I’d been dreading this part, after completing the body it was time to tackle the wings. They’re such a large part of the model and very organic, I had to make them look as nice as a I could.
I decided that I would use an airbrush to try and get as nice of a finish as possible. I would go for my current flesh recipe with washes straight over the undercoat. I’d airbrushed my last Plagueburst Crawler with Agrax Earthshade and it gave a very smooth “tint” to the model. So I thought that would work for this.
First of all I painted the flesh around where the wings would fit, there’s an area of it between the tanks on his back and his cloak. Then it was time to get out the airbrush…
My next task was to prepare the body for the wings. That meant attaching the chains that I had painted in the last stage and painting the breathing apparatus high up on his back.
With Mortarion attached to his base I had a good look at the model and the instructions to try and work out where I wanted to go next. I concluded that I now needed the purple robes painted, and to do that I needed to attach the rest of the chains and the flyingNurglings that they link to. These all hang off of a piece of the robes, and I wanted to paint the robes as one piece, so they needed to be glued in ready for that. I decided I would paint the chains before attaching them as it would be easier to drybrush and rust them separately.
I also thought that now was the right time to begin tackling the head. I’m still not quite sure of the sequencing of attaching the head, the arms and the pipes that connect those parts to Mortarion’s backpack. However that will work the head is separate and can be got ready.
The chains and flying Nurglings (they fly now?!?)
All of the parts were attached to bits of sprue so as to aid undercoating and painting. And then it was on to painting
I think it all went OK. I’m not totally happy with the wings, I think I should have gone for a different colour, but they’re sufficient. I haven’t yet painted Mortarions eyes, and I’m not sure that I will. As is he too is OK, and messing up the eyes might blow it. So, for now, I’ll pull back from that.
Colours used
Purple robes – Use of Naggaroth Night, wash of Nuln Oil & dry brush with Xereus Purple
Green Nurgings – Two washes of Athonian Camoshade over the white undercoat and then drybrush with Nurgling Green. The “veins” on the wings then had light wash of Carroburg Crimson to try and make them stand out a bit.
Rusty metal – Base of Leadbelcher, wash of Agrax Earthshade, dry brush with Necron Compound, apply Typhus Corrosion and then dry brush with Ryza Rust.
Brass – Base of Balthazar Gold, wash of Agrax Earthshade, dry brush with Necron Compound and then application of Nihilakh Oxide for verdigris.
Smoke – Nighthaunt Gloom straight over the white undercoat and then a light dry brush of Longbeard Grey.
Morartion’s Flesh – Wash of Reikland Fleshshade straight over the white undercoat, wash of Carroburg Crimson and then dry brushed with Pallid Wych Flesh.
After completing the body and the fixing in place of the cloak I decided that my next stop would be to work on the base. As he was Mortarion was looking a little bit wobbly and there is a trailing piece of chain that connects the ground and the cloak that would be very hard to place correctly if he wasn’t attached to the base.
I had Mortarion sitting on my shelf for a while, it was a thing that I picked up earlier in the first lockdown so as to give some business to my local game store. I’m not convinced that he’ll be great on the table or that I’m good enough to paint him, he’s a beast of a model. But after finishing off my last unit of Nurglings I’ve nothing else Nurgle or Death Guard to build, so here we go.
As we hurtle into another lockdown I managed to get one last game of 40k in against an opponent I’d never tackled before, Necrons. There was also another “first” in this game which is hinted at by this post’s title, this was primarily a Nurgle Daemon army with some Death Guard support, the opposite of how I usually play.
My fifth squad of Nurglings is now complete. I was a bit stuck about which colour to go for this time around until a gaming friend suggested the brown that I used for Mulch’s shell when I painted Horticulous Slimux.
I think that the result looks, well, OK. But it’s not great, and it’s my least favourite colour. But they do seem to look pretty nice alongside the other Nurglings, so it’s not too bad.
Colours used
Flesh – Undercoated with Dryad Bark, washed with Druchii Violet and highlighted with Sylvaneth Bark.
Horns – Rakarth Flesh, washed with Agrax Earthshade.
Tongue, Intestines and Wounds – Bugman’s Glow, washed with Reikland Fleshshade and highlighted with Cadian Fleshtone.
Eyes – Flash Gitz Yellow
Base – Doombull Brown, wash of Agrax Earthshade and a highlight of Kislev Flesh.
I now have four squads of Nurglings, and there is a fifth under way. I’m really enjoying Nurglings, they’re a lot of fun to paint and to play on the table. 9th Edition seems to have been reasonably kind to them and they’ve realised that they can climb through the walls of ruins. The alternating deployment is also kind to them given that they can deploy out of your deployment zone. I can see where the enemy is going and react with them or drop them off to deny any enemy units with similar abilities.
