Hey guys welcome back. Today I’m going to go over step by step how I painted up my Chaos Space Marine Death Guard models for an upcoming Apocalypse Game.
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, metals were Mithril, fleshy areas I did Tallarn Flesh, pustules I painted Sunburst Yellow, and clothes/ bandages I painted Bleached Bone, or Khaki.
After that’s done, I did I slightly watered down wash with Gw’s Ogyrn Flesh. 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 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 wash to the cloth areas.
The whole base was basecoated with 50/50 Scorched Brown / Dark Flesh. Then drybrushed Khaki, and finally bronzed flesh.
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 the Las Vegas Open, each of which attracts thousands of 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 2011 Adepticon 40k Team Tournament. He was even featured for his painting in issue #304 of Games Workshop’s White Dwarf Magazine.
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.
