Celebrating The Apocalypse Part 3: Plague Marines Assemble!!

Hey There my crazy chaos fanatics! We're back with another installment of our celebration of the upcoming release of Apocalypse. I can't wait to get that book- I was always a sucker for Apocalypse, and the stuff I've been hearing about it makes it sound really good. 

I am also excited about going to my Games Workshop store and participating in their Apocalypse battle, "The Destruction of Kanthar IV". My Death Guard must venture forth once more, spreading disease and horror on this feeble imperial world. Now, as the day of battle draws near, I need to select my forces- I had to get them out and ready to go.

As I decided to do this, a question hit me- just how much should I take? That led to a bigger question- how many Death Guard Plague Marines do I even have? Oh boy... this is going to be a lot tougher than I thought!

With that, I decided to bring up all of my Plague Marine stuff and check. All of a sudden, as I brought the Army Transports and foam trays up from my basement, I realized that I had way more than I thought... My wife was right, I have enough Plague Marines (in dollar terms) to fund our future child's college education. 

After bringing it all up from my basement, I decided to put it all out on the table- yes, ALL of my Plague Marines, all assembled. I really have never put all my Plague Marines out on the table as a showpiece (even in my bachelor-Apocalypse I did not use every single Plague Marine). 

As I was putting them out, I decided NOT to put out my Nurgle Daemons, my Plague Zombies, or my Traitor Guardsmen. I'm undecided over whether I'll take them to battle on Saturday, but for this display I would put out only the dreaded Plague Marines of Nurgle and their various war machines. 

After I put them all out, I just stared at it all. I can't even begin to tell you how much in terms of hours, paint, putty, cash, and blood, sweat, and tears I put into this army. I am, as you may know, doing a Khorne Bezerker army, but I know that it will never get to this level. No way. My Plague Marine force is truly legion size (and I had 7 squads of troops to boot- bless Nurgle!). 

I have been assembling this army for years. 10 perhaps? I started Dark Eldar in 2000, and I transitioned to Plague Marines I think in 2003? Now I can't quite remember, but it has to be nearly a decade. Looking at it all, I am pleased how the whole army is tied together. I have used various paint schemes (and different paints!) over the years. Indeed, my painting style has evolved over time- I have a stronger eye for detail, I have gravitated to darker looks, etc. Yet, the army does indeed look like a cohesive whole. They are the colors of rot and decay; of disease and despair. So, some look the same, others look different, but at the end of it, they look like a single army, under a single banner. I sat looking at the whole army, awed. 

I am not awed because of my "skills" (such as they are). I just can't believe how it all looks together, knowing that I built them all up, converted, and painted them (my friend Pete did build a couple of the trickier ones- the Titan, the Drop Claw, and the strangely huge defiler- but I did paint them). I sat looking at the whole army for several minutes... I was just shocked at seeing them all at once; my brother saw it and said that it looked like something from a White Dwarf article. Wow. This army has been 10 years of my hobby life, and to just see it all there was amazing. I am proud of my work, warts and all. 

Perhaps at one point I'll go into a little more detail about some of the units--- like how my displeasure at the GW Plague Marine sculpts led me to create my own, using putty, guitar wire, and nails for their spiked helms. Or how I used plastic bug toys to make my Raptors- bug heads and clear plastic wings that I used green ink on. Or how my Land Raider was partially inspired by a Raider conversion shown in the 3rd edition Chaos Codex. Or how my brother and Pete found the Nurgle Lord on Palanquin at a Bitz Wagon (anybody remember those?) and got it for me while I was stuck working on a report for graduate school. Or how about that defiler... the one Pete and I dreamed up long before they had Soul Grinder? 

I could go on and on, as so many of those models, paint jobs, and ideas have a story. Perhaps I will expound on them one day here at Chaos Corner (my original reason for starting this blog, after all... which I never quite got around to). At any rate, I'll let the pics speak for themselves. 

Mortarion himself has come forth...

I'll let you guys know how the battle goes on Saturday. I hope that you are going to be enjoying the Apocalypse this weekend!

Until next time...

Celebrating The Apocalypse Part 2: A New Rhino and Dreadnought

Hey there everybody! As promised, I'm back with part 2 of my celebration of the upcoming Apocalypse release. It came across the wires last Saturday- my "nearby" Games Workshop store is doing a big Apocalypse battle this upcoming Saturday called "The Destruction of Karthanax IV". I have decided that it is high time that the Plague Marines of Nurgle march forth again, bringing disease, decay, and death to all who oppose the might of Grandfather Nurgle and his chosen son, Mortarion. Thus, my Plague Marines will be taking part in the destruction of that poor, puny imperial world. (Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh).

So, deciding that my Plague Marines would once again see battle, I decided to add a a couple of new things to my army. Nothing special, just a couple of new units- making their first appearance at the big game. Thus, I was painting on a schedule (something I seldom do); I wanted to finish these 2 units in time for the big battle.

The first was a Rhino. I currently have 3 Rhinos. Two of them are older- when I was first starting the Plague Marines in the early 2000s. The third looks pretty good, to be honest. However, I have a ton of Rhinos still to assemble (even after doing the 2 Rhinos for the Khorne Bezerkers), so I decided to do a new one for the Plague Marines. While I know the "Rhino Rush"is on life support in 6th, I figured a new Rhino couldn't hurt.

I decided to go crazy with the gross factor on this one. I used green stuff to make huge intestinal guts to fill up the top hatch. How did I get it recessed in there without it falling? Ah ha! I used one of the larger rectangular bases for fantasy (maybe it came with my Tzeentch Chariot?). I cut off a piece so it would fit in the Rhino and bam- instant area to lay down the guts while still making them appear as if they are also within the Rhino. I made them all red and bloody, and I even put an extra Nurgling in pulling at it.

I decided to do the same thing for the rear of the Rhino. I left off the back ramp and put guts in there too- I even made it look like the intestines were running down from the guts in the top. Again, I put in a Nurgling, just to have some fun. With the red paint job, I even used P4 Red Ink and GW Gloss Varnish and presto- bloody guts worthy of a Romero movie.

For the rest of the tank, I decided to take it easy, as the guts were the centerpiece. I used Forge World Death Guard doors of course. I also put in a driver/gunner. I decided to give him a spare Plaguebearer head- so he's nice and mutated for Grandfather Nurgle. The paint job was a a base of Deathworld Green, followed by a wash of Camoshade, a stippling of straken green, and a subsequent wash of Agrax Eathshade (which may be the most ubiquitous shade for all things Nurgle, now that I look at it). While the Rhino turned out a bit darker than my other Rhinos, I'm down with it because it still fits in with the rotting Plague Marine aesthetic.

The other new unit is the Plague Marine Dreadnought (I just can't call it a Helbrute!) from Forgeworld. I have been sitting on this guy for a while, not sure how to paint him. I decided to go with a variation from the Rhino- I added Waywatcher Green Glaze to it, thus making him look more green. A bunch of his body was also rusty metal- which I did by paining on Mournfang Brown, with subsequent stippling of Troll Slayer Orange and Ironbreaker, followed by a wash of Eathshade- a really nice, dingy, rusty look.

I am particularly proud of the work I did with it's topside- the dead body, the slime, and the Nurgling pulling at the body. All over the model I used Warpstone Green and Moot Green for slimy areas or holes on his body. For some of the sores, I used Ungor Flesh with a yellow glaze- it looks like oozing pus. I also made some of the sores bloody, naturally.

The only problem with the model was the damn banner. It is a nice piece, but the banner pole is so fine that I snapped it off several times. It is just so fragile (as is the banner on the Plague Marine Sorcerer- broke that like 5 times too). I used the method described in the latest White Dwarf for the skulls on the banner and the base itself- Zandri Dust, with a wash of Eathshade, and then building up from their with drybrushing of Tyrant Skull and the like.

Now, that means I have 3 Dreadnoughts for my Plague Marines. I certainly won't field all 3 outside of Apocalypse games too often, but hey, I'm glad I've got the option now if I want to. And the Forgreworld Dreadnought is a fantastic piece, a great addition to my evil forces.

Well, that's all for this posting. Hope you like the pics. For the record, I finished both in 4 days. I realize I can paint faster if I put my mind to it... I think the need to paint it in time for a big game certainly helped to motivate me. Anyways, I'll be back later with more Apocalypse by the weekend.

Until next time!