2 Chaos Spawn (50pts)

From the largest pointed unit (1200 for the Plaguebearers) to the smallest, a couple of Spawn at 25pts each. In the LatD these are described more as a pack as can (and probably should) be led by a Champion of Chaos, so eventually I'd like to do a converted spawn made up of lots of bits from my box and add him to these two and add a leader to marshall them around the battlefield.

Obviously these two are both classic Citadel miniatures, the left model being an old Plague Elemental and the right one being a Spawn of Nurgle, the latter having a slight conversion in removing the funny legs that came with it and sculpting some tentacles there instead. Both these old models though suffer from the perpendicular restraints of sculpting from that time, so when faced from the front both models look quite flat and symmetrical (although with the slug spawn you can reposition the tentacles on it's head to create more dynamic movement) and hence why I've photographed them both on the angle.

For this Beast of Nurgle I did a little research on slugs to get the correct colour scheme and used a little gloss varnish to capture the slimy nature of it's body. You will notice the basing on both models is slightly different from the rest of the army, in that there are a collection of organic shapes molded into the landscape, the idea behind this is based on the premise that:

 "the very proximity of a Beast is sufficient to kill small animals and plant.... or may age and decay perceptibly in their presence" (LatD p.20)

So a collection of small bitz from the box were impressed into some milliput and sculpted into the base to give the appearance of a dying, organic mass surrounding the model as it moves forward.

With the Plague Elemental I also experimented further with some skin painting techniques. Over a white undercoat I painted all the pinks with Contrast paints and highlights. Over this I then mixed some crackle medium into the pale green colouring of the skin and dabbed this onto areas where I wanted to create a peeling, cracking skin effect over the pink, exposed areas.

And to finish here's a group shot of the army including the most recent units for a cumulative total of 4405pts

Next up are some kitbashed Nurgle Beastmen, using mostly plastic kits...

7 Chaos Warhounds(160pts)

I think these are some cracking sculpts, but having now completed them, I wish I’d thrown in some more conversions to make each one a bit more unique and Nurglesque. Anyway, here’s the unit of 7 on their display tray.

I tried doing a lot of Contrast paint work on these and then highlighing up on the raised areas. These first two are relatively straight forward:

These two I went a bit darker and tried adding a bit of pattern to them as well (again, this is something which I should have explored further)

The warhound on the left here is the most converted model based on the warhound sculpt. I received it incomplete and so added an extra head, a troll’s back leg and a tyrannid’s arm at the front. The dog on the right was painted using Typhus corrosion, which gave a really interesting effect as the colours separated (I didn’t shake it enough) and then I highlighted up from that base.

The leader of the pack is a conversion I had started years ago, based on a metal cold one and with a wolfs head, horns and horses tail added. The base colour for this was also Typhus Corrosion which adds a bit of texture to the model and highlighted up. It’s not a good paint for this technique as it’s quite thick and certainly isn’t great for your brushes.

So that brings the tally up to 3155 points. I’ve got some spawn and plaguebearers on the painting table at the moment. More of that next. 

14 Chaos Warriors of Nurgle (1120pts)

You may have seen these before, as a previous blog post showed how I had finished painting all 11 of the original Citadel Nurgle Warriors well there's now another 3 models added to make it up to the magical number 14, in two ranks, with a standard. That's a hefty 1120points right there in 3rd Edition Lost and the Damned numbers.

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As you can see, I’ve re-set up my attic scenery space, as I had to pack it all away when the builders were here. It’s so much better for taking decent photographs of wide units.

So these and the Beastmen give me a grand total of 1270pts thus far, I think this army is going to be a lot of points! 

Classic Chaos Beastmen (150pts).

This blog was originally set up, some years ago, to chart my progress in creating a Nurgle army from the classic Lost and the Damned tome. Along the way I have been easily, inevitably and enjoyably sidetracked by a plethora of new ideas, miniatures, games systems and competitions, but for now I've decided to come back to the project and try and complete it! Ive finished my Warhammer 3rd Edition Chaos Allies Contingent, which have the same basing, so I looked back at my many incomplete Lost and the Damned units and decided to tackle the unit which needed the least amount of work.

I had painted half of these classic Chaos Beastmen some time ago, and I remembered collecting them so that they were a disparate, ragtag bunch (certainly not just goats), of different shapes, sizes and races and of course choosing some of my favourite sculpts from this era along the way.

Here’s the now completed unit:

I've painted their skin with a variety of tones, trying to unify them slighlty by keeping the colours slightly drab and pastel like, and as always allowing the basing to tie them together further. 

The banner is painted from an image in Fighting Fantasy's Army of Death and is held by a Beastman that was regularly headswapped in Dale Hurst's iconic Tzeentch warband from White Dwarf 135, something I had always wanted to do since I first saw the article in 1991 and here I've done so with a new, plastic plaguebearer head added to the Citadel lead body. 

Here’s the original illustration  by Nick Williams, as found in Fighting Fantasy: Armies of Death:

The last part was to construct a movement tray, which is really more of a display tray to hold the unit together. More on how I do this in a future post.

So then that’s 14 Beastmen, with standard, making a total of 150pts.

Very Lost and very Damned

Having just completed a major project in my Retinue Table Challenge, I now feel a bit lost as to where to begin with my next, even larger hobby project. At the same time I feel somewhat damned by a whole load of projects that I have already started...

So, focusing on just my Fantasy projects (the sci-fi/40k stuff is much smaller in scope and can be worked on in-between the bigger concepts), I decided to get out all my models that are ready for painting to see where I want to go next. It's a bit overwhelming...

My Lost and Damned Army and all it's Allies:

Some close-ups:

And to break it down into more manageable targets, this next set of photos is just purely the Lost and the Damned Nurgle Army:

And this next set is a Chaos Allied force from Warhammer Armies (seeing as how the Lost and the Damned Army list does not allow for Minotaurs, Chaos Dwarves or Centaurs):

Whilst it was fun to get all my models out and put them together to see them ranked up, it does present me with a real challenge in terms of getting them all painted during my life-time. You'll notice a fair few gaps within units and this is generally where incomplete conversions will sit. There's also some much larger models to add - a Giant,  a dragon and a GUO. 

I'd better get cracking...