Tuesday 2 May 2017

Shadow War: Armageddon - Ratling Sniper (by Kev Adams)

A short-statured ratling sniper draws bead on a renegade noble.
 
Nearly two years ago, I attended the excellent Bring Out Your Lead event, hosted at Foundry. One of the many attractions was to have Kev Adams sculpt a new face on a model in exchange for a charitable donation. I was wholly underprepared, but managed to find an Imperial Guard ratling. I tasked Kev with sculpting my face on the wee little chap. I am 6' 4" (193cm), so a diminutive ratling seemed rather ludicrous and therefore highly appropriate!


In July 2015, I looked like this:
 
 
And here's Kev's version of my face:
 


Note the long nose and chin. Note the long sideburns. Note the slightly worried expression too...

Ratling me has sat for the last two years, waiting patiently for a suitable project. Happily, with the release of Shadow War: Armageddon, and my Imperial Guard Kill Team, it was the perfect excuse to use him. He'll represent a Guardsman armed with a sniper rifle. Note I've given him a few boxes to stand on so he's roughly the same height as a standard human Guardsman and therefore gains no bonuses from being annoyingly small.

Noj 'hot-shot' Underfoot is a supreme sniper specialist. He was drafted into the crack Kill Team, Finnegan's Rifles as a scout and infiltrator. Like all ratlings, Underfoot is small in stature and stealthy - ideal attributes for a scout trooper. He lacks the sunny and irreverent disposition that most ratlings are known for - instead displaying a serious and highly structured approach to his sniper discipline.



The rest of the Kill Team have clothing and equipment in a range of earthy and camouflage colours. I stuck to the same palette for Underfoot so he'll tie in with the rest.


Aside from the new head sculpted by Kev, I made one other minor addition in the form of a little backpack. This is actually a grenade and pouch from the plastic Space Marine scouts, but it works nicely as a pack for a ratling!

 
 
I'm hoping to have another four more members of the Kill Team painted over the next week or so. They certainly all need to be ready for the new campaign starting at the end of the month!


26 comments:

  1. That's a great mini. I think Kev might have been a little harsh on you though, you're definitely one of the more handsome Oldhammerers out there. Still, it's a super paint job on a sweet wee sniper.

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    1. You're a smooth talker Mr Saturday. I'll flutter my eyelashes next time I see you!

      Glad you like the little fella.

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  2. I don't know why, but these old ratlings didn't, and still don't, get much love. To me they are a lovely sculpt, full of character and are a lot of fun on the tabletop. But anyway, I'm off topic, ooops.

    I think he looks ace Axiom.....not your face, the mini you understand :P I think you did a good job on his facial skin tone, very weather-beaten, cool bananas!

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    1. The ratlings are lovely sculpts, although I've been guilty of overlooking them myself.

      Glad you like him Mr Papafakis :)

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  3. Love the sideways cap, hadn't noticed this element until now.
    Ratling you is excellent and I'm eager to get our bands on the magnificent tables of the warhammer world.

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    1. The cap is a nice touch isn't it? Very 1980s hip hop. Looking forward to the day too!

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  4. Most. Charming. Ratling. Ever.

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    1. Bless your kind words! Bless his little heart ;)

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  5. Great paint job, and the basing is a clever way to make your figure more "game compliant".

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    1. Cheers! I suspect my gaming buddies would have been OK with him being short - it's no different to a kneeling figure. But I don't want any accusations of poor form being levelled at me!

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    2. Right, save that for the game play, not the modeling. ;)

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  6. SW:A has my GW creative juices flowing again after a rather long time.

    Abhumans (Squats and Beastmen especially) are my most favourite part of the Imperial Guard and no force is complete in my mind without a squad of Ratling snipers.

    Kev did a great job sculpting your mug and I love that you chose such a small figure to do it on after reading you are 6'4" in real life! A fantastic mini with a lovely paint job mate.

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    1. I'm fond of beastmen myself, and I have an Ogryn lined up as a Special Operative.

      I was really pleased to have the opportunity to get a mini me sculpted. It's not often that comes to pass.

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  7. Lovely little model. Must admit I've always preferred Kev's human sculpts to the orcs he's most well-known for. I'll just have to cope with a squad of standard Ratlings in my IG army!

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    1. I think I'm only aware of a handful of Kev's humans - some Egyptians by Dark Fable and the Otherworld adventurers. Did he do any humans for Citadel?

      (Can I confess here...I'm not keen on greenskins - Kev's or otherwise!)

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  8. Superb mate, those ratlings are cracking minis, and your mug suits him to a tee :-)

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    1. I've got another 4 or 5 I'll get round to one day! Thanks mate :)

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  9. Cool ratling, the head is great! I'd love it if someone sculpted my face on to a mini.. probably an Ogryn or something :)

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    1. I wish I'd given more thought to the source mini in some respects, but the ratling was pretty much the only figure I had to hand. That said, I like the serendipity involved. It has become my avatar on the tabletop :D

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  13. Its great to see that figure painted, good stuff.

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  14. This is an excellent piece and extremely well painted. Though I admit I kept getting distracted by his hobbit-like feet. ^_^

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