On the table now - Proxy Beasts of Nurgle

The proxy Beasts of Nurgle are coming along well. The pictures do not show this well, but after applying my base colors, I applied a Biel-tan Green wash, dry brushed Bleached Bone, washed Gryphonne Sepia and then touched up Bleached bone again. It still needs some detail work, but they are coming along nicely. 

Finished - Thousand Sons Helbrute Epic Post

 As part of the Cult Troops project, I am trying to complete groups of unit sin each of the styles of the 4 Chaos Gods. I have already completed a Dreadnought/Helbrute dedicated to Khorne and began to turn my thoughts to the other powers. Nurgle, was fairly obvious as it needed to be a mas of boils and puss much like the Daemon Prince of Nurgle. Knowing this was beyond my skills to sculpt, I sent a Helbrute kit off to a buddy of mine that is better with green stuff. 

That is two down. I have no idea what I am going to do for the Slaanesh Helbrute but I did have a tickle of what to do for a Thousand Sons/Tzeentch Helbrute. I wanted to borrow from the fluff of the Thousand Sons in that, thanks to the Rubric of Ahriman, many of the Thousand Sons Legionaries are spirits trapped in their armor. That is pretty close to what a Dreadnought is already. 

Assembly and Conversions

I had a metal Chaos Dreadnought that I had gotten in a trade on Bartertown that, if I did not use it for this, would probably never get used ever. I had some left over and extra bits from the Helbrute kit that I decided to incorporate them into this kit. 

Yes, I paid good money for the real Helbrute kit rather than Dark Vengeance one. Why? The bits man. The extra weapons and decorative bits could be spread across several kits. They are incredibly detailed. To sculpt them would be out of my league and to buy the bits individually would be too expensive. I really got all my money worth out of this kit. 

On the table now - Psykers x3

 I have wanted the IG Sanctioned Psykers in metal for a long time. Since the last incarnation of the Grey Knight Codex (back in the flying circus of Matt Ward days), they have had a psychic power that allowed them to shoot a S 3 AP 6 large blast template with a range of 36". The trick was that for each additional Psyker after the first, the Strength increases by 1 and the AP decreases by 1. With 6 Psykers, this means that they can lay down a S 8 AP1 large template even from transports with firing points. At 10 points each, this is devastatingly cost effective. 

I have three and need three more. 

Finished - Helbrute of Khorne

I finished my first Cult Helbrute. It started with me just messing around and having a dirth of Helbrute kits. I even went out and bought a full kit and some bits to complete Helbrutes for each of the Chaos Gods. 

This guy is obviously the Helbrute from Dark Vengeance with a few modifications. I left out the front plate and swapped the head for a Bloodcrusher head that I had spare. I also added some spikes to the side of the head. I shaved off the icon on the left fist and replaced it with a Khorne symbol. I removed and re-positioned the chains under the fist. I adapted a Power Flail for a right arm weapon. I added some gargoyles to the smoke stacks because why not. I added a large Khrone symbol to the back and replaced the butt plate with a Bloodcrusher head armor. I hafe a metal flame that I'll mount under the left fist after I get it painted. 

As far as painting, I don't know that I did anything special. The reds were simple and dark. The metals were a barker version of my standard gold. 

I did add in a little Khorne touch. The right knee guard is painted blue and green like the middle of the World Eater's icon. 

I think with all the conversions that this mini is valued at $45 without the paint. With all the detail, I think that to replace this mini would cost about $85. That seems about right for trade value too. 

Painting - Basecolors

 Let's talk about base colors. 

I was not always a good painter. I estimate that I ruined about 2,000 points of white Tau and 2,000 points of muddy Blood Angels before I got my painting feet under me. In this time that I was ruining minis with paint and and not painting them, I talked to an artist that painted minis masterful. She was painting a giant Skaven mini and showed me a picture of what she was going for. I was confused because she started by painting it a medium tan (like Graveyard Earth) and she wanted to end with lite skin tones (like Elf Flesh). She told me that painting for a dissimilar (and sometimes contrasting) base color adds depth to a mini in ways that layering can not. 

I told her that I thought that she could metaphorically fertilize a field with that.

Then I tried it.

On the table now - Proxy Beast of Nurgle

I found these at the FLGS after seeing them suggested as a good proxy elsewhere on the internet. For $3 each, they were a screaming deal. I would have paid $10 each for them and they still would have been half the price of the GW model. It is better quality too. I would rather the Reaper Bone than Finecast any day.

On the table now - Plaguebearers

The Plaguebearers are coming along. I am really pleased with how they are turning out. They just need to be clear coated at this point. After that I am going to try out Nurgle's Rot on a large scale. I used it before on the Nurgle Herald to good effect and now I want to take it out for a spin. 

I also have another Herald of Nurgle in the works.