Fully Painted: Death Guard Plague Marines

I finally finished painting the seven Death Guard Plague Marines from the Warhammer 40,000 Dark Imperium box set. All told, I probably spent 10 hours working on these seven figures — basically a speedpaint, for all intents and purposes.

This was my first brush with modern Games Workshop plastic kits, and I must say I was very impressed. The crisp sculpts and near-flawless fit of the individual pieces was really something. It was a far cry from the gloriously chaotic plastic-and-metal amalgams that characterized my first 40k army back in the mid-90s.

After browsing the various warband paint schemes in the Death Guard handbook that came with the boxed set, I settled on The Weeping Legion, because I wanted to paint white armor and green trim for a change. I also liked the lore, with the Weeping Legion earning their name by marching to battle covered in the crusted ichor of their many weeping boils and pustules. Grandfather Nurgle approves!

As you can see from these pics, my Weeping Legion ended up quite a bit … eh … dirtier than the studio paint scheme. Chalk that up to the Minwax Antique Walnut polyurethane dip, which shaved hours off my painting time and also tinted the figures with a faint brownish hue. That was my intent, and it definitely fit with the fluff.

I also had a great time playing around with color washes for the many tentacles, flesh pipes and leering tongues that festooned these figures. These sculpts are really a treat for the accomplished painter — guess I’d better go find one?! But I digress.

The Dark Imperium box set comes with 7 Plague Marines — 7 being the sacred number for Nurgle, of course — and GW recently released a 3-man box of Plague Marines to bring your unit up to full strength. So look for a few more Plague Marines to come in short order … or maybe I’ll get distracted by Poxwalkers … but I’ve also got some stuff on deck for my Night Lords. So much to paint, so little time!