Warhammer – Skaven Rat Swarms

I’ve painted the first unit of my Skaven army this weekend, although my Skaven army is mainly a 3rd edition army I do have a couple of units which are newer, the first is these rat swarms from 6th edition –

Skaven Rat Swarm

Sadly there were no rat swarm miniatures from the 80’s you were just supposed to stick the giant rats on to a 40mm base but I always found them far too large, so I’m using these as substitutes as apart from the skulls I think they fit with the older style pretty well.

Painting guide below as usual –

Continue reading

Share

Advanced Heroquest – Skaven Metal Prototype

I’m lucky enough to own all 6 of the Advanced Heroquest metal prototype miniatures, two of the miniatures are very rare, this Skaven and the Elf, the other four figures while rare do pop up on ebay occasionally but still fetch around £60 each. As a comparison between the plastic and metal miniature I’ve done this picture for you –

Advanced Heroquest SkavenAs you can see there are a few minor differences but they are essentially the same figure, to be honest I don’t particularly like either figure, the metal miniatures head looks a bit pig like to me, but as I’m about to start my Skaven army now I thought I’d paint the metal one up to test some colours that I’m thinking of using on them, and here is the finished result.I’m trying to get a drab look for the army with no bright colours, I’m happy with the fur but not sure about the tunics colour so I may change it for my first unit.

Painting guide below if you’re interested.

Continue reading

Share

Merry Christmas – Dwarf Santa

Happy Christmas everyone, I fancied a change from painting Heroquest so dug this little fellow out of my collection and painted him up quickly.

Dwarf_Santait was sold as a store opening special at the Games Workshop Chester store back in the 80’s, although it was available more widely later via mail order and in my case ebay.

Painting Guide

His skin is base coated with Dark Fleshtone, then Dwarf Skin is applied followed by a Fleshtone Wash. Dwarf Skin is used as a highlight, and then Dwarf Skin mixed with Elf Skintone for the final highlight.

Hair and beard, base coated with Cold Grey then dry brushed with mix of Cold Grey and Bleached Bone, another dry brush of pure Bleached Bone, then a lighter dry brush of Off White, and finally a very light dry brush of White.

Santa’s robe is painted with a basecoat of Heavy Red, given a Black Wash and then layers of Heavy Red, Gory Red, Scarlett Red and finally Bloody Red. The fur trim was painted with Cold Grey then drybrushed with Stonewall Grey, Dead White was added to the Stonewall Grey and then finally a light drybrush of pure Dead White to finish.

His boots and belts are base coated Black then highlighted with a mix of Black and Cold Grey, increasing the amount of Cold Grey for subsequent highlights. I varnished the belt with Vallejo Gloss varnish to give it the polished look. The belt buckle is Brazen Brass shaded with Umber Wash and then highlighted with Brazen Brass again.

Santa’s sack is Heavy Brown shaded with Umber Wash, Heavy brown was used again and after that Earth to add highlights.

The mace head and his chain mail shirt is Gunmetal, shaded with Black Wash, and then highlighted with Gunmetal, while the weapon handle is Earth shaded with Umber and then highlighted with Earth.

The base was painted Cold Grey and then I mixed Army Painters Battlefields Snow with PVA glue in roughly equal quantities and spread it around the base with an old brush.

Share

Back to the beginning

It seems fitting that the first project on the blog is with the game that got me and so many others started in miniature painting over 25 years ago – Heroquest.

Heroquest BoxAlthough I still have the original game I had when I was a kid it’s a bit battered after being in the loft for 20 years or so, it has a few broken broken pieces now mainly the skeletons scythes but there’s a few Orc and Goblin weapons that have broken off. The painting I did as a child is also embarrassing to be honest, just flat colours. So I set out to get myself a new pristine copy from ebay rather than strip and repair everything.

I was fortunate and managed to buy a copy for around £60 which is pretty reasonable when you see what some people pay these days. The game has now arrived and it’s really brought back some fond memories of playing with my dad and brother around the dining room table. The game was in very good condition with nothing painted or broken allowing me to get on and remove mould lines and flash from the figures which I’ve nearly completed with just the Orcs and Goblins left to do.

I’ve decided to start the painting with the skeletons as I know they’ll be the easiest figures in the set to paint so hopefully they shouldn’t take me long.

I’d better make a start!

Share