A bit later than planned...

...but here's that update I promised!

First up, the CCUP boyz. These are more or less done now, minus any touch-ups I notice or any further highlighting I feel is necessary.

Not the best photos (lighting isn't great, and I forgot to adjust the levels in Photoshop...), but hopefully they show the pertinent details. Any comments are welcome!


And the "surprise"...

    
Yes, ladies and gents, that is the first finished unit of my Skaven army! Admittedly, it's only Giant Rats which are probably the quickest Skaven models to paint, but it's a unit nonetheless and another 17 models to add to my "Completed" total for the year to date. That brings me up to a rather underwhelming grand total of 22 models completed since January 1st (I'm counting the Doomwheel as 3 models, being as it's a bit of a beast). Better start churning out those Clanrats to top up the total. 300 models in a year works out at 25 models a month, so I'm more than 50% behind schedule *eek*


Of course, the eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that this Giant Rats unit is distinctly lacking in Packmasters. Never fear, they are in the middle of painting and will be finished within the next day or so....hopefully.....


In other news, I'm reading a book called Standard of Honour, the second in The Templar Trilogy by Jack Whyte.  As you may have guessed from the title, it's about the Knights Templar. The first book tells the story of Hugues de Payens (Anglicised in the book to Hugh de Payens) and the formation of the 'Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon' as the Templars were originally known during the First Crusade. I won't spoil the story for those of you who've not read it, but it's presented as the historical "truth" of the Templars, with a skipload of conspiracy theory-esque plotlines that build on the ideas that the Da Vinci Code kicked with great force into the public eye. The series has slipped under the radar (or at least my radar) but for anyone with a liking for historical fiction and a bit of conspiracy, it's well worth a read.

Some of you may now be asking what this has to do with anything remotely wargaming-related? Well, it's got me itching to get back to my long-suffering Bretonnians and continue rebasing and repainting them into a Crusade theme. I started the whole project a long time ago, and got as far as halfway through a single unit of Knights before the next shiny thing came along (I think it may have been the then-new 7th Edition Warhammer rules, to give you an idea of just how long we're talking about). Now, with new Tomb Kings just round the corner, it may be time to dust off the Brets, give them a fresh lick of coat and basing of sand and send them out into the desert to face the Undead minions of Settra once more. Who knows? You may even see some on this blog before long...