How I paint - Skaven - Warlord Skritch

 

Now I must admit to not being the greatest fan of Skaven, but they are an absolute classic Warhammer 'World-that-was' bad guy. They are remarkably easy to paint, even if you are trying to get hordes of clan rats completed in a short period of time. This guide makes great use of the 'magical' properties of washes and shade paints.

For this guide, I used a used a rather complex miniature, a Skaven warlord, namely Skritch from the first season of Warhammer Underworlds. I wanted to use a complex miniature to show how easy it was to get even character level paint schemes done with this method.

Paints required:

• Chaos Black spray
• Mournfang Brown
• Ushabti Bone
• Ratskin Flesh
• Leadbelcher
• Korne Red
• Cadian Fleshtone
• Pink Horror
• Zandri Dust
• Warplock Bronze
• Mephiston Red
• Screamer Pink
• Mechanicum Standard Grey
• Agrax Earthshade (Army Painter Strong Tone this is so much better for this method)
• Carroburg Crimson
• Ironbreaker
• Runefang Steel
• Screaming Skull
• Wazdakka Red 
• Kislev Flesh
• Skrag Brown
• Brass Scorpion
• Runelord Brass
• Evil Suns Scarlet
• Wild Rider Red
• Dawnstone
• Athonian Camoshade
• Administratum Grey
  

Begin by undercoating the miniature with Chaos Black spray

Then give the whole miniature, except the weapon blade and the base, a basecoat of Mournfang Brown. You do not need to be too tidy at this stage. Keep the paint relatively thin so as not obscure any details and make sure it gets into the recesses. For this job, I use an old medium basecoat brush, which has bristles pointing in all directions, or course an airbrush would be faster, but I would, personally, avoid using a rattle can. The brown gives a nice warm base to build the colours of the miniature upon.

Once the brown was full dry, the fur of the miniature was given a light drybrush with Ushabti bone.

The next steps, all take time and require you to be as neat as possible. Try not to make too many mistakes, but if you do just tidy them up, Step 3 will 'magically' fix some of them anyway.

For all these basecoats, I used a size 1 Raphael brush, equally, you could use a small basecoat brush. I began by giving the flesh a basecoat with (what else) Ratskin Flesh. The main body of metal (the armour and weapon blade) were basecoated with Leadbelcher. Some of the cloth, primarily the outer surface of the cloak was painted with Khorne Red. Finally, the tail was given a basecoat with a 1:1 mix of Cadian Fleshtone and Pink Horror.

The inside of the cloak was then given a basecoat of Zandri Dust. The back of the halberd and the round clasps on the cloak, that attach it to the armour were then given a basecoat with Warplock Bronze. 

The next basecoats were done with a small detail brush. The stitching on the red cloth was also picked out with Zandri Dust. The eyes were painted in with Mephiston Red. The inside of the mouth was painted with Screamer Pink and then the teeth were painted with Zandri Dust. Finally, the claws were painted with Mechanicum Standard Grey.

With this done all the base coats have been applied to the miniature. Check over the miniature to tidy up any little mistakes. Hopefully, all the basecoats are as neat as possible.

Now for the magic step. Wash the whole miniature, except for the tail, with Army Painter Strong tone. You could use Agrax Earthshade, but this will not work as well as the Strong tone. Then wash the tail with Carroburg Crimson. Allow the washes to full dry before proceeding with the next steps.

Do not allow the washes to pool. If they do, wick the excess away with a damp clean brush.

Immediately, after the miniature has dried it looks surprisingly good, even without any highlights. 

To begin the highlights, I started by drybrushing the metal with Leadbelcher. You need to be careful, as mistakes made from now on become tricky to fix. The metal was then edge highlighted with Ironbreaker. The sharp edge of the blade was edge highlighted with Runefang Steel.

The 'dirty white' cloth, initially painted with Zandri Dust was highlighted with Zandri Dust, leaving the shade only in the recesses. Further highlights were then added with Ushabti Bone, make sure to leave some Zandri Dust in the more shaded areas. A final highlight of Screaming Skull was applied to the cloth along the top of any folds.

The red cloak was then highlighted with Khorne Red. Again, the shade was only left in the recesses. Further highlights were then added with Wazdakka Red.

The tail was highlighted by painting rings around the shaft of the tail. The rings were first painted with a 1:1 mix of Cadian Fleshtone and Pink Horror. Take care to leave some of the Carroburg Crimson showing. Thinner rings were then painted in with a 1:1 mix of Kislev Flesh and Pink Horror.

The leather straps holding the armour plates together were highlighted with Mournfang Brown. The leather straps were then edge highlighted with Skrag Brown.

The bronze clasps and trims were highlighted with Brass Scorpion and then with Runelord Brass.

The lower two-thirds of the teeth were painted with Ushabti Bone, try to keep a vertical thin dark line in the centre of the teeth, to indicate two teeth. Then highlight the lower third of the teeth with Screaming Skull.

The eyes were highlighted first with Evil Suns Scarlet and then with Wild Rider Red.

 

With this the miniature is painted. Next to the base.

The stone on the base was drybrushed with Mechanicum Standard Grey and then with Dawnstone. This was then washed with Athonian Camoshade. When the wash was fully dry, the stone was drybrushed with Dawnstone and then with Administratum Grey.

I really like the earthy feel of this paint scheme and it is extremely easy to do and will provide impressive  results even if used to paint whole units of troops.

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below. Until then 'Happy Hobbying'.