Death Guard drones in all shapes and sizes

Hey there Chaos fanatics! Old Man Chaos has been busy at work in the laboratory churning out some goodies for the Death Guard. It has been drone city for me the past couple of weeks. So let us delay no longer... lets have a look...

First up is a second Bloat Drone that my wife got me for Christmas. I really like the model, and the multi-part kit is really cool- I like all the faceplate options and the weapons options.

Even though I think the Plaguespitter is the better weapon in-game (2 Plaguespitters for 2D6 auto-hits is better than one Blight-Launcher which is 6 hits but needs 4 to hit), I liked the look of the Blight Launcher- it looks heavy and being dragged around by the drone.

The armor plates are similar to the last Drone I did- Death Guard green with a wash of Earthshade all over it. It gives it that dull, dirty look which I really like (appropriate for Nurgle naturally). The weapons and spikes I did with my usual rusty metal look- Leadbealcher, with Ryza Rust orange with eathshade over it. This gives it a dull but rusty look.

The skin I did a little differently- I did Rakarth Flesh with several washes of violet to give it an unhealthy pallor. I then highlighted with Pallid Wych Flesh to give it some definition. I then used red washes around the boils/sores to complete the effect.

I do have to say that the Blight Drones usually do very well in my games. However, the random 2D6 sometimes goes bad on me (snake eyes!? Again!?). More often than not though, the Drones have been quite effective- fast, survivable and yet too much of a threat to ignore- driving my opponents mad in the process. And on more than once I had it deliberately explode, hurting the surrounding enemy forces- so even when it dies its a bastard. For me, these are a mandatory take, even if they are a bit pricey points wise.

Going from models that have become a mainstay to models I haven't used yet- the Myphitic Blight-Hauler (what a silly, yet trade-marked, name). These models are from the "easy to build" line. The model is nice enough, though it is very static and only goes together one way. Rules wise they sound pretty darn good, though to be at maximum effectiveness you need three of the Haulers.

I was only able to find two of the Haulers at first (visiting many stores near and far to boot). So I painted the two up (and I just got my hands on a third so I haven't painted it yet). I will try them soon, painted or not as I am really curious as what they can do.

Painting the models did go fairly quickly, as they are pretty straightforward to paint up. Again, the plates were Death Guard green with Balthazar Gold for the trim. The metal parts painted rusty as I described above.

The skin I did two different ways. One of them was Zandri Dust with a yellow wash over it (again a sickly yellow look). The other I did with Rakarth Flesh with flesh washes over it. They look like variations of my Bloat Drones.

Finally, as I am a crazy chaos converter, I felt the need to convert 1 of the Haulers. I used spawn bits around the mouth to give it a different look from its brother Hauler. It was just a little conversion but it helps differentiate the two Haulers.

So that's it for now. I'm working on a couple of other big ticket items so be sure to check back sometime next week for more.

Until next time...

Maximizing Tour Gaming Dollar The Chaos Way: Flesh Hounds of Khorne

Hey there Chaos fanatics! Old Man Chaos is back in action. Sorry I've been spotty lately- work and life has gotten in the way, preventing me from hobbying, let alone posting. However, work craziness has passed and I'm hoping to post once a week or so once again.

I did manage to get in a few games with the new Codex: Khorne Daemonkin before work went crazy. I really like the book, though after the recent releases of Eldar and Space Marines, I feel somewhat cheated and diminished. Yikes- Space Marines are crazy now. I'm quite disconcerted after reading that behemoth of a book.

However, I will continue to develop my Khornate army, as I love the concept and it is only building upon my World Eaters. I have enjoyed every game I've played with this codex though, win lose or draw. Its a fun book with some great fluffy rules but is in now way overbearing. One of the things that I have noticed in all my games so far is the ubiquity of the Flesh Hounds of Khorne. I have six of the metal ones (the reptilian looking ones). I like those models, but I never found them too useful. However, in my recent games, I have summoned them with the Blood Tithe and they have been pivotal each time. One game in particular stands out- the Grey Knight unit was walking away with the Relic. My hounds were summoned (as if by Khorne himself, set loose upon his cowardly foes), chasing down the unit and wreaking havoc, killing the unit and claiming the relic, giving me the game.

Now, this got me thinking- could they be useful in other ways? They are fast, have multiple wounds, and are fairly cheap. And, IF you use their formation (the Gorepack), they get Hammer of Wrath to boot. The more I looked at them, the more I said "What was I thinking? Not using them- I'm an idiot.  I need more of them- pronto!"

Funny enough, all my local stores were out of them (other Khorne Daemonkin players must have had the same ephipany as I did about the Flesh Hounds). So, I went on GWs web site, and I was about to order when I saw the price--- $49.50. For 5 of them. That's 10 bucks a model. What the F--- GW?!

Ahem. Well, as you know, Old Man Chaos is not one to take things lying down. I bent all of my evil, Chaotic intellect to solving the problem, refusing to rest or take any nourishment until I found a cost effective way of collecting skulls for Khorne! Hey- Khorne gets mad at GW prices just like any of us... he understands my feelings.

So, what foul solution did I come up with? It was so easy- I decided to use Fantasy Chaos Warhounds. Now, they may not be quite as fancy as the Flesh Hounds, but they get the job done. They are hounds, and with the proper paint job, they fit in perfectly with my Khorne forces. Heck, they even look like the Flesh Hounds from several editions ago.... so why the heck not.

It's a deal that even Khorne would approve of *. The Warhounds box gives you 10 of them for.... 24.75. Yes, you read that right- 10 hounds for 24.75. Now, you don't have to be a math genius to figure it out. 5 Finecast Flesh Hounds ($49.50) vs. 10 Warhounds ($24.75). Which is the better deal... Hmmmm...

That means you COULD get 20 hounds for the price of 5 Flesh Hounds.... Which is exactly what I did. For 49.50 I got 20 Warhounds- which have now been painted to be Flesh Hounds (I finished these 10, and am working on the next 10). Now, that is a damn fine amount of savings right there. Thus, you are clearly maximizing your gaming dollar.

 And there aren't too many opponents who would deny your using them (if they do, they are assholes. There. I said it). Chaotic hounds are chaotic hounds. Period. As for me and Khorne, we are  happy, for soon 20 "Flesh Hounds" will be roaming the battlefields, stalking their prey and running them to ground, thus ensuring that the blood flows. And what a bargain! Lol.

 I hope this article will inspire you as you build your Daemonkin. I now have to work on a few more Chaos Bikers so that I can comfortably run the Gorepack. Now the question is- will it be 2 groups of 10 each or 4 groups of 5... Either way, blood tithes will be earned! Until next time...

* Could you imagine the Chaos gods haggling over GW prices? Khorne would be enraged, cutting off the heads of GW stockholders right and left.  Nurgle would be saying 'This hobby is so expensive... I'm going to leave... Awww. Who am I kidding... I can't leave my lovelies". Slaanesh would just snort his plastic crack and not feel guilty. Tzeentch - I think he would seek out the Chinese knock-offs that I've seen out there- he would pass them off as examples of his magic... "I got this dreadnought for $3.50... How? Only the changer of the ways knows that..."

Conversion Time: A New Nurgle Heldrake

Hey there everybody! Welcome back to another edition of Chaos Corner. Today I have a sequel of sorts to a previous article, which you may want to peruse first HERE. In any case, allow me to present... my second Nurgle Heldrake...

So, as you may have seen in my previous article- I love the Heldrake (having 2 for my Khorne Bezerkers), but I felt that the model just wasn't "Nurgl-y" if you well, and given the model it appeared (at first) to be difficult to make suitable conversions. Of course, as a Chaos player I always have my eyes to conversion. Thus, one day I was in my hobby shop and I said to some of the gaming group that it I was thinking of combining the Heldrake with the Fantasy Zombie Dragon. The gaming group was impressed, save one. One of the circle of gamers sighed, saying that there was no way to do such a conversion. Naturally, I could not resist such a challenge and thus began to work furiously at a conversion.

I loved how that turned out. However, once I was done I realized I had a ton of parts left over- certainly enough to do another 'drake? So, I envisioned what the second one would look like, and immediately began work. However, there were problems. With the parts available, this would be a trickier conversion to pull off- I'd need lots of putty and brass rods. I also wasn't sure if my "vision" would look right, even if I could pull it off. Finally, other projects kept vying for my attention- the Imperial Knight, Plague Drones, Dreadnoughts, etc.

Finally, in the midst of summer, I began work on a Nurgle Forgefiend- and I decided to work on the Heldrake simultaneously (Am I ambitious or what?). Thus, I was properly motivated by Grandfather Nurgle to get this bad boy done.

So, let's break it down piece by piece. I put the Heldrake neck/head on the zombie dragon body. This did not fit on nearly as well, so I had to do some putty work. Putty is easy for Nurgle- you can make it look like ridges or sickly growths or whatever. It hides a multitude of sins. I then put the wings on. I could only do the two, otherwise the model would pitch. Again, I had to putty the hell out of it to keep the wings in place. I wanted the wings up, to give it some motion (it's swooping quickly).

At the back end, I wanted to put the heldrake legs on. Here, I used brass rod and drove it straight through the model. Then I glued the legs to the rod. Finally, I used putty to cover the rod.

As I looked at the model, I saw that a few things felt missing. First, in the rib cage it looked awfully empty. Thus, I decided to make putty intestines dangling in there, as if Father Nurgle wants its guts to spill everywhere to infect his enemies. I also put putty intestines around the brass rod holding up the heldrake in order to give the rod more support.

But, something still was amiss. I didn't like how he looked suspended just by the rod. It just wasn't appealing. So, as I mulled it over I did something I rarely do- I made a scenic diorama base. I used some of the spare building pieces I had to make it appear he is flying over an Imperial city. And from the one side it hides the rod almost completely.

And yet... I wanted more from the scenic base, so I decided to literally make a scene. I put an Imperial Guardsmen (painted in my brother's scheme) on the outside, looking up fearfully- he is clearly desperate to avoid the heldrake's gaze. So why isn't he hiding inside the wrecked building--- hahaha! Take a look...

But that nod to Walking Dead still wasn't enough. So, I put a zombie inside the building. A victim of Nurgle's plague, the dead man now walks, seeking to spread the joy of Nurgle's Rot with others.

But... to really doom the Guardsman, I put this message...

Boy, is the grunt in trouble or what? If the zombie doesn't get him the heldrake will. I had a lot of fun visualizing that scenic base, and I love how it came out. The scene enhances the look of the Heldarke- he is banking around, looking for a victim.  He looks emaciated and the guts spilling out of him ties him into other elements of my army (Daemon Princes, Plague Marines,  and some vehicles have the guts spilling out).

I am happy that I was able to make two Heldrakes like this. They are really different and to me, they now look like they belong to the forces of the plague god. (And I think I saved some cash, as the zombie dragon is cheaper than a heldrake, thus I have Saved Money the Chaos Way once more).

Well, that's all for now. We have all heard the rumblings--- Dark Eldar are coming up sooner or later. I am hopeful that the new book will continue what the redo started... I really should ally Chaos with the DE at some point, shouldn't I...?

Until next time...

For Your Consideration: Forgefiend of Nurgle

Hey there everybody! Old Man Chaos back with another posting. This is what I originally was going to post earlier this week, but then the GW Financials were out and I felt compelled to add my rather worthless 2 cents on the topic. What started as a short diatribe became a long rant, so I shelved this part, which showcases my new Forgefiend of Nurgle. So, away we go...

I really like the concept of the Forgefiend/Maulerfiend. The model is very cool, though I wish the thing was a bit more poseable. At any rate, I have 2 Maulerfiends and 1 Forgefiend for my Khorne Bezerkers (which I have hunched down, thus it can be a Maulerfiend in friendly games if I wish).

Naturally, I realized that my Plague Marines have been neglected in the 'Fiend department. My wife helped me to rectify that by getting me a new 'Fiend (thanks honey). So, my first consideration was which would I do it as? I decided that my Plague Marines, usually holding their positions and hanging tough would be to give them a bit more firepower- thus a Nurgle Forgefiend was born.

Then, of course, I had to consider how I would "Nurgle-fy" it. That is, how would I convert it in order for it to be within my usually disgusting Nurgle parameters. At first I thought I'd do guts and the like- my typical number. However, as I was sifting through my bits- I discovered that I still had plenty of parts from my Heldrake/Zombie dragon that I did a few months ago (and I'm still working on the second of that ugly combo FYI).

So, what caught my eye? The rotting, almost rat-like head that is the alternate head for the zombie dragon. I also had a rotting neck for it left over as well. As I sized it up, I knew it would fit perfectly for the upright Forgefiend. Well, that was easy. But it was missing something. Then it hit me- I have to make this thing look more rat like. No, I wasn't going to buy Skaven stuff. Instead, I took one of the Lasher Tendrils and basically stuffed it up the Forgefiend's tailpipe and... instant mechanical rat tail.

Granted, most of my Nurgle stuff is either insect, zombie/decayed, and mold/sores. I have done more than my fair share of green-stuff guts and the like. I have never done a "rat-like" Nurgle piece. However, it makes sense, as rats certainly carry diseases- thus I think Father Nurgle would approve of my creation. (Besides, when I do another one later I can do the guts and all that ;-)

I wasn't quite done with the conversions (slight and simple though they are). I took the tripartite Nurgle symbol and put it dead center on the thing's main carapace. The other conversion I did was with the ectoplasma cannons. I took spawn tentacles and made them look like tongues- thus all three "heads" had tongues. The ectoplasma cannons were now heads, not weapons. Then I noticed that the 3 heads again were part of the Nurgle motif- yes, Father Nurgle approved greatly. Lastly, I added some green stuff at the arm/weapon joints- making look as if the thing were part metal, part mold, part decayed flesh. It would tie it more completely into my army.

Now for the painting. I did Death World Forrest as the basecoat. The legs I did with Leadbelcher. Then I washed very liberally with Earthshade (such a ubiquitous wash I must say). I then set to work on the armor ridges, trim, weapons, and the tail- I used the aforementioned Leadbelcher, followed by Typhus Corruption, and then Ryza Rust to make it look nice and rusty. 

The growths I then highlighted with Nurgling Green, then I washed it down with Earthshade, with a lighter edge highlighting of Nurgling Green. I did the same with the flesh portions of the head and neck.

The bones and teeth I did with a Desert basecoat and then moved up with Ubshanti Bone and Screaming Skull with drybrushes of Tyrant Skull. The tongues actually challenged me a bit. They couldn't just be straight red, but what colors would work on all 3 heads. I started with Screamer Pink, then went lighter. Then I did a wash of Druichii Violet and some Earthsahde again. Presto! The tongues are distinct, but also look rotten and sickly. The toughest decision for me turned out very well.

Naturally, I had to add some blood and slime to the proceedings. Of course, you have to be careful not to use too much, lest it drowns out the rest of your paint scheme (I am always tempted to put on more and have to pull myself away). I used the GW slime and blood technical paints, but I also used the Tamiya Clear Red- so some blood looks fresh while some of it is old and coagulated.

All told, I am happy with how this guy turned out. He is clearly an invention of Papa Nurgle, and my Plague Marines will be pleased to have him I think. At some point I will do another for Nurgle (Forge or Mauler I'm not sure). But first, I have to finish my second Nurgle Heldrake (one of my craziest conversion jobs yet, I must say). However, I have been distracted by something VERY Heretical. The Emperor would not be happy, let's put it that way. I think they'll be done by next week...

Until next time, stay heretical my friends.

A couple of Rhinos and Epidemus

Hey there Chaos fanatics. Old Man Chaos here with another edition of Chaos Corner. I've been working on a ton of stuff- indeed, I have been suffering from painter's ADHD, working on a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I've got some good stuff coming down the pike, if I can just focus on one thing... geez.

I have been interested to see the Imperial Guard stuff coming from GW (excuse me, Astra Millitarum). I dislike the tracks of the Taurox, but the rest of the vehicle is just fine. I don't know how I'd fix those wheels though... The Tempestus (storm troopers) are really fine models though, with plenty of detail and accessories. I'm diggin the Hydra/Wyvern, I have to say. I will be buying the Guard codex this weekend, so I'll let you know what I think after I read through it all. As for the Tempestus "supplement"- I won't get it, but I like the idea of an all storm trooper force and the fluff behind it. But I do like the Guard, and I can't wait to get my grubby hands on that book.

Good shot of my 4th Rhino

On another front, I have played 2 games with my friend Brian, who is new to the game. He won the first go, but I won the second go. Now, he wants revenge this week. I'll be sure to take pictures and make a formal battle report. I wonder if he will buy an army? I certainly don't mind him borrowing mine if he decides not to. Time will tell. I also plan on going to my local store next week, getting back into the gaming scene there after this rather nasty (and busy) winter.

Does that really look over the top? Ha ha.

At any rate, I have some pics here of a Plague Marine Rhino and the daemon Epidemus. I have shown the Rhino before, but these pics are better due to the new studio that I'm using (have I mentioned that I love the set up?).

I like the Nurgling playing in the guts.

Now, the Rhino is a fine vehicle, but I'm always trying to make them look different for the Plague Marines. I worked on this puppy last summer before my big Apocalypse game. I used lots of putty for this one. I decided to go completely over the to with guts. I've got guts on the top, and in the rear. I know it was a bit much, but if you can't go over the top with Chaos, who can you go over the top with?

Forge World doors on my 4th Rhino

This is my favorite Rhino. 2 of my oldest Rhinos that I did I did WAAAAAAYY back when I was first building my Plague Marine army look  quite primitive compared to what I would eventually do with my army. The third Rhino I did is more in line with the rest of my army.

3rd Rhino Pic 1 (inspired by an old conversion in 3rd edition's codex)

3rd Rhino Pic 2 (the forerunner of my 4th Rhino)

3rd Rhino Pic 3- fungal growths and slime

My new 4th Rhino is slightly different, but it is so over the top that I just love it. It certainly gets a lot of looks when I take it gaming. When players tell me "Ewww. That's gross", I just smile. Papa Nurgle would be proud.

Awwww. He's drooling. Isn't that cute?

The other guy I want to show I probably haven't shown specifically, though you may have seen him in some battle report pics. The Tallyman himself, Epidemus.

I have an old model (which my friend bought for me from a Battlewagon, believe it or not), which was a Plague Lord on a Palanquin. I love that model, and still use it sometimes. I really loved the model. The only thing I disliked was the nurglings holding him up- not them, but the way I painted them. I tried to do them different colors, and they ended up a bit too technicolor for my tastes.

But, when Epidemus was released, my Nurgle painting style was perfected, and he ended up looking like the metal Plaguebarers that I did at that time. I sickly pale color, with just some green in there. I was always happy with how I did the maggots/vomit on his stomach. The yellow ink really sets that off on the model.

Better was the nurglings carrying him, which I did various shades of green. Thus, I avoided the random colors, but made them just different enough so that they are distinct. I really like how the nurglings are all over the place on this model, struggling to keep the throne upright under Epidemus' bulk. 

"Tally Your Blessings"

I have had mixed results with Epidemus on the field, and he always got killed before his Tallyman effect could really get going. That and I lost track of how many my Nurgle units killed (my fault). I will use him again at some point, and I will absolutely try to do better with him in the future. I have never done an all Nurgle daemon army though- perhaps it is time for me to do just that... hmmm. We shall see.

At any rate, that's it for me. Oh, before I go- I saw Captain American 2. It was awesome, and I should try to write up a review on it soon. I really want to see it again before I do, as it has a lot going on (all of it cool).

Until next time...