: On edges of the Skaven gold icon on the front of the howdah
• Bleached Bone: Skulls, cords (attaching flag to flag-pole)
• Sunburst Yellow: Goblin shield heraldry.

4. Washes

The litter after washes

• Agrax Earthshade: All wooden parts, flag/ standard, bones,
• Nuln Oil: metallics (spikes, shield parts, chains, blades etc.)
• Ogryn Flesh: Giant rat flesh.

NOTE: After highlights and drybrushing (Step 5, below) I made and applied a rust wash using watered-down brown and orange.

5. Highlights/ Drybrushing

After highlights/ drybrushing/ edge highlights. e.g.
Goblin shield (top edge) chains, blades, skulls etc.

• Calthan Brown/ Skull White (80/20 mix): Drybrush raised areas of wooden planks and edges of wooden planks.
• Bleached Bone/ Skull White (80/ 20 mix): highlights on skulls, bones etc.
• Leadbelcher/ Chainmail (50/50 mix): Highlights/ edge highlights on blades etc.
• Calthan Green/ Scorpion Green (40/60 mix): Edges of warpstone chunks in the skulls.
• Tallarn Flesh/ Elf Flesh (50/50 mix): Giant rat skin.
• Calthan Green/ Skull White (50/50 mix): Flag. You can do successively lighter mixes on the raised area of the flag.

From a painting perspective, you are done with the Howdah at this point!

Litter-bearers/ Crew:

As mentioned above, paint these as you would any Stormvermin (guide to mine here).

After painting, they should rank up and look something like this (ready to balance the howdah on top.)

Not ranked up, they can be used as normal, and look like
they are just carrying spears and clubs.

Ranked-up, and ready to lift the war-litter.

The final touch to the litter-bearers (if, like me, you don't want to glue them together or glue them on to a base) is to magnetize them. This will make it easier to use and move them when they are carrying the war-litter. I use magnetic sheet for this, as you an see in this tutorial.

Stormvermin, showing magnetic sheet attached to tray and bases.

Hope this is useful!

In my next post, I will look at how I made the 28mm arrows that you can see on the finished war-litter.

(EDIT: here is a link to "How to Paint a Skaven Warlitter")

Cheers,