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.

Add caption

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! 

Retinue Table : D4 Cultists (plus a Magus Warrior/Sorcerer)

One of my favourite options on the LatD Retinue table, is the D4 Chaos Cultists (with option to be led by a Chaos Sorcerer or a Chaos Warrior). There is so much potential with this as I can imagine the cultists in the midst of a human population, covert and looking to recruit further cultists to the cause of the Chaos God. Perhaps these Cultists have some hidden deformity, that outcasts them from ordinary society but that may lead them to follow a particular Chaos Deity. Or maybe they have just have Chaotic tendencies in their thoughts or personality that would draw them to becoming  a cultist.

In terms of model choice it was an absolute shoe-in that I would be using the Disciples of the Red Redmption for my cultists. Oldhammer to the core with their hooded capes and distinctive masks, they were perfect for the role. So I rounded up one plain disciple, one drummer, one standard bearer and one champion. For the Magus or Warrior I had to do a bit more thinking. I wanted to retain the hooded and possibly masked theme (they need to hide their identity from the public to a degree too, and in the end plumped for the jester like Sorcerer (very much fitting in with the theme of the Nurgle Carnival) and for the warrior, the iconic Goodwin model with jezzail. Mainly because it's such a damn cool model, even though it does not really fit my original fluff. Hardly a discreet weapon. 

I painted the robes in my Orc skin colour, I wanted them to be drab but with a hint of green and decided to retain the green colouring in the corrosion on the brass masks. The idea being that these hints of green would complement the reddish skin of the models.

For the banner bearer I did my usual perusal of my growing Fighting Fantasy collection of books and found a great illustration by Bob Harvey from the Talisman of Death that perfectly fits in with this idea of the hooded cultists trying to reach out and recruit you:

So I freehanded a copy of this onto a very small surface:

I plan to extend these 6 models into a unit of diseased flagellants in the future, as per the LatD Nurgle Army list. I've been inspired by this image:

And have a bucket load of plastic flagellants, hounds and even a screaming bell somewhere to make it happen... probably a long time in the future....

The Bitzbox Warband Challenge

I've got too many bitz and kitz, so to try and use them up and to test my imagination, problem solving and creativity I've decided to set myself a challenge (and you can join in if you like!)

Let me introduce the inaugural "Bitzbox Warband Challenge"

Here are my self-imposed rules (feel free to change as you wish):

1. Every model must be converted / kitbashed to hell (and therefore unique)
2. I must use only currently owned bitz (no buying more stuff!)
3. I must not use more than two parts from the same kit on one model
4. If using Realm of Chaos, then rolls must be adhered to or complete the conversion and then find attributes to match (I did the latter here).

This is what I "rolled up" on the Lost and the Damned retinue table:

• Seth Spawnbloat. Level 10 Human. Champion of Nurgle. Infestation of Nurlings. Atrophied Arm, Enormously Fat. Palanquin, Shield, Warhammer

• Darn the Veiled. Chaos Marauder. Mark of Nurgle, Horns, Heavy Armour Shield.

• 5 Beastmen. Standard. I decided to create a Beastman champion to lead these; 
• Araf. Level 5 Beastman. Mark of Nurgle. Bestial Face (Dog), Limb Loss (leg), Demonic Steed (Skull Face, Horn)

• Chaos Centaur. 

So over the last couple of evenings I have been busy with my imagination, bitzboxes, scalpel, clippers, pin vice, paper clips, plastic and super glue to create the first bitzbox warband.
Here it is in the pre-greenstuffing stage:

Seth Spawnbloat atop of his Nurgling Infested Palanquin.

Note the writhing torsos emerging from the throne

Lots of plastic Nurglings. The bitz range from a wizard's head, ogre torso, chaos knight shield, chaos warrior hammer, skaven banners, blightkings icon and shoulderpad, skeleton torsos, ghoul heads, zombie heads, corpse cart flames, orc legs, plaguebearer arms

Darn the Veiled. A Chaos Champion body with the knight of Nurgle head. Plastic shield.

Chaos Centaur musician

A cold one body, some flagelant boards, orc drums, horror head and arms and a dragon's tail.

The beastmen led by Araf.

Cow man: the standard bearer.

Made from the giant's cow body, a fanatic's hat for the tail, chaos warrior head, skeleton spear, skaven pole and head, plaguebearer arms.

Griffon man: Beastman body, zombie guts, cold one claw, orc shield, plaguebearer arms, flagellant mace, empire (?) griffin head

Grumpy Arquebusier: Free company body/legs/arms/gun, beastman foot and head. This one did not quite fulfil my initial criteria, but I love him as it is.

Lizard man: Cold one head, beastman body, plagubearer torse, chaos warrior mutation arm, cold one tail, metal palanquin rider leg, orc arm, black orc axe, plaguebearer trophy.

Fly Boy: OOp Savage orc body, chaos warrior sword, plaguebearer head, random shield,

Araf, Beastman Level 5. 

Wood Elf horse, oop Bretonnian horse neck, skeleton horse head, vampire arm, nurgle knight sword and shield, zombie torso, flagellant banner, catachan fighter arm, random horn, oop chaos knight legs, mordheim dog head.

You may recognise the steed, it is based upon Tony Ackland's illustration from the Lost and the Damned, see below:

So there we go, it was loads of fun to make this warband over a few long evenings. It made me use my imagination and creativity in how I searched, combined and then positioned all the bitz (I always try and go for dynamic poses if I can) and it was quite a nice sense of satisfaction that all these bitz were lying unused and unwanted from previous projects. I realise that I have enough to do many, many warbands if the desire returns.... but i must get on with some greenstuffing and then painting before I do any more bitzbox converting.


Thanks for reading and I'd love to see other people have a go for whatever race or faction they want and indeed in whatever quantities. If you do please post a link here so I can see your efforts.

 Go be creative and use up some of those bitz from your boxes!

That most wanted miniature

If there's one miniature that you really pine for, what is it? Please share here or on your own blog. I always see who has what for trade or sale, but rarely do I see what people are actually after. So post that one miniature that you really, really want, I'm intrigued, and who knows if you show and share it, maybe, just maybe someone will have one... (I live in hope).

So for me it's this Nurgle fella. I have all the others that were released at this time and they're damn good sculpts and pretty abundant on ebay. However, I've only seen AXE 073201/113 twice on ebay, the first time he went for a song and the second time he was mis-listed as a troll and still went for over £25. Is he really that rare? Anyone know his story?

So what's your most wanted miniature and why?

Back catalogue - Chaos Champion of Nurgle

I love to convert, but sometimes GW release a figure that needs little if no converting and I can just enjoy the painting experience and so I think it is with this Nurgle Champion. (I suspect one of the best sellers and most painted recent releases  - and due to it's success, I believe, a huge inspiration for all the new Nurgle Glottkin output):

A multitude of washes (with a dash of washing up liquid) were applied over a white basecoat to get the skin effect and then my usual rust recipe of boltgun metal worked up to chainmail, washed with chestnut/brown ink and then completed with some red oxide pigment mixed with a touch of matt medium.

And for a bit of fun I created a larger "dispay" base:

Back catalogue - converted Chaos Warriors

These are some Chaos Warriors that I converted and painted at the beginning of my return to the hobby, or perhaps what I could call the start of my involvement in Oldhammer. I wanted to create some Realms of Chaos style warriors that were based on illustrations, stories and how my imgaination put them all together. The only other constraint was the bitz that I had available:

Have a go at recognising the bitz from these if you can! They were a lot of fun to make and to paint:

 Lots of pictures for you to look through today, more (hopefully) tomorrow!