Warhammer 40,000 - Blightlord Terminators
These chunky boys come with a ton of options and I couldn’t decide what to equip them with. Also not having the new Codex to hand makes it a bit tricky to guess what I can give to them and remain game legal. But fortunately I’m not a competitive player, or much of a player at all, I was mostly limited by the Rule of Cool. First of all I went through and assembled all the bodies, and then I went back and picked out which arms I wanted for each dude. I did try to keep arms and shoulder pads with their respective torsos, like for the fly-guy and the guy that is basically a hive of maggots. Apart from that, I picked the Reaper Autocannon and the Flail of Corruption because they looked the coolest. Aside from a few arms that would make painting difficult, the models were fully assembled and stuck to their base ready for priming with Death Guard Green spray. I also, as is my usual practice these days, drilled the barrels on the combi-bolters.
I did need to brush on some Death Guard Green where the spray hadn’t reached, but once that was done I could make a start on all the bronze trim as that forms the bulk of the detail on these miniatures. After that, I painted everything that needed to be silver with Leadbelcher. I usually do the metallics one after the other so that I remember to change my paint water afterwards. That way, I don’t risk getting any of the “little shiny flecks” in my other paints.
With fresh paint water, I started with the lighter colours so as usual I painted all the bony protrusions with Skeleton Bone. The maggot tubes/hives I painted with Ulthuan Grey although I held off on doing the maggots for now as they’re quite small and easy to accidentally paint or wash over. So I usually save that until near the end. The Nurgling lurking in the dude’s stomach and the wrap on the Flail of Corruption I painted with Zandri Dust. The leather tassels, I think they are, on the shoulders I painted with Steel Legion Drab. And finally I picked out the leather straps with Mournfang Brown. After all those relentless browns, it was finally time to add some colour to these lads. I painted the tabards with Xereus Purple and the various tentacles with Screamer Pink. I was going to basecoat the fly parts white then do over them with either Basilicanum Grey or Black Templar constrast paints, like I had done previously for other models. But in this case, I gave them a couple of thin coats of Corvus Black.
After that it was time to make a start on washes, the first being Strong Tone on everything that isn’t a tabard, maggot, fly-part or flesh. After that, I washed all the silver parts with Nuln Oil. One of these days I’ll find a product or wash that can do both a black and brown wash at once. I could mix the two, but then I feel I’d have to do two coats to get the appropriate level of grimy. Perhaps Streaking Grime enamel wash, I’ll have to do some tests some time. Random tangent aside, I washed the fly parts with Purple Tone, the flesh tubes with Reikland Fleshshade, any other flesh and maggots with Athonian Camoshade. Finally, I carefully gave the Nurgling a wash of Reikland Fleshshade. For the detailing I picked out random pustules and the Nurgling’s eyes with Averland Sunset, any slime with Warpstone Glow and any lenses with Warping Lightning contrast paint. For the wooden axe handles I used Wyldwood contrast paint, as it’s slightly transparent some of the Death Guard Green undercoat shows through giving it a rotten look.
The fly parts ended up a bit too dark for my liking, plus the Purple Tone seems to have a gloss finish, so I mixed some Mechanicus Standard Grey with Xereus Purple and gave said fly parts a heavy edge highlight to help them stand out. Finally, I gave them a coat of matt varnish to get rid of that shine.
Next it was time to gunk up these guys some more with a few technical paints. I used some appropriately named Typhus Corrosion on some of the metalwork; not too much, just patches here and there. Once it was dry I gave those areas a drybrush with Ryza Rust to catch all those bits of texture. I then used some Nihillakh Oxide in a few recesses, particularly around bronze details. I also dotted a bit around some of the rivets. I used the even more appropriately named Nurgle’s Rot to give some of the flesh tubes, the toxic drips and maggots a slimy disgusting look. And finally, I used a bit of Greenstuff World’s Black Soot Liquid Pigment in my airbrush to blacken a couple of the exhausts, such as on one of the chainaxes.
I based these guys in the same way I have done for the rest of my Death Guard; slapped on some Stirland Mud, washed it with Athonian Camoshade, before drybrushing with Tyrant Skull. Then I used Caliban Green to create a few patches of toxic sludge, once it was dry I gooped on some Nurgle’s Rot. I then quickly painted up a couple of Kromlech mushrooms, and with some tufts from The Army Painter I added a splash of colour to the bases. Finally, I painted the rims with Warboss Green.
Overall, these guys were really fun to paint. I especially enjoyed that each one has a distinct feel, like the fly guy or the one practically covered in maggots. It felt like they each had a personality. If only Games Workshop put this much personality into regular Space Marines.
