Plague Monks

As promised - updates! I finally got some painting done today with the help of a friend who joined me for some banter while we painted. It was my first time painting with someone else in the room and it made it so much easier to keep going; banter always helps! Thanks PB, you're the man (as manly as an elf player can be anyway)!

Today I painted the bases of my 20 Plague Monks and got some paint on one of the monks. The bases aren't finished but the unit looks a little better with some defined colour on the base.

This Monk is not finished, I still need to highlight and finish the basing but I'm happy with how he turned out. Hopefully I'll get the other 19 ready to join him soon!

Getting Back on Track

To my legions of fans out there (yes I'm talking to you 3!) I'll be posting some more updates soon.

Work on my Skaven halted for a while due to a new baby which has selfishly been hogging all my time but I'm hoping to get some painting done this week while my paternity leave lasts ;)

Watch this space.

Airbrush Results

Here are some of the results from today's airbrushing. I did many elements in scorched brown and the Plague Monks in gnarlock green. I've only included the Abomination for colour contrast (and because I love the model).

The Doomwheel turned out very well, relatively even coverage and some paint in the bits I knew I'd struggle to reach with a regular brush (I don't have the patience to paint things in sections as I build them - they'd never get played).

The Plague Monks were last. I had a small spill after finishing them (back in the middle) and if you look at the first rat on the left you'll see that I didn't quite get the brown cleaned out of the airbrush properly first. I struggled a bit more with these, mainly because 20 in one go was too many and meant they were too densely packed so getting the stream on them all was tough. In future I'll do batches of no more than 10 at a time. The nozzle also started to clog towards the end (I base coated the rat ogres, giant rats, packmasters and 4 weapons teams before the Doomwheel) so smaller batches is good advice all round. I gave the brush a proper clean after doing the monks and there was a lot of paint gummed up in the nozzle.

I've added an Ikit Claw model and built the Games Day show mini (warlord) that I've had sitting around. The army is now up to 144 models. They are all based and I only have 3 units still to undercoat (will be done tomorrow night). If I get some time this coming weekend I'll try and get a clanrat or two finished.

A Brush by Any Other Name...

Today I had my first chance to use an airbrush I was gifted by a friend a long time ago. I finished building a spray booth in the mancave last weekend so I decided it was time to get to grips with it. Having never used one before, there was a little trial and error getting it all connected up to the compressor then some time spent trying to get the right pressure and paint consistency (having some old sprues to spray at really helped there).

Once I got the hang of it, it was amazingly easy to use. Like using a can of undercoat spray but many orders of magnitude easier and more controllable (especially after I figured out that you can control how much paint comes out of it)!

I'm hoping that I'll be able to basecoat the entire army quite quickly using the airbrush which will make it look a step better than being all black or all bare plastic.

I'll post photos when I get a chance.

My Skaven

Here they are my recently built Skaven.

Two of my favourites - the Hell Pit Abomination:

The Doom Wheel:

Lots of painting ahead of me!

The army is go!

Today I received the final minis for my first 2000 point list - two Doom Flayers.

I love the model for this weapon team and the rules are classic Skryre; potentially devastating but unpredictable. They are also the cheapest of the weapon team options so I figured I'd try running two so at least one has a chance of doing some serious damage.

I'm currently working on the Stormvermin; have 5 built so far so I'm 17 models away from having the army built (though how long it takes me to paint them will be a very different story).

Army pics to follow.

A Squeek in the Dark!

As a returning Warhammer Fantasy player (I last played over 15 years ago) I have decided it is time I once again command the vast skittering armies of the Under Empire.

My original army from all those years ago was Skaven and I never lost my love for their devious and underhanded tactics and unpredictable war machines. Unfortunately my old miniatures were lost to the taint of Chaos (or have been thrown out by my parents!) so I am starting again from scratch. The good news is the amount of amazing quality plastic and resin minis now available from Games Workshop and I am very keen to build them all, even if my bank account isn't!

I have started my force by picking up the Island of Blood boxed set which has some frankly fantastic plastics. I supplemented this with a battalion boxed set and a box of Stormvermin and couldn't resist getting myself a plastic Doom Wheel and a Hell Pit Abomination as a christmas present. This gives me a sizable force of over 2000 points and over 140 models!

I have managed to build everything except the Stormvermin in a flurry of activity over christmas and will be using this blog to document the slow painting of this huge force (I am a very slow painter!) and my attempts to guide them to victory while learning 8th edition Fantasy.

I currently have one practice game of Fantasy under my belt which I enjoyed immensely but am a long way from knowing what I'm doing. I'm also very much from the 'beer and pretzels' school of gaming rather than the tournament scene (though I'm keep to get along to a tourney once I know the game better if just to meet some other players). If you're a casual player or new to Skaven like I am you may find some helpful hints and tips in here, otherwise you may just find my weak efforts at building an army and trying to win hilarious and laughable. Either way I hope you stay and enjoy the ride!

Goose