It's not unusual for those Warhammer players with a fondness for Grandfather Nurgle to also be fans of the Skaven, especially Clan Pestilens. Let's face it: rats and Nurgle just go together! Two Games Workshop staffers, Tim Huckelbery and Jeff Hurd, fall in this diseased camp. These fans of rodent-based decay were jazzed when they found out about the new Rat Spawn in Warhammer Realms: Lustria. Thus, Tim and Jeff set about converting up and painting a few of these fearsome beasties that embody the worst of both the Nurgle and Skaven worlds.

TIM HUCKLEBERY

TIM'S FIRST RAT SPAWN

Tim's first Rat Spawn

One thing Tim knew from the start: he didn't want his Rat Spawn to be confused with Rat Ogres or regular Chaos Spawn. That meant some heavy conversion work to make his models stand out. He started with the Spawn of Chaos body and feet for the basic form. These bitz had plenty of sockets for other things like tentacles, arms, and heads. Tim added the Classic Vermin Lord and Rat Ogre heads along with a few Grey Seer, Rat Ogre, and Clanrat skulls. He also used a Classic Greater Daemon of Nurgle arm and several Classic Beast of Nurgle tentacles. Lastly, he raided the Mordheim and Inquisitor ranges for a few extra claws and arms. Next, Tim applied Green Stuff to blend in the bitz so they looked like they belonged to the same critter.

TIM'S SECOND RAT SPAWN

Tim's second Rat Spawn

The main difference between Tim's first and second Rat Spawn was the pose. He wanted one to be a hulking, Frankenstein-like monster, and the other to be a frothing, insane rage-beast. In terms of distinguishing bitz, the Frankenstein Rat Spawn received a Grey Seer head on its shoulders, while the rage-beast got the Rat Ogre head. Tim painted both with the same colour scheme: Elf Flesh basecoat with a series of washes of Chestnut Ink and Flesh Wash. The only exceptions were some of the claws and the eyes, where Tim painted them to look like warpstone shards.

To finish his Rat Spawn, Tim added some pus made of white (PVA) glue, Desert Yellow, Sunburst Yellow, and some beige flock. After applying this mix and waiting for it to dry, Tim added "warpstone blood" to the pus with a mix of white glue and Dark Angels Green. Lastly, he added dripping slime made from fishing line with globs of plastic cement slathered on it. Once dry, Tim applied Yellow Ink to give the slime that yucky Clan Pestilens look.

Go To Tim's Gallery

JEFF HURD

Jeff's Rat Spawn

Jeff also began with a Spawn of Chaos model for the basis of his Rat Spawn. He used a tentacle arm to replace the bladed tentacles of the original Spawn. Then, he swapped in Rat Ogre feet. Next, Jeff added five Vermin Lord tails in various locations. He replaced the human forehead with a Skaven Clanrat head and the extended mouth with a Vermin Lord head. Lastly, he filled in the gaps with Green Stuff and added patches of fur and stretched skin. As for painting, Jeff simply mixed the schemes from his Skaven and Nurgle armies to come up with what you see to the left.

Go To Jeff's Gallery

IN CONCLUSION

There you have 'em: three Rat Spawn of the foulest kind. Hopefully the work of these demented hobbyists has inspired you to pursue your own putrid, giant beasts for your own Clan Pestilens army.

Next: Tim's Rat Spawn Gallery