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So I have a handle on my Space Marines from Dark Imperium and am having fun painting the pox walkers. About to turn my attention to the Plague Marines. It looks like their armor is "Death Guard Armor" now but doing some research about how to paint them I find that in the past folks used to paint them off white. I'm curious about this now and wondering what course to take....

I prefer the old Horus Heresy white/green style, personally. Much more attractive.

Painting is always a personal choice, there are no limits to what you can do. Many ways one can go with Death Guard: rotting green, pale white of pallid death, necrotic black, crimson of inflammated flesh... You do you.

Traditionally, the plague marines have often been green as that colour is associated with biologic things (including illness, rot, snot and all their comrades) and gradually shifted to include depictions of their Heresy livery of unpainted white/grey/creamy armour with jade details. Those are all fine.

Personally, I too prefer the legion colours and more of a dry, sun bleached aesthetic of ruin over the easily overdone green and pus. This way:

There are lots of great options for Plague Marines miniatures, from traditional Nurgle colours – greens, yellows and earthy browns – to Legion-era white with green pauldrons. It's also worth noting that while all Death Guard are Plague Marines, not all Plague Marines are Death Guard; so you really can choose whatever colours you like.

While the Chaos Legions are (mostly) still around in M41, they're mostly considerably more diverse, with groups operating much like warbands led by charismatic leaders rather than modern-era military groups. Even within intact Legions like the Death Guard, there are examples in the Codex of different schemes for different Vectoria (a Vectorium is essentially a Company/Chapter-level division of the Death Guard), ranging from black to white.

Personally, I also favour like the Legion-era white with green pauldrons:


...but I've seen some fantastic themes, ranging from Iron Warrior metal to Word Bearer red. Go for something you like the look of – you might even try a nod to their pre-Crusade roots as the Dusk Raiders, with unpainted armour and a red arm.

Here's the Warhammer TV tutorial for the Heresy era Death Guard.

White or off white was their heresy colours. They probably turn green or other manky rotten shades as they decay. So it's your choice how far along the decay train they are.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
White or off white was their heresy colours. They probably turn green or other manky rotten shades as they decay. So it's your choice how far along the decay train they are.

Agreed. They are technically still white with green pauldrons, but centuries of decay, rust and putrification have turned them various shades of bile, vomit and poo colors. Your choice just how badly

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The 2nd/early 3rd ed. studio Plague Marines were predominantly black.

Went with off white for mine, tried the 'official' green but didn't like it



this is VMC Pastel Green cut 50-50 with dead white

The trick to getting a good green Death Guard scheme is to multi-layer it. Several layers of dry brushing and glazing to give a sense of depth and 'history'.

I'm going to go with off-white and green for my DG but hit them with as much weather as I can. My thoughts is to promote the aspect of Nurgle that is stagnation as well as decay.

thats what i did for my mortarion. I painted his armour in off white, then applied lots of filters and streaks.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
thats what i did for my mortarion. I painted his armour in off white, then applied lots of filters and streaks.

That does indeed look excellent.