Monday 14 December 2015

A Death Guard 'glitch'; The Sons of Horus; and a few World Eaters

Erm, well this is'nt good.....

I had quite happily painted my Death Guard and moved onto the World Eaters when a problem arose. The problem was that the paint had started to rub off the Death Guard! I had properly undercoated and varnished them, but still the paint had started to leave the miniatures in alarming amounts.
 Look, it's rubbing off!!
(the red was Vallejo too, but I caught that with my nail as I rubbed off the grey green).

Now I had never had a problem like this before, and it seems to be down the the Vallejo Grey Green paint, as the Citadel colours I had used were fine. I can only put this down to a rogue batch of the paint as I have not had an issue with Vallejo before. I chatted to people on the 'Oldhammer' Facebook group and they seemed to agree. Needless to say I am not impressed and a little reluctant to keep using Vallejo paints. Also it means I have a Renegade army which requires repainting.

Originally I had painted the Death Guard in a slightly grubby version of their white and red armour from the pre Heresy Rogue Trader colour scheme. However, in keeping with my 1991 look approach I have decided that if I need to repaint them, I might as well do it in the colours of the time. So I have opted for the classic green and red of 'Lost and the Damned' and White Dwarf fame.

In happier news I have been shopping.
I been shopping on e-bay, buying a lot of Renegades with the aim of taking this vast Tratior Legions project one step further by adding some Sons of Horus, based on the Black Legion list in Slaves to Darkness. I have a force from each of the four Chaos Powers, but always felt that the most important force, that of Horus himself, should be present.

So to add both to this idea, and to fill gaps in the other Legions, I have purchased another 51 Renegades (actually 53, I bought another two this evening!), and in addtion I have added Terminators and Robots as well, but more on them next update. Needless to say that this has'nt been cheap, but I have also been lucky in a few auctions, but the total bill is around £270-ish. I'll do a proper update on the gathering Sons of Horus as a later date.

In addtion to repainting the Death Guard, and the test miniatures of the Sons of Horus, I have only been about to paint a few World Eaters. This is mainly due to the upcoming horror at work that is Christmas, and my sorting out of miniatures for the now five Legions. I have however still painted a few Renegades.
Enjoy :)

Death Guard reboot:
Two test model Renegades in the new, non rub-off paint scheme. 
I have based these on the classic look from the 1980's. The armour is the shade of the old Goblin Green paint, and highlighted with that and some added yellow. I have painted the armour edges in Blood Red, and given everything a nice dark wash. 
Personally I think that the glitch might be a blessing in disguise as I prefer the classic Nurgle look, and it seems to fit my idea of Death Guard Renegades.
Rear view.
Sons of Horus test models.
At the time of Rogue Trader I wondered about the pre Black Legion armour colour. The epic Space Marine box suggested they were black, which was no help as they were meant to have painted the armour black later. A White Dwarf article at the time also suggested that the tanks were black, which while possible, did'nt help on the Marines armour colour.
At the time I recall discussions suggesting that the armour colour was either grey/off white, an idea derived from a lunar grey from the Lunar Wolves idea; or green from photos of painted renegades. The green was much later picked up by GW and is now the Sons of Horus colour. Now I did'nt want to paint them with 21st Century background fluff, but from the background of the 1980's. However without any firm evidence to work from, I chose the green for variety and that it looked good.
I painted them from a black undercoat with Vallejo German Uniform Green, then with a higlight of that mixed with Citadel Warpstome glow. The whole thing was then given a thin black paint wash. 
World Eaters! 
I have only managed to paint a few in the last week or so.
Warhammer Chaos Champion of Chaos, painted up for the World Eaters and to be used as a (non psychic power using) Libarian.
Legionary and Sergeant.
Heavy Bolter.
Two more World Eaters.
I have added a few normal Marines in amongst the Renegades to add a little variety, and to add some more number tothe Legions. I have added about 20 Marines to the five Legions, so they are not common. Adding the Chaos backpack I think gives them that more Tratior feel.

Next update will hopefully be on a few more World Eaters, and maybe some more Death Guard. Also there will be more on my e-bay shopping.

10 comments:

  1. Putting a Chaos backpack on the standard Marines is a pretty nifty idea. You can imagine that this might have been the first piece of equipment they replaced, once they decided to begin their journey down the dark path?

    Good call Lee :)

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    1. There were several conversions of the plastic RTB101 Marines with Chaos back packs in Slaves to Darkness and White Dwarf, so I thought I would try it with metal miniatures. They do add a little more diversity of look, and more numbers, to the Legions.

      I have only chosen a few particular sculpts which seem to work best as ordinary Marines, and a few of the more characterful ones for Sergeants and Officers.

      I like the idea of these Marines being less advanced along their path of Chaos. Thank you.

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  2. I have to say I sort of regret the previous NUrgle colour scheme as it was an unusual one compared to the green one, that said the new one looks the part anyway so it's all down to personnal taste. I think you made a very nice choice for teh sons of horus. I'm painting my renegades in black for very similar reasons and your take, being different is very interesting.
    53 models just like that ? really ? Man you really are one to set standards ^^

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    1. It was a shame that the 'old' paint scheme had to go, but I quite like the classic look of the Nurgle Renegades as well. It's an easy scheme to paint, and reminds me of the 1980's look I am going for.

      Originally in the 1980's/early 1990's I collected and gamed with a(much smaller) Black Legion force. So it did'nt seem right that I did'nt have that Legion present. Plus it gives me a Legion with a different structure and colour scheme to the others.

      I'm happy with the look of how the Sons of Horus in the green armour. I do like the way you've painted your Renegades, the way you have painted the black looks good.

      Yes, 53 miniatures! I've been doing a lot of overtime at work, and so used some of it to fund the Heresy! I don't do things by halves. :)

      In the new year I want to do an update showing each of the Legions. I want to give an idea of the scale and compostion of the Legions, as well as the different miniatures I am using.

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  3. Hi Lee, have the problem marines been stripped at any point? if so or you are not sure try lightly scrubbing your e-bay buys with warm soapy water and a nail brush then rinsing (and completely drying) before new paint is applied in future.

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    1. Concerning e-bay purchases you might be right. Anything I have paint stripped myself I always was washed thoroughly, but I don't usually wash the e-bay minatures. However most of the miniatures I used for the Death Guard army were not e-bay purchases but either self paint stripped or unpainted.

      I have been painting since 1986, and paint stripping and repainting stripping miniatures for about 25 years, and never had this problem before. I think that it is down to that particular batch of Grey Green paint, as the Citadel paint I used on them was fine. I will wash e-bay purchases now you've mentioned thuoght, thank you. :)

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  4. Sorry to hear about he paint issue. Very great to read about you buying 53 renegades! Your all in style is the best!!
    /Hans

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    1. Thank you Don Hans, glad you're enjoying the Renegades.
      With the reboot of the Death Guard, and winning some auctions I got the idea of re-examining the allotcation of the Renegades models I already have, and whether to add some normal Space Marines to the mix.
      By doing that I released that by buying certain auctions on e-bay I could form the basis of a Sons of Horus detachment. So I thought why not? :)

      I wasn't too happy about the paint issue, but I am happy with the 'new' paint scheme. It just means I'll have to spend some time repainting.

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  5. Hehe you will cause the price of those models to skyrocket.

    Hoping to see some pictures of the bigger forces soon.

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    1. I think you might be right on the prices! I am sure it happened when I was buying fantasy Slann to finish off my army.

      I plan on doing a blog update on each of the five Legions I will be working on. I would like to show the compostion of miniatures I am using, and the choices from the army lists.

      The armies won't be painted for a while, or 100% complete but I want give an idea to people the aim and scale of the project. I'll do the updates in January as December is way too busy at work for anything. Glad you are interested in the project, it's always been something I have wanted to tackle. :)

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