The Glades of Nurgle

More of the Lumbering Host

2011-08-20T18:03:00.005-05:00

Finally, today, we have another filler model I made up to take up space in a unit. This base size is 75mm wide by 50mm deep...enough to represent 6 Plaguebearers. The ridden creature is an old Reaper model of a fly demon, or something. The wings went onto the Shite Locust, and I bent and repositioned all the legs a bit. Other than that and a little GS filler, this piece is stock. The rider you may recognize as one of the old Realms of Chaos era Nurgle champions. Minimal cutting and bending of his elongated left arm enabled him to ride his daemonic steed with ease. Another quick, fun conversion and paintjob that I was quite happy with. Most of my friends have asked at one time or another if my tournament opponents were ever annoyed or otherwise "put off" by all my non-WYSIWYG unit-filling models (and in 2 cases, entire units as 1 large model). Frankly, I've never had anyone say boo about it. I always explain before the game what they represent, show them how I reliably track wounds to the unit, and we're good to go. I think that if you make something nicely enough, and thematically sound with the army, it's never an issue if you aren't WYSIWYG.

The Mascot of the Children

2011-08-20T17:32:00.004-05:00

This handsome little fellow is Chitterthresh, a ferocious form of daemonic insect native to the Glades known as a Shite Locust. This one is the personal pet of Kwashiorkor, and is intended to represent 20 Plaguebearers. It's base is sized for 5x4 25mm bases, with the front rank having 2 cutouts in which I place the beast's "handlers" (standard and musician). This model was a ton of fun to build. As you can see, more tyranid bitz were used in his construction. The legs are taken from 2 different kinds of lictor models, and the pincer on his tail end is a bit from the newest carnifex. The wings I liberated from an old Reaper model I'd had sitting around for ages. The front mandible came from the newer KoS claw hand. I actually only had 1, but I found this terrific new mold maker called InstantMold, marketed by CMoN and used it to make a replica of the bit for the other side of the mandible. This stuff is awesome. Drop a few bars in some hot water for a minute, then press it tightly around the bit you wish to mold, making sure to leave a clean cut to break the mold open. When its set, use it to mold with, or simply toss it back in the hot water to reuse. Sweet! I used this same method to mold the wing cover shield on his back. Yep, that's not a bit, it's just green stuff. The torso and abdomen are made from the body of an old Beast of Nurgle and lots of GS. The antennae are just some paper clips with a light coating of GS. When I first started off painting this guy, I was really bummed that I just wasn't going to get it to "pop", but with some experimentation, I found the orange-brown color scheme for the chitinous parts, which came out looking pretty hot after all. I was especially pleased with the way in which I was able to make the wing cover look ridged, like many of the beetles we have around here. A great, fun project that I'd been planning for a couple years, but only got around to this spring.

The Grandfather of the Children

2011-08-20T15:50:00.005-05:00

Here are a couple pics of the Forgeworld GUO that I've had in my hobby room for almost 2 years. Finally got around to painting him up this May in time for the Quake City Rumble this June. Had to leave after day 1, so I didn't get to have my army set up for players' choice, but I did receive a lot of positive feedback from people walking around on day 1. This model is pretty much stock. The only alterations I made were to saw the sword off and model on a large mace instead, and resculpted the tongue slightly to fit the mace. I'd also filed down the central horn location on the forehead, and tried to find a unique position for the detached horns that came with the model. Overall, I was very happy with the way the paint j0b came out. I was especially pleased with the horns and spinal column erupting from the back (in typical Nurgly fashion). I've decided to permanently alter my bone/horn painting method based on the success I had here. And so, allow me to introduce Kwashiorkor the Swollen, Most Beloved of Nurgle. Kwashiorkor is the disease which makes the bellies of malnourished people swell up. While this guy is obviously not malnourished, I've had that name rolling around in my brain for years now, and I decided that it was appropriate.

The Children in 2010

2011-03-01T00:08:00.009-06:00

I've not done a post on here in some time, (obviously) and am only doing so now for completeness' sake. Still, if anyone is still looking at this, here's what transpired with the Children last year...

Won Players Choice award at the Northstar GT in Minneapolis last November. This was a nice indy GT on its second year, and well attended. I went with my geographically disparate gaming group The Cat's Pajamas. How to bow out of game 5 for a medical issue, but had a great time otherwise.

The 5 creepy fellows in robes were my "Nurglized" idea of some Flamers, which I used at the Northstar GT. I'd heard from my friends that it was a real cheese fest the first time around, so I decided to boost up the power level of the army a bit by adding the flamers, and making a few other changes. My favorite is the tentacle-thing in the red robe. That's the Pyrocaster, in case I wish to include one in the list. He's a 100% complete sculpt. On the other models, I sculpted the robes and used a variety of bitz for arms/feet and heads.

Accolades for the Children

2009-08-09T00:21:00.004-05:00

And, finally, here are some awards won at the three indy GTs I attended this season. First up, was The Midwest Rampage 4 in Bloomington, IL, in May, where I took the Player's Choice award. Unfortunately, my wife called me on Saturday AM to let me know that she had only had 1 hour of sleep the night before because our two young children had taken sick, and I needed to come home early. So, I left after the first three games, didn't receive a paint score, and took dead last in the tournament (grumble, grumble). Next up was The Quake City Rumble in San Francisco in June, where I took Best Painted Single Miniature for my DP. I also got 2nd Best Painted army (behind Ed Phillips beautiful VC) and 2nd Player's Choice (behind John Lentz' hilariously themed and converted "Squigtonnians"), finishing up 24th overall out of 103 players. Lastly, The Battle on Beale in Memphis in July, where I took Best Appearance (this time edging out Ed Phillips), and 2nd Player's Choice (where he edged out me;), finishing up 7th overall out of 93 players, which was my best GT finish ever. All in all, 6 awards in one season, an unprecedented number for me. This is going to be something quite difficult to repeat, I have a feeling, anytime in the near future, but rest assured, I'll be looking to surpass it one of these days.

The Monstrous Brethren of the Children

2009-08-09T00:07:00.003-05:00

This gnarly thing is a conversion I made to represent a DOW Ogre Maneater. At the Midwest Rampage, during one game, you get an additional 250 points of DOW troops to use in a single unit, so I decided to run 2 Maneaters with heavy armor and great weapons. Not the most tactical option, but I already had my old Exalted Daemon model on a 40mm base that wasn't being used for anything else, and, let's face it, you can never have too many monsters in this list;) The main body is mostly sculpted green stuff over the torso of a Lichtor. To this I added yet more Tyranid bitz (his claws, spines, and tail maul). The head and tail were entirely sculpted, as were the muscles overlaying the Tyranid claw arms. After having seen Primeval, I was very much taken with the giant crocodile, Gustav, portrayed in the film. There is a scene where the beast rises out of the muck and reeds to confront Orlando Jones with his mouth wide open, and there are all these flies buzzing about in the air, and the words "Gustav, Greatcroc of Nurgle" swept unbidden into my mind. This conversion was mostly spawned by that movie image. I was going for sort of a mutated, devolved crocodile, and I think it turned out pretty good.

The Slimedogs of the Children

2009-02-11T00:52:00.010-06:00

Well, here are the beasts. I was really pleased with the changes to these guys from the SoC list. The points cost went up, but they were just simply too good before. They lost 1A, a pip of WS, 2Ld, and the Cloud of Flies, and now have I1, which, combined with a 20 point increase in cost seems pretty steep. However, they gained regeneration, slime trail, and +1W (!!!) which is more than a fair trade in my opinion. Beasts are now a little less hitty, and easier to hit in shooting/hth, but they are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay tougher to beat up, which, as I've said previously here, is really how I always thought nurgle stuff should be.

These guys were some of my favorites in the army, and were great fun to make. 3 of them have parts of a chopped up Dhole mini from RAFM's Call of Cthulhu line. For the woefully uneducated, the Dhole is basically a great big, gnarly worm. I made parts of the lower bodies of the brown, green and multicolored "bruised" beasts with bits of Dhole, but the lions share of each of them is sculpted from GS. The yellow beast is entirely sculpted (with the exception of some Tyrannid legs and the maw from the OK BSB standard top) of GS and Apoxie Sculpt. He was partially based on an illustration of a Shoggoth from the classic CoC module The Thing at the Threshold.

With these 4 guys finished, I've officially got a full 2250 points painted, and what an enjoyable time it has been. There will be more updates, though, as I finish other projects for this army. I'm currently making up a nasty, diseased-crocodile thing on a 40mm base to go along with my long-since-posted Exalted Daemon (since there's no such option anymore...hisssssssss!!!) as a pair of DoW Maneaters. Should be done with that dude inside of a month. Then it's just some movement trays and the display board, and the Children of the Glades will be ready for action! I've also got an idea for a large creature that I'll probably run as an entire unit of 20 Plaguebearers. Stay tuned....

The Swarms of the Glades

2009-01-02T01:05:00.005-06:00

This time around, we have the recently finished unit of 5 furies I made. I had a couple interesting ideas for conversions, and decided I'd go ahead and bite the bullet and make a single, minimally-sized non Nurgle unit, although I'm still not sure if I'm going to run them in a tournament setting. The bodies are made from a variety of Tyranid claws, legs, armor plating and sundry other bitz, lots of GS, an old Beast of Nurgle I chopped up, and parts of an old, metal Mage Knight Crypt Worm (one of the most "Nurgly" things ever, and great for conversions...if you have a line on some, I highly suggest getting them if you are contemplating doing any Nurgle work). The wings are "Shrinky Dink" made, an idea I got from Mike Butcher's

http://www.chaosbutcher.com/main.php

excellent and extensive conversion career. The wings were a little frustrating to make, and I had to do several runs to get enough usable ones to complete the set, but I think the end result is pretty good. Overall, I'm pleased with the way most of them came out. I'm particularly fond of the fellow on the far left of the picture of 3, and if I ever decided to make more of them, I think I'd just do variations on this theme.

The Lumbering Host

2008-11-15T13:01:00.002-06:00

Here are a couple of the larger models I've painted up and based on 50mm to be unit fillers. These should break up the evenness of the ranked troops and give a more chaotic appearance to their respective units. I especially like the idea of big, lumbering beasts in the Nurgle DL army...very reminiscent of the cover art for The Lost and the Damned. The dude on the left is an ooooooooold GUO that I've jazzed up with some repositioning of limbs, horns on the head and a sword made from plasticard. The...thing...on the right is a Reaper model called a Faceless Horror. Nothing added on here save a couple Tyranid claws to make grasping mandibles. I really like how the mottled appearance of this thing's flesh turned out. It was a laborious process, but the results are worth it.

The Shepherd of the Children

2008-11-08T01:28:00.010-06:00

This brutal looking fellow is Ulugoi the Gatherer, who wanders the world claiming the souls of those who (for whatever ill-conceived reason) have endeavored to make a pact with Nurgle that they later tried to back out of once their marker has been called in. When not engaged in his capacity as Nurgle's debt-collector, however, he is affectionately minding his flock of lesser daemons who frolic happily in the sweet green putrescence of the Glades, thus earning the honorific "Shepherd of the Glades". This is the second of my Daemonic Heralds for the army, and one of my favorites. The main body is a chopped and repositioned Eshin Rat Ogre from the Mordheim line (the tail of which comprises the purple tongue;), onto which I've sculpted a belly, flapping intestines and various tendrils and boils. The flail heads come from a variety of plastic sprues with a couple metal chains thrown in for good measure. I sculpted the handle over a section of paper clip. His head is from the Albion Fen Beast, onto which I sculpted this massive, jagged maw. The horns are clipped from the tail ends of two 5th edition Beasts of Nurgle. I despise the model as a whole, but I always thought the tail spike was great, and I finally found a place to use them where they looked just right. Although these pics don't show it very well, I really like the little glowing dots of his eyes in the recessed blackness of the sockets.

The Footmen of the Children

2008-11-07T00:29:00.009-06:00

Well, once again I've been slacking on posting anything new. Been painting sporadically since the Hillbilly was over (or Big Waaagh, if you're not a purist, as I am), and here are just a few of the Plaguebearers I've finished. The first photo is just some random PBs to show color variations. The second photo shows a couple of the converted Plaguebearers I've made by cutting off and repositioning arms and weapons. The rest of the photos detail two of the command groups I've created. The unit champions are made from old Rat Ogres and various heads and GS. Both standards are scratch built and meant to evoke the symbiotic nature of chaos in the Glades of Nurgle. Standard tops are either "living" creatures (or as close to "living" as daemons get;), or a mix of living and dead parts, just like the standard the BSB carries. These were great fun to make. Likewise, the musicians have similarly living/dead scratch built instruments to ensure that the Talleymen keep slogging forward, sonorous voices eternally counting as they go. I'm using exclusively the 4th edition and earlier PBs, as I think the PB figs GW produced for 6th edition chaos look like somebody was trying to get out of the studio quickly for a hot date on Friday night, and just slopped some crap together. They really are abominable compared to the much more characterful earlier PBs. These guys will be run in units of 19 or 20, depending on whether a Herald will be in the unit. I *LOVE* the new regeneration ability the Herald passes on to his troops. Much more fluffy, I think, than the Cloud of Flies they had in SoC. It totally fits in more with my idea of Nurgle daemons...slow, plodding, inexorable. I generally give 1 unit the Standard of Seeping Decay to make them a little more efficacious in combat, but I frown on repeating the same standards/gifts combos on multiple units. One of the things that makes the DoC list so open to abuse by power mongers.

The Prince of the Children

2008-04-12T14:33:00.004-05:00

Well, it's been a while since I painted anything up. Been busy doing conversion work for most of Feb. and March, but I did just finish up the army general this weekend: Slaug the Disgorger, Daemon Prince of Nurgle. This was a very involved conversion, with parts from many different models. My idea for the model was based very loosely on The Violator from Todd MacFarlane's "Spawn" comic series. I wanted something big and hunched with a huge maw, skinny arms and legs, and oversize hands...the emaciated and disease-ridden aspect of Nurgle rather than the bloated, corpulent side again, as with the army BSB. The torso and tail are from the newer zombie dragon, the wings from the CD great taurus, the arms from the WE forest dragon, the legs were actually a pair of dragon arms from some long OOP dragon. The head is a severely chopped up Reaper model of a beholder (which I think they called something else), that I cut a lot off of, repositioned the jawline and sculpted a nose over the central eye. His eyes, claws and various other bitz are from tyranid sprues (a wonderful resource for many things nurglesque). His weapons are from the new GUO (sword), and the OK tyrant and chaos ogre champion (flail). The rope flail thethers and harnesses for the sword and loincloth is twisted wire from the cap of the delightfully thick Ommegang brew, which comes in a large, corked bottle. The rock he stands on is a chunck of pine bark. I had to sculpt up another rock on the rear of the base that has a chunck of metal as its core to add a little more weight to the back end of the model. Even so, it's a little top heavy, and I'll have to be careful running him in games. There was quite a bit of sculpting that went into getting this guy to look right, and I'm very pleased with the way it came out. The end result looks a little different than I'd originally pictured it, as far as the color scheme goes, but I like it. I generally run him with the Mark of Nurgle, Diabolic Splendor and Soul Hunger, and change up addition gifts such as the Blade of Ether, Cloud of Flies, Stream of Corruption (from whence he gets his title;), Spellbreaker and Plague Flail. When I go to the Midwest Rampage next month, the new Daemon book won't be out yet, so I will still be able to heap 100 points of gifts on him. I think I'll go with the CoF and PF in addition to the standard kit. I didn't use to think that the PF was such a great gift, but since playing with the Plagueriders in the DL list, I've come to really appreciate poison. 15 points to buy potential autowounds is a bargain, especially against enemy troop with T4 or higher. Not to mention, it counts as a magic weapon, and hits ethereal stuff. The BoE is nice, but takes up too many points for me to get all the other stuff I want. It's going to be annoying to not be able to give him the full compliment of 100 points of gifts soon, but I think the rest of the changes to the army will more than compensate for this slight;)

The Exalted of the Children

2008-02-10T00:30:00.001-06:00

Well, I've finished up two new units since my last post. Another unit of nurglings (not shown), and this insectoid fellow, Oobalek the Ruptured, Exhalted Daemon of Nurgle. I'm quite proud of how it turned out, although the pictures (sadly) don't do him justice. All in all, the Exhalted Daemon isn't the best choice for a character. At a base cost of 230 points, he comes in just 70 points under the DP, and is considerably less nasty, with -1 WS, W, I, A and Ld. Additionally, he can only take on 50 points of gifts, further reducing his potential as a "Hulk Smash"* type character. That being said, I did really like the idea I came up with for a conversion, and felt I had to include him in the army overall. I must give partial credit to Blue Table Painting, as I got the basic idea from a conversion I saw there...

http--www.bluetablepainting.com-gallery_images-1154363209.jpg

...then I just made mine better ;)

I ran him in a local tournament today, outfitted with the Mark of Nurgle (of course), and the Blade of Ether. The Blade came very much in handy today chopping up a unit of inner circle Empire knights that I was able to catch a flank on. He also made short, messy work of a cannon crew, a unit of handgunners, and a number of flagellants, as well as terrifying a unit of 25 swordsmen with the wizard general in them off the board;) All in all, well worth the 275 points he cost. However, in the first game, he died all too easily to massed black powder shooting. The DP, with his additional wound and larger gift allowance would have stood up better.

*As coined and widely espoused by the Reiksmarshall

Anklebiters of the Children

2008-01-18T23:28:00.001-06:00

The third unit I have painted up is one of two identical units of Nurglings, Nurgle's Little Pretties. These little buggers are great for all sorts of things...blocking marches, stalling out fast or hard units, protecting the flanks of my big Plaguebearer unit, lending their Cloud of Flies to combats that the DP is in (who doesn't benefit from this on his own), blocking line of sight, chasing down lone characters...the list goes on and on. They have 4W per base, with the 5+ Daemonic ward and -1 to be hit thanks to the Cloud, so they generally stick around a while, even when scrapping with some pretty hard troops. And being skirmished with 4S3A per base, they can pose a serious threat to any wizards or scouts lurking in terrain features that would otherwise prove quite annoying. Plus, you just gotta love the idea of all these little needle-toothed midgets running around, picking at every orifice, leaving puddles of noxious slime in their wake, and giggling madly as they go.

The Herald of the Children

2008-01-18T19:28:00.000-06:00

The second thing I painted up was the Daemonic Herald and army BSB, Clottus the Soiled. This was the name of one of my old 5th edition chaos champions, and I decided that it was about time he was elevated to daemonhood. The model itself is based on the body of a stone troll, onto which I've sculpted the tentacles and head (over one of the cow skulls from the 6th ed orc sprues). I love the bloated look of most of the nurgle models, but let us not forget that many diseases often leave their victims emaciated. This will be seen as a recurring theme in the army as it progresses. I drew inspiration for this model from the Sammael character in the "Hellboy" movie (very Cthulhuesque in its own right), based on the spectacular comic of the same name by Mike Mignola. His falchion is made from two pieces of cardstock glued together then cut into shape. The edge was easily created by cutting the finished design at angles with an X-Acto knife. I was going for a look of oily shimmer on the scales, and there are actually a lot of subtle gradations of color in the base and highlights which don't come out in the picture. The standard is based loosely on another sweet Adrian Smith drawing from LotD, and is all sculpted, except for the old GUO fist in the bottom right and the insectoid head at the bottom left. Note the little critter who has taken up residence in the mudball on top;)

The Children of the Glades

2008-01-18T18:20:00.000-06:00

When I decided to do a Nurgle Daemonic Legions army, I wanted to have a mix of themes. I've long been a fan of the original Lost and the Damned chaos tome from the early 90s, which has the best nurgle artwork in existance, courtesy of current warhammer phenom Adrian Smith. There is a section of the book that details the rise of a champion from his humble beginnings all the way to the hallowed halls of daemonhood. The penultimate stop on his meteoric rise was a battle against a rival Tzeentch warband in a place on the borderlands of the realm of chaos called the Glades of Nurgle, a place "seething with growth and the drone of fat flies" and "sweet green waters". This was a very inspirational description for me, and I decided I wanted my army to emanate from the Glades of Nurgle. The second source of inspiration for me, an even older one, was the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. I wanted my army to have a very Cthulhuesque feel, with plenty of tentacles, eyes, and shapeless, mindwarping horrors of all descriptions.

This was the first guy I painted up for the Children of the Glades, The Dweller Below. He represents a chariot pulled by two beasts of nurgle, a 180 point rare selection from the DL list. A one beast chariot is 150 points...if you have the extra 30 points, you should always buy the second beast. Anybody for an extra d6+1A for 30 points? Yes please.