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

[Svartmetall]

"this is giving me heretical ideas"

posting from work
Bwa-ha-ha! Another soul claimed for the Lord Of Decay

"Just a crazy idea, how about you make an infected weapon..."

If you look back through this thread, somewhere in the first few pages I mention how I'm not a big fan of over-Nurgled weapons because I like even my Plague Marines to look as though they're a credible fighting unit; while aesthetically infected weapons like you suggest are definitely fun, they don't however fit in so well with the particular feel I'm going for with this army's hardware. I'll put patches of rust on them, and even little bits of Nurgly goo on larger weapons, but not much more than that...

[Tinweasel]

I just got a box of SM Veterans as a gift from a very generous soul, and I'll give credit in that I thought up a way to do twin lightning claws on one of 'em - looking back through the thread, it's essentially along the lines of what you did for your Terminator Lord. Consider the idea "borrowed," as it were.


Your work continues to look great, although I'm not really sold on the "stretchy tendon-y" webbing look as much as I am on the regular guys. I think it's maybe that you have it extending too far down so it looks less like slime/snot/viscous fluid strings and more like, um, a flying squirrel's skin flaps or something. I'd say run with the "streamers of snot" look - that's pure Nurgle win right there! (Not really a criticism, just so you know, because the guy looks great - I just think that sort of thing might paint up better if you approached it a little differently is all.)

[Svartmetall]

"although I'm not really sold on the "stretchy tendon-y" webbing look as much as I am on the regular guys. I think it's maybe that you have it extending too far down..."

posting from work
What you see on him there is just a base texture, I'll be adding a different texture on top of that, quite possibly the same one I used on the finished one; all the Terminators will have this layered + contrasting GS texture approach on them. On that particular model I used the lateral stretched texture as his base GS texturing to emphasise his bulk and width...there is method to my madness .

"Consider the idea "borrowed," as it were"

Royalty payments can be deposited in my account in the Cayman Islands

[Svartmetall]

Here's the fat bloke with his twin bolter attached...

...definitely starting to look bloated and threatening now

[Xenith]

^^ Made of win.

[[MaGiC]]

so I'm guessing you're on a stand by with the painting?

[Tinweasel]

...definitely starting to look bloated and threatening now

And yet his gun is mysteriously unmolested by the corrupting power that is Nurgle - still a WIP?

(I'm thinking joining the bodies of the two bolters with strands of goo, or a decaying animal/skull chained to the front or something. The bolter's just fine, but it looks "empty" when compared to the rest.)

[Svartmetall]

"still a WIP?"

posting from work
Yep, I'd only just stuck the arm on when I took that shot; I wanted to see how it looked in situ before deciding on the final look the weapon needed - I've added a little goop in between the bodies of the bolters. However, when I get home tonight my main priority is going to be finishing off the Terminator Champion, 'cos he's almost done...hopefully I'll be able to post pics of him in his constructionally-completed state later on

[Svartmetall]

Finished him last night after work but I fell asleep before I could get pics taken......here's the finished Terminator Champion. He's been a lot of work, but I think the final result was worth it.

And two close-ups so you can see the detail of the coral-texture GS that's all over him...


...really pleased with how this guy's turned out.

[Xenith]

Thats looking good.

My only concern is that youre taking away from the outline of the termie armours shape, something that has always defined 40k for me.

Im thinking of the bits around the shoulderpads - theyre now kinda, morphed into, the main body.

Actually, its kinda growing on me. kinda. Id still like to see the shoulderpad rims being more pronounced than they are, atm, the 'coral' is at the same level as the rim - the pads still stick up a bit on the first 'fat' termie that you did on the last page, I think thats why I liked it so much, horribly mutated, but you could still make out the outline of the termie armour.

Just my thoughts, dont take them to heart, it it your army after all, youre going for a specific style, and it looks good!

It still looks like a beast, and I cant wait to see these guys painted, but thats my personal preference.

[Svartmetall]

I know what you mean about the armour; the Champion is the only one that I'm covering in so much coral like this, the normal line Terminators will be on a par with the one I've already posted.

[Svartmetall]

Ooookay...I finally got around to daubing some paint on one of the Terminators, and I'd like to pick people's brains. First off, the model primed:

No major need to include that, I just think for some reason models look cool when they're all black like this .
Now, the model drybrushed on just the Nurgly-bit areas:

This is using the same Catachan Green basecoat with successive drybrushed layers of Knarloc Green/Camo Green/Rotting Flesh as I used on the normal Plague Marines and Havocs. I like this mix as a general colour scheme for servants of the Lord Of Decay.
And now, with what I'd intended to be the way to go with the Terminators, painting the Tactical Dreadnought plate in a colour reminiscent of the original Death Guard colour (in this case, a 50/50 mix of Rotting Flesh and Bleached Bone):

Now...having thought for ages that this was going to be the way for me to go with the Terminators...looking at it, I'm not at all convinced that this works; I think it looks too clean-lined and ordered to work for 10,000-year-old servants of Nurgle. Plus I'm not wild about the contrast between the light colours on the plate and the darker Nurgly bits. Okay, there's no ink washing yet and I only did one coat of the paint colour so it doesn't have the opacity and evenness I was thinking of, but even allowing for that I began to have doubts straight away once I saw it on the model.

I'm actually starting to think that the drybrushed look works better with the green stuff detail on the model and how it blends with its original detail, and that maybe I'd be better off doing the Terminators more like the Chosen and the line troops - with drybrushing as the primary application over the whole model, with maybe a very subtle highlighting of the plate surfaces to emphasise the Terminator armour a bit. You'd still be able to clearly see the Terminator armour's outlines, which has been one of my priorities with these guys, but that way I think it would both work better as a model in itself and also blend a lot better with the rest of the army.

EDIT: I'm thinking a four-stage drybrushing of Knarloc Green/Camo Green/Rotting Flesh/Bleached Bone over the whole model may be the way to go, combining the Plague Marine/Havoc and Chosen colour schemes...and then a very subtle drybrush highlight of the surfaces of the armour plate with Bleached Bone just to bring it out a little...plus, obviously, the later highlighting and detail work on weapons/loincloths/skin/eyes etc...


What do other people think? As always, all opinions and constructive criticism are welcomed .

[dlcndgh234]

Ive read through the WHOLE THREAD just to see more of your works, and damn im amazed at your work...I wish i could have your modeling and painting skills...You truly are a great artist...I think i hear Father Nurgle whispering into my ears to submit to his will...Looking at your army, im ready to submit >_> Keep up the good work. The only thing i dont like about this thread is that now that ive read through the whole thing, ill need to wait for updates Also, im guessing your out of your depression now? I hope you are because you are too much of a talented artist to be depressed. Kudos Svart...

[Svartmetall]

Erm, thanks for the compliments (though looking at the Terminator above I'm feeling as though few if any compliments are justified right now).... Yes, I've pretty much kicked the arse of depression. Illness-wise, it's about the worst thing I've ever had, and I'm well pleased to be largely rid of it; I'm back in work full-time now and my brain appears to be on a bit of a creative roll, the occasional misfire notwithstanding .

[dlcndgh234]

i havent even started an army yet, just put up a list a day ago lol. The above termies are amazing to my eyes right now, mainly because of what ive just stated, and 2nd because i havent seen any other PM army that has undergone so much green stuff conversions, along with really nice ways of recycling other materials(Im a guitarist myself, so i was quite surprised to see that broken strings could be use in my newly coming along hobby :P)

[Svartmetall]

Quick update - here's the 'fat boy' Terminator from before, finally with finished GS work. I like the little clumps of ganglia in the recesses of his torso...

...now looking satisfyingly Nurgly, bloated and tumorous; not too bad for a Terminator I made on the spur of the moment from spare bits that were lying around, especially since he's now my entry for Averk's painting competiton

[Tinweasel]

@ Svartmetall - I'm really digging the way the 'Fat Boy' Terminator turned out - the "ganglia" clinched the appearance of the webbing in a very good way. Bravo!

So far as your color scheme using the Bleached Bone/Rotting Flesh in addition to the rest of your Nurgle color progression, I'd imagine that if you beefed up the contrast a bit with controlled washes/glazing in the depressions, it'd look something along the lines of this guy (minus the pink tinge to the clothing, of course - you've got to subtract that aspect):

I used what sounds like a similar color progression for the Goblin's skin, and the pale greenish armor alongside that might look something like the Goblin's upper clothing (again, if you take away the pinkish tint - the remaining colors are dark green and pale beige mixed). Not necessarily a bad look if you paint it cleanly, and then you have the fun of making it all disgusting and dirty.

I find it's a lot easier to get a realistic Nurgle/corruption feel if you paint it straight up first with highlights and shading and the works, and then you add the weathering and decay.

[Master222]

Agree with Tin the armor contrasts a little too much with the mutation. However after some nice shading (maybe battle damage too) it will be a nive addition to the colour sheeme.


Oh and one more thing - you sir are a nurgle, convertor-god nice work on all the termies.

[Zombie Phlegm]

Erm, thanks for the compliments (though looking at the Terminator above I'm feeling as though few if any compliments are justified right now).... Yes, I've pretty much kicked the arse of depression. Illness-wise, it's about the worst thing I've ever had, and I'm well pleased to be largely rid of it; I'm back in work full-time now and my brain appears to be on a bit of a creative roll, the occasional misfire notwithstanding .

this is nothing to with painting but CONGRATULATIONS um.... depression is one of the hardest things to get out of! elephants for Svart!!.....

[Svartmetall]

"...the "ganglia" clinched the appearance of the webbing in a very good way..."

Told ya

[Sir Plasma]

I think there's too much contrast in the colour scheme. A wash in watered-down Catachan Green, Chestnut Ink or Jade Green (pick this one!) shuld help unify the armour and rottery.

The ganglia are pro. I love you.

[Svartmetall]

Thanks for the advice/comments. Currently I'm deciding between two possible approaches:

1) Basecoat of Catachan Green, then paint uncorrupted armour surfaces in 50/50 mix of Bleached Bone/ Rotting Flesh, then drybrush successive layers of Knarloc Green/Camo Green/Rotting Flesh all over with a very light final highlight of Bleached Bone all over.

2) Same as above but skipping the 50/50 Bleached Bone/Rotting Flesh armour colouring after the basecoat, and a slightly more pronounced Bleached Bone final drybrush layer.

Either way, then I would do the inkwashing and highlighting etc. I gave the light armour areas in the painted one you see above a light wash of Catachan Green later last night to bring them down to better match the rest of the model, but I'm still not convinced; I'm kind of veering towards #2 of the proposed methods above. I can't realistically see any of the original Death Guard off-white colouration surviving 10,000 years of the Nurgilification of its wearer, anyway...

[Xenith]

I think if you drybrushed the whole model the green that you have worked up to, then blend the armout plates into the whiter/bone colour that you want for the armour, that may work, and show the armour slowly being corrupted. I just think that the lines between armour and nurgliness are too sharp, with the paint scheme, and thats not what youve been going for.

Alternatively, heavy ink washes of brown and green may serve to darken the armour, and pool where it meets the 'coral' making a slight transition, blending the two somewhat.

[Svartmetall]

"...then blend the armour plates into the whiter/bone colour that you want for the armour, that may work..."

Good plan...I've got another Terminator primed and basecoated, I'll try that later tonight. Pictures possibly to follow...though I have 'Serenity' to watch first

[Svartmetall]

Heh - didn't manage to get the Terminator painted, because I got sidetracked by a random Chosen...having a made a fat Terminator, I thought it might be fun to make a fat Chosen, and this is how far I got last night...

...he's very much inspired by the picture on the Plague Marines page of the new CSM codex

[[MaGiC]]

nice.. only thing is his stomach looks like a sack

[Svartmetall]

posting from work
It's meant to ...a flaccid sack of corpulent flesh, filled with fermenting entrails...

[Xenith]

Like it, Ill look forward to what you do to the face!

What I also like, is the tongue termie in the background in the middle pic, youve done a bang up job on those guys!

[Svartmetall]

"...the tongue termie in the background..."


posting from work
Most of my models have nicknames like Siamese Twin Guy, Heavy Flamer Guy, Typhus Conversion Guy, etc etc.

That Terminator's called Gene Simmons

[Svartmetall]

Made a bit more progress today - now you can hopefully see the resemblance (he's meant to be more of an homage than a direct copy)...

Tonight after work I get to do the really fun part, namely the gore and tendony bits hanging off the head
This guy's mainly just a bit of light relief in the middle of grinding through all those Terminators, though...work is slowly continuing apace on those, too...I think I've gotten through two complete packs of green stuff already

[Susurrus]

Dont like the head in the hand.. Seems like it needs GS...

[Svartmetall]

I went with that head because I like its expression...he's got that whole "I got decapitated by a Plague Marine and then my head was used as a Blight Grenade and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" kind of expression*...



* I may have thought about this a bit too much

[SilverTabby]

* I may have thought about this a bit too much

No comment Good going though.

[Xenith]

Yup, I would suggest making a 'bung' out of GS, and sealing the mouth, if youre feeling up to it, make some stitches maybe? Stitch up the eyes and mouth, and seal the neck for that realistic blight grenade...

[Skullcap]

Svartmetall I am overwhelmed of how beautiful you make nurgle's followers into representing it so close to codex imagery and the general FEEL of nurgle. As noted in the Deathguard forgeworld thread, I'm embarking on a nurgle project of my own come april and I have to say you have inspired me to certainly give it my all in the project.

What I love about how you have done your models is, you have taken nurgle to how nurgle should be, rotten, disgusting and bloating plague spreaders, also you have kept true to what the Deathguard became and what little fluff there is about the Deathguard after they turn.

I would implore you to consider making your interpetation of mortarion in his nurgle form after he accepted nurgle in the warp, you seem to have a beautiful knack to really bring the nurgle out in a model.

I apologise if I haven't noticed you mention or seen a picture, but are you considering doing a nurgle dreadnought which looks pre-heresy/heresy deathguard, similar to that of the ones available from forgeworld? I know you will do one justice with all the rest you have done with the rest of your army.

[Xenith]

I believe, Svart, you teased us with a FW nurgle dread body with Daemon prince legs a while ago? Was that yours, or just for information?

[Svartmetall]

I put those together just for that picture to show KingOfFools the scale of the Daemon Prince legs next to a Dread body, since he'd been asking for leg suggestions for a Dreadnought; I got the Daemon Prince model with the intention of making a huge Nurgle Obliterator ...that's still on the cards, but at the moment I'm still grinding my way through GSing up all 10 Terminators (pics soon). I got the FW Death Guard dread ages ago, even before the depression kicked in...still working out exactly how I want to do it, though. I may actually de-Nurglify it a bit; as beautifully as it's done, in places I think the FW ornamentation is a little overpowering. I also have one of the normal plastic Dreadnoughts that I'm going to use, not 100% sure how I'm going to use that though; so far I've been thinking along the lines of a Loyalist Dread that succumbed to battle psychosis after many millennia of slaughter and fell to Chaos...

[SocietySoldier]

you should make it a ven dread that succumbed to nurgle
so that you can make the once pompous and grandeur form of the sm dreadnaught into a nurgly abomination
you should also do some regular sm's and what not who succumbed to

[Skullcap]

I'll throws some ideas at you for one of the loyalist dread turned to chaos Svart.

In concept, dependent on how you want to do it you first want to decide just how long the dread has been in the service if chaos, be it very recently or say 50-100years this gives starting point on what you want to do. In most cases aswell it won't have the old school look to it like a pre heresy dread with it just turning unless by some chance the dread is from a space marine chapter who has been around since the founding, thats entire up to you to to decide.

Ideas on looks for a just turned or couple of years service loyalist dread could be altering the body in different ways. Lets take the bit where the half dead space marine is in. If anything nurgle's gifts and rot will probably start from there with it still having some forms of organic matter left there. Based on that knowledge you could have a gaping hole in the heraldy plate showing the remains inside or the hole with tentacles slivering there way out. Another option is having the entire heraldly plate with the eye slit broken up/forced off the hingers with bloating of the armour and stuff growing out.

With it just being turned its entire armour isn't going to be so nurgled yet like the forgeworld dread. The best option I see there is is riddling the armour with bullet wholes and battle damage and if your adept at painting rust, maybe have it look like rust or liquid is staining down from edges on the armour. The other options is you could have random horns sprouting out of the armour which is a dominating theme for nurgle. Don't have to go overboard but say the shoulders of a loyalist dread, cut a 3mm hole in, cut some jagged lines from the hole outwards for another 3-4mms and lever it up so it looks like the armour is bulged in shape and place a horn in, gives the look that a horn has forced its way through the armour plating.

If you have the new chaos codex, which I'm assuming you do. On page 87 in the wargear section there is a sketch of a renegade astrates dreadnought. If you look at the exshaust stacks on the picture you could do something like that to the loyalist dread OR which I think would be a unique idea to do the funnels on the back of typhus's armour for funnels on the loyalist dread.

You really do have loads of options to run with, I think Nurgle really does give you a great means of doing what you like and making it as ugly and as nasty as possibly for it to still be accepted, since no matter what it looks like, as long as it spreads disease and death grandfather nurgle shall accept it into his rot infested loving hands.

[Galorn2]

One Idea a friend of mine was considering for a 40k Kill team zombie campaign was to have a nurglesque zombie fighting its was out of the sarcophagus. so add the aforementioned bullet holes/blast damage to the loyal dread and a Nurgle zombie crawling out.

[Svartmetall]

posting from work
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. What I've been thinking of for this was a Blood Angels Dreadnought (as possibly most likely to succumb to battle psychosis in the first place), looking crudely repainted to show its new alliegance - red overall, still, with much rust and damage, but the right 'shoulder' of the model painted black as though someone's thrown a huge bucket of black paint over it and a red Chaos star daubed over this black bit. I want it to look crude and almost home-made, almost a punk-DIY Chaos scheme, since he's blood-crazed and therefore more concerned with killing than aesthetics. Fluff-wise, he's only been with Pandemic a short while - he went nuts in the 13th Black Crusade and they were the first Chaos units he ran into, so he joined them. In time, if he survives long enough, he'll start to turn Nurgly; but for now he's got this basic "O HAI GUYZ, I JUST JOINED CHAOS, LOLZ"* paint scheme going on. If you get what I mean. He might have some spikes and stuff added, as well.

Since I already have the FW Dreadnought, it seemed a bit redundant to have two physically-Nurgly Dreadnoughts; also doing it this way gave the chance to have some more variety fluff-wise. Of course, there's always the chance that I'll go nuts and Nurglify it to hell and back (I know I'd have a lot of fun corrupting the crap out of a plastic Dreadnought model), but for now I kind of like the anachronistic look of having a red Dreadnought in the middle of all the green and brown goop...maybe I'll get another plastic Dreadnought and Nurglify that



*this Dread is not going to be an intellectual giant

[AshaD]

Whilst your idea sounds fantastic, i'm not sure nurgle and blood angels are a great fit. The BA's are more likely to turn to khorne than anything I'd imagine.

[SocietySoldier]

yea BA to nurgle doesnt seem to be a good fit IMO either
i know of one short story where an ultramarine turns to nurgle so maybe try one of the codex chapters
maybe salamanders or imperial fists or something

[Svartmetall]

posting from work
Hmm...is there a Loyalist chapter who'd have a lot of bare metal in their Dreadnought colours? I'm trying to think of a scheme that'll jar a bit to obviously show that this is a model that's changed sides, hence my thinking Blood Angels. Googling and Wiki-ing colour schemes now, it's very quiet in work tonight

EDIT: Hmm...the Iron Snakes would fit in terms of colour scheme; and fluff-wise, they were active in the Thirteenth Crusade as were Pandemic...and my 'punk Chaos' scheme would work nicely on a primarily-metal Dreadnought. We may have a winner

[SilverTabby]

*Gets out How to Paint Space Marines*

Almost pure Iron/metal Chapters:
Tigers Argent (bright silver), Storm Warriors (Mid silver metal with yellow banding), Storm Wings (beige-tinted silver metal with red markings), Iron Knights (mid-dark silver with black head and shoulders), Iron Snakes (mid silver with white/red shoulders), Knights of the Raven (light silver), Silver Skulls (dark silver with light silver head and black shoulders), Doom Eagles (mid silver). And that's just the listed silver ones...

[Avatar 720]

You could make up some fluff on how they found a pre-heresy dreadnought (if they weren't invented then call it a prototype of the modern ones) locked up somewhere and untouched for centuries, they brought it into the way of nurgle and powered it using the same concept as a defiler, except that the daemon held inside is held there by some sort of psycho-nurgle something or other (like the nurgle version of wraithbone).

Just an idea =D

[SocietySoldier]

id say doom eagles
with the backs and silvers and reds
they kinda have that close combat charge!!! feel

[Svartmetall]

Now I've got home and had a chance to check that book SilverTabby mentioned...I'm going to go for the Iron Knights. They've got an almost Black Templar look to their iconography, which will make corrupting it to Chaos all the sweeter...and any chapter whose name is an amalgam of two killer Black Sabbath songs ('Iron Man'/'Neon Knights') just inherently appeals to me

[Svartmetall]

*wipes sweat from brow*
Here are 5 more Terminators, all GS work finished and ready for priming...
Club:

Gene (it's the tongue...):

Monocle:

Angry:

...and Blind:


...I added the rear shot of Blind because I like how the GS came out on his back, I've done them all to the same standard but him I'm particularly pleased with...also note the way the right side of his face is so putrid that it's melting off and running down his armour . These guys have been a LOT of work, but worth it now as I look at them.

And here's the final pre-paint shots of Ganglia, my entry for the painting competition...I added more GS bits all over to get him balanced and consistent-looking, front and back, and now I'm happy with him.



And now, a well-earned break from green stuff for a day or two...

[Telliphas]

Holy s**t Svart your GS skills never fail to amaze me, i wish i had your talent with the GS. I'd love to see these guys all painted up. I wonder what your version of an Obliterator would look like, seeing as these guys are already bulky compared to the normal terminators.