3D-printed Skaven Verminlord Corruptor slinks onto the scene

After almost three months of nothing, three posts in three days. Admittedly this is not a professionally planned (or run) blog ;). But with more stuff on the paint station coming up, I did not want to walk into the 'let's save this one for later'-trap (it's where my King Tiger is parked). So without further ado (and bereft of pre-amble (so as not to fill the space with empty rambling)) here's the Verminlord Corruptor I finished yesterday. 

"Rats spreading the black death? Amateur stuff I say, wait 'till I'm done here." (oh dear, now this Verminlord sounds like Matt Berry in my internal monologue.)

Now I'm old enough to be on the fence when it comes to a Skaven Greater Daemons. I mean: yes Slaanesh and Khorne get one as per Slaves to Darkness and Nurgle and Tzeentch get their own as per The Lost and the Damned (and Malaal needs one (my stern eyes are pointed at Nottingham at this point (I do actually have a fan made one somewhere))). But Skaven? Do should really get a daemon of their own? Ah let's not overthink it anymore than I already have (also, as I discovered while looking at the background of Gnawdoom, a Skaven daemon analogue is actually mentioned in Terror of the Lichemaster so there is some appropriate old school credit there (older than the Realm of Chaos supplements even)). Anyways, I painted a plastic version by GW two years ago (after it spent a long waiting period on the Window Sill of Shame). I also stripped and repainted my very old metal Verminlord four years ago. I may actually own too many....ah no let's not finish that sentence.

When I applied the pink to the tail, I was hoping for a slightly disgusting effect, I did not quite expect it to be quite so disgusting(ly apropriate).

Now why would I need another Daemon? For Age of Sigmar purposes, to be honest. I have quite a nice collection of Clan Pestilence but it just wasn't enough to form an army on the table (it mostly consists of me impulse buying second hand metal plauge monks). Recently I added two Plague Claw Catapults and a Plague Furnace and, going over the total points, I discovered that by adding a daemon I could actually get a full on Clan Pestilens army on the table. 

From left to right: GW Verminlord, two classic (metal) Plague Monks (I don't want to talk about the current plastic ones (and the bin that is in their likely future)) and the 3D printed Rat Demon doubling as my Verminlord Corruptor.

I did not really feel like getting a second GW plastic daemon. The plastic Verminlord kit is quite nice, but it has a basic pose that is slightly to samey (is this an actual English word?) to want two (although I have to admit I'm contemplating getting another one to make the Great Horned Rat version). Instead I looked around and found a perfectly useable 3D printable daemon. I printed it over the summer (long story about 3D-printing and the winter coming soon (I think)) and almost re-enacted the situation with the other Verminlord (it sat on my Windows Sill with a basecoat and sad eyes). 

"Mountains Gandalf, I want to see mountains again!"
"Hang on and let me order you a backdrop Bilbo."

This changed a few days ago when I decided to use it for 'contrast paint experimentation purposes'. I still really want to get the hang of these (by now not so new) paints and (aside from reading up and watching videos) that requires playing around with it (and making mistakes (lots of mistakes)). In this case I went with (what I remembered of) an article by John Blanche written around the launch of the paint line (sorry I keep name dropping mr. B, but hey I'm a GW fanboy and that does go hand in hand with admiring the venerable art director's work). 

(sing along!) Knock the pots, don't knock the pots over...

Blanche went on at quite some length about mixing contrast paints on the model and embracing the joy of thick layers, so I decided to 'live dangerously' and open up four shaky pots at the same time. I used these to add different colors to the Verminlord's fur (having airbrushed a basic 'Dead Skin' (VMA) tone with some interesting inflamed dashes of red on the model first). Mixing around contrast colors on the model to get variance in the thick layers of fur was a joyful experience, and I rather like the end result. All it took (after drying) was a light drybrush with some Karak Stone, followed by an ever lighter drybrush with pure white to tie it all together. The funky looking tails have been 'washed' with a Contrast Medium-thinned pink Contrast Paint. The highlights where preserved through judicious use of a slightly wet q-tip directly after applying the contrast paint. 

Should I have waited for a more appropriate setting for this backdrop?
Yes!
 Did I?
No!

Now you might wonder about the repetitive double-shot of daemons hopping by. It has a reason. Adding a diseased Skaven daemon to the collection gave me a reason to shoot wider framed pictures than those I shot of the single model of a Grey Seer. In other words: this monster has given me the chance to show off my new backdrops. Now I may have to make some extra terrain to suit these (oh no! (giggle)) but I am quite happy with the switch. Not that I don't like the misty valley I've been using over the years (I've actually grown a bit attached), but the extra strength paper had started curling up over the years and the backboard was slowly disintegrating. It was time for a change.

Here's a quick behind the scenes of my highly professional photo studio.

To replace that background (and the utterly unwieldy, way too large stormy sky one) I had three interesting looking stock photos printed directly on 10mm foamboard through an online printer. I could even order an attachable stand with them. No more messing with stacks of random books for me. With that set-up shown. I'll leave off now. Until the next time :D