I have been meaning to grab this team for a little while but had put it off as I didn’t know what to do with them. Rather, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to add them to my collection of Traitor Guard from Blackstone Fortress or to paint them in a more Nurgle scheme to match my growing horde of filth. Such a conundrum was compounded by the set coming with an Enforcer and Chaos Ogryn which I already own and have painted for this blog. I hemmed and hawed for ages, until spurred by the fear of the kit going out of production, I took the plunge and got myself a box.
I eventually decided that the Blooded would become part of my Nurgle horde, for a few reasons. Firstly, my Nurgle scheme can be slapchopped. Secondly, as much as I enjoyed Blackstone Fortress, I had nothing to gain by making the Blooded part of that collection. And thirdly, putting them in the Nurgle army made dealing with the Ogryn and Commissar a little easier. But more on that later.
From left to right: Gunner, Chieftain , Grenadier.
As these guys are unlikely to see a game of actual Kill Team and more likely to be NPCs in one of my narrative games, I decided that I didn’t need to go all in on Specialists. Plus, any leftover bits would be ideal for converting other models to Chaos. Besides the Chieftain to lead the squad, I chose a Gunner (with plasma gun),, a Thug, a Sharpshooter, a Grenadier and a Commsman as my Specialists. Everyone else was assembled as a basic Trooper.
For the Enforcer and Ogryn, things got a little more drastic. As mentioned, I already had a Traitor Commissar from Blackstone Fortress Traitor Command if I ever needed one, so I didn’t need a second. To make him look different I made a few changes. I swapped his powerfist for a power sword, swapped his head for one with a little bandit mask and clipped off his trophy poles. I felt that these were enough to make him look less like a turncoat Commissar and more like a lunatic in a trench coat. Although I suppose one could argue that’s what Commissar’s are anyway. For the Orgryn, I kept things simpler. I used the face I didn’t use for Traitor Command and gave him some extra boils using some small beads. The latter of which I did by drilling a small recess and sealing the beads in place with some sprue goo.
From left to right: Thug, Sharpshooter, Commsman.
With all the assembly done, I applied some Typhus Corrosion to a select few bits of metal and armour to add a bit of texture. I then primed the models with Colour Forge Standard Grey. First things first, I base coated all the skin with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin, tidying up any overspill with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone. From there I gave each model a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink through the airbrush. While I had it out, I also used the airbrush to give the skin some Vallejo Violet Ink shadows. I then gave the ad-hoc metal details like spikes and bolted on armour plates a coat of Daler-Rowney Red Earth acrylic ink.
With the groundwork done I could move onto slapping and chopping these miniatures properly. To keep things consistent with the reset of my Nurgle forces I elected to use the same palette of colours that I have used for my other Nurgle miniatures. To start with I gave the skin a coat of Kroak Green. I then painted the fatigues with Creed Camo and the flak armour with Garaghak’s Sewer, establishing the main colours of the team. Any leather details I picked out with Gore Grunta Fur. For the Chieftain’s banner, Sniper’s cloak and any tabards, I painted these with Army Painter Speedpaint Desolate Brown. Any weapons, meanwhile, I painted with Ratling Grime.
Troopers
For the metallic details, I painted anything I had painted with the Red Earth ink with Army Painter Speedpaint Broadsword Silver. The thin nature of the Speedpaint paint allows the rust-coloured undercoat to show at the edges. Any cult symbols I picked out with Balthasar Gold. These silver and bronze areas were then given a wash of Sonic Sledgehammer’s Marine Juice to further bring out the texture. I then drybrushed the weapons with Necron Compound to give them a dirty metallic look. Similarly, I dipped a bit of sponge into some Scale75 Speed Metal and lightly dabbed this onto the edges of the flak armour to make it look more weathered and beaten up. I finished off the Guardsmen by giving the plasma gun coils a coat of Gryph Hound Orange.
The models were mostly done at this point although the burly Ogryn needed a couple of extra details sorting out. To start with I painted the boils with Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown before giving them a coat of Guilliman Flesh to make them look sore and inflamed. From there I added a bit more depth to the face with a series of washes. I darkened the interior of the moth by giving it a coat of Army Painter Military Shade and the eyes by giving them a coat of Scale75 Instant Colour Arcane Purple. I also used some Army Painter Red Tone over the cheeks and nose to give them a ruddier appearance. Lastly, I carefully painted his eyes with Ulthuan Grey.
Enforcer and Ogryn.
With the models done I moved onto the bases, which I did in the same style as the rest of my Nurgle forces. I started by covering the base with Vallejo Thick Brown Mud and once that was dry, I brought out the texture with a wash of Army Painter Military Shade. From there I dabbed on some patches of PVA glue and sprinkled on some Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Forest Floor, which I then sealed in place with Geek Gaming Scenics Matt Sealant. I then dabbed some more PVA glue and added patches of static grass and used AK Interactive Swamp Water Gel to add patches of toxic goo. Lastly, I painted the rims of the bases with Warboss Green.