This weekend our family calendar was empty, giving me a full two days to paint (occasionally interrupted by acknowledging the existence of fore mentioned family of course ;). Unfortunately I decided to play a quick game* of Total War II with the Skaven to get into the spirit of things. This cost me most of my Saturday. So Sunday I subjected myself to a stern inner monologue, sat down and spent the day with (air-)brushes, water and Skaven. I decided to forego 'focus on finishing a unit' and instead went for an 'anything you feel like painting at that minute' type of session. The net result is one finished group and a lot of half to three quarters finished models (and one glorious Sunday).
* works out as well as a fast round of Civilization...
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| Completely finished, and it only took me a bit over 25 years! |
As I've not gotten a game in for the last two weeks, I'm still in the Shiny New Book Enthusiasm Bubble regarding the Skaven Battle Tome. To celebrate I've taken all unpainted Skaven out of their hidden nooks and crannies. I'm just going to try painting them all (or assuming that fails, finish a lot of them). These four Skaven (Slaves I think) had been primed somewhere in 1991 and given a very rough first coat of Bestial Brown (I suspect). Then they went into boxes: moving boxes, storage boxes, please buy us boxes, etc. I've tried selling them multiple times over the past few years, only selling one of their compatriots a few years back. The rest just sat there, unloved and ignored. The shieldless Skaven with the spear actually broke of at the ankles at some point.
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| This is actually a very common view of Skaven from an opponents vantage point. |
Saturday between shamelessly wasting time on a computer game, I quickly pinned 'Mr Soar-ankles'. Sunday I decided to just keep on painting where I left of over 25 years ago. As the coverage of Bestial Brown was spotty at best, I used copious amounts of wash to get their fur to a properly brown color. Rust came from my slowly dwindling bottle of Modelmates and the shields where added as a bit of an afterthought. I used the old Heraldry and Uniforms of the Skaven booklet to pick out two quick designs. All in all I'm quite proud to see these four in proper paints even though actual rules for Skaven slaves are no longer in print. Who cares, I'll just use them as Clanrats and go with it.
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| Quick, quick, over there I'll stay here and guard the fortress.... |
With the other
metal Skaven I recently completed added in I've actually got a nice start of an interesting unit to add to my horde. Maybe I should keep a weather-eye on the trading groups for someone actually selling about 35 of these old monsters for a reasonable price...From seller to prospective buyer, oh how a bit of painting can turn the tables on you...
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| Another lazy WIP shot, featuring my new wet-palette. Not quite sure if I like it (or if I'm using it correctly). Maybe I'll get back on that one later. |
In the meantime I'm becoming quite fond of these quick shots of my painting station. It's fun reference for me in the years to come. As you can see I've quietly moved the Eldar to a secluded spot on top of a display case and replaced them with old and new Skaven. The Warpfire Thrower Team in the center is getting close to done as are the Plague Censer Bearers, the Poisoned Wind Globadiers and the two Warlock Engineers in the back. I've even thrown some more color on my second set of Stormvermin and done a bit of extra airbrushing at my Storm Fiends.
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| At some random point I decided to do another of the endless spells still languishing in a 'models to be completed' cabinet. |
This 'anything you feel like painting at that minute' attitude may not get a lot of fully finished results, but it does get a lot of things almost ready. Going from there, with luck, I'll be able to complete a
plethora of models in one go at which point I'll pretend they've all been painted in a single day ;)
Very nice!
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