Skaven: Lone_gunmen's attempt at painting a full army

[lone_gunmen]

Greetings!

I am currently trying to get back into Fantasy. I am painting a 2500+ force of Skaven. Most of the Skaven players in my local area just basecoat and Devlan Mud/dip the heck out of their models, but I plan to paint a nice, neat and pleasing tabletop force to sort of break the mold of Skaven being a "boring" army to paint.

 I'm starting with the Island of Blood Skaven and am waiting on a Battalion box, a box of Clan Rats, a box of Plague Monks and a Plague Furnace. I'll eventually add more things. I will try to avoid putting any metal models in as I prefer plastic. I'm putting about 60 Clan Rats in my list broken up into 2 lots of 30 and probably 40 Slaves in one block, 60 Plague Monks with a Plague Furnace, a few weapon teams, at least 5+ Rat Ogres, lots of Rat Swarms and Big Rats and probably quite a few Jezzail teams now that they're in Finecast rather than metal now.

The colour theme is mostly based around greens and greys, but I may add in some reds for variation. The skintone for most of the standard Clanrats and Slaves will be a pale colour to convey the idea that they dwell a lot in swampy areas. Lots of rusted metallics and nice bases with big shrubbery and tall grasses.

I've used Leather Brown primer from The Army Painter to speed up the painting and to give them a nice colour to work from.

Here's what I'm up to so far:

Close up of one of them

I will need to go back and do a few highlights on the metals and give them a rust wash, but other than that I am very happy with the results.

Also painted a weapons team and Death Master Snikch (the Finecast one):





Comments and criticism tend to drive these kind of "project log" type threads so both are very welcome!

[Pil]

Great work! So far you have painted your models to a neat gaming standard, keep it up and you'll have a fabulous army! I don't think highlights and rust for the metals are a necessity on the grunts but it will make them look better and a bit less clean I think. Good luck with the rest of the models!

[DeafNala]

COOL LOOKING Rat Guys! I really like the pale skin tones & glowing red eyes; it's a nice change from the more common brown/gray/black most often seen...it ha a Secret of N.I.M. feel to it. VERY NICE START!

Having painted up a Night Goblin Army to the "best-I-can-do" standard, it only seems like a long project when viewed from the starting point, in retrospect, it was a snap to do. SO...keep up the FINE WORK; it'll be done before you know it.

[phreedh]

Very good! Maybe you could do one level of highlights on the cloth, alternatively use a brighter green and then do a black wash. One more level of highlights would REALLY make them pop though.

Also, how about painting the woon on the shields in another colour than brown? For instance, a green overbrush on the brown, wash and then green drybrush and very light bit of bright drybrush on that.

[lone_gunmen]

Very good! Maybe you could do one level of highlights on the cloth, alternatively use a brighter green and then do a black wash. One more level of highlights would REALLY make them pop though.

Also, how about painting the woon on the shields in another colour than brown? For instance, a green overbrush on the brown, wash and then green drybrush and very light bit of bright drybrush on that.

Cheers for the kind words and advice I actually highlighted the wood with Snakebite Leather (GW) over a dark brown, but the pics aren't showing it up too well. The green is most likely to be highlighted again (I re highlighted it with the base colour after the shading wash) with a slightly brighter green. My photos now that I look at it are a little washed out. I do plan on getting a better camera set up soon.

@Pil thanks!
@DeafNala Thanks! I intentionally went for a pale tone similar to real mice/rat types. I will probably break it up a bit with my slaves being a more human flesh colour just for variation.


On the painting block next:
- Skaven Poison Wind Mortar team
- Chieftain
- 2 Rat Ogres and Packmaster
-More Clanrats

Also, I'll probably set up another project log for the armies I am commission painting for a friend at a later date.

[Bloodysword]

Nice painting.  I especially like the bases. Your a brave man picking skaven. I imagine that by the end you'll be screaming "Rats, rats no more rats! please no more rats"
Can't wait to see more.

[Thantsants]

I'm beginning to feel that way about Orcs - keep plugging away like you are though and you'll have a right good looking horde. 

Those tufts are great for speed basing too - good choice.

I agree on the green - going quite light with the highlights and damping down the brightness with an inkwash works for me on the rank and file.

Still prefer the old Jes Goodwin Skaven though, mumble, mumble... 

[lone_gunmen]

Nice painting.  I especially like the bases. Your a brave man picking skaven. I imagine that by the end you'll be screaming "Rats, rats no more rats! please no more rats"
Can't wait to see more.

Thanks. I'm surprisingly enjoying painting them, and I usually hate painting horde armies. I'm currently finishing off commission painting an Empire army and I'm fed up with Empire. :S

I'm beginning to feel that way about Orcs - keep plugging away like you are though and you'll have a right good looking horde. 

Those tufts are great for speed basing too - good choice.

I agree on the green - going quite light with the highlights and damping down the brightness with an inkwash works for me on the rank and file.

Still prefer the old Jes Goodwin Skaven though, mumble, mumble... 

Yeah I'm happy with them so far and will probably do lighter highlights after the washes are done. The grass tufts are great, much better than static grass in my opinion, less messy too. They're from a company called MiniNatur, but The Army Painter rebadge them in smaller qualities (more expensive too). They come in 6mm and 4mm tufts, I mix them up a bit for variation. A light dry brush of bone colour tends to make them look a bit more natural.

I'm not a big fan of the old Clanrats to be honest.

[Chaos Wolf]

Nice job on the rats so far. I like the lighter skin color you're doing, it looks more interesting.

[Drachenklinge]

As a dwarf player I am not much into Skaven - rats, the lot of 'em  - but reading that someone, painting a WHFB Skaven army NOT wanting "to dip the heck out of" his models, was worth it all alone! ^^

Actually I think, dipping can be a very useful tool, but like You said, some things have been "dipped to death" so far.

I also like the pale skin-tone! Something different as usual and also it is not some mishap albino-white! I would thought about this skin-tone for every model! To me it looks like a great extension of the normal Skaven-colour-range.

best wishes
Drachenklinge

[lone_gunmen]

As a dwarf player I am not much into Skaven - rats, the lot of 'em   - but reading that someone, painting a WHFB Skaven army NOT wanting "to dip the heck out of" his models, was worth it all alone! ^^

Actually I think, dipping can be a very useful tool, but like You said, some things have been "dipped to death" so far.

I also like the pale skin-tone! Something different as usual and also it is not some mishap albino-white! I would thought about this skin-tone for every model! To me it looks like a great extension of the normal Skaven-colour-range.

best wishes
Drachenklinge

Thanks mate. I plan on making the slaves a different skintone to mix things up a bit.  I'd also like to clear up that I'm not against the concept and use of dipping, infact it can yield some fantastic results if done properly. I'm actually going to dip my Necromunda gang. I think it's great for those who hate or don't like to paint, or don't have the time. My friend recently got back into Warhammer 40K and used it over Necrons to great effect.


Anyway, my friend James, who I am finishing the last models of his commission off, has paid me early. I asked that he use some of the payment to order me some more Skaven from Maelstrom Games before the trade embargo happened. I love cheap models :



As you can see, I do have a can of Army Painter "DarkTone" dip. I plan on using this when I decide to play FoW and Necromunda as it'll allow me to get some models up quickly.

[Drachenklinge]

My first stepes with FAP were great as well! I used light tone ... but actually it was a tin from a friend and from long-time not using it "thoroughly" dried up (but still liquid) ... which I did not noticed at first, so I adviced ligh-tone as the "dark-enough"-tone for everything

But just a while ago I bought the SepiaWash from Vallejo and did a first test with it. It dries a lot quicker (a lot less then 5 hours at the most) and is not shiny at all! So far I am quite impressed with it, but need further testing. Actually I intend to test it with my newly got Infinity-Nomads

best wishes
Drachenklinge

[lone_gunmen]

I've heard good things about the Vallejo washes. I hear they do 200ml tubs of Sepia wash now


Here is the basic overall scheme for my Slaves. I chose a dirty purple for the basis of some of the cloth to differentiate them from the Clanrats. I still need to highlight it...



I have a habit of misplacing my brushes, so I looked around the mall and ended up finding a decent sturdy pencil case from a place I don't normally shop at...


Smiggle sells these for about $10. It's rubbery and tough enough on the outside to withstand general wear and tear and it has enough pouches for my fine detail, detail, small drybrush and my standard basecoating brush. I was inspired to get one after seeing a kid in GW use one to store his clippers and brushes in.

[lone_gunmen]

UPDATE

First unit of Clanrats complete.

[Bloodysword]

Nice work on the shields and their beady little eyes. The brush case is a good idea, although would probably lose that as well.