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The Skaven.

The good old Verminous Horde.

The Skaven are one of those factions I always really, REALLY loved - especially when I was younger and just getting into Warhammer (about 10 - 11 years ago now). However they were one of those factions that I, for whatever reason, never decided to start an army or even collect any minis from the range to paint. At the time I had just gotten into high school, didn’t have much cash so it makes sense I only collected what I could then with what I had saved up (some Dark Eldar and then some Dark Elves after playing WHFRP - my first foray into tabletop RPGing - and becoming obsessed with the classic Warhammer World).

Long story short I fell in love with the Skaven pretty early on. They were sometimes the villains of our RP campaigns and I always drooled at the macabre almost Haemonculi looking experimental mutants and monstrosities when I saw Skaven armies on the table.

What I also think is funny about the Skaven is that who would’ve thought Ratmen? RATMEN! Of all things would capture my imagination as much as all the other crazy creatures and armies in both Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000. I think it’s the simplicity of the Ratkin that make them so interesting. Giant rats are a very real threat (sure not technologically advanced ones with terrifying warp-lasers) having roots in our history with the likes of the bubonic plague.

Many people have a horrible fear of rats and an apocalyptic horde of Ratmen ravaging the land is a pretty biblical sight to say the least...

Anyway, this project is going to be short and sweet. A small Warband of Skaven for use in Mordheim, Realms of Chaos, Age of Sigmar Skirmish (and maybe in the future Warcry?).

This thread will chronicle my work on painting my favorite Skaven Miniatures. Almost all of them are before my time, but they were the ones that I grew up seeing and thus capture my imagination the most.

So here’s some shots of the first five Chaos Ratmen! Both WIP and finished:

First up one of the original blisters...



What I find interesting is that while Skaven were called Skaven on the blisters & and in the lore (in my 1st edition book for WHFRP they are also called Skaven) the tabs on the bottom of their sculpts say “Ratmen” and some older adverts had them called either Skaven or simply “Chaos Ratmen” - something I never knew until recently.




For this project I’ll be basing them on circle bases. This isn’t for AoS, especially since I will probably be using these Skaven as an allied unit for my 8th edition Fantasy games, but mainly because I personally like round bases for presentation purposes. In the past I used to even base my old Vampire Counts heroes on circles back in 7th and 8th for the same reason.



A classic trick for making clear liquid puddles. Just some PVA glue and letting it dry overnight. In my case I actually ended up painting over them anyway.



I did this because I intend on painting them to look more like muddy, watery, Warpstone infused sludge...

And finally the first five of the Vermintide:




I was very happy with the bases. One of the main things I will be keeping in mind with this project is making sure every single Skaven is unique in some way (probably through color on clothing and armor, etc.) while also still staying coherent...





I think it turned out good so far, but I’m going to strive to incorporate more patterns and designs on clothes and Shields in the future.

And finally the next five that will be hitting the painting table:




I’m personally most excited about painting this guy! He’ll be the leader of this Warband - I love that Warp-lock Pistol!



Please let me know what you think.

Soon I’ll have my copies of both the 7th edition Skaven Army book and the AoS Skaven book. I’m not fan of Age of Sigmar (I’m still a die hard classic Warhammer nerd) but I’m a bit interested in the new lore around the Skaven and would like to compare both a bit for fun.

What did you like about the Skaven, is there a particular reason why YOU collected them in the past?

Old metal skaven are the best skaven. Those are the packs that got me into Warhammer 30 years ago.

great job on the painting as well.

Always great to see the old metal models from the blister days get some love (and paint!). Paint job looks good. Nice textures and the dried blood looks great on Skaven weapons.

@The Riddle of Steel: thank you! Adding the blood is one of my favorite things to do with my minis. Also do gotta love these older sculpts. Great character and poses - I know Jes Goodwin sculpted them, but I wonder if he also worked on the modern plastics? I only wonder about this because I noticed that the design of many skaven (particularly weapons) both old and new are very much the same. I feel these models would look very nice next to newer ones on the table.

@Theophony: they definitely are. And that’s awesome, I’m sure an entire army made up of these metals was a sight to behold!

I started the next Ratmen with their leader. Some WIPs:





The most fun thing yet was the leader’s cape/robe.




I also really enjoyed painting is Warplock pistol, hopefully he doesn’t blow is own hand off with it.



I also got my Skaven Army book in the post!



Seeing it now is kind of bittersweet - it’s a shame the Skaven never got a hardback update before the End Times like Brettoniona and Beastmen...

I gotta say though, reading through this is awesome. The artwork in particular is fantastic- so much Blanche goodness on every other page!



This image in particular is one of my favorites in the whole book. It’s almost funny, but also pretty disturbing, that such a vast metropolis is growing right beneath helpless townsfolk.



I also love this spread of Skaven sigils.



I used the above image as a reference for more symbols on a couple Ratmen’s armor and gear:







Finally here are some finished images of this motley group of Ratmen:






Like I said before I made sure to incorporate more patterns on their leathers/robes. For some reason I was feeling colorful polka dots lol







So I think this Warband is coming along nicely. I only have a few more Miniatures left to paint, but when I get them I’ll post some WIP photos and the like.

Thanks for tagging along on this journey! Next post I’ll probably also have the AoS Skaven Battletome in and I’ll take a dive into it and see just how much the Skaven have really changed?

In the mean time I’ll be poring over this tome...

The patterned clothes do give a more motley and less orderly feel to the army. Seems appropriate. The one with vertical orangish stripes stands out to me as quite visually interesting. Really good progress so far.