Warhammer 40k - Death Guard
I had played Nurgle CSM/Deathguard armies since 3rd Edition. Originally it was a Rhino rush army that then was adjusted for all the different versions of 40k and the different codexes. So now it was time again to update the army again for the latest Edition of the game - or rather a complete overhaul since I was going to use completely new models for most of the army.
The army was planned for 2000 points. Three units of 10 Plague Marines mounted in Rhinos were to be the core of the army. A Vindicator and 10 Terminators with a Nurgle Banner were added for some heavy hitting power. A Lascannon Predator and a Lascannon armed Dreadnought provided anti-tank capability. The army was the rounded off by a Chaos Lord with the Mark of Nurgle in Terminator armor.
Overall I wanted to stay away from the decayed/diseased/bloated look that most modelers and painters go for. I also didn’t want to use the official Plague Marine models since they were too “static” and didn’t allow for enough customization. The same was true for the vehicles. I didn’t want the vehicles to be too decayed and instead opted for a more “patched up” look.
The squad markings were the Nurgle symbols from the lost and the damned/slaves to darkness books. These books added special symbols for all Chaos gifts and demons and I decided to use those to mark individuals and Squads.
The Chaos Lord was equipped with the Mark of Nurgle, Terminator armor and a Demon Weapon (Plaguebringer). The miniature was based largely on the currently available plastic kit. The arms were repositioned. The weapon was converted using the Force Weapon staff and the handle of the Poweraxe. The scythe blade was from a WHFB Zombie. I then added the head from the WHFB Nurgle Lord (that I had leftover from a previous project). Greenstuff was then used to fix the right hand, the personal symbol/mark on the shoulder pad (the symbol stood for the old “Gift of Immensity”), encrust the the blade and close some gaps. The base of the model is from the WHFB Hero basing kit with a OOP Scorpion added (it was one of two that were available as the previous version of the Tomb King Tomb Swarm).
The Terminators were “leftover” from a previous version of this army. I had try to sculpt and cast an entire army but had problems with the casting material/process (it seems I couldn’t get resin to work properly). The Terminators turned out mostly ok, so I kept them. The original model was based on the older Space Marine plastic Terminator. I just gave them a bigger gut and added Chaos trim and cabling. The Helmet was sculpted to look more “nurglesque” by adding a gas mask and a WWII German style helmet. The twin linked bolter was originally a CSM Terminator Combi-Bolter/Flamer. The Power weapon arm simply had the Chaos star removed and replaced with the Squad logo - the symbol for the Beast of Nurgle. The Squad itself was made up of 10 Terminators (to allow 2 Reaper cannons and to make the Banner more economical). The Reaper cannons and the Powerfists on the two models were simply added from (the previous version of the) regular CSM Terminators. I just added the Squad symbol. The Champion had a WHFB Ungor head added and the twin lightning claws from the new Terminator Lord. The banner had to be converted and I figured as an Chosen Champion of Nurgle the Terminator Champion would not carry it himself and have a Plaguewitch carry it instead. The model is from Bronze Age (seems I cannot finish a project without one of those models these days). The banner staff is brass rod, the banner top was made from mostly Chaos vehicle accessory sprue parts and the banner itself is from Greenstuff. Some of the squad’s bases had pieces added from the various Citadel miniature basing kits.
I managed to get the Rogue Trader era Dreadnought a couple of years ago. And even though the model according to the army list was armed with a Lascannon I decided to not change anything on the model and to leave the old Powerclaw and Plasmacannon combo (it seemed almost blasphemous to me to even contemplate a conversion). I based him on a 40 mm base and tried to paint him in the same style as the rest of the army (which was a bit tricky since the style of the miniatures had changed quite a bit since the model had been released).
I had to find a way to distinguish the three squads of Plaguemarines other than the squad badges. I found the problem with most marine armies is that the models looks very similar and when the massive pile-up in the middle of the board occurs it is very hard to tell the squads apart. So I decided to use different types of heads and helmets for the different squads.
The first squad was built heads with gas/filter masks. The badge was the “Nurgle Fly”. The special weapons for this squad were plasma guns and the Aspiring Champion was equipped with a personal icon. Since this squad will be the one calling in the Terminators, the fly symbol is repeated on the back of the Terminators’ armor. The Nurgle Fly was also added to the attached Rhino. The symbol was cut out of plasticard and glued to the top hatch. The patched up look on the Rhino was achieved by adding bits of textured plasticard.
The second squad was built with bare/plain helmets. The squad icon was the symbol of the Great Unclean One. The squad’s special weapons were two Meltaguns. The Aspiring Champion was converted to carry the head of a Champion of Tzeentch (the first ever game I played with this army was a Tzeentch player and he had used this head for his Lord. I managed an instant kill with the Vindicator, so I thought it was only fitting to add this trophy somewhere in the army). The squad’s logo was also duplicated on the Rhino.
The third squad was assembled with horned helmets. The squad emblem was the glyph of the Plaguebearer. Two flamers were added as the special weapons. I converted the Champion to have two horns on his helmet (the original has only one), since I figured it would look better if all models have two horns. And the squad badge was repeated on the Rhino again.
The conversion work on the Predator was kept fairly minimal. I only added four rows of spikes to the front to make it look different from the Rhinos (since it has a much higher armor value on the front than the APCs) and I also used the textured plasticard like on all the tanks for the patched up look. The Tank commander’s head is a Iron Warrior’s head.
The Vindicator was originally meant to have the demonic possession upgrade. So I started converting it and gave it the sphincter (inspired by the Saarlac) in the top hatch. In the latest version of the army list it actually does not have the upgrade but I decided to keep the hatch anyway.
There are more things planned to be added to this army in the future. I want to convert a Sorcerer so I have a choice of leaders. I have a couple of ideas about objective markers. I am thinking about adding an allied demon force (about 1000 points to bring the whole list up to 3000 points for bigger battles) since I have two packs of Plaguebearers from previous versions of the army. And I also want to add a Plaguereaper and a Plaguetower for Apocalypse games.
-Lamenter
