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 –

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 –

The base was painted first with a Beasty Brown base coat shaded with Umber Wash, and then progressively lighter dry brushes of Beasty Brown, Earth and finally Bonewhite.

The rats fur were painted a variety of colours (Beasty Brown, Leather Brown, Charred Brown, Earth) while the heads, tails and feet were painted with Bronze Fleshtone. Amongst the rats are a few skulls which were painted with Beasty Brown and then dry brushed Bonewhite. Everything was then shaded with Army Painters Dark Tone, when that was dry everything was simply highlighted with the same colour, although a little Bonewhite was added to the Charred Brown to help it stand out more. After vanishing the base was finished off with a few Army Painter Swamp Tufts.