From DavidB - A gift for a friend and a gift from Papa Nurgle (130 pts)

Roger and Nova enjoying the snow - Roger believes sub zero is appropriate temperature while Nova thinks snow is delicious.

I've been really busy of late. Buying a home, physical therapy, work, taxi service for kids, and honey-dos. I haven't gotten nearly enough time at my paint desk, but I do like the chaos of a fully packed schedule and all the required time hacks. I definitely enjoy being busy. It is hard to sit still if my hands are not busy.

I still have to finish my son's gift, but at least I have one finished for delivery and our scheduled massacre... well, my massacre.   I have known "Razor" for over a decade (I am Old Man).  We have shared two deployments together one was to Afghanistan where we first met.  Razor would often inject conversations with Thunder hammer, bolters, and other 40k terms always with humor and satire. He has an appreciation of of the fiction, games, and minis among other need franchises. Razor is a veteran of 10th Mountain, served in a RSTA company from the Vermont National Guard, and has been on almost as many deployments as I, but in less time. He often volunteered to extend deployments especially if fellow battle brothers chose to extend time "in the box". If something goes sideways, he wants to be there, shoulder to shoulder with his brothers.

Razor is a lot like me, and I do count him as family. We both put others before ourselves and are restless if given no tasks. Often we talk about 40k, Star Wars, D&D...I've learned about many computer games and Mech Warrior/Battle Tech from him. 

Razor has been collecting a massive Blood Angel Army. His vision is a company of heroes and veterans that Shepard the infamous Death Company of Blood Angels. Death Company are Blood Angels that are consumed by visions of their Primarch Sanguinius being slain by Warmaster Horus. They are filled with rage and fury. They will either die in combat or slowly go mad. 

Fighting Razor is to face cohorts of stompy dreadnoughts (Blood angels have librarian dreadnought which are like merlin encased in an Iowa class battle ship) sanguinary guard, veterans of all types, and chaplains galore. Blood Angels are top tier in assault, but also shoot very well. Razor's Blood Angels are packed with elite combatants that literally shrug off wounds and return fire as they close in to smash with fist and sword.

My armies are slaughtered everytime. My victories are only moments where I destroy all his dreds, have one guardsmen stand firm and evade every cut at him, or just weather every shot his force can unleash in a turn.  It is also great fun to play him and laugh in conversation and at the antics of our troops on the table.

Razor deciding which of my squads die first.

For his gift I assembled a squad of Intersessors with assault boltrifles. I used all the veteran shoulder Pauldrons, I used a lot of Chapter specific bits. I posed them and equipped them for kill team as well.  They were painted first in contrast paints then given thin layers of base colors with highlights. 

Their left knee has the black field with red cross denoting that they are part of Death Company. To fit Razors theme, they are veteran intersessors who advance and give overwatch to the Death Company assassault.

The Sgt has a Thunder hammer and stands next to a trooper which can be a fighter specialist in kill team.  Razor likes all his marines to wear helmets. I like to have certain models stand out. The knife fighter was given a head with scars while the grenade launcher marines have bare heads with targeters. Very easy to find on the table. Another marine was given a Sgt arm with a computer who can either lead a half squad if split into two combat teams or serve as a communication specialist in kill team.

The knife attached to his back pack marks him as a combat leader.

They are festooned with vials of their primarch's Blood and other blood angel relic heraldry and insignias as well as bits to indicate their veteran status. Each marine is his own character with no two alike. I used Blood for the Blood God technical paint to gloss up the blood drops, gems, and insignias on them.

All of Razors models are painted by professional painters around the world. I spent some time making sure these were better than my old Blood Angels that I gave him.

They will soon be blasting my troops! The bases are a desert texture paint given a wash of earth tone and followed by scattered clumps of tufts. The purple-ish clumps were also bought with the marines and Blood Angel bits as I was thinking it would be nice contrast to the basing and models. 

My White Scar marine standing next to Leto. I did get the camera figured out, mostly... I spent too much time highlighting the white after the contrast paints to have a camera flash erase it all...I wonder if the camera flash could erase past bad decisions as well? ;)

And speaking of bad descions....

Papa Nurgle was one of several diversions from finishing my son's and Razor's gifts. These fellows have been in the mountain-of-neglect for some time. Of all the "Horus for Hope" troops- thanks for that term, Greg!- I prefer the Death Guard for lots of reasons. As the power of disease and decay, Nurgle is all about family and sharing. Nurgle is not pointy, sharp, and fast. Nurgle is rounded, plushy...er squishy, and ponderous.

I only had 10 Pox Walkers and they do not need a champion. I still gave them one by way of an errant old cultists. He was painted with blotchy skin as the gas mask seemed to fit in with his goon squad.

I used Blood for the Blood God on his club. I now can only see him as Negan. 

The pox walkers got lots of paint including highlighting every putrid pustile. Once painted to completion they got weathered with types corrosion,  rust, Blood for the Blood God, necron tesseract. And nurgles rot. I spent a lot of time on them, but they are loaded with details....and slime....and that cool Latin word viscera.

I also finished a rescue of old plague marines bought at Adepticon. They needed a scrubbing, but now allow me to field all of my classic Death Guard squads in groups of seven.

The got the exhaust ports painted red like the old army. I also used the verdigris corrosion on them. The trick to painting Death Guard is to keep applying colors till you seem close to getting tetanus. 

These three glorious goons are the reason the death guard we halted as a project. They are glorious and detailed, but dwarf the current chaos terminators. They were fun to paint, but they change so much more that just the anesthetics of the project.

Besides being use chunky boys, Death Guard have other new units and abilities which diverge them from other chaos forces. I haven't fully decided if I want to commit to that. Still three new Death Guard and 7 pox walkers is a great starting force for kill team. 

So 26 models cleared from the desk. 10 a gift to a friend and 16 a gift of Papa Nurgle....just don't touch them and wash your hands before eating!

I also will take another pip in the skull duel..so many skulls here and at least 10 on the chunky death guard champion alone! 

 

Very nice work and I'm sure Razor will enjoy stomping on you with his gifts! 

Tamsin