Pit Master Frang's Skavenslave Levy (and a little thinking out loud about my Skaven army)

The very deepest, darkest vaults beneath the Flea Fell are known as the Slave Pits.  Most of those who enter them never see the light of day again.  The few that do are just as doomed.  Each of the great Pits is presided over by a boss, a particularly shrewd, tough and vicious Skaven who goes by the title of Pit Master.

Most slaves, be they Skaven or captured Humans, Dwarves or Goblins, will toil in the inky blackness beneath the Flea Fell until they die, but occasionally a Pit will become overpopulated or a Pit Master will be called upon to bring a levy of slaves to support the Tribe's Warlord clans in battle.

In most cases, the wretched slaves will be used as spear fodder, throw-away troops meant to die clearing a path for the advance of the Clan-Rats, Black Skaven and Storm Vermin. Very occasionally, however, some slaves fight well.  Indeed the sole slim hope any Skaven Slave has of escaping his lot lies in the remote possibility of his being elevated to Clan-Rat status, should certain of the clans be decimated in battle and require recruits to fill gaps in the ranks.  At these times a Skaven Slave who has shown outstanding savagery in combat may find himself 'freed' to serve in the ranks of a Clan Rat regiment...

I've decided I really like painting Skaven.  I've also finally managed to make a few decisions about the look I want my army to have.  I didn't exactly hate the Skaven models I'd gotten painted up 'til now, but I really wasn't super happy with them.  I thought about it a lot and did a lot of poring over photos of Andy Chambers' classic Skaven horde under high magnification.  I was searching for inspiration, and what better place to find some?

Andy Chambers' Skaven Army....Everybody's favorite Skaven army!

One thing.  I decided that the green base edges I used for my other Skaven models don't look really right.  Too bright and cheerful.  Mr. Chambers' bases have a lot of gray on them too and now I can see why he did 'em that way.   I tried using Reaper Stormy Grey on this unit, and I think it is a better with the sort of autumnal grays, browns and yellow/oranges I like to paint my Skaven troops in.

This will mean going back and re-edging all the Skaven bases I've done this far to match, but that won't take long.  My regiment of Black Skaven is another matter, alas.

Skrawchutt Blackmaw's Black Skaven Guard

It doesn't look absolutely terrible, I think.  It just looks really boring.  Much too boring for an elite regiment like the Black Skaven are supposed to be.  The regimental standard is also kind of uninteresting.  Not horrible..it's just a cut-out arcane armorial, but an elite regiment should have something bigger and more threatening.  So I've decided that I'll give this standard to my second and soon-to be painted Skaven Slave unit, and put together another one for the Black Skaven.  Another thing about this unit... Looking carefully at Andy's army I noticed he'd done a lot of work with little details on clothing and weapons to individualize many of the models and add many micro-expressions of a primitive and savage culture.

Clothing can be seen to have little designs and markings around the hems, hoods are often emblazoned with menacing runes.  Fur is sometimes dyed or marked with dramatic slashes and stripes.  Swords and spear-blades are sometimes given hash-marks which we can assume are 'kill' markings, and spears and halberds sometimes have small pennons attached.  I'd like to add little bits of flavor like this to my elite and Clan Rat regiments.  

The slaves, maybe not so much - I think a drab and dreary look is appropriate for them...which is good, because that's exactly how these fellows came out.

But Pit Master Frang...I've painted him very plain, and he looks okay, but he's a champion and kind of a big deal...he should have something that makes him stand out from his unit.  Again, I find myself thinking that I should have spiced him up somehow....a rune on his loin cloth? Stripes on his fur? Hash marks on the halberd?

 Lots to brood upon...but there's also lots of time...the army's still just getting started.

Til next time, cheers!