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Afternoon Dakka,

I've not played 40k since 6th and wasn't planning on getting back into it. Back when I did play, I always wanted to do a conversion-heavy Plague Marine army. I've already got a decent bits box of stuff, but I recently picked up a bunch of really cheap old CSM, Plague Marines and so on at my FLCS so the building can really begin in earnest. I don't have much of a goal. Purely to be creative and have fun, smash some kits together and see what gross little guys I can come out with.


I'm going to see how long I can go before buying new models. I learned from my rescued Sons of Medusa army that I really get a kick out of rescuing old models so I'm going to lean into that as I explore this Nurgle army. First off, I started bashing the old 1994 Plague Marines with some old and new CSM parts I picked up.

The original Plague Marine is iconic to me. So one had to survive onmolested. Cutting off the arms and legs is relatively simple, but there's going to need to be some greenstuff done here and there - droopy bellies, gaps filled etc. I'm waiting on a set of FW shoulder pads which I picked up recently which I'm going to ration out over these guys. My plan is to eventually have two squads of ten with all weapon options. Less for the game, more for the modelling opportunities.

Speaking of, here's my Blight Launcher and Plague Belcher:



I figured the best kind of Nurgley "flamer" was a sort of mutated tentacle arm that spurts gross bile and filth over people. So that's the way I'm going. The Spewer will be a double-barreled tentacle arm and the Foul Blightspawn... well:

This old Space Crusade CSM needed a new lease on life, so I started adding a pitted belly, inspired by the old FW Blight Drone. He then became this little freak:



And then lastly is my Plague Surgeon. Again made out of an old Plague Marine but with some bits out of the bitz box. I don't see him getting mentioned much, I don't know if he gets a lot of utility in the game. But a gross, corrupted Apothecary? Too cool not to model. I tried to go for a sort of Fabius Bile style backpack, along with some wires I spun together. Really pleased with his plague mask!


My plan was to noodle around, make some cool things to paint but as soon as I went into it, I started thinking about building a playable army. My plans for the future will be to finish these gunline marines, bash together some Deathshroud from some FW kits I'm hoping to pick up and scratchbuild my own drones and Blight-haulers.

Hey, those are pretty neat! The classic plague marine look is great, combined with the added dynamism of the more recent bits it'll make a solid force.

The plague surgeon is conceptually great, but the rules have been absolute garbage since their inception in 8th. Which is sad, given how integral the 21st man is to Mortarion's vision of massed all-rounder infantry.

 Sherrypie wrote:
Hey, those are pretty neat! The classic plague marine look is great, combined with the added dynamism of the more recent bits it'll make a solid force.

The plague surgeon is conceptually great, but the rules have been absolute garbage since their inception in 8th. Which is sad, given how integral the 21st man is to Mortarion's vision of massed all-rounder infantry.

Thanks so much. Yours and FeistyRips blogs are super inspirational so it's lovely to see you in the comments here. I really like the slow and ploddy aesthetic of the older models. I kinda feel like the '94 PM was peak for their aesthetic. The newer models feel overdetailed and gribbly, the silhouettes are harder to read so we'll see how many of them I end up getting. Some of the regular gunline dudes are pretty neat so I'm sure a couple will sneak in.

Shame to hear the Surgeon is garbage. I suspected as much because I've not seen him in any lists. Still, he's got great flavour so he's a must-have. I'll probably have a go at modelling every character but really it's the vibes which come first!

great, just as neat as your sons of medusa!

Thanks Maréchal! I won't be painting this lot green. I can't do two green armies!

Oh yeah, those nurgly chaps look awesome! Really loving your conversion and greenstuff work mate, it's stellar! I also looked through your Sons of Medusa thread and really enjoyed it! I wish I had been a more active player during the Badab war era, such a great time and you captured that feeling perfectly.

Also, glad to hear I could provide you with some motivation, though I gotta admit I have no clue how I did it, seeing as I'm just a lazy bum sitting on a pile of grey plastic

I will definitely keep a close eye on this thread, I've got a feeling you might just return the motivational favour!

 FeistyRips wrote:
Oh yeah, those nurgly chaps look awesome! Really loving your conversion and greenstuff work mate, it's stellar! I also looked through your Sons of Medusa thread and really enjoyed it! I wish I had been a more active player during the Badab war era, such a great time and you captured that feeling perfectly.

Also, glad to hear I could provide you with some motivation, though I gotta admit I have no clue how I did it, seeing as I'm just a lazy bum sitting on a pile of grey plastic

I will definitely keep a close eye on this thread, I've got a feeling you might just return the motivational favour!

Thank you mate! I'm working on the green stuff. It's something I've wanted to work on, so there's going to be more GS work in future models. I'll also be adding small amounts of chain, wire, mail and fabric to the guys to really lean into a bit more of a customised aesthetic.

Thanks for the compliment on the Sons thread. That army's still in progress too, so I might update that from time to time.

And lastly, all your blogs are super inspirational! I _loved_ the Soul Drinkers books and have often thought about starting the same army. It's been great catching up with that one. And the Fighting Tigers, too. Iconic work!

 Tek wrote:
Thank you mate! I'm working on the green stuff. It's something I've wanted to work on, so there's going to be more GS work in future models. I'll also be adding small amounts of chain, wire, mail and fabric to the guys to really lean into a bit more of a customised aesthetic.

Thanks for the compliment on the Sons thread. That army's still in progress too, so I might update that from time to time.

And lastly, all your blogs are super inspirational! I _loved_ the Soul Drinkers books and have often thought about starting the same army. It's been great catching up with that one. And the Fighting Tigers, too. Iconic work!

You're doing an absoluetly fantastic job, that's for sure! Also, I find it such a great callback to the classic RT era Nurgle stuff that was very weird and almost Giger-esque in certain ways.

I've also subscribed to the Sons thread, don't wanna miss out on any updates there. Really gotta give you props for using the classic RT Dreadnought as a Centurion proxy, that is so flavourful and the model is simply perfect. I wanted to get one too but I noticed the sculpt was taken down, I'm guessing for copyright issues. Wish I could get one of them as well, but I don't even have a 3D printer

Also, thanks for the compliment, you are too kind! Especially glad to hear you enjoy my Soul Drinkers, will have to update that thread soon with some new pics. Gah, there's just too many cool projects I'm trying to do at the same time Though I'm happy to report you definitely motivated me to get back to painting, so thank you very much for that!

Loving the old models with your added detail,, they look excellent. Always fancied a chaos force but could never decide which one to go for!

Alaricuk wrote:
Loving the old models with your added detail,, they look excellent. Always fancied a chaos force but could never decide which one to go for!

Thanks so much! I've got a decent bits box and love picking up old models for cheap. And I like bashing them all together even more! Speaking of which, I have been looking to add plasma specialists into the PM squads. One I've almost made out of parts, but I thought this guy fits the bill:


Technically this is a regular CSM with plasma gun. But the antlers, the pipes and the _very_ DG looking head make him feel very at home with the Plague Marines. With a couple of added pipes and wires, a little loincloth and a custom backpack, I think he looks the part.

I've gone back over a few of the earlier models and started doubling down on pipes and loincloths, too.


And I've TRIPLED down on the Blightspawn!


He actually has a little cheesecloth loincloth, too. I just forgot to photograph it. Testing out the colour scheme today!

Great work on bashing and updating these guys. The Blightspawn in particular is looking very cool. Good luck with the painting, are you going for the purple-black?

 gobert wrote:
Great work on bashing and updating these guys. The Blightspawn in particular is looking very cool. Good luck with the painting, are you going for the purple-black?

Hi Gobert, thanks for taking the time to reply! I'm going to attempt a purple-black, yes. I've got a few Glooming Lords pics in my inspiration folder, that bright green trim looks so sick. I'm concerned that dark armour won't show up all the filth and decay but I'm going to give it a good try.

Here's my quick sketch, so I can think about how best to tackle this paint job. My thoughts are dark purple armour and bright green trim. Flesh and mutations can be anywhere from green to pink to purple. I'm not sure about eyes yet but I think a bright turquoise would look good (and I'm faintly obsessed with turquoise).

That is funky! The purple and green combo is a classic. The rust you’ve added gives him a dirty look, some dark oily stains might work ok too? Or maybe little Globules of puss?

That is a great test model! Gotta say the purple is not what I expected for Death Guard, but it's a really cool and creative new idea and will surely turn some heads when you put your painted minis on the table! Gotta go check out your inspiration pics, I honestly never heard of the Glooming Lords tbh but that sounds very intriguing!

Also, once again, very cool conversion work with the greenstuff, and the loincloths are a nice touch and will certainly give the models some cool texture! I especially love your Plague Surgeon, with the serrated blade and the medical servo arm!
Keep up the great work, looking forward to more!

gobert wrote:That is funky! The purple and green combo is a classic. The rust you’ve added gives him a dirty look, some dark oily stains might work ok too? Or maybe little Globules of puss?

Thanks Gobert! Yeah I'm just experimenting atm with how to weather black. I've been looking into airplane and railway modelling tutorials. The general consensus is that you need to fade the black up in order to show wear.

I've found some good resources here on Dakka, too. Especially these great minis by voidjord!


Some sponge chipping will help, but I think you're right - some gross pus or slime in a variety of surprising colours will help to sell the Nurgle vibes, rather than just generic weathered marines.

FeistyRips wrote:That is a great test model! Gotta say the purple is not what I expected for Death Guard, but it's a really cool and creative new idea and will surely turn some heads when you put your painted minis on the table! Gotta go check out your inspiration pics, I honestly never heard of the Glooming Lords tbh but that sounds very intriguing!

Also, once again, very cool conversion work with the greenstuff, and the loincloths are a nice touch and will certainly give the models some cool texture! I especially love your Plague Surgeon, with the serrated blade and the medical servo arm!
Keep up the great work, looking forward to more!

A mate of mine told me they're "giving Goosebumps-era horror" which actually I love. I'm telling myself the purple brings a bruised / necrotic element to the Death Guard which I think is pretty rad. I cant upload the entire contents of my inspo folder, but here's three figs which rank really highly for inspiration. You can see which elements I want to take from each paint job, but I'm not trying to recreate either one (not that I could).

Howdy all. No updated on the paint job but I've been working on a Plague Champion. I have a few (really) old metal minis. Some are Fantasy but really fit the vibe. This guy is a Chaos renegade, probably from before Nurgle was even a thing. But he's perfect for a mutated Champ:


It's a great model by itself. But I wanted a plasma gun and Heavy Plague Weapon. Arguably his (possible) power fist would happily count as a HPW, but I want to use power mauls as HPWs. So anyway, step one was to take the razor saw to him and cut off both his arms!


As I mentioned I have some great old Chaos bits and honestly I don't even know what they're from any more. But once I 40k'd up this old mace, it makes a brilliant plaguey bommeyknocker


Plasma gun trimmed down to fit into a left hand (not many Southpaws around it seems)


And here he is, stuck back together. I added some homemade pipes, some cheesecloth, some superglue and bicarb and I stuck him on a big base because he's a real short king!


Really pleased for him to lead my first squad. Future kitbashes will be using the FW DG upgrade sprue and the old 1995 metal DG models. Right, back to that test paint job!

Oh yeah, that old Nurgle Marine is an absolute CLASSIC! So great that you could get your hands on one of them! I'm a bit shocked you chopped him up, but the end result certainly justifies that mild bit of heresy Seriously though, he really looks great with the new weapons. I have the exact same Morning Star mace in my bitz box. It's from the old WHFB Chaos Barbarian set from somewhere in the 90's, and I swear I already had it on the desk, contemplating how I could turn it into a more sci-fi looking Mace of Contagion for some special character. Glad you beat me to it, yours looks absolutely awesome and now I have an idea I can steal
On another note, I'm also very much lookign forward to seeing the FW DG bits incorporated into your minis. Wish I'd had some of those for my force too!

Once again, really really great work. Love your creations and can't wait for more!

 FeistyRips wrote:
Oh yeah, that old Nurgle Marine is an absolute CLASSIC! So great that you could get your hands on one of them! I'm a bit shocked you chopped him up, but the end result certainly justifies that mild bit of heresy Seriously though, he really looks great with the new weapons. I have the exact same Morning Star mace in my bitz box. It's from the old WHFB Chaos Barbarian set from somewhere in the 90's, and I swear I already had it on the desk, contemplating how I could turn it into a more sci-fi looking Mace of Contagion for some special character. Glad you beat me to it, yours looks absolutely awesome and now I have an idea I can steal
On another note, I'm also very much lookign forward to seeing the FW DG bits incorporated into your minis. Wish I'd had some of those for my force too!

Once again, really really great work. Love your creations and can't wait for more!

Thank you, Feisty! Your supportive comments keep me posting, so that's a great thing. I've got quite a few oldhammer metals and I believe there's no sacrilege in cutting them up! Especially as these days there's quite a few affordable recasts around

Haha it's so funny that you have the same bit and were considering the same conversion. I'm sure yours will be neater than mine, but I'm still very pleased with how mine came out. For my initial 1000 point list I want two five-man squads. One flamey and one shooty. I'm almost done with squad flamey - I'm working on the heavy plague spewer today. But last night, I tidied up my sketch model and I'm happy with the scheme now:


I tidied and cleaned up the colour, and brought the base colour up to a much more obvious purple. I was really happy with the model looking clean so I decided to go in on some weathering, too. Adding some bright chipping, rust streaks and added some bright green slime into the recesses. I probably overdid it for this model, but it's a good proof of concept to carry through to the rest of the force.



He's a little shiny, due to washes, inks and splashing some isopropyl alcohol onto the inks to get them to coffee stain and go weird.

Oh my, that mace wielding champion is perfect

 Tek wrote:
Especially as these days there's quite a few affordable recasts around

Hmmm good point! I might have to look into that... Wouldn't mind getting some of those OOP nurgley chaps for myself!

 Tek wrote:
I'm sure yours will be neater than mine

I doubt it, especially since yours is so well done! However, I could also just cheat by covering everything in rust and grime to hide my shoddy work Thanks mate!


Anyway, I really like where the test model is going. The paint scheme is solid and I think it will look great when applied to an entire squad or even army. Quite a unique take on DG I believe. Looking forward to more!

Fun conversions. I used to have some of those old Death Guard, I remember them as being tiny.

Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:Oh my, that mace wielding champion is perfect

Thank you! I've got a couple of super old fantasy sorcerors which I'm hoping might make decent plague champions, too.

FeistyRips wrote:

 Tek wrote:
Especially as these days there's quite a few affordable recasts around

Hmmm good point! I might have to look into that... Wouldn't mind getting some of those OOP nurgley chaps for myself!

 Tek wrote:
I'm sure yours will be neater than mine

I doubt it, especially since yours is so well done! However, I could also just cheat by covering everything in rust and grime to hide my shoddy work Thanks mate!
Anyway, I really like where the test model is going. The paint scheme is solid and I think it will look great when applied to an entire squad or even army. Quite a unique take on DG I believe. Looking forward to more!

You're too kind. Thanks for the feedback on the paint scheme. I'm happy with it and definitely agree it's going to look a lot better at scale. I've got a couple of models which are complete but I want to wait until I have a full squad before committing more paint.

Tommygun1918 wrote:Fun conversions. I used to have some of those old Death Guard, I remember them as being tiny.

Oh mate, they're miniscule! It's crazy that people were able to paint them so well. I'm honestly struggling, but I'm having fun

How about some updates?

First off, I've been eying up my plague surgeon. Something wasn't quite right. He wasn't as big or imposing as I wanted him to be. Then when looking through the old books for inspiration, I saw this conversion in the Index: Chaos from the mid-2000s:


The horn on his head! I realised this was the only mini in the force so far which didn't have a pickelhaub or a mutated horn. So I had to remedy that with a little green stuff horn. It's basic and I'll need to add a little detail to it, but he already looks a lot better:


The biggest update (and something I've been really looking forward to, is my Bloat Drones. I don't care for the new model and I can't find the old FW ones for a reasonable price. So I decided very early on that I'd be scratchbuilding my own. Inspired by the opening illustration in one of the Death Guard rules expansions, a little bit of Immortan Joe and a few other sources and I started getting stuff down in my sketchbook:


I really started circling in on a floating skull with a gun coming out of the mouth. I want to keep the dimensions close to the official model. I don't want to model for advantage and I want my opponents to be able to clearly understand what the model counts-as. I have a load of Halloween decorations which I picked up last year at Hobbycraft and was using to make scatter terrain. But some of them felt like the perfect size, and were big enough that I could sculpt and build on them.


After eviling up the eyes, I wanted to have a go at creating a third eye so I cut a hole and added a crevice with Milliput. I love the image of pipes coming out the side of the skull, so I built this area up with some polyester washers and styrene tube. I couldn't figure out _at all_ how I was going to get a flexible hose wide enough to look good. So I ended up making huge springs out of steel wire:


The heavy blight launcher coming out of the mouth was a must. I needed to sculpt new teeth over it and add rivets and details all over. At the last minute I decided to trim a spike off an old Chaos tank dozer so this can also have a head horn. It's a pattern now!


I had a lot of fun building the chimneys for the drone. They came up early in my sketches and I like the idea of this giant floating skull just belching fumes and grossness into the air.


Things to do next: the drone needs lenses in the eyes. I can't think of what to use. Maybe beads, maybe googly eyes. I need to find a way of turning the springs into ribbed cables. I'm thinking fabric / cheese cloth / crepe paper and PVA could be a good shout. Areas where it's particularly obvious can get coated, and areas which look pretty good can stay exposed. The gun needs a second, asymmetric barrel. I don't know what for, but I feel another pipe needs to be sticking out the front. And then I'm going to add a huge carpet of guff hanging out the bottom. Chains, cables, wires, cloth, gore. Just a whole bunch of grossness which will (hopefully) give the impression that the thing is floating and get it up to the right height.

I can't wait to see what you all think!

Quick update after the weekend! Progress has been made on my scratchbuilt Foetid Bloat Drone. I'm calling her done now. Art is never finished, it is merely abandoned! And honestly I could have carried on with this for days. I'm so happy with how she came out:


I was worried that it was a really overcomplex, overdetailed model. But getting a base coat and a zenithal on it. Well, I'm gassed.


It's nothing like the official model. But I love it. And it cost me about a quid in parts, too! I'm painting it tonight so you can expect another update relatively soon

That scratchbuilt drone is fantastic! Came together really well. I gotta applaud your sculpting skills as well as the great use of techy bitz. Together, they create this wonderful nurgly abomination. Well done! Looking forward to seeing it painted, and curious how you will apply your scheme to this unique model.

Thank you, Feisty! It's a horrible little freak and I've had so much fun building it. And now it's painted, I love it all the more:



I originally thought I would do the skull black / purple to fit in with the power armour. But I didn't think that would be the best use of colour, especially when I could paint a huge gross green skull! I went for a more muted green, and then painted the head horn in the same bright green trim I'm using on the armour. I had a LOT of fun with adding layers of rust and filth



I still have to do the base rim, but this turned out exactly how I wanted. I think this is the best thing I've ever done. I'm so proud! And the best part is, I want to run two of these so I get to go and make another

Such a penetrating gaze! You have plenty of reasons to be proud, it looks fantastic (and disgusting!).

Now that's an original mini.you have there sir!

Not gonna lie, that is pretty disturbing. That's what makes it awesome. I can see why you'd be excited to make another. Have fun!

The droe came out absolutely amazing. I'm in awe at your beautiful blending, but also the rust effect on the metal bits. Really stunning work once again, it really does the fantastic sculpting justice!

That skull drone is amazing! Excellent building and a really cool paint job to boot!