The Observer's Chaos Stuff - Slaaneshi Pirate Lord

[The Traitor]

Definitely magical shenanigans with stones!

[Dagoth Ur]

The Sons of Mortarion

Few amongst the first traitors are as feared as the Death Guard. Isolated and avoided, even by their kind, the sons of former Barbarus have grown bitter and fat with the passing millenia. Their demeanour is dour and grim; quite a contrast to the usually so jovial and frolicking infants of their patron: grandfather Nurgle. The structure of their legion still seems to be largely intact, if split into two major groups; those loyal to Typhus, formerly known as Calas Typhon, and those loyal to Mortarion, the reaper-lord of the Death Guard. Still, the Death Guard is not to be trifled with, for not only are they formidable opponents, their bloated ranks even a match for the Primaris Astartes, but their influence and pestilent aura corrupts the very earth they march upon and the air they breathe. To suffer from an invasion of the Death Guard oftentimes heralds a slow and crippling death, even if the enemy is pushed back.

Legiones Malefica, Chapter 12, l. 87

http://i.imgur.com/SsWOAlF.jpg?1

During the Great Crusade, now long since faded into the realm of half-legend, half-myth, the Death Guard, alongside the Dark Angels and the Iron Warriors had been known and feared across the galaxy for their massed use of terminator armour. Whole battalions of cataphractii-armoured astartes were unleashed upon resisting colonies and the unclean xenos. A wide variety of experimental modifications and idiosyncratic variants of tactical dreadnought armour could be found within the XIV^th's armoury, amongst which stood the first hybrids of indomitus and cataphractii warplate.

Even now, ten millenia later, the Death Guard wields an astonishing amount of terminator plate into battle; enough to eclipse whole chapters. This can be attributed to the high initial stocks of armour as well as the half-organic, half-mechanoid symbiosis the warriors have undergone with their plate. While ceramite might splinter and break, it also regrows. Hydraulics and cables have transformed into sinews and veins. In many ways, even though such words border heresy, the Death Guard has already been elevated beyond the physiological capabilities of other Astartes.

http://i.imgur.com/B3eMonM.jpg?1

Amongst the high-pantheon of the Enemy, it appears that Nurgle, god of disease and despair, is the most generous towards his followers. Freely he grants mutations, boons and weaponry; a true grandfather it seems. Most blessed of his followers are undoubtedly the sickly kin that has become known as the plague marines. Largely composed of original Death Guard astartes, though members of other legions and warbands are known too, these abominations form the largest infantry force of the plague fleets. When compared to the cults of the other three god-chained legions, the plague marines sport two crucial advantages: discipline and sanity.

It would be foolish to say that there is no intellect to be found amongst the Emperor's Children, the World Eaters or the Thousand Sons, though it must be said that the sanity and discipline have deteriorated at a much faster rate within those legions when compared to the XIV^th. Where the Emperor's Children are whimsical, the Death Guard is focused. Where the World Eaters are unchained brutes, the Death Guard is the meticulous. Where the Thousand Sons are unwavering, the Death Guard is unbreakable.

One should never forget that for all their heresy and corruption the Death Guard are still astartes. They still remember the lessons of the Great Crusade and some scant few have even fought at the side of the Emperor in the conquest of Terra.

http://i.imgur.com/av0f0ER.jpg?1

The ramshackle appearance of the XIVth weapons and vehicles inspires a belief of lacking quality or fabrication, which oftentimes proves to be a fatal error. The Death Guard's bolters are rusted and pitted, true, but they fire and bark with the same fury and strength that they had during the Great Crusade. Hollow, rusted shells will burrow even through powerarmour and deposit a payload of flesh eating locusts, fever-inducing maggots or any of the other myriads of fates Nurgle has in store for those who oppose his will.

The forge fanes of the fel-mechanicum devoted to Nurgle are indeed numerous and quite ingenious. Rust becomes a second skin of armour; torn iron turns into maws of hungering flesh; once-plasmatic weapons spew bolts of roiling and sizzling wyrd-fluids that work just as well. Such machinery is a great mystery to the Imperium of Man; even to such minds as the Fabricator-General or lord Cawl. Perhaps it is good that we do not understand such fell weaponry, lest we feel tempted to damn ourselves.

http://i.imgur.com/ZHNu797.jpg?1

Since m39, the raids conducted by the Death Guard have steadily increased. The Terminus Est, the Anginea and many more reviled ships have brought down many worlds and have been sighted above even more. Rumours and visions speak of a vast, once glorious ship that will soon return to the realm of mortals. The Endurance, a titanic beast of the gloriana.class and the very vessel Mortarion received from his father. Within it dwells a mad godling; half man, half fly, lord over death and life. The godling still quarrels with his fate as a god's pawn and yet he eventually does the lord's bidding. Such is the fate of mortals, demonic or flesh, primarch or astartes, posthuman or simple man; we all must serve a higher force.

If it truly is Mortarion who will burst from the warp, then I beg thee God-upon-the-throne, send us your angels. Save us.

Have mercy upon our souls, for the Death Guard will not.

---------------------------------------------------

Good news everybody! I got my Dark Imperium box a day earlier and immediately set on to building the plague marines and let me tell you, that kit has made me unimaginably happy. The removal of mould lines was a horror, but i still remember the days of nearly one and a half decades ago where the images and artworks of the chaos space marines and specifically the Death Guard had pulled me into the game and universe of 40k. The figures are amazingly detailed, if maybe a bit overcrowded in places (You can see that I have removed a few things here and there) but it is always easier to remove stuff than add on.
As soon as I finish work tommorrow, I'll bust out the airbrush and lay down the base colours in order to get a feel for the figures. I will be going with their actual Horus Herey colours, just very, very dirty, chipped, bloodied and bruised. If the comming kits are anything like these monopose figures, then I will be all over it and both the Horus Heresy and my loyal marines will be put on the backburner.
I will be writing a bigger review of the aesthetics and figures in a few days, but I'll still have to take a few seconds and say just how amazingly the retro-aesthetics of the older plague marines (Not the current awful finecast figures) and yet still fused it perfectly with the FW upgrade kits that were released alongside Vraks.
Also, thank you very much for your input, I indeed went with the floaty stones
Hope you like the small update, paint will be comming in one to two days. Have a good day!

Edited June 26, 2017 by The Observer

[Vairocanum]

Hell yes, looking forward to seeing your paint jobs for these guys! Great fluff as usual, also did you ever finish that Nurgle Champion from a few months ago?

[The_son_of_Dorn]

A......said nobody ever.

 

B :)

[Pearson73]

These guys look great, looking forward to seeing some paint on them.

[Dagoth Ur]

@Vairocanum: Actually I did, but it turned into a mordheim/AoS28 project, so I figured it would not be appropriate anymore for this board. To be honest, I've lost much of my XIth legion motivation and am currently experimenting around as the paintscheme is the thing that frustrates me the most because it is so... bland I guess?

 

@The_son_of_Dorn: Yeah, the results were pretty one-sided, huh? ;)

 

@Pearson73: Well, it just so happens that I have something painted to show y'all for once :)

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp194/hodoalmir/_20170617_233204_zpsalb243wl.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp194/hodoalmir/_20170617_233009_zpsmjjgmyal.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp194/hodoalmir/_20170617_233043_zpsgwkonzof.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp194/hodoalmir/_20170617_233122_zpsbu2pbxls.jpg

 

As you can see, the Plague Marine is nearly finished. Just a few touchups here and there and the base, et voilà! The scheme is actually pretty simple, I'll do a writeup when I get around to either the next PM or the shaman-maggotmancer thingy. All I can say is that the miniature is a blast to paint! Much, much more enjoyable than thousand sons which I find are an atrocious painting experience, which is a damn shame because the figures are beautiful. For the base I've thought about doing a progressively lighter grey drybrush, like concrete basically, and then add some brown and orange pigments, dead grass tufts and maybe some snow. What are your thoughts on base scheme? Feel free to plug suggestions and even links :)

 

Thats all for today, hope you like this nearly-finished Plague Marine.C&C is, as always much appreciated and welcome. Have a nice dayè :)

[Vairocanum]

Wow that looks fantastic! I think the paint scheme is great (although I do prefer a bit more rust showing). Also where can we find your non-40k stuff, would love to see that nurgle champion completed from before. Looking forward to seeing more!

[terminatorAM]

That paint scheme is perfect for the new Death Guard. I'm glad you tried out the heresy colors since I've been thinking about the same thing for my set. It just hasn't gone yet. I'll just steal your idea then :) Nice job!

[Dagoth Ur]

Rusted Iron and Acrid Blood

We are all tyrants, do not fool yourself.

We were bred for nothing else.

Attributed to Mortarion

http://i.imgur.com/9mozsqo.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/Sn1p6aV.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/06n6qqm.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/XYANrK3.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/qXjm2Pd.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/ijGwFeD.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/Ojjxhg5.jpg?1

-----------------------------------------

Hey folks, I bring you two finished Plaguemarines today, though sadly without any fluff as my chronic migraines are slowly increasing in frequency due to the rising humidity here in Basel; I'll be sure to write something up when the squad is finished. The first three images I had to make more narrow than usual due to the size limit that photobucket puts on the stuff you upload :/ Hope it works out as is; if you prefer it that way be sure to say so!
 
@Vairocanum: Thanks mate, glad you like him I was thinking about adding some more rust on the ceramite plates (Currently I only have some orange shading on the iron) but eventually decided against it, as I felt that the palette on the off-white would become overcrowded. Most of my non-40k stuff actually isn't even online, short of a few AoS things in the AoS28 group on Facebook, but I'll be uploading some xenos on here (Prepare for some vaporwave/watercolour eldar lads!) and the rest of my stuff will be going onto my blog, as I plan to update it way more frequently this summer. I'll shoot you a pm when that happens
 
@terminatorAM: Glad you like it! I was heavily debating which scheme to do and have done a few test-figures for both the regular pale green and the actual FW-style scheme. The former seemed a bit too uniform for me, the latter too undiseased somehow, so I went with an off-white ceramite colour that has a gentle green tinge, a white drybrush and mud-green shoulders. Go ahead and steal as much as you want, sometime in july there will even be a tutorial
 
So, that's all for today. I know it's a bit short and fluff-poor, but I hope you'll bear with me. Have a nice day!
C&C is, as always, very welcome and appreciated! Edited June 26, 2017 by The Observer

[Kordhal]

Loving the colour scheme for those deathguard! It really feels dirty and gritty and serves to make the bright spots of colour really pop! Keep up the phenomenal work, and I look forward to seeing more!

[Pearson73]

Ace colour scheme.

[Vairocanum]

The two new DG look great! I really like the eye lenses of the first one as well as the fleshy cables. Looking forward to seeing more DG and your Eldar and non-40k stuff!

[Dagoth Ur]

For Whom the Bells Toil

 

http://i.imgur.com/SoNY7nD.jpg?1

 

Kahgrul had once been a staunch, loyal man of the nascent Imperium; one of the first Barbarusians to join the newly named Death Guard. He believed in the Imperail Truth, foolishly he thought the galaxy to be profane. Tyrants existed only to be torn down, much like the heathen beasts that had raised his father; or so the Emperor had taught him and his brethren.

Lies. Nothing but lies.

He knew this now, oh how well he knew this. The fires of the Heresy had cleansed his mind and torn open his eyes to the blinding truth of the reality behind reality. Gods were very, very real and they demanded the recognition and reverence that only such beasts deserved. The Plaguelord would deny them, even today. Even now, ten millenia after they all received the blessings of the Grandfather, Mortarion still refused Nurgle; still he fought against fate, against the very course of nature.

Why? Kahgrul knew not and truthfully he did not care. He loved his father, with all of his pestilent hearts. That is what all good children did; they idolized those that gave birth to them. Similarly, the Grandfather loved his most favoured champion, for that is what all parents inevitably did; they loved their children, despite all misgivings.

http://i.imgur.com/5gWTcGw.jpg?1

 

Nurgle's gifts had bestowed might upon Kahgrul unlike any he had ever known. Firing a bolter one-handed was as easy as firing a pistol; weathering a volley of bolts became trivial when your armour had become your flesh. Unsightly wounds reknit in a matter of seconds, leaving only gorgeous ichor, blood and bruised flesh. All the while his sword-arm would swing a cleaver of cracked, corrupted iron with familiar skill and strength; each cut would slay a man, every stab could potentially cripple an astartes.

Many within the Eye despised Kahgrul and his kind for their obvious corruption; many more envied them for the obvious boons. They all were consigned to an eternity of suffering and war. Yet what else was there to the galaxy than the nihillistic pleasure one derived from pain and the everlasting constant that strife was? There was nothing else to be found, it was that simple.

Kahgrul did not mind this truth; in fact he welcomed it with open arms. He was created to wage war and wage war he did. The cries of the fallen were music to his ears; the belch of torn guts was his symphony. Let the dogs of Angron loose themselves in their cancerous strife against the sickening Nails. Let the Emperor's Children tear themselves apart in their cascading quest for pleasure. Let the Thousand Sons wallow about their fate and the futility of resistance.

Only the Death Guard stood truly favoured.

Only the XIVt^h truly prospered.

http://i.imgur.com/GjRdqXZ.jpg?1

 

The Plaguefleet had grown stronger and stronger with every day during the long war. Mortarion had managed to rule a large portion of his legion with an iron grip and hundred thousands of demons were bound and pressed into their service. Ancient circles of the Ordo Reductor had sworn themselves to the Plaguefather and shared in the cancerous gifts of the Grandfather.

They were all elevated in the eyes of the Grandfather, for all were his children. Soon, they would reap a bloody toll amongst the stars. Soon, they would spread death and despair in an Imperium that had all but forgotten them. Kahgrul felt the pleasant churn of delight in his stomach. Yes, this would be a great war; a war to eclipse the Horus Heresy and even the wars within the Eye.

A war to drown the stars in blood.

http://i.imgur.com/j3W8Azn.jpg?1

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Hey folks, another Plague Marine finished :) I am currently working on the one with the huge belly maw and am contemplating on ordering a leviathan dreadnought to convert into a nasty, plague filled beast.

 

@Kordhal: Thank you kindly mate, giving my best! :)

 

@Pearson73: Thanks mate, the tutorial should be done soon. It is dead easy and most of the work is done with washes and sponges!

 

@Vairocanum: Thanks mate! Don't know yet when or how I will start my Eldar, but come they will!

 

That's all for today folks, hope you enjoyed it. As always, C&C is highly welcome and appreciated! Have a nice day :)

[Vairocanum]

Another great addition! I think the line "only the death guard stood truly favored" was really good as I hadn't thought about it that way before. If you've got the budget for it I'd love to see you make a disease ridden dreadnought. Looking forward to seeing more!

[Dagoth Ur]

Where Death marches

http://i.imgur.com/XpZxgLT.jpg?2

 

To say that the Death Guard was simply mutated was a lie. To be elevated into the ranks of plague marines was to mesh on a physical, genetic and metaphysical, spiritual level; becoming truly elevated in the process. The warp brings forth the innermost reflection of one's soul, it is only natural then that the plagues of Nurgle, immaterial and warpborn by nature, would twist their hosts in the most vilest, or perhaps wondrous, ways.

Bahgur of the Plaguelord's fleet stands as an example of the more warped creatures among Mortarion's children. His very being is intertwined with demonic essences that burgeon against the creamite and meat of his mortal shell. Maws of jagged, chipped teeth ring his face and stomach, representations of his cannibalistic hunger for the unmarred meat of clean progenoids and mortal men.

If anything is left of the once noble crusader of mankind, it is undoubtedly burried beneath layers and layers of pustulent flesh, rancid fat and fused ceramite.

http://i.imgur.com/zrrh3Gx.jpg?2

 

To die is to live and to live is to die. Each and every symbol of the Grandfather represented this principle, much like all of his subjects represented an aspect of this. Bahgur was the hunger of life that always caused death. To feed is to kill; be it through the spilling of blood or the uprooting of fauna. Yet still, to feed is also to live for when something is devoured another thing is reinvigorated.

This scope can be extended to many things, for plagues, parasites and bacteria may cause rampant death, they do feed into the eternal cycle of life too. The black death replicates itself in the infected body. The botfly feasts on the child's eye until it bursts forth and ascends to the heavens. The horrid strains of biological warfare deconstruct all flesh in a brief flash of life before they cease to be. Yet all three, as they cause death, provide a rich, tasty bed for new life in the shape of a corpse. Virile fungi will sprout, fat flies will feast on the grease and scavenger would tear away juicy morsels.

http://i.imgur.com/t87VaPV.jpg?2

 

It is, perhaps, now more clear that the Death Guard, much like their patron, are not mere deathbringers. They are the ultimate sanction of an uncaring galaxy. They cleanse the worlds between the stars, only to allow for new life to sprout. An eternal cycle of change, yet unable to change its own nature. Bahgur knew this, he knew the life that his hunger created for he felt and saw it. The masses of virile gut-bacteria in his swollen stomach sloshed in gratitude as he gobbled down thick, slimy chunks of raw meat.

Should the apostates of the Emperor come, those crazed idiots that clung to the lips of a corpse-god. Bahrgur would slay and devour them either way, and his grandfather would love him for it.

---------------------------------------------

 

Another Plaguemarine finished, half of the squad still to go :) I have ordered a Leviathan which I will be extensively converting for my Death Guard warband.

 

@Vairocanum: Glad you like him! Somehow the Death Guard has always stood out as the most legion-like and structured one amongst the four god-devoted legions :)

 

As always, C&C is much appreciated and welcome!

[Kordhal]

Fantastic work as usual, really digging the silvery worn armour and the muted colour scheme overall. I am also continually impressed at how evocative your short pieces of fluff for each mini are, they really lend each of them character. Keep up the great work :)

[Vairocanum]

Another great model, the leaking fluids look awesome! Your take on allowing new life to sprout after bringing death was interesting and seems to fit in well with Nurgle's ideology of spreading the plague. Looking forward to the next model!

[Dagoth Ur]

@Kordhal: Thank you kindly mate, appreciate it very much!
 
@Vairocanum: Thanks mate Y'see, I've always been intrigued by the ambivalent nature of the Chaos Gods. Sure, they are evil and destructive, but only from an oppositional, human point of view. Khorne is as much about honour as he is about massacre (A theme that reverberates very heavily in the work of Krautscientist), Slaanesh is about Excess but also about Perfection and honing ones own skills, Tzeentch is delusion and hope at the same time, and in the end, Nurgle is the eternal cycle of Life and Death, which is comprised of unending changes, but the fact of change is constant. Life is constant. Death is constant. Thus everything is captured in a state of stasis.
 
Alright, what have I got today for you? have a look:

http://i.imgur.com/YCagBXx.jpg?1

 

Jup, these are the beginnings of a nurglified, hellforged Leviathan Dreadnought. The greenstuff work is more or less finished, except for a burst gut which I will add. I have also applied Martian Ironcrust onto some surfaces after taking this picture in order to do a small experiment. I can still scrape it off if I don't like it. Also, I'll be adding two crossed chains across the chest section, a few more holes and boils, scratches and mutations. The beast has developed quite organically until now (Hah!), but I don't have anymore time for him today, so I'll crack out some more details tomorrow.

Hope y'all like him. Next update should have another finished Plague Marine and some more WiP of this fella. Have a nice day :)

[DuskRaider]

Awesome work, brother! I've been contemplating how to do this as well, it seems you've found the wonder material that is Liquid Green Stuff to be a boon to Nurgle models. I look forward to seeing updates.

[Vairocanum]

Very interesting view on the chaos gods, especially about Tzeentch. That nurgle leviathan looks phenomenal, really love what you've done with it. Some cracked armor with exposed cables could look nice on it I think. Definitely looking forward to seeing more!

[Dagoth Ur]

The Tomb-King Marches

 

----------------------

I’ve followed the path so long
I’ve weathered this tide
Through everything carried on
With strength in my stride
I’ve followed the path so long
I need a place where I belong at last

 

At the end of the path
I rest my weary feet
At the end of the path
In quiet comfort we’ll meet

Warm glow with a golden shine
Come to rest under the virile vine
Dark flow from the oldest shrines
Blight and blood under the wealth and wine
With black blood in my veins
My silver sings again

----------------------

 

The Path (Fragments), attibuted to Gavin Dunne, ca. m3

http://i.imgur.com/AauYvsn.jpg?1

 

In the ruins of Voj'Vodna I was born; in the ruins of a once emerald land of kings and lords, now little more than rusty wastes bisected by the megalithic corpses of primordial macropoles, devastated in a war consigned to oblivion aeons ago. I remember how the False Emperor's forces had come for us; the vaunted Ten Thousand, the barbaric Bellators Tonitrui, the taciturn First, and the many, many mortal regiments that followed them. I was taken from those ruins, that blighted stain i called home.

No parents had mourned my departure; my mother had slit my father's throat in a rad-phage induced fit of madness. I devoured her flesh years later, after a piece of wreckage had smashed her to bits as we searched for food. Her eyes had begged for help, as I patiently waited for life to seep from her frail body. Sustenance was rare and precious, no blood or meat could be wasted.

I was to become one of the first of the XIV^th legion, one of the first Dusk Raiders. Then, I cared little about what the flesh-smiths of the Helvetian Technocracy would do to my body; only the promised food and safety mattered. So I persevered where others succumbed to their new bodies. So I prevailed where others returned to the dust from which they had risen. I still remember their names; Dûnar, Jvca, and Mijrkoim. The first was swallowed and crushed by his own burgeoning flesh; Gallakhran, a merciless Thunderwarrior of the Harrowing Wind regiment, had given him his last peace; a bullet to the back of the head. The second died to the guns of some pan-mercian tribe situated in the wasteland of the Capital City. The last one, Mijrkoim, slit his own wrists before my very own eyes; he could not bear what he had become. A boy taken from Bel-Grad, the white city that purportedly bred some of the most savage soldiers, his eyes had been filled with tears as he spoke to me. I don't remember what he said. Sometimes I wish I did.

So only I, Galkar of Voj'Vodna, would come to bear the white of dusk and the crimson of blood.

http://i.imgur.com/bQjdXKC.jpg?1

 

I remember when Father had come to us. The Reaper-Lord his people had called him. Mortarion, lord of death and fourteenth son of the Emperor, had rejoined his sons in the Great Crusade; as blinded by false ideals and promises as we were. I willingly accepted the green and bone of Barbarus; I willingly cast away the white and red, like many of us. Some resisted; mongrels such like Garro, idiots who had come to idolize the gold of medals and the saga of the ego. We were astartes, breakers of armies, ravagers of life and where our gaze fell the banners flew high. In short, we were soldiers, not heros.

Mortarion understood this, and so he reshaped us. The seven were counted, the weapons of old night were cast into our hands and the stars wept as the Death Guard sailed the eternal night of cold stars and hungering night. I was a veteran by that time, appointed to the rank of a Centurio in Lord Typhon's very own company even, and I too cast my gaze to the skies. Quickly I took my place at my captain's side as one of the grave wardens. How I had relished the fizz and hiss of phosphex, white-hot napalm and bio-phage; how I enjoyed to see the frail bodies of Eldar wilt away before my eyes.

Then came Ullanor; the world where I fell beneath a warlords claw; my shells spents, my armour rent. Yet still, I clung to life, roaring in defiance of hate, of death. I was of the fourteenth, I was of the Death Guard; I would not die unless my lord demanded it. After two days they found me, strung to some gasoline-guzzling monstrosity of a transporter, and quickly decied what to do with me. A new pattern of tomb-machine had come from Terra itself; the Leviathan. I was to be the first. They warned me, of how debiliating the effect on my mind would be; how they would one day have to scrape me out of that shell like some rotten fruit.

I survived them all; my mind as strong in unlife as it had been in life.

http://i.imgur.com/h3aW5C7.jpg?1

 

I awoke when the galaxy was already aflame with war and our once-brethren died upon the volcanic plains of Istvaan. I was confused, frightened even, and so I cast my gaze to the lord of death and then I knew what path I would follow. I cared little for comradery or heroism; I was forged into a tool of war and so I would live and die. Father would have us march against the Emperor, and so we did with fervour and zeal.

It is treason, then, I had thought in my scant few moments of contemplation. I took no issue with betrayal; if nature and history taught us one lesson, then that no unity, no tribe, no empire could exist forever. Eventually everything split, either due to external factors or internal ones; treason was simply a fact of intelligent life, a neccessity perhaps even. In truth, I enjoyed tearing my cousins apart. The battles I had fought in the World Eaters' pits during my life had created a desire for such things in me. White Scar, Iron Hand, Raven Guard; as different as they were in life, they all died screaming and contorted in similar manners.

Even then the teachings of the Grandfather were spread amongst our ranks, if not his gifts. I harkened to the secrets whispered in the dark corners of the Terminus Est; I lent my ear to Captain Typhon, to Lord-Chaplain Erebus. I did not believe what i heard, disgust filled my mind and heart, gal bubbled in my broken body as I witnessed the Gal Vorbak and their bloody handwork. How blind I had been then. How foolish. But that is of no matter, the Grandfather forgives all.

http://i.imgur.com/E1AIEUU.jpg?1

 

As time went on, as my slumber became shorter and shorter, the men of my legion had begun whispering and huddling around my frame. Slowly but surely, they began calling me the Tomb-King, the one who had become master over his coffin, and thus an extension of the Reaper-Lords will. Father himself took notice of me, deigned to visit me even on several occassions. He spoke to me of Terra, of the people of Albia and the Panslavic tribes.

Lord Mortarion had wondered why the Terrans of the former region had almost universally decided to hold true to the Emperor, while the descendants of the latter had grown much more malleable and accepting of treason. A curious question, one I had not contemplated myself in my deep slumber, and yet one I swiftly had an answer to. The Albians were a people born and shaped by honour, by tradition and chivalry. They were barbarians, as were all that crawled upon Terra's blighted face, They had their houses and clans, their warmachines and their pride and colours and whatever else such wealthy cultures possessed.

We, the Panslavic men and women, were creatures born into plight, inheritors of the most contested and ravaged areas of Terra. Hellwright Norn, mechanicum-lord aboard the Reaper-Lords very own ship, had speculated that the first nuclear weapons to begin the Great War had fallen in these regions, and considering the amounts of radiation still present, it is not improbable that it was also one of the most heavily bombarded places. It is such places that breed people that have no use for livery or honour. It is true, every plated Albian will fight with more honour than the pale-skinned, bleary eyed Panslav; and yet, while there is little honour in our way of war, there is no honour in dying.

Thus we cared little for allegiance. We cared for ressources, for food, water, weaponry. Whoever possessed the hard coin could bribe us. The Plague-Lord gave us a home, gave us life and meaning through his very blood. What else could we do but hold true to him? Who better could provide for us? In our own and twisted way, we had finally developed a sense of loyalty after all. And it did not belong to the false Emperor.

http://i.imgur.com/VkXhf4O.jpg?1

 

The road to Terra was long and arduous; though I slept through much of it. It was only when Lord Mortarion had spoken to the Grandfather that I awoke, roused by some ancient malaise. My amniotic tank was bloated, my iron form as much steel as flesh. I had truly become one with my shell; even if it was a far-cry from what it would eventually become. All of us had changed; where sickness had turned us into whizened hags, the blessings of the Grandfather granted us with mythical resilience and horrid strength.

We had become Ghouls, Draugr; undying hybrids of man and beast, poised to slay whatever faced them. Our blight quickly wasted away the unworthy ones, as it would do on Mars and Terra. We had become death; we had become the very avatar of ABC-warfare. Many of our allies would gaze upon us in disgust and fear; yet those enlightened amongst them, such as the Bearers of the Word, would recognize us for what we were and would chant their faint sermons in honour of the eightfold blessing.

By some cruel irony of fate, or perhaps the divine guidance of higher forces, we would find ourselves waging a rutheless trench-war in the Panslavic regions. Bittersweet sap filled my hearts as the crackle of radiation flooded my frame and revitalized my body. All the poison had become like sweet air to us; radiation mended our wounds, toxic dust strengthened our bones.

Amongst all this rubble, all this death, I strode through battle, a mythical beast of war wrenched into reality. I had truly become a walking tomb; I had truly mastered death. I had truly become the Tomb-King. Needless to say, we were driven off world. We lost the Siege; one of the few facts of history the Imperium managed to keep right after ten Millenia. But now, now that the Eye has torn its horrid gash across the skies, now that the fleets of old and new colours spread through the galactic night, we have returned, with the Reaper at our helm.

http://i.imgur.com/LLZ0aDi.jpg?1

 

First we will bring death to the sons of Guillaume; the would-be.Emperor, the consort of a foul xenos witch, the man who prides himself with loyalty when building an empire of his own is all he holds dear to his heart. Even now dissent grows amongst some of his sons; Calgar's thoughts echo so sweetly across the empyrean, a scorned son, a dissapointed son. We will bring release to them; we shall spill the thinned blood of fools, we shall feast upon their marrow.

Death shall come to the sons of Ultramar for the Tomb-King walks again.

---------------------------------------------------

 

Alright, the Leviathan is pretty much build at this point, paint is comming in the next few days :)

 

@DuskRaider: Thanks mate! Liquid Greenstuff is amazing for texture work. I use it for muddy boots, nurglified surfaces, gunked up oil streaks and many more things.

 

@Vairocanum: Glad you like him mate :) I've always been intrigued by the dualistic nature of the chaos gods, ever since I got into the hobby with the liber chaotica books.

 

Well, that is all for today folks. Hope you like the Dread :) Have a nice day. C&C is, as always, much appreciated and welcome!

[Vairocanum]

Yes! More dreadnought POV! Some great writing as usual. I should re-read the liber chaotica books, I borrowed them from my friend when they first came out and haven't read them since. I like how you've made the dreadnought mash the casualty's face deeper into the mud. Definitely looking forward to seeing how you paint all this texture!

[Dagoth Ur]

Battle-Kings of Old

 

 

And at the helm of the pestilent hordes shall stand warrior-kings of grotesque, hunched stature; true heirs of the Reaper-Lord and most blessed children of the Grandfather. Their plate is the remnant of ages past, ages of the nascent Imperium. Their weapons are unholy amalgamations of martian lore and heretic teachings. The Terran Senate would do well to fear the days to come, for the ten millenia long decaying of their thrones will soon come to an end; not through the glorious blaze of crusades, but the silent death visited upon them by an uncaring, unfeeling enemy.

 

Ingo Herlevich, Apostate

http://i.imgur.com/IzwFKuk.jpg?1

 

I stand amidst the ragged masses of iron-clad men and women; all poised to finally throw off the yoke of alien overlords. The Wonderchild, the Reaper-Lord brought wonders of technology and warfare to us; armed us, protected us until we were finally ready. To some, the armour we wore might have been primitive, but the suits of tanned leather and forged iron were technology bordering on magic. Clouds that would have stripped the flesh from our bones became as breathable as the gaseous cupolas of the lower valleys.

The Reaper stood infront of us all, oversized scythe held aloft, and spoke.

"You shall be my army; my kings of war. You shall best the worst the overlords have to muster. You shall be my Death Guard."

Many thousand fists banged against their chests in a warriors salute and as one we roared.

"All hail Mortarion! All hail the Reaper-Lord!"

http://i.imgur.com/BUolRwo.jpg?1

 

Upon a world of bleak mountains and silent swamps we stood in orderly regiments; all clad in the pale bone and muddy green of Barbarus. We were the Death Guard, true battle-gods forged of supreme gene-forging and alchemagyicks, shaped into implements of war and conquest. The teachings of Barbarus echoed in my twin hearts; were not simple conquerors but liberators. Tyranny was to be abhorred, tyrants existed only to be cast down into the mud, forced to witness the razing of their folly.

So we brought freedom to this nameless world by casting down their kings and queens. No weapon could lay us low; our resilience was legendary. The Iron Hands needed the power of iron to become invincible, our flesh was steeped in this strength. My bolter roared as the fanatics fell beneath its thunderous breath; their rounds chattered against ceramite, barely peeling away the paint upon it.

And so we marched, a wall of death, and proclaimed loudly our blinded ideals.

"All hail the Emperor of Mankind! Death to the enemies of Terra!"

http://i.imgur.com/DfSfz8j.jpg?1

 

Ten millenia later, I stood at the helm of a small army upon one of the five-hundred worlds, ready to unleash chemical death and biological horror upon the Imperium I once had helped to build. My body was bloated, fused to an ancient suit of bastardized ctaphracti plate. The saws of my twisted weapon screeched loudly with insatiable hunger. Behind a sightless helm, I could feel my rotten, fatty lips peel back and reveal an ugly grin of cracked teeth and worm-infested gums.

The Reaper-Lord flew far above us; his foetid wings spread the gift of fungal death and mycotic life. His wailing son was beautiful; a symphony of tragedy, irony and anger. Truly, Mortarion was the most favoured child of Nurgle; who else could feel such profound despair if not a god's son?

Again, like so many times before, we stand together; we, the sons of Moratrions, bellow our cries of war.

"All hail the Lord of Plague! Death to the False Emperor!"

-----------------------------------

 

Hey folks, finished the Nurgle Lord from Dark Imperium today and figured you might like him. Somehow, the camera has washed out much of the nuances in the red cape, not quite sure why though... Anyhow, have two more WiPs:

http://i.imgur.com/uSlRSRv.jpg?1

 

The plague marine champion is halfway finished. The cowl will be painted black, the cloak will be deep red most likely. Everything else is a bit more malleable :)

http://i.imgur.com/FXKLWYh.jpg?1

 

Inspired by KrautScientist's ingenious conversion of his Sorcerer, I decided to fix mine up a bit as the face and staff have left me rather uninspired. I decided to replace the staff-top with a mace head from the Deathwing kit and add a rebreathed mask to the infamous babyface. However, I left the poisonous cloud as I quite like it actually, and plan on painting it up really nasty (Think of a billowing waft of rust, vomit and other unsanitary stuff).

 

@Vairocanum: Glad you like him mate, the Leviathan really was a labour of love! :) The Liber Chaotica books are a true treasury of fluff. Sadly I lost mine in a water-accident and am now slowly rebuilding my collection, but man those things ain't cheap. If you like dreads, you should keep your eyes peeled for my other threads as I am painting up two Scythes of the Emperor dreads and am currently building a carcharodon contemptor :>

 

Anyways, that is all from me today. Hope you liked it! C&C is, as always, much appreciated and welcome!

[Vairocanum]

While your models are amazing, I find myself more often coming to your threads to read the back stories you give your models. I liked the transitions in life that you showed for the Nurgle Lord. Also shame about losing books to water damage, hope you can snag a copy for a good price!

[Dagoth Ur]

Of Weapons and Fathers

 

 

Many things were terrifying when it came to the sons of Barbarus. They were implacable, more so than the Iron Tenth or the Seventh; mankind's resilience manifested. Their father was the embodiment of the Reaper, the terran lord of death. Perhaps most fearsome to both enemy and ally was their propensity for radiological and chemical weaponry; weaponry forbidden by the Emperor's own decree.

Truly, the Death Guard was no force of compliance. It was a force of extermination.

 

Shenara, Musings about the Twenty Legions, Redacted Version

 

http://i.imgur.com/3BHWf7w.jpg?1

 

The Chapters of the adeptus astartes are but a pale shadow of the true might of the legions. Much of the war-machinery has been lost in the ages; both the knowledge of their fabrication and the very memory of their existence. One of the perhaps more modest examples of such technology is the martian volkite weaponry. Once the mainstay of personal astartes weaponry, it had been all but replaced by bolters until the age of heresy began. Now, almost none remain in the armouries of the one-thousand chapters; most are dysfunctional, with only a scant few capable of dispensing the rage of the crimson thunder.

As much as it pains the Mechanicus, it is the dark forges and the crestfallen legions that have managed to preserve such weaponry, albeit by various means. Some, such like the Iron Warriors and the Night Lords, have held tightly on to this technology and thus can still be seen wielding millenia old rayguns that had been handforged in the ferric cities of ancient Mars. Other legions, such like the Death Guard, have managed to twist such revered weapons into irredemeable pieces of tech-heresy.

Legionnarie Nagho, pictured above during the assault on the Konor-system, still wields the volkite charger he was issued shortly before the Istvaan-incidents. While it still remains largely unchanged in shape and form, it does not dispense any electrical discharges, but acidic waste that manages to burn even through ceramite. This might be the result of demonic possession or perhaps even warp-tears on a micro scale that lead into some nefarious corner of the nether, where such liquids burst from sulfuric fountains.

http://i.imgur.com/LtOKQlb.jpg?1

 

The Death Guard, and by extension Mortarion, have oftentimes been viewed as inflexible and unimaginative in their way of war. While the latter may be true, the former is a propagandistic tale spread by historians who never saw the Reaper's own drive death before them. Mortarion valued well-trained infantry and so he decreed that every astartes was to be armed with a bolter, a pistol and a chainsword, as well as trained in the use of most conventional weapons available to the legions. This allowed for great inter-legion flexibility when it came to replacing losses temporarily until new recruits could be drawn from Barbarus.

Similarly, Mortarion was, apart from Perturabo, the greatest proponent of mass-scale production of tactical dreadnought armour; some of his writings reveal that he dreamed of days when his whole legion could be outfitted with terminator armour. While this never came to fruitition, the Death Guard still sported more such armours than many other legions. It was these weapon platforms that were used to bear the dangerous weaponry the legion was so associated with.

Following the corruption of the Death Guard at the hands of Nurgle, many of the rad-launchers, chemo-mortars and similar were dispersed even amongst the power-armoured members. Their perverted physiology did not degrade under the various toxic influences; rather it flourished. Ohglan, one such legionnarie, wrenched a rad-launcher from the dead arms of a grave warden who died on the fields before the Imperial Palace, and has wielded it ever since. We tell our soldiers how weak and how frail the denizens of the Eye are, yet nothing could be farther away from the truth. How can we hope to win this war when the enemy wields weaponry that does not need to fire to be deadly?

http://i.imgur.com/ihStbds.jpg?1

 

We will never truly know how the fall of the Death Guard came to be. Not the treason of Istvaan, but the pact of plagues. Some say it was a bid of power, a weakness in Mortarion's mind and character that allowed him to be tempted by the beast of the warp. It is easy to accept such theories as fact, as it is always easy to demonize what you hate, what you don't know and thus can't possibly hope to understand.

Lately, I have dreamt of the plagued ones; the Death Guard. I see visions of a tall, lanky giant clawing at the glass that separates him from the woeful tides of the immaterium, begging for mercy. A warrior-god, a man feared by brethren and humans alike, rendered helpless by powers even his wisest brother could not understand. The lord begged not for mercy to be brought upon himself; he begged that whatever being tortured his sons would show mercy. A dour man this Reaper was, yet he cared for his own; they were his ilk, after all. Eventually, his soul would be sold into eternal slavery and his sons twisted into something beyond mortal shape, thus saved and damned at once.

Now he stalks the plagued garden and the dark galaxy, filled with naught but bitternes and self-hatred, for he has become it that he most despises. The Reaper became a warlock, an abomination of the mind in his eyes. His body was wrought into the shape of inhumanity, an affront to the holy human form in whose image he was created. Worst of all though, he became a tyrant, a perversion of the soul, the very thing he hated since he drew his first breath of polluted air.

Similarly, his sons are trapped in this maelstrom of hatred and love for their father. Hate fills their hearts for it is he who has damned them beyond death and twisted their bodies. Yet still they love him, for how could a child hate its father? How could they not see the true worth of his sacrifice. It is thus that twisted men such as Ahlarn Twysthant stalk the darkness between the stars and ponder upon the same old question: Why?

------------------------------------

 

Hey folks, today I bring you three kitbashes I did with a few Plaguemarines that were donated to me by a dear friend :) Expect to see some more volkite chargers amongst my Plaguemarines, as I just love the smattering of Horus Heresy and Great Crusade splendour that they add (And if I ever play with them I'll just use them as bolters). For anyone curious, the plague launcher is just a sawed of plague launcher from the Grave Wardens kit from Forgeworld.

Also, have some WiPs of my Leviathan!

http://i.imgur.com/0jz9QXZ.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/WUmf8QV.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/u8hwSl2.jpg?1

 

He is nearly finished! Only some soot, rust and the last few pieces of skin, tentacle and blood remain before I move on to the Ultramarine and the base. Truly a pleasure to paint and one of the best FW kits.

 

@Vairocanum: Thank you kindly friend :) Since I've started studying two years ago I've picked up writing fiction again (Mostly unrelated fantasy and DDR-esque day-to-day train of thought short stories) both as a way to relax and to improve my use of language! As concerning the books, I might have something lined up :)

 

Well, that is all for today folks. Hope you like it! Have a good day; C&C is, as always, very welcome and appreciated!