Plague Marine Concept

[Fair Winds]

Hello all,

 

I'm working on incorporating Plague Marines into my Word Bearers, and want to do something a little different than the bloated disgusting look of nurgley things these days. The short version of my fluff is that these guys were destroyer squads that had a little accident when using their weapons, and suffered radiation exposure that killed half and turned the remaining half into irradiated warriors with higher resilience (+1 T and FNP) and the ability to unleash their radiation on others (Plague Knives), at the cost of their mental faculties and ability to speak (I3).

 

With that in mind, can you think of a good way to represent this in terms of modelling purposes? My initial thought it to do some sort of amalgamation between the glowing bad guys from Iron Man 3 and the glowing scars from Commander Shepherd in Mass Effect 2 if you do the full renegade option and don't fix your face. I'd also make bits of their armor look like it'd been melted by drops of corrosive acid or something. I'm not sure that this would be enough though to distinguish them from normal chaos marines. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

[minigun762]

Radioactive markings maybe?

Hoses in the helmet for a respirator look?

Model an exposed power core for the back pack?

[Fair Winds]

Oh I like the exposed power core idea, thanks!

[Warsmith Aznable]

I've always liked the other end of "living dead", where instead of bloated and disgusting perpetually rotting corpses I like to imagine that somewhere there are some Plague Marines that are basically dried out husks like mummies. Or maybe just pickled. But yeah, thin and whispy with papery complexions, missing eyes, and stringy, long hair, lips pulled back from the teeth, silent as the grave, long, yellowed nails that grip with unholy strength, that sort of thing.

[Pariah Mk.231]

See if you can find any heads that resemble ghouls from the Fallout series, flesh sloughing off, hair falling out in clumps, etc. One or two of them tossed in gives a break from everyone wearing hazmat gear, and shows the aftermath of their exposure to massive doses of radiation.

[Fair Winds]

Thanks guys, I looked at the ghouls as well. I think I want something less plaguey, but who knows, I might end up sucking at the whole lighting effect painting thing again and switch over to something more like the ghouls.

[Chaeron]

I'm with minigun - hazmat suits are the stuff!

[Ammonius]

For the folks who aren't wearing their hazmat gear (or any other helmets...)

 

Replace the heads with neon-green painted skull heads? Maybe throw in a lot of OSL?

 

or maybe something like this guy?

[Fair Winds]

See, I still want to maintain the Word Bearers color scheme and appearance, while achieving a counts-as plague marines look. Done well, I think it could look great. Done poorly, and it could look like the worst Christmas present ever.

[Verythrax Draconis]

The idea that occurred to me, it to make the major part of them helmet-less, with a green glowing coming from inside the armor and reflectiong in their faces. One or another could have a helmet and the same glow effect in the eyes. Some scars and cuts over the armor, with this glow leaking out would be cool as well.

[Ammonius]

Maybe make the irradiated parts the color of Cherenkov Radiation?

 

Or use glow in the dark acrylic paint? It would be whitish in daylight, but be green in the dark (when the Red is much less visible)?

 

Whatever you decide, don't give up. Having an awesome and unique army is something that no rules can take away from us.

[Fair Winds]

Thanks for the ideas and encouragement! I will be sure to post some pictures once I have a test model up. For now, here's the draft fluff for my counts-as Plague Marines. They are a small faction within the Ashrakhan chapter of the Word Bearers, which is led by Lord Rhas Zhoqar.

 

The Silent Contagion

The Ashrakhan had held a small number of their brothers in disdain even before they were known as the Silent Contagion. Before the heresy they formed the Ashrakhan’s Destroyer Company, led by Captain Khartaes, and were responsible for ensuring the total annihilation of worlds inhabited by vile xenos and humans who refused to submit to the Imperium. Despite the animosity the Destroyer Company endured, Khartaes’ men wielded their weapons with stoic professionalism and exacting efficiency. Their standing amongst the legion changed, of course, once the fires of betrayal spread throughout the traitor legions.

 

When the Word Bearers openly turned traitor Rhas Zhoqar unleashed the Destroyer Company upon Imperial worlds, where their terrible weapons could inflict the most devastating and inhumane deaths possible. Repeated deployment of these weapons resulted in increased exposure to the weapons’ after effects, causing many of the destroyers to begin displaying symptoms of radiation and chemical poisoning. Khartaes ordered all of his men to rotate through use of the weapons in hopes that this would prevent any one individual from lethal exposure to the toxins.

With little time to rest and refit between the campaigns, the destroyers eventually gave up any attempt to repair their equipment or maintain training drills. Eventually the unthinkable happened. When Rhas Zhoqar ordered the destroyer company to salt the earth on Warton, a small planet in the realm of Ultramar, one of Khartaes’ men experienced a grievous weapons malfunction, accidentally releasing the contagion upon himself and his fellow Word Bearers.

 

By some miracle, the weapon killed only half of Khartaes’ men. Those who survived however, would be forever changed. The yet-unnamed experimental virus changed the physical makeup of their bodies, forever melding their flesh and armor. Their forms were more resilient, and could withstand wounds that would kill even a normal astartes. They were able to spread their contagion at will, ensuring their enemies would suffer a fragment of the torment that they and their brethren had suffered. Their minds, though, were slower, shortening their attention span and lengthening their reaction time. Worst of all, due to the inhalation of the virus, each brother’s esophagus was destroyed, preventing all verbal communication.

 

The degeneration only worsened over time. Any attempts at introducing mechanical augmentations failed as each of their bodies rejected the bionic modifications. In a desperate attempt to save his warriors, Rhas Zhoqar ordered the chapter apothecaries to outfit Khartaes and his men with devices that would constantly inject low doses of radiation into their bodies. By luck, the will of the dark gods, or some combination of the two, the experiments were successful. In time, Khaertas’ company would be known as the Silent Contagion. They pledged their lives to Rhas Zhoqar, promising to serve his will and to spread their misfortune to others.

[Beachymike123]

Maybe make the irradiated parts the color of Cherenkov Radiation?

 

Or use glow in the dark acrylic paint? It would be whitish in daylight, but be green in the dark (when the Red is much less visible)?

 

Whatever you decide, don't give up. Having an awesome and unique army is something that no rules can take away from us.

words like this is why the Warp will forever hold my soul. screw the rules, chaos modelling is the best reason for having a chaos army IMHO. 

 

back on topic. the idea and concept are pretty good so far man, i like what i've read. good luck with whatever route you choose to go. hope to see a test mini soon? 

 

edit: typo

[Fair Winds]

I was thinking about using something like these: http://www.thewarstore.com/product73829.html

 

Basically I'd add a third wire going from the top of the tube part to the helmet. Then I'd try and make little cracks and bullet holes in the armor for areas where I can paint the radiation shining through. Has anyone used those backpacks before, or is there a cheaper version out there?

[Fair Winds]

Here are some WIP photos of the first five test models. They're not quite done yet, but it gives an impression of what I'm going for I think.

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QzrH_W2iyLc/Ujul7qh279I/AAAAAAAAAIM/N3SJg-PqTq0/s1600/photo+3.JPG

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-waFlN8CWKZg/Ujul7tCPArI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/w49xkjxTgs4/s1600/photo+4.JPG

[daboarder]

Well I like em!

[Wolf Guard Dan]

This is awesome.  I love the background.  

 

The only change I would make is to have the radiation destroy the larynx (houses the vocal cords) as that is more likely to make you mute than ruining the esophagus.  Or if you want to get really anatomical... It destroys their nerves that innervate the larynx.  Nerve damage could also play a role in their slow reaction time (I3).

 

Okay who knew that Warhammer would help me study for anatomy class?

 

Keep it simple. Kill the larynx.  Nerve stuff may get too complicated.

[Fair Winds]

Thanks guys, and thanks for the great idea Wolf Guard Dan. I will definitely edit it to be the larynx.

 

I think the plasma gunner is my favorite so far. Looking back at the pictures, I wish I had taken one at a more elevated angle. Gives you a better view of the cables.