Khorne's Eternal Hunt - KrautScientist's chaotic WIP thread 2024: Suddenly, Death Guard...

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Man that model is gribbly - not much marine left in that one.  Looks really nice.

[KrautScientist]

Haha, yeah, he's basically cast off most of his armour at this point...

 

The fun thing is that this model (originally from the Glottkin kit, btw) was a pickup from a bitz exchange or an ebay lot (the details escape me at the moment), and he felt like a great match for an older - pre new Death Guard - conversion project of mine that used the AoS Putrid Blightkings (old photo):

 

 

All of these look very bloated and more fantasy than 40k, obviously, so my common visual idea for them was to make them look as though they had all grown so bloated over the millennia that most of their armour had been cast off or distended beyond recognisability -- but I wanted to feature hints of Astartes armour here and there, to hint at their origins as Death Guard Marines. So the new guy should make for a pretty cool addition to this squad, maybe even as its leader. As it happens, I have only painted one of these so far (again, old photo):

 

 

 

 

So that's basically the look you can expect from these bloated models, at some point in the inteterminate future

[grailkeeper]

I think actual pauldrons might sell the 40k silhouette more. Maybe a little greenstuff could make the flatter blightlord pauldrons look like something that was once on a marine. 

 

I looked up rotting food expanding out of tins and containers. Lots of bright colours that might help for inspiration, if you can stand to look at it. 

[KrautScientist]

Haha, yeah, great idea for painting inspiration @grailkeeper 

 

Unfortunately, though, actual Astartes pauldrons won't be an option on this guy: His scale and proportions are so wildly out of scale with even the - comparatively huge - Plague Marines, that putting different pauldrons on him would be way too much hassle. That being said, I am still thinking about adding a few more cracked piece of armour, broken cabling -- stuff like that. In any case, he and his brethren will always look decidedly different from "standard" Plague Marines, but that is kind of their thing, seeing how the squad was originally assembled long before the new 40k Nurgle plastics were released.

 

Speaking of "standard" Plague Marines, though: I'll have some of those in an upcoming update, once I have taken photos.

[Firedrake Cordova]

The painted marine looks great - the weathering and texture on the tanks is perfect

[KrautScientist]

Cheers, man! Yeah, I wanted to include a bit of an industrial angle, if that makes sense? I had been experimenting with orange as a spot colour on my first Poxwalkers as well: orange overalls, for example. I think it makes for a great addition to the normal Nurgle greens

 

So anyway, I promised you a longer update, and you shall have it:

 

First up, here are some more photos of the bloated guy I forgot to post:

 

 

 

As you can see in the second picture, I've added the shroud/insect wing bit from the Malignant Plague Caster, and I think it makes for a cool little addition.

 

And here's how the model looks with its - prospective - squadmates:

 

 

As I've said, the idea with these is that they should almost read like an entity unto themselves: These huge, bloated Leviathans, many times removed from the Astartes they once were.

 

I've also some more Plague Marines to share with you, some of them old (yet tweaked), some of them new conversions: The thing is that I bought the Plague Marine kit years ago, then kept dryfitting and assembling these and taking them apart again -- in that sense, I've gotten A TON of bang for my buck. But I am finally at the point where I am pretty happy with the models. Here's a look at the squad I have:

 

 

The overarching theme with them was to get them really close to the "classic" Jes Goodwin Death Guard concepts: Bloated, faceless and heavily armoured figures with an almost WWI-Trencher like brutality to them. That's why I used all of the spiked "Pickelhaube" helmets for the models, with a heavy focus on the classic 90s Death Guard template. I also dialed back the excess of the models in many bigger and smaller ways: The Plague Marines parts are so covered in gribbly detail that it gets a bit much at times. As I've done with my starter box Plague Marines before, I carefully shaved off a tentacle here or a horn there, or chose the less flashy parts for a more grounded, if still clearly Nurglite, look.

 

 

First up, the champion and icon bearer. The icon bearer is new, as you know. The champion is an older conversion, and was assembled to closely resemble an actual Jes Goodwin sketch from the early 90s. My favourite part of the model is the area where I removed lots of tiny tentacles and replaced them with a cluster of ribbed pipes and cables -- that makes the model far less goofy and brings it closer to the dilapidated horror of the Death Guard for me! It's also a perfect match for the champions warped facemask.

 

 

The Plague Spewer guy on the left is an older conversion, based on one of the - rather dodgy - snapfit Plague Marines. I've recently replaced his head, though. The guy on the right was assembled using stock parts, but really channels the trench warfare look I mentioned above. He even has a raggedy half-cape, which I love.

 

 

Two more stock models. My proudest achievement on these is how the Plague Belcher and bloated breastplate shouldn't quite fit together, but I managed to pull it off. That means the chest piece's high gorget can work together really beautifully with the blunt Mk. II-ish helm. I am often to reluctant Astartes wielding two-handed distance weapons, rather going for a CC weapon and sidearm (probably my World Eaters heritage), but for once, I have created a model that I really like! Regarding the guy on the right, I was debating with myself whether or not to turn his flail into an axe, but the flail seems so quintessentially Nurglite that I wanted it to stay. The only problem is that I didn't use the body "intended" for these arms (more recent GW multipart kits can be pretty weird that way), so I'll have to figure out the base (extend it a bit or use a bigger one). But I really like the overall look of the model!

 

Now the final model took ages to come together -- mostly because, quite frankly, most of the coolest parts had already been used up, and the legs I had left had a slightly pidgeon-toed look. But in the end, I found a cool angle, I believe: The final model for today works REALLY well as a re-imagination of the ancient easy-to-build plastic Plague Marines from the early 90s! Take a look:

 

 

Quite a cool little history lesson, right? Also, look at that scale creep...

 

So anyway, that's it for today. As always, let me know what you think!

[Firedrake Cordova]

They do look great - I'm sure once there's a coat of paint on them, they'll be indistinguishable from the "stock" models in terms of being able to work out if they're a conversion or not.

 

And yes, that's quite a surprising amount of scale creep!  

[Volgon]

Everything is look fantastic! I like the Glottkin conversion a lot. Personally I think you sell him enough as a Marine without putting on shoulder pads, but if you wanted to try, perhaps Terminator or Eightbound pads would be big enough? Or instead of putting one straight on you could try cutting one in half and layer it on the shoulder similar to how you did with the chest part, like it's broken apart from his bloated size. Either way it looks sicks (in a good way).

[grailkeeper]

I like it. I think this guy might benefit from a more "40k" helmet. He still looks very fantasy to me.

 

 

This website has some cool ww1 camo designs. Most of which you have probably seen already. This one here I hadn't seen before

it's simple hessian cloth over a helmet, but reads very nurgly to me. Maybe you could acheive it by putting some liquid greenstuff over plastic. 

Edited August 16 by grailkeeper

[KrautScientist]

Cheers for the feedback, guys!

 

@grailkeeper To be perfectly honest, that helmet was chosen precisely for its medieval look! That being said, the photo I posted doesn't really show off an important part of the whole assembly, which is the fact that there's quite a bit of cabling wiring the side of the helmet and the model's breathing apparatus together. It's visible here:

 

 

So there IS a modern touch after all, eh? However, that site you mentioned sounds promising as a resource of inspiration. Do you have a link for me (or did I miss it)?

 

Okay, a small update for today: One, I totally forgot one model in my latest update: Back when the snapfit Plague Marines were released, I converted one of them:

 

 

The clever thing about this conversion - back then!! - was the spliced-together Blight Launcher (not freely available before the release of the multipart Plague Marines). But I didn't have any proper Death Guard bitz, so I used an Iron Warriors helmet on the poor chap. A cool bit, but it never sat quite right with me.

 

So with my recent Plague Marine shenanigans, I thought I might as well spruce up the model a bit:

 

 

I'd say the "official" Plague Marine head is a much better fit for the model! And while I was at it, I also replaced the Plague Knife (the original one was held at this weird, rigid angle).

 

Oh, and I have actually started painting again! Before you get too excited, though, I've only worked on a lowly Poxwalker so far:

 

 

The poor guy isn't even finished yet, on account of both my yellow and Blood for the Blood God being too gummed up to be of any use. But hey, it's the most painting I have done in...a while. And it's better than nothing, right? Washes on the second model are drying while I am typing this.

 

 

 

 

[grailkeeper]

Sorry, here is the link 

 

https://alexanderandsonsrestorations.com/german-wwi-helmet-camouflage/

 

Some rusted ones there too which might be handy. 

 

I still think it looks very fantasy. Its mostly very visible fantasy bits. Maybe a loyalist helmet on a spike somewhere might change it or a more 40k sword But hey I'm just some guy on the internet and I'll never see it in person so my opinion isnt that important.- It's your dude!

 

Really like the Iron Warrior helmet on the other guy. Thats slick. 

 

I've seen some people online use coffee stirrers as duckboards on bases. Mud and wood would make for a really WW 1 base  with medieval undertones.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I love your tree like poxwalker - its nice to see the poxwalker "plant" growths taken to their logical extreme.

 

As for the helmet swap on the blightlauncher guy, I kind of prefer the first "iron warriors" helm you had on him - I think its better proportioned than the spiked nurgle helmet, which to me seems too big.

[KrautScientist]

Cheers for the feedback, guys!

@grailkeeper While I think a fantasy-ish look is fine for the character - if anything, Nurgle is about the softening of borders - I think something can be done to add just a bit of additional 40k rizz, so expect this guy to receive some tweaks before he ever sees the painting table.

The duckboard idea is something I've tried before, and I can safely say it works REALLY well! That said, I am looking for something a bit different for these guys: In keeping with the loose background I have for them (and for their associated chaos cult), I want them to somewhat garden-themed, so the interesting thing to figure out here is to create something that invokes a guarden, but something stall still feels somewhat alien and eerily beautiful -- the closest thing I could point to would be the "Sea of Corruption" from Nausicäa:

 

 

It'll be quite a job to get the look right...

 

@Dr_Ruminahui Yeah, the plant angle also ties into the garden theme I've mentioned above: I love the idea that these poxwalkers are all on a spectrum between still-almost-human, plantlike and outright Plaguebearers. It's a really promising, gooey continuum that I have had a lot of fun exploring so far. Well, that and I get to give my Poxwalkers all kinds of cool and vicious gardening implements.

 

As for the replacement head on the snapfit Marine. Sorry guys, I like the new one WAY better!

 

So, time for another small update: First up, I have - mostly painted - two Poxwalkers:

 

 

 

The one on the left is the chap you already know, whereas the new model is closer to the "almost human" end of the scale, as outlined above: My idea for these is that they started out as the staff of an agricultural laboratry, trying to genetically tweak plants so they would end up being far more fruitful, in an attempt to boost production on an Imperial agri-world. Then Grandfather Nurgle took an interest, and the whole thing went to -- but I like the idea that you can still see their origins on some of these models.

 

As with the first guy, the paintjob's not quite done yet, on account of the gummed-up paints I mentioned. But hey, it's the most painting I have done in a good long while, and you have to start something, right?

 

Here's a group picture showing the spectrum of mutation with these, as outlined above:

 

 

Oh, and there's something else:

 

When GW put out a Death Guard-branded line of models as part of their, somewhat Gacha-inspired, Space Marine Heroes line, I did take an interest, but the element of chance scared me off. But I recently found an ebay listing that had quite a few of those Death Guard models -- with one caveat: They were already built, painted and based. But I felt tempted, so I pulled the trigger on them, and they've arrived the other day:

 

(DISCLAIMER: Not my paintjob!)

 

These pose an interesting conundrum: My original plan was to just strip the paint off them right away. But they don't look half-bad in that picture, right? So maybe it would be better to just tweak the paintjobs?

 

The problem is that their previous owner has painted them to a standard that I would call "almost decent": Lots of washes, contrast paints, weathering powder and slime -- which is great. But it's all been caked on with such abandon that it's, frankly, a bit much:

 

 

With just a bit more restraint, these could have been quite stunning. But I keep going back and forth on whether or not I want to tweak their paintjobs or strip them altogether. There's also that idea with filling the bigger holes in their bases - originally intended for Nurglings - with these cat's eyes. A cool idea, but it does look a bit tacky...

 

Also, on a related note, if knows a source for Plague Marine heads that looks like this (or similar), please do let me know!

 

Edited Tuesday at 11:21 AM by Firedrake Cordova

[grailkeeper]

I quite like those guys. It's a nice paint job. Shame it doesn't match your style tho.

 

Have you considered blue moss for your garden look? 

 

 

You can get it in railway shops.  That garden has sort of thr same colour as blue mold which is the most common mold I've seen. You might also be able to tear up blue scrubbing pads ( or other colours if you aren't going for blue).

 

The 30k upgrade heads for death guard might do. They're pretty great.  Edit they appear to be sold out online. Rats.

 

One thought for a helmet I had was a smashed open one where you can see what's left of the Marine inside. I always like the world eater where you could see the glaring face through the damaged Sarum helmet. It might be cool to try with death guard, where a rotting skull is visible though the damage to the helmet. He'd look a bit like Darth Vaders in the new Star Wars.

 

itd be hard to pull off but if anyone can it's you.

Edited Monday at 06:48 PM by grailkeeper

[grailkeeper]

Actually light blue pipe cleaners might do to copy those cat tail like growths. 

 

 

They seem extremely cheap. I picked light blue because it looks most like that image you posted but they've a whole range of colours if you arent married to the blue part of the image. Same with the lichens and moss.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Nice work on the Poxwalkers  

 

Those e-Bay Plague Marines look quite good in the group shot, but the individual images reveals the issues you mention. I think because they don't really match your painting style, they'll probably end up in the IPA..?

[KrautScientist]

@grailkeeper Those are some VERY solid basing ideas! The moss, or something like it, was already on my radar, but those blue pipe cleaners seem like they could be made into something just like those Sea of Corruption plants! As for actual lichen, I have a - nature-friendly - source for that close by, it's just a question of how to conserve it/get rid of any biological processes. But yeah, this should be a fun project, once more models have been painted!

 

The new Heresy DG helmets are fantastic, but yeah: They are sold out, more often than not. I was lucky enough to at least get my hands on some sweet World Eaters helmets from the same release, but all of those new helmets seem to be notoriously hard to get. (I'd love to get my hands on some SoH ones too, at some point, as I love their blunt design). So I'll keep looking for some actual Death Guards helmets for now.

 

As for your other helmet idea, that's something that should be fun to try out at some point: Some of the existing Plague Marine helmets have holes in them that allow you to glimpse at the face underneath, but it only ever shows mutated monster faces. A rotting skull would be a nice contrast to that!

 

@Firedrake Cordova Yeah, those ebay Marines do look kinda cool from afar -- it's just that they've been painted with such "maximalism", for lack of a better word: LOTS of washes, LOTS of weathering powder, LOTS of texture buildup. Them not matching my painting style isn't even the main issue here, as a slightly different scheme can always be excused on one squad or a killteam -- it's more that the special effects get in the way of the actual sculpts so much. I'm currently feeling more inclined to strip them, but we'll see...

[grailkeeper]

Looking around the internet I found that someone made a Mortarion out of pipe cleaners.

 

 

 

 

I suppose you might also be able to make them into brushes for new kind of painting textures. They'd also likely absorb any washes that are on your marines so could be made to look very similar colour wise. 

[KrautScientist]

Oh god, that pipe cleaner Mortarion is both hilarious and completely awful...

[GuitaRasmus]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This guy is simply inspired. Great work.