Blue Table Painting Update

Monday, November 6, 2006

Issue 95

Guys,

Everything arrived undamaged and in excellent condition. All of the minis are excellent! I will not hesitate to commission work from your company again.Thanks again for the wonderful work.

--Peter E.

Raises

Blue Table artists get raises based on your feedback. If you send some kind words, that Artist gets increased pay for a YEAR.

Slaanesh Army For Sale

A very competitive, highly converted 2500 point army with movement trays and display board. More pics and details:

Chaos That Time Forgot- Now For Sale

I don’t like selling my personal armies, but the rent is due!

My insanely converted Chaos Mortals army is done! I am completely pleased with how the army looks and plays. See here for a hundred pics:

L2 Beasties

A lot of people just want to get their army done to a decent tabletop standard. This is what level 2 is for. The cost for painting is half the normal price. Here are some Beastmen done to L2:

That’s $2.75 a model for basic infantry and $7.00 for cavalry.

This makes it very affordable to have an army done. You need to give some more lee way for artistic license, though this is generally a good thing. For those just joining us, Blue Table Painting scale comprises Levels 2-6. Regular troopers are usually 2-4, and heroes 5-6.

Dark Elves

We’ve got a Dark Elf army on the block. Scroll down.

Colonel Marbles

A clever weekly miniatures review.

Behind the Curtain…

We took a group picture of staff out on the front steps of the studio.

Dream Project

See waaaay below for an insanely detailed project pitch for the Skaven Weird science. We have all the materials on hand. It would be one of the most extensive projects we’ve ever undertaken.

Deal with the Devil

During the month of December we’ll be taking a few projects for personal entertainment. The painting cost will be HALF normal. However, you must give us TOTAL artistic license. Your army will stay within the general theme of published works (ie the army book), but other than that you are completely handing over the project to me to do as I please. A fat budget for conversions and specialty basing is recommended.

Orcs of Skull River

In our eBay Store we have an entire Orc army for sale, strongly themed and converted. It’s based on the Orc army box with several expansions. This army features several freehand painted banners.

Pics--

Deals and Promos- Double Deal

First off, Blue Table now gives a standard 20% off on commonly available models that you would like to commission for assembly and painting. Some foreign companies are excepted (like Forge World, and Infinity Games, etc.) since they only sell their stuff at full price and do not use US distributors.

Second off, Blue Table gives a standard 30% off on models for the men and women of the US armed forces. Applies to models available for distribution in the US, like above; for commissioned work. End product must be shipped to an APO/FPO.

Horror Story

So, our packer goes to the Post Office with another Blue Table Masterpiece army in a large box. Many thousands of dollars (twenty pounds) of pewter snugly cocooned inside. The postal worker drops the box on the ground from above waist high right in front of her. She’s aghast and asks if he’s notices the Fragile sticker on the package. His response? We throw those underhand instead of overhand.

Can you believe that?

What can we do? We pack things as well as we can, to a high standard, and we’re improving it all the time. We occasionally get complaints about breakage and I don’t like it one bit, but often I think that there is surprisingly little breakage considering the rough treatment the packages get during hundreds if not thousands of miles of travel.

We cocoon the models in bubble wrap, often mummifying larger pewter models in tissue. Then a firm buffer of peanuts—not too loose and not too hard all around. For especially delicate packages we started doing box-in-box which works really well. I think that the mass of metal figures tends to shift them in a bunch to one end of the box during a bumpy ride.

If you have broken figures, Blue Table will repair, touchup, and return ship them. Even if you accidentally drop them on the floor! That’s our repair policy. You get them back to us and we’ll do the work at no charge.

Contact Info

Shawn = Client Relations

  • Yahoo Messenger ID is jazzmouth
  • AIM ID is BTP
  • Phone 801 372 8545 see if I don’t pick up!

Heather L. = Office Manager

  • Yahoo Messenger ID is middlepillarpath

All the best,

Shawn Gately

Skaven Weird Science

Skaven Clan Skryre army- Assembly Instructions

Army List

Warlord150

Warlock Engineers x3250

Clanrats x110 (four units)700

Clanrat Slaves x48 (four units)100

Globadiers x12120

Ratling Guns x2120

Warpfire Throwers x2150

Jezzails x12240

Warp-Lightning Cannons x2200

= about 2000 (14 deployables)

Vision and Rules

I imagine a Rat-folk version of the adeptus mechanicus. Very ritual, cult-like imagery, where machines are venerated like demi-gods with censers, incense, candles, and oils. Machines are built and maintained in an orderly way (not the ramshackle half-wood devices normally associated with Skaven).

  • Machines are powered by steam and coal.
  • Warp energy is generated like electricity.
  • There is minimal use of wood. If possible everything will be riveted metal.
  • Because of the ritualistic and organized nature of this warp-machine cult the plates, lines and wires are organized, though the overall effect can be one of a mad scientist.
  • There can be buttons, knobs and dials. These will be painted like dark metals.
  • Warpstone should feature prevalently. I will purchase some faceted plastic green gems that will be put in after the models are primed. These will have a coat of blackscale on them to give a dull appearance. It may be that only the warp-lightning cannons will have this feature.
  • Rat-cult icons should feature prevalently (like Imperial icons and imagery feature on 40K imperial models) and they should be in uniform, even fashion. Picking a few symbols for general use might be best.
  • Wheels, if used, should be of the iron-rimmed variety.
  • Cloth and chains should be used on every large piece. These will be rallying banners (in the case of the Rat Golems in the four clanrat units) or identifying pieces on other types. Cloth wraps, like mummy bandages are excellent—oiled and enruned sheathes for well-maintained equipment. Nailed on strips of leather are another embellishing feature (there are a ton of these in the Plague Monk kits).

Clanrats

For the Clanrats we will be using the robed plague monk models (and NO plastic clanrats). I will purchase three boxes, providing sixty models (fifty for the units, though I would like to mix in the odd giant rat)

  • Their weaponry should consists of bladed weapons and if possible round or square metal shields. These will be painted dark bronze and painted with a unit-rune.
  • Their plague staves should be shortened into glaive-like weapons using the spear-heads of regular clanrats.
  • Lots of small banners, icons, censers and totemic devices are appropriate, to give the impression of a chanting horde, herding along their murderous contraptions.
  • Limb and eye replacements are appropriate as well.
  • Look at page 24-25 of the skaven book for some other inspiration.

Centerpieces

Clanrat War Machines

Four 60mm square (Rat Golems)each takes up nine slots=36 slots

Six 40mm squareeach takes up four slots=24 slots

Fifty on 20mm squareeach takes up one slot =50 slots

TOTAL=110 slots

60mm Clanrat Centerpieces

These four will be the Rat Golems made from the Cygnar War Machine models. A 60mm square is very big for these models, so there will need to be some additional features.

  • Their hands should be replaced with hand weapons—skaven like killing contraptions, the more bizarre the better (mancatcher, bladed roller)
  • They should have a banner of some kind. This does represent a command unit after all.
  • It needs to have enough GW parts to make it tourney legal.

Possible ideas:

  • A clanrat leading, controlling, or fueling the Golem.
  • A brain in brine that controls the machine.

40mm Clanrat Centerpieces

I bought two Rat Ogres for these. They should be borg rats with weird science weapons.

The rest can be whatever fits in the theme.

  • A creature or vehicle hauling batteries or other odd devices
  • A machine that induces frenzy and toughness (indicating that it’s a unit of Plague Monks)
  • A power generator
  • A mobile shrine

Jezzails

Two 50mm square

Eight cavalry bases

This is for two units of Jezzails. The 50mm bases are huge, multi-barreled warp-lightning machines. The other cavalry bases are just decorative—various skaven and equipment in a supporting role. However, at least one of these should be a skaven with some device that could be conceived as a lone Jezzail.

Warp Lightning Cannons

Two chariot bases, or maybe slightly larger. These are carte blanche (within the general theme of course). However, I would like to include the following elements:

Energy coils

The barrels using the ImperialCity smoke stacks!

Green jewels for warpstone.

Skaven Slave Mind Control Centers

Four 60mm square centerpieces for the skaven slaves. This should feature a robed Skaven somehow controlling the others, with perhaps a remote control or control panel.

Now, the skavenslaves could use the regular clanrat models, the less armored ones.

1) what if they had grafted helmets with antennae?

2) what if they had their craniums sawed off and their brains exposed (green stuff) and antennae implanted in their grey matter?

Warpfire Thrower and Ratling Guns

The regular models for these fall outside the vision for this army. There need to be two of each kind. They might feature at least one robed Skaven (maybe just one to control a machine). As long as they are on cavalry bases, go to town.

Globadiers

I like the existing models and plan on including ten of them with little modification. Perhaps an odd banner or hand replacement to liven things up.