Skaven Stage-by-Stage Painting

The Island of Blood boxed game contains a chittering horde of Skaven, including 40 Clanrats, two hulking Rat Ogres,
two Weapon Teams and a pair of characters. Determined to help hobbyists get the best from their fancy new models,
Studio hobbyist Nick Bayton was on hand to offer some painting advice. Over the next few pages he'll take you through
the steps on how to paint your Clanrats and Rat Ogres to get them looking great for the tabletop!
Over to Nick: Nick Bayton: The Skaven miniatures in The Island of Blood boxed game contain a variety of different
challenges to a painter - from the Clanrats that need painting by the dozen, to the two Rat Ogres that require individual
attention. I'll cover each of the different groups briefly, so you know what to expect.
Skaven Clanrats: When you're painting Skaven regiments, the real goal is to make the unit as a whole look great -
there are so many chittering little ratmen in a regiment of Skaven that you're looking to achieve a unified overall
impression rather than individual splendour. That's not to say that they all need to be just a sea of brown fur and grubby
metal (although that could look fine), we want to create a great-looking regiment.
In the Studio's Skaven army we use spot colours and contrast to make the regiments really stand out. The three main
colours we have used are red, creamy-green and black - by speckling these throughout the unit you get a coherent
picture. The trick is not to apply them in a uniform fashion though. One Clanrat might have a red robe, while another
has a red hood or loincloth. This helps us keep the look consistent, and at the same time retain the higgledy-piggledy
appearance of the regiment.
Rat Ogres: When painting the Rat Ogres we've got a slightly different set of criteria to work towards. These two
brutes are real centrepiece models who tower over the other Skaven in The Island of Blood, so we want them to look as
eye-catching as possible - they're going to be the models in your Skaven force that get the most attention.
Firstly, because most of their body is exposed flesh, that's the part of the model that we'll focus on the most. Their
flesh shouldn't really look exactly like other Skaven, because they are so warped and mutated, so we'll be using different
highlights and techniques. Some of this difference comes in the way that they are highlighted - using Kommando Khaki
in the mixes when building up highlights on the flesh.
Characters: While this painting guide doesn't specifically cover Verminkin and Ratchitt, there's no reason at all that
you shouldn't apply the same colour schemes here to those models - after all, they're Skaven from the same Clan. When
tackling your characters, perhaps the best piece of advice is to use the same colours and techniques as you do for the rest
of your force, but to take all the highlights just a little bit further to help them stand out.
You can see some tips on how to paint other details and colours that appear on these models, such as warpstone here.
Weapon Teams: The Island of Blood contains two formidable Skaven Weapon Teams - a Warpfire Thrower and a
Poisoned Wind Mortar. Fundamentally these are just the same as the other warriors in your army, so use the same
colours and techniques on them as the rest of your force. The major difference is the brass metal that appears on the
Weapon Teams, which you can get an idea of how to paint from the above link.
Painting Clanrats

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Stage 1
Fur: Paint with Scorched Brown.
Flesh: Paint with Tallarn Flesh.
Metal armour: Paint Boltgun Metal.
Leather: Paint with Chaos Black.
Wood: Paint with Chaos Black.
Weapon haft: Paint with Scorched Brown.
Strapping: Paint with Khemri Brown.
Red cloth: Paint with Mechrite Red.
Green cloth: Paint with Gretchin Green.

Stage 2
Fur: Layer with Bestial Brown.
Flesh: Wash with Ogryn Flesh, then shade with Devlan Mud once dry.
Metal armour: Wash with Devlan Mud.
Leather: Highlight with Adeptus Battlegrey.
Wood: Drybrush with Adeptus Battlegrey.
Weapon haft: Layer with Bestial Brown.
Strapping: Shade with Chaos Black.
Red cloth: Wash with Devlan Mud.
Green cloth: Wash with Devlan Mud.

Stage 3
Fur: Highlight with Kommando Khaki.
Flesh: Layer with Tallarn Flesh.
Teeth/claws: Paint Bleached Bone.
Metal armour: Highlight with Boltgun Metal.
Leather: Highlight Codex Grey.
Wood: Drybrush with Codex Grey.
Weapon haft: Layer with Snakebite Leather.
Strapping: Highlight with Bleached Bone.
Red cloth: Layer with Mechrite Red.
Green cloth: Layer with Gretchin Green.

Stage 4
Fur: Wash with Gryphonne Sepia.
Flesh: Highlight with Elf Flesh.
Teeth/claws: Highlight with Skull White.
Metal armour: Highlight with Chainmail.
Wood: Wash with Badab Black.
Strapping: Highlight with Skull White.
Red cloth: Highlight with Blood Red.
Green cloth: Highlight with Rotting Flesh, followed by Bleached Bone.
Painting Rat Ogres - Skin

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Paint the flesh with Tallarn Flesh.

Wash the flesh with Ogryn Flesh, then shade with Devlan Mud when dry.

Layer with several thin coats of Tallarn Flesh.

Layer with several thin coats of Kommando Khaki.

Wash with watered-down Baal Red, followed by Leviathan Purple when dry.

Highlight with Kommando Khaki.
Painting Rat Ogres - Scars & Cloth

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Wash the recesses of the scars with Chaos Black, then highlight with Hormagaunt Purple.

Highlight the edges of the scars with Bleached Bone.
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Paint the stitches with Khemri Brown.

Highlight the stitches with Bleached Bone.

Highlight the edges of the cloth with Adeptus Battlegrey.


Highlight the edges with a further highlight of Codex Grey.
Painting Rat Ogres - Armour

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Paint the armour with Boltgun Metal.


Wash the armour with Devlan Mud, followed by Badab Black when dry.


Wash patches of the armour with watered-down Macharius Solar Orange.

Highlight the edges of the armour, and apply scratches with Chainmail.
Painting Rat Ogres - Finishing Touches
With the bulk of the Rat Ogre finished, Nick applied a number of final details to the model, such as detailing the teeth,
claws and loincloth.


Loincloth: Paint with Gretchin Green.
Claws: Paint with Chaos Black.
Leather: Paint with Scorched Brown.
Bandages: Paint with Khemri Brown.
Eyes: Paint with Chaos Black.
Metal: Paint with Boltgun Metal.
Teeth: Paint with Khemri Brown.
Spots/buboes: Wash with Baal Red.

Loincloth: Wash with Devlan Mud.
Claws: Feather with Adeptus Battlegrey.
Leather: Highlight with Calthan Brown.
Bandages: Shade with Chaos Black.
Eyes: Paint with Red Gore.
Metal: Wash with Badab Black.
Spots/buboes: Highlight with Elf Flesh.

Loincloth: Layer with Gretchin Green.
Claws: Feather with Codex Grey.
Leather: Highlight with Snakebite Leather.
Bandages: Layer with Kommando Khaki.
Eyes: Highlight with Blood Red.
Metal: Highlight with Chainmail.
Teeth: Highlight with Kommando Khaki.
Spots/buboes: Highlight with Bleached Bone.

Loincloth: Highlight with Rotting Flesh.
Claws: Feather with Bleached Bone.
Bandages: Highlight with Bleached Bone.
Eyes: Highlight with Blazing Orange.
Teeth: Highlight with Bleached Bone.