AUTUMN
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| Games Workshop's plaguebearers. Mostly multipart plastics, but at least two metals can be seen in the back row. |
If you look at the bases, you'll probably notice perfectly circular grooves. That's not an aesthetic decision; rather, it's due to upsizing these bases with conversion rings. Today, plaguebearers are supplied with 32mm bases, but they were originally supplied with 25mm bases. I like the bigger bases, both aesthetically and for in-game purposes (that extra quarter-inch adds up quickly when you're trying to take up a lot of space with 30 models!), so I opted to super-size my older models. (I got my conversion rings from Eccentric Miniatures, and I'd vouch for their quality if you're interested in doing something similar.) The reason I didn't fill the gaps or sand down the ledges was simple — my base-painting technique will hide all those ugly grooves.
WINTER
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| Games Workshop's plaguebearers. Mostly multipart plastics, but there's at least four metals in this picture, including two in the front row. |
These are truly works in progress. I have most of the preliminary inking done; it was important to me that these came across as cold and corpse-like. I wanted the winter plaguebearers to stand out from the other rank-and-file, but I didn't want them to have the immediate pop that a splash of green against a red field will.
I tried to think of the turning of seasons in Nurgle's Garden as both a cycle and a hierarchy — the most fecund of Nurgle's followers have spring colors, while those that are the least productive have a winter palette. The idea appeals to me because Nurgle's daemons ceaselessly attempt to apply a veneer of order to an uncaring and fundamentally disordered universe; a rigid hierarchy that pretends to be based on merit while actually being arbitrary (and more than a little unfair) fits that pattern to a T. It's order, but it's meaningless order.
There are two sets of colors I've played with in this group, and I'm still not sure how things will end up. The first scheme, shown above, has more blue in it; the second has more red:
Overall, I'm probably going to use red glazing to knock down the bluest of the models and bring them closer to purple, but this guy is probably too red. It's a difficult balance, and it's going to be the last thing I finish up — I want to finish all the other details on these models first to see how many of the accents end up with a red tint.
Among those accents are the various open wounds and innards. I'm going to paint most of the gore with a mauve, which is a a pale gray-purple. The gray is important; it will go a long way toward keeping these looking like old, frozen meat. I'll likely highlight the color with a gray-pink and a very light pink, then do several glazes with a very, very thin coat of a medium red (definitely something less punchy than GW's Bloodletter). It's also possible I'll add a gray glaze to bring down the white a little; we'll see how much I like the white once the entire lot of 30 is done.
And this is a (nearly) finished set of plaguebearers. I still need to knock out the bases — 15 minutes with a hobby knife and another 10 with an airbrush will do 'em. (Though, looking at these photos, I might also go in and quickly touch up a few places.) There's some trickery in these models — I'm sure experienced painters will wince at some of the shortcuts on display here — but they came out decently enough for the tabletop.
The process was pretty simple. After I assembled and based the models, I used an airbrush to prime them black, then overcoated that with white. This provided some non-directional, ambient shading: that is, the recesses were darker than the highest, most-exposed portions. At this stage, I went ahead and sealed the lot, which provides a protective barrier to prevent paint chipping. (Metals are notorious for chipping; plastics, not so much.) Normally, you'd seal the final paint job, but sealant normalizes all the gloss levels on a model, which can obscure gradients and blending. Once the sealant was dry, which took an irritatingly long time, I went to town with my inks.
On these models, I began the inking process by hitting them entirely with a single coat of GW's Fuegan Orange ink. Once they were dry, I then went back over the recesses, joints, and other shadowy sections with another shot of Fuegan Orange. After that, I began building up the yellows on the raised or distended portions, using Casandora Yellow and Lamenters Yellow inks (both GW). I then highlighted some of the raised portions, particularly the ragged flesh around wounds, with Ember Orange and Khador Red Highlight paints (both from Privateer Press' P3 line).
The swords got base-coated with Typhus Corrosion, a brown textured paint, then touched with Lustrian Undergrowth, a green textured paint. (The effect isn't anything special, and looks particularly bad in the photo above. I may need to drybrush some orange on the swords to give them a little depth.) Various purples and pinks from both P3 and GW were used to round out the purple portions, with Druchii Violet ink (GW) providing the darker colors in the recesses. Then the eyes were hit with GW's Bloodletter glaze and a healthy dose of Spiritstone Red, a shiny, bright red paint. Finally, Nurgle's Rot — a thick, glossy paint the color of snot — was liberally applied to the swords and some of the weeping sores.
The basing was fairly straightforward: I started with whatever dark brown paint was within reach at the time, drybrushed over that with a similarly handy medium brown paint, and then washed that whole mess with a dark brown ink. I then filled in the puddles with two layers of Nurgle's Rot. Finally, a layer of clear acrylic was laid on top of that after everything was dry (I'm using Secret Weapon's Realistic Water, which is an absolute steal).
The last group — the spring plaguebearers — will get their own update later. That'll include the command models (the musician, the icon bearer, and the plagueridden) from the first plaguebearers post, as well as two Poxbringers (one being a kitbash, rather than the stock model), a Spoilpox Scrivener, and the Sloppity Bilepiper.
I tried to think of the turning of seasons in Nurgle's Garden as both a cycle and a hierarchy — the most fecund of Nurgle's followers have spring colors, while those that are the least productive have a winter palette. The idea appeals to me because Nurgle's daemons ceaselessly attempt to apply a veneer of order to an uncaring and fundamentally disordered universe; a rigid hierarchy that pretends to be based on merit while actually being arbitrary (and more than a little unfair) fits that pattern to a T. It's order, but it's meaningless order.
There are two sets of colors I've played with in this group, and I'm still not sure how things will end up. The first scheme, shown above, has more blue in it; the second has more red:
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| Games Workshop's plaguebearers. Mostly multipart plastics, with at least one metal. |
Among those accents are the various open wounds and innards. I'm going to paint most of the gore with a mauve, which is a a pale gray-purple. The gray is important; it will go a long way toward keeping these looking like old, frozen meat. I'll likely highlight the color with a gray-pink and a very light pink, then do several glazes with a very, very thin coat of a medium red (definitely something less punchy than GW's Bloodletter). It's also possible I'll add a gray glaze to bring down the white a little; we'll see how much I like the white once the entire lot of 30 is done.
SUMMER
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| Games Workshop's plaguebearers. A mix of multipart plastics and metals. |
The process was pretty simple. After I assembled and based the models, I used an airbrush to prime them black, then overcoated that with white. This provided some non-directional, ambient shading: that is, the recesses were darker than the highest, most-exposed portions. At this stage, I went ahead and sealed the lot, which provides a protective barrier to prevent paint chipping. (Metals are notorious for chipping; plastics, not so much.) Normally, you'd seal the final paint job, but sealant normalizes all the gloss levels on a model, which can obscure gradients and blending. Once the sealant was dry, which took an irritatingly long time, I went to town with my inks.
What are inks? Generally speaking, I use three kinds of paints, all of which are acrylic: standard paint (I just call these "paints," natch), inks, and glazes. Paints are used to lay down opaque color: they need to be thick enough that they dry somewhat quickly, but thin enough that they don't obscure details. (They're also the best for blending colors on the model to create smooth gradients.) Paints in the bottle are a little thick for my tastes, so I typically water them down in a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio. Inks, on the other hand, need to be thin enough that they flow across the model and into recesses, and I find that a little surface tension helps them do their job. Properly applied, an ink will create shaded areas and tint raised areas, which gives your model some body and helps pull all your hues a little closer together. When I make inks, it's typically going to be just paint mixed with water in the 1:3 to 1:5 range. Finally, glazes (sometimes called filters) are used to tint paints that have already been applied to a model. (You'd do this to tie together several different colors, or to tamp down a color that's too bright or not quite the right hue.) They need to be very thin, and you don't want them pooling at all — their coverage needs to be as even as possible. I put mixing medium or detergent in these (or just buy prepared glazes off the shelf) to break their surface tension and keep them flowing nicely. When I make glazes, I usually start with an ink and water that down to a 1:10 mixture (or even thinner!). Glazes require several coats to work, and they often have distractingly glossy finishes that need to be matted, so I usually only use them on models I'm trying to make look very, very nice. They're very time-consuming.
On these models, I began the inking process by hitting them entirely with a single coat of GW's Fuegan Orange ink. Once they were dry, I then went back over the recesses, joints, and other shadowy sections with another shot of Fuegan Orange. After that, I began building up the yellows on the raised or distended portions, using Casandora Yellow and Lamenters Yellow inks (both GW). I then highlighted some of the raised portions, particularly the ragged flesh around wounds, with Ember Orange and Khador Red Highlight paints (both from Privateer Press' P3 line).
 |
| Games Workshop's plaguebearers, both multipart plastic and metal. |
The basing was fairly straightforward: I started with whatever dark brown paint was within reach at the time, drybrushed over that with a similarly handy medium brown paint, and then washed that whole mess with a dark brown ink. I then filled in the puddles with two layers of Nurgle's Rot. Finally, a layer of clear acrylic was laid on top of that after everything was dry (I'm using Secret Weapon's Realistic Water, which is an absolute steal).
The last group — the spring plaguebearers — will get their own update later. That'll include the command models (the musician, the icon bearer, and the plagueridden) from the first plaguebearers post, as well as two Poxbringers (one being a kitbash, rather than the stock model), a Spoilpox Scrivener, and the Sloppity Bilepiper.
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