Death Guard WIP: Pandemic (updated Jan 21 - fully painted Obliterator unit)

**Svartmetall** · 2nd Dec 07 2:49 PM

"Do they still sell the plague marine standard bearer in shops, or did you get it on-line?"

Nah, he's a bog-standard Icon Bearer model. I used the Pestigor Standard Bearer standard from the Fantasy range, since it's way nicer then the tiny little Nurgle three-skull icon you get out of the blister pack; I wanted a full-on standard bearer, rather than someone holding a badge nailed to a stick. The model is really skinny, too, half the GS work on him is bulking him up so he matches the rest of the Death Guard; out of the box he stood out like a sore thumb, it was like:

Hulking Plague Marine
Hulking Plague Marine
Hulking Plague Marine
Kate Moss
Hulking Plague Marine
Hulking Plague Marine
Hulking Plague Marine

...not quite the image of Nurgly toughness and brutality I was aiming for, you know? The power sword is the basic one off the old Chaos Marine accessory sprue, his backpack is one of the Chaos Sorceror ones, and the trophy spike is off the new Chaos Marine sprue.

**Susurrus** · 2nd Dec 07 5:08 PM

The guy on the left of your last picture looks AWESOME, but for me the standard bearer guy looks FAR too static.. He's just kinda standing there with no thought for cover/killing.. His role could best be fulfilled by sticking the banner to a tree.. Your GS work on him looks awesome but...

But I LOVE the guy on the left, especially the gas-mask thing :-)

**Svartmetall** · 3rd Dec 07 2:50 AM

"...the standard bearer guy looks FAR too static"

I know what you mean, but given the way the banner's hanging it was the only pose that really made sense for it to look right - and the banner was kind of the focus of this model anyway. The guy on the left (I need a catchier name for him...maybe Cable Guy) is fast becoming one of my favourites, too.

**[MaGiC]** · 3rd Dec 07 3:01 AM

@Susurrus what do you mean? his task is to stand there and look mean

I digg the convertions, but the backpack looks akward to me.. it's too Tzeench imo... you should've done some gs on that to.. perhaps twisting the heads on the exhaust..

other than that hurry up and paint these dudes so I can see the finished result..

what plan do you have for the guts?

**Svartmetall** · 3rd Dec 07 4:18 AM

"...but the backpack looks akward to me.. it's too Tzeench imo..."

I actually spent ages wondering what to do for this guy's backpack. The logic was that as a standard bearer he'd have the 'bling' gear, not just any old bog-standard backpack, so I wanted one that would stand out; I kind of like the look of it myself (remember it's going to be painted and rusted up as well), but that's after ages going through all the available options and deciding on this. Maybe it'll grow on you as it did on me

.

"what plan do you have for the guts?"

As realistic colouring as I can manage, with some yellowing to indicate disease and corruption.

_'Ginger' Matt_ · 3rd Dec 07 6:07 AM

Hey again.

Sorry to rain on your parade but regarding the coloring on thew armor...its too light, its a green that could be used on a fairy not as hard-as-nails plague marine. id say wash them with a brown/greenish wash to dull them down a tad. possibly use flesh wash mixed with green ink and some (very small amount!) black ink. and as for the metal on the guns/chainswords definitely give them a wash. try out some different techniques on spare bolters and place them next to the model to get the feel of what it would look like. and if you cant decide post some ideas and well all give you our opinion!

Have you done anything about that lord conversion you suggested a little while back, i was actually really interested in that idea and want to see how your going to pull it off.

Other than these two things some real nice looking models you got there, hopefully the whole army should look awesome when all is finished. Also have you decided on a basing technique yet?

**Svartmetall** · 3rd Dec 07 6:42 AM

"...its too light, its a green that could be used on a fairy not as hard-as-nails plague marine"

Absolutely...I've just not done the ink washes on the Chosen yet, they're not the final colour by any means; I was just really happy with how the GS work blended in on those guys once they'd been painted and weren't just bare-metal-and-green-stuff. I'm kind of skirting round the Lord conversion so far because it's going to be a real pig to do, but I keep working on ideas for it. As soon as I get anything done on him it'll get posted up here, trust me on that one

.

**AshaD** · 3rd Dec 07 9:55 AM

Awesome! I originaly thought it looked a tad on the poor side but it seems to have improved massivly from the first shots you showed.

**[MaGiC]** · 3rd Dec 07 11:10 AM

hehe you might even say the standard bearer is an exsorcerer or even better he recovered the backpack from an old battle scene

as for the guts why not use some tentacle pink mixed with some brownish colors

**SocietySoldier** · 3rd Dec 07 11:49 AM

a suggestion for the tzeentch backpack, just add some pus and crap all over to make it look a little nurgle-fied
not too much tho, just enough to show its nurgly

**Svartmetall** · 3rd Dec 07 11:56 AM

It's actually got some on it...I guess the camera angle doesn't show that up too well.

**Svartmetall** · 6th Dec 07 6:05 PM

...aaand now, 117 separate patches of green stuff later, the Terminator squad's legs are done.

*gibber*

**SocietySoldier** · 6th Dec 07 7:27 PM

damnnnnnn thats a lot of work
but so worth it because they look great

**Svartmetall** · 16th Dec 07 8:04 PM

A little update...it's taken approximately 1,000,000 years to get this damn Typhus figure conversion done but now I'm almost there

...12 separate stages of green stuff on one model. Argh. I didn't want to use the Destroyer Hive top for the torso, it's way too recognisable (this is a Chosen, after all, not actually Typhus), and after umming and ahhing for ages finally decided to suck it up and just make a whole new top myself. I used the 'frame' from the torso top out of the new Terminator Lord kit, and backed it up with a basic 'hood' of green stuff...

Then built up several layers of green stuff, some more buried cabling, added a customised trophy rack (using some separate heads with holes drilled through them) and then more green stuff...gave it all a stretched-scar-tissue kind of texture... until I was satisfied with the look.

Phew. This was a hell of a lot of work for one figure. I like the way the Iron Warriors lascannon matches with the cabling and curves of the rest of him; tomorrow he gets a head, and then at long last he gets introduced to Mr. Primer

.

Another Chosen, the one with my leg-replacement as detailed in the Nurgle 101 tutorial; I'm really pleased with how the coral-texture GS work has come out on this guy. The idea for this one was that he'd had a big chunk taken out of him by a melta, and in response the Nurgly corruption is sort of spooging out to add extra tissue to replace the body mass he's lost...which is why I used the coral texture, to give the idea of something that was growing out from inside in layers then hardening.

And lastly, a little more work on the Sorceror; I had a brainwave for a nice shoulderpad for him, using three of the skulls off the Chaos vehicle sprue...

...cut the back half off the skulls so they sit closer to the curve of the pad, glued them on in the Nurgle-icon pattern and added GS 'coral' around them. And here it is in situ:

Bulks out the terminator pad nicely without looking too bulky and should look nice when painted up

.

More when I have it ready to post...

**AHH! MOTHERLAND** · 16th Dec 07 8:12 PM

Looking absolutely horrid right now (which is a good thing). I like the chosen pistol wielding the plasma gun. Somehow looks very appropriate. I can't wait to see some of these guys painted up.

Onlyhestands · 17th Dec 07 4:53 AM

These are excelent conversions, I think you have given me the diesire to start a nurgle army! (When I have the cash that is...)

**Xenith** · 17th Dec 07 6:59 PM

Thats awesome, very,very good job on the typhus model - reminds me of the way the DG fight 'their massive bulk used to absorb the recoil of their weapons' A guy that big should be able to wield a lascannon like that

What are you using it as in game terms?

**Svartmetall** · 17th Dec 07 7:07 PM

"What are you using it as in game terms?"

He's actually pretty much WYSIWYG - he's a Chosen with a lascannon instead of his bolter, and a close combat weapon. One reason I went with green stuff rather than using the Terminator 'hood' on top of his torso was because Chosen can't have Terminator armour now, so I figured making it look less like normal Terminator armour was probably best. I've just put his head on, and he's got it tilted to one side, looking past the lascannon with a sort of "Are you dead yet?" body language thing going on

...

**Svartmetall** · 22nd Dec 07 11:33 AM

Nurgle be praised! Finally my Typhus conversion is finished! I had to shore up the GS work around the trophy spike a bit because it wasn't as firmly mounted as it needed to be. I built GS up around the base and added a 'flying buttress' of GS, which doesn't come out as clearly on the pics as I would have liked but is kind of visible on the right-side profile shot; I also added a few more biomechanical GS bits around his arms. I like the "Are you dead yet?" sort of quizzical look he seems to have with his head tilted like this...I think he makes a really nice imposing Chosen for the army.

Work on the Sorceror continues apace, he's mainly finished apart from the head. I had fun yesterday making up this unfortunate World Eater for his base - he's been hit by the Sorceror's Gift Of Chaos spell and is having a very bad day, being as he is half-way through turning into a Spawn...note the maggoty tendril thing bursting out of the right side of his chest

. I used a few bits from the Spawn sprue stuck together to be the bottom half of what used to be his torso. A little detail I love is the bit of cabling on the top corner of his backpack, where it's been snapped and the internal conduit is now visible...

As always, more as soon as it's ready.

-----

I want to add something. I've been dealing with a bad case of clinical depression for the last 4 months or so. which kicked in big-time in early September not long after I'd started work on my first army. Me starting to work on the miniatures again 4-5 weeks ago was one of the signs of recovery starting, and I'm now well on the way to kicking depression's ass once and for all. Doing something creative has been in itself a great help in starting to claw my way out of the hole I've been in - and I need to say that the positive comments and feedback here over the last few weeks have really helped me and boosted my confidence. I'm still pretty much a total beginner, and getting such a great response has been really cool.

So thanks to everyone here for that, you guys and gals have helped me deal with this thing more than a little

.

**Dark Angel N00b** · 22nd Dec 07 11:46 AM

EWW!

Thats so awesome!
Great to hear youre recovering from your hard time as well, who said 40k never helped anyone!

Keep it up! Its a real pleasure to watch youre collection grow.

**Svartmetall** · 22nd Dec 07 6:37 PM

Aaaand here's the Sorceror I've been working on all night. His head is the triple head from the Spawn sprue; I wanted something distinctive to suggest that here was someone so steeped in the lore of Nurgle that his mutation was over and above what the rank and file would have. To make it look A) cooler and B) less like a standard part straight off the Spawn sprue I replaced the right-hand head with a skull...then green-stuffed it in to match the other two.

And here's the finished Sorceror (OK, his base with the mutating World Eater isn't finished yet, but that's going to take a bit longer).

The scythe makes a nice force weapon for him; it's the one from the Fantasy mounted Lord Of Nurgle. I like it because it's quite a plain and realistic-looking scythe, also it's not Typhus' Manreaper model which would have been a bit too recognisable.

In this shot you can see a detail which I think will look very nice (in a horrible sort of way) when he's painted up - on the replacement skull I've put on some patches of skin with tiny thin bits of green stuff, which will be scraps of mouldering flesh clinging to the skull...yum! I also like the way this skull ties in visually with the 3 skulls inlaid into his shoulder pad.

**SubZero** · 22nd Dec 07 6:45 PM

Holy crap, that is some very nice Nurglesque painting and Greenstuffing you have going on there. Very well done dude!

As others have said, i'd like to echo that you've done some very great things here, and it serves as an inspiration for us all too!

**Svartmetall** · 1st Jan 08 4:02 PM

Okay, now the New Year's shenanigans are out of the way...enough of Father Time, back to Grandfather Nurgle

This guy is going to be the Aspiring Champion for my Chosen unit, and I decided to give him paired lightning claws. Now the lightning claws from the new Terminator and Lord kits are very nice, but they're pretty big - so much so that I think they look out of scale on a normal CSM model. So, I added a 1mm spacer at every joint on this model (2mm at the waist) cut from plastic card to give him extra height and reach. Then I green-stuffed this in, and added GS Nurgly bits along his limbs for detail inspired by this detail from a Quake 3 map.

I figured the lightning claws on a Terminator have their power supply inside the armour shell, based on where the power cables from them go. That didn't look right on normal power amour, so I removed the original power cables and added a power supply thingy on the bottom of his backpack with new cabling leading out of the base of the claws into this. All he needs now is a head and he'll be a nice imposing Aspiring Champ for my most heavily-converted unit...

...speaking of which - my maddest conversion yet!
I'd been thinking for ages of doing a conjoined Siamese-twin Plaguebearer...then I had the great/deranged/stupid (delete as applicable) idea one night of going further and doing a conjoined Siamese Plague Marine

.
Cue some serious head-scratching as to how the hell to do this.

I ended up using two torsos spliced together and three legs...getting the angle + positioning of the joined torsos right was hard enough, but getting the balance and pose of the legs right was a real pain; I had to reposition it about three times altogether before I was finally happy with the result. I was fairly dubious as to whether I could pull this off until I got to the point where I had the head (the twin head off the old Mutation sprue) added to the assembled legs + torso, then I got a bit more optimistic. There's a long way to go, but I now think this guy has a good chance of looking pretty damn cool. Currently I'm adding stages of GS around his torso textured to look like stretched tissue; he's going to need a good few stages of GS before he's done. I may well add some cabling into him as well...

Now I need to work out how the hell to position his three arms; currently I'm thinking of having him brandishing a scythe (as a close combat weapon) over his head in his right and upper left arms, and a plasma pistol in his lower left one. I can't remember seeing a conjoined Siamese twin Chaos Marine before, so I'm hoping I at least get points for originality. Or possibly stupidity

More when I have it ready to show you.

**[MaGiC]** · 1st Jan 08 5:17 PM

looks sweet man.. I'm seriously reconsidering my chaos army

I mean you can do all kinds of stuff to a nurgle mini

Escushion · 1st Jan 08 6:02 PM

If I get into W40k modeling after Warhammer Fantasy, I think I'm gonna go Chaos.

Awesome and imaginitive work.

BloodySloth · 2nd Jan 08 1:32 AM

The siamese plague marine is badass. The rest of your conversion work is top notch, but the originality of the twins is especially fantastic. To spice up an otherwise too-broad-to-be-especially-exciting chest, I'd suggest a nurgly third arm coming out between the two of them on the stomach or through the breastplate.

**Sansa** · 2nd Jan 08 3:36 AM

Svart, your work is always impressive, and for a "beginner" as you claim, you do some really excellent work! I can't wait to see these guys painted up once you've completed putting them together! This work has made me consider joining the forces of chaos!

**Svartmetall** · 2nd Jan 08 4:37 AM

"I think you have given me the desire to start a nurgle army..."
"I'm seriously reconsidering my chaos army"
"I think I'm gonna go Chaos"
"This work has made me consider joining the forces of chaos!"

Mwa-ha-ha! My work here is done

.

**Brother Azeek** · 2nd Jan 08 6:26 AM

oh dear empy, i think the chaos call in ma ear

you seriously got me considering that chaos idea i had a week ago

anywho, love the gs work on your models, this is definanly an army you bring to GD and win if you give it top noch painting.

the sorc is awesome, the heads are the best,very distinctive

i <3 siemece-twins

you put alot of work into every model, more that alot of people do, you make sure that every patch of gs is up to standard, and you convery alot of work, i have yet to see any standard bits on this army, very well done

all in all i give you two thumbs up, keep up the good work!

-Brother Azeek

P.S. cant wait for the defiler

_'Ginger' Matt_ · 2nd Jan 08 6:28 AM

Mwa-ha-ha! My work here is done .

I hope not!

Anyway i'm actually LOVING your guy with lascannon, he looks so....whats the word.....awesome i guess. Also the sorcerer is good, but not your best work in my honest opinion he's a bit busy but that may all be rectified by the paint-job.

As for the crazy siamese mutant chosen guy, well, my god its horrible in a nurgly way, you my friend are completely insane! A model truly worthy of an honorable mention by Papa N himself.

I also like the way your chosen are coming along so far lightning claw guy looks really cool. was just wondering, is anything in the paint-job going to set them apart from your normal plaque marines or is it all in the conversion?

**Svartmetall** · 2nd Jan 08 6:38 AM

"To spice up an otherwise too-broad-to-be-especially-exciting chest, I'd suggest a nurgly third arm coming out between the two of them on the stomach or through the breastplate."

I know what you mean, but - purely IMO - adding something like an extra arm in the middle would be a bit too Possessed or even Spawn-looking for the look I'm after for him. I don't want to overdo it - he will after all have two left arms, which along with his two right legs and the head should be enough to hammer home the visual point of the model...if it's possible to have a subtle and understated Siamese twin Plague Marine, then that's what I'm aiming for

.
I'm building up the layers of GS flesh around the torso at the moment, using mainly a stretched-tissue texturing, and once all the GS work is done (including blending the two 'halves' of his torso together more smoothly) I'm thinking he should look pretty cool. I like the way there's a kind of visual fault line running down the middle of his torso, on the chest and the double head.

"...is anything in the paint-job going to set them apart from your normal plaque marines or is it all in the conversion?"

At the moment, the plan is that the lighter colouring that I've used on the standard bearer and the other two Chosen...

...and the overall higher level of Nurglification should be enough to distinguish the Chosen from the line troops + Havocs. I've ummed and ahhed about some kind of unit insignia, but those have never felt particularly Chaos to me...maybe a splash of colour on one shoulder pad or something, but I'm not convinced so far. I suspect what I'll end up doing is to see how they look once they're painted up and decide if they need anything extra then.

**Heretic** · 2nd Jan 08 8:08 AM

Wow, thats stunning.
Are you going to add more colours? Just green makes them look like algae marines.

Maybe a brown inkwash in some parts? Red lenses? Sick coloured tendrils?

**Svartmetall** · 2nd Jan 08 8:09 AM

Aye, they're not ink-washed or anything yet, that's just the base coat + drybrushing.

**Heretic** · 2nd Jan 08 8:14 AM

Excellant.

I wonder if you give green fingers a new name?
Top work there.

**SilverTabby** · 2nd Jan 08 2:52 PM

Dude, I always knew there was something wrong with you...

But honestly, you have a talent for this Green-Stuffing lark.

**Svartmetall** · 2nd Jan 08 3:07 PM

*blushes*

**Svartmetall** · 3rd Jan 08 12:11 PM

Quick update - here's the Chosen Champion with his head at last. I used this one off the Spawn sprue...

...removed all the Khornate bits, and stuck it on with a cut-to-shape plasticard 'stand' to get the head solidly mounted at the right angle. Then I added GS flesh all around the neck and worked it up to blend the head in, using the same stretched-tissue texture you can just about see on the inner edge of the shoulder pads. I chose this head because I thought the downward-angled horns on it worked as a nice contrast to the upwards-pointing spikes on his backpack.

I like the way it's almost but not quite medieval-looking...all he needs now is a GS Nurgle emblem inlaid into his shoulderpad (which I'll be adding tonight) then he'll be ready for painting

.

I've just had another idea for a rather odd Chosen conversion, though, so this guy's GS icon may get delayed a tad...

**Brother Azeek** · 3rd Jan 08 12:22 PM

delays on one to bring even more nurgly goodness? that doesnt sound like a delay to me =]

**Svartmetall** · 3rd Jan 08 12:26 PM

Hehe, good point. As the depression gradually clears, my brain seems to be going into creative overdrive, which is no bad thing but can be a little...distracting, at times. But I'll take my brain firing off in weird directions 24/7 over my brain not working at all, any day of the week

.

**Svartmetall** · 4th Jan 08 2:28 PM

And the idea that popped into my head last night was this - most if not all of my conversions to date have been making them bigger and scarier...so I figured it might be funny to make a Chosen that was smaller. So, since I'm a big believer in going with inspiration when it strikes, cue an hour or two of chopping bits off left, right and centre.

So...meet Stumpy. The Little Plague Marine That Could.

I think he's cute

**Brother Azeek** · 4th Jan 08 2:33 PM

lol more crazy nurgle goodness, want more want more!

**[MaGiC]** · 4th Jan 08 2:52 PM

that stumpy fella is seriously wack!

But I'm thinking if you do like a squad of these small ones they could be nurgle pygmees

**Xenith** · 4th Jan 08 3:27 PM

Reminds me of the 'tainted ones' from the mordheim carnival of chaos, a travelling troupe of nurglish performers:Carnival of Chaos

The tainted ones (second from the left, back row) were basically diseased bloated shells of corruption, although dinky looking.

**Yamacon** · 4th Jan 08 3:37 PM

nawww hes so cuties ^_^

i bet he will be the last man u take of the table-top :P

**Svartmetall** · 4th Jan 08 4:08 PM

"...bet he will be the last man you take off the table-top"

You know, I'm actually starting to think that myself

. He's got a bolter right now, but looking at him I'm sorely tempted to switch it for a melta so I have a reason to use him as something other than ablative armour. It'd even make sense fluff-wise - Stumpy gets the melta because he's so short that he's able to get in closer without being seen, so the melta's limited range isn't such a problem...

Let's see if I can manage to actually swap out his weapon before I get struck with inspiration for another Chosen conversion...

EDIT: made it! Stumpy is now the Chosen squad's melta-wielder

.

**Sir Clausel** · 5th Jan 08 4:27 PM

switch it for a melta

nah give the guy a BIG gun... that would look so cute:P haha. I can imagine him shooting a missillauncher and just fly back like in Men In Black

anyway your work is damn awsome! though some of all your nurglyness looks.. how do I put it? ... easy. I mean a lot of it is just GS with a damn lot of holes. Its does look good but maybe try make it more.. slimy?
I look forward for more! keep it up!

**Brother Azeek** · 6th Jan 08 8:36 AM

looking at it now he looks like the migget in pirates of the caribbean, and if you give him a big weapon, it will be like the scene from At worlds end where he fires the shotgun and flys back into the hole

**Svartmetall** · 6th Jan 08 11:31 AM

"I mean a lot of it is just GS with a damn lot of holes. It does look good but maybe try to make it more.. slimy?"

If you check my Nurgle tutorial, I've deliberately gone for this sort of tumorous look for my guys over a more standard boils-and-pustules look - there is method to my madness

.
I'm using several different specific GS textures over and above that tumorous one where needed, too - the 'coral' texture as seen on the leg-replacement guy and the Sorceror; the stretched-tissue texure as seen on Stumpy and the Chosen Champion; the scar-tissue texture as seen on the Typhus conversion, and the weird Quake-map-inspired one also on the Chosen Champion. I suspect my camera may not be good enough to make the differences evident, at least not prior to the painting stage...which is next...

**Svartmetall** · 12th Jan 08 6:07 PM

More Chosen, for your delectation and delight...

Here's Stumpy, painted up:

I blended his right shoulder pad into his Melta to echo the out-of-the-box Death Guard Champion arm...

...also I added some buried cabling into his lower right leg to suggest that it ran all the way through the leg to the exposed bit of cable by his foot. He is the cutest Plague Marine ever.

Leg-replacement guy...

...really like the blending of the model's own detail and my GS work on this one. The 'coral' texture has come out nicely.

And the Chosen Champion...

...now I'm sure the helmet works on this model. I'm also pleased with the way his green-stuffed shoulderpads look, and the GS detailing along his legs and the cabling to the power supply for his lightning claws.

And now back to working on the Siamese twin plague marine and my Terminator Champion...

Magas Corada · 12th Jan 08 9:20 PM

One word is all that is neede to explain this much work...

"Rediculous"

Even though it's absolutely beautiful work you got there man deffinately some badass minis

Death Guard WIP: Pandemic (updated Jan 21 - fully painted Obliterator unit)

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