"...they're rats."

Out of the sewers and into the night! The Skaven attack!

While working on my other-armies page last night (yes, it's updated now with more pics and comments about my other armies) instead of showcasing my Skaven models there I decided they needed their own blog entry.

I was really excited about Mordheim when it came out. I was always enthralled by the feel of the Warhammer World's background but never had the extra cash back in the '90s to be able to afford to get into the big game of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Released in the fall of '99, Mordheim was a convenient answer to that dilemma as the skirmish level game simply required very few models to play with. Indeed the boxed set came with a ton of models! Mordheim was a great intro level game into the world of Warhammer and the background and art is some of the best GW has ever produced in my opinion. It had a similar post-game rewards system that Necromunda had. was easy to learn, and well, I was hooked.

At the time I was working at an arts&crafts store and they sold a xmas village set that was supported with all kinds of neat separately sold components. One such item was a brick road that works perfect for fantasy, and I ended up buying a lot of them. When it came time to paint up these models I sculpted the bricks onto their bases with green-stuff to go along with these roads. and figured out a paint scheme to match it. In hindsight, I could've just bought an extra road and cut it up and stuck it to the base but at the time I might've been concerned about the thickness of the road or the warped nature of it; These came rolled in a blister pack and it took many years to get them to flatten out properly. If I ever do more Skaven models I will likely attempt it.

The leader of my warband. I like the rat on his shoulder.

I am unsure of the location of my gang roster, so the names I had for these chaps are lost on me. I am sure they were probably semi-witty.

I still am impressed with how well this model turned out. The lightning effect on the staff was the first time I had ever attempted this effect.

 I lavished a lot of attention on the warlock, the leader and the rat-ogre. They were very fun to paint, and I am surprised it didn't lead to me collecting more Skaven models. I guess I was simply satisfied with these. I did buy more models for this warband, but after the first few games where my rat-ogre terrified my Empire opponent it was tough to find others to play with locally.

Am I the only one who thinks this model looks like he has catcher's mitts on?

 The rat ogre has to be on the most awkward poses I've ever seen modeled. But anatomically one of the better sculpted, especially at the time it was released. The early rat ogres where sort of fuggly. The arm on this model goes to together awkwardly and I had a hell of time trying to pin it. It was seamlessly connected at one point, even the join was eliminated with green-stuff, and then I dropped it while playing and although it never came apart again I have learned to not be too crazy attentive about joins and what-not with playing pieces to a game (vs. minis to paint for a competition) as the more time I lavish on it, the more likely I will bust it.


These basic guys where the 1st Skaven I painted, to see if I could, and I think they hold up well.

I'm still pleased with these models. I tried a lot of different paints to get a gritty, dirty and peasant-like look to them. I really wanted them to look like they were wearing rages and not the Christmas colors GW was painting their models in during the '90s (seriously, red claws? WTF?) Anyway, I was very pleased at the time and I think these paint jobs still hold up. I hope to be able to play Mordheim with them again. In recent years they have hit the table top as adversaries in my Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay campaign. My players love to kill rats while exploring the sewers of Middenheim! (hehehe).

Oh, and before I let you go, when trying to impress geek-chicks with your miniature painting skills, find out first if they have an aversion to rats or not...;)