The Year of the Rat

It looks like the next instalment of End Times the will be featuring the most hated rat of them all...

Eahhhhhh!

Sorry, the second-most hated rat: Thanquol!

“I can still tend the abominations, George? I didn't mean no harm, George.”
Of Mice And Ratmen

Thanquol and Boneripper (Mk II) represented the beginning and end of my 1994 Skaven army, although I can't really blame them for my waning interest in the ratmen (monopose plastics and expensive horde metals are the real culprits).

Based on the fluff in the original Skaven army book, as well as his starring role as hapless Bond Villain in the Gotrex and Felix novel, Skavenslayer, I still have a soft spot for this Grey Seer, and I've enjoyed the gradual evolution of his bodyguards (there's a lot of consistency, even in the new mega-sized Boneripper).

I'm less overwhelmed by the new Verminlords. Sure, they're big and impressive deamons with lots of nice details yada yada... but the actual poses (either trying to stamp on their own glaive, or cocking a 'hello sailor' leg on some rubble) seem far less dynamic (and less ratty) than the Forge World Verminlord (for which I imagine sales will rocket).

There's also something troubling me about these mega-kits: from the Treeman to Nagash to the Verminlord - I don't know whether it's the constraints of having to put a big model on a certain-sized base, but they're all looking very same-same. Obviously there are characteristic differences, but put them in silhouette and remove the extraneous bits and there's not must to tell them apart (and not much to get excited about, when you compare them with the big, expensive monsters from, say Mierce).

That said, I can wait to see where the fluff is going (as it is rumoured that Dwarves will feature in this next book - albeit on the receiving end). So I'm just going to settle in with the last of the Christmas cheese, before anyone else gets it.

+++Farsqueaker over and out +++