Chaos is upon us, and Lord Nurgle demands paint for his minions!
Almost two years ago I posted this article on how to speed paint Nurgle Marines using just a few basic techniques, which was great for fielding a painted army quick!
But then Games Workshop went and changed their paint line last March, so I figured I better update this article with the new paint names so everyone can get their plague zombies and Death Guard painted up!
Look for changes to the paint names in red.
It was really simple and took about 4-5 hours total for each squad of ten, which I thought for the end result was great. Keep in mind they are Nurgle so there is “perfect” involved, messy is just fine.
I’m not sure how this would look on a say a regular Space Marine, or normal figure, but it would definitely work on say Orks, or Traitor / Renegade guardsmen.
First step was Necrotic Flesh Primer by Army Painter. This gives a great base to work from.
Remember though when working with this line of primers you have to get closer to your models (like 8 inches? or so) when you spray. This prevents the primer from atomizing or picking up dust in the air, and “fuzzing” your models.
I also primed about 25% of the models just plain white to get a slight natural variance to each squad.
Then I base coated the model with the brightest versions of the colors I wanted, so that they would show through the washes I would do later. For gold I used burnished (Auric Armour Gold), metals were Mithril (Runefang Steel) fleshy areas I did Tallarn Flesh (Vallejo: Heavy Flesh Tone), pustules I painted Sunburst Yellow (Flash Gitz Yellow), and clothes/ bandages I painted Bleached Bone (Ushabti Bone), or Khaki (Karak Stone).
After that’s done, I did I slightly watered down wash with GW’s Ogyrn Flesh (Reikland Fleshshade).
To apply the washes I like to used a straight drybrush because besides holding more wash in the bristles, the chisel actually helps to disperse the wash better on the model.
Starting at the top of the model I worked my way down from the backpack to the feet. In this picture I didn’t apply the flesh wash to the metals.
On the rest of the figures I did apply the wash, and I think it looked better end result wise.
After letting that dry (I used a small table top fan aimed at each squad), I then applied a slightly watered down Thraka Green (Biel Tan Green) wash to mostly the whole model, but left some areas alone randomly.
Next up was a Devlin Mud wash to the metals (and bolter stock), followed by a Gryphone Sepia/ Devlin Mud (Seraphim Sepia / Agrax Earthshade) wash to the cloth areas.
The whole base was basecoated with 50/50 Scorched Brown / Dark Flesh (Rhinox Hide / Mourfang Brown). Then drybrushed Khaki (Karak Stone), and finally Bubonic Brown (Zamesi Desert).
Last I attached tuffs of static grass to the base with some super glue. I hate using the super glue to do this (cause it always seems to get onto my figures) BUT once it dries, that grass is on there. Plus I really like how it “tuffs” up into like patches of grass.
The rest of the squad pics are below.
Let me know what you think of the squad, or if you have any questions. -MBG
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
