Kill the Man-things! Yes-yes!

Warp Cannon and Jezzails

Games Workshop bases. I hate them so much.

They're thick and weird shapes and don't fit other game systems without work arounds. But without puddle bases you're forced to use them. I'm not going to try and support a big Rat Ogre on one foot, are you?

At least they're thick enough to hold onto while painting. Although with the Warp Cannon, I could not get all three of the pegs to line up anyway.

So I've been putting the Skaven on them until I figured something out. For characters that's fine. But units? Hmmm....

My other Midgard bases for the Romans and Middle Earth collection are already pretty thick for strength. Sitting GW figures on top would mean they'd be half an inch above the table! That's too thick. A friend on Discord designed one with a big enough hole to sit a Rat Ogre in on his 50mm base, plus another stl for a standard 8 figures in a 4x2 configuration. I'll have those ready in time for their throwdown with Pasha Dan's Chaos Dwarfs.

Work in progress shot. Using the thick bases as holders. 

Once I got things painted though I sliced off the pegs and glued the Warp Cannon and Jezzails to 120mm wide bases for Midgard. The cannon needed 120mm depth as well which left a lot of area empty. Some toy clay bricks were used to make some dramatic piles of rubble. Model railway ballast was also added.

Ready to flock

The jezzails will get Hell's Breath and perhaps Blast.

The Warp Cannon is a heavy artillery piece, obviously. I'm thinking of a Warp Technology rule. When it shoots roll a d6. "6" equals every hit counts double. "1" it explodes and does a shooting attack on every unit within 1 spear throw.

If I get enough extra rat swarms or loose giant rats from Don, I'll add some scuttling around the rubble.

Of course, the miniatures are packed with details. Note the helpful rat at the gunner's feet.

"Push harder Nibbles! Yes-yes!"
"Oh shut up! The Great Horned One should bite your tail, yes-yes!"

Wishing he'd eaten more warp stone and had been able to pursue a career as a Grey Seer instead of the artillery corps.

I also completed my second Grey Seer, and the Engineer. The Grey Seer is named Magic Beans, and the Engineer is Hamnpork, both characters from Discworld. This Grey Seer went together much better than the first one. This model, being much nicer, will be a level 3 Sorcerer, whereas the first model will only be a level 2. I did the magic effect on his knife with green wash over silver.

The Engineer's jezzail will be a Legendary Weapon and he has the Marksman trait as well. Hopefully, he can snipe some enemy heroes, when not using his Mighty Deed rerolls to keep the artillery from exploding.

This just leaves me with three units of infantry to finish up. One of Stormvermin and two of Clanrats.

Darktan Bloodclaw, Skaven Warlord, and More Rats

Pasha Dan issuing a challenge to take on my ratty hordes with his Chaos Dwarves has gotten some momentum going on painting all these Skaven. Of course, seeing what can be done with some fast block painting, dry brush, and then an ink wash helps make these figures a lot less intimidating too. 

On! On! Kill the Man-things! Yes! Yes!

Of course I'm going for decent table top standard, not Golden Daemon or suitable for print photographry as well. That helps a lot when you aren't trying to edge highlight every thing.

And people think Napoleonics are complicated? I guess it depends upon what you're used too.

So here's a unit of Stormvermin. One of the little wee buggers broke at the ankle because of the stupid pegs GW forces you to use. But some plastic cement and a judiciously placed piece of clump foliage and he's right as rain.

A unit of Clanrats.

I do like the little rats included at the feet or on the shoulders of some of them.

My math tells me I'll have a few figures left over, and I hate left over figures. So I made one with a particularly commanding pose into a minor hero and gave him a purple robe instead of the normal dingy grey. Because he's special. His name is either Klik, or Spam.

And the best for last, my Army Commander, Darktan Bloodclaw riding his Clawbeast, another horribly tortured beastie from the Skaven labs. He's so big, I naturally had to load him up: armour 4, legendary weapon, brutal, plus some missile fire ability (note the gatling pistol). Of course, if he dies, I lose 8 of my 16 Reputation. 

The name Darktan is from the Terry Pratchett Discworld novel, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. Several other of my Skaven characters are named from the same book.

The figure was very complicated to assemble. Fortunately there were clear instructions. But we're almost entering scale model building territory here. I get why some GW folks paint the parts on the sprue.

I hope his glaive looks suitable ancient, legendary, and magical. I used some washes over silver to try and get the effect.

I've got a freind at work printing some movement trays for me, designed by another friend on the Quar Discord Server. Dan and I might try a match up in a couple of weeks. Although I will have to conscript some enslaved goblins to make up the numbers. Downgrading Darktan to a level 3 just doesn't seem right.

No Mini Left Behind!

I had a poor lonely one-armed Skaven left over. No left arm, and a metal right arm holding a cudgel. 

Consigned to oblivion in the Bitz Box. 

I hate left over figures. 

Then I saw this graphic:

And said to myself: "Self, that'd make a great Skaven banner!"

But who to carry it?

Then, fueled by a quiet day at work and some chatter on Bluesky, I had a thunderbolt of inspiration, and remembered the one-armed Skaven.

Digging through leftover plastic sprues for a left arm, or a standard, or both.  

But plastic hands are really too small to drill out.

The Oathmark Human Cavalry set has a left hand holding a sword. I covered the shoulder with a Wargames Atlantic Goth cloak. 

Parts from four different manufacturers!

Drilling out the metal fist I then added a RAFM spear.

Some epoxy sculpting putty is used to tie in the cloak better with the right shoulder. 

Several attempts to paint the words were botched, so I just went with a generic Skaven design. Electrical Pete said he needed a tactical rock to make him a low level hero. That would also help correct his lean to the right. A small piece of bark was quickly found and everything glued to a washer.

While finishing him I also finished repainting a Skaven with a barbed whip, who will hopefully keep the Rat Ogres on task.

"On! On! Kill the Man-things! Yes, yes!"

I also finished a second unit of Gutter Runners.  They needed repainting, and I added a Gothic sling to one upraised had that had been brandishing a triangular Skaven thingy (throwing weapon?).

The Beast Master and the 2nd Gutter Runners were all glued on to GW 20mm squares which were a pain to cut them off of. Fortunately I didn't break anything.

My horde of Skaven is growing!