The Diva

Some say the wyrd creature simply known as Diva is the last surviving member of a heinous Chaos-tainted xenos race. 

Others that she once was a commorite tormentrix who have fallen even further into depravity. Or perhaps she is the result of an unholy union of human wytch and daemonette. No one knows for sure.. 

What can be said with absolute certainty is that she's given herself body and soul to She Who Thirsts and the path of pain and excess. 

Movie Mini Month

More communal stuff!

There's a splendid "Make A Mini From A Movie Month" going on over at the Ammobunker. 

I've decided to join in with a mini based on the Diva Plavalaguna from Besson's The Fifth Element:

The main reason behind this was partly that I wanted to do a female character and partly that, as blue has become sort of a signature spot colour for me, it was about damn time to paint a blue skinned mini.

It seems I've turned her into a slaaneshii psykerre. 

The 1st Iron Sleet Invitational

Today I've got a special announcement! 

My friends over on the newly started überblog Iron Sleet has invited me to partake in their first communal effort. Here's their pitch:

Iron Sleet Invitational 1 – All your Bases Are Belong To Us

• pick a strong theme that studies the Warhammer 40000 universe, or it’s history!
• build and convert 3 models that are
• each based on a differently sized citadel base that have been creatively enhanced to really tell the narrative and make it a group. (25, 32, 40, 50, 60mm… or biker base, or flyer or…)
• we encourage to make the three individuals as different in physique, stature, movement, category as possible, while maintaining the group identity.
• start and announce of invitational February 1st
• WIP pictures in Black and White from all contestants March 1st. (but many bloggers intend to share their progress as they go, including us!)
• Final results of finished miniatures April 1st

So, thems the rules! 

My plan is to do three different xenos (of various sizes) belonging to races without official models. Some may take inspiration from official concepts, like John´s ferocious predator-like bountyhunter:

Most likely however, they'll be creatures of my own design. The main point is doing something completely new while still making the xenos fit into the 40k universe

I´ll also design them to make it look like they´re part of the same gang or retinue. These are to be guns for hire - rather unsavoury characters one would encounter in, say, scruffy fringe world cantinas and other such hives of scum and villany... 

They could do work for the Ordos but just as well sell their services to a criminal enterprise.

In other words, one small-ish xenos, one medium sized xenos and one big xenos.

This going to be a lot of fun and I'm really happy to be invited to take part in this. Praise to Mikko,Kari and Migsula for  initiating this crazy endeavour!

Chaos gobbo

One of the great suggestions I got when asking what to include in my oldschool nurgly warband was chaos goblins. 

Now, my first and only warhammer army was nightgoblins. In 40k I play orks. I've had no less than three greenskin bloodbowl teams - one orc and two goblin teams (although one of those teams are painted blue to look like smurfs). Suffice to say greenskins are close to my heart so I jumped at this oppurtunity to model some different looking gobbos.

Adding to that I had already made the little nurgly bellringer which, like the standard bearer, fitted better in the Old World setting than in 40k and fitted my vison of what a corrupted gobbo would look like. So I promptly rebased him and then got working on a buddy. I decided to make this one less mutated and came up with something that looks a bit like a greenskin version of a skaven plaguemonk. He´s also pretty similar to these rather excellent old minis from the now sadly defunct french company Rackham: Goblin Mutants

The two gobbos side by side. The pair will eventually be joined by a third member. 

I'll leave you with some work progress shots of the hooded little troublemaker. 

Chaos warrior

Finished up the second blightking. Put this one on a 30mm base to set him apart from Gloop as this one's supposed to be his second in command, and not yet a fully fledged champion. 

Close-up of his leg. 

Washing up

Hello again!

Here's a work in progress shot of the aspiring champion:

This is was he looks like after the initial washes. I mainly used sepia for the armour, camoshade for the skin and orange for the bloated right leg. However theres touches of all these different washes here and there to provide variation and texture. 

Let the fly banners fly

Hello boys and girls.

Here's the standardbearer in colores.  

The camera simply doesn't do his bloated, tumour ridden, left arm justice. It's quite gloriously disgusting in real life...

Here's a close up of the banner that I based on one of the nurgle heraldry sketches from a while ago. 

And here's the (still very small) warband lined up:

Shields up!

There was something bugging me about the new plague-warrior, and after some contemplation I realised it was his shield. It just lacked a certain something.

So out with the fine brushes and this:

Turned into this:

This, in my eyes at least, is a huge improvement. It feels more stylized and heraldic and less like a cartoon mosquito. 

Painting of the standardbearer has also begun. He's currently at the stage where I'm layering different washes to get the right disgusting look on his skin in general and tumorous left arm in particular. 

You'd better have that checked...

Covered in pustules and with infected flesh sloughing from him, the first diseased member of Gloops retuine shambels forward.

This was one of those minis that felt like a complete disaster halfway through the painting process, but turned out okay in the end. 

That's what's great about Nurgle - you can just keep adding disgusting shit until it starts to look good...

Fighting fantasy

Mawgut Gloops warband is steadily growing. It's nice change of pace making grimdark warhammer fantasy miniatures instead of grimdark 40k miniatures.

The nurgly standardbearer made last week was the first to be recruited - he felt more like a fantasy mini anyway. 

Here's the other two:

What's next I hear you ask? Well the suggestion box is open. The warband is certainly in need of a wizard so that's more or less a given. Other than that it's an open field. 

Iron Sleet

Fellow hobbyists Kari, Mikko and Migsula are, along with a few others, three of the persons who inspired me to get back to the hobby and start up this very blog. These days I also proudly call them friends.

I 've literally spent hours pouring over their respictive blogs, Spiky Rat Pack and Legion of Plastic, marvelling at their enigmatic visions of the 41st millenium (and, of course, at their skill and creativity).

These three hobby powerhouses are now joining forces and have created the new blog Iron Sleet. Head over there and check it out. It promises to be something quite special:

www.ironsleet.com

The spice must flow

Added some fallen leaves to round off the base. Quite happy with the result. 

They're pieces of oregano btw. 

I must confess I found the extremely nerdy act of buying seasoning at the supermarket specifically for modelling purposes immensely satisfying.

Hail to the Blightking, baby!

Here's the nurgle champion in all his bloated glory. 

I just love the old school "Realm of Chaos" feel of this mini, perfected by the wonders of new plastic technology. Hats of to GW for this splendid kit. 

I think I'll call him "Mawgut Gloop".

The base might need some extra work - it lacks some details like leaves or similar. Otherwise he's more or less done.