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So when Skaven came out, I was a tad unexcited because I believed that they would become the flavor of the month army, with thousands of people picking up Skaven armies by the truckload.

What I've found, however, is that Skaven are hardly mentioned, it seems like the whole Skaven flavor of the month died as fast as it was born. Everytime I browse the threads, its New Dark Elf/Ogre/Chaos player looking for advice.

Is the book uninspiring and/or bland? I really hope not, because Skaven were one of my favorite armies and I was hoping that they would have gotten a ton of new, fun options.

They we're my first choice for fantasy, until I realized that they we're the 2nd hord-iest army in the game (next to gobbos)

I can't stand painting tons of models, I was thinking going all-stormvermin ,but thats still 100+ models.

Karon wrote:They we're my first choice for fantasy, until I realized that they we're the 2nd hord-iest army in the game (next to gobbos)

I can't stand painting tons of models, I was thinking going all-stormvermin ,but thats still 100+ models.

Ditto here. I think the new book has finally motivated me to get them done. My workbench looks like a row at the hobby shop with all the clanrat boxes and assorted blisters hanging up.

Fortunately I have a better way to mass paint them now, without them looking sucky.

ZF-

I dunno, I think people are pretty excited about the new book- I liked the flavour in it, anyway. It's probably got to do with painting 100+ detailed models, as the lads above me said.

I painted up almost 2k of the new Skaven

Totally agree with above. Was looking into expanding to a 2nd army in FB, and Skaven were really tempting with their new models, but I just couldn't get around the numbers. The Plague Furnance is one of the coolest models ever, and the Doomwheel is pretty awesome too. But the hordes of dudes made me stay away pretty big time.

I even played a game against a Skaven player recently who had 2 Plague Furnaces with the Monks (Priests?) who ride them, Queek Headtaker, a Hellpit Abomination, and a Doomwheel. Despite having that many points tied up in basically 5 models, I'm fairly sure he still had well over 100 other models on the table. The units pushing the Furnances were huge, and there were plenty of other runty little guys running around too.

So some people are just unwilling to deal with armies that big. And others, particularly ones who just picked up Skaven, are probably still in the process of assembling and painting everything and haven't had a chance to do big tournaments and post batreps yet.

I was going to pick them up until I learned they were a horde army, so I picked Dark Elf instead

Re: Horde Armies, yes, it takes a LOT of love to break through the monotony of assembling your first really viable force. But eventually, for the true believer, something awesome eventually happens.

You achieve your goal, and behold, you have TONS of Skaven painted, though it may have taken a long time, and with that momentum behind you, with a HUNDRED plus models painted in their glory and cheering you on, soon you catch the bug and you can't wait to grow the horde.

It does take a special dedication and a special kind of player to pick up Skaven. But once a new Skaven player is initiated, he is in it for life.

Skaven is a great army, but I do not think I have the skills for painting 100+ strong army, but If I ever get it then I will definitely buy one for sure!

Actually, of you're going to go skaven, you don't need the super-skills to paint the army. Just lay on some clean basecoats and wash them down with a brown glaze or dip. Save the extra effort for the big centerpiece models.

Believe me, no one is going to look closely at 100+ skaven clanrats. Especially not with a really well-done plague furnace to ogle instead.

Here's the method I'm currently using. Very basic colors as a start, followed by Tamiya Smoke.

My photography is a bit sucky, but you get the picture.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/229737.page#557386

ZF-

I was thinking of doing something similar to Zad's method.

Undercoat white (Gasp!)

Basecoat leather/metal (Leaving fur white, with some light browns every now/then for variety)

Wash entire model (minus metal) with Devlan Mud (Basecoats flesh/fur) Metal gets a wash of Badab Black

Highlight fur with light brown, and layer Elf Flesh over the skin.

Skaven are hilarious, I love their lore -- especially in the Gotrek and Felix books. But yeah, horde armies are definitely not for beginners, which is why they were not FOTM, and never will be. It's expensive and time consuming. It takes a dedicated player to really devote that time and energy to make a great horde army. Maintaining them is a labor of love too... I play dark eldar and while we aren't quite hordey like IG or Orks, our basic troops are 8 points a pop, so we can rack up a lot of warriors on the field.

I have to use 2 large toolboxes packed with foam to transport a full 2k army list. (Raiders hog up space, the fins give them a 5 inch height, ugh)

Oh thanks for the tip mate, after reading it I got a urge to buy overpriced giga rats from GW

I plan on two units of slaves. Nobody will mistake them, because they'll all be wearing orange suits.



ZF-

I've played skaven almost exclusively for 5 years. I cannot tell you how many people after playing me want to play the army because its fun to play if you don't build the WAAC lists. The problem is the army is draining to build, paint, deploy, and play.

My army is your tradition skaven army. I have 4 units of slaves and 4 units of clanrats. That's 200 models right there, and not even 900 pts. I painted my skaven albino. My clanrats are plague monk's and arm/ head swaps. This kept costs down in the past, but I magnetized the army for simplicity. Its fully painted, and I love it.

But when people even play it they cannot get their head around sacrificing ENTIRE painted units to win/ play strategically. Gamers who goto GT's love their armies. I love mine, but most people even say "i love it" "i'd never build or paint it." I'll make a seperate post with a cost lay out, i already now its pretty rough.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Greyseer, screaming bell: $45 (old edition) $57 new edition.
Warlock, Ikit Claw model $12 old edition, repackaged now for $20?
Warlock, regular $10, $15 new?
Chieftain Bsb: $15

4x clan rats, $35, weapon team ($17, total: 52 $208
4x slaves $35, $140
2x4 Rat ogre’s, $140
Gutter Runners, $35
Doomwheel $57
Abomination (giant) $55

Magnetized: per unit: $10 magnets, tray, 3 for $20
Total: $717 + 60= 777

Alt models:
Censer bearers x8: 50
Stormvermin x25: 50
Addl Weapon teams: 100
Warlord: $15-20.

Anshal wrote:Skaven is a great army, but I do not think I have the skills for painting 100+ strong army, but If I ever get it then I will definitely buy one for sure!

This is the exact reason i kind of gave up after looking at them. I love the models and the codex and i still really want to do them, i just havnt got the time, skill or the money. Lame.

As I said before, it takes a special kind of idio- I mean, dedication to play Skaven. I have been working on painting mine for three editions... and they're still not done yet.


Of course, part of that is because I paint with all the speed of a glacier...

Personally I think that the Skaven book is extremely versatile and is a VERY competitive army - the only hangup on folks collecting it are the sheer number of models to buy and paint. Sure alot of their stuff is random, but it's destructive random, as opposed to Orcs&Goblins who are just stupid random. Plus the book incorporates so many new twists (like no partials on templates) that make it insanely good against the current builds out there now.

Folks are right though - it takes dedication to paint hundreds of models, which is a big turn off to alot of people. As the tournament season progresses, I think you'll see more and more Skaven popping up in the top 3.

I love my new Skaven. I have never played them until the most recent edition. I painted them in one week!! I really enjoy them, they have a built in balanceer with all that can go wrong. I personally don't like that every single unit that can explode has a DIFFERENT misfire chart. I think there needs to be just one. However, it's great seeing all the stuff blow up, it's great when it all comes together, too!! I just made this my exclusive army atm and I'm really enjoying it. Ill post some pics soon.

Currently I have:

Grey Seer on S Bell
Plague Priest on P Furnace
4 units of Clanrats with 2 WF thrower and 2 R Guns
30 Plague Monks
30 Storm Vermin
Warlock Engineer
2 Doomwheels

That makes up my current 2250 list. I'm enjoying it!!

One other note against Skaven, a number of popular items and units in the book have rules that are so incredibly vague that people are still arguing about them with no real "You're either in this crowd or that crowd" resolution (like to the pre-FAQ Deffrolla arguements of old).

I love the idea of skaven, and am definitely considering doing them. But you're right, the sheer number of models is daunting... I have yet to see a fully painted skaven army in person. It's disheartening to see all of the skaven players I've encountered thus far with unpainted or partially painted armies!

Also, Zad I think that method looks good, but might work even better using devlan mud instead of smoke. It's on brown flesh, after all... I think the smoke makes some of it look a little grey-ish, when it should just be darker brown.

I don't mind the gray tinge, but yeah, any kind of wash will do. I was always amazed at how well smoke worked for skeletons. It prompted me to build the Cursed Company.

LBursley's wash recipe post has really inspired me to give that route a try, once I actually get around to ordering all the stuff.

The skaven in the computer Blood Bowl game really have a gray pasty-skinned look.

It doesn't help that I've been uninspired to paint lately. I thought I'd start the spark going by painting something easy like a couple of Necron heavy destroyers -- but even they're languishing.

ZF-

Kirbinator wrote:One other note against Skaven, a number of popular items and units in the book have rules that are so incredibly vague that people are still arguing about them with no real "You're either in this crowd or that crowd" resolution (like to the pre-FAQ Deffrolla arguements of old).

Im glad someone else had the same thought. the rules are very Vague indeed, to the point where its just rediculas.
painting the models isnt something to worry about, it took 2 years to finish my army for the old book. but if you keep at it, you'll find it goes quick. as for the new models. i havent the insperation to paint them save a few peices till they straiten out the rules (no use painting something that gets nerfed). i'll just run my lists old school and not bother buying anything.... oh wait i havent bought anything save the army book and storm vermin..