Death Guard Rhino WIP 1

My Death Guard army is almost playable! I've painted loads of rhinos, and some are more inspired than others, but few of them were completed as quickly as this one. I started this model while on a video chat, and finished it the following morning. It needs paint chipping and additional streaking, but I am happy to add it to the force. I am not certain about the darker green color. That is a byproduct of painting the base colors at night when I can't see so well. I suppose once I have added fresh mud to the model it won't matter. It will blend in with all the other muddy infantry bases and gear.

Death Guard Daemon Prince With Rust

 The rust reveal! This guys still needs some turquoise verdigris on the brass portions and smoke stains on the smoke stacks, but that will be done in batch with some other models. I really want to spend more time lavishing environmental effects on this guy, but I think it is going to be important for cohesion to do all of that at the end of bulk force painting.

Now it is time to move on to the Death Guard's first rhino transport. I've painted so many of these, this should be a fun excursion into rusting, streaking, and paint chipping. I still need to figure out a symbol for my force. Maybe I'll pull a 30k DG logo out and use that. The backstory says DG remained a cohesive legion after the failed rebellion, so that kind of works.

Death Guard Daemon Prince WIP 2

This old finecast model is quickly becoming one of my favorite Death Guard models so far. Given that, I figured it would be interesting to post a photo of the model before I add the orange rust. I think the large orange rusty blade is going to add a tremendous amount of contrast and interest. I wanted to share the photo with you guys before the big reveal. (too much HGTV with my wife!)

Death Guard Daemon Prince & Friends WIP

I found an old finecast space marine daemon prince, and have begun adding the base colors to the model. At this point in my painting I have refined my color scheme, so the bright orange has been replaced with a fleshy orange. Because I already have a squad painted with orange innards, I'll make sure to add orange to other models. I'm thinking about making the nurgle symbols orange on purple. I think that would make a cool looking battle standard as well.

I think I waited so long to paint this model because traditionally people painting chaos had to deal with armor to flesh transitions. This can be really hard to figure out how to paint. I've solved the problem using an airbrush to blend them. That gets me 99% of the way there. Then I can enjoy painting all the random crap on the model.

I really want to base these guys, but I have to wait until I have a full force. I need my mud color to be uniform, and that means it is best done in one sitting.

Hell Brute and Blight Drone

The Hell Brute is coming along nicely, though the weathering powders spread everywhere. I'm still carefully removing the powders using alcohol, but I figured it was a good time to stop and take some photos. This is one of those moments where I need to just slow down or stop painting or I will keep making mistakes.

So with the Brute almost ready, I have two squads, three characters, and two vehicles painted. I think I need to paint up a Rhino or Land Raider to go with these guys. What works well these days? I haven't bought the chaos index yet, so I have no idea what my options are.

Hell Brute WIP 1

I dug around yesterday and found one of the two Hell Brutes I had in storage. I think this is a sign of just how cool the new Death Guard models are. This guy would have continued gathering dust if I hadn't been inspired by the new Dark Imperium box. I feel like I've missed out on this wonderful miniature for years. Clearly I knew it would be great when it came out since I bought a spare, but that is almost habit at this point when a new box comes out. I think I have 6 unpainted DA tac squads! 

I'm spending a little more time on this miniature than the rest. The base coat is cleaner and more precise. I also added a fleshier look to him. I think once I have a few rounds of enamels on this guy he will start to shine. I am really digging this. 

Old Chaos Versus New Chaos

I've had loads of boxes of Chaos miniatures sitting around for ages, so I figured it was time to grab some ancient bits and build myself a second squad for my budding Nurgle army. I tried to emulate the painting style I used on the new miniatures despite the old miniatures having bizarre areas of half realized detail and poor casting all around. I'm glad to have another squad because that means I am close to playing the game, but I wouldn't hold the dwarf squad out as an example of either inspired or good painting. Painting the old models puts the new ones in perspective. GW has finally mastered model making. The new kits are light years better than the old ones. At least with the dwarf squad I have some miniatures to test the basing with.

I was planning on painting the hell brute from the last starter set. How have those models aged? Are they still worth painting?

Dark Imperium Death Guard WIP 2

I haven't decided how to approach the zombies, so instead of figuring that painting puzzle out I decided to paint some more of the details on the Death Guard. I'm itching to paint up a rhino for these guys, so that might come before the shambling horde. I am also tempted to hunt down my old Typhus model and repaint him using this new color scheme/technique.

Has anyone else broken open their box and started painting? I've seen a lack of Dark Imperium stuff online.