Miniature token to mark use of the Death Guard “Blight Bombardment” stratagem for Warhammer 40k games. It is made to resemble a Bob-omb from the Super Mario video games.
A Bob-omb as it appears in the Super Mario Brothers video games
This model is made from a ball of milliput, a few strategically cut pieces of plasticard, and a square base to contrast with the standard round Warhammer bases. As with many of my models, it has LED’s. The flickering yellow LED on its “wick” should indicate that its fuse has been lit. And, in true Nurgle fashion, there’s a Nurgling on top mischievously lighting the fuse.
Circuit for the flickering LED light
As a stratagem, Blight Bombardment isn’t great: In-game it costs 3 command points (CP) and a whole turn later may do D3 mortal wounds to units within 6″. It’s very similar but slightly inferior to the Orbital Bombardment stratagem that Loyalist Marines can use. And definitely inferior to the Orbital Ion Beam stratagem that Tau has access to.
Strictly speaking, a Blight Bombardment is supposed to be some sort of plague ordnance fired from orbit. My interpretation is that through some sort of mystical or tech-magik, this sphere teleports into the midst of an opponent’s back line or castle. I imagine it blinking confusedly, while the Nurgling that accompanies it gleefully lights the fuse. Then starts the countdown to the inevitable explosion.
Three more Death Guard Deathshroud Terminators bodyguards. Minor conversion is that I replaced the “stock” heads with Necromunda Corpse Grinder Cult heads. Features Dark Age Groundwerks “Infestation” Base Inserts.
Early work-in-progress image of the Deathshroud Terminators
I wanted to paint them using the “Palid Hand” colour scheme. It looked like a clean bone originally, but I added so many grungy layers that it actually almost looks like Death Guard green.
I’m pleased with how well they have turned out. Using lots of tricks with contrast paints and washes helps make it fast and pretty good.
I got a lot of great comments about the background too. The Cherry Blossom trees are something I made for my 2020 display board.
One of the favourite elements of my new display board is a big unit of Chaos Bikes. They are in a variety of trick poses. But, even more interesting is that they MOVE!
I literally built the new display board to feature these bikes. The turntable is made up from a lazy Susan, steel pie pan, and a little motor.
The bikes themselves are heavily converted and customized. There are two bikes doing wheelies. One is doing a stoppie. Another is a Greater Possessed on a bike. Another is sitting on the handlebars facing forward. One biker is sitting side-saddle. The unit champion is another Greater Possessed on bike and his head has LED lights and he is holding balloons.
Greater Possessed on a bike with combi-melta as the unit champion
Biker doing a “stoppie” in the middle Bikers on either side of him are doing wheelies
My two favourites are the biker doing a handstand, and the biker riding backwards. The backwards rider was particularly interesting because he would have blocked the bike combi-bolter, so he’s holding a storm bolter in his hand instead.
Chaos Space Marine biker riding BACKWARDS
Chaos Space Marine biker doing a handstand
When I field the unit, I also include the heavily-converted Motor tricycle. That one has the rock band and in-game acts as a bike with an Icon of Excess.
As deployed in a recent game. I often use Warp Time to rocket them across the board and catch my opponents off-guard. I have learned NOT to charge because they don’t last too long in melee
I equipped them all with astartes chainswords to maximize their volume of attacks. But, that occupies all their free hands. I was advised to equip the unit with 3 meltaguns (2 meltaguns and a Combi-melta). To model the meltaguns, I installed them on the front of the bikes between the combi-bolter and I think it looks pretty sharp!
Presenting a unit I call “The Murder Clowns.” Heavily converted from Corpse Grinder Cult models from the Necromunda Dark Uprising box. I plan to run them as melee-oriented Noise Marines. I also replaced some of their heads with daemonette heads for a more Slaanesh-like vibe.
Early work-in-progress pictures building the “Murder Clowns”
I started building these models to be cultists for my circus/clown-themed Emperor’s Children army. They look intimidating and dangerous. I noticed that the bigger guys are much bigger than cultists; they are almost Astartes-sized! In fact, they looked a little silly on 25mm bases. So, I decided to really make them into Astartes: I added Chaos Space Marine backpacks, shoulder pads and pistols to make them more Space Marine-like, and placed them on 32mm Necromunda bases.
Champion of the “Murder Clowns” Noise Marines Squad. His red hood with white stripe is a reference to Space Marine Sergeant Helmets. The base model is a Chaos Sorcerer from an AoS Warshrine Kit.
The unit Champion is quite different. I started with the Chaos Sorcerer from the AoS Chaos Warshrine kit. I gave him a chainsword, Corpse Grinder cult head, Chaos Space Marine backpack and shoulder pads, and a balloon. I’m calling the ring around his head an Icon of Excess. His hood is red with a white stripe; it’s a kind of tongue-in-cheek reference to the veteran sergeant helmets of Codex Astartes compliant loyalist Space Marine Chapters. I gave him a plasma pistol to take advantage of the “Music of the Apocalypse” rule.
I like the vivid colour scheme that I gave them. The pink is consistent with the rest of my Emperor’s Children army. I really like that the green/yellow around their “hair” really pops. The green is layered from several colours: Ushabti Bone, then Dorn Yellow, then Tessaract Glow, and finished with a wash of Biel-Tan Green.
Their faces have glowing green eyes and bloody smiles. These models would make great Khorne Bezerkers, but unfortunately, all units in an Emperor’s Children army must have mark of Slaanesh. So, I’m saying they are Noise Marines with Chainswords. In an Emperor’s Children army, Noise Marines are troops. And for only 2 points per model more than basic Chaos Space Marines, they gain 1 Attack each, and the Music of the Apocalypse ability.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mortals and Immortals, Daemons or All Ages! May I have your UNDIVIDED attention!?| We proudly bring to you the greatest show, this side of the Great Rift! Be amazed by feats of strength and speed! This much CHAOS could drive you mad! This show will CHANGE you, just as planned! We will overwhelm your senses to give you excessive PLEASURE! You’ll be so ANGRY that it has to end! You’ll laugh until you’re SICK! After all, laughter is the best medicine. Or was it slaughter? Well, you can’t spell slaughter without laughter!
Presenting a new Chaos Space Marine Daemon Prince with Wings. I’m thinking of calling it “The Ringleader”. It will be a central part of my new circus-themed army and display board. It is a continuation of the ideas started with the Ice Cream Truck and Undead Zombie Daemon Clown Poxwalkers.
Progress pictures of Daemon Prince model
An obviously distinctive feature is its top hat. I made it using some plasticard, a piece of heat shrink, and a bit of green stuff. Its bow tie is also made of plasticard.
Image of Daemon Prince focusing on Top Hat and Bow Tie
As with many of my models, I incorporated electronics. This Daemon Prince’s eyes light up from a flickering green LED installed in its head. I used clear silicon kitchen caulking as a diffusing medium for the light. There is a switch on the back of the base, and a battery in the base.
Daemon Prince’s Warp Bolter with a “bang” gun flag.
I’m particularly proud of the “bang” gun in its left hand. The gun is an Ogryn ripper gun that represents its Warp Bolter. The bang gun with a flag is a classic prank, so I thought it was a nice way to add some levity to the model.
I’m also particularly proud of its wings. I tried doing a wet-blend gradient between Fulgrim Pink and Genestealer Purple. It has a wash of Magos Purple contrast, and then it’s topped off with Green Stuff World’s Red Goblin Colour Shift Paint.
Image showing my attempt at gradient in the Daemon Prince’s wings.
And the balloons… I love the balloons. I think most of the characters in this army will have balloons. I found these on Amazon. They are described as “Dollhouse Balloons.”
Daemon Prince with Wings: “The Ringleader”
I’m planning on running “The Ringleader” as an HQ in a Creations of Bile Chaos Space Marine Army, so it will have +1 strength and +1” movement. I will probably use the Supreme Creation: Prime Test Subject stratagem to give it +1 toughness and an additional +1 strength. It has a Hellforged Sword sheathed on his side, which will be hitting at strength 9. I’m also planning to give it the Living Carapace relic which improves his armour save to 2+ and allows it to regain 1 lost wound per turn.
Side views of Daemon Prince
I posted a work-in-progress picture and someone mentioned that it reminded him of Rakdos. In the Magic the Gathering (MTG) and Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) lore, he is worshiped by chaotic cultists who emulate gruesome performance art. A chaotic circus? Sounds about right!
I’m proud to share this model, it’s surprisingly clean and subtle. I feel like this might be one of my cleanest painted models, which is particularly ironic because he is Nurgle and Death Guard.
This model is a conversion. I started with the model for Obsidius Mallex, the Chaos Lord from the Blackstone Fortress boxed game. The model was equipped with a Thunder Hammer and Plasma Pistol.
I started with a model of Obsidius Mallex, the Chaos Lord from the Blackstone Fortress boxed game. This is what he would have looked like if painted to look like Black Legion.
I replaced his head with a Mk.3-looking helmet, and remodeled his arms so he was holding a pole with a two-handed grip. On the end of the pole I hung some chain bits from the Chaos Rhino box to resemble the flail bits.
Side-by-side of original model and my conversion
I used mostly contrast paints: Plaguebearer flesh for the armour, and Magos purple over screamer pink for the fabric. I’m particularly proud of the tentacle-tube-things all around the model. They would be very subdued in Obsidius Mallex’s Black Legion colours, but I made them pop for Death Guard. I used Green Stuff World’s Colour Shift paints to finish them off, and the colour shift actually works well this time! It gives the tentacle-tube-things a living, almost slimy quality.
Completed model: Death Guard Plague Marine with Flail of Corruption
When Warhammer events finally return to the Greater Toronto Area, I’m planning on bringing a Death Guard army. Plague Marines are pretty good troops to bring, so I have a growing collection. I wanted another Plague Marine with Plague of Corruption. This one model makes six attacks in melee, without penalty to hit, at strength 5, AP-2, and 2 damage. Plague Marine tricks include reducing the enemy toughness by 1, and re-roll 1’s to wound. It’s essentially a loyalist Primaris Marine smasher. Pity you are limited on how many you can take. I will probably sacrifice all other models in a squad to protect the model with a Flail of Corruption.
This idea for this unit was inspired by my recently completed “I Scream” truck conversion of a Chaos Rhino. That vehicle resembled “Sweet Tooth” from the Twisted Metal Video Games, and that vehicle represents a kind of corrupted clown. It got a lot of great feedback so I decided to use it as a thematic centrepiece of my new display board.
In the “I Scream” truck, there is a converted Poxwalker serving Ice Cream out of the side window. I went with bright, garish colours to make it appear “clown-like.” So, I extended that idea to an entire unit of 10 models.
I decided all of these undead zombie Daemon clowns would have white/grey skin, red lips, neon green “hair” and pink outfits. For those that had shoes, I decided to go with a clown-shoe-like red.
Progress photos of models
One of them is converted to hold a banner. I found the flag bit in a bag of Dark Eldar bits. It’s painted in red and white stripes like a circus tent.
Another is converted to resemble a sort of circus ringleader. It already had a long coat, and I added a top hat made of plasticard and a piece of heat shrink.
Detail of my non-metallic metal work and edge highlighting on the poxwalker’s weapon
I took this opportunity to continue practicing non-metallic metal (NMM). Like my recent Vorx model, I went for a “Power Rust” look, wet-blending a gradient from Typhus Corrosion, Mornfang Brown, Cadian Fleshtone, and Ryza Rust. Practice makes perfect, and I think I’m slowly getting better.
Squad of 10 “undead zombie daemon clown” poxwalkers
Here’s an over the top project of which I’m pretty proud: A conversion of a Chaos Rhino to resemble an Ice Cream truck. More specifically, it is meant to emulate “Sweet Tooth”, the iconic vehicle driven by Needles Kane in the Twisted Metal franchise of video games.
Reference photos of “Sweet Tooth”
I had purchased a Chaos Rhino kit a few months ago with the intention of adding a 3rd to my Death Guard force. It sat in my to-do pile for a while. When I finished my Foetid Bloat Drone with MOTORIZED fleshmower, my wife remarked that it seemed like it needed music or sound. I’ve done sound in my models before, like my Red Gobbo conversion that sang “Jingle Bells”, and a Land Raider that sings “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer. Thinking of the motorized fleshmower, I somehow got to thinking about the spinning pole of a barber shop.
Barber’s pole kind of inspired me
From the barber’s pole, I somehow started thinking about ice cream trucks. Then I made the connection to Sweet Tooth. For those that don’t know, Sweet Tooth is a vehicle in the “Twisted Metal” video games driven by a clown-themed serial killer named Needles Kane. It is a weaponized, beat up ice cream truck. And, in the games, it plays an ice cream truck melody that seems creepily out of place.
Needles Kane is the flagship character of the Twisted Metal games. He is depicted as an insane, violent, crazed killer full of rage. He seems to be more of the Khorne type of Chaos. But, I am instead playing on the clown/circus element of his persona. From there, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine undead crazed zombie daemon clowns. And, in a truly Nurgle fashion, how better to spread Grandpa Nurgle’s gifts, than Ice Cream.
Rhino I had previously painted, and the paper Ice Cream Truck centrepiece I used as a reference
I started the project by getting a reference: I bought a paper Ice Cream Truck centrepiece that was roughly twice the size of a Rhino. This gave me a reference for scale and shape.
The next thing I built was the iconic macabre clown head that would go atop the vehicle. Ice cream trucks can have giant ice cream cones or clown heads on top, but I decided to go with the clown head. I started with a leftover head from the Great Unclean One kit. I installed a big red LED on its nose to look like a clown nose. I replaced its eyes with flickering purple LED’s to look like bulging eyes. And I wired five flickering LED’s around the head to be the flames later. The circuitry also involved two batteries, a switch, and a resistor. I balled the whole thing together with a large wad of Miliput. After priming and painting it, I strategically used clear kitchen caulking as a medium to represent the shapes of the flames. I’d like to think that it diffuses well is a fine Warhammer interpretation of Sweet Tooth’s clown head.
Starting on the head, first the red nose
Lots of wiring
Red nose and purple eyes
That’s A LOT of wires
Lots of wires
All the LED’s
Painted and caulking added
Gallery of progress photos on the head above the Ice Cream Truck
After the clown head, I made the two characters to put in the vehicle. I converted a Chaos Cultist to be the driver. I replaced the head with a clear resin head and installed an LED in it. I am trying to emulate the techniques of one of the best LED modelers, Chris Buxey. Now the driver looks sort of demonically empowered.
Unpainted, converted Chaos Cultist that will be the driver. Testing the lighting
Painted driver
Driver in position
Progress pictures on the driver of the truck
And I converted a Poxwalker to be the ice cream server. I replaced his weapon with an ice cream scoop, and made an ice cream cone for his other hand.
Poxwalker converted to zombie daemon clown that will be service ice cream
Painted
Installed and serving Ice Cream
Progress pictures of server
The body of the vehicle took a lot of work. This is my first time ever working with plasticard. It is rather hard to cut, but I’m glad I had a self-healing mat to absorb errant knife stabs. The sheets are a bit imprecise, and I used a lot of Green Stuff to fill in gaps. But it seems acceptable considering how run-down the truck is supposed to be.
Cutting plasticardStarting to take shape
I start by making a scale template of the side of the ice cream truck reference. It’s exactly half the size (1:2). I used that to trace the side walls of the truck out plasticard. Then I cut the side sections of the Rhino to fit the plasticard walls. I use the original Rhino roof and back door. The rest is even more plasticard.
The whole thing is coming togetherBack view of partially built truckAssembled and primed. Head is attached to the top with a magnet.
The interior has two barrels with some glowing, noxious substance inside. I suspect this what they are serving as ice cream. I used a couple of LED’s to really make them glow. The headlights also light up, as does the drivers’ eyes, and there is one internal light.
There’s a lot of wiresInterior view before sealing it. I weathered it a lot. And you can see some of the wiring.
There are few interesting attachments to the truck. I used wooden letters I got at Micheal’s for the large side. It spells “Ice Cream”, but I’ve had the “CE” fall off and an “S” is scrawled in blood so it now reads “I SCREAM”. There are boltguns on each side of the truck matching their positions on Sweet Tooth. And there is an awning over the serving window, supported by two missiles. The front grill is from a Taurox Prime kit, modified slightly with some sprue bits. The license plate simply reads “VII”.
Nurgling in the back window. The button labelled with the “music note” triggers the music.
I used plastic for all the windows. There is a Nurgling hiding in the back window. The technique for the cracked window in the front is from this youtube video. Actually, I learned a lot from that video about weathering too.
I had fun decorating the truck too. It is supposed to be a white truck with pink polka-dots. Then I covered it in ice cream stickers. That’s how it started, then I weathered it like crazy. Many layers of Apothecary White Contrast, Plaguebearer Flesh Contrast, Typhus Corrosion, Ryza Rust, Nuln Oil, and Agrax Earthshade. I even did some highlighting in Corax White to try to get the edges to pop.
Side view: “ICE CREAM” or “I SCREAM”?Front view: I broke out my “Sophie’s Garage” display board for a backgroundPassenger / serving sideServing ice cream sideBack viewFront / driver-side view
I have been teaching myself how to use VSDC Video editing software. I had some fun splicing together photos of the finished model, the music, and some video effects.
Video featuring the “I Scream” truck and accompanying music
Now I’m considering making a full 20-model squad of Poxwalkers as undead zombie daemon clowns.
I already have a Malignant Plaguecaster model for my Death Guard army. But, like many others, I think the model doesn’t match the awesomeness of its rules.
My first Death Guard Malignant Plaguecaster. I think I did a pretty good job, but I think the model itself could be more exciting.
I’m working on a Death Guard list that uses the Poxmongers Plague Company. I’d like to have a model carrying the Poxmongers exclusive relic, the Ironclot Furnace. This relic is supposed to spout some sort of smoke that helps protect one unit of Daemon Engines. So, I felt the model carrying this relic should look like it’s producing smoke.
The Master of Possession model as done by GW as a Black Legion.
I saw the Master of Possession model and the flaming skulls on its back made me think it was a great model to be converted to a Malignant Plaguecaster with Ironclot Furnace. But, I would add some personal pizazz with flickering LED’s and creative use of clear resin and diffusers.
Starting point for this model
I started by drilling out 3 clear resin skulls and one clear resin flame from Zinge. I drilled them so I could put an LED inside each of them.
Drilling to hollow out the skull
Then, a lot of soldering later, all 4 were wired up for lighting.
Wired and ready to go
I also replaced the model’s head with a Plague Marine head, so it has the same Mk.3 feel as the rest of the Legion. I drilled out its eyepiece and hollowed it out to put an LED in too. Now its eyes light up!
Getting “a head” on this project :p
Instead of my usual, bulky 24AWG wires, I used much smaller 28AWG wires. They were much more fragile and difficult to work with. But, with an infantry model rather than a vehicle, I needed to use these smaller wires.
Progress Pics
I’m particularly proud of the base. I wanted it to represent undead plague zombies and suggest the Plaguecaster was a sort of necromancer. This base has the torsos of a new Plaguebearer, old metal Plaguebearer, and a Poxwalker. I wanted them to look like they were bursting out of the ground.
A diseased undeed daemon base
I also replaced the tip of the Master of Possession’s staff. The symbol is from an old metal Plaguebearer banner.
Finished model with the LED’s off
I spent a lot more time than usual shading and edging this model. I think the quality is pretty good. The skulls even look good with the LED’s off.
Comparing the Master of Possession to my converted Malignant Plaguecaster
I think it will pop nicely on the tabletop.
Finished model with the lights onFinished model with lights on with a white background
My Warhammer 40,000 Blog featuring Imperial Guard, Space Marine and Inquisitor Models
