DuskRaider's 40K Nurgle - An Experiment in Flesh and Machine

[DuskRaider]

Thanks bud, much appreciated! I've decided to channel my inner Ork and loot the arm off of my old INQ28 Big Mutie to do a mock up and see if that looks better on the Nurgle Minotaur. I'll post pics for opinions later.

[DuskRaider]

Alright guys, here's a quick mock up of the other bionic arm. Which do you prefer?

 

[Pearson73]

The minotaur's looking great, the blending of parts and textures lends him a serious sense of wrong; this whole beastial warband certainly comjures up feelings of unease and horror. Fab job.

 

Edit: Think I prefer the second arm.

Edited April 21, 2018 by Pearson73

[KrautScientist]

Ewww, that Plague Minotaur is...quite something! Excellent work so far!

 

I too prefer the second arm, although I think you need to tweak the hand a bit to make it more Nurglite and less Dark Eldar-y. My initial idea was to replace the fingers, or add a sawblade or something like that, but now I think I have an even better idea: How about reposing the fingers so the hand looks like it's in the throes of spasms and cramps (like some of the Plaguebearer hands).

 

 

EDIT: I really wouldn't use the pincer of the first arm option, if I were you. It looks weird and it's hard to understand how it would even work, which is never a good idea for a model like this ;)

Edited April 22, 2018 by KrautScientist

[Augustus b'Raass]

Yuk, that plague minotaur is looking disgusting! He looks painted too - are you going to throw him in StMarc's or Dettol or something before primering him?

 

I do prefer the second arm by a long shot, but has the same idea as Kraut about the hand - it looks too Drukhari-like. Perhaps replace the hand with the pincer from the first arm? 

 

Excellent work so far. :tu:

[DuskRaider]

Thanks, guys... I had a change of heart with looting my Undivided Big Mutie and went back to the original army but I think you're right about the pincer. I'll have to see what I have lying around to replace it with. The Dark Eldar Talos hand is too sophisticated looking and while it works for my Word Bearers-aligned Coven, it doesn't work too swell for a barbaric Nurgle warband. What about a flail attachment, dragging behind him? This isn't going to represent much in Kill Team and will be a Big Weapon in INQ28, so it doesn't have to be something specific. I also have the Scythe option from the Talos.

Edited April 23, 2018 by DuskRaider

[DuskRaider]

Alright, so I took what our Deutsch Science Man friend and thought about it a bit. The pincer had to go but also the entire arm had to be re-positioned. I felt it was more the upper arm position that was hindering me than anything else. Unfortunately, I also knew what this meant...

 

So I resculpted (as well as I can) the shoulder. I not only had to fill the huge gap that resulted from angling the upper arm at a more relaxed position, but it also allowed me to bulk out the area in general, something which always bothered me with this model. I replaced the pincer with the Dark Eldar Talos scythe weapon, figuring not only would it be a symbol of Nurgle & the preferred weapon of the Death Guard, but it would also give a more peasant feel to the mini. Yeah... I didn't like it. At all.

 

 

So it was back to the drawing board with Mr. Nurgltaur.

 

In the meantime, I took some photos of the progress I made on my future Death Guard character. I was able to graft a Plague Marine head onto the Anakatis Blade Slave helm base / neck. I also wanted to take a side profile view to show that the belly isn't as swollen as the first image would make it seem. It's sticks out only slightly further than the chest armour and I wanted to avoid the comical bloat that GW often uses. I want menace and horror, not over-exaggeration. I'm also contemplating adding a hood to him using BCK's PVA / tissue tutorial. I'm not sure yet.

 

 

With that done, I went back to the Minotaur. Looking at the arm sans a weapon, I was hit with inspiration. Why add a weapon at all? This creature is a hulking mass of rotting flesh that makes even an Astartes look frail in comparison. So I looked through my bits, found one of the other Plague Ogryn's arms and did some emergency surgery and, well...

 

 

Now it's almost more of a gauntlet than it is a bionic arm. I also bulked up the armpit because, as you can see in the first picture, it's a bit too concave. With the hand on it the creature now has a much ganglier appearance and reminds me of the mythical Wendigo. I particularly like the assymetry between the smaller left arm and the much larger right arm. It gives an uneasy feeling to the model. It also gives the impression that the twin prongs on the left arm may actually be the radius and ulna, hand rotted off and the exposed bones sharpened into weapons. 

 

Let's hear what you guys think of this iteration.

[Augustus b'Raass]

MUCH better than either of the original bionic arms and leagues better than the scythe. While it was a good idea, I agree wholeheartedly that it looks pretty bad in real life. I do think it's a missed opportunity that you didn't try the current hand on the second bionic arm, though. I think that would looks great!

 

THat all being said, I have a suggestion for some improvement. Because the elbow pit looks very concave right now, while the actual elbow is non-existent... I think the miniature's proportions would benefit from removing his current elbow (this section)

Hidden Content

and moving the bionic arm up a bit, like this (excuse my terrible photoshop skillz. This was done in Microsoft Paint)

Then sculpt a bit of a bulge behind the bionics to signify the actual elbow (red area in last picture) :)

Edited April 23, 2018 by Augustus b'Raass

[DuskRaider]

Hmmm... yeah, it does seem I've lost the crook of the elbow a bit. Looking at him with the naked eye it seems fine but in the pictures it disappears. I had added a bit to the inside when I did all of this, let me see if I can push it in a bit and get that back. I want to avoid too shear of an angle on it, otherwise I'm back to the problem I had in the first place. 

[DuskRaider]

With all the talk in the ETL thread about Titans and whatnot, I found myself haunted by the memory of my old Chaos Warhound Titan sitting in neglect in my attic. I've owned the old girl for 10 years, through a messy divorce and 4 or 5 moves. It... hasn't faired the best through it all.

 

I'm not sure if I'll pledge this to the event, but I will at least personally how to restore this beast, give it a proper paint job (I was a bit too zealous with the pigments back in the day) and she will walk the battlefield in the name of the Legio Mortis and under the banner of the XIVth Legion!

 

[Shovellovin]

Excellent work on the Plague Minotaur. It looks frightening; exactly as something from the Warp should. I prefer the malevolent look to Nurgle's followers so your stuff is right up my alley.

[hushrong]

That minotaur is WICKED! Everything about its corruption is just right! The DG character you are also building looks off to a sweet start as well.

 

Interested in seeing how the titan rebuilds go. I love finding old starts to projects and the like and finally finishing them up. Though I have yet to do a titan sized one.

[Augustus b'Raass]

Having vowed and finished a warhound titan for ETLIII, I can tell you that there is little more rewarding than doing the project under such an inspiring deadline. Tread on, my friend! :tu:

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Heck yes, get that engine walking! You'll be able to do a much better paint job on it now.

[Markus_]

The Blade Slaves are a great base for Nurgle champions.

Those cultists and minotaurs are very impressive as well, I didn't know Victoria had those loose gasmasks.
Good luck with the warhound. ;)

[DuskRaider]

Thanks everyone! I'm very pleased with the Minotaur overall. I almost gave up on him, but I'm glad I didn't. The whole idea of a horror theme... that's what I really want with these. A lot of times when people do Nurgle it's just innards everywhere or goo, but no one really explores the horror of mortality. 

 

The Champion has a lot of promise. A lot of the final product rests on what GW decides can be included in a Kill Team. I've heard rumor that Unit Leaders and Special Weapons will only be accessible if you purchase the proper amount of said unit which would be... disappointing. If not, he'll just be a normal Plague Marine. 

 

As far as the Titan... I don't think it'll be an ETL vow. I want to take my time with it and it's going to need a good soak to get all of that pigment off. It will be nice to come back to it after all these years, especially with the dearth of info and images we have of Legio Mortis now... back in the day, there wasn't much to go on. Funny enough although you can't really see it in the picture above, I actually did the stained glass / mosaic pattern on the carapace of the Warhound and then added all of the rust. Thank the gods that scheme is no longer official. It will be interesting to see the finished product as well, I've yet to see a Chaos Titan in the new FW-released Legio schemes.

[Eldrick Shadowblade]

How many points is the chaos cat?

[DuskRaider]

40,000 points but it's okay because she grants extreme luck on your dice rolls (her name is Blue and the Orks are never wrong). 

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

A true follower of chaos with his chaotic minion; deceptively cute but armed with secreted lightning claws. 

[Skeggold]

Nice work as always DR! Definitely looking forward to that Titan receiving some love...

[DuskRaider]

Darkness falls across the land

The midnight hour is close at hand

Creatures crawl in search of blood

To terrorize your neighborhood

And whosoever shall be found

Without the soul for getting down

Must stand and face the hounds of hell

And rot inside a corpse's shell

 

The Plague Zombies have been assembled. I still have to gap fill with green stuff and do some more finishing touches. I've hollowed out some of their stomachs to have their innards spilling out and one is just a crawling torso which his guts have to be sculpted trailing behind him.

 

Their all modeled in perpetual motion... one of the perks of being (un)dead is you never have to rest. You can also see they're based on the Cultists' design, representing the end result of their disease.

 

[Augustus b'Raass]

You forgot the insanely coincidental (?) part of the lyrics:

 

The foulest stench is in the air

The funk of forty thousand years (!!!!)

 

I only just now realized this. Insane!

 

Your poxwalkers look fantastic, brother. True zombies - they really have that BRAAAAAAAINS vibe. Well done!  :D

[DuskRaider]

Haha, well at least you understood the reference. Funny enough, I was listening to the song while assembling these and my 4 year old was dancing.

I really love the variety of arms you get from Anvil Industry, I just wish they had more than 7 different heads. It's not as noticeable with the Cultists since they have half of their face obscured by the gas masks but with the Zeds it's much more evident.

Hopefully I'll break out the green stuff soon and finish these off.

 

Oh, I forgot to add... I feel like my Leader doesn't stand out enough so I picked up the Necromunda Hired Guns set and I'm converting Mad Dog Mono (what a dumb name) into my new Leader. His armour is almost exactly the same as the Renegade Militia. I love his whole model, but I feel I have to swap the head and CC weapon to distinguish him a bit. I'll probably swap the tank on his back for one of the Renegade Militia ones as well to tie him in more. 

 

For the head, I'm not sure what I'll use. I don't want to go with another Anvil Industry head so I'm thinking either an Enforcer skull helm or one of the zombie heads from Puppets War seen HERE. It's different enough that I wouldn't use it on any other models.

Edited April 26, 2018 by DuskRaider

[Augustus b'Raass]

Wow, I hadn't checked Puppetswar for quite some time, and had missed those. They're lovely - perfect for your plans. Great idea to the Mad Dog Mono (what a dumb name!!) mini as a leader. :tu:

[DuskRaider]

Yeah, I check up on them every couple months and they've been consistently hitting it out of the park. And of course they release THESE now... wish they were around before I started my Cultists 

 

I think for the Leader I'll be using the first head they show, the wicked gnar one with the open mouth. That or Mohawk Guy. I'm getting excited for ETL to start, I should hopefully have another surprise in time for a 2nd Vow (not the Warhound, it needs too much work). ... I did order up Legio Mortis transfers for the 'Hound, though... along with something else.

Edited April 26, 2018 by DuskRaider