The Gutter Runners Join the Ranks...

*Squeek*

Just a quick post today to follow-up on the Night Runner/ Gutter Runner painting guide I posted the other day...

...pics have now been added to my Warlord Clan Page.

So, what's next?

1. My first Plagueclaw Catapult? (At least one of my likely opponents is a High-Elf player...)
2. A second Warplightning Cannon?
3. A small unit of Storm Vermin? (x20)

In a way I want to avoid the StormVermin until I can afford to get another 20 or so. I'm not sure just having my current 20 on the field will be much use...

...what do you other Warlords think?

Cheers,

*Squeek*

How to Paint Skaven Night Runners/ Gutter Runners

*Squeek*

My Clan Eshin troops have arrived and are now ready to join my Clan. Below you will find a guide to painting up the most common troops of that mysterious clan of assassins, the Night Runners.

At time of writing, these come in a boxed set of 20 plastic figures. One thing to note is that under the 8th edition rules, Night Runners are not very popular on the battlefield. Many warlords seem to view them as overpriced (in points terms) and not as flexible or as lethal as Gutter Runners. For this reason and because of the high price of Gutter Runner models (which come in a small blister pack with only 3 models in) many warlords will use NR models as "counts as" GRs. (After seeking the agreement of their opponent of course!)

Why this lengthy preamble in a "How to paint" guide? Well, intending to use these models as either NRs or GRs, I have gone for a darker colour scheme than I would have done if I was only going to use them as NRs. In fact in friendly games I may even use one or two of the models as Assassins, so the less colourful the better I reckon!

EDIT: Following the launch of the latest Citadel Paint range in 2012, please note that the colours listed below are from the previous range. I hope to have time to rewrite in the future, but for the time being, you can use the conversion chart/ list I made here or use the official Citadel Conversion chart here.

Step 1: preparing the model.

- After assembling each model, file off any excess plastic ("flash").
- Carefully paint PVA glue onto the bases and around the feet of the character.
- Immediately dip into modelling sand, remove and let stand until dry.
- Remove excess sand by tapping the base of the model.

Step 2. Undercoat.

- Undercoat all models using Citadel Chaos Black spraypaint (or equivalent).

Step 3. Basecoat.

The following citadel colours were used.
- Base top: Calthan Brown (overbrush or drybrush over sand)
- Base edges: Vermin Brown.
- Fur; Vermin Brown or Calthan Brown.
- Weapons/ studs; Boltgun Metal.
- Pouches; Calthan Brown.
- Leather Caps; Calthan Brown/ Snakebite Leather mix (1:1)
- Bandages/ straps (where tiger-claws are on hands); Calthan Brown/ Bleached Bone mix (1:1)
- Skin (Face/ Hands); Tallarn Flesh/ Dwarf Flesh mix (1:1)
Note: Leave cape/ armour/ trousers and boots untouched and in the Chaos Black undercoat for the time being.

Tip 1: To save time, on a unit of Skaven I usually leave 25% of the unit with black fur (the Chaos Black undercoat), and do 25% with Calthan Brown fur, and the remaining 50% with Vermin Brown fur (or another brown). This also adds a bit of variety to the colouring of the unit.
Tip 2: To save even MORE time, consider using the tip above, but just roughly drybrushing the fur instead of actually painting it. If you do this as the very FIRST basecoat, it doesn't matter if you accidentally drybrush other bits of the model brown because you will be tidying up as you go along.

Step 4: Washes.
- Fur: Devlan Mud.
- Skin: Ogryn Flesh.
- Weapons: Devlan Mud.
- Weapons: (after Devlan Mud is dry) A very watered-down Solar Macharius Orange wash, stippled on, and dabbed off with a tissue while wet. (For better effect, once the first wash is dry, stipple on another layer)

Step 5. Drybrushing.
- Fur: Depending on the fur colour you originally used, very lightly drybrush a lighter shade of that colour.
E.g. Vermin Brown? Vermin Brown/ Skull White mix (80:20).
Calthan Brown? Calthan Brown/ Skull White mix (80:20).
Etc.
- Black clothes, armour, trousers etc: Codex Grey/Chaos Black mix (80:20)
-Skin/ tail: Dwarf Flesh.
- Base: Calthan Brown/ Snakebite Leather: (50:50 mix)

Step 6: Highlights.
- Eyes: A dot of Blood Red
- Teeth: Bleached Bone (gently running your brush along the teeth is easier than trying to pick out each tooth one-by-one IMHO.)
- Edges of pouches/ Leather Straps: Snakebite Leather.
- Weapon edges: Boltgun Metal or Chainmail.

Step 7: Final Basing.
- Brush small areas of PVA glue onto the base.
- Dip into flock to simulate grass or apply electrostatic grass clumps if preferred.

Done!

Let me know if you have any suggestions for improvement of course!

Cheers,
*Squeek*

Clan Eshin Approaches...Can You Hear Them? (Presumably Not!)

I'ze in ur base stealin' ur stuf

*Squeek*

"Yes, yes, many rumours had reached my ears through the farsqueeker that my negotiations with Clan Eshin had been troubled, but NO, for today, a set of new faces could be seen around my halls...
Clan Eshin reinforcements!
Obviously, the offer of my freshest slaves, more warptokens, 40% of all the spoils of my next campaign, and a "Favour" in the future were enough to convince the clan that they should assist me..."

So, I finally got around to doing a couple more stages on the Gutter Runners/ Night Runners I put together a few weeks ago.
- Removing mould lines (filing)
- Adding modelling sand to the bases (painting on PVA glue to the bases, and then dipping in sand.)

- Undercoat with Citadel Chaos Black spraypaint.

I'm hoping that it won't take me too long to finish off these guys as much of their uniform will be dark colours or black anyway. (famous last words.)
I'll try to put up some shots of them once I have finished the basic colours...

*Squeek*

Wannabe Ninjas or "Stinking death from above"? Decisions, decisions....

*Squeek*

I've been away from my Clan for a long time...but now I have returned and (having first offed a couple of would be upstart warlords) it is now time to add some new capabilities to my growing horde.

The question is, what capabilities do I wish to add first?

The choices are...(don't worry about the warptokens...)
a.) Night Runners/ Gutter Runners.
or
b.) Plagueclaw Catapult.

Considering my current warlord clan units I can see some positives for either of these.

Copyright Games Workshop.

The Night Runner regiment seems to be a typical unit of skirmishers, with pretty average stats. I have never tried them, but from reading around some options seem to be:
+ Useful for racing across the field to complicate enemy battleplans?
+ Handy for trying to get to enemy war machines?
+ Ranged attacks with slings? (can you poison them?)
+ Tunneling with a warp-grinder and popping up behind enemy lines?
+ Hiding an assassin? (they seem like a low-threat unit so would probably be ignored by some enemies.)
+ Can be used as Gutter Runners in friendly games and would then get the "Sneaky Infiltrators" rule, allowing them to come on from any table-edge at some point during the game. An opponent knowing this might keep a unit back to protect any warmachines on his backlines, giving him less combat strength against my core units.

On the other hand, even the GW website says "These units of fast skirmishers are notorious for the low survivability of their troops". (Yes, I know that this is based mainly on the back story for the unit as only individuals who survive in this unit make their way to the Gutter Runners, but still...)
- Expensive?
- Low survivability?

Copyright Games Workshop.

The Plagueclaw Catapult would add another long range death-dealing Skryre device to my arsenal. I already have a Warplightning cannon but am interested in the PGC for use against large, low-toughness blocks of enemy infantry such as High Elves or Gobbos...
+ No armour saves allowed (against the toxic splash. Mmmmm, yummy.)
+ Causes panic
+ Large template
+ Can also be used as a Warplightning cannon (with a bit of careful modelling.)
but...
- inaccurate?
- strength 2?
- a misfire of 3-5 allows your opponent to place the template anywhere...and that will cause some major havoc on our own (low toughness) troops.

Any thoughts? Have you had any successes with either of these units? I'd like to hear from anyone who has any ideas.

*Squeek*
p.s.  At the moment my likely (regular) opponents are Orcs, Gobbos and High Elves.