[WM] Geep's slow painting

[Geep]

I don't think I've ever posted pics of things I've painted here, so it's time to make a start. I'm a pretty slow painter, and also leap around projects quite a bit, so this blog may end up containing a wide range of oddities (I'll update the tag as this grows).

First up: the core requirements of a 1000pt of a Skaven army, 2 clanrats and 2 rat swarms



The painting is pretty simple, but I think it has to be for the rat hordes. My planned 1000pts alone has 13 units, plus characters! (seemed an appropriate goal)
I usually prefer brown bases, but that wouldn't have worked for brown rats, and green or sand doesn't seem 'Skaveny', so I went with a very dark stone to make the rats stand out.


The clanrats are distinguished by runes on their shields, which are repeated on one of the banners of the command stand. The second banner, out of focus here (my camera refused to focus on it) is fancier, with the red-and-black triangle pattern and symbol of clan Mors.
I haven't yet decided how to distinguish the rat swarms- I think I need to add a small base detail to each unit, or maybe a brand mark on the largest rats.

[Blindhorizon]

Looking good! I always loved skaven, can't wait to see more.

[jchaos79]

Good work Geep! Four units at a time is great start.
You are not using flock, but you fill with paste the base, do you?

I will follow your blog and comments about rats with interest. I did not read the clanbook or know too much about them so maybe I will learn a couple of things here. Someday I will do an army of rats.

 

[Geep]

I use sand to build up the bases- often multiple layers, when the stand is thick (the Skaven stands all seem to be very thick).
I'd like to add flock, or some similar detail, but haven't decided on what yet. It'll have to be scarce, as the models are pretty crowded (I'd recommend 5 stands per base for anyone starting off with Skaven).

I chose clan Mors for a few reasons:
1) It's the largest, most powerful Skaven warlord clan, with no single association to the main clans, so it has a large amount of special units from Skryre, Pestilens, Mulder and Eshin. It's own warriors also tend to be fairly elite, as they frequently fight the Dwarfs and Night Goblins at Karak Eight Peaks.
2) The colours and rune of the clan are simple. Colours are white, red and black, and the rune is a modified 'M'.
3) They have no bizarre defining feature like some clans- no albinos, no dyed fur, no docked tails, or anything else needing modelling effort I don't want to put into the rats (I'd go mad with the numbers!)

[marell le fou]

Nice brown tide

Try maybe a black or white rat sometimes ?

[Geep]

White is the colour of Grey Seers, so that'll happen. Black is sometimes the colour of Storm Vermin (there are white stormvermin, but they specifically guard the Skaven council of 13). I don't want to vary the brown too much because 1) there are a lot of rats to paint, and 2) The fur colour is pretty much the uniform of this mostly naked army. For crazy, mixed colours I have my Orcs and Goblins, which I'll hopefully get some pics of within the month.

I think the specialist Skaven units will help add more variety to the colours, as they have more cloth and noticeable weapons.

[Easy e]

A solid start!

[David Wasilewski]

You've done a nice job on those - crisp and bold colours!
I would suggest adding tufts of dead grass (the yellow/white stuff) and possibly the odd bit of green tuft as well to break up the grey on the bases? You could even go for a marsh/cavern theme by doing some little patches of water?

Dave

[Geep]

Thanks David. I do intend to add some dead grass tufts, and maybe a few other small details. I need to add something to the rat swarms to be able to tell the different units apart.

Here's some rough and ready photos of my other Warmaster- These were taken right before I packed them up, so if anyone wants I can probably take better photos later.

The Orcs- a bit over 1000pts so far:


These guys are painted to look exactly like their Warhammer counterparts-


Including having the same banners:



This army partly explains why I'm not deviating from my brown Skaven 
The Warhammer army (which came first) was painted when my primary opponent was Bretonnians- so the theme is that the army is from the Massif Orcal, and each orc outfits themselves with the bright colours taken from dead knights. There are standard army colours, and then each unit adds one or two standard unit colours on top of that (for the basic orcs, at least). Originally the army was to be boar-'knight' heavy, but cost prevented that.
The problem that comes from this idea is that there are many more orcs in an army than Bretonnian knights- so even though the painting is simple, it takes ages due to all of the colours. It's madness to have repeated this on the Warmaster scale orcs, and madness I will not repeat on the Skaven.

[Geep]

The army is lead by Blacktooth Gitface- a strangely immortal orc, though he may sometimes also be a savage orc or black orc. The Blacktooth symbol is everywhere in the army, though sometimes very subtle.
I want to convert a suitable warboar mounted version sometime, as he's always on a Warboar in Warhammer.

I've tried to carry other little details through both scales, like with these wolf riders- only the champion model has a wolf of pure black or (in this case) pure white.

[Big Red]

The goblin green on the edge of the O&G bases just doesn't look right (IMO) with the other colours that you've used for the bases.  Consider using the main, darker base colour instead.  However, if you're happy, plz ignore my comments!
The rest of the O&G army looks sweet.  Reminds me that I need to finish the banners on my O&G's.

[jchaos79]

great army! Colour schemes are superb

[Stormwind]

Good work! Always nice to see painted pewter!

[empireaddict]

Very nice.  And I like the individuality within the units.  It's a pain to do, but I think its worth the effort to 'customise' in that way.

[Time of Madness]

Really nice stuff here! Not sure how I missed this one!

The orcs look great, I really like the banners. Are the bases done using the GW texture paint? Blackfire pass?

What colour do you plan on doing the skaven bases?

Time of Madness