Just a couple of filthy, corrupted Death Guard warriors. The plastic starter set Hellbrute is super cheap and easy to get, but the fully mechanized classic metal Chaos Dreadnought feels more appropriate for a Death Guard army. That metal Dread is a bear to assemble. I ended up using most of a tube of JB Kwik Weld to fill in the gaps, and ended up mounting the arms using polycaps for durability and posability.
Nurgle Daemons are the heralds and embodiment of death and decay, spreading pestilence wherever they tread. They are gross and grimy, which makes for very fun painting. Most of these were done quick and easy with lots of washes over a light, drybrushed basecoat. For a little extra fun, I painted the carapaces of the fly daemons with Monster Kolor paints and left them with a high-gloss finish. It gives them a little extra insect authenticity.
Closeups after the fold. These guys were a lot of fun.
My interest in Warhammer 40k has been greatly revitalized this year with the release of the 8th edition of the game, which greatly streamlined the rules. With the much lower barrier to entry and release of an all new Death Guard line of Chaos Space Marine models, 40k has been monopolizing my hobby time for months now. The Death Guard are Heretic Adeptus Astartes that have pledged themselves to the Chaos god Nurgle, god of death and decay. They are 1oo% my jam, with loads of opportunities for gross gribbly bits and, most importantly, filthy, dirty, rusty armor. I wanted to add some armored support to my fledgling army before the full Codex came out, which meant Chaos Predators. I am basing my army on the 2nd Plague Company of the Death Guard, hosts of the Ferric Blight. I am modeling them as a well-equipped Vectorum, with lots of relic armor and equipment that has decayed over the millenia, but not mutated as much as other Death Guard armies. I wanted to use old style Predator tanks that have survived since the Heresy, but I was not married to the Deimos Predator kit from Forge World’s design, or to the idea of paying for those. Instead, I decided to make my own as a bit of a challenge, to see if I could come up with nice gaming-quality models for 3D printing that would not look out of place on the table alongside official models. I had previously printed some Rhinos from files I downloaded on Thingiverse, which I used as the starting point for my own Rhino-based vehicles. I mostly was trying to avoid having to model the tank treads, so the existing files were a great starting point. From there, I decided to blend the details of the Forge World Deimos kit for the turret and front armor with the original Predator Tank kit from Games Workshop for the armored side sponsons. For a clunky, millenia-maintained tank, I added some stovepipe exhaust stacks to the sides. In the first image above, the grey sides of the tank are the existing files I borrowed from Thingiverse, and everything in black was drafted by me from scratch. The rest of the pics above show the progress of the tanks, from bare plastic to acetoned and primed, then base colored with an airbrush, and finally detailed and weathered for maximum grunginess. Lots more pics after the cut walking through the painting process.
I recently got an email from Games Workshop announcing that they were revamping the iconic gaming and hobby magazine White Dwarf, bringing it back to something closer to its glory days. I have’t read WD in years or followed GW stuff very closely, but the debut issue of the new mag came with a free figure, so I picked one up. The new magazine seems promising so far, and has me paying attention to Games Workshop’s offerings once again. The bonus figure was the Slaughterpriest with HACKBLADE and WRATH-HAMMER, a ridiculous sounding fellow that will be usuable in the upcoming boardgame, Gorechosen. The Slaughterpriest is a pit-fighter that has dedicated himself to the Chaos god Khorne, embodiment of violence and blood stuff. I haven’t painted a gaming miniature of this size in years, but I just got some new Windsor and Newton Series 7 brushes in the mail and thought they could use some breaking in. This guy is a fully plastic figure, but the parts breakdown and level of detail feel closer to a metal or resin figure. The whole thing is really quite impressive, and I guess this is how GW is doing all of their character figures now, since metal is too expensive and their Finecast resin material was terrible. In addition to being the first 28 mm mini I’ve painted in ages, I tried a few new techniques here, including painting a darker skin tone, which I’m pretty happy with the results of. The big photos bring out every flaw and misstep in my brushwork, but I’m satisfied with how this guy came out and looking forward to bringing him to the table when Gorechosen comes out!
More pics after the fold. Read the rest of this entry »
Kaiju Kaos is a new 28mm miniature game by Bryan K. Borgman of Bailey Records. A number of smaller pewter and larger resin monster figures are available, but the game is also designed to allow kaiju collectors to use their own figures in the game. The Kaos Monster here is the flagship monster release so far, and Bryan contacted me to have me paint one. He wanted a crazy Monster Kolor sprayed figure to show off some of the crossover potential between kaiju stylings and his tabletop wargame. Tons more photos of the completed scene after the break!
Prometheus Rising Studios 