Skaven Plague Monk speed painting (and releasing the lead)

So there I was, busily painting my new Orcs, when all of a sudden I realized my birthday's coming up in less than a month. Traditionally I buy myself some new Skaven to celebrate. But what to get? As that question is tough to answer, I took stock of what I had (both painted and unpainted). With a lot of unpainted Skaven on my paint station, I decided to check how fast I could stamp out a unit of Skaven Plague Monks. I did these over the course of this weekend (and I'm pretty chuffed about both the speed and the result).

After many years spent languishing in a cardboard and plastic prison, these Plague Monks are finally free to terrorize the Mortal Realms (and the Old World when the opportunity presents itself).

Anyways I was wondering what to get myself when I found out that when it comes to Skaven I have almost everything GW has on offer today. I did spot a unit of Plague Censer Bearers, I should still build one of those Plague Furnaces and I do not own one or two individual Clawlords, but aside from that I have all that is on offer. While browsing the GW-website I remembered that over the past few years I've been buying old metal Skaven models as opportunity presented itself. Most of these where either in old blisters or stuffed into an old disposable plastic cup. I decided to lay out everything I had, just to get a feel for what should still be painted. 

I sometimes miss browsing blisters for models...

Now I have to admit I get a bit of a thrill opening blisters. Mostly because even though I should respect everyone's freedom and right to set their own hobby standards, deep down I can't stand 'mint in box, unopened in blisters'-collectors. These are toy soldiers. You're supposed to unpack them, attack them with hobby knives, green stuff and whatever you want, then glue them on a base, paint them and THEN ignore them. Not even unpacking the poor guys just feels wrong. Even worse are sealed boxes. You can't even be sure the models are in there. Open them up already! Release the lead!!!! 

...but the only good blister is an opened blister!

So - as a form of early birthday present - I did just that and unpacked (almost) all the Skaven blisters I had in my possession. Turned out it took all the round 25mm slotta bases I had left to mount the Skaven I found (and then I had to 'borrow' some from my brother and vandalize some non-slotta 25 mm round bases to get everything mounted). I also recall that I own that Shadespire warband, so perhaps more Skaven are lurking elsewhere in my hobby room. 

It doesn't matter if you represent a filthy rat: if  you're made of metal, you should take a nice pre-priming bath.

Next up the rats went into the drink in teams, just so I could clean all the aging release agent and finger gunk off the models. If you want to have a happy time painting (and owning) metal models, you should most definitively clean them with soap and never touch them without gloves (at least until the primer is on). 

I have to admit that I was a bit shocked when I saw the amount of Skaven I had squirreled away in the cupboard.

With the entire lot washed and dried, it turned out I had accidentally built up quite a collection by ad-hoc buying okay-priced metal Skaven. For those who don't feel like squinting at the picture I had:

• 25 Plague Monks (+3 in a sort of half-way hell of painting)
• 5 Plague Censer Bearers
• 4 Giant Rats 
• 13 metal Gutter Runners (+ 5 even older Gutter Runners in halfway paint hell (+1 in another windowsill))
• 1 Skaven Battle Banner carrier (I do not really like this model, will paint him anyway)
• 2 Packmasters (lovely classic models)
• 1 Classic, 1st generation Warplock Jezzail Team (I need one more of these to make a second team of three and then I need 1 2nd generation one to fill out the 2nd gen team)
• 1 2nd gen Warpfire Thrower (plus another I left in the blister (I own 6 painted Warpfire teams (and I like having friends, so I never field them all at once, which makes me wonder if I should paint both))
• 2 Skaven Slaves with slings (love these)
• 1 Warlock Engineer (half painted)
• 1 Classic Skaven Warlock with poison wind globe
• 2 Classic Skaven with Plague Censers 
• In the background you can see two Hellpit Abominations that where spit out by a 3D printer (more on those in a later blog) 
• I also found and instantly dipped 20 plastic Plague Monks (these models aren't very good, but they did not deserve the paint job that was on them. 
• Aside from that, I found two Skaven Endless Spell I don't feel like painting (a base with rats on and some lightning bolts) and 10 Stormvermin I should've completed about three years ago.
• 1 unbuilt Plague Catapult/Warplightning Cannon (I already have 2 cannons so it will be a catapult).

 As you can tell by the silly list I have quite a lot of painting to do if I ever want to complete these guys. That's why I decided to challenge myself to speed paint 10 Plague Monks in one weekend. As I got started on the unit, I decided on an easy color scheme. That made me change my mind and in stead go for 20 Plague Monks and 5 Censer bearers in one weekend. 

The downside of speed painting is that a unit can look a bit monotonous. On the upside: the unit is painted.

I started painting the monks with a basic airbrushed coat of P3 Traitor Green over a zenithal black and white primer. I added a few layers with P3 Menoth White Highlight mixed into the Traitor Green (I was in a P3 state of mind I guess). This got a bit of contrast going. After two layers of brighter green I added a few drops of pure white to the mix to really blast out the robes. Then I sat down and brushed on the skin color using Scalecolor Resurrection Flesh, I added a few purple hoods to break up the monotony (VGC Heavy Violet). I painted all the metal bits VMA Hull Red and all the coppery metal bits (bracelets and gongs) Decayed Metal (Scalecolor). The wood was painted with a mix of Dubai Brown (Scalecolor) and VMA Cement Grey. That concluded my Saturday morning. I spent time with the family in the afternoon and found a bit more time for painting in the evening. As the last of the basic color blocks were in place I could give the models a heavy wash of (slightly watered) Athonian Camoshade. I went for the greenish tinge instead of a more obvious Agrax wash in the hopes of keeping a diseased feel to the unit. I also painstakingly brushed on Vallejo Dark Earth Paste onto the bases, cursing the fact I had to glue the models onto the base earlier as this made the addition of gloop a lot more work than it should be. 

I made the banner out of scrap paper and used a lighter (after painting) to give it the proper burned look. What I probably shouldn't mention is that I burnt off the rightmost attachment bit and had to improvise like hell to get the damn thing stuck in place.

On Sunday morning the paste and the shade both had had time to dry. I spent most of the day applying highlights to the robes (a mix of Traitor Green and Menoth White Highlight again). Both the skin and the purple were highlighted by adding white to the original color. I drybrushed the rusted (Hull Red) metal with a silver paint and the wood with Baneblade Brown, followed by Tyrant Skull (Dry). I used a Contrast paint (Aggaros Dunes) to give bits of skin with hair a browner color. With most of the color in place I applied Nuln Oil selectively to increase the shadows in folds (this is were a lot of restraint was necessary as it is easy to get carried away with both Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade). With still a bit of afternoon left, I cut of a bit of the paper packing slip that came with my replacement airbrush nozzle. I cut this bit of paper to the size of a banner and airbrushed it purple (to tie it in with the unit). I used Colors and Uniforms of the Skaven as inspiration and freehanded a random rune with Ulthuan Grey, White and Nato Black lines. I finished up by washing the bases with Agrax and (after applying hot air) adding some tufts to the bases. I rounded all this off with a blast of Polyurethene Matt Varnish. And there they are: 20 Plague Monks (and 5 Censer Bearers) ready for action. Now to decide what to buy for my birthday...more Skaven or something that's not Skaven? Decisions, decisions...

I shot a large bunch of my Skaven five years ago, they are still marching over here.

Just to brag a bit (hey it's my blog ;). My collection of painted Skaven currently consists of:

• 1 Grey Seer (metal model)
• 3 Screaming Bells (one of each generation)
• 1 Thanquol (on foot, classic model)
• 1 Thanquol riding Boneripper (modern plastic version)
• 1 Verminlord Warpseer (the big plastic one)
• 1 Verminlord (the classic metal one)
• 1 Warpgnaw Verminlord (the Forgeworld variant)
• 1 Clawlord on Brood Horror (who's rules have mysteriously disappeared from the recent versions of the app...)
• 3 Clawlords (1 classic model, 2 Island of Blood)
• 2 Skaven Chieftains with Battle Standard (converted Island of Blood clanrats)
• 160 plastic clanrats (Island of Blood) 
• 10 metal clanrats 
• 10 Stormvermin 
• 1 Ikit Claw (Arch Warlock, 2nd gen model)
• 7 Warlock Engineers (5 classic models, 2 Island of Blood plastic models)
• 6 Stormfiends (those bigger then a Rat Ogre, Rat Ogres)
• 6 Warpfire Throwers (4 1st generation, 1 2nd gen, 1 Island of Blood (plastic))
• 1 Warp Grinder 
• 2 Ratling Guns
• 2 Doomflayers 
• 2 Doom Wheels (1 metal, 1 plastic)
• 9 Warplock Jezzail Teams (4 1st gen, 2 2nd gen and 3 3rd gen)
• 10 Skryre Acolytes (Poisoned Wind Globadiers)
• 2 Warp Lighning Cannons (1 metal, 1 plastic)
• 2 Throt the Uncleans (both the classic metal model)
• 1 Master Moulder  (still need to blog about him)
• 5 Packmasters (3 classic models, 2 Island of Blood variants)
• 1 Hell Pit abomination (Buddy)
• 37 Giant Rats (mostly metal)
• 4 bases with rat swarms (need to field these some day soon)
• 6 Rat Ogres (5 Island of Blood, 1 Boneripper (the metal model that came with original Thanquol))
• 1 Nurglitch, Arch Plaguelord of Clan Pestilens (awesome model)
• 2 Lord Skrolks (must be confusing for him)
• 1 Plague Priest (the plastic one that comes with the Screaming Bell kit)
• 2 Poisoned Wind Mortars (come on GW, get them back on the army list already)
• 5 Plague Censer Bearers
• 60 Plague Monks (including the unit above)
• 1 Deathmaster Snikch 
• 17 Gutter Runners (11 classic metal models, 2nd gen metal model and 5 plastic models)

According to a quick and dirty count that's around 10,550 points of painted Skaven (using current AoS rules and improvising points for missing units). I suddenly realize why I never get to field them all. Also I think I need more Skaven in my life (and I should properly photograph this lot some day soon). Until next time: Squee!