The Fourth Death Guard Experiment.

 The fourth member of these old school (it pains me to admit that '96 is old, but here we are...*sigh*) has been completed. He is pretty close to the previous guy, Experiment #3, who followed the steps and scheme for Experiment #2.  To sum up, he is supposed to be the third step in the transition from the Horus Heresy era scheme to the current era Death Guard look. The last guy will be the fourth step. Got it? Good! Let's check him out. 

I toned dowb the rust that was so pervasive on the Experiment #3, and applied Plaguebearer Contrast paint in the receeding areas and the rotty bits.  The rust on the plague knife was painted to be closer in steps to the one that Experiment #1 has, which is all rusty and tetanus evoking. The results are a more dirty and grimey look, even though it does appear to a bit subtle in these photos. It's got a Blanchitsu vibe to it that I have never been able to pull off before I really think that's cool.

So with that here is the current look of the progression:

The Rotten Many line up.

So far so fun! We'll be looking at the last guy really soon, and in that post I will get better pics of all these guys, who, I have to admit, have been more fun to paint than I thought they would be. 

The Third Death Guard Experiment.

 

Experiment #3.

Inspiration struck me again, or maybe those three primed models at the back of my painting desk were calling out to me, taunting and teasing me to return to their experiment in putressence. Or it was the new Codex beguiling me to get something playable for the army? Whatever it was, I found myself hammering away at Death Guard #3. 

I basically painted this one following all the steps for Death Guard Experiment #2 with a few exceptions: I made the metal on the backpack more weathered as well as the knife, and I painted the power armor trim to match that of Death Guard experiment #1. He was basically done at the Heresy-era stage, but it was time to put on some wear and tear. And a bit of rot. 

Heresy-era scheme, pre-rusted.

I took some thinned Agrax Earthshade and darked some of the low lit areas on the model. Then I used Orange Ink and made some vertical lines in some spot to suggest rust streaks and added some Agrax Earthshade over that. I used Nurgle's Rot Technical Paint in a few spots as well to subtly imply this warrior's increasing decline into Nurgle's embrace. And it looks cool too. 

Rust and rot.

The orange is a tad overwhelming I think, so on future model's I am going to try to be a little more discreet with it's application but I think it looks fine here. I did some touch-ups with Pallid Flesh to tighten a few areas up, but essentially the miniature was done after this.

Pallid Flesh touch-ups.

I really like how the backpack turned out also. And I had to add the obligatory blue wire with white stripes...

Rear rust.

And here he is with the other two models, and you can kind of see how he fits in between the two stages. He is closer to the Heresy-era scheme than the other one. The next two that I do will be closer to the greener guy on the right. 

A rotten progression.

The Death Guard Experiment

The first of the Rotten Many. 

All this "modern plague" couldn't keep my thoughts away from Papa Nurgle. So much so that I decided to finally paint a Deathguard miniature. The miniature of choice was one of a pair that was released as the first plastic Plague Marines way back in '96. These guys are virtually mono-posed (you can adjust the elevation of the gun arm, so technically their duo-posed I guess?) in that simple pushfit style that GW was pumping out in the early to mid '90s. Anyway, I have at least three of these boxed sets and I decided a few years back to finally do something with them. Since that point however the Deathguard were released as a range and they are not only amazingly more detailed but exceptionally bigger.

These two* Plague Marines had their bases extended using ring extenders, primed white, and... neglected for three years. I think my focused changed from Chaos back to Orks and Wolves or something as I haven't done too much modeling and painting since 8th edition launched. But, they are still fine when grouped up I think and a perfect canvas for conducting my painting experiments on.

Extended base with new basing grit.

Enter Contrast Paints. Particularly the Plaguebearer color.

Just Plaguebearer Contrast Paint.

I love this paint! I liked how this turned out to the point that I had an attitude of, "well this is done, isn't it?" in regards to the way the green armor turned out.

After setting it aside for a few months (everything above this paragraph was written in April, it's now September) I began tickering with it again. I lightly washed Agrax Earthshade into the groves to give the model a little more depth. I was still so pleased with that I almost left it at that, but desire to sate my curiosity to give this thing a bit more highlight was irresistible. I used Ogryn Camo to give this a highlight. It looks good, but I dunno, I think I like it the other way... I will probably do another one up to compare the two. Not that it matters since I think no two of the my Deathguard are going to look alike.

Highlight of Ogryn Camo. 

The guts were done using steps found in the Know No Fear book. Screaming Pink, a wash of Druchii Violet, a brushing of Pink Horror and a wash of Reikland Flesh shade. Pretty simple really, and it looks good when finished.

Red Metallic trim. 

Following the Know No Fear book's direction on painting Death Guard, I used Krieg Kaki for the final highlight. And,, suddenly I like the way it turned out! This was the kick I think it needed.

I always liked the red trim that the 'eavy Metal team used on the original Death Guard back in the Realm Of Chaos: Lost And The Damned era (circa 1989) but I also like the current look of painting the trims and spikes a copper/brass metallic color. I decided to go with a best of both worlds approach. What I did was paint Hashut Copper over the Ral Partha Copper Metallic base coat. I next applied a Red Ink over that, and presto, I now have an interesting red metal color.

And sticking to the tradition I started years ago based off of a joke from Archer, I had to make one of the wires blue with white stripes. Or white with blue stripes. Whatever.

Finished!

I contemplated decals, but decided to hold off until I have at least a unit of these guys done. Finally I applied the grass tufts. I may seek out some tufts in red or orange colors just to add a bit more contrast to any more Death Guard I paint. And I do have a lot more to paint!

To sum up, this experiment was a success, even though it felt like it took ages for me to finish this one miniature. The Contrast paint was a huge boon as it allowed me skip a lot of stages. This was a successful experiment for sure and I am excited to finally work on an army that I started way back in 1994!




*For some reason I lost the photo that had the two miniatures side-by-side, but trust me there were two at this point.