BONERIPPER:
I didn't undercoat him. When we do undercoat Skaven, it's usually in
black, but because this guy has so much exposed flesh, you might want
to undercoat with white.
Mix Bronzed Flesh with a little Bleached Bone until you get the shade
you like. I wanted my rat ogre to be a little darker-skinned than my
other Skaven. I used Chestnut Wash rather than Flesh Wash and because
Skaven aren't known for their cleanliness, it works. Then I dry-
brushed with the same color I originally painted his skin, only a
bit lighter (more Bleached Bone). The Skaven symbol tattoo/scar on his
shoulder I simply filled in with Blood Red. His eyes are also Blood
Red, but because of his chainmail helmet it was kind of tricky. His
fur I also wanted to be darker than that of most of my Skaven. I mixed
Snakebite Leather (the only brown I had available at the time) with
Chaos Black until I got a nice, dark brown. I washed with Chestnut,
though it didn't really show up much, and dry-brushed with straight
Snakebite. Later, though, I re-dry-brushed with Bubonic Brown and it
looked much better. The spines on his back as well as his
claws I did in black. The
armor, of course, I did in Chainmail with Armor Wash.
CLANRATS AND MOST OTHER SKAVEN: I have done these both with black undercoat and with no undercoat at all. I have gotten my best results with the undercoat. I mixed Snakebite Leather and Blood Red until I got a sort of light auburn color. (I was trying to follow the Skaven book, which says most of them are a red-brown color.) You don't want too much red, but just enough to be able to see that it is not straight brown. I used this color to paint all exposed areas (including ears and hands) EXCEPT the feet, muzzle, and tail. Next I washed with Chestnut and dry-brushed either with straight Snakebite or Bubonic Brown. Either one works pretty well and using different drybrush colors on different models helps to make your rats look more motley, especially if you have the generic plastic clanrats unit. I usually make Skaven eyes black, though the important models will sometimes get red eyes. Noses are also black or else a darker brown than the fur. For the muzzle, tail and feet I mix a little Bronzed Flesh into Bleached Bone (the same as I used for Boneripper, only a shade or two lighter). One time I got ahold of someone's Elf Flesh and it worked just as well--in fact it was almost exactly the same color. This, again, is washed with Chestnut and drybrushed with a lighter shade of the flesh color. (When all else fails, add white, but you're usually better off with more Bleached Bone.) All my Skaven are dressed similarly in a drab blue color. I made this color by mixing Enchanted Blue with a medium-dark shade of gray which is not a Citadel paint (none of their grays were dark enough) but is called "Armory" (I think) and is sold in hobby shops. We got it at the same place where we buy our Warhammer stuff. Anyway, I mixed mostly gray and a little blue until I got the shade I liked. A few of the important guys also had detailing in straight Enchanted Blue. Rats in pants usually get black pants. Pouches and wooden implements I usually do in straight Snakebite. Again, brown is washed with Chestnut. In keeping with the dirty appearance of Skaven, the blue clothing is also Chestnut washed, then drybrushed with a shade that is slightly more blue than the color I first mixed.
ROPES: You find ropes on a lot of Skaven, either as a belt, a fastener for the crossbeam of a standard pole, or as a net. I got pretty good results by mixing Snakebite with plain yellow (Sunburst, I think it's called) and washing with Chestnut. Don't overdo the drybrushing.
THANQUOL: Well, I completely messed up on Thanquol so I had to set him in a can of gasoline and start over. (IN CASE YOU DON'T KNOW THIS: NEVER USE GASOLINE TO STRIP THE PAINT OFF PLASTIC MINIS! If you try this, you will find your plastic guys magically disappear...) If you don't want that gasoline smell on your guys or you don't have any on hand that isn't inside a vehicle, you might try fingernail polish remover. I haven't tried it so I don't know if it works or not, but it's worth a shot and can't be any more harmful to metal minis than gasoline.