by Zoatibix
Many years ago, I think in about 2005 I was surfing the ol’
information superhighway and came across Pete Taylor's magnificent
Skaven army up for auction. It was being sold by 'The Virtual
Alchemist", a really interesting website that may have been connected
to The Stuff of Legends
in some way? They often sold relics from GW's past, such as original
painted figures, and ex GW staff collections. I also distinctly remember seeing a big lot of original John Blanche figures up for auction,
including many that were in various publications and very famous and recognisable.
I couldn't
believe my eyes, here was the very same iconic army from the colour
pages of the Warhammer Armies book. The army I had drooled over and
marveled at, wondering how could any one possibly assemble and paint
such a verminous horde! I must have squinted so hard to try to make out
the intriguing painted details through the blurry CMYK moiré,
I'm sure its why I need glasses today. This Skaven section of my
Warhammer Armies book is in tatters, the pages loose from the binding
and stained with grubby paint stained finger prints from being pawed
over so frequently.
Pete Taylor's Skaven Army showcase from Warhammer Armies.
Luckily
I had the wherewithal to save these auction photos before they
disappeared. I took a lot of inspiration from them as well as those in
Warhammer Armies for my own Skaven army - in particular the overall dingy
tone, free hand runes and decoration, and cotton wool warpstone smoke.
On
that old hard drive they remained for about 20 years until just recently when Beowulf and I
started chatting about the various army showcases in Warhammer Armies,
and I remembered that I had these photos filed away. It is very gratifying seeing clearer, better quality pictures of this iconic army, as well as many models that didn't make it in to the original showcase and were perhaps later additions. I hope you will get a kick out of seeing them too.
Just to reiterate- these are not my photos or figures, I only had the fortune to rescue them from digital extinction, and am posting them as I think they are worth saving as a significant part of Warhammer history, and may be of interest to Oldhammer fans.
Check
out this siege tower/war machine! I think it is made from Snotling Pump
Wagon chassis configured into triangular hoarding, echoing the
iconography of the Skaven. Great idea and execution, would love to see
this in a siege game.
This next group of figures must be a later addition - the quintet of Skaven special characters sculpted by Jes Goodwin and released during 4th Edition.
Lastly some of the most interesting and unique figures of this collection - a group of converted Rat Ogres. Many of them take the concept of "Rat Ogre" quite literally, some of them more "Ogreish" than you might expect, with just a few ratty details, others are based on classic Jes Goodwin Ogres with custom sculpted details, some of them may even be complete scratch builds.
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