The Army That Won't Parade - Re-Capturing The Slow Hobby Spirit

Sadly, Armies On Parade isn't going to happen for me this year. I found myself over the last week or so getting really anxious about having things at a certain stage and the amount of painting time I had left. 

I also realised that I was starting to paint in ways that I simply didn't want to: ultimately, I was losing my 'slow hobby' spirit and turning leisure into slog. Not a recipe for happiness.

So I returned all my Nurgle folks to their shelf and turned again to picking them off one or two at a time and experimenting away contently, while imagining that I'm a real artist. 

At least the tidying away led to more effectively presented shelves, so, dear reader, please take this humble photograph as a small prelude to my annual 'climbing sprue mountain' posts...

Plague Hulk - My Entry For The Forge World Open Day Competition

On Sunday I went to the Forge World Open Day and entered the painting competition. This was first time that I'd shown my work in public and I was rather nervous. It was, though, an amazing experience, which really made me feel part of the community. It was also an immense pleasure to have some of my work in a display cabinet with other dedicated and talented hobbyists, and to display my work in GW HQ only meters away from classic and contemporary works of painting wizardry. Thanks again to everyone who gave me wonderful and positive feedback, including one of the FW designers who thought I'd won (I didn't).

By pushing myself to participate/compete I've now got the confidence to work harder, stretch my abilities and enter more competitions. My work is very different to the vast majority of what's out there, but seeing it side by side with the 'mainstream' I've had an opportunity to reflect on how it holds the same value, despite standing out for its stylistic and painterly departures. I began painting as a therapeutic exercise in dark and difficult times: I hope you'll forgive me blowing my own trumpet a little because it has evolved into a genuinely self-asserting craft.

Nurgle Terminators (Forge World Parts)

Being an old fashioned gaming fellow all my Chaos units have to adhere to the deamonic numbers set out in Realm of Chaos. With my Slaaneshi fantasy army it's six and multiples thereof. And with my Nurgle Chaos Space Marines it has to be units of seven, fourteen, twenty one, and so on. Here then are my seven Nurgle Terminators. I've taken the rather standard route of getting the regular box and adding the Forge World Death Guard parts, but I've also tried to be a little more creative with the plastics. Achieving a unit of seven was very economical as all I required were two extra pairs of legs, which my brother dutifully supplied - thanks Paul.  

Then it was just a case of mixing all the shoulder pads around the unit and working in some interesting plastic parts. I chose to utilise a couple of spare Plague Bearer heads and the candle topped altar piece from the Coven Throne. Yes, it's undeniably OTT, but it's exactly the kind of look that I enjoy. It also makes this guy look something like a standard or icon bearer, which could have useful in-game roles. With the unit as a whole I'm pleased with how dynamic they look. That's not something I was expecting with terminators as they're often rather lumpy and sluggish looking.

The Helfly Grows... Some Colour On The Nurgle Heldrake

It seems as if all my hobby time in the last few weeks have been sunk into sticking things together, most prominently this guy. I have a project for the Forge World Open Day painting competition to focus on over the next two weeks, so I've been busy over the last couple of days getting primer, base and a first shade coat on numerous models. Lots of work to do... (how often do I write that!). 

The Helfly And The Herald Of Nurgle

Firstly, apologies for the odd nature of these photos. As usual I'm trying to experiment with too many projects at the same time and everything is a rush. So here are a couple of shots of this evening's works in progress. 

Most prominently there's the Helfly. On this I've finished all the greenstuff work and gone round the whole thing several times smoothing out the gaps and checking for anything I'd forgotten to clip off when getting the whole thing to actually stick together. Tomorrow the primer. Really looking forward to that. Nestled at the base you'll see the beginings of my Herald of Nurgle on palanquin. Here he is close up.

This should be a reasonably straightforward corpse cart plus converted Bragg the Gutsman. This will be pretty much as you see it now, with some work done on the ogre to ensure he's sufficiently nurgled. The corpse cart is a nice little kit that I've wanted to get for a while; really easy to put together and insanely gruesome (in a good way obviously). Luckily, I can use the necromancer it comes with in the undead cohort that's forming part of my Cult of Slaanesh. How economical of me!

Building a Nurgle Heldrake: The Helfly Part Two

The Helfly is now 90% completed. I've got it fitted to the flying stand (though not glued), the engines and wings are in place, and I've got a few finishing touches to do before priming. Very happy so far. I can report that fixing the wings and legs in those positions was extremely fiddly! 

Building A Nurgle Heldrake: The Helfly Part One

Big spider plus bits equals Nurgle Heldrake: the Helfly. 

This is a conversion job that's been done before by a few people, but my take is distinctive because it's supposed to be a direct substitute for the standard heldrake. I've modelled the legs in a forward attack pose rather than drooping down limply because I want to retain the notion that this thing plummets from the heavens to being wanton destruction. It's not simply dawdling along! Engines to be added once the bits arrive. And as a little teaser, the bits for the wings are in the last photo.

The baleflamer ready for action

Soon to be wings

Finecast Plague Marines - Out Of The Box

*RANT COMMENCES* Why exactly - I hear you ask - are you bothering to do an Out Of The Box review of the Finecast Plague Marines, which are just reproductions of the Death Guard models from all the way back in 2002? 

The reason is that I thought it was about time that we revisited the whole Finecast story now that these products have been around for a fair old while. Doing this with Plague Marines, who are I must admit rather messy by their very nature, might be seen as a cop out. Fair enough. I also happen to have a batch of Space Marines sitting on a shelf too, and I'll talk about those when I do a companion post to this. But back to Finecast… 

Resin is here to stay. Or is it? The rumours are that GW would love to go all plastic in the future. When you see the very high quality plastic clamshells that are coming out right now - the new Daemonic Heralds for instance - it isn't hard to believe that this may well be the direction they'll take. It is possible. The trouble is, as far as I can tell they make huge profits from Finecast: it's cheaper than white metal and they used the switch to bump up prices. 

Plenty of people noticed and were pissed off with this. But as I seem to say all the time, show me a manufacturer who produces comparable quality models at a more competitive price? No one can, because there simply isn't anyone out there as good as GW. There. I said it. Am I a blind fan? Hardly. But I accept that all companies are out to make a profit and that's the deal we have to swallow. Again, it's worth stating that you don't have to follow the buy-an-army strategy that GW promote with their codex and army book range - it's your game so play it however you want! 

These Plague Marines are great. Much, much better then their previous metal counterparts. You can see all the detail. You can see all the flash - and there's plenty, but it's ok because it's simple to deal with. Mould lines are quickly dispatched. Drilling to pin is super easy, as is matching up the pins and holes. 

Finecast had a bumpy start and miscasts are bloody annoying. Yet GW have changed all miscast stuff I've had from them, no questions. And the ease of working through the early stages of a model means it's a far superior medium to white metal, where casting issues often doesn't come to light until a mini is primed or even base coated. 

These smelly chaps will form part of my Armies on Parade display - hence why I purchased GW after converting the Avatar's of War Corruptors. I am at a slight risk of becoming a Nurgle completist however... *RANT CONCLUDES*

Plague Hulk!

Oh my goodness this model is amazing. For me, this screams (gurgles?) Nurgle more than any other model currently available - more so even than the Forge World Great Unclean One. I've got big hopes for the up-coming GW daemon releases, but until those land I've got this hunk of dirty love to keep me happy of a winter's eve. He was a pain to put together. Though I did get to put into action an idea that I had a while ago - using the new texture paints to add detail to a model. Here it's proved ideal so far for adding that degenerated look to the mechanised parts of the hulk, those plastic bits that come from the GW Soul Grinder. He'll make a perfect centrepiece for my Armies on Parade effort.

Isn't he gorgeous?

I think my wife might be jealous of the amount of time I spend with him  

A fantastic centrepiece from every angle

A closeup of the textured paint, used to create more Nurgliness

Nurgle Blight Drone - Out Of The Box and WIP

Here's where it begins to get interesting in my quest to have an offering from Papa Nurgle ready in time for Armies on Parade. This Blight Drone is only my second Forge World model and my, is it a corker! I cannot believe how much detail there is on this hovering maggot. It took around 90 minutes to put it together, but there's no filler here, as all the parts go together very neatly. Some of the pipes are very thin though - I broke one and I decided to leave the flash on a couple, which will be disguised as goo. I decided, as you can see, to give it that 'shitting on the fly' look. The putrid green poo has come out very well and although there's a way to go on this model I'll try to keep the day-glo look. I'm going to use this scheme - which is almost entirely glazes so far - on my newly purchased Plague Hulk. An evening of sticking that fatty together awaits...

Nurgle Helbrute WIP

I'm utterly exhausted following a long day of meetings and a six hour train ride home, so all I'll say is: here's my WIP Nurgle Helbrute!

Nurgle Daemon Prince WIP

Here's a first look at one of the leaders of my Nurgle gang, the daemon prince. This guy started life being owned by my brother around 18 months ago (my how time flies! [intentional pun]). Now he's shaping up rather nicely with the signature paint job for this project. This is the first time that my bright highlighting has crept onto a larger model - what do you think? - I'm please with how he's going. Of course, it's such a superb model in the first place it's one of those where you can really get a sense of what the sculptor wanted to achieve. Plenty of nooks and ridges to play with - I only wish I wasn't away with work at the moment so that I could spend an evening in his company!

A Crazed Cohort Of Converted Chaos Cultists

When the CSM codex came out I thought a massed mob of the maximum number of 35 cultists was an excellent way to fill a troops slot. Looking at this lot now I'm not so sure... It's going to take a while to paint all these crazies up. Just look at all the little buggers!

To keep the task enjoyable I've kitbashed many of these using ghoul arms in the most part. Other changes have involved swapping arms and weapons around, then melting all the gaps with additional plastic shavings to give them a misshapen and mutated look. The melting approach is fun, swift and effective, and involves no greenstuff. All you need is a radiator to dry them on so that the melty gluey plastic stays in the pose you want. I'll be keeping the colour scheme very basic with these otherwise it'll take me weeks to get them done. The same green tones as the CSM on weapons and boots, simple flesh, then white hoods and clothing. Simple. 

Nurgle CSM Mutilators WIP #3

I've not spent too much time on these as I've been busy finishing kitbashing my mob of 35 cultists (more on them during the coming week). I have finished the conversion job on all three of these chaps now though, and got the basic base coats on all the new bits. So here they together for the first time. I think these will come out really well, although the stylised paint scheme will take quite a few sessions to come together. To preserve my patience for the job ahead I'm going to spend the week with the far more straightforward cultists. 

Nurgle CSM Mutilators WIP #2

It's taken me ages to decide what to do with two of my mutilator conversions. I've wavered between fitting them with more futuristic weapons and alternatively keeping their trollish clubs (which would've fitted reasonably well, if not perfectly). In the end, as these pictures attest, I've made substantial changes. The first mutilator below is now in the midst of forming a great daemonic sword (taken from the daemon prince set); the second has morphed two power mauls (taken from the Carnifex kit). Tomorrow I'll post a WIP of all three. Thanks to Ben for the comment that nudged me to finally take the plunge and make these changes.

Nurgle CSM Mutilators WIP #1

The fluff for Chaos Space Marine mutilators is better than the available GW models. Who doesn't think that fleshmetal is a great concept? For my Nurgle worshippers I decided to employ my hitherto nomadic and rather unloved river trolls as mutilators, reasoning that their appearance was suitably rotten and that I could develop an interesting technique for representing a hybrid of organic and machine. Here is my early progress. 

Plenty still to do but I'm laying down a kind of work that I've not tried before, namely capturing two different kinds of light and shade, which are opposite to each other. For the green areas that represent the hardened armour plates, I'm using highlights in the regular way. For the pinkish flesh parts though, I'm attempting lowlights, as you might say, to hint at a molten underbelly to these foul beasts. 

Have Titan Forge Produced The Perfect Nurgle Heldrake?

I'm not a fan GW's robot chicken so I'm keeping an eye out for potential Heldrake substitutes for my Nurgle chaps. Now along comes the undead wyvern from Titan Forge. Goodness me this looks like a fun model! In truth, it's a few steps away from being perfect - the zombie dragon is probably where I'll look in earnest - but I'll keep a look out for the price of this when it's released on 21st January.

The Work Tray Of Nurgle

Apologies for the awful quality photo - I'm having a very lazy evening. I just wanted to give you a taste of all the nurgle goodness going on in these parts. I'll get my act together over the coming days and do a few reasonable work in progress shots.

Mantic Nurgle Misstep, OR, The Continuing Mystery Of Mantic Games

I admire Mantic Games but sometimes they confuse me. By which I mean I don't know what they're trying to do. Are they a truly independent gaming company? Or do they intend to continuously ride on the tail coats of Games Workshop?

Of course, GW is such a behemoth that any company looking to survive in this niche market of ours needs to appeal heavily to GW gamers (Privateer Press being the one exception in science fantasy gaming). Take Mantic's latest promotion of 'zombie marines' for example. This is clearly a result of the recent Chaos Space Marines codex and the special abilities of our friend Typhus to conjure up cohorts of the undead. Mantic have even gone so far as to release this 'hero' figure, called 'Mortis', and here he is:

All fine I suppose. Yet this model looks to be pretty low quality and it's hardly inspiring, is it? And at £10 it's not exactly competitively priced, given that it's obviously modelled as a Typhus substitute. 

So really this just deepens the mystery of Mantic Games. Cut price and reasonable quality in some areas (ghouls and zombies, for example), baffling in others (the Veer-Myn), and opportunist in still others (Dreadball cashing in on GW's delay in updating Blood Bowl - now a must if they've got any commercial sense).

Still, they're a young company and I wish them well. I'll skip adding Mortis to my Nurgle army though.

A Really Rotten Start To 2013 - A Deep Winter Of Nurgle Goodness

Happy New Year to one and all. 2013 begins for me with a deep winter love affair with all things Nurgle. Over the coming weeks I'm focusing exclusively on my joint Chaos Marines / Chaos Daemons force for 40k. I have all the models I need and I'm getting properly stuck in - as coming up-dates will show - with an eye also on the rumours that the new Great Unclean One is due out within a month, and will be accompanied by some kind of Plaguebearers riding giant flies set (please, please, please be good!) Fortunately I have funds set aside for them.

Generally this year I'm going to be far more project focused, as I've really got into the swing of things with my painting style reaching a very pleasing point of development. This won't mean 'to-do' lists as I'm still not keen on them and still have nothing specific to prepare for - I don't play tournaments, but I would like to tour my finished forces around a few gaming clubs at the tail end of the year.

So the early winter months will be Nurgle focussed. Around March I anticipate commencing the final push to get my beastmen finished, and these will be fully themed as a chaos undivided army (some Tzeench ungor skirmishers will be heading this way, for example). That should take me up to the summer when I will embrace my Dark Eldar and compete with my brother in something like an army-in-a-month challenge (or something like that... he'll be doing Dark Angels I think).

Speaking of my brother, he's a big collector (plastic crack addict) but not a blogger so I plan to feature some of his collection and work in the Gazette. A few other regular features will begin to appear, including some snappy book reviews (probably). We'll see.

Later in the year... who knows, but I very much like the idea of doing some Imperial Fists, although that depends on the freeing up of some serious cash from selling the depths of my collection...