Rat Babies

A few weekends ago (vague because since I can't post things on time ever) I was invited by some very nice folks to play in a Spearhead tournament at my FLGS. Interestingly, I did not know how to play, but they were willing to provide an army and teach me the rules beforehand! I said yes, since it seemed like a nice afternoon. Moral of the story is that's how they get you - I had such a great time that I picked up a box of Spearhead Skaven so I could continue to play with folks.

(This article is more enjoyable with this music playing in the background. You're welcome)

As always, there's no way I just make this Rat babies stock. I immediately cast around for different ideas for how to customize my army, how to make it my own. I considered cleaning them up, making them less plague-y, but that looked like a lot of work and sculpting, and also so far against the grain of what their core is. I was drawn to their aesthetic because of the very kit-bashable design, being wood and stone, things I know how to make - so maybe particularly Victorian bloodborne style rats with steampunk-ish tech? But that also felt a little wrong. And then, the image that inspired me:

And I'm not kidding. Let's put the RAT in PIRATE!

So, this is a still (or promo shot, not sure) from the movie "The Muppet's Treasure Island". Pirates felt like such a great theme - they're grungy, crawling around ships, making repairs and jury-rigging cannons from warpstone. It feels right for the faction, while also being a unique and memorable army style. I got to making a classic Captain Bear Vision Board TM to organize my visual style. I drew a lot of inspiration from the Redwall book series, their covers often have the "Badguy Rat Pirate" on the cover. I also designed a rat-skull-and-bones motif, and brainstormed some ideas for the name of the sub-faction, the "Bloodwake Corsairs"!

(I'm aware of the Skaven Clan Skurvy already pretty much being this. My head canon at this time is that this is a splinter fleet or an up-and-comer or something. It's warhammer, canon is flexible)

Now, how to efficiently convert 25 Skaven minis into a different style? Strategic bits and paint scheme is the answer that I came up with. 

The bits that I chose to deploy were 1) small pieces of plasticard to turn ordinary swords into sabres and 2) tiny little jumper rings for earrings, and finally 3) Green stuff sculpted hats.

Then, to painting! I went with a stripes-on-white pattern modes often, feeling like that felt the most "piratey". I hit the metal bits with metal and washes, and had a ton of fun figuring out the sandy beach base colors - not too orange, not too yellow, not too white. I also free-hand painted the banners with a simple rat-skull-and-bones motif that I designed above when I was finding concept art. I think it turned out good simply because my painting skills are equivalent to how a rat might paint it, so it matches thematically!

 Definitely get a good zoom on that picture, there's tons of details from the hats, the warpstone, the sabre swords, the rat-o-two-tails, and all the fun stripes and patterns.

 I'm excited to show you more of my upcoming rat conversions! Thanks for reading.

- Miss Captain Bear