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

[DuskRaider]

As promised, I've taken some pics of the army as it stands now. I'm working on the next 20 Poxwalkers in between painting Tyranids, so they may go even slower than the first 20, which... whatever. I've got another 40 that as of their arrival 2 weeks ago, I've only assembled 5. It's getting more difficult to find ways to modify them so they aren't the same model over and over again... finding the time to do such is becoming even more rare, unfortunately. I also have a third Bloat Drone that's been assembled, so he'll be a welcome addition to the field when he's painted up.

 

This week should certainly be an exciting one, and one that should dictate the future of this army. I'm very tempted to run a Plaguewing army. It's been something I've attempted to a degree through strength in numbers with Terminators in previous iterations of my Death Guard. My normal list in 4th - 6th was 3 squads of 7 Terminators along with whatever number of Plague Marine squads I could fit (always in 7s), a Terminator Lord, and usually a Predator and Vindicator. I did kind of fulfill my dream in 30K... my Death Guard army consisted of mainly just Cataprhactii Terminators in Spartans with Terminator HQs (again, mainly in Cataphractii) with the exceptions being my Moritat and Destroyers.

 

Anyhow, enough rambling, here's the assembled and painted army thus far:

 

[Sagentus]

Looking like a great army thus far! What's the plan next? Or are you waiting for the new releases?

[DuskRaider]

I've got another 40 Poxwalkers to assemble, but it's finding the time to do so since I want to customize them...

 

Otherwise, I need to paint bases still. Other than that, I'm definitely waiting for the book. I'd like to pick up Mortarion ASAP, but he's pretty expensive and a situational unit on the table, IMO.

[Sagentus]

Ouch 40 pox walkers is a lot, especially when you wish to convert them. Rednekkboss has some good idea for them. 

 

Thought you might be waiting for the book, defo looks like there is going to be some great releases. Wish i was a nurgling haha. fingers crossed Khorne get the same sort of attention lol

[DuskRaider]

I especially love his Tau Poxwalkers, very cool and would work since I regularly play against Tau. I think if I'm going to swap bodies and whatnot, I'll just use the Dark Vengeance Cultist bodies, I have a bunch of them and never really had a use for them. As it is, I've hacked off a few heads and used them on some of my Poxwalkers, but the majority of the bits are from Mantic's Zombies. I am curious if Crypt Ghoul parts are the same size as the Walkers as well.

[DuskRaider]

Well, it's been 10 days since any meaningful update. Unfortunately, I have nothing completed to show but I do have some WIP pics, notably my next 40 Poxwalkers and my 3 Dreadnoughts (I refuse to call them Helbrutes, that's so stupid...).

 

The skin on the Poxwalkers is pretty much finished, and I've made their tone a bit more varied from the first 20, with some done primarily with Athonian Camoshade to really mix it up. Some do have a little damage in the pics, mainly limbs that have broken off during transportation. Obviously they'll be repaired before calling them complete.

 

 

Meanwhile, the Dreadnoughts are coming along nicely. I've picked out the millions of boils and pox on the models (really, there's so many it's mind numbing) and have just added Blood for the  Blood God to the exposed and infected tissue throughout the models. I wanted to give them a more organic feel while obviously keeping them mechanical, so where I may have previously added rust and pitting to the hull and limbs I've instead made them fleshy wounds. It gives a bit more color to the model and makes them seem more possessed. Obviously there's still a ways to go on these and the shamblers, but I figured I'd share their progress thus far.

 

 

I'll leave you with a group photo of the models...

 

[Daemon2027]

Wow just read through the last few pages. Everything looks great, the flesh on the pox walkers is amazing.

[Brother Desultor]

Echoing what Daemon2027 said about the skin on the poxwalkers - simply amazing. 

 

And now I know why Forgeworld no longer have any of those Nurgle Dreadnoughts left - you appear to have bought them all!

[DuskRaider]

Thanks! As for the Dreadnoughts... man, FW really dropped the ball discontinuing the majority of their Chaos line. I guess the Dreadnoughts in particular are because of the Helbrute, the older chassis just didn't fit GW's vision for Chaos Dreads. Pity really, the detail on them is amazing. Even more amazing, the two with the LasCannons are my very first FW purchase from back in... I don't know, 2004? A looong time ago, I know that. The Heavy Bolter Dreadnought (my favorite model) was from around the time of Siege of Vraks. You can still occasionally find recasters selling them, of which I find no ethical issue with considering FW / GW are no longer making them or really supporting Chaos to much of an extent anymore. Hopefully that changes.

[Sagentus]

The skin tonne on those pox walkers is exceptional. Going with the white undercoat looks like it really helps too. Do you use the standard gw white undercoat?

[DuskRaider]

They're Corax White, but I do a base of Pallid Wych Flesh before all of the washes.

 

Edit: I should add that the Death Guard armour is done with washes on the Corax White primer, not Pallid Wych Flesh (although the final highlight is PWF).

Edited September 12, 2017 by DuskRaider

[DuskRaider]

More updates, OH BOY. I've begun on my Daemon side of the Death Guard finally. To start things out I have one of my winged Daemon Princes, which is also probably my favorite model of the bunch. This guy is... big. Very big. Probably Mortarion sized. I'm just about done with the flesh, although I'm not sure if I'm going to go back and add some more Athonian Camoshade to cover some of the red. I'm not really into the Green: Nurgle, Red: Khorne,  etc aspect of the hobby, as I really only see it as an indicator to the casual gamer or outsider as to which god said Daemon is aligned with. My main goal is to give my Daemons (and zombies et al) the appearance of infected necrotic flesh. There's areas of the model where the purples and other colors show underneath the skin, this is where blood has pooled and coagulated (mainly joints and extremities). 

 

 

There's obviously more work to be done with him and once the bones are painted, he'll probably look much different. Also, the wings will most definitely be black.

 

Next up is the Herald of Nurgle. I suspect this guy will see a lot of field time in an allied detachment. Not much to say with this guy, pretty self explanatory. Oh, and Mamon is also being painted at the moment, but I have yet to add his final Carroburg Crimson wash so he's not pictured.

 

 

Next is the Deathshroud... these models are amazing. Seriously, GW has really knocked it out of the park with the new Death Guard minis. The armour is done on these guys and I've begun the very little revealed flesh and fleshy tubing. Next will most likely be their cloaks, which will obviously be black. I avoided any black panels on their armour as a throwback to my 30K Deathshroud, which wear all white armour. 

 

 

Lastly, just to emphasize the scale of my winged Daemon Prince here's a size comparison with one of the Deathshroud.

 

 

As always, comments and criticism are welcome!

[lionofjudah]

Whoa that dp is massive.. and beautiful! Have you weighted his base as he seems like he'd be crazy top heavy

The pallid flesh and necrotic tissue is great, zombies ftw!:)

[DuskRaider]

He's actually quite balanced, something I could say for pretty much all of the Creature Caster models I have thus far. Not too sure on weight, though. Surprisingly light. Thanks, BTW!

[Blindhamster]

disgusting but very impressive army, kudos!

[DuskRaider]

Hail the Undying God!

 

Well, I'm happy to announce these guys are pretty much done. I'm unsure if I'm going to leave the maggots pure white or wash them, I'm just afraid they'll blend in too much with the armour / flesh (more than they do now). Other than that, I think there's just a few places here and there I need to touch up but otherwise these guys are done.

 

First up is the Deathshroud. I really enjoyed painting these guys. Seeing as this army is the 40K iteration of my 30K Death Guard 3rd Grand Company, I decided to port over some themes here and there to tie them to one another a bit. One of those is the Deathshroud, mainly that they are clad in all white. The lore for my 30K Death Guard uses a lot of symbolism for rank and identification, one of those being color. With my 30K Death Guard, there are indicators on their armour that identify their Grand Company... the trim & right knee guard are Bronze, which is the identification metal of the 3rd Grand Company. On their left knee guard is identification of their origins. If an Astartes hails from Barbarus, they have earned the honor of bearing the green mists of their home planet. Those of Terra or tithed planets wear simple bare ceramite. This is used as a class indicator as well, those with the bare knee are seen as lower in the Legion... a feeling that intensifies and finally boils over at Isstvan III.

 

There are exceptions, however. The one here are Deathshroud. To symbolize their death, they are stripped of all rank and origin, thus their armour is bare of all coloration. As you can see, that tradition has continued into the 41st Millennium. In death, all are equal. As for the black on the rest of the Legion, I'll reveal that more in another post, possibly with some back story in general. So first, here's the Mortarion's Eyes.

 

 

Next is Harbinger Rustwyrm, my Herald of Nurgle. Rustwyrm is one of the seven Dark Magos' that oversee the production of Daemon engines on the Plague Planet. His assigned Great Company is the 3rd and thus, he usually accompanies them into battle to maintain and bless their infernal craft as well as lend his weight in the battle. At one time, he was a Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicum, some 10,000 years ago. His original name is lost to history along with much of his exterior bionic upgrades, save for his massive servo arm and whatever is hiding under that robe of his. 

 

 

I'm... actually not really sure where Deacon Mamon would fall into my Grand Company, both considering he's a part of the Apostles of Contagion and also a former mere human (who ascended extremely quickly at that). Ah well... I suppose if Necrosius is represented, Mamon can be as well. 

 

 

And finally... the Plague Angel. Yeah... I really enjoyed painting this model. He's also ridiculously difficult to photograph due to his sheer size. Apologies if the details in the pics aren't the best, it's as well as I could do considering I wanted to capture the model in it's entirety. Also, the base is just uhh... based. It's not done. I hate doing bases. Bleh.

 

 

And a group shot.. BFFs!

 

 

As always, comments, criticism or whatever is more than welcome and encouraged. Thanks!

[Sagentus]

This army is looking great so far dusk, really like the colour scheme and the pale skin. Look forward to seeing more :-)

[betrayer41]

Absolutely love these guys very unique and different than most of the other DG. And you are the master at rotting flesh ahah

[DuskRaider]

Thanks guys! I've taken some criticism elsewhere for skipping out on the trademark green of Nurgle Daemons, but I wanted to go with a more realistic / rotting appearance with my Daemons this time around... something which I think was effected by my outting in INQ28 and going back to my Blanchitsu roots. I, for one, am quite pleased with the look and think it will be more visually appealing (or at least striking) on the battlefield when everything comes together. Besides, if you play the game you know what Nurgle Daemons are so...

 

I should have another update tomorrow concerning Call of Chaos. I received Typhus and my box of Blightlords, which have already been assembled (and Typhus converted to a better stance thanks to Guita) and I'm in the middle of painting them now. I'll also take pics of the rest of my first vow sans Mortarion, which I'm still waiting on.

[DuskRaider]

As you may have seen, I've updated the Call of Chaos thread with my Vow 1 pictures. For sake of completeness, I'll update this thread as well. To recap, my first Vow includes Typhus, a squad of 5 Blightlords, a unit of 6 Nurglings, 27 Plaguebearers, a Winged Daemon Prince, a Bloat Drone, and eventually Mortarion. It may sound like a lot, but if you've followed my previous Call of Chaos / Heresy vows you'll know I can crank these suckers out at a quick pace and at the same quality as always. I'll try to update the Blightlord picture soon, the one I took was on the fly and done quickly to show my Vow. So until then, enjoy:

 

Typhus

 

Blightlords

 

Nurglings

 

Winged Daemon Prince

 

Plaguebearers

 

Bloat Drone

 

WIP Blightlords

 

WIP Typhus

 

Group Photo

[Sgt. Blank]

Awesome work! I am a big fan of your Word Bearers but I have to say, you've taken your painting to another level with this army! I didn't notice the lack of green until you pointed it out, its pretty unusually to see both the rotten flesh and decaying armor done so well in the same force

[Sagentus]

Nice work as always DR! you certainly have given your self a lot to do and itll be interesting to see how quick you can get it finished! 

 

The repose on Typhus looks great, so much better than the GW pose. Its nice to see the new DG stuff coming through :D 

[betrayer41]

Wow Typhus looks absolutely incredible.....as does everything else haha

[steamius]

I love your color scheme! And all the flesh parts, make me wanna puke

[deathspectersgt7]

An Amazing looking Force of Decay and Corruption you have here.