500 Point Warhammer Fantasy Skaven Army (Also the end of Monster March)

Although this is a post about the Skaven I've been working on, it's also sort of the end of Monster March as well. This army was entirely built and painted during the last 2 weeks of March!

It sounds really fast, considering it's 40 models, but I realized early on that I would need to be painting fast if I wanted to actually ever finish a Skaven force. This is only 500 points, but is already 40 models!

I've used a few classic metal models and some of the more modern plastic kits and bits from Island of Blood. You can see the stone-age Warpfire Thrower and Poisoned Wind Globeadeer above. These are really classic nostalgic models for me, and just looking at them takes me straight back to the mid 90s. I love the old rules for them too. They're incredibly dangerous, but it's pretty much in the hands of fate if they devastate the enemy or just explode and shower your horde of chittering rat-men with napalmy death!

I also have Grey Seer Thanquol (below), who I'm using as an ordinary Warlock in this force. It's a really old model, but I think the sculpt is still nice. I did a little bit of a glow effect around his eyes which I think came out really well. It's something I don't do very often, but I wanted to make him look a little bit magical. I've also been reading the old Gotrek and Felix books that feature him quite heavily, so it's fun to be able to use the model. I just wish I had an old metal Boneripper to go with him!

The plague monks are probably my least favorite kit in this force. They show their age a lot worse than the metals. I did a lot of filling work on them to get them to a stage that I was happy with. As with a lot of the force, I didn't want to spend too long on them, but I did stop to sculpt some hoods and to fill in around their necks and I think it was worth the time and energy. The banner is freehand. I tried to keep it simple enough as I'm not great at freehand designs. I'm pretty happy with how the horned rat symbol came out. 

The unit below is 25 Clanrats in a massive block. I wanted to get a good quality finish quickly, so for the whole army, I airbrushed a yellow colour over the whole of every model. I hadn't used contrast paints before, but I basically used the yellow as a nice bright undercoat that I could pick out the main colours over. They're quite detailed models, but by batching them in pretty big chunks of 10 or 15, I made it to the end of the force in good time. Their fur is Gore Grunta Fur Contrast and the blacks are Black Templar. I did do highlights on each part, but it cut down on the middle stages. It was also nice to work with the contrast paints because they're so fluid that they were easy to apply. Whenever I build an army, I have to decide it it's going to be more for play, or more as an art project. These guys are definitely designed for play and are a speed and quality that matches! 

Last, we have Warlord Spineshank! He's the metal Spinetail model, but has a few conversions on him - including his back banner and actually a robot eye that's on the other side of his head so you can't see it in this photo. He was a model I bought a while back and converted for my 40k Skaven before I had any idea where I was going with them. At the time, I didn't have a clear direction and when I picked up the army and worked on it properly a few years later there wasn't really a place for him anymore, so he's been languishing in a drawer ever since. Handily, he is perfect for this force, so I got him on a square base and set him loose on the Old World!

 And that's about it. It certainly was a productive month - I painted a Dragon, a Stegadon, and 40 Skaven. The best part is that I'm really happy with how everything came out! I have planned to increase the army to 1000, and It's quite achievable. It's pretty much just adding a Doomwheel, 10 Stormvermin, an a few more Plague Monks. 

Monster March Week 3 - Lizardmen Metal 1990s Stegadon ... Stega...done

Monster March is still in full swing. I finished my Dark Elf Dragon last week, and to follow it up I've been working on this metal 1990s Lizardmen Stegadon. After a week of work, the Stegadon is finished!

This is a classic model that means a lot to me as Lizardmen were my first army ever, and  the Stegadon was one of the very first models I ever owned. As with the rest of my classic Lizardmen, I've followed the colour scheme I used when I was younger, so the skinks are green and the Stegadon is a fetching dark red. 

In the end, it didn't take too long. It was a pain to build though. It's all metal, and I had to pin a lot of the bits - especially the Howdah to make it good and strong. When I was a kid, I mostly just drenched it with superglue and then painted what I could reach. I wanted to do a better job this time, so I painted it in 3 chunks - one for the actual Stegadon, then the howdah and finally the 6 crew. 

In addition to being a big nostalgia tank, this thing also weighs about as much as a tank. It's solid metal and is basically a house brick... with points on it. It also makes a big chunk of my 1000 point plan, and puts me in a good position to move the army on towards that goal. I've recently finished the skink cold-one riders. My planned list is almost done, with just 5 more saurus warriors to paint. 

The other thing that has been nice has been having this thing on a real base. The actual model never came with one, and was part of that era when a lot of metal things didn't have bases at all and just sort of rolled around on the green flocked plains of the old world. Anyway, it fits a chariot base nicely.

Well, that pretty much rounds out my Monster March this year. Maybe I'll just try to paint whatever I have about the place as a final pledge for the last week. I'm batching a bunch of Skaven right now, so maybe if I paint enough of them, I might get a final photo. I really should be working on those final saurus though. The horror of having so many projects on the go!

Head on over to Path of an Outcast to see how the other entrants are doing. I have to say, I was shocked to read last week's update as Gav Thrope has joined the event. Exciting stuff!

Path of an Outcast

Monster March - Week 2 Dark Elf Dragon Complete

It's time for an update on my Monster March progress. I'm happy to say that my first monster is down! It was touch and go for a minute there, but I got the thing done. I still have half my pledge to go (an old metal Stegadon), so this is sort of the half-way point and the perfect time to finish a project. 

Overall, I'm really happy with the way the dragon came out. Work may seem to be fast, but it was a flurry of activity. It's been really fun though, as a lot of my work lately has been painting blocks of infantry, so taking some time to work on a big monster was a nice change of pace. 

I'm using one of my oil paintings as a backdrop again as it just makes things more fun and brings out a bit of the old fantasy style. It does make the photos a bit busy, but if you're having trouble reading it, just remember it's a big honkin' dragon and you should be fine. Here's a photo of the back so you can see the wings. 

Front shot/rider. I used a corsair helmet as it was the single most dragon-y thing in a 500 mile radius. I can't believe that thing is intended for someone on foot to wear to be honest, but anyway here it is on the head of the notorious brigand known as Filthy Lu'Gar

A close up shot so you can see the paint-work. I have my own techniques to be honest. I like to highlight up to small tiny dots of white that look a bit like the light is catching a shiny surface. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that the dragon was inspired by the nautical themes of classic Dark Elves, so the sea vibe is still strong. It's a sea dragon! 

And that pretty much rounds out my first project for Monster March! Remember, you can stay up to date on all the action going on over at Path of an Outcast (Path of an Outcast). 

 

Monster March 2021 - Dark Elf Dragon Week 1

I'm back for Monster March again, and this year I've pledged my Dark Elf Dragon and possibly an old metal Stegadon depending on how progress on the dragon goes! At the moment this is the state of the dragon after 1 week of work. The Stegadon has been stripped, but is a pile of metal chunklets that need a lot of TLC, so we'll see if I can manage that one.

If you're not familiar with Monster March, head on over to Path of an Outcast to read more: Path of an Outcast: Monster March - Part 1 (swordmasterofhoeth.blogspot.com). It's a community event where the goal is to pledge and paint a monster, large model or pretty much anything in the month of March! About 2 years ago, I successfully painted my Shadowsword for the event. 

Anyway, here's the dragon so far. I started the month with it built and I've spent this week completing the airbrushing on it. I think it took about an hour and a half to get it into this condition.

I've been reading the old 5th Edition Armies book, and was kind of inspired by the background in there of Dark Elves being a seafaring race, so rather than going for black on the dragon I wanted to paint it a bit like it could be a sea dragon! Anyway, I've gone for a sort of blue hide with an orange/red trail down its back. I added a few indications of stripes, but I'm not that happy with them, so that whole area is something I'll be sorting out with the regular brush now. I did the skin on the stomach and wings in a sort of almost flesh tone that's not far off Rakarth Flesh in colour.

I normally name some of the paints that I've used, but in this case, I'm really not sure as it was a lot of layers. I definitely remember base-coating the body in Prussian blue, but I can't remember what I highlighted it with, possibly Vallejo Emerald and white mixed with the blue. The skin was definitely Vallejo Dark Flesh with white mixed and added for highlights.

Anyway, that's my week 1 progress on this thing. It's fun to paint a dragon again after so many years. If I want to finish the Stegadon, I probably need to finish this dragon up pretty quick (I am not looking forward to building the Stegadon - it's the metal howdah with 6 metal crew - I'm going to have to pin them all so I can paint them separately and stand any chance of getting it looking good!)

Speaking of pinning, the dragon has a rider that I have mounted on a block to paint separately. 

Monster March - Week 3, Shadowsword Complete!

I finished the Shadowsword with time to spare. It still feels like it took long enough though. There's just something about painting tanks, even when you do it quickly. At some point I always come to the realisation that I'm basically painting a house brick with added relief!

Overall, I'm really happy with how the Steel Panther came out. It's actually the first Super Heavy that I've painted for any of my armies, so that's cool too. I'm not sure how much I'll use it in game, as I like to play smaller games mostly, but having it finished certainly fulfils a childhood dream or two. 

Although painting started to feel a bit arduous towards the end, I find with tanks that they really come alive when you start highlighting all the metals and adding the last weathering touches, as it really blends it all in nicely. Using the airbrush was a real life-saver too, or I'd probably still be sitting there base coating the thing. I honestly wouldn't paint a vehicle without it these days. Not to say that an airbrush will all the work, but once you get your techniques down, it can be a real time saver for highlighting, cammo patters and smooth application.

The finished Shadowsword in my display cabinet

Other than the tank, I've built, undercoated and airbrushed the chaos half of Shadowspear as well, so expect to see some units from the set turning up on the blog soon.

With one week to spare till the end of Monster March, I'll have to think of something to do with my newly completed super-heavy for the final update...

Monster March - Week 2, Shadowsword Progress

Work has been continuing at a good pace on the Shadowsword. I finished washing around all of the rivets and other details and did the light drybrush highlight on the whole tank. After I'd finished that stage, I started the laborious process of picking out the details.

Most of the detail parts are still just basecoated at the moment, and I really have a long way to go with them.

In order to get a bit more finish on the tank, and to get an idea where I was going with it, I also added decals to it. I always enjoy that stage a lot, so I couldn't resist. I free-handed a name for the tank on the side of it; the "Steel Panther", and before anyone asks, it is an intentional joke reference to the American comedy glam rock/metal band.

"Become the king of your neighbourhood, like Steel Panther, and Tiger Woods..."

If anyone's interested in how we got to this stage, I did a full step by step tutorial for how I paint my Steel Legion tanks, so if you haven't read it already, it's available here (Link)

That about rounds it up. I'm hoping to blast the rest of the tank out pretty fast now, as I've ordered a copy of Shadowspear, and as an avid Chaos player, I'm hoping to have plenty of time to spend on the goodies within!

Monster March - Week 1, Shadowsword

Following on from my pledge for Monster March, I've been hard at work painting my Shadowsword. This is pretty much where we're at after one week:

Despite looking almost finished to the casual observer, there's still a long way to go. Basically, progress so far was all done with the airbrush, so in terms of time spent, we're looking at maybe 2 hours of work.

The new thing I tried was masking the tracks off so I could spray them silver. I absolutely hate painting tracks with a brush, so I'm really happy that it worked out well.

Other than the airbrush work, I've started the painstaking process of washing all the rivets and gaps with Agrax. It takes a long time, but is well worth the effort, and it has already added a lot of depth to the model.

Once I finish that stage, it's on to highlighting and then the bodywork will be complete. Hopefully I can get that done by next week - giving me the remaining 2 weeks to do all the detail work!

Monster March 2019 - Steel Legion Shadowsword Pledge

I'm taking part in Monster March this year, which is being run by Swordmaster over at Path of an Outcast (http://swordmasterofhoeth.blogspot.com/2019/02/monster-march-3-introduction.html).

The event is quite simple in premise, paint something big and scary during the month of March and follow along with your fellow entrants. For me, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try to paint up the Shadowsword that I bought for my Steel Legion force. I think it should be quite manageable using my tank painting technique, as described in my Steel Legion Tutorial. So hopefully it should look something like my other tanks when it's done:

It's always been a bit of a dream of mine to have a fully painted Shadowsword for 40k. I think it all started when I was a kid and games of Epic were always being shown in White Dwarf. It just seemed so exciting, and I couldn't help but want a full size one. In particular the Shadowsword always had a sort of mystique to it for me; being the one that mounted the biggest gun!

Anyway, that's the pledge, so check back later to see how I get on!

Monster March - Stormfiends/Kastelan Robots Week 2

Well, I'm on target to get these guys finished. I've completed all of the teal armour, and basecoated and washed the skin down. I also added a base coat to the base, so I've made a start on most of the areas. I added a few more parts to them too and finished the gap fill since my post last week.

I'm painting them as a batch together as there are a lot of mixed colours, and I can't be bothered to do it all twice! It is starting to feel like a bit of a strain though. I think I overdid it in February, so after I finish these two, it'll be time for a break from 40k for a while. There is a local painting competition coming up soon too, so maybe that'll give me a bit of a break from it all.

Just to prove that I'm making decent progress, I've painted their backs too! I really like the little brain rats on their backs, although I'm a little confused as to how they were supposed to fit in fantasy with brain rats that seem to have some type of psychic hoods on them on the models. I know Skaven always had a lot of technology, but really?

Anyway, that rounds out this week's progress. We're about half way there, and I'm probably over the half way mark, so things are looking pretty good.

Monster March 2018 - 40k Skaven Stormfiends/Kastelan Robots

With a very successful Squaduary out of the way, I thought it was about time for a rest.

Or Not...

So I signed up to the very next painting challenge that came along!

If you missed it last year, Monster March is an event being run by Sword Master over at Path of an Outcast. Much like Squaduary, the event is a month long painting challenge. As the title suggests, the theme for this one is "monster" or something big and monstrous.

For my part, I've pledged a pair of converted Stormfiends to be used as Kastelan Robots for my 40k Skaven/Mechanicus force. I think painting them should be quite manageable in a month, especially compared to the quantity of models that I put out in February. They should give me a good boost in points and add some much needed backbone to the force. If I have the time, I'll also add a Datasmith to the force, as one would traditionally accompany them into battle.

I've had these models since Christmas, and they were one of the main inspirations for the force. I don't think they'll need too much conversion, as they already look like they belong in 40k, so with any luck a few techno-bits skilfully placed should do the trick. I also have some other units in the works, so there should be a steady stream of posts coming over the next few weeks as work continues.

I have done some more extensive work on one of them; building a large double handed twin heavy phosphor blaster. I'm most happy with the little mechanical arm and leaver set up. These pictures are still very much work in progress, so there will be more work and more filling yet to come. In particular, the gun needs more work, but as this is a challenge that will be running all month, I wanted to get a post up to introduce what I was doing.

The shoulder mounts look better in person, maybe it's the pale colour of the resin compared to the rest of the model?

The mechanical arm is my favourite part.