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What a great old model! Pose aint very dynamic, but that was the standard back then right (atleast judging from the models I've seen)?

Wow, these certainly take me back. Grandfather Nurgle would be proud indeed, the old plague is back with a some nasty new mutations!

I'm amazed at how you've picked up the drive to take such an old army forward again and managed to keep all your purchases (new & old minis) themed together.

Keep the updates coming thick and fast, can't wait to see how all this pans out

The Lord is cool... My only comment would be is if you were ever to revisit him, to make the Scythe a bit more like a power weapon, or daemonic looking.

Still a pretty cool model nonetheless. And I toally get the attraction to your old HQ models. I have a Wolf Lord that I converted when I first started playing Space Wolves, and he's still one of my favorite models, even if the paint job is horrible... becasue it was the best I could do at the time.

Wow. That's a lot to keep up with!


@ Wolfshadow- That’s the beauty of this -obsession- hobby, we never have to actually “stop”, there’s always another model, another unit, another list to work on. Even if I stayed with my Death Guard exclusively I still have a myriad of options I haven’t even begun to explore. I could work on this army for years to come. And likely will.

@ zadelistol- Experiences on eBay differ for sure. I have a knack for finding good deals. But also know that on occasion what looks like a good deal turns out to be a complete nightmare, like some 2nd ed Terminators I picked up a while ago and just started to clean up, they are so caked w/ enamel paint and shellac that Simple Green hardly touched them. I’m going to try some new stuff this weekend. – I have no advive to offer on the ‘Nids. I hate them and the only thing I really know about them is that they die when I shoot them but it’s a bad idea to get into CC with them.

@ Vladsimpaler- Yeah, I got it. Tried to be funny. Apparently I failed. – I agree that it would be awesome to get a game of old stuff vs. old stuff. I’m not heading out to CA anytime soon. It seems like everyone I talk to on Dakka is from the UK or CA (and oddly the two places are almost the exact same distance from me).

@ Limbo- I know that feeling, I go through all the photos in the Codex or whatever I’m reading and say “want that… want that… ohhh, really want that…” - The Terminator Lord was based solely on the WIGIWYS rule: What I’ve Got Is What You See. I wanted to have a Lord with a Daemon Weapon and Melta Combi-weapon. I didn’t have anything that fit the bill at the time that wasn’t already being used so I built this out of a Space Hulk Terminator, a MK VI Sergeant head, a Chaos sprue sword, chopped up the Storm Bolter and made the Melta Combi out of a Melta Gun and a Chaos Bolter. I used a Chainsword for the sawblade. I changed him over to a Manreaper for the last game I played. It is from the VC-Zombie thread and has some GS on the blade to beef it up a bit. The shoulder pad is also GS.

@ grantosjones- Thanks for the compliment! I’m working on getting the rest of my RT and 2nd ed. miniatures into the Death Guard. My #1 goal above all else is to keep the units cohesive with a common thread. Because of the years separating the original force and now I was concerned about the ink and paint scheme but when I found a mix that worked I’ve been going at top speed since.

Thanks all for posting, no updates today because I have to go be social… feh. But before the weekend is over I’ll have a couple Terminators done and will show you where I’m at in the progress.

If they are Metal Minis... just use actual paint stripper.

That's the sergeant head that came with the original plastic beakies! How cool is that!?

300th Dakka post! Listening to Bolt Thrower, drinking beer, and showing off my latest addition to the Death Guard. Not a bad way to spend the evening.

@ wolfshadow- Yeah but I'm trying to not take that route because it's winter here and I don't want to have to do all this outside.

@ Gitsplitta- Yes it is and it's awesome cool. When i converted that miniature (1997 maybe? I don't remember) you could still find boxes of those things in a lot of shops. Not so much anymore. And now I just had a wonderfully horrid idea. Not going to share it yet, will show people later.

Tonight's update is short due to not having much to share. I have a lot of work done on the Terminator squad but have finished only 1 model completely. I put a bit extra work into this one trying a few new (to me) techniques. Tried genuine highlights instead of my "cheater" drybrushing, used different washes in different places, tried using color tones to create artificial shadows, etc. This is the result:







And of course, the signature photo:



Critical feedback requested. I already know it looks cool. Tell me what sucks about it (except the flock on the base, that isn't ever going to change) and if you show me examples of different techniques I'll certainty check them out. I'm making a conscious effort to improve how I paint. I'm not sure exactly *how* much I'll improve, but I have interest enough to consider trying.

In other updates.... MY LAND RAIDER IS HERE!!!!!!!

Yeah, I',m just a "little" excited about that. It's a Black Templar model, it came painted a darker Nurgle green with a bunch of Chaos spiky bits on it. The very first thing I did to it was break everything off it and then take a carving tool and gouge off all the Imperial symbols, including that stupid 2-headed eagle tank tread (it almost seems kind of Tzeentchy, a two-headed bird... but whatever, emperor be praised and all that... hahahhaa). Next up is covering it with GS and doing horrible things to it. I'll be posting WIP photos as I start getting work done on it. I think that it's pretty funny it is a Black Templar LR instead of a Chaos LR... once again the Death Guard takes from the Imperium and turns their tools against them.

That's it for this one. Thanks all for checking it out and posting, it's motivating to know people are genuinely interested in what I am doing.

My only complaint is that the fingers on the chainfist need to look a little more metalic. Maybe by adding some gun metal silver here and there to show the wear on the armor, not alot. I know drybrushing is an old technique and probably over used, but I think the fingers would look better with a quick drybrush on the edges. Same with the edge of the chain saw cover.

I really like the effect on the fully green shoulderpad. Not sure what you did there but it shows great 'depth' of color.

You might want to invest in some colored artist chalk or weathering pigments to rust up the metal or dull it down a bit to look a bit more nurgle-y. I know Mig and FW make decent weathering pigments. My dad used to use artists earth tone chalks with a old brush. It came out surprisingly life like.

Just noticed but, adding a highlight spot on the 'mouth' guard between the tusks would help out the helmet greatly. Its just too dark, especially at the top where a highlight should be.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Another note, not sure if your waiting for them to be in battle before doing this(my friend does this all the time.) adding some blood to the combi weapons chain and the chainfist. As well as a bit of a burnt and carbon char on the muzzle of the melta/fllamer nozzle and combi-weapon chain to show the heat from the melta/flamer affecting it.

Epic Army - I mean seriously. Wow!

I love your use of the old models and can't wait for the Land Raider.

This army gets better every time I see it. Where will it stop? Nobody knows!

@ wolfshadow & zadelistol- Noted, and thank you. I did go back and try additional highlights to the chainfist blade to bring it out more. Originally I was going to paint caution stripes on it, but then decided that (1) it would look too much like Iron Warriors and (2) I seriously doubt the Death Guard would care if anyone used caution around their chainfist. I also dabbed some add'l "wear" on the weapon, it looks a bit more used and overheated now. I didn't go the blood route simply because it's overworked and my VC Zombie army used up my "blood on a miniature" allotment for 2010 already.

@ cosmic pixie- Thank you for the compliment. I checked out your gallery and like your work as well. Very solid color schemes. Plus I could not help but notice that an army like mine is what keeps an army like yours employed...

@ InventionThirteen- Welcome back! I have no idea where or when this is going to end. Can you believe this thread is a month old? Depending on how you look at it, it's a month old or it's "only" a month old. I feel amazed it is "only" a month old, I feel like this project has been going on for much longer. All I am sure of is that with everything I have on deck there's no end in sight.

Short update tonight mostly due to not being able to do much this weekend. I worked a bit more on the Terminators but set them aside as I can work on them during the week at lunch. I put more attention into my Land Raider. I brought my Death Guard Lord in to inspect where we are at so far and made sure that all Imperial markings were removed. After that we looked up the wargear section for Land Raiders in the new Codex. This prompted a long conversation about how much we both dislike 5th ed. The wargear decisions were ultimately already made for us, so we accepted the Chaos Vanilla and sprinkled it with a Havoc Launcher. Whatever.



Game mechanics satisfied, I started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish on this. Lots of icky plague-ridden foulness with organic spiky stuff that doesn't look 'Niddy or take too much of a step away from Nurgle. I finally settled on a mix between the two Rhinos I did most recently. This is merely a start and I have already identified a flaw in my application that I am either going to rework on this side or at very least ensure I do not repeat again. What you are seeing currently is a boiled and bloated panel that will have spikes coming from thei individual boils, and hanging skins draped over the Lascannons.





I'll be using those same themes all over this vehicle. It will be a couple weeks to finish it up completely. And like I said, a couple mistakes already identified and will not be repeated. One is I went a little too conservative on my application, it needs to be thicker. Another is if I am going to be filling large areas like a pus-inflamed boil, I can use a different filler instead of create an actual bubble. I'm still getting used to working w/ GS again so I'm bound to make a few mistakes. Each time I get a little better though, so I'm retaining from project to project.

As always, thanks for following along. Knowing that I have people digging my work provides the motivation to put extra effort into this. There have been times where I wanted to shelve all of this and just go rot in front of a TV and play a video game. Pushing through those moments has been rewarding and has helped remind me of how things wind up on my Shelf of Shame to begin with. This is the only project I am doing right now and the only project I have any interest in doing right now. I've got my Terminators to keep me busy during the weekdays, I can get some work done on the Land raider here and there at night, my PIP heads should be arriving soon, and some shoulder pads I ordered should be showing up as well. Plenty to keep me busy. Plus I have 3-day weekends for the next two weeks. I imagine there will be a lot of updates coming soon.



*edit typo*

If you have any extra cash around you might want to seriously take a look at some of Machinator's tracks for your LR. (Check out the Fellblade thread for a link to his Ebay store)

Woud be a quick and easy way to make it stand out on the battlefield.

I liek that you are mounting your lascannons forward. Its something, that for some reason, I hardly ever see on Chaos LRs.

Looking nice so far Skalk! GS on the lascannon looks alittle strange thought, too flat maybe? Still, if this is you getting used to GS, then I'm jealous (check my WIP shots, I'm not happy with my lords Daemon Weapon, any tips?).
And I second wolfshadows suggestion about the LR tracks http://stores.ebay.com/Blood-and-Skulls-Industry

@ wolfshadow & Limbo- I checked out the treads and they are awesome. It's nice to know that there is a place where you can buy alt. treads for your vehicles w/o having to pay $17 U.S. (before shipping) for 16 track pieces from Forge World that that should have been included in the Chaos kits already. That said, the running "joke" of my army is that I keep stealing Imperial vehicles and turning them back against their former owners. So hmm...

Well, looks like you have just slammed the brakes on my Land raider project because I'm not going to keep covering it w/ GS only to rip it apart in two weeks when I decide that I really do want to swap out the treads. I can't decide if I want to, and if I do decide I want to, I still can't decide between the Krusher pattern, the Oppressor pattern, or the Liberator pattern. For obvious "old school" reasons I'm finding myself really drawn to the Liberator pattern, but wow... the Krusher looks so brutal. And the Oppressor... well, what can go wrong with huge blades for tank treads? I'll figure this out and go from there.

@ Limbo- PM'd re: GS.

Working OT tonight so nothing new coming today.

Sorry to slow you down, but I thought that you might like them... I know I want to get a set of the Oppressor Pattern tracks for my GK Landraider Crusader once the GKs come out.

I managed to get a bit of work done today myself.. First work with resin. :-)

I personally want to get oppressor pattern treads for my future tanks. Whats more fun then having blades on a tank? Bloodied up blades on a tank with flesh still onn from its last crushed victim.

Another quick update tonight. I worked OT, got home, did the family thing, everyone went to bed, and I settled in to paint. I took a Terminator and after looking at it a full 5 minutes realized that I was hitting burnout. I am sooooooooo sick of painting right now. I know it is the Terminators. I'm not "feeling it" the same way I did the last time I worked on a squad of them. So, what to do? No sense in painting Plague Marines because I am still waiting on the PIP heads. No sense in working on the Land Raider because I very well may be ripping the Imperial treads off it. No sense in working on Project X unless I want a Project X sized hole in my window. So instead I worked on making sure that when the PIP heads finally do arrive they have a place to go. I dumped a few bitz bins out, took my remaining Chaos Marines that were not slotted for any other army (menaing not Word Bearers of World Eaters) and started making new Plague Marines.

This shot is of all the new squads I have coming. I will make 3 more Champions sooner or later, though I did make two new ones tonight. Nothing is finished, everything here is a WIP. I still need some spikes and other random Nurgle stuff, but this was a lot of work and I am glad to have gotten this much done.



The front three squads need Champions. The "blue" squad is unchanged, just included because it is part of the PIP project. The two squads in the back are complete w/ new Aspiring Champions and because of the models either came with heads trhat cannot be removed or were given converted heads to finish the squad. The right rear squad is my favorite, I put a lot of work into it and each model is uniquely different. I added my first Melta to the Death Guard in this squad.

Here's the new Aspiring Champion I made for the rear left squad:



No spike on his helm, matches the others in the squad. Most of the models in that squad are the 4th ed Nurgle Marines. I picked them up on eBay a while back, they are ok but truth is I don't like them as much as I thought I would. They don't fit well with the other Death Guard models I have so I converted a few other models (such as 2nd ed plastic) to "fit in" with them and complete a squad.

The next Aspiring Champion I like a lot. I've combined Khorne and Nurgle symbols on him (shoulder pads and converted helm). I see him as a World Eater that after time immeasurable spent gathering blood for the Blood God had a moment of lucid clarity and realized that in the end it's not just blood, it is death. All things end in death, making death is the ultimate conqueror. Realizing his current career path wasn't taking him anywhere he joined the winning team and has seen a number of promotions already. And like many in management that defect to a competing firm, he took some of the best and brightest that he worked with him when he was still working for the Blood God (other models in the squad share minor connections to Khorne). The future is looking bright for this one:



Sooner or later I'll get around to painting these. Right now the important thing is that I stayed focused on a task that will help me continue to build my army.

One more thing I want to mention is that when you look at these models you'll notice that almost none of them are pure grey plastic. Everything has been used somewhere with something else before this. Some are from my original bitz box, some are eBay rescues, some are from trading. I'm making the absolute most of everything I have. All will have a place eventually. Father Nurgle cares not about where they come from, just that they come.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading.

Are you going to try and strip them, or will you pay on top of those? Well, I know they are plastic, but I figured maybe you had some kind of magic recipe...

As for the whole, that's a lot of SM to paint!! good luck for all those!

Hmm speaking of stripping...I wont use simple green. I;ve heard that it can weaken plastic and if you are going to strip them I recommend Super clean. Its purple and biodegradable. but wear gloves...will burn the skin.

Perhaps you got some proxy berzerkers now that the Nurgle/Khorne champion has joind you? You've got the fluff for them so.
I'm liking both new champions, and I the urge to paint will return! Personaly, I found it relaxing to paint some rank-and-file marines when I painted my terminators. It was so relaxing to get away from all the decorations and such that terminators sport, perhaps that'll work for you too?

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:300th Dakka post! Listening to Bolt Thrower, drinking beer, and showing off my latest addition to the Death Guard. Not a bad way to spend the evening.

Damn fine way to spend the evening sir!
saw Bolt Thrower back in 06 in bradford - one of the best gigs I've ever been to. Still got a signed/beerstained tshirt from it somewhere.

Onto modelling matters - with regard to the Land Raider, the GS work is looking like it'll fit right in already, but as its a bit of a centrepiece I'd like to see it a LOT more plague-infested - more weird growths/boils/lesions, lots of goo dripping from it, and rust dammit, RUST! Admittedly the rust is more of a painting thing than a GS thing, but my capitalization of the word still stands...

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:There have been times where I wanted to shelve all of this and just go rot in front of a TV and play a video game. Pushing through those moments has been rewarding and has helped remind me of how things wind up on my Shelf of Shame to begin with. This is the only project I am doing right now and the only project I have any interest in doing right now.

TBH, what you're doing has inspired me to get of my backside and get some of my half-finished armies done. You've obviously been doing this a long time and you've lost interest with other projects (as seen in the shelf of shame thread) a good few times, as we all do. As a long time wargamer myself I know all too well what it feels like to lose enthusiasm for a project, but its nice to see how a bit of praise and interest can keep someone on track.

Gonna go dig my Goblins off the dusty shelf now, and get the Bolt Thrower on!

I love everything you have going on here! You said earlier that you were worried about your painting skill not improving since you started? It would appear that you had alot of skill to start out with, and have maintained, I wouldn't worry about it. I myself am scared to death of paitning! I especially like what you did with your old RT marine!

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:

I have a similar one, but his up-raised arm is some sort of cyborg axe, and his other hand is just resting in front of him, I guess holding the ranes of the old school juggernaught he was riding. I am really not sure what I am going to do with this guy, but your conversion has given me some ideas! Good luck with the rest of your army! Can't wait to see more!

@ Yggdrasil- If it were any other Legion I'd strip them first, but since it is Death Guard... yes I know that sounds lazy and lame, but the way I see it is the globs glue and bubbled paint can be used as "atmospheric detail enhancers". Obviously if too much detail is obscured I would make the effort to clean it up, but as it is now I do not expect that the rotted bloat of Nurgle will suffer any detrimental effects from my not stripping the models first. An example of that would be almost all the newer models I have displayed (the Havocs come to mind). Understandably they are not going to win any painting awards but are well within my acceptable tabletop standard, and that standard is being raised with my most recent attempts. I still have to maintain a blotchy / mottled green w/ dirty washes look to keep the army theme intact but I think I'm finding enough room to experiment and not lose the original feel.

@ zadelistol- I do not know if SG eats plastic, I've heard a lot to the contrary. I know for a fact Pine-Sol will, however. A long time ago (on the advice of a friend) I used it to "rescue" some poorly painted Mk IV Beakie Marines o... their spirits were consigned to the Warp after only a day of soaking. What a complete waste.

@ everyone who helped- Regarding tank treads, I think I am going to skip them for now but with the understanding that I will be doing this on the next vehicle I start.

More coming tonight, I got some work done today.

The paint job on the termiesis great I like the sickly green.

Someone should do a Deathguard Fellblade :p

Wow, I missed a lot of posts when I was drafting my reply the other day. So backing up a bit:

@ Limbo- The Nurgle / Khorne Lord was from my 2nd Ed army, 5th Ed doesn't allow for multiple marks unless it is part of a "name brand" character profile. I still have a large contingent of World Eaters (8 Terminator Champions, countless Berzerkers, a Rhino, a Predator, and 4 Dreadnoughts) that will very likely support the Death Guard the next time I play a huge game (3,000+ pts or APOC) and it is also highly likely that once I get completely sick of painting green and brass all the time I'll take a break from the Death Guard and go back to painting World Eaters. I've shelved the Death Guard Terminators for now, I'm just not as into it as I had hoped and I don't want to "force" myself or I'll slop through a barely adequate paint job and regret not taking the time later. I started working on some basic Plague Marines that aren't waiting for the PIP heads, so I'm still painting. Just really turned off from the Terminators right now.

@ grantosjones- Bolt Thrower is one of the few bands left on my list of "must see them before they break up or I die" list that I have not seen. Frustratingly difficult to catch them living where I am. I've been a fan of their stuff since I first heard them when Warmaster just came out and since then I have filled out their discography. Glad to know another fan! - The Land Raider is going to be completely corrupted, the little bit of GS it has seen so far is barely a start. It will have the same spiky spine stuff that my Rhino has, but also lots of draped skins, trophys, icons, relics, random junk being stowed on it, it is going to be visually attractive once it is complete. That said, it'll be a while before it is done but I'll update it here as work continues. - Thank you for the comment on the blog being an inspiration. It is a huge motivation for me to have people express genuine interest in what I am doing and to see input and feedback that I could not have provided for myself. And while I have other armies sitting on the sideline as I continue to buy new models to bulk up my current interest, I can say with absolute honesty that I have used a lot of stuff that had taken up residence on my Shelf of Shame (literally or figuratively) so not only am I doing something awesome with one of my most favored armies, I am bringing long forgotten / disregarded models back to the forefront of usefulness and relevance in my collection. And the bonus on top of all that goodness is that apparently I'm inspiring others to do the same. That's a great feeling, to know I have helped out getting someone back into something they already love doing.

@ RSJake- Thank you for the compliment. I'm getting over my whole "painting complex". I'm fairly decent at achieving a tabletop standard with clean lines, complimentary tones, drybrush highlights, etc. I won't be winning any painting contests but I do receive compliments from my contemporaries and honestly that is worth more to me. - The RT Heavy Weapons seem to have a couple different standard molds and from there have different heads or an extra arm but really they are very similar. I have a lot of them and when they are side by side the similarities are obvious. Good luck on your conversion idea and let me know when you're done, I'm always interested in old models coming to to the fore.

@ templeorks- Thanks for the compliment! I found that shade back when GW had the ink line, but since then I've started using another brand where I mix the darker green with a yellow, after some experimentation I found the closest match I could and I've been using it for everything since. Having the right color match was a huge motivation for me when I started this army back up and since I have quite a bit of the inks I won't ever run out again.

@ wolfshadow- ....you're baiting me, aren't you?


No pic updates today because the work I have done isn't enough to share yet. Last night I got home from work, sat on the couch, and fell asleep in about 1 minute. I woke up hours later, boots still on. I checked out Dakka for a few minutes and then went to bed. Looks like it was time to catch up on the sleep I hadn't been getting much of lately.

I'll hopefully post a couple pics tonight because I'm actually pretty excited to share this new addition to the Death Guard. I have a pretty big game on Thursday though and I want to repaint my table (I've been playing on a "one coat" tabletop of flat black, I want to dryroll some Shadow Grey on it to match my scenery) so we'll see what can get done between projects.

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for posting. Your feedback is appreciated!

Good to hear about the land raider, can't wait to see how that ends up looking!

@ grantosjones- Got a bit of work on the LR tonight. Not enough to bother w/ new pics, but enough to say I did something.

Tonight's update a WIP... that means it's not done yet. Just saying that in advance because I want to be clear that I know there's a lot of mistakes and a lot of work yet to be done. I want to share it now because I'm looking for feedback on the concept.

I don't think anyone will be surprised to see this guy again so soon, but I'm hoping the conversion and the direction I'm going with him will be somewhat of a surprise.













The intent of this is to show the slow progression of Nurgle's Rot claiming the Champion physically, and even though he has chosen the path of Nurgle he still has distinct roots to the Blood God.

I've never tried anything like this before and I'm not completely sure I like it yet, but decided to put enough work into it where I know I at least gave it a fair chance if I do not go with the idea.

Other than that, nothing else to share tonight. I did get the table repainted, it is a nice shade of drybrushed Shadow Grey over Flat Black. It's not stunning but at least it matches my terrain and scenery now. The flat black was just lame. Playing a game on it tomorrow night, Death Guard vs. Waaagh! again. This time I'm ready for those Kans. Watch him not even play them. The downside of this blog is my local friends can read it and see what I am up to. No surprises anymore.

So yeah... I think I'll play my Daemon Prince and field my Land Raider. I won't bring any Rhinos and I don't think I need my Dreadnoughts. Of course I'll Deep Strike my Terminators.

Or I could be... lying?