Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

The man stared back at him with a weariness that belied his glory days of yester-year. Long gone the youthful inquisitorial zeal he felt when at the vanguard of the Astartes force battling Lord Varnack; or liberating the penal planet Shayol II from potential Tau colonisation. Now just cold hollowed eyes met his reflected gaze.

He gave himself a final inspection. The carapace he received six years ago was still able to wrap his body sufficiently. A little tighter around the waistline to be sure, but it fitted; and when his robes of office were draped around him he was still able to project the authority required. Despite this, Inquisitor Tallanax knew his best years were behind him. He understood why his overseers tasked him with seemingly innocuous missions: Indeed that was why he was here, on this derelict gakky barge. He also understood that they would not take his reports at face value: failure to break the girl would result in a bolt through his greying temple.

His chest rose tightly against the plating as he let out a beleaguered sigh, before turning and heading out into the dank corridor, rusty water dripping on his robes as he limped into the darkness.

.......

Her eyes peeled open as she awoke from a fever dream. How long had she slept? It had felt like an age, but she knew that mere moments would have been permitted. Her eyes once again darted over her restrained arms and bound feet before catching sight of Felix rubbing himself against the bank of computer terminals. The dread enveloped her and with it the knowledge that she, Felix, and the guardian servitor behind her, were to be joined by the man in grey shortly. She would be prepared again. He must not find out what happened. Closing her eyes her mind once again shielded itself with archaic images of moving pictures and colours of which she had only a vague recollection of seeing before. When she was three? Her father - before the cataclysm - showing her on the antique little communication device he carried with him? All she knew was that the grey man could not pass them.

The footsteps approached and his presence was no longer merely within her troubled mind.

.......

The pilot of the looted frigate stared out at the hundreds of thousands of clicks of empty space. His whiskers had been twitching with thoughts of what was to be eaten when his shift was relieved. They were still now. His eyes passed from display to display but nothing was out of place, no sensor light flickering - and on this rustbucket that was near a miracle. He tried loosening the collar of his robes? How had this unease crept up upon him? He swung his head behind him to make sure he was still alone, small eyes peering past his wrinkled muzzle.

There was no-one.

It hit him then! With the force of a physical blow. The images swarmed his mind and he could see and hear nothing but scrambled colours and movement and sounds which would drive him insane in moments. His hands clasped his temples as he pushed back against the chair. His senses were being assailed, the images kept flowing through him. He had never seen such vibrancy, and then in a flash he saw it....one of his kind, but somehow not!

And then it was over! He slumped lower against the ripped seat, panting heavily, eyes skittering around the room.

There was no-one.

He could hear the many clawed feet approaching the bridge. They had felt it too!

Then the certainty! He knew he had to change course. The long flexible tail peeked out from under his robe and turned the control stick, the ship slowly arcing in turn. He knew where they were heading! They had to find the Miccimas!

--------------------------------

A blog for my space Skaven/Hrud counts as drukhari force



Automatically Appended Next Post:
First up is some counts as venoms. Hamster ball/doomwheels.

A picture of what I bought on eBay and then just strapped some splinters weapons on them.

As another skaven-in-40k builder, this looks interesting. Hope to see more.

Some actual rat men built - using the apparently standard mix of Cawdor gangers and Chaos Cultists. I think they look decent next to the Venoms (of which another two have been added to the fleet - but are yet to be built)









Now my little story at the beginning suggested a human interest in the fleet and I have found a couple of options for her out there. One of which would be riding a giant rat ogre if I could get it working, perhaps an AoS Stormfiend....

Infantry look pretty gnarly, very nice. Wonder how hard it'd be to sneak tails in on 'em to help reinforce the rat feel?

And yes, the idea of a thinking brain human for a counts as grotesque does amuse!

Vejut wrote:
Infantry look pretty gnarly, very nice. Wonder how hard it'd be to sneak tails in on 'em to help reinforce the rat feel?

And yes, the idea of a thinking brain human for a counts as grotesque does amuse!

Cheers for the feedback, really appreciate your comments.

That's spot on what I was thinking grotesque wise. I think the stormfiends look pretty good for that and I'm usually all about 3rd party.

I'll definitely be adding some tails at some point although I haven't yet started looking for options for those. I am currently waiting on a template for greenstuffing some extra fur to cover any particularly human parts, feet/arms etc. When that arrives I really hope to kick this on.

Remember rat tails look wormy not furry so if you have a tentacle maker...

Was going to add tails to the boys at some point and hadn't decided how to go about it. Inspiration came when strimming the garden today..... hope they prime up ok.

Would not have thought of that. Nice! Can probably score it up with the knife for texture too if it ends up too smooth, or glue up a little shaped styrene as a tail blade and some green stuff if you don't like the tip shape as well, so you have some flexibility.

Another Venom ready for painting



A Ratalan Jackal experiment. Not sure this stays but he looks cool I think.




Some primed ratmen. I think the tails made from strimmer wire work just fine.

The models look very good for kit-bashes, I almost can't tell those aren't official models .

Tails do look like they'll work well--possibly try a bit of heat for a repose or filing for round ends if you want some more variety?

Ratalan Jackal has some nice Immigrant Song energy going there, very nice!

Misclicking ork wrote:The models look very good for kit-bashes, I almost can't tell those aren't official models .

To be fair it's mostly just head swaps. I'll take compliments where I can get them though


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thanks Vejut. I liked the look of him too so I played around with these today to see if the Ratalan Jackals could stay. Managed to magnetise a couple of heads. So I think we're good to go. Just need to buy some more magnets and make sure I don't lose the two heads to one bike I did for that one......

Your space skaven look great. Especially like the Ratalan Jackal.

Finally did at least something else for this project. I guess they found the girl in the story.

I like the Ratalan Jackal, but I think the Cawdorats are even better. Those bits just look like they belong together.

Hey mate,

This is an awesome start to the army - I was about to list which models were my favourite but honestly they are all brilliant and on theme and work well together and use a clever mix of bits. Love the fluff at the start and the master blaster rat working towards that now!

The Ratalan Jackals are super cool and give me big Biker Mice from Mars vibes which hit the nostalgia button nicely.

Really excited to see where you go with these guys and hopefully some paint in the future.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the kind words folks. The fleet were underground for a bit there but have re-emerged, perhaps to fight the Vo'tann, who can know?

Good seeing these again, paint job came out nicely! Amd he brought a freind I see in the background!

Cheers Vejut.

Yes, the first batch of this army are all done now so will get some pictures up here over the weekend. Not entirely sure where to go from here. I might need to buy a codex for some counts as inspiration. I am thinking a packmaster and an absolute tonne of little rats/bomb rats might be on the agenda.

Anyway, for now sone big fellas, some small fellas and sone motorised fellas.




display resolution wxga

I love these! I know you got the wheel tanks from ebay, do you have a link?

Nice! Cawdor works well as a base model for the ratmen!

Really cool idea for an army, I love the skaven heads on the bikers. (Biker rats from Mars?)

Ratalan jackal cracked me up

Good luck with the rest of the project!

Awesome conversions and good painting!

We want more. Well, I at least do.

Edit: a piece of advice in regards to the printed tank. Next time give the printed model a short burn with a 'blowtorch' (like the ones they use to make creme brulee) to get rid of the last small 'hairs' and stubs on the print.

Thanks for the comments all.

grahamdbailey wrote:I love these! I know you got the wheel tanks from ebay, do you have a link?

Unfortunately not. I have had a quick look, and on etsy too, where I was sure I had seen them too, but can't seem to find them again.

DoctorDanny wrote:Awesome conversions and good painting!

We want more. Well, I at least do.

Edit: a piece of advice in regards to the printed tank. Next time give the printed model a short burn with a 'blowtorch' (like the ones they use to make creme brulee) to get rid of the last small 'hairs' and stubs on the print.

Cheers. Hadn't heard of that before but it sounds like a great plan for exactly that.

Great looking army of furries your building! The rat heads on the GSC and Cawdor work really well and the printed doom wheel is super cool!