Making the fluff fit your army

When I began writing the list I planned to play for the all Nurgle Chaos Daemon army, I found myself frustrated by the lack of a good elite choice that could move and do some damage.  Lets face it, Beasts of Nurgle are anything but elite.  So I looked over the list and searched for a way I could justify one of the other Elite choices and avoid my typical selection of the Blight Drones (as my playgroup has grown to hate these things).  I decided 3 groups of 3 Flamers of Tzeentch would be a fun add to the army and add some surprise elements to an otherwise slow list.  

So I had to ask myself how I could bend the fluff to fit my army and justify the 3 units from another Chaos gods section.  I looked to some of the other fluff in the 40k and even Fantasy universe to help out in this regard.  There are plenty of units with breath attacks of one sort or another and it seemed obvious what a Nurgle unit with similar characteristics to the Flamer would possess.  First, they would have to be vomiting units to simulate the chaos breath attack of the Flamers.  Second, they would need some small wings to show why they are jump troops despite being a Nurgle unit, which are typically very slow.

This is what I came up with.

Since I'm using the converted Pink Horrors to be my Plaguebearers, it left me with 10 Plaguebearers I didn't have a use for until now.  

Avoiding Painter's Block, Part 2- Multiple Armies

Welcome back to Scratchbuilt 40k, fellow hobbyists.  Today I’ll be talking about yet another way to stave off Painter’s Block- multiple armies. 

As I’m sure many of you have discovered, it can become quite tedious to be painting and modeling the same models in order to achieve a workable higher points list.  In my area we generally create our 2,000 point lists and begin to assemble them.  This, however, can lead to some serious burn-out and has caused more than a few of my friends giving up on the hobby for months at a time, and in a few cases permanently.  So how do I avoid these same problems?  By working on multiple armies, of course.

If you are a regular reader of the blog you may have noticed I started out working on a Chaos Daemon all Tzeentch army, with flaming, floating heads for troops and slews of armless Flamers, 2 Soul Grinders, custom made chariots with Heralds, and Screamers.  Since then I’ve built a custom Space Marine chapter to completion and begun rebuilding and painting my oldest 40k army, the Eldar.  However, Harlequins have left me a tad bit burnt out on Eldar, and so I started dreaming of an all Nurgle Daemon army.

I can hear it already “Ugh, Epidemius”.  Early on I did use Epidemius, and while he certainly played his part, I’ve decided to move on to a completely fluff inspired list, built from old Pink Horror models (the ones with the big hands) where the arms are chopped off and replaced with Bloodletter and Lizardmen arms.  I have yet to finish adding the bits which will make them truly disgusting.  All Plaguebearer units will be in groups of 7, Nurglings will be in groups of 7 and 7 to a base, I’ll use 2 Great Unclean Ones and 3 Plague Hulks, the Nurgle Soul Grinders.

The only thing which won’t technically be Nurgle are the 3 units of 3 Flamers, but I’ll be using 9 modified Plaguebearers with some wings and appear to be, to put it bluntly, blowing chunks.  I’m hoping this will be visually interesting and will convincingly fit the theme of the army.

In the end, it’s a huge change from the Space Marine and Eldar armies I have been working on previously, and I believe it’s just what I need to continue feeling the projects I’m working on are fresh and innovative.  As we all know, too much of a good thing can become bad.

No new posts this week, tendinitis acting up

No hobby progress this week as my painting arm is fairly numb.  Hopefully next week my arm will have relaxed and I can get more painting/modeling done.

I've been contemplating scratch building 3 Plague Hulks of Nurgle for a terrible all Nurgle fluff list.  Is this something people would rather have a tutorial on or should I just document the process?

Dealing with Painter's Block

When we begin a project, sometimes it is best to put it to the side when we have no idea how we wish to proceed.

Back to the shelf

Yes, I can hear those little voices on the internet already saying it; "Krisken, you were going to paint that Warp Hunter, what happened?"  Well, I'll tell you what happened- Painter's Block.  I know, it sounds silly, but for two days I sat and stared at that Warp Hunter, sure all I needed was just a little more time to envision what I would be doing for the vehicle and how I would make it spectacular (well, for me anyways).  And yet, two days passed and not a brush was raised.

I fix you, I promise

I stared at pictures of other models which had been painted by far superior painters to inspire me.  Then I would fiddle with the model, pick it up and look for another area I could begin painting and realizing it all rested on the image I decided on.  In the end, my eye would drift to the Harlequins sitting on my desk.  I liked some of them ok, but they never received the same attention as the Shadowseer and Eldrad I recently painted.  Something about them was just off, and I could feel the inspiration inside bubbling up to repaint the parts of the first model I knew could be better.

And so, that's what I decided.

Very, very early WIP

I've found when confronted with a lack of inspiration, often it's best to move onto another problem until the first can present itself a solution.  We all have a finite amount of time to work on our hobby and the best way to move forward is often to follow our instincts.  Hopefully soon I'll be inspired for the Warp Hunter, but until that time presents itself I'll continue to improve the army I've been having a blast working on.

Eldrad finished, next project lined up

Welcome back everyone to the increasingly inaccurately named Scratchbuilt 40k.  As I've been spending the last few weeks attempting to improve my painting and have a slew of models to paint, the scratch building tends to take a back seat to the other projects.  On to the show!

Here he is, Eldrad.  I've spend roughly 2 weeks painting this fella and for the most part I'm happy with the results.  I still need to do a matte varnish spray to seal him up and apply a gloss finish by brush to the bits that need it such as gems, but I think this slightly better than table top quality.  So, um, ta da!

Next on the docket is the mighty Warp Hunter vehicle I bought from Forge World.

Look at that monster!  I've actually had Eldrad done for 2 days and since then been looking at the vehicle to see what I can do to make this special.  Would it be too much if I went, again, with a phoenix to grace the hull?  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Eldrad is almost there...

This one is taking longer than I anticipated, though it shouldn't be too surprising considering it's a character and generally a centerpiece to the army as such.  Still, I'm twisting myself into knots on how to proceed after the sword is completed-

I decided I liked the marble on the staff so much I'd continue the effect onto the sword.  The staff is almost finished and just needs some touches on the masks on either side as well as the gems I didn't get to previously (though that will be last).  What vexes me at this point are the bags and straps at Eldrad's hip.  I fear continuing with the obvious color choice of green and am thinking of going with the black and grays similar to the inside of the cloak.

That would be another thing- I'm not sure I'm done there either.  Part of me isn't satisfied with that result and wants to give it another go.  We shall see.  I believe the model will be finished by Monday and I'll have a proper leader to send my troops into battle!  Until then, happy hobbying.