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Hails to all that read this. I've been tossing a few projects back and forth here lately but this has been my #1 focus behind the scenes. It isn't finished completely but there's enough to it that I wanted to share. Comments welcomes, and suggestions... well, it's done already. But share anyway, I am always looking for that next project idea.

Not posting everything, these are just representations. 22 pics at my gallery.


Overview of my army. I stated it in 1997 and have built on them over time. The Death Guard were part of a larger force comprised of World Eaters, Death Guard, Iron Warriors, and Black Legion. Each aspect of the force has grown over the years and after a recent battle I decided to complete them as an individual force.


Aspiring Champion that I painted just the other day. I know the model is just a regular Plague Marine, but his pose is dynamic so he stands out.


The model in the center was just finished on Friday but the other two are part of the original lot I picked up back in 1995 (I think, 1996 at the latest) and have long been part of my Chaos Space Marines. I'm not sure if I am proud that my painting skills are the same all these years later or if I should be disappointed that I haven't improved. Ha.


Old Imperial Space Marine Dreadnought serving a higher purpose. This was one of the first models I completed for this army.


Daemon-possessed Predator. I had a lot of fun converting this model and it's always received a lot of attention from my friends (usually in the form of lascannons).


Thanks for looking.

Thanks for the compliment. I'm looking at a Land Raider and two Rhinos right now to add a bit more firepower and a lot more transport option, and I'm looking forward to corrupting them to the fullest extent.

InventionThirteen wrote:I know my brother would love this thread. Sickness in all it's old school glory. Awesome models and paint jobs dude.

Can't wait for more pictures!

Thanks for the compliments and I hope you get a chance to show this to your brother!

I finished the Terminator squad tonight. Here's where they were a few days ago:



And here's how they finished up:



And one shot with the full squad together for the first time (with paint, anyway):

Wow, thanks all! I got motivated to finish this because I put up a thread that profiled failed projects, and while it was a fun poke at ourselves it really made me ask just when it was that I last finished something, and it has been a while. I also had just played a game w/ a friend and I had a lot of unpainted miniatures (in this army) on the table. I was already working a few projects so I started to focus on this "in between", meaning I worked on this when I was taking a break from the other projects I was working instead of playing a video game or watching TV with my time.

More is coming. I have some old Death Guard Veterans (aka Havocs in the current ed) that I want to get finished, and I'm looking for a Land Raider and two old Rhinos to provide some more firepower and a lot more mobility to my army.

I'll be updating this again. Thanks for checking it out.

InventionThirteen wrote:Showed my brother, thought it was awesome. Likes the use of older models.

That's awesome. Thanks for checking this out. More old Chaos stuff coming for sure.

Draglide12 wrote:I like the wood on the aspiring champions bolter (at least I think it's wood). It adds a stronger sense of corruption and decay.

It is wood. There were a series of Plague Marine models that GW did that used wood stocks on the Bolters and also on a Plasma Rifle. I should pick the detail out on it a bit more so it is not as washed out as the rest of it.

Since the title is "old meets new" here's some of the "new" that is on the way. First and foremost is my first attempt at fielding a Daemon Prince. This was not an idea I thought through. I'm doing this 100% solely based on how absolutely awesome the miniature looks. I'll find a place for him just to have him on the field and part of my list.

Fresh out of the bag!! It came with a base but I have never liked putting miniatures on huge diorama-like bases for wargaming. Do they hop down and drag their rock with them across the entire battlefield? Ha. So no, not using that and already gave it to a friend of mine.


Glued and ready for priming. Those are 2nd ed Chaos Terminators in the background for size comparison. It's a little smaller than I originally expected but considering the role it is going to fulfill in my army it's exactly what I need it to be.



Closeup for more detail.


Not only is this a new miniature for my very old Death Guard, but it's also the inspiration and centerpiece for the next generation of Plague Marines I am going to build (I'm not going to mention APOC here, but my friend just picked it up...). I will be using bodies from the most current CSM sprue, but with different helms / heads. The gas mask is something I already find quite disturbing. It's so much worse than simply a closed-face helm or mask, there's something very unnatural about it, something very wrong. It is frightening to me in a way that I could try to explain but would ramble on and steer this thread into OT land, so I'll move on.

...

So anyway, the gas mask look. Absolutely perfect for Plague Marines. I've been searching online (and asked fellow Dakkalites for assistance on another thread, thank you for your help) for swapper heads that would fit my idea and came up with the following. I have not picked a winner yet, still trying to figure out who I am going to like more. But I'll share here now. Please feel free to comment, I haven't done anything yet and I'd love to steal hear your ideas.


Contestant #1- Pig Iron Productions. With two entries in consideration there's a good chance PIP will be seeing some $$$ from me very soon. I really like the HD.1 Kolony Rebel head sprues and would be a perfect compliment to the HD.3 Kolony Inner guard head sprues

Contestant #2- Maxmini. Fewer heads for more money, I might get one of the Tox Guardsman heads to add variety to whatever else I wind up getting but I'm not expecting that my business will be exclusively w/ Maxmini

Contestant #3- West Wind Productions. Many choices from Secrets of the Third Reich but the US Gas Mask Heads are what caught my eye and looked most likely to fit my needs.

So again, haven't decided which I'm getting yet but admittedly am leaning strongly towards Pig Iron. What do you think? Also, if you have ideas that I didn't show here please post. I did look at and decided against Chapterhouse Studios and Wargames Factory (for no reasons other than they didn't fit what I am looking for right now).

There's my update. Thanks for looking.

Thanks for the compliments. I try to not bag on my painting skills because I know that I am not terrible, but I have a difficult time saying that I paint well because I don't feel that I do.

Anyway, therapy session over. Here's my latest update. I spent most of my weekend being social around real live people. You can imagine the detrimental effect that had on my modeling time. I was not able to get a lot done, but I was able to very carefully remove all mold lines, models some GS to fill connection seams (also used it to put a bit more "plague" on him) and decided on a Flesh Wash base instead of my regular home-brew Green Ink wash.














I love that last picture the best. There's so much attitude in it, it is a direct challenge. I'm very much looking forward to finishing this model. I'm going to re-wash it in spots again tomorrow because the photos show me places I missed (small ones, but worthy of attention).


On the Gas Mask front, I'm going to go with the PIP and see how that goes. If it doesn't turn out as awesome in real life as I hope I'll be out a few dollars and have an awesome head set for Traitor Guard (which is how they were being used when I first saw them). I'll order them sometime this week likely.

Until then, here's a teaser glimpse of the future- I've started to convert the next generation of my Death Guard Plague Marines. It's a bad photo and it's a mess, but a good idea of where I am starting. This will be an Aspiring Champion when it is done.



I have a 4 day weekend w/ no plans coming up. No doubt I'll be updating this thread a few times. Stay tuned for more contamination and other horrors of the Warp.

Quick update- was able to spend a bit of time today with this. Colors are all GW except for a homebrew ink wash I made from a couple different sets.

This is a WIP- it is not finished! Yes I see the mistakes. The question is, will they still be there in the next picture?

Just a single shot for now but wanted to show that I'm on this and I am completely motivated.



More coming. A lot more.

The model was originally released by Ultraforge Miniatures but it doesn't look like they are active on their website right now seeing how nothing I can find online about them mentions 2010, just 2009 (including their own website).

There are quite a few places you can find it online and it has appeared in some painting blogs on other sites. I never saw it before seeing a thread here on Dakka but when I looked it up I knew I had to have it and that it was going to be a thematic piece for the next wave of Plague Marines in my army.

More coming soon.

I'm home sick today. Between laying on the couch feeling sorry for myself and being actively involved in the illness process I got this done:







I'm experimenting with a couple different new techniques and while I'm not completely happy with them yet I'm really liking where this is going and for the most part it is right on track. More coming, and thanks for following along.

And another update... *drumroll*...

-used to have an image of my Pig Iron Productions invoice here to show that I had made the purchase of the items necessary to move to the next steps in the project but it removed with "Image does not make sense out of context".-

Yay! I figured today would be as good as any day to do it, so the heads are on the way. I ordered these and these. I'm going to be doing 2 full squads so it'll be easier to mix up the heads and show some variety.

But heads alone do not make a new squad. Here's what those new heads are going to be going on:



Everything is 100% recycled from my bitz bin or straight from the Shelf of Shame. I'm taking things I already have and turning them into my main army. I have some work to do on modeling but the coolest thing (to me) is that I'm using models I already had laying around and I'm putting them to use. And the coolest thing is there were all someone else's failed projects at one point as they are all from eBay auctions I won over the last year. From oblivion to Death Guard Plague Marines. What old discarded CSM model could want more?

And here's another sneak shot at that Champion I started:



Mutated arm counts as Power Claw, and he'll have a Combi-Bolter w/ Melta or Flamer, haven't decided which yet. Probably Melta.

I'm also thinking about buying some shoulder pads from GW but haven't talked myself into that idea yet.

More updates!

Remember this guy?



This is what he turned into:







Admittedly not my best paint job ever, but considering where this model started from I'd say he has a much brighter future ahead of him. From junk box to Aspiring Champion. And if you stand back 3 feet it looks absolutely amazing!

I was going to convert a combi-weapon for him but after spending 30 minutes trying to figure out how I wanted to make that happen I got sick of it and gave up. However, I did give him a very cool RT era Bolter, so I'm not too broke up about not adding the Melta combi. He's flocked, dated, and ready for battle. 19 more to go as soon as the heads get here.

The Daemon Prince is done I think. I'm not completely commited to that idea so I haven't based / flocked it yet, but honestly I'm getting sick of looking at this model because I feel like my painting skills are not doing it justice and the more I work on it the less I am liking it so at the very least I'm going to put some distance between myself and it for a while. This is where it is at right now, and may be where it is at for good, haven't decided yet:








Closeup of the blade:





And the only time anyone will ever see the back side of this Daemon Prince (because he sure isn't ever going to run away)



That's it for now. I have a Death Guard Havoc Squad in the making, and I'm thinking about some Raptors based on an idea stolen directly from agroszkiewicz. Asking for permission if I can show his pic that inspired me to completely rip off the idea and use it for my own purposes. Will post it if he says it is ok. Otherwise I'll post a pic of my stuff once it comes in.

Yes, I know... I can't really see Death Guard swooping down from a wartorn sky either... but it'll look so cool to model them.

Accepting that challenge. Here's the (edited) photo I mentioned earlier (thanks to agroszkiewicz for letting me post it and for being cool about me blatantly stealing his idea):

Edit- to be absolutely clear, agroszkiewicz built these and the original thread they appeared in is here.


Tyranid Gargoyle wings. Simple and brilliant. Easy score on eBay either "buy it now" or a handful of auctions. I have a buddy that plays 'Nids, going to check w/ him first to see if I can barter. But one way or another these will see their way to my table soon.

The Daemon Prince model was originally released by Ultraforge Miniatures but it doesn't look like they are active on their website right now seeing how nothing I can find online about them mentions 2010, just 2009 (including their own website).

There are quite a few places you can find it online and it has appeared in some painting blogs on other sites. I never saw it before seeing a thread here on Dakka but when I looked it up I knew I had to have it and that it was going to be a thematic piece for the next wave of Plague Marines in my army.

Ok, short update because I've been spending way too much time with people and not enough time at my workbench. Ha.

I'm very impatiently awaiting my PIP heads to arrive, so I figured I'd spend the time waiting on something productive. This is the start of my Death Guard Havoc Squad. Since they cannot be Plague Marines I'm not going to give their helms the same spike, but they are still Death Guard so the color scheme will be the same, and the Aspiring Champion will have the Mark of Nurgle and therefore share that mark with the squad, they just won't be Plague Marines.

After thinking about what I wanted to do with this I decided to completely disregard versatility and be very good at one thing, which is killing troops. 4 Heavy Bolters. Heavy 3 ST 5. The motivation for this is admittedly becasue I'm sick of being swarmed by my friend's 'Nid army. I can kill them, I just can't shoot fast enough. I figure a barrage of withering fire might lean down that 'Guant squad a bit before the close on me next time.

While the weapons are the same type, the models representing them are very diverse. One is from the current set with a minor addition (the chain sling around his neck), one is from the 2nd ed. releases, on the rest are RT era with converted 2nd ed Imperial vehicle Heavy Bolters.

The Aspiring Champion is also an old RT model, and was also designed to carry a Heavy Weapon but I decided to add him in as the Aspiring Champion and give him a Bolter.

Here's the squad. Bear in mind, WIP.

Squad overview:


Check the chain on the left model, and the conversion of the right HB


Check the conversion of the left HB


And the Aspiring Champion:


More coming later, thanks for looking.

Another quick update. Spent some time working on the Havocs tonight, they are looking a lot more like they belong in my army now:







Wow. That's an awful lot of firepower right there. I'm really looking forward to seeing how all of this turns out. I'll be finishing up this Havoc squad over the next day or so, and by next week some bits I scored from eBay should show up and I'll start working on my 2nd squad... with autocannons.

I've been talking with my friends a lot about the history and background that has been lost in 5th ed. They agree. After some discussion about the merit of background and flavor in the game we agreed that I'm going try building a pure Nurgle Death Guard list with the 4th ed Chaos Space Marine codex. Obviously we'll have to make sure play is still as fair and balanced as possible with the "new" list, but bottom line is that these guys are going to have to opportunity to show up again... as themselves.



The GU1 is from my FLGS back in the day, I didn't like the head on it but still ordered it as soon as I first saw the pre-release teasers from GW in 1997. The Plaguebearers are from the same shop and around the same time but I don't remember which I got first. Anyway, point being is they are old and aren't part of the "new" face lift on my army, they have been around as long as the army itself has been. It's fitting that they should have the opportunity to return.

As always, thanks for reading along. More is coming soon and there's no end in sight. I'm going to stick with this project until something diverts my attention, and at this point it would have to be pretty intense.

I'm not sure I'll ever "finish", I have a tendency to keep projects going as I decide to add new things to them. With my friends looking more and more at starting a 40K campaign and possibly Apocalypse I want to have a well-painted force to be reckoned with.

Speaking of campaigns, right now I'm supposed to be working on a squad of Word Bearers. Uhm... yeah. Guess how well that is going?

But I got more work done on my Havocs today and I'll post pics once I get home (I can paint during my lunch breaks here at work).




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Here's tonight's update- Death Guard Havoc Squad! I had a *lot* of fun doing this unit. Because there are less models, I spent a bit more time with each one. Admittedly I could have done more, but I'm happy with what I did.



I really like the Mk VI Beakie Armor. As I was picking out detail it occurred to me that what it really needed was a connection to roots long past... a couple stripes down the front of the helmet later and all of a sudden it was 1990 all over again.



I made a couple mistakes on the skull and after a while decided to cut my losses. It looks awesome from a foot away and the conversion really works on this model. So it has that going for it.



2nd ed Heavy Bolter. Nothing special about it, just giving it a moment in the Dakka spotlight.



I really like the Aspiring Champion. Or whatever he is. Basically he's the mandatory 5th member of the squad. I put some extra time in on this one and I'm pretty happy with the result, the photo is lame compared to the actual model.



Individually each model is pretty cool, but here's the real reason I like them:



12d6 WS 4 ST 5. Dakka dakka, indeed.

That's it for now. I don't have anything else on deck except waiting. I have 40 those gas mask heads coming from PIP and 40 new Plague Marines in the making, so I'll be back soon with new updates as soon as those heads arrive. For now I'm going to build the bodies and get ready, but that's pretty standard stuff and since I'm not going to be going for any sick "over the top" GS conversions or anything (at least not that I know of yet) I'll get that work done behind the scenes.

As always, thanks for following along with me. I'll be back with a LOT more stuff soon, and there are more pics in the gallery if you are interested.



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I spent most of the night trying to figure out "what next" and just as I was getting ready to go to bed I glanced at my vehicle display shelf and saw TWO Dark Angel vehicles that I'll never ever use because (1) I hate Dark Angels (2) I hate Dark Angels, and (3) yeah you get the point. I picked up the army from a guy I knew back in the day and over the years have wound up trading bits of it off here and there. I still had the vehicles only because they never got traded, I never had any genuine interest in them. Until now. This is simply perfect. My Plague Marine list is allowed 2 Rhino transports. I have been looking for OOP Rhino's (to stick with the rest of my army theme). I have found what I was looking for and once again it was here the entire time, I just had to "see" it.

Lapdogs of the Imperium! Watch how a resourceful Traitor takes your tools and turns them back against you! Muuawwwhhahhhhahhahaaaaaaa!!!

Here's a "before" pic:



I am going to rage on these things. This is my project until the PIP gas mask heads come.

zadelistol wrote:OOP whirlwind I'm assuming?
I absolutely love the skull head of that one Havoc you have there. Only thing missing is puss or slime spewing from his mouth IMO

Yes, OOP Whirlwind. I'm thinking of taking the old hardware and (after a good Orky this and' that) putting it on a Looted Wagon as a Rokkit Launcher. And I thought about converting the Skull model but decided to keep it as "stock" as possible for nostalgic reasons. Maybe if I dig out another one I'll make it a bit more diseased.

Quick update tonight. The photo doesn't show all the work I've done but it is a small matter, the point of this update is to show what can happen in a few hours when I'm focused and motivated.



I'm not bothering to take a lot of pics because I'm going to convert a couple things on them (like weapons) and then I'm mixing up some GS. I'm going to unleash the corruption of Nurgle on both Rhinos but only to the extent that they look "touched", not "possessed". They are still just regular Rhinos.

Much more coming. Soon.

No update on my heads from PIP but it's only been a week. But still... no update on the heads.

Ok, off to work on this. I need to crank on this project because I know as soon as those heads get here anything else I'm doing is going to drop like a rock to the bottom of the list. I am *really* looking forward to the next phase of this project.

@ A Black Ram- Thank you, I appreciate the compliment. I saw in another thread that you are working on your own Chaos army. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!!

@ zadelistol- I think you'll find they are not quite as plain as they were earlier tonight Hopefully this will make up for the lack of pus vomit on the Havoc.


Yes, time for another update. The Dark Angel Chapter is without question officially short 1 Rhino and 1 Whirlwind now. Wail and despair O' ye servants of the Corpse Throne! That which was once yours now carries the Mark of Nurgle!



This was mad fun. Still getting reacquainted w/ GS but I'm pleased with how this turned out. I could go on about how much this sucked or what I did wrong or how many mistakes I made... but I'm not going to do that. Instead I'm going to be psyched that I remembered as much as I did and celebrate the awesome of the results.



This particular Rhino started as the most annoying and turned into the most fun. Again, it had been quite some time since I genuinely used GS as more than a gap filler (the Daemon Prince a week or so ago doesn't really count) so due to inexperience I made more than I had intended and lost my original idea about 1/2 way through working on this... but then by complete accident I stumbled upon a couple techniques (like the divots) and was stuck squarely in the back of the head by the 2x4 of inspiration. Running with the idea I grabbed my Chaos Spawn bitz box for the spiky bits and my Undead bitz box for the smiling face and hanging guts. Thought about doing both sides w/ spikes and all that but remembered that sometimes less is more. Restraint carried the day and I'm pretty happy with how this is turning out so far.



This one I am really proud of because I started out with an idea and from beginning to end I did not lose focus on it. What you see here is exactly what I meant to do. It was more difficult than I remembered and I know that if I practiced more I'd be able to offer this same idea done more professionally, but I'm actually really happy with this as it is and think it is going to look perfect once it is done. Here is the same bit, only now primed (yes I did a lousy priming job, I'm going to go back over it before I paint the rest of it)



All I did for this other than GS was cut up a Zombie Spear shaft and use it as the stakes that are either supporting or stretching the GS out. The stitches were done with my xacto knife. Simple and effective. Once it is painted it will have the emblem of Nurgle on the banner. I am thinking about making a side "banner" as well but haven't decided if I want to or not yet. My main goal (other than to make these look cool) is to get as much done with them as possible so that if need be I can zip to the finish with them because while they are cool and will serve a purpose in my army this started out as a distraction while I was waiting for the parts for my main project to arrive. As soon as those PIP heads show up this (and every other thing I am working on right now) is dropping to the absolute bottom of the projects list.

But maybe, just maybe... this is cool enough to push those gas mask Plague Marines back another few days to really make this a solid part of the army showpeices. I don't know yet. I'll find out over the next couple of days.

That's it for tonight. Thanks for checking this out. More is coming soon.

Latest update. There's a few fiddly things left but they could be good "as is". That's enough text, I'm going to let the pictures do the talking.

zadelistol wrote:Gotta tell you man, every time you post a pic on this thread/explain your next plan, it gets better and better. I would love to face this army!

Thanks, I appreciate the support. The next phase of this project is going to be huge. 40 new Plague Marines. That's going to tip the main balance of my force from "old" to "new", but that's just fine with me. Over 13 years past and it's still a viable army to paint and play.

Tortured-Robot wrote:Rhino look old school greatness!!!

On a bad note I have a massive dislike for your basing of this army.

Models great! bases Bad !

The flock?

weetyskemian44 wrote:juicy juicy nurgle full of rot and pus! Also I love to see the old traitor marines as they are so randomly shaped and fun

Yeah, I really like the old Plague Marine models. They fit well with the old mythos of Nurgle, and add a flavor to a Plague Marine army that I don't think can be compared with any other Legion or warband. I'm following a couple on ebay right now that would a nice addition to my old stuff.

Quick update because today was lame and I didn't get much done at all. But I made sure to do at least this:



That's 10 out of 40. Notice that they are all missing heads and right shoulder pads. Both are on order. I am really hoping my PIP gas mask heads will be here before the weekend, same for the shoulder pads. In anticipation I'm going to paint these and fit the heads / pads afterward. I'm too impatient to wait any longer.

So really not much of an update. But still a valid one as other posts have shown not much time passes before a basecoated miniature becomes a completed part of my army.

I wish I could be even 1/4 this motivated about my Word Bearers. But I'm not, so whatever.

And a teaser of things to come in the distant future- tonight I scored a total steal on eBay. I'm not going to say what it is because I'm going to do it completely behind the scenes and then present it in a comprehensive "step by step" photo log all at once. The only hint I'll offer is I'm crediting Bigdobbo for the inspiration. This one is going to take a while but once it is done it will be the most amazing piece in my army and possibly the most complicated conversion I'll ever do. Depends on how it goes.

Keep checking back for more updates, because they are coming.

Good news- The next 20 Plague Marines just showed up today. I'll get to tearing them apart and putting them back together soon.

Bad news- My PIP heads did not arrive today. I am not happy. I'm not upset w/ PIP, I'm just upset at circumstance. I really need those heads to move forward. My shoulder pads didn't come either but I'm not as anxious for those.

So that's my update. A whole bunch of nothing. BUT... I am working on the 10 Plague Marines from the above photo. They aren't white anymore... ha.

Also taking another look at my Daemon Prince. Yeah, remember him? Seems like a couple months past already and it was only a week ago that I set him down to take a break. But time is different when you live in Warpspace. Anyway, pulled him back out again and decided to experiment a bit with ... highlights. I am daunted. But whatever happens it is what it is. So if nothing else I'll have some new pics of that, and this time it'll be for good, I'm going to base him.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading.

That was the best thing I am going to read all week!

I assure you that I am virulent Space Marine dedicated to Nurgle and that I revere the holy number seven. Long have I sacrificed the pursuit of victory to ensure that I properly roleplayed my army. I am a devote believer that the first 90% of a Codex is description of how and why you should play an army and the list in the back is merely the mechanics of the game.

That being said, I am in the process of painting an army that will eventually wind up on an APOC table and I'm painting new units in large batches. Don't think of my army as being literally 10, 20, 40... think of it as ten squads of 7 models each.

Thanks for following along. I've checked out your stuff quite a few time and I am humbled. You have already inspired me to strive for a higher standard.


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Admittedly I have played squads of 14, but that's just 7 x 2....

Update for the weekend. My PIP heads didn't arrive but my Autocannons did so I decided to fire up this project on top of everything else I'm working on. I started with an old RT Chaos Space Marines w/ the old Heavy Bolter. I did not point this, this is a score from eBay. It looked kind of Tzeentch-like so of course I thought it would be quite funny to convert him into a Death Guard Havoc.

Here's how he started, and where he is so far:



There's some GS in his future.

Last night I played a game with my friend and we decided on 2,350 pts. Here's a pic of my forces. You may notices that there are 7 Marines per squad. And while you can't really see them in this picture, there is a Havoc squad on the other side of the Rhinos, which means I have 7 squads of 7 Death Guard each.


As the battle progressed I learned that I really need to have my Aspiring Champions that are kitted out like Aspiring Champions should be (meaning somerthing other than just the standard isssue. They have slots for extra wargear for a reason). To that end I've been working on these today. Power Fists, Plasma Pistols, and a Combi-weapon for starters. I put a lot of work into these conversions. The astute observer will see multiple kit bashs.







Each one of these Champions are going to be assigned to different squads, but I can also use some of them to create a a unit of Chosen which is very likely to happen as I continue to experiment with the list. I didn't field my Daemon Prince. Which reminds me, I didn't finish him yet. I meant to do that this weekend. Eh. Back in a while.

Another update. This one not so much to show what is done, but to give a "behind the scenes" look at the multiple projects I have on the table right now.

First the the Autocannon Havoc. I added some GS to bulk him out a bit. It'll still wind up looking a bit weedier than the rest, but I'm ok with that. Yes I know I messed up the right knee and his elbow joint. I have already fixed it, you'll see the correction in the next pics.



Next is a regular squad of Plague Marines, nothing special except that I have started to clearly mark their packs so I can tell one squad from another when they all pile in or have to share close quarters in my deployment zone. I'll likely model a couple Special Weapons that I can alternate in and out of the squad as needed.



Here's the progress I've made on the Aspiring Champions. It doesn't look like much but I'm moving right along, I expect they will be done by the weekend barring and unforeseen circumstances. And after this pic was taken I had some leftover GS so I "Nurgled" them up a bit more. You'll see the results in the next update.



And finally, the part of the update you've been looking forward to (or at least I'll pretend you were, it makes me feel more important) the completed Daemon Prince:





I was going to use one of the more dynamic bases (like the one I have my World Eaters Dreadnought but I decided that extra couple millimeters might mean the difference between a cover save or not.

Ha.

But in all seriousness I used the plain base was because I was going to flock it with the same stuff I have used for the entire army since the beginning of time and rather than bury a pretty cool and animated base, I kept my army theme together and saved the base for a different model some other time. I reserve the option to change my mind at a later date.

No word on the PIP heads but that's actually a good thing. With the projects I have open right now I'm actually happy that they didn't show up today and I can't get to the post office until Saturday morning. Plenty of time to finish up at least the Aspiring Champion squad.

That's it for this one. As always, thanks for following along and being part of this. What's funny to me is that the intent of this was to display my old army and add a couple things, but I went insane and have nearly doubled it since I started this thread. You know what... I'll be back in a little while with another picture. I'm interested in seeing just exactly how much this has changed.

So yeah, back later tonight. Thanks for reading.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
From this playable army:



to this:



and this is almost everything I have:



I need a Land Raider. I have to stop buying fiddly bitz on eBay and just do it.

Also open to other suggestions. Anything else you don't see that I should have? One of these days I'll write up my army list on what you see here.

zadelistol- I like Chaos Dreadnoughts. They look very cool and when they work correctly they can lay down a barrage that would make a Space Marine Captain duck for cover. Unfortunately my luck with them has invariably been watching them charge headlong across the table into unsupported close combat, or spend a turn ripping up my own troops. A few games ago I had both of my Dreadnoughts side by side in the middle of the table (intimidation factor) and on the first turn they BOTH rolled a 1 for Fire Frenzy. Since for each Dreadnought the other was the closest unit on the battlefield they opened up on each other and when it was all over I had one Dread immobilized and the other was destroyed. On my first turn. My opponents genuinely enjoy when I play Dreadnoughts. Horray for 115 points per model of absolutely nothing worthwhile!

I still may add another couple Dreadnoughts because I like how they look and enjoy modeling them. Can't say I'd look forward to seeing them on the table much though. Maybe I need to play World Eaters w/ a lot of Berzerkers and have Kharne lead my Dreadnoughts. I can't imagine that anything bad would happen!

I really really really need a Land Raider. I think once I get my call pay from work I'm going to bite the bullet and just get one. I would prefer eBay because I would rather take a used LR that was a bit cobbed up by someone else and convert it to my needs because lets face it, a NIB isn't going to make any difference for my army. I don't require the same clean lines that an Ultramarines force would. But of course there's nothing remotely worthwhile on eBay right now. Well ok there's one I am looking at... but it's a surprise. If I get it I think I'll literally dance a short jig. Ha. I doubt it'll go in my reasonable price range. We'll see.

Once the PIP heads are here I'll have a lot of motivation to do more conversions. I'm not going to undo the work I have done already but there are a few models that might have their existing heads popped off just to compare the possibilities. Gas masks are really scary to me. I think they will be absolutely perfect for the next wave I am working on. All total I have no idea how many Plague Marines I'll have, but there's no doubt that (short of any significant armor) I could field an APOC force. That's pretty cool.

That's it for tonight. I'm off to the land where I can feel a boltpistol kicking in my hand and the jarring resistance of a chainsword as it rips from soft flesh to more resilient bone. Ahhh, sweet dreams.

wolfshadow wrote:Nice work. Nugle-y but not OTT. I like the DP. He looks intimidating, but again not over the top eww gross.

Just saw this, had to reply- thank you for checking this out and for the compliment! I am not striving for absolutely disgusting models (I already achieved that w/ my VC Zombies), I'm just going for a diseased and slightly necrotic Chaos Space Marine look. It's good to know that people are getting that same impression back.

Yggdrasil wrote:Daemon Prince looks nice, he matches the GW Nurgle old style pretty well!

Thank you. I take that as a genuine compliment because even with new models I want a cohesive feel to my army that ties it with the 2nd Ed stuff I started playing it with, so it is intentional. Granted, I am operating at the apex of my available painting skills... but I'm pretty satisfied with where all of this is at and even if I could dramatically improve I doubt I would apply it to this army because it would look out of place.

Rose_Mountainz wrote:You could get some more rhinos? old school death guard play where plague marines in rhinos where fast attack... good times! I don't really know what you could add more. It depends on what you prefer, though I would say some fast attack, mainly raptors because they are beast. Thoughness 6 nurgle bikes is also pretty good

I've been reading a lot of 4th Ed regarding the Plague Marine list. I'm going to stick with the 2 Rhinos for now (40K) but once APOC starts kicking into gear I'll likely revisit the amount of transport my army has. The more I read up the old lists the less I feel having Fast Attack would be properly roleplaying my army, so even though I'm accepting a tactical disadvantage that the current rules do not specifically impose I feel more honest in my approach to how I am playing my army. If I start feeling like I'm being stomped too often I can always pull out my Black Legion HQ and min / max stats from the 5th ed list for a Crusade force. Of course I'd be compromising my integrity and core principles, but it's a small price to pay for a brief moment of victory. Ha.


Tonights update is a bit rushed, but I decided to call these "done for now" because I have too many projects that are starting to creep up on me and I am feeling overwhelmed. This is how things wind up on my Shelf of Shame. I mentioned a few updates ago that I was going to start a super top-secret OTT conversion that was going to take quite some time to do correctly. Well, the model the conversion is based on arrived today. I have mapped out what needs to be done, what I need to do it, and what I expect to have when I am finished. The good news is that I'm stocked up for this. I bought some more Gray Stuff last week, I have all the parts necessary to build the model, I have a clear image of what I want the end result to be, and I'm motivated to start working on it.

The downer of this is that I have two other huge projects on the back burner that are about to fall right into my lap and demand to be done. I have the "gas mask" squads on deck (speaking of which those heads STILL haven't arrived. I'm not complaining yet. They are coming from England after all, and I ordered them Now 23rd. If they are not here this time next week I'll email the company w/ my order number and see if they have any info on when it might arrive) and after careful tracking on eBay I found a really good deal on a used Land Raider that will be here next week. Either of those projects would be huge on an individual level. Combined, along with Project X... I feel like I'm starting a new army from scratch! Suffice to say I don't see any painting or modeling in my foreseeable future that isn't Death Guard.

But anyway, here are my latest additions to the army. This is not a squad, these are Aspiring Champions created for other preexisting squads. And I still need a few more of them just to cover what I already have, and then I'll need more when the gas mask squads are built, but I'll worry about that later. For now, I present the newest Aspiring Champions in my Death Guard detachment:




These Aspiring Champions came into being after I was completely tabled by my friend's Orks. He was trying a Killa Kan Wall (three units of three Kans each) for the first time and it was devastatingly effective because (in part) I had very little that could fight back against it. I am not saying that this was the entire reason for my loss, but it was certainly a contributing factor. If you haven't played against an Ork player that fields a Kan Wall I suggest you try it sometime. It's awesome!



After my crushing defeat, Father Nurgle sent a vision to me. I was digging through my stuff trying to find something I wanted to upgrade my force with. I found a helm that had something familiar to it but didn't quite belong. A Wonder Saw helped me summon forth the helm that would crown my newest Champion, and soon after the rest of my new Champions fell into place after it.







There's multiple kit bashes and a number of genuine conversions there, as well as a small amount of GS that I didn't know what to do with after it was left over from my Death Guard Havoc w/ Autocannon. The paint job is kind of ehh, and there's things I should have done (like drill the barrels) that I didn't do, but I always can go back if I feel like it. As it is right now these are completely worthy of my tabletop and are a welcome addition to the force. Another benefit is that each Champions frees up a regular Plague Marine model from each squad so in effect I get an extra squad for the effort.

I am really hitting a stride here. I haven't had this much fun modeling and painting in years, it has a direct impact on what I field from game to game, and added together I have a place for every model in my force (i.e. if we played an APOC game).

More is coming. Much, much more. Updates may slow down a bit from this point for a while because I have a lot of stuff to do behind the scenes, but I'll be sure to share the gas mask squads and the Land Raider horror as soon as I have enough work done to share. As always, thanks for following along. It's decent to know that other people are into what I am doing.

Limbo wrote:Aspiring Champions looks awesome! Whole army is gret, ol' grandpa would be proud.
I too love dreadnoughts! Advice if you're gonna field em: kit them with DCCW, heavy bolter or missile launcher and always field 2 dreads next to each other. Since non of the weapons have high enough Strenght to score a glancing on a Dreads side armor, you wont have to worry about fire frenzy. So I say: Add another dreadnought to your army! (maybe someone like this? http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/162340-Nurgle%20Dread%20WIP.html?m=2)

Thank you. I checked out your stuff and think it is excellent. I like the scheme you have with your Iron Warriors, classic and true! Your Dreadnought is amazing. Funny you should mention another Dreadnought. Yesterday there was a thread that had this in it and while I don't like this model specifically I think the idea is incredible and it has inspired me to create something similar (meaning the clear sarcophagus but have a WFB Ghoul torso or a non-GW Zombie / undead / corpse thing instead) and corrupt it akin to my Rhino and Predator. However, this is not going to happen for quite some time as I have at least the next month (if not longer) already scheduled for major conversion work. I work a job where I can actually paint during break and lunch so I'll be working on troops straight through, but the larger projects can only be done at home and I don't always have the time I need (and really, even if I were independent wealthy and never needed sleep again I still doubt I'd have enough time... ha). I get the weapon idea (can't destroy each other first turn) but I've usually looked at my Dreads as mobile HW platforms. I suppose I could kit them a bit more Close Combat like my World Eaters Dreadnought (2 CC weapons, Twin Link Bolter, Heavy Flamer)... it'll require a different mindset for my Death Guard as I see them more as a "stand back and shoot" than a "charge headlong into battle" kind of force.

Yggdrasil wrote:Yeah, drill the barrels!!!

The champions look nice, I especially like the old power fist / claw on last pic's left-most champion... If it's really the one I think of lol

You know, after looking at those pics this morning I'm embarrassed that I was so lazy. Just a couple extra minutes to drill the barrels... and really it should have been done during the build / conversion stage, not painting stage when I blew it off. I'm going to do it tonight when I get home. I'm also going to finish the Champion with the back banner. The original idea was to use that standard for the backbanner but then print out small "parchment" strips and attach them to the banner to signify badges either awarded directly to the Champion or ones that he ripped off the backbanners of Champions he had defeated. I'm going to do that tonight as well. The other projects can wait, they aren't going to go anywhere while they wait and rushing through something to call it done when it is falling short of the intended goal just so I can rushn into another project that will get set aside as I go to the next and the next... slooooooowwww dooowwnnn, chill... there's no deadline on this except my pending mortality, and I'm not expecting that anytime soon.

Pics of corrections soon.

Statistically speaking I have a 33.333 percent chance of having something unsavory happen at the beginning of each of my turns. To date I have yet to have a game where I have not had something incredibly stupid happen at least twice. I can see why an astute Warlord that had victory on their mind would steer clear of such a machine. Luckily I play for fun so at times it's actually kind of funny to see it running across the field snapping it's clawing and shrieking in it's blood chilling mechanical voice.

Weekend update. Keeping my word, I went back and finished details that should have been done in the first place. I drilled out a lot of barrels, even some on really old models that have been around since my original army. I touched up some bits and detail that was lacking, and overall I feel better about the effort I've been making lately.

I'm not posting pics of something so minor (drilled barrels) but I am posting some work I did on an Aspiring Champion. I had the idea on this one to have a banner covered with awards, certificates, etc that has either been awarded to the champion or ones that he had ripped from defeated enemies. But I rushed it and just left the banner empty. I went back over it a couple times and this is the end result:



I'm mostly happy with it. I know I could have cleaned up another couple things but this time it really is it. I'm done w/ this one. I actually made the backbanner worse today by trying to add some definition between the different awards on it and would up doing a lot of "fix it as best I can" work to bring it to where it is now, which is less than it was before I started I think. It is a small matter. It is a good miniature for wargaming and it meets my standard for an acceptable tabletop paintjob. I wouldn't enter it into a painting contest but I'd enter it into a 1,500 pt army for a night of "roll dice kill stuff".

In other news, I have some work done on my super top secret Project X. I will say that I was very unhappy when I really sat down and started to look at the base model. Previously I had taken a look at it to say "yup. it's what I bid on" and set it aside. I was finally starting to move the concept in my mind onto the miniature and see how much of it would transfer and what changes had to be made, what first steps would I need to take, etc. That's when it it became obvious that before I was going to get any work done on my vision I had to undo almost everything on the model. It had to have been glued by an unsupervised novice with no idea how basic modeling works and was convinced that 1 model = 1 full tube of polystyrene glue. I spend over an hour just cutting the model apart so I could repair and rebuild it to meet my standard and needs for the model I am going to make out of it. I actually got so sick of it that I gave up on everything and burned up a couple hours playing a video game just to readjust my head and not wind up hating this project.

Feh. There's a lot of work to be done on this. But in the end I expect it will be worth it.

In other other news, still no PIP heads. As stated before I won't start getting too twitchy about it until next week, but I was honestly disappointed when I checked the mail yesterday. I have a squad of Plagie Marines pre-painted, just need the heads to finish the model and then a bit of work to wash / tone / etc. Once that is done I'll have instant gratification with a new squad of gas masked Plague Marines. So I guess the good news of that is that as soon as they get here I'll be able to post something up.

And finally, in other other other news I have a Land Raider coming sometime next week and I'm pretty sure as soon as it hit my work table it will become priority #1 until it is finished. I am planning on pushing my sculpting limits on this one, I really want to warp and corrupt this LR as much as possible while still maintaining a cohesive thread with the rest of my army. I have a lot of GS on hand because of the other project I'm working on so there will be no lack of material.

That's it for this one. As always, thanks for following along and much more is on the way.