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Hi guys,
I have attempted Plague Marines with chips on the armour, but they look really bland. Anyone have any ideas of what I could do to improve it?

Try having the guns be a different/brighter colour so the models have a focal point. The models seem to be too much of one tone, which is where your problem is coming from. Don't get me wrong, the armour is really well painted, it's just it's all that colour.

Thanks Warboss, what colour would you suggest for the guns and should I keep the amount of metal on the guns to a minimum?

I'm withWarboss. In general its a pretty neat work but maybe a bit of color could improve it. As they're plague marines, a bit of green could match great with the rusty effect of the armor or even -if you've time and like them- putting a base with elements that contrast with that -swamp effect or even a battle one- could fit too, if you dont want to touch the original mini.

Thanks Ryu, I Wilk try the next five with green or black trim bolter guns and maybe a different trim on the armour also (non metallic maybe?)
I am going to keep the bases simple and just slap on that cracked earth effect paint.

Use that verdigris technical paint from GW on the brass.
I use green washes followed by home-made weathering powders but the GW stuff looks easier!
Highlight the blue on the plasma guns a bit more, through the shades right up to white to really make them pop.
Drill out the barrels on the guns.
Basing them will really help too.


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but they are looking good so far. really like the manky white!

maybe a little "athonian camoshade" or something over the few small nurgly organic fleshy bits?...not too much, but just enough to throw in a bit of subtle, in-theme spot-colour?...maybe dirty, black gun casings for a bit extra contrast?

...and as others have said, a bit of verdigris here and there on the bronze, and some pale blue/white highlights on the plasma coils could be good too

I do like the armour though, that dirty, mottled off-white gives a real nice sickly effect

see i think the gun and armor are perfect but if you were to then change a color, what would that be? for me even though the armor looks perfectly nurgle, i might instead make the armor a brighter more mucus looking green just to allow you to keep the gun color the same

Buber, Zobo and Eosgreen, thank you for your feedback. I'll try and incorporate all the suggestions into the second squad. It wont matter that they look different as it will help distinguish squads on the battle field. I did a tiny bit of highlighting, plasma effects and matte varnished them. I went with the easy basing option which makes them look even more bland ha! I will try and go for a lighter shade with the initial painting so they don't darken so much after washing.

Here's a pic of the finished squad:

The plasma effects are really nice. As for the colour of the gun casing, I'd try either red or even a purple. Just something that contrasts from the armour.

I like these, simple but effective. Is that a converted combiplasma on the leader? it looks pretty sweet!

Something I find effective on plague marines is to paint their cabling pink then shade it with purple ink. Will make a nice contrast to the brown/green/bone armour!

Thanks and sounds good Warboss, I don't have purple paint do you have a recommendation? What shade should I highlight it with?

Thanks Nareik, it's not converted, just from one of the Space Marine kits, no idea which one; I got it from a bitz website. I will try the pink and purple ink idea on cabling; can you give a picture example? What paints do you recommend?

I think I used screamer pink, highlighted with a selective Lucius lilac drybrush then washed in purple ink. Dunno if any / all those colours are available. Makes the cables look reminiscent of guts and innards!

The overall "look" is good, but definitely some more contrasting bits would work well. Though the bases could be the contrast too if they're a suitably different colour/shade.

Naggaroth Night might give you an interesting shift, and a slight bit of contrast. Might even consider it on the edge of the base, to give that contrast.

Just a few ideas off the top of my head. Great work so far.

What about a little rust effect where the metal shows through the chipped paint here and there. The orange might break it up a little.

As rank and file troops, these are great. Good OSL for infantry. A little splatter of a brighter brown or rust color might help if you're pushing the scale of your work higher.