I had put off painting Mibyllorr for a while as I had earmarked her for a specific project but the more that I thought about it the more I realised that she wasn’t a suitable model for said project. Which left me to decide what I wanted to do with her. The primary source of indecision being whether to paint them in a traditional way with basecoats and washes and such, or in my slapchop adjacent speed painting method. As I had no (immediate) plans to expand to a full Slaves to Darkness army I decided on the former. However as it’s me she will be painted in a distinctly Nurglite scheme. With my course set I got the model assembled, and primed them with Colour Forge Standard Grey. 

Mibyllorr Darkfang

I started off Mibyllor by painting their skin with a couple thin coats of Vallejo Dark Fleshtone. Trying to paint their tail under the robes almost made me regret sticking them down to the bases before priming. Next I painted their robes with Vallejo Yellow Ochre, the dirty yellow colour is ideal for Nurgle and I used it for my Blightkings way back when. As befitting a Nurgle aligned model I painted the armour with a couple thin coats of Death Guard Green. There is a lot of leather on this model, ooh er, so to break things up I painted them with two different colours. The corset I painted with Rhinox Hide and the various straps about the model I picked out with Skrag Brown. And while I was painting browns I painted the staff with Two Thin Coats Scorched Earth. 

For the remaining details I painted the horns, icon on the staff and any other bone details with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. The bandages or wraps around their eyes I painted with Two Thin Coats Griffon Claw. The runestones I painted with Caliban Green as I felt a dull grey like Dawnstone would stand out too much. Their cloven hoof I painted with a couple thin coats of Corvus Black. 

For the metalics, I painted the sword blade with Scale75 Thrash Metal. The sword hilt, trim on the armour and the frame of the icon on the staff I painted with Balthasar Gold. 

Moving onto the washes, I gave the skin a coat of Army Painter Purple Tone. For dark skin a wash of something like Reikland Fleshshade would have little to no effect, whilst a black or brown wash would desaturate the skin. A purple wash however would maintain the vibrancy of the skin while still having the potency to shade the skin. The sword blade, hilt and their hoof meanwhile I washed with Army Painter Dark Tone. Everything else, and I do mean everything, got a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone. 

Before I could move onto the highlights I first needed to do a bit of layering where the washes had darkened things down a bit too far. To start things off I layered the flat areas of the armour with Death Guard Green. And then I layered the raised areas of the robes with Vallejo Yellow Ochre. 

For the highlights themselves I started by giving the armour an edge highlighted with Ionrach Skin. For the robes I highlighted them with Vallejo Pale Sand. For the bone details I used, confusingly, Army Painter Pale Sand. The leather details I highlighted with Army Painter Buffed Hide, this worked really well on dark leather that I had base coated with Rhinox Hide but not so well on the leather that I had painted with Skrag Brown. Lesson learnt I suppose. Lastly I highlighted the bandages over their face with Pallid Wych Flesh. 

Lil’ Sword Guy

The familiars don’t have any official designation or even names, so I guess that means I can make up my own. To start off Sir Trog the Mighty I dabbed some Typhus Corrosion on the armour and sword, this gave them a pitted and corroded look. This was actually done before the model was primed. 

I was tempted to paint the armour silver and then just to town with rust and weathering effects. Instead I gave the armour a couple thin coats of Scale75 Peridot Alchemy, I had used this colour for my Putrid Blightkings and it works nicely for Nurgle models. Whilst I was painting metallics I then gave the sword blade a coat of Scale75 Thrash Metal, the hilt meanwhile I painted with Balthasar Gold. For the remaining details I painted the belt and pouch with Skrag Brown, the boots I painted with Rhinox Hide. As with Mibyllorr, I painted the runestone with Caliban Green, which worked nicely with the green armour. The tabard I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. 

For the washes I gave the sword blade a coat of Army Painter Dark Tone and everything else a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone. I kept the highlights simple with some Army Painter Buffed Hide on the leather details. 

I did however break out my trio of Greenstuff World Rust Liquid Pigments. Starting with Dark Rust and working up through Medium and Light Rust I added rusted effects to some of the recesses in the armour and to the sword. 

Lil’ Scroll Guy

With Sir Trog done I moved onto Brog the Scrollkeeper. I started by painting the robes with Vallejo English Uniform, a drab green-brown that works nicely for dirty cloth. The belt and boots I painted with Skrag Brown, and the parchment I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. From there I gave the whole model a wash with Army Painter Strong Tone. Before I could do any highlights I first needed to layer the robes with English Uniform as the wash had darkened them a bit too much. With that done I could then highlight the robes with Army Painter Urban Buff. The leather I highlighted with Army Painter Buffed Hide and the scrolls with Army Painter Pale Sand. 

The Musical Frog

As Brog took no time at all I moved swiftly onto…er.. Frog the Musical Frog. Perhaps this naming convention wasn’t the best idea? 

Regardless I started off by painting the skin with Vallejo Russian Uniform, this drab green was ideally suited for amphibian skin. However to give the skin some warmth I used my airbrush to carefully spray some Army Painter Air Nomad Flesh onto the cheeks and belly. I then picked out the bone flute with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. 

The flute got a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone while the rest of the model I washed with Reikland Fleshshade. Like with Brog I then layered the skin back up with Russian Uniform as the wash had darkened it down a bit too much. For the highlights I mixed Russian Uniform with some AK Interactive Pastel Green, and applied to the raised areas. The bone flute however, I simply highlighted the edges with Army Painter Pale Sand. For the patch of fur I gave it a thinned coat of Wyldwood and then highlighted the tips with Army Painter Urban Buff.

I finished things off by putting a dot of Army Painter Matt White into each eye. I then painted each eye and a bit of the surrounding area with Iyanden Yellow to give them glowing yellow eyes. 

Walking Cauldron

In Soviet Russian, cauldron stirs you! Or at least Drog the Foul will bite your ankles. For this final familiar I started by giving them a base coat of Army Painter Air Raven Black through the airbrush. Like I did with Froggy the Musical Frog I then used the airbrush to basecoat the legs with Army Painter Air Nomad Flesh. By using the airbrush I could easily get a transition between the cauldron and flesh areas. 

For the remaining details I painted the teeth with Army Painter Skeleton Bone and the gums with Screamer Pink. The ladle sticking out of the top and the handle I painted with Scale75 Thrash Metal.

Moving onto the washes I gave the main body of the cauldron a coat of Army Painter Dark Tone. The fleshy areas I then washed with Reikland Fleshshade blending it over the cauldron areas. The teeth I washed with Army Painter Strong Tone. 

With the washes done I moved onto the highlights. Starting with the fleshy areas I gave the raised areas a highlight with Kislev Flesh. The cauldron itself I highlighted the edges with Two Thin Coats Carcharadon Grey and the teeth I highlighted the tips with Army Painter Pale Sand. 

For the final detailing I picked out all the boils with Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown and the drool with Warp Stone Glow. To make things look slimy and disgusting, I added some Nurgle’s Rot technical paint to the drool and between the teeth. I also used the Greenstuff World Rust Liquid pigments to add rust effects around the drool and onto the ladle. 

Bases

With the models done I moved into the bases, starting with covering the whole bases with Vallejo Thick Brown Mud. Once that was dry I washed the bases with Athonian Camoshade followed by a drybrush of Tyrant Skull. With that done I dabbed on some PVA glue and then sprinkled on some Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Forest Floor. I then repeated the process, this time with some static grass. To finish things off I dabbed on some AK Interactive Swamp Green Effects into some of the natural divots in the mud texture. In particular I made sure to dab some under the toxic drool of the cauldron. Lastly, I painted the rims of the bases with Warboss Green. As the bases were already fairly busy I decided not to add any tufts to them on this occasion.