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

[ranulf the revenant]

Well the head has a lot of character, so I guess the investment had to be made anyway

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Shin plates?

Yeah, you know... the plates... that protect the shins...

The proper term is greaves.

[DuskRaider]

Lower leg thingies.

[Noctus Cornix]

Lower leg thingies.

Lower leg thingies is the more technical term.

[Chazzmos]

These latest conversions are amazing, so gritty and tubey and lower leg thingy!  That rust photo is great inspiration, I need to look at more reference shots like that before trying new things.  The different colours and patters are much clearer to me after looking at something like that.

 

I'm impressed by your GS tubes, mine end up all warped with fingerprints all over them. Maybe I need to let them dry more.

[DuskRaider]

 

 

Affiliation: House Makabius / HelForge Volgan (formerly Forge World M'Pandex)

 

Designation: Benivolentia Strepo , Dolorous Knell

 

Pilot: Balberith Makabius

 

Origin: HelForge Volgan, Volgan-Pattern Dominus Tyrant

 

Notes: Dominus Knight variant hailing from HelForge Volgan. Identifiable by heavier armour plating and overall larger size than Imperial issue Dominus Knight. Front line / siege specialist armament. Benivolentia Strepo seems to be a walking shrine to the putrescant god Nurglith and has been shown to be revered as such by the throngs of Skitarii and other malcontent creatures. Possesses bio-organic weaponry meant to emulate Imperial issue Conflagration Cannon. Holy Knights of the Imperium are advised not to scan signifiers, Volgan-Pattern Dominus seems to carry highly contagious scrapcode which may be transmitted by such actions.

 

WHEW! The journey is at an end. I can't believe it took over a year for this behemoth to go from idea in my head to taking physical form. A lot of thought went into this model (and some plain old winging it).

 

From the very beginning I wanted a Dominus and I wanted it to be a walking shrine of Nurgle. I began floating ideas around and bouncing some off of Auggy and others to see what would work and what would not. The thing about the Dominus that always disappointed me was that in lore they're supposed to tower over Questor Knights, but in reality the models just... don't. They're basically the same size with the Dominus being thicker, for a lack of better word. Thicc. Thankfully I'm not the only one who thought so and Taro Modelmaker went about making leg extensions while over on Shapeways, Gadgets Plus released a torso extension.

 

The Cannon is a "turret" by Machinator over at Blood and Skull Industry on eBay, he had released it years ago when the Plaguereaper was still a thing. It took a lot of hacking to get it shortened (yes, it's actually shorter than it originally was). After that it was a lot of bits scouring and some generous frater on here donating things here and there like the fly clouds by hushrong (over a year ago).

 

The carapace is covered in offerings to the Undying God, mouldering skulls of enemies from all about the galaxy. Placed throughout these morbid trinkets are grave wax candles, their adipocere flame lit for each Knight within Benivolentia Strepo's Banner. They also number seven on each side, which was a happy coincidence (I didn't notice myself until I was painting them).

 

I had a moment of clarity the other night and remembered exactly where I had placed the missing wing for one of the Bell Attendants. Thankfully I did too, because otherwise I didn't know what I was going to do.

 

There's a lot more I could probably touch on, but I'll leave it here. I've said enough. Enjoy!

 

Oh, one more thing... the grey of the Armigers is almost done. Once I finished the Tyrant I immediately moved on to them.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

This, boys and girls, is why you should always play with painted minis. Imagine seeing your opponent plop this down on the other side of the table.

[Gederas]

This, boys and girls, is why you should always play with painted minis. Imagine seeing your opponent plop this down on the other side of the table.

Agreement. Just.... Wow.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Now that I'm home and can get a decent look at the pictures, bravo! To be quite honest, I'm so used to seeing people go completely overboard with the weathering on 40k models - rust in particular - I really like the slightly understated feel of the corrosion; you can tell that dark metal has the rough oxidized texture to it, but it's not punching the effect down your throat with a ton of rust tones. 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work.

[ElDuderino]

Beautiful! It reminds me of a forest in the fall, only infested by nurgle. 10/10

[DuskRaider]

Thanks everyone!

 

@BCK: Yeah, but how do you feel about playing against unbased Knights? lol... that will be my next project after the Armigers are done.

 

I hear you about the rust. It is difficult to find a balance with it. I didn't want to go too orange because that's usually where liquid pools, while for the most part dry rust and rot on metal is more brown. Obviously this beast isn't taking any baths (that's a no-no for Nurgle) so the rust would be more brownish with a mix of dark and light orange here and there.

 

@Duderino: I really like that analogy. Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year between the foliage we get here in NY to my favorite holiday and, of course, my birthday... though at 36 that kinda lost its appeal a while ago.

 

I just realized something earlier... I ordered the Legio Models Dark Mechanicum kit and I can't actually add the cockpit to it... it has no hatch! Now I'm trying to decide if I say screw it and use the beautiful kit for my Seneschal anyhow and forego the cockpit for another Knight or I put the kit aside for a Dreadblade or something.

 

The thing is, I got the tentacle arm in today and it's AWESOME. I can't really see it going with anything other than that Dark Mechanicum kit, it's so Heretek-y and wild. Along with that, I can't see much else pairing with it but the Laser Destructor. I think when it comes to those, I'm definitely adding more jumbled cabling and I really want to try and mix some skulls into it as well like the FW Greatest Brass Scorpion.

 

Thoughts?

[rednekkboss]

Dear God!!  That's frikkin gorgeous!

[Krakendoomcool]

Another amazing knight Dusk. They are all so unique. They each have a role in the knight household.

 

Great use of the massive Plaguereaper spewer gun.

 

It is such a wonderful project.

[Atia]

Awwww he looks great - especially the head 

Edited August 5, 2019 by Atia

[Charlo]

God damn man, absolutely breathtaking... Both in picture and in real life from the smell ;)

[DuskRaider]

Thanks everyone! I'm actually really proud of how it turned out, I think even moreso than my original mutated Knight. I'll have to get updated photos of them all since the originals were kinda garbage. Still not sure how I'll photograph everything together, it's takes up quite a bit of space...

 

So a little secret just between us... I am on schedule to have the Armigers done by the end of the week. The gray / blue and white are finished and I'm currently working on the gold trim. Obviously the worst part is that damned rust, but considering they're so much smaller than my other models it shouldn't be as bad. I can't wait to see it all done and together (and help the LatD forum hit 100% completion for the ETL!).

[DuskRaider]

 

Affiliation: House Makabius / HelForge Volgan (formerly Forge World M'Pandex)

 

Designation: Manus Fatorum, Hand of Fate

 

Pilot: Balam Ophias of Ophias, Banner House of Makabius

 

Origin: HelForge Volgan (presumably), Armiger Warglaive

 

Notes: Origin of machine unknown, completely void of signifiers. Magos Harkin of Forge World Mezoa believes HelForge Volgan produces massed amounts of Armiger frames for use as hunting packs via the Golden Forge. Heavily modified frame, Thermal Spear replaced with biochemical weapon of equal lethality. Massive Siege Claw causes erratic gait, however no less lethal in combat.

 

 

Affiliation: House Makabius / HelForge Volgan (formerly Forge World M'Pandex)

 

Designation: Verbera Flagellum, Wailing Whip

 

Pilot: Eligos Ophias of Ophias, Banner House of Makabius

 

Origin: HelForge Volgan (presumably), Armiger Warglaive

 

Notes: Armed similarly to Manus Fatorum with the exception of a large mass of whip-like appendages emulating their Seneschal and Huntsman. No indication of external optics found on frame. Optical apparatus replaced with syringe-like device. Machine beginning to show physical mutations in the form of horn growth.

 

Manus Fatorum and Verbera Flagellum hunting

 

Completed ETL 2019 Vow

 

Wow... well, I'm done. I have yet to decide if I want to add transfers to these as the pilots hail from Banner Houses and not Makabius itself. It's been a pleasure working on these and I eagerly await the final pieces to build my Seneschal.

 

Let me know what you think!

Edited August 8, 2019 by DuskRaider

[Atia]

Awwww I loooove them!!

 

Regarding the transfers - I would go for it. In the end, they all serve the Reaper ...

Edited August 8, 2019 by Atia

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

*looks at completed ETL vow*

 

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

They look phenomenal. Nurgly and gross, just like they should be.

I'd like your opinion on something. Would it be a good idea for, in building my Chaos Knight, me to paint it up in Loyalist colors and then Nurgle it from there? Yours are the best Nurgle Knights I've seen... ever, anywhere, so I thought I'd ask.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Chaos Armigers.

[DuskRaider]

Thanks folks!

 

@Atia: hmmmm... you may be right, sans the coat of arms. I have to see if I have transfers small enough for them that I don't need for Titanicus. If that's the case, the go transferless :D

 

@BCK: Haha, I love those movies. Nothing beats the first one, though.

 

@Zeph: When I paint mine, I do indeed do their scheme as it would be untainted first. So in the middle of my paint process, my Knights so look like really thrashed Loyalist Knights I suppose. That's why I do actual damage with my Dremel tool and add the rust and whatnot afterwards. The rust and grime is actually one of the later parts of my paint stage with these. Or do you mean paint yours up as fallen elements of a Loyalist House?

 

See, as far as fluff I think the new codex kind of fell on it's face a bit. They created all these new Houses without much more than a side reference to House Devine in a tiny little timeline snippet. That's a travesty. It goes beyond my obvious need for validation of Makabius activity in the 41st (or are we in 42nd?) millennium. There's lore established by FW and most importantly Alan Bligh regarding traitorous Knight Households that GW completely ignored. Some have carried the torch into the current timeline, such as Auggy with his Atrax and the other day I did see some pretty cool Devine Chaos Knights.

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

The Knight I'm going to do for my first Chaos Knight is a Nurgle devotee, fallen and forcefully exiled from a Questor Mechanicus house. The plan was to paint him up in his old Loyalist colors and then Nurgle it. I appreciate the advice!

[DuskRaider]

Yeah man, go for it. There's countless reasons why a Loyalist Knight could fall to Chaos. Would make a great Dreadblade.