Celebrating The Apocalypse Part 1: The Plaguereaper

Hey there Chaos lunatics and fanatics! Old Man Chaos is back with another posting. Now, Apocalypse for 40K is right around the corner, and man am I stoked for it. I have always loved the concept of Apocalypse, even though I don't always have time to fight such a huge battle. The idea of throwing everything I've got onto the tabletop is just amazing, and the games I have played were always very exciting. I am looking forward to the return of Apocalypse, no doubt. To celebrate, I'm going to do a small series of posts about my armies and Apocalypse. So, let us turn to... The Plaguereaper!

After buying the Apocalypse book, I simply fell in love with the Plaguereaper. It was as if GW knew that I was a die hard Plague Marine player and that this tank was just for me. At this point, I certainly did not have my Titan, and this would have been the biggest kit I had ever put together or used. I was dying to get my dirty, plague-infested little hands on it.

However, my hopes were slightly dashed upon getting the model- how in the name of the Powers of the Warp was I going to make the bloody thing? That mutated barrel? The cauldrons of green goo and slime? I stared at the picture, and then at the model... I had no idea how I was going to do it.

Sadly, I was partially defeated. I tried several options (spray can tops come to mind), but there was no way I could make those cauldrons on the side- so I had to nix them. It was too bad, as I really liked the idea, but I simply could not see any practical way to do it (I still don't know how GW did it, as they don't look like any piece from their collection, though I could well be wrong). It was not to be...

However, I did win a different victory. How the heck was I going to do the gun barrel? To build it up with all green stuff would have taken forever. Luckily, my friend Pete had a great suggestion: use that brown tape and make huge bunches of it and put them on the barrel. Then, put a thin layer of putty across the surface to solidify it, then sculpt and add more putty as needed. Boy was he right- the gun barrel turned out perfectly. I even used claws from the Chaos Spawn set to make the muzzle/mouth.

Naturally, my Chaos-Conversion habit pushed me to do more with the tank. I added slimy tentacles at the front and back (just a few, not too many to detract from the rest of the tank). I added skull symbols from the Chaos Shrine set (3, to be exact, making a symbol of Nurgle on the front of the Baneblade).

At the back I covered over the Imperial symbols and engine with some putty work, making the engine look alive with an eye and mouth and tongue. Eww. I also added some putty growths on the tank, to make it look part alive or infected with unnatural growth (I care not- as long as it looks suitable of Nurgle). I even added a small banner on the back of the tank. Looking at it now it appears too small- but at the time I liked it.

 

As for the color, I had been doing my Plague Marines more with (at the time) Rotting Flesh, giving them a brighter look. I know there was no way it would work on the Baneblade, so I went a bit darker, a bit more green. To me it's fine, as the forces of the Death Guard are rotten and are at all stages of decay. Indeed, the Baneblade is a great centerpiece of my Death Guard, and the fact that it looks slightly different only adds to the overall look of the army.

So, I hope that you've liked the pics and everything, and I hope that you are as excited for Apocalypse as I am. I'll be back soon with another post to commemorate the Apocalypse this weekend!

Until Next Time...