Deathmaster Snikch Twins

A child-aged Curis attempted to paint the single Skaven Clanrat from 3rd edition Talisman.  The paintjob went so badly it’s taken over twenty years before an adult-aged Curis returned to painting Skaven miniatures.

Silver Tower Warhammer Age of Sigmar Deathmaster Snikch Skaven Twins front

Double Dragon Rat.

This is classic Jes Goodwin Deathmaster Snikch.  Twice.  The left-hand one is painted as a straight copy of the 1993 ‘Eavy Metal scheme; the right-hand one is painted in the 2009 ‘Eavy Metal scheme used on Seb Perbert’s redesigned Deathmaster.  Seb followed Jes’ original sculpt so closely that porting the new scheme onto the old miniature felt like being on auto-pilot.

Eavy Metal Deathmasters

‘Eavy Metal Deathmasters.

But why paint two of a unique special character?  Well, Snikch and Snikch are standing in as the Deathrunner and his illusory double in my Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower project where every model is replaced with a 1990s equivalent.  Snikch kept his exact location a secret to spread maximum fear – I’m imagining an illusory double as a manifestation of this Snikchitsu.  The rules for the Deathrunner mean he’s an absolute fiend, so it’s apt to represent him with this Herohammer icon rather than a standard 1990s Skaven Assassin miniature.

Silver Tower Warhammer Age of Sigmar Deathmaster Snikch Skaven Twins back

Ninja Skavens put the “rat” in karate.

The Snikchs took less than an evening each to paint, which I found surprising as they’re super-chunky miniatures and packed full of detail.  I think the damage and wear on the second-hand castings (particularly noticeable on the triangular shuriken) stopped me being overly fussy with highlights.  And the bulk of the miniature is a big black cloak – black being one of the quickest colours to paint.

Silver Tower Warhammer Age of Sigmar Deathmaster Snikch Skaven Twins versus a Ninja Chaos Thug

The Ninja Chaos Thug trying to work out which of the Ninja Rats is real.

There’s twenty retro miniatures so far in the Silver Tower project!  Check out the 1990s Pink, Blue and Brimstone Horrors here.   Check out the 1990s Kairic Adepts hereAnd check out the 1990s Kairic Acolytes here.  Coming soon – fur and gold.

Curis

Curis has painted for Games Workshop, Forge World, Warlord Games, Mantic Games, Avatars of War, Wargames Foundry, Studio McVey and many others. He's won at Golden Demon and Salute. He publishes monthly painting tutorials on Patreon.

18 thoughts on “Deathmaster Snikch Twins

  • June 13, 2018 at 12:18 pm
    Permalink

    A great addition to the Silver Tower project. I am very fond of this model, partly because he’s so chunky. Less than an evening to paint one? That’s good going.

    Reply
    • June 13, 2018 at 6:51 pm
      Permalink

      I was really surprised by the time taken too – especially given how little I was looking forward to the prospect of painting more Skaven. Maybe I’ll have to do some more now I’ve overcome my fear.

      Reply
  • June 13, 2018 at 12:32 pm
    Permalink

    Yet another smashing update Curis, I’ve always loved that sneaky bastard but for some reason haven’t picked one up for my own skaven army. After seeing this sterling job I’m gonna have to push that mission up the queue.

    Reply
    • June 13, 2018 at 6:52 pm
      Permalink

      Cheers Rochie! You’re so impressionable.

      Reply
  • June 13, 2018 at 12:37 pm
    Permalink

    This is one of my fav skav minis, and yours are achingly wonderful. It’s such a great sculpt I bet it didn’t even seem like a chore to paint it twice either :D

    Reply
    • June 13, 2018 at 6:53 pm
      Permalink

      Classic Jes. I was thinking of painting one as a gh-gh-gh-ghost in order to avoid duplication boredom, but this way worked too. It was nerdy-good fun working out how to get two dark blue-greys looking distinct from each other.

      Reply
  • June 13, 2018 at 12:53 pm
    Permalink

    Wow, those do not look like single sitting paint jobs, gorgeous.

    I really like the 2009 Sniktch (which Captain Crooks kindly donated) but the original has a lot of charm too. I must track one down.

    That is a perfect model to use as the Deathrunner, as you say, the Silver Tower incarnation is a full on 90s Herohammer killing machine.

    Reply
    • June 13, 2018 at 6:54 pm
      Permalink

      Yeah, the Seb one is quite fun. I am a litlte tempted to buy a pair of them and do this all over again…

      Reply
  • June 14, 2018 at 3:06 pm
    Permalink

    Nicely done. There are some minis that take awhile to muster up the courage to paint. Usually for me it’s after seeing someone else paint it that I put it away until I can forget how inadequate to the task I am.

    Reply
    • July 16, 2018 at 10:33 am
      Permalink

      Thanks Sean! I get that feeling of inadequacy too – tends to be when I look at the ‘Eavy Metal scheme for colour placements halfway through a paintjob, and notice how much tighter and crisp their brushwork is.

      Reply
  • June 16, 2018 at 12:49 am
    Permalink

    A fantastic double-hit here, Curis. Both paintjobs really look the business. Jes’ skaven are really a cut above almost all of the ones that came since – notably the later metals..

    Reply
    • July 16, 2018 at 10:34 am
      Permalink

      Cheers! There’s a weird design history to Skaven as they fluctuate between small mangy beasts and chubby almost-wolflike creatures and back again over the years.

      Reply
  • September 26, 2018 at 4:22 pm
    Permalink

    Like these, well done. At first I thought that you had painted the two different versions of the Jes Goodwin version. As they did a version with the left had as one solid piece with the model, and the other version had it as a separate arm. Like your style. :)

    Reply
    • September 26, 2018 at 9:27 pm
      Permalink

      I’ve heard about that, but never seen it. I wonder which version of Snikch came first? I love little running changes like that, it gets my nerd going – like the 2001 Balrog that came initially with metal wings in three pieces.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.