Take the kiswa maker hook and ride Squeek-Hulud like a leader of ratmen!

Yeah the 'conversion' that had to happen, has happened. Egged on by regular readers Toby and Lasgunpacker I looked around for a kiswa hook, settled for superglue (I'm short on Arrakis Fremen gear) and made one spare Skaven ride Squeek-Hulud like a leader of ratmen. Frightened squeels and regular spraying of the musk of fear have not been included with this picture. 

Polish comes from the cities, wisdom from the desert and Hell Pit Abominations come from the Hell Pit.

Buddy gets company: Master Moulder and two 3D-printed Hell Pit Abominations finished

Almost six years ago I finished my Skaven Hell Pit abomination Buddy Since that day he's seen quite a few battlefields. As he survived no battle so far, I thought it was past time to get him some friends and a proper handler. Without further ado: here's a group shot of Buddy (a GW original), two 3D-printed friend (yet to be named) and their handler, a Master Moulder (by GW).

Okay I've named the center one 'Buddy', perhaps I should name the one on the left 'Fluffy' and the one on the right 'Spot' (<- deft McDeath reference right there (also misplaced, but let's ignore that)).

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).

Painting warhammer miniatures with oil paints (Warpgnaw Verminlord)

I love discovering new aspects of painting, building scenery and gaming. In order to stir things up I decided to try painting with oil paint instead of acrylic paint. Trying new things keeps the hobby fresh and hey, you learn new things too! Because painting with oils felt like a big step I used a damaged second hand Warpgnaw Verminlord to try it on. As usual, I'll start with the end result (and add more finished pictures at the end).

I declare my experiment with oils successful.

Skaven warplock jezzails, Throt the Unclean, Grey Seer and friends finished

Currently there's no great plan when it comes to my painting. I've been picking up random models on my paint station and applying some pigment to them as whim takes me. This results in quite an nice random mix of finished models. Like the clanrats (actually Skaven slaves), warplock jezzails, Throt the Unclean and Grey Seer I finished over the pas few weekends (not to mention Nagash, but that's for a different post). 

Ah the bad old days when clanrats where available in dirt cheap plastic and Skaven Slaves where only available as (expensive) cast metal. 

A third Screaming Bell rolls onto the scene

Christmas 2020 is upon us and I have a little lot of time reserved to get down to some serious painting. Before the new models pile up I had to get this one photographed and put on the blog. I actually completed this Screaming Bell a few weeks ago, but as I wanted to actually be able to take some time off during the holidays, didn't have the time to photograph it. Anyway, here's my third Screaming Bell in all its glory.

As an aside this marks the second model I've based on an laser cut MDF base. I should do a post about those somewhere in the future.

Classic Screaming Bell painted up and ready to go

"The Screaming Bell is one of the most fearsome creations of the insane Warlock Engineers." With those words GW introduced a large, chariot-like model for the Skaven. To my surprise that was in 1993. I thought the model was older. I remember having the budget back then to get either a Screaming Bell, a Doom Wheel or a Verminlord. As my standard opponent was fielding a Great Unclean One at the time, I picked the Verminlord (and I restored the model a while back). With a recent lucky find on a second hand website I've been able to finally add a classic Screaming Bell to my collection.

Come to think of it, this bell is quite on time for Christmas this year.

Skaven Verminlord Warpseer Rikittar Slysnout (and an old school metal friend)

Over the course of last week I've finished a Verminlord Warpseer that has been staring at me in partially painted condition for way too long. Using one of the utterly marvelous Character Name Generators at Realm of Plastic I can now dub this painted fiend: Rikittar Slysnout, Conniving Usurper of Torn Realities.

I've been painted and I have a name! What a day, what a lovely, lovely day.

A fresh Warplock Bombardier and yet another Warpfire Thrower added to my horde

My brand new Warplock Bombardier, currently part of the Carrion Empire set, has been covered in paint and is ready to go through the scenario's that come with the box later this week. I have to admit I'm not very impressed with its special abilities (on paper) but the sculpt is cool enough to compensate for it. Just look at the little maniac cackling!

Also making a debut: photo backdrop 2.0.

Skaven, Skaven everywhere, and the leadpile it did shrink

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...

Completely finished, and it only took me a bit over 25 years!