Death Guard Plague Marines- old meets new

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**mekbadzappa**

Love the bikes, I'm a huge fan of odd units that are overpriced in the chaos book *looks at raptors bikes and defiler* the units are fun to use. Working on getting a larger chaos army after my guard are worked on for a bit longer. Also, you have so many plague marines! There are so many models its crazy! Love the greenstuff work also its excellent.

**Skalk Bloodaxe**

@ mekbadzappa- Thank you for stopping by and commenting, it is appreciated. I like the "odd" things about Chaos as well, though I haven't been using them much until recently. Now that the Defiler is done I'm going to try for the most "daemon" army I can. I'll likely get stomped, but it'll be fun so long as I read and understand the rules for my new models first. Looking forward to seeing your CSM stuff.

Man I've been busy these last couple of days. After cranking out that Bike last night I figured I'd better get a handle on the Defiler or it was going to wind up on the Shelf of Shame because I'm completely sick of the project and was looking for almost anything else to work on. So I sat down and really applied myself. So yes, the Defiler is...

DONE!!!

I think I did a decent job and do not feel I cut (m)any corners. I could have spent more time doing this or that, but that is true of any project I work on. As it stands I'm happy it is done and proud of the end result.

So what next? Here's the projects I have open and unfinished (meaning I already have the models and they are slotted as an active project for the Death Guard):

8 confused and lost Khorne Berzerkers as Chosen (appx 25% complete)

4 Lascannon Havocs (about 40% complete)

10 Plague Marines (about 60% complete, is not a "squad, it's just all I have left of them)

1 Aspiring Champion (about 25% complete)

1 Standard Bearer (about 25% complete)

1 Plague Marine w/ Flamer (new model, just built it last night, appx 50% complete)

Land Raider (0% complete)

Rebase the entire army (???% complete, looking forward to that task like a stick in the eye)

Not sure what I'm doing next. I'm all about working on Death Guard stuff right now because I'm really feeling it and want to run with this motivation for as long as I can because anyone that follows my work knows I have incredible periods of activity and accomplishment followed by weeks or longer of nothing at all. I don't know when the crash will come, I only know that it will. I'd like to get a few more projects off my bench before that happens.

Thanks for looking, C&C encouraged, and I'll be back!

**zilegil**

Brilliant stuff.

I think some are going to comment on the metaphoric positioning of that gun, though.

**monkeyh**

Nice work! That bit on the bike - bit of spare tank track?

**inmygravenimage**

Cracking work mate, and love the chimera track - I use them as data slates for my marines! Hope papa nurgle filled your stocking with festive goo.

**Henners91**

LOVE the Biker.

That defiler *really* need a pupil, thouh..

You could give it an eye like this fella's:

Spoiler:

**GiraffeX**

The Defilers looking very nice in a Nurglesque way, its like he's saying come and get some if your ard enough lol

**JBrehaut**

I really like your biker mate! And I think you're definitely right about the power maul, I think it looks good

I'm super impressed with the sheer scale of the size of this army, it makes my insides tickle... Or possibly that's just the beginning of the Nurgle fungus creeping into my lungs..

Anyway mate, keep bringing the goodness!

**Skalk Bloodaxe**

@ zilegil- Thanks for checking this out and leaving a compliment!

@ monkeyh & inmygravenimage- Cookie for you both, that's exactly what it is (like I really changed it a lot, but still...). That bike was the most fun and 100% inspiration-driven project I've done since the Plague Sorcerer. I wish I would have more moments like that.

@ Henners91- Man that Biker really got me going. I'm bidding on a couple eBay auctions tonight that (if successful) will land me 8 more. 8, you say? 8 is not the Holy Number of Nurgle, it's Khorne! And wait... I already have 1... so TZEENTCH??? Noooooo!!! But there's a madness to my... er, madness. Let's see... (flipping through CSM Codex)... why look at that. A Chaos Lord and Chaos Sorcerer can both take a Bike as part of their Wargear. I wonder what un-fluffy mischief I could cause with a unit like that? As for the Defiler eye... I was wondering who was going to call me on that. I was hoping for a "pus-filled orb" look, but you're right, it just looks unfinished. I'm intimidated to try to make it look "right" because I have a feeling it's going to wind up looking like this:

So there you go. Maybe I'll try to fix it, but I won't be excited about doing it.

@ GiraffeX- That's exactly what he's saying, and man he means it. I did some reading on these things, and while the stat line is a bit weak, it's a Walker so it can move and still blast everything it has... plus it has Fleet, so I can either hammer on my target w/ a Battle Cannon, Twin-Linked Autocannon, and Twin-Linked Heavy Flamer and then Charge, or I can haul (up to) 18" and stomp into CC. Oh yeah. Looking forward to putting this bad boy on the field really soon.

@ JBrehaut- Thank you a lot! Ha. I'm my own worst critic when it comes to my work but I promised a hile back that's I'd get better about it so at least I allowed that someone else would like it better than I do. And I feel that same ticklely feeling when I look at this army. I've never done anything like this before, not even 1/2 close. I think back to the projects I had "back in the day" when all I did was play and paint... it feels like I put in 100 times the effort for not even 1% of the return on completed models. Maybe I took more time back then, maybe I'm just faster now, maybe I'm not really thinking about all the properly... but bottom line I have a MASSIVE army and look forward to the day I put it ALL on the same table at once and let the rotting winds of Chaos lay low all that stand before the might of the Death Guard!!!

Wow, I have been just cranking on the Death Guard! I should go back through my posts because I feel like I've offered up more new stuff in a shorter timeframe lately than I ever have before, and tonight is no exception. I've hammered out another 7 models for your viewing pleasure.

I'm really into what I am doing right now and I'm going to crash hard when I finish up the last of the last because I am wicked close. There's only a handful of models left (a Flamer, an Aspiring Champion, 4 Havoc Lascannons, and 4 regular Plague Marines) and once I'm done w/ those I'm going try to get my hands on some Bikers and some Jump Packs to make Raptors (I'll take the models out of my "eBay Rescues" CSM box). I know neither of those units are very "fluffy" (Nurgle is not known for being quick about anything) but my ultimate goal w/ the Death Guard is to have at least 1 unit of every possible option in the CSM Codex. I know I could get started on the Land Raider but honestly I'm not into that idea at all right now. In fact, if there was a way to measure how very UN-excited I am about it I'd break the needle off the scale. It will come in time, but that time is definitely not right now.

What it is time for is another photo update! Here's my latest. Remember, this is not a "squad", all of these models are just "fillers" to existing units. But I did paint them in 7, so I could take them as they are. But they aren't a squad specifically.

Not sure which shot came out better so here's two of the same group:

I really enjoyed painting these guys up. I think part of it is because I'm so so so close to being DONE. Like... done. I have almost nothing left on my desk that is slotted for the Death Guard. It's a weird feeling. I'm usually *buried* under whatever project I 1/2 started (like my Cultists... see bottom of page if you check it out... oh man what a nightmare

) but this I have never done before. Ever.

Anyway, moving on. The next model is my newest Icon Bearer. Nothing special really, but I really like this. So much that I decided to show him off in 3 different angles:

I changed the Icon a bit because it occurred to me that I already have that same banner in my army on 4 other models (at least) so I changed it up just a bit. Different enough to not look the same but still what it is so it fits in properly.

And finally, the obligatory closeups for the rest of the guys:

I will say again that I am so glad I finally changed out the basing to what I am using now (Tortured-Robot takes a bow

) and my only regret is having waited so very long to finally make the change. I am not looking forward to re-basing 100+ miniatures, but it has to happen.

I like how these came out a lot. Especially the one on the right. The eye was by change but it looks like he's glancing to the right as if something is just catching his attention...

...which of course gets his mate's attention...

AAAAUUGHHHHH!!!!!!!

*dakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakka.... (reload) ... dakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakka*

More coming soon!

**monkeyh**

More good work Skalk', standard bearer is definitely the best in the unit.

**Henners91**

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:@ Henners91- Man that Biker really got me going. I'm bidding on a couple eBay auctions tonight that (if successful) will land me 8 more. 8, you say? 8 is not the Holy Number of Nurgle, it's Khorne! And wait... I already have 1... so TZEENTCH??? Noooooo!!! But there's a madness to my... er, madness. Let's see... (flipping through CSM Codex)... why look at that. A Chaos Lord and Chaos Sorcerer can both take a Bike as part of their Wargear. I wonder what un-fluffy mischief I could cause with a unit like that? As for the Defiler eye... I was wondering who was going to call me on that. I was hoping for a "pus-filled orb" look, but you're right, it just looks unfinished. I'm intimidated to try to make it look "right" because I have a feeling it's going to wind up looking like this:

Good lad

Glad to see you're concerned with the holy numbers, as too am I... In my (totally unfinished) Nurgle Army, I too run everything in sevens... I had thought the Dice Gods would favour me for this blind devotion to Nurgle but in the one game I did play with my CSM I got totally obliterated and lost *all* of my aspiring Champions to gets hot rolls on my plasma pistols... Ah well, their faith must've been lacking I guess...

For the eye I'd advise giving it a yellowish wash so it isn't bright white, or, if that doesn't float your boat... just prime it with some desert yellow and then go over that with bleached bone... Then try doing a big round splodge of dark flesh or a similar reddish-brown... Then just stick a pupil in there. If you're feeling adventurous you could go for a lighter brown like bestial brown and paint little streaks inside the dark flesh splodge to give the eye some interest texture... but this is me guessing in my head, my actual Daemon Prince had a very simple eye:

Spoiler:

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I have to say that as you show us more and more infantry, they're starting to grow on me.

I used to view green Plague Marines with flat textures (no mould, etc.) as just not looking that pestilent... but your use of what I think are washes and general variation in tone does make the armour look a little bit more 'alive'. Which as contradictory as it may seem to Nurgle's nature, is a bit part of looking plague-y

**dsteingass**

Completely Fantastic Skalk! The early 1970s wallpaer adds to the Nurgliness!

As for base sizes, I use whatever base sizes I want to, and what looks right. I don't give a damn what rules say. Is GW going to send the rules poice to my house and shut me down? I don't think so.

**RSJake**

Great stuff Skalk! I like the use of the tank tread for the bike controls!

And the Defiler looks great! Sorry to hear you got tired of working on it, I get that way, way too often!

Everything is looking great!

**Moltar**

Everything's coming along, Skalk! Biker looks ace, Defiler is disgustingly perfect and the new lot of CSMs look really good too, especially the icon bearer. Keep it up. You can see the light at the end of your Death Guard tunnel.

**Skalk Bloodaxe**

@ monkeyh- Thanks, I really enjoyed doing the SB. Simple but effective.

@ Henners91- I've sacrificed victory numerous times in the name of proper roleplay of my army. 5th Ed says field a blob of 20 Marines. Papa Nurgle says field 7 Marines. I'd sooner lose with honor than win with min/max. Your Champions were given the greatest gift of all that Nurgle can bestow on any of his loyal subjects- death. So cheer up, they went out in a flash of plasma! Yay! As for the Defiler eye, I'm intimidated to mess w/ it right now so I'm going to do some "behind the scenes" practice and see what I can practice myself up to. And thank you again for the compliments, I have enjoyed this project a lot and knowing that some of my work is inspiring other people is really the bonus on top of everything else I enjoy about doing this and posting on Dakka. More is coming for sure, though it may slow down a bit as the projects are about to get bigger w/ less models.

@ dsteingass- Considering some of the diseases that plague us still today have origins in the 70's, I think that wallpaper is the perfect touch for the Death Guard.

@ RSJake- The tread was an inspiration in a moment of need, and I'll likely use that idea again w/ other projects in the future. The Defiler turned out pretty well, about as well as I would have expected and at very least did not turn out to be less.

@ Moltar- The idea of this being almost "over" (I still have 10-15 projects I could do, but you know what I mean) is a great feeling of victory, but also a feeling of... loss? Wiht a few exceptions this has been my primary focus for a long time. The vast majority of work I've done on any project has been w/ the Death Guard. Once I'm done... well, I guess I'll have to get to work on my old World Eaters and serve them as an offering worthy of his fury and hatred. But that's not for a while yet.

My tracks form Machinator arrived today:

(base for scale)

The detail is amazing, and already looks muddy / worn / used:

Check the individual links, they would make great Extra Armor, etc

And another awesome part of this is that they come molded gray now instead of white. If you haven't checked his store out already, here's the link again: Blood and Skulls Industry. And remember, he's also a member of Dakka!

Not much else going on. I've been way too beat to paint these last couple of days. But I finished the Flamer. So few left to go...

I'm likely going to take an intentional break for a few days (opposed to a circumstantial one) and try to finish up the Lascannon Havocs this weekend. I think I have a game vs. Necrons on Saturday but I'm still waiting for confirmation. Does anyone have ideas for how to stomp Necrons? I've never played against them and have no idea at all what they are capable of. If you have any advice to share, please PM me because he reads this thread (although he almost never posts... why is it that I get more support from people in England and Australia than I do the guys that live 10 minutes from me?)

Anyway, that's it for now, will be back w/ more gifts for Father Nurgle soon!

**dsteingass**

They have no soul, so killing them with kindness won't work...

**Skalk Bloodaxe**

At first I thought you were talking about my IRL friends, then I realized it was Necrons... HA!

**Skalk Bloodaxe**

Not an "update" per se, just a glimpse of things to come. I just scored these on eBay:

The jump packs are Imperial, but anyone that has followed this project for a while knows how much I love corrupting the tools of the Imperium and turn them back against them. I'll likely mess them up a bit w/ GS and make them a bit more "spiky" than I normally do w/ my models, but I will at least use the more bio-spikes like I do on my vehicles. I'll also be doing helmet swaps, etc to make them look more Nurgle. It's also funny that there are 9 of them... I get to steal from Tzeentch and the Imperium at the same time!

Still on the bench- Havoc Lascannon team, 4 more Plague Marines, Land Raider, 8 Khorne Chosen, uhm... and a few other things probably. Will start work on the Raptors mind-January I'm guessing.

More coming soon! Thanks for stopping by.

**Tortured-Robot**

Ahh Ebay, shouldnt build an army without it!!

Those bikers are great, so pleased you used the round biker bases

, you know how I like my bases haha.

The Defiler is great, good effort to get it finished!

If I ever get around to making a IR ( and finding a cheap one on ebay

) I'll have to try those tracks out, they look great! Tho I'd like to see how they fit first!

Good stuff.

**Henners91**

Spikes ain't necessarily the only way to corrupt something:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=400029&pIndex=15&aId=1200005&multiPageMode=true&start=16

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=400029&pIndex=16&aId=1200005&multiPageMode=true&start=17

**Skalk Bloodaxe**

@ Tortured-Robot- eBay is my #1 source for almost everything. I haven't bought a single miniature NIB from GW or my FLSG for any of my projects. However, I do support my FLGS for peripherals like paints, brushes, GS, assorted tools, etc. It's a decent gesture that says "thanks for still being here" and it also satisfies my The treads fit quite well actually, the only modification you have to make (key words- "have to") are cutting out the tabs on the track wells on the vehicle that are designed to keep the stock tracks in place. Another bonus is that you'll invariably have extra bits left over becasue there's no reason why you have to go all the way up and around as the top of the tracks are covered by the body of the vehicle (this is true for the Rhino, Land Raider, and Super Heavies). For customization of Chaos vehicles I don't think there's anything better, and if I didn't use the MK1 Rhino bodies I'd have them all using Machinator's tracks as well. And as always, thank you for the compliments. I have a lot of respect for your work, knowing that you are digging this project is a distinct validation that I'm going in the right direction. Because really, I just want to be part of the "cool kids" on Dakka.

@ Henners91- Thank you for the link, and you've hit on a somewhat "raw nerve" for me regarding most of my force. For all the dirty green armor, broken shoulder pads, and blood-leaking armor, I haven't really made an effort to truly Nurglize my "rank and file". Blasted holes and "Nurgle's Rot" pustules / bizarre growths would be more in line with creating a truly diseased and corrupted force. As they are right now, a color change and clean paint job on most of those models would easily put them in the Iron Warriors, Night Lords, etc. There are times when I truly feel that I have "failed" at proper modeling that is in the spirit of a Plague Marine force. No one has ever "called" me on it, but I do not doubt that someone has at least noticed. I entertained the idea of calling them "newer recruits", but bottom line is they are Death Guard and the corruption is pretty specific even for "new recruits". As I start the prodigious task of re-basing my entire force to my new scheme I may also add some new corruption to some models and make my force less "clean" overall. My vehicles are dead-on and I like how they have come out. My "characters" (Lord, Sorcerer, Aspiring Champions) are more in line with what they should be, but even then some of them look too "clean". It is somehting I've thought about a lot already, and now it seems like it's not something that could happen, it is somehting that should happen.

**999drako**

The deamon prince is epic.
Can not wait to see some more of your army

**Samus_aran115**

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:@ Samus_aran115- I haven't ever used the in triplets because each Predator is a separate Heavy Support item. My luck with them has been lackluster and they seem surprisingly ineffective. They are too expensive (130 w/ Lascannons) considering the light armor and infrequency you get to shoot them, unless you're going to have them act as a Heavy Weapon platform (a Havoc squad w/ Autocannon and 2 Lascannons is more expensive). I like them because they look cool and I suppose given a specific scenario they'd be effective... I just haven't found it in 5th Ed yet. I'd sooner spend the extra 95 points and get a troop transport w/ dual twin-linked Lascannons and can Deep Strike. Thank you for the compliment, I really do appreciate it and would like to point out that whether you realized it or not, you're one of the first people that posted a reply on this thread. Thanks for sticking around and watching the Death Guard grow!

Really? Wow! Yeah, it's been a pleasure to watch your death guard grow to it's current size, and I'm glad you appreciate my support

Your army is the epitome of a beautiful retro army.

Huh. I guess I'll stay away from them then, until I start building my army to apocalyptic proportions, thanks. They certainly look cool though. I can imagine a solid line of predators coming towards my army, lascannons blasting away

**MartiniPunk**

Wow dude.. haha I'm so glad you pointed me to this thread!

This is all epic work! Keep it up!

**Llamahead**

I'd personally like to see those Raptors with Blight Drone inspired backpacks!

**Moltar**

Not to throw a wrench into your plans, but do you have any Obliterators? I didn't see any in your gallery and I think your DG may need some. Just sayin'

**Skalk Bloodaxe**

@ 999drako- Thanks for the compliment! To see "more" you might want to go back in time through this thread because the huge leaps and bounds (full squads, etc) are mostly done. I have to end this someday, and other than Raptors, another Land Raider, Bikers, Chosen, Havoc Lascannons, Obliterators, and a Palanquin I'm done w/ this project. Ok, maybe a Super Heavy and a Warhound Titan... but that's it!

@ Samus_aran115- Yup. I might be a bit weird about that but I try to keep track of people that post here and try to support the projects they have going on. And Predators aren't completely worthless. They make GREAT targets for Deff Koptas.

@ MartiniPunk- Hey, thanks for checking this out! I'm going to keep working on this until it's 100% completed and done. What "100% completed and done" really is... well, who knows? I listed my known and possible projects above, but still... I could use more Rhinos and Land Raiders... there's no way I'd ever get them all on the same table at once unless we were playing APOC or the most monstrous game of 40K I've ever played (largest every played was Warhammer 40K 40K... 20,000 points per side, 40K total, had 5 people per side. I had a 6X12 table back in those days. Good good times

)

@ Llamahead- You know, I agree with you 100% but it just wasn't going to happen. I surfed eBay high and low looking for those kind og packs and the ones I found were wicked expensive (like $9 per pack) and I just now went to eBay so I could show you a pic of what I WANTED to get but couldn't afford ... and then I find this:

$20 (including shipping) for 10 packs. I don't know what I'll do with the packs I have coming, but I'm going to be WAY happier with this!!! So I'm FINALLY able to do somehting you recommended! Yay!

@ Moltar- Dude you JUST BARELY posted when i was finishing this! Ha! Yes, Oblitz are on the list!

*

**GreyTauKnight**

HELLS YEA PUBLICITY!!! THANKS!

**Henners91**

I'm flattered to get the promotion there

I feel guilty every time I look at my shelf and see my poor denziens of Nurgle looking down at me with rage as I work on my GKs... eek, best get round to finishing them some point!

**GiraffeX**

Cheers for the mention Skalk, I'll be adding some good old Nurgles rot to my chaos thread soon. Just received the parts for the lower half of my Plague Marines today all being well the torsos should arrive tomorrow.