Manic's Slow Skaven Project

symphonicpoet

symphonicpoet

Moderator
It does kind of look Blood Bowly. The pose, with both hands up might be part of it. And that can be a bit of a turn off to me in a miniature, sometimes, but it's hard to find a nice rat. He should look pretty intimidating on a table, even with the armor and pose.
 
ManicMan

ManicMan

Member
As it seams you can never have enough half-finished projects on the go at once, I was looking at my Orc Wvyern the other day (the re-issue of the 90s one) and deciding while I like it alot, I only have a hand full of Goblinoids and right now, Not really looking to built an Orc army.. I then thought of one of the 'annoying' things which I kinda have said about in the past and had an Idea..

Skaven basically first appeared for 3ed. While I'll admit to being a little confused on some.. restrictions in places, Skaven can ride stuff as much as anyone else being 'human-like' enough, there is just not mounted units. Come 4ed, I felt some information was a bit more clear.. Skaven Warlord General clearly stats 'May Ride a monster, So may a Warlock or Seer.

So lets look at what Mounted Skaven figures have been released... Warlock Engineer on the Doomwheel.. Guess that's kind mounted.. Grey Seer and Bell ringer on Screaming bell.. again, kinda mounted... and that's it. No real mounted figures.. While I don't say for pretty much every army to have the SAME troops, Skaven are kinda.. interesting in that they have both No mounted troops and no real ranged weapons. In 3ed, A seer could have a warplock pistol (they did.. about 1 figure with one), and there is the Jezzails as a war machine, (technically warpfire thrower is ranged) but no bows (short, long or cross).

So.. I have the ability to have a character Mounted.. I have Wyvern which is a mountable creature.. I have a plan.

Then two little issues.. 1) there are no mountable Skaven figures. And most mountable legs aren't really Skaven-y.. Just means I need to find either a suitable figure, or do some sculpting..
2) How much do I mod the Wyvern? First, I thought mm.. drill hole in Orc sharman, put in magnet. Drill hold in saddle, put in magnet.. Allows my to change the rider.. yay.. then I thought, huh.. but the back of the 'saddle' is very orc-y.. while I guess it could just be some bits stolen from the orcs, I would prefer something a bit more Skaven like.. But that would mean changing the whole back of the 'saddle'. and making the point of putting in the magnets pointless..

So.. answer? I'll do number 2 first.. the whole saddle piece (fur seat, back banner and Orc) is gonna be one piece with magnets to attach to the Wyvern. For the Skaven rider, a whole new saddle piece.
number 1) I wanted to use a Seer. So I looked at what I got, I got 2 spare which should be okay for this.. a spare one from the Screaming bell..
Citadel-0839-1-01.jpg

(picture from Lost Minis. Jes Goodwin sculpt)
mm.. okay but not quite right for riding in my mind.. a bit plain but clearly doable.. the second is a Ral Patha (Europe) ratman Sharman..
0818da1632971fa6e65e4582ac718c1a.image.437x550.jpg

(image from RPE.. Tim Prow maybe?)
Ah, I really like that pose.. I'll need to add Horns on him but yeah. the one arm with a staff (like the Grey seer) but the other with a kinda pointing out reached arm.. I like the figure quite a bit, specially as a rider. Seams he is meant to be a bit of a.. reference to Queek Head-taker as his name is 'Skreekit Headtaker' but.. other then the name, I don't see it.. Anyway..

Problem with both figures is.. while there legs are apart, they both have long skirts which is a bit of a pain for riding.. the RPE one could easily be positioned so he is kinda 'surfing' on the wyvern but that'll just look crap in my mind.. I think I'm gonna have to cut him around the waist and put on some new legs.. but with the limited range of legs.. gonna be tricky.. but doable.. and working out how to make the saddle look good.. go with a basic thing, something like the original, or something completely different? need to think and try stuff out.. maybe get some ideas..

of course, then problems with how the saddle should look.. So this probebly won't be any time soon but quite a nice unique element for my Army.. Why Citadel never released a riding Skaven figure despite being able to ride, I don't know.. never seen a kitbash either.. I think a much later edition (6th or 7th) they started doing alot of 'undead' characters in WFB and 40K.. in 40K, Ghazghkull has died and been brough back to life SOOO many times.. anyway, they did a bit that Thanquol has not only had many different Bonerippers, but one was then brought back to life as a zombie Rat ogre which for some stupid reason he rode on a platform on the back of him.. awful thing..

Anyway.. Having a Seer riding a Wyvern should make a nice piece.

​

 
Fimm McCool

Fimm McCool

Member
Cool project! I can see where the legs might be a problem. Could you perhaps chop at the waist then cut the leg section vertically into thirds so you can reattach the outer part with feet and just putty the join around the wyvern?
 
ManicMan

ManicMan

Member
I was thinking of cutting away bits of the skirt but the way it flows is gonna give be a bit of fun ^_^; wanna try to get a decent plan in place before I go all cutty cutty.
 

twisted moon

Moderator
if you're not committed to the rider straddling the mount, the original doomwheel has a set of legs in a seat that could be an option.

Doomwheel legs.jpg

with or without the back rest.
 
ManicMan

ManicMan

Member
While I don't yet have the full unit of 20, I started to paint up my Stormvermin a little while back and have the first 5 painted. I decided to start painting an uncomplete unit because I felt it would be MUCH easier to paint the unit in batchs as that would probebly help get them done.. maybe.. Anyway.. 5 done.

This is the unit Musician (Colin Dixon Sculpt), 3 Standard halberd troops (Colin Dixon again) and a Jes Goodwin.

DSCF2642.JPG
DSCF2643.JPG
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Not great shots but still. Since Stormvermin are the elite of the elite (well, in 4th they are the only Elite as the Elite Clan rats were removed), and they are more armoured, I decided to make sure they are ones which are more armoured looking and decided for a bit more of a regimental look to them. Slaves are the lowest rank, Clan Rats are the standard 'every day' troop, and these are the Elite ^_^ I also decided to give them a unit symbol, which is a light blue (like) 'sky' with a white Lighting bolt S (for Storm). On the Colin Dixon normals, this basically goes on the shoulder pads, where as the others it can be a bit more random. The musician has it on a buckel/Buckler/whatever round bit on his armour, the Jes Goodwin one has it on his collar. I also decided on more muted colours for the rest of there outfit. Clan Rats take there clothes from stuff gathered on the battle fields, Slaves get whatever they can, Stormvermin have a bit more say in the matter and get some of the best choices as matching there own status in the clan(s).


Now, when I got the normal Colin dixon ones, I got a bunch with about 6 of them. but they are all two piece models and only 3 of the 6 had the weapon arm. While there are (or more I have) 4 different models they all have the same arm position with the right arm and left hand holding the weapon. So needed to replace that missing bit.. problem is, most spare arms with weapons (plastics from around the era) are the right arm and the weapon. None with the left hand. So I had to do some sculpting.. the first try I made I didn't use cause while I felt it was pretty good.. I put the left hand in the wrong position.. so they would have to have a very broken wrist.. sigh.. so I made up 3 more which I don't think are quite as good but not bad and have it right. I then added a bit of armour sculpted because the arms were all bare. not the best of jobs but isn't too bad and some of the hands, while basic, are passable, showing some improvement in my skills since the last time I had to sculpt a hand like this, which turned into more just a blob.

While lore says MOST stormvermin are the big black rats, I gave a bit of variety with a couple of different greys as a base and I'll probably use some other things to give a bit of natural shade difference between different rats. I do already have another few SV getting close to being done
 
ManicMan

ManicMan

Member
Seer has been cut. No photos right now but the staff was slightly joined to the body at the bottom, so I split that joint which was easy, To cut at the waist looked like the best option for the next part. In order to do that, I had to remove a scroll as part of a row which was tired to his waist so I could get a clean cut basically where his belt rope is (well, just under). pretty good cut and I'm surprised I didn't snap my knife blade (I REALLY need to get a new blade for my coping saw.. no wait, it's a junior hacksaw.. whatever, and this weekend a local (more so) screw fix opened with a 10% off deal so.. should have been a good time but.. ah well).

So now I got the figure in pretty much two pieces. Upper body with staff, and legs. Looking at the skirt... that's a bit of a bugger but should be possible but kinda need to work out the saddle first..

I have no experience in horse riding, but I know bare back is not meant to be as good or as nice as a saddle.. and a horse has pretty soft body compared to a scaly wyvern, so I'm pretty sure a saddle of some type is gonna be needed with a thick scaly and spikey hide. The original was a large fur pelt, or looked like one, so that's possible, But I'm debating some choices.. problem is think of ideas and having a good reference or so for them to see what would work. I don't like the more 6ed+ Skaven idea of making it into some Victorian era machine tech seat. While they do have a degree of tech, shouldn't be more advanced then Dwarfs and it's mostly based together and with the use of warpstone.
 
ManicMan

ManicMan

Member
attempted to sculpt a fur covering as a saddle.. failed very badly but early enough along that I didn't waste too much time and effort on it.. Also had a good idea about the legs but need the saddle done first (and my first couple of attempts for the legs failed..

looking for new references for ideas of just how the saddle should look.. meanwhile Almost got another batch of Stormvermin (including Standard) ready to show ^_^;
 
ManicMan

ManicMan

Member
possible.. wonder if I can cheat and instead of trying to sculpt something, maybe.. but sculpting probebly just as easy..
 
Fimm McCool

Fimm McCool

Member
Smoosh some putty on, jab it with a pin to give rough texture, cut a rectangle of cloth and squash it over the top then pour some superglue onto the top (not too much!) to set it all hard.
 
ManicMan

ManicMan

Member
Next 5 Stormvermin and still crap lighting.

DSCF2649.JPG
Standard is based on one from I think 3ed Army Book which I redraw the Chaos Star and added some colour to the Rat. I added a bit too much water to the black paint I put on the back so one point of the star is a bit darker in a patch but.. Battle damage ^_^ 2 of these are Colin Dixon standard Stormvermin (it's a Colin Dixon Standard bearer too) and two are Jes Goodwin. one of them two is bloody Glave.. He is not a bad sculpt but I've got 4 of him in a unit of 20.. and as part of a job lot, I got another 2 of him on the way.. Though one with a broken weapon..

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To try to make him a bit more different, I removed the spike from his helmet and changed the blade on his weapon.. also reposed his tail so instead of being behind, it kinda curls around his side. One problem with his sculpt is.. there isn't a large amount you can do to make him look THAT different.. even less if you are trying to do a bit of a unit regularity (Red helmets and a blue 'area' with white lighting S). with them all having long weapons, this unit really is a bit of a bugger to line up.. I think the AHQ Skaven were far more easy..

meanwhile, Riding seer has legs at the moment. Need to do a bit of sculpting around the waist and adding some clothing onto his legs a bit, but has legs (oh and his horns)
 
ManicMan

ManicMan

Member
DSCF2657.JPG
Quick image which appears to not be quick as good as I thought when I took it.. But, Top half is the RPE Ratman Sharman 'Skreekit Headtaker', the Legs (and tail) are taken from a Jes Goodwin Skaven Champion (Razortail to be more correct, which was the second one using that dollie I believe (Flench Packlord was the first, then Razortail with Warpeye and The butcher, though I got the ide that Flench wasn't that dollie but just very close. I don't have him to really compare in person)

I sculpted the belt a bit, cut down his loin cloth and then grey stuffed a bit of clothing to tie it in together a bit. I then added a spare loose scroll from, I think some plastic modern plastic plague monk spure (I got a bunch of spare loose bits of skaven arms, legs, accessories etc). I then .. tried a few times to sculpt his horns.. This is how it ended up.. Two around the bottom of his ears, and two sticking up on top. Grey Seers should have horns (I do wonder where the whole Rat with Horns comes from.. The closest Gideon at Awesome lies thinks, Is the Horned Rat being inspired by Baphomet, the fake 'Demon god' created in order to wipe out the Knights Templar and then silly Neo-pagens started to believe was a real thing (Just to up front.. I do know some Neo-pagens, including one which is a priestess.. ugh.. I normally try not to talk about it with them because of how.. Neo-pagen is just more made up rubbish then most religions tend to me (I guess I bettter be up front with that bit too.. I work in a Baptist church, I have a long history with it, a close friend since primary school is a Baptist minister of his own church and plays as the wizard in our quarterly heroquest games ^_^, which are at the baptist church I work in) I personal don't believe there is OR is NOT a god, though I lean towards there might be, but I don't think what mots people think is right and that most religions can have interesting myths to them, with some core values which are fair enough.. )... lost count of my brackets now..

Anyway, Horns aren't the best but the best I can come up with at the moment. Despite the skirt looking a bit big, He does sit at a pretty nice level on the Wyvern.. One of his feet is a bit misformed but thats no problem and kinda works ^_^ lets say He lost it while training his pet Wyvern, which the lore in the rule books do say need to be trained since childhood I think I can come up with a nice story and info on this guy.
 
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