How to: Paint Death Guard Lord of Contagion
With the Dark Imperium Warhammer 40k starter box, you were introduced to some awesome new chaps, one of which was the one in the middle below, the Lord of Contagion. Now as the new 40k miniatures stand a little taller than the old, he’s a pretty daunting miniature when you stand him next to Chaos terminators and the like, as he is taller and more bulky, and looks nails.
Painting the LoC was much like the rest of the Death Guard, here he and his rotting chums have both been Undercoated Corax White and then had the armour washed with Citadel Seraphim Sepia.
Next was painting up all the green areas with Vallejo Russian Uniform WWII.
Next was washing all the green areas with Citadel Seraphim Sepia shade.
Now this next step depends entirely on what paints you are going to use. Vallejo Model Air Rust doesn’t quite give the same ‘all-smothering’ coating as Vallejo Model Air Chrome, so I opted to paint all the metallic areas using Abaddon Black first. In hindsight, I could have just done two coats of Rust, as it’s far thinner and easier to apply smoothly.
Next came the Chrome, which coats everything splendidly.
And then the Rust. I think the pictures below really show how much a miniature can be set off by adding a few colours. Four colours including the undercoat, and a wash gets the results below.
Next I painted up the innards using a mix of Citadel Mephiston Red and Vallejo White. The section of open flesh was painted with just Mephiston Red, while the bloated and swollen skin, and the fleshy tubes were painted with Citadel Nurgling Green.
Now there’s quite a big jump on the next step, as I did a large part of the standard corrosion that has been covered in the video here and the post here. In summary:
Armour plates –
- Streaks of Vallejo Black Shade, and Seraphim Sepia or Agrax Earthshade running from edges, damage, etc.
- Chrome is washed with Citadel Nuln Oil, and patches of it washed again with Seraphim Sepia.
- Areas of Sepia on Chrome have Citadel Ryza Rust stippled on.
A number of washes have also been applied.
- Smoke – Citadel Biel Tan Green
- Nurglings – Citadel Druchi Violet
- Rust/Bronze – Agrax Earthshade
- Bone – Painted Citadel Rakarth Flesh, then Washed with Seraphim Sepia.
With the shades all dry, I re-shaded the nurglings under his feet using the Citadel Shades Fuegan Orange, Drakenhof Nightshade, Seraphim Sepia and Biel Tan Green, just to give them some variety in their colours. Once dry I mixed a little of their shades with some watered down White and built up a couple of layers of highlights.
I painted the boils with some leftover White/Citadel Yriel Yellow/Citadel Averland Sunset mix, then went around them with some Citadel Carroburg Crimson shade. The drip from the hanging tubes was painted Using a mix of Vallejo Flat Brown and Mephiston Red. I also painted the nurgling and plague bearer tongues and eyes using Mephiston red.
I gave the bone shoulder spike another going over with Rakarth Flesh, before using Citadel Ushabti Bone, then a final highlight using a White/Ushabti Bone mix. I used the side of the brush to apply this to the ridges that run the length of the spike. The same paints were used to paint the two skulls.
A wash of Druchii Violet was applied to the gaping stomach wound, and Carroburg Crimson was spread around the edges of the wound, boils and the tears in the fleshy tubes.
I spent a while using watered down White on the smoke, and I’m relatively happy with the result. I need to practice this more, but I’m certain with future Death Guard releases I’ll have plenty of opportunity!
Being careful not to slice through my finger again – there’s a reason they say cut away from your fingers, I removed the LoC from his base with a sharp craft knife.
I painted up a slab of masonry from the Games Workshop Sector Imperialis Large Base Detail Kit, and glued that down. It was a simple paint job, undercoar black, basecoat Vallejo Deep Sea Green, Wash with Agrax Earthshade, then go over with Deep Sea Green, and highlight with a Deep Sea Green/Vallejo London Grey mix. To tie in the Astra Militarum pieces, I painted them with Russian Uniform and washed with Seraphim Sepia.
I applied Citadel Blood for the Blood God in splatters beneath the stomach wound, around the rotating blades of the axe, and around the Astra Militarum kit, and filled in the space around them all with Citadel Texture paint Stirland Battlemire.
Finally, I after seeking advice from some pals – the shoulders and cloak blended in too much – darkened the shades on the Cloak using Agrax Earthshade and gave it some light highlights using a little White mixed in with Russian Uniform WWII. I then gave the shoulder pads some edge highlights using a slightly darker mix of White and Russian Uniform WWII, and this has broken up the two sections.
I also added some Carroburg Crimson shade to the base, as well as some more Agrax Earthshade to dirty it up in patches, and some Biel Tan Green to give the masonry an old and slightly damp look. With that, I left it there. I may add Carroburg Crimson to his legs where the gore may have dripped, but it’s a particularly busy model, and I didn’t want to overdo it… immediately…
Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the post.
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