I don’t want to let this thing lie fallow for too long, so here are some quick cameraphone shots of where I’m at:

I wrapped up the five Skavenslaves.  That puts me at 35 painted slaves + 18 slaves’ worth of unit filler.

Then, I started on my Hellpit Abomination, constructed over a year and a half ago:

I’m getting near the end: I’m in the process of high-lighting the flesh.  Then it’ll be teeth/claws, a wash, and some assorted little details before I can move on to remaining Plague Monks / the Plague Furnace.

As might have been made clear by yesterday’s post, I’ve been feeling a bit of hobby related-ennui.

Friday I decided, “Screw it, I need to paint something.”  So, I grabbed the Unit Filler I pulled together back in February and started working on it.  Saturday morning, I decided I hated it on the 40×40 bases; I made some 60×40 bases then moved the filler over and expanded on it a bit.

Finished it this morning and varnished it.  Here it is:

Filling in for 6 Skavenslaves apiece, I’ve still got to paint 2 more Skavenslaves to field the full unit of 50.  I’m okay with this, since 2 is substantially less than 20.

Although I’m still working towards the goal of getting the list I’m currently running 100% painted before I start screwing around with it and doing more units… I’m already kind of looking ahead.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to drop the Plague Furnace: it’s great, but it’s basically 150 points for Unbreakable, which is pricy.  For that much, I could easily get another horde of Slaves… and more.

Except… I still have 20 Skavenslaves to paint.  The last thing I want to do is make that 70 Skavenslaves to paint!  (It’s not like I don’t have the models… I just lack the willpower to paint that many.)

So… unit filler.  If only as a bridge until I come back and paint more Skavenslaves.  I got stuck on a conference call a couple of days ago and, while twiddling my thumbs threw these guys together.:

The one on the left’s a Steam Tank boiler I found on eBay inexpensively, with some Manor bits.  The middle, obviously, is the brazier from the Screaming Bell.  The left is some really awesome Pegasus Chemical Plant with some of the other Steam Tank bits.

I figure I can use three in a horde without too much issue:

On reflection, I probably could have cobbled together some 40×60 bases instead of the 40×40.  Maybe I’ll make a pair of them to run down the middle in each unit or something.

Even if I don’t, three per horde takes the place of 12 slaves, which saves me from having to paint almost as many slaves as I’ve already got painted (30).

This.. took a little bit, and it’s really not perfect.  But I’m very glad it’s done.  I’ve had this sucker built for well over a year (incidentally, that page is the one that still gets all the hits).

I had to paint it in sub-assemblies: the Stormvermin carrying the litter, the litter itself, and the Warlord.

The Stormvermin, particularly, were a pain to do: I had to glue them all to the base before priming: it was hard enough lining everything up without having to worry about paint jobs.

Fun fact: this will be the only Skaven character I haven’t stacked on top of some cork or slate.  I’d have loved to, but it’s already deliberately Very Tall and pinning all of these suckers through it would have been a nightmare.

I’m pleased with the Warlord.  He’s not as sharp looking as the other one I did, but he’s definitely good enough.  He’s basically the same model: Stormvermin body with the Fangleader head.  He’s got a regular shield (which is a shame, yesterday I found another one of the same shield I used on the other one… though if I’m realistic it probably wouldn’t have fit).  I gave him Warlord Spinetail‘s sword because he’ll always have some sort of magic weapon on him, and the model should reflect that somehow.

Because that didn’t feel like enough, I also gave him a whip.

I’m so-so on the banner.  The dags on the front look fine.  The ones on the back, not quite as much.  The circle looks sharp, and the rune looks good.  Overall, though, I feel like there needs to be more on there, though.  Banners are a weak spot for me… I’ve got several that I’m still putting off doing.

Since building this sucker, I’ve gone back and forth on actually using it.  I like to keep my characters cheapish, and I’ve debated whether or not I think I get my points’ worth for it.  I’ve finally decided that I do.

For the cost of 5 Stormvermin, it:

• Functions like 4 Stormvermin… that, if it comes up, participate in his challenge.  This also means that everything else comes at the cost of a single Stormvermin.
• Gives him +1 Sv.  I like him being harder to kill.
• Makes him take up four spaces.  This is nice, because I like to put him in my block of Stormvermin, which I keep deliberately small for Watchtower scenarios.  It also does very interesting things in terms of character placement in his unit.  If I drop a caster in the Stormvermin unit with him, the caster cannot go in the front rank.  That’s neat.

So, ultimately, I’ve settled on it because (big picture), it doesn’t cost much for what it does while, at the same time, working very well with the unit I like to stick him in.