Making a Burrows and Badgers Warband out of Warhammer

 


I've recently got into the skirmish game, Burrows and Badgers, which caught my eye when I stumbled upon it on Youtube.

I must admit- this might be a bit of a dream game for me. Growing up, I absolutely loved reading books such as the Redwall series, the Winds in the Willows and watching Disney's Robin Hood- so I have always had a bit of a soft spot for the sub-genre of Fantasy where animals take on the role of humans. I even have Bojack Horseman as one of my favourite TV shows of recent years, so it's safe to say I enjoy the whimsy of this sort of thing.

Finding a game, which has the feel of essentially being Redwall, is therefore something I'm really looking forward to trying, but probably more looking forward to painting!

With all that said, I decided to get started by grabbing a few Skaven miniatures to mess around with. I'm intending to get much more than just this done- but I quite like to start projects with something reasonably quick and easy, just to make sure that I'm enjoying it before fully investing. With that said, getting a sprue on Ebay for under a tenner bagged me 5 Skaven Plaguerats, and they will do nicely for a little Black Rat warband. (I also used a few Night Goblin arms I had lying around to get some variety in the weapons).

After assembling them, I wanted to try out something a bit different in painting- an idea I'd had for a zenithal-like highlight using some rattle cans.


The idea here was that I would use Mechanicus Standard Grey as a primer, and then a short burst of White Scar from above. The effect isn't quite as much of a stark contrast as a real zenithal would be, but I was hoping it would allow for a quick and easy application of Contrast paints, as the Grey wouldn't completely obscure the colour.

It didn't work exactly as expected though. I started by applying Iron Jaws Yellow over the robes. I think my choice of colour may have had a big impact on this not working as well as it could have done, but I wasn't massively happy with how the yellow looked over the grey. Mechanicus Standard Grey is fairly dark, so it really dulled the yellow.

I also at this point went and painted the flesh of the rats with Bugmans glow. The idea here was that I could then use Black Legion as both a wash over the flesh, and to colour the fur- and save a bit of time. This did not work...



Black Legion does not work like other Contrast paints I have used! In fact, I wouldn't even really put it as a contrast paint. It has the same consistency, but such a different finish. As you can see above- it left none of the colours it was applied over underneath- giving a matt black finish. I'm not really sure what I'll be using this paint for now- I'll have to experiment, but it seems to really be doing the same job as just a regular black paint.

So, my masterplan to save some time actually ended up meaning I spent more time on these than intended. I went back to my usual method for painting this colour of skin- Bugman's Glow basecoat, a wash of Agrax Earthshade, and then highlights of Bugman's and Tallarn Flesh. I was happy with it in the end.

The rest was nice and straightforward, just picking out the metal details and bandages on the rats (I'd been careful to avoid using any Warhammer symbols where possible- and deliberately didn't paint the one Skaven symbol I was forced to use).

Here's the end result:

They ended up pretty much how I'd wanted them- and I might experiment with the semi-zenithal spray again- though I think it will work much better with darker colours than yellow!

I see these Black Rats as being part of a secretive religious order operating in the world of Burrows and Badgers- perhaps part of some sort of crusading force (the Burrows and Badgers universe does have a sort of Catholic Church, though with multiple gods). In particular, they will serve The Horned God, the worshippers of some unholy deity who corrupt the realms and pursue their secretive mission for a god which appears in the form of a Brown Rat. Perfect bad guys for future warbands to face off against...

Hope you enjoyed the look at this new project, I'll be painting more Burrows and Badgers over the next few weeks- stay tuned!

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