Maggotkin of Nurgle (pt.2) - kitbashing, converting & sculpting Plaguebearers. Start work on GUO.

Here's a few WIP shots from the last week or so. I got four units of 10 Plaguebearers each kitbashed and converted. Then I did quite a bit of sculpting on them to get all those mismatched bits fit in seamlessly. Added in many buboes, pustules and hanging bellies. Also of note is that most of the hands, swords etc. were first glued in very close to their bodies and/or hanging down (rather than heroically waving around skywards), then the gaps between sculpted shut. This gives many of the miniatures droopy and sullen look, very withdrawn and passive. I think this suits the army's theme quite well, and is also a nod towards the aesthetics of old sculpted miniatures, back when the limitations of molding and casting of metal miniatures had a huge impact on their visuals too. 

To the bases I glued in little rocks and this nice plastic place mat that looks like an endless swarm of tapeworms. Small lumps of Green Stuff were put on the bases and textured with a sharp rock. Then the miniatures got drops of superglue on their feet and were pressed deep on to the GS. The GS was then further textured by pressing in small round holes. Looks nice and really secures the miniatures on the bases. Then I glued in some beads and sand. Might sculpt / glue in tiny maggots and other details later. I'm thinking about painting the bases grey, and then adding some nice colour such as a bright orange or cyan to them with a wash or pigment powder. I'm going for this rocky gravely look, that's still somehow living and organic and rotten. 

Sure, I wanted to have a Great Unclean One for this army, and decided to sculpt one. First time using aluminium foil for creating the base structure. Started bulking out the body shapes with Milliput and Das modelling clay. The latest layer is actually a 50/50 mixture of these two. Never tried this one before, nor have any idea how this might work or not. 

Maggotkin of Nurgle (pt.1) - preparations & Plaguebearers

It's time for a fresh start again, with a new Maggotkin of Nurgle project bursting with life. 

I just came up with a time saving life / hobby hack. Now I happen to have an actual remote workplace / dedicated hobby room / castle where I mostly do my wargaming and tinkering at. Time there is often limited, but things can be left on the table / shelf / floor for as long as I want (which is a great thing). However, I've noticed that quite a lot of my limited and precious hobby time often goes into just preparing and cleaning of all the mould lines on the miniatures. And it sucks. 

So! I just made room for another small hobby spot back at home. It's just one shelf on a bookcase at the bedroom. There are good spotlights, a cutting mat and a CD player ready to go, together with a decent hobby knife. And that's all I need to start scraping all the mould lines off from all the miniatures and bits needed for whatever the current / next project is. Just a couple of spare moments here and there, along with the occasional hours on sleepless nights gets miniatures ready for assembly rather quick!

And this is exactly what I did last week. Spent a few evenings to clean bits needed to kitbash and build 40 Plaguebearers. In addition to the actual models, there's Bloodletters, Gors and Dryads (10 each) to join in the putrid ranks. Yesterday after work I vigorously assembled a first batch of 10 Plaguebearers, with inverted Gor torsoes and Bloodletter heads turned backwards. Also sculpted some Plague Swords.

But how to base these guys (and the whole army, that I'm about to build)? I'm thinking about sculpting something, as I haven't done that yet for bases. Bubbling daemonic goo? Cobblestone roads? Random unnameable natural shapes and growths?

Slaves to Darkness army project (pt.7) - Chaos Warriors painted (& painting WIP shots)

Just got this unit ready! Took over a week (few hours here and there and one long weekend night) to paint the whole group, and now I really want to do some dirty and easygoing Nurgle stuff for a change. In the end I feel very good about managing to get this unit finished, with all the layering and details. Pretty much the same recipes as I used with the Gorebeast Chariots earlier. The blue/cyan parts were painted by adding Voidshield Blue and Brainmatter Beige to Blue Ink, Ultramarines Blue & Aethermatic Blue contrast paints. This time the rich and nice Gold was achieved simply with a thick layer of Greedy Gold followed by Seraphim Sepia wash. At least something was quick and easy. Tzeentch has its ways. 

And here's the WIP stuff:

Slaves to Darkness army project (pt.6) - two Gorebeast Chariots painted!

So this will be the style of my Oldhammer inspired Slaves to Darkness army. Got these two chariots ready and painted already several days ago, but only got time to take pics of them yesterday. I also have a unit of Chaos Warriors almost ready now, just finishing their bases. Although I really like the finished result of these Chariots (and Warriors), the painting routine I had with them is rather slow, and I really feel like doing something a bit different for a change. So might be starting a new Maggotkin army next week...

Anyways here they are!