Hobby | A Conjurer of Cheap Tricks

Since I'm basically an expert at playing Skaven in Mordheim now, I feel comfortable settling down with the warband and throwing some paint on some models. First up I have this Eshin Sorcerer, who is converted from a Grey Seer who would normally sit atop a Screaming Bell. Whether or not this is a demotion or promotion for this particular rat is up to the reader. 

First up, we need some before and after photos. 

The big changes were: taking off the head and replacing it with a hooded one from the Warplightning Cannon, cutting the bell off the tail and replacing it with a knife from the Clanrats kit, as well as taking some chains from the same kit and adding it to the to the end of the spear, and finally just adding little pouches and trinkets to the back of the model. Then there's all the basing, which used actual slate stones, some foam bricks, sand, and a tiny little rat from the Cursed City line. This all made him a bit sneakier and killier, which is more in line with this model's Eshin roots. The original hand was holding onto a bell, so I replaced it with a dagger hand from the older Clanrat kit, which is the only model I found to have left hands holding daggers. 

I pushed the colors and textures on this model as well, as I think my models could use a bit more nuance to them. My Iphone 7 camera struggles a little to catch all of the details, but the cloak has lots of little hash marks and weathering on it to make it look much older. 

I've also managed to stumble upon a really good rusty metal recipe, which is: 

Gun Metal (AP) basecoat

Nuln Oil (GW) wash

Agrax Earthshade (GW) wash

Thinned, uneven Cassandora Yellow (GW) Wash

Watered down uneven wash of Ryza Rust (GW)

Thin edge highlights with Shining Silver (AP)

The dirty mask and staff were also new recipes: 

Tattered Cloth Recipe

Flayed One Flesh (GW) basecoat

Thinned wash of Cassandora Yellow (GW)

Uneven, splotchy application of Agrax Earthshade (GW)

Highlight with Flayed One Flesh (GW)

Highlight with a 50/50 mix of Flayed One Flesh (GW)/ Matt White (AP)

Scratchy highlight of Matt White (AP)

Lacquered Wood

Basecoat Flayed One Flesh (GW)

Wash with Agrax Earthshade (GW)

Lightly glaze with Skeleton Horde Contrast (GW)

Very thin glaze Wyldwood Contrast (GW)

Leave the glossy look that the contrast leaves

Thin highlights with Flayed One Flesh (GW)

Another area I worked on was mixing colors. Instead of using whites and blacks to change the tone of a color, I used different colors with different temperatures. The goal was to avoid desaturating the colors. In this case on this tiny little rat, I used orange to lighten the brown, which keeps its color and also gains a warmer hue. This is definitely something I'll keep working with in the future as I quite liked the results. 

And that's my Eshin Sorcerer. While I was working on him, I got some Clanrats re-painted, and they will serve as Verminkin in the warband. They join some Giant Rats which I already had prepared. 

The unpainted bit of the warband is my Master Assassin, 2 Black Skaven, and 2 Gutterrunners. 

Once all is said and done, I'll have a total of 12 models in the starting warband. I've tried to match their loadout to the models as closely as possible, but there's a bit of fudging to make it work. I also have some models ready to go in case any of them permanently die or I add new members. 

-The Space Dinosaur