Clan Uragiri, Summer 2012 Tale of X Gamers

[Git]

Clan Uragiri

This is my thread for the Summer 2012 contest, Tale of X Gamers. For starters I have my army's background and an army list. The list might change somewhat, but I think it will look mostly like this since I don't have to buy any more models with this list.

Clan Uragiri was one of the smaller warlord clans that followed Clan Eshin to the far east. The clan ended up in Nippon, where it served Eshin as bodyguards and soldiers. While Eshin learned its arts from some of Nippon's inhabitants, Uragiri adopted other parts of the eastern culture. Uragiri learned the arts of war and soldiering. They encountered the concept of bushido, chivalry and honour. Uragiri embraced these ideas, but soon, as it is Skaven nature, they corrupted the core of the concept.

The Uragiri Way of the Warrior looks unlike other Skaven traits at first glance, but at heart it is not. Chivalry is to them the act of killing the weak so they won’t have to suffer their poor lives anymore. Honour is to always be ready to advance in the society. Take advantage of your chances, punish the careless. To allow oneself be taken off-guard is dishonourable. Bravery is to know the world and prepare for it. Someone wants your place. Know it and plan to remove them before they remove you. This perverted Way of the Warrior has lead Clan Uragiri to have ruthless and efficient warriors who has based much of their success on coming back from war both alive and richer than they went to war.

Many of these riches have come from the clan’s own employers when the tide has turned, or the enemy has chosen to pay more than their allies. Clan Uragiri served Eshin, but also others. The others were served as long as they were the highest bidder. The clan built a reputation as reliable mercenaries in the far east. That reputation is not completely true. The clan’s own code of honour extends to the clan itself. It is important to take care of the clan’s reputation as it is one of the most important tools in survival and growth. Any former employers who have been turned upon are now dead. Even when no one paid Clan Uragiri to turn they will do so if the battle is lost. A dead employer is both silent about Clan Uragiri’s efforts and a good source of plunder.

After a time the Way of the Warrior evolved into the code of honour the clan still obeys. This code was part of the reason why Uragiri remained in the east when Clan Eshin returned west. Clan Uragiri had some business to finish in Nippon, but recently the clan has returned to the Old World. It is ready to claim its place in Skaven society. Clan Uragiri’s relationship with Clan Eshin will be tested. The clan has survived long out of Eshin’s grip. At the same time the clan does not know the currents of Skaven politics. What they do know is that Skaven is Skaven, and even a long lost clan is seen as a threat to any of them. It will be a fight for existence and a fight for power. The Way of the Rat Warrior will be triumphant in the end.

Army list:

Warlord - Warlitter, Sword of Might, Enchanted Scabbard (Enchanted Shield, but will be modelled as a scabbard. Wait and see.) - 155 points.

Chieftain - BSB, shield - 72 points.

Warlock Engineer - Level 1, Warplock Pistol, Doomrocket - 103 points.

40 Clanrats - hw, shields, command, Warpfire Thrower - 270 points.

30 Clanrats - spears, shields, command, Poisoned Wind Mortar - 235 points.

20 Stormvermin - halberd, command - 165 points.

= 1000 points

Pictures will come at a later time.

[Git]

This is what's assembled (enough to stand on a base) of my army:


The characters in front are (from the left) my Warlock Engineer, my BSB and my Warlord. The BSB needs hands and a banner, the warlord still needs his warlitter.

The units are from the left: Stormvermin (need 10 more), Clanrats with hand weapons (need 20 more) and Clanrats with spears (need 10 more).

Stormvermin:


Clanrats:


Ashigaru Clanrats:


The currently coolest model in the army (but only until the characters are done):


Edit: I forgot to place my weapon teams alongside, but both are currently assembled but unpainted.
I have currently some of these models outside drying a coat of primer.

[The Forest Lord Daereth]

I like the clanrats with hats.

I've seen these before, and I must say my favourites are the stormvermin champion with katana and the engineer with rocket.

[Git]

Thanks, Daereth.

Just for completeness:


A picture of my unpainted weapon teams. Now all I've got to do is assemble 30 clanrats and 10 stormvermin, change the heads for the SV, and make hats for almost 30 spear-rats. Oh, and I am swapping most of the weapon arms of the hw-rats to have more "asian-looking" blades, building a war-litter, converting an AoW rat to BSB and changing the weapons of my Warlord.

And then I have to paint 95 models (none that have paint on now are complete). This is going to be fun. I hope I can help inspire you other guys to get started with your blogs as well, and then I'll look to you when my horde seems endless.

[Git]

I finished kit-bashing the 40 strong hand weapon unit. I gave them all blades. No clubs or cleavers here.



I also made a warlitter. And started out converting the warlord. The warlord is pretty far from done, but I put him on the litter just to see what it looks like now.

I am going to change the posture of one arm, and the gear in both on the warlord. I'll also try to remove the stone beneath his feet.






Edit: changed the picture now that the whole unit is assembled. Here are the fillers:

[Beithir Seun]

A great theme for an army Git, and great work so far Looking forward to seeing how this progresses!


By the way, where are the metal (samurai) heads from? I'm sure I've seen them before, but can't think where...

EDIT: Now I remember - Micro Arts Studio. I've got some of the "Chem" Nezumi heads on order to convert some Globadiers, so I'm happy to see that the samurai ones fit nicely. Hopefully the Chem ones will be just as good a fit.

[Git]

If you want to angle the samurai heads a bit more up than the Warlitter guy you have to fill in with greenstuff under it, so it's a little work. Not very visible and not hard. And I have to use the knife a bit to get the back of the helmet to fit over the Stormvermin's shoulders. I did consider the ashigaru heads for the clanrats, but that would be even more work than my current greenstuff hats. And much more expensive.

[Git]

Quick update: I have finished assembling all of the clanrats. That's 70 of them, almost all with minor conversions (arm swaps, hats etc.). I am ready to finish painting the first 5, and have 14 more primed and ready. I still have to assemble and change heads on 10 stormvermin, and convert my warlord and chieftain. I'll try and take an army wide picture once all are assembled. Pictures will come for sure when I am done painting something.

[Git]

Picture update time! With paint on!

First off I finished five of my clanrats. These have been test pieces for colour scheme and whatever else I needed them for.





Next up are my three assembled and converted units. I lack one model from one of them, but that will be fixed soon. (Strange things happened at a party...)





Then a full army shot with characters. Note that both the Warlord and Chieftain are not finished converted.



Now, this is it for WIP shots from me, I think. Except for the characters, or if there is something really cool I just have to show off.

[Beithir Seun]

Great looking stuff Git. I love how the Clanrats and Stormvermin have turned out, they look fantastic. Love the sashimonos on the Clanrats!

[Git]

Thanks Beithir!

I'll paint some more clanrats this week, but I'll try not to neglect my Asrai. I may even take my elfs to a very friendly tournament this weekend.

[The Forest Lord Daereth]

The warlord looks good on his litter. Looking forward to the finished army.

[Git]

Thanks FLD! I hope to finish at least one unit and one weapon team this month. And finish converting Warlord and BSB a well. Will post pictures when those tasks are done. I am up to 18 finished clanrats at the moment. Only 22 to go. In that unit...

[ThaneWill]

I'm looking forwards to the update, I like what you've done so far

[Kyo]

I like the theme and style you are using for this army, it holds a special place close to my heart

where are the kabuto heads from?

[Malkrit]

I absolutely love that little freehand on the Clanrat shield! I was wondering what the signs mean.

[Git]

Thanks for the comments guys! I'm currently more than halfway done painting the first clanrat unit, but I've got way too many other things to do during summer... Will try and finish some more soon, so that I have a whole unit to show off.

@Kyo: The heads are from Micro Arts Studio, I think. Can't find them anymore though...

@Malkrit: The sign is supposed to mean Uragiri (my Skaven clan's name, which in turn means betrayal). If it in fact does mean that, I have succeeded beyond my own expected abilities of Japanese writing.

[Kyo]

Surely you meant to say Uragiri Ichizoku
are you not missing a little り
for it to read as
裏切 り ?

But if you were refering to them being traitorous people you could write it as

裏切り者

EDIT: sorry it's fine... had a durr moment the above would read as betrayers...
also mentioned it to a friend and he has 4 of those rat kabuto heads if you need a couple more pm me

[Git]

I have no idea, Kyo. Google Translate is my only help in this.

Finished a unit. I still have A LOT of work if this army is going to be ready within the time limit...

[Tuhis]

Pretty neat unit! I dig the colour theme, and well the overall army theme actually. Katanas and straw hats are always cool.

Also, nice goblin green movement trays.

[Git]

Thanks!

The tray is from another era, and is only used to ease the transportation of the models from shelf to table. I am waiting for the trays I am going to use for this army so I will post new pictures when they are done.

[Kyo]

That's fine Git. ALthough i have seen many fall prey to google translate not being 100% accurate.
Being a native japanese if theres anything you need help with just give me a shout
just don't ask for pages of writing to be translted haha

The ashigaru look great, i cannot wait to see how you do the warlord.. Full samurai armour with sode/kote maybe?

[Git]

August has been a real bad hobby month. However I actually made some progress at the end of the month.

Here's my Chieftain BSB.

[Beithir Seun]

Good to see some progress Git, even if only a little. August seems to have been a bad month for pretty much everyone hobby-wise...

What model is the BSB?

[Git]

It's the Avatars of War Vermin Lord. I find it a really good model, and not too difficult to convert even though it's metal.