Chaos Space Marines: Deathguard Plague Marine Painting Tutorial

After some searching for a colour scheme and not being too happy with what I’ve found on the net, I’ve decided to create a tutorial on how to paint death guard my way.  It isn’t the only way to paint these models of coarse, the myriad of detail on these models allow for endless possibility when choosing a sickly pallet suitable for these abominations.  As always, all mixes are approximate in this tutorial, and you should feel free to adjust amounts and substitute colours where you wish.

As usual, any picture within the tutorial can be clicked on to bring up a larger version of the same picture.  Questions and Comments are more than welcome as are suggestions on how to make these tutorials better in any way.  For the most part I’m going to cover not just the painting of the model but also some tips that I find useful when painting these models and a few things that ran through my mind during the process.  Enjoy!

Paints You Will Need

Chardonite Granite

Knarloc Green

Rotting Flesh

Skull white

Bleached Bone

Scorched Brown

Mythril Silver or Chainmail

Laviathan Purple Wash

Baal Red Wash

Devlan Mud Wash

Bedab Black Wash

Warlock purple

 Step One: After cleaning and assembling the model prime the model black with short controlled bursts to the front, back, sides and top of the model, allowing each coat to dry before applying another.  This allows for better coverage of the model opposed to trying to prime the model in a single attempt.  After the model has completely dried, I’ve gone over its entirety in Chardonite Granite with a large brush.  I’ve found that if you slightly water down the paint at this stage it allows for greater flow into all the crevices that you might miss otherwise.  One part water to every four parts paint should be enough to achieve this.

 Step Two: After the Chardonite Granite Basecoat has completely dried, apply knarloc Green to the entire model leaving the Chardonite Granite visible in only the deepest recesses.  At this stage your model will look as if it were a sculpted green with shadows in deeper areas such as the folds in the flesh, bullet holes, eye sockets, etc.

 Step Three: Over the following steps we’re going to apply highlights to the general surface area of the model, this applies to anywhere you would like to appear green on the finished models.  To get the best results, use the flat side of your brush and stroke perpendicular to the bristles along the detail of the model.  The first highlight consists of three parts Knarloc Green, to one part Rotting Flesh.  This first highlight will cover the majority of the surface area on the model, paying particular attention to any areas of exposed flesh, which will be highlighted to a near white over this process.

Step Four: Now with a mix of two parts Gnarloc Green to one part Rotting Flesh, pick out the surface areas that are most likely to receive light on the model. Once again use the same brushing technique as described in step three to ensure smooth coverage.  Continue  to over highlight the fleshy areas and skin on the head as these areas will receive one further highlight from the rest of the armour.

 Step Five: With a more selective highlight paint the raised areas and edges from Step four with a mix of one part Gnarloc Green to One part Rotting Flesh.

Step Six: Pick out hard detail and raised edges with a mix of on part Gnarloc Green to Two parts Rotting flesh.  At this point the majority of the highlights have been completed

 Step Seven: With a mix of one part rotting flesh and one part skull white pick out the final detail of the fleshy areas and  head, giving them an almost white hue.

 Step Eight: Using Laviathan Purple trace the recesses in the armour making sure to have a controlled flow from your brush preventing accidental coverage or pooling.  This is one of the steps that allows for more artistic freedom in the painting of the model so experiment with various amounts of wash in different areas, you can even try using weathering techniques to “bruise” the armour a bit.  The purple will really contrast with the green so use this to give a visual break between the various plates of armour.

Step Nine: After the purple wash has been allowed to completely dry, paint all the trim on the armour, any metallic parts and any wooden parts with Scorched Brown.  This will further add contrast to the model “framing” the light green that makes up the majority of the model’s colour.

 Step Ten: Paint any Tubing or hosing in Fenris Grey.  This may look at little out of place at the moment, it will receive a coat of Bedab Black wash later in the tutorial shading it amply.

Step Eleven: Lightly drybrush all metallic parts of the model with Chainmail or Mythril Silver.  Focus on areas of the model that would see a lot of wear such as the edges of the knees and hard edges of the shoulder pads.

 Step Twelve: Paint all areas of bone Bleached Bone,  in this case I’ve also painted the raisted edges of the gunstock with bleached bone as well to accentuate the wood grain.

 Step Thirteen: Give an liberal wash of Devlin Mud to all areas of bone, wood and metal.  This will take the bright edge off the metal and deepen the shadows in the bone and wood.

Step Fourteen: Sparingly apply Baal Red Wash to the model in the recesses of fleshy areas on the model. Use this wash to make areas look swollen and blistered, over use of this wash will detract from the overall scheme.

Step Fifteen: After allowing the Devlin Mud Wash to dry completely Go over all areas of Metal and Tubing with Bedab Black Wash.  This will further shade and reduce the lustre of the metalilic paint.

 Step Sixteen: Details! Brighten up the metal a bit by applying Mythril Silver to studs and sharp edges on the model.  The eye was then painted by applying a dot of warlock purple then highlighted up towards the center to a near white.

And there you have it another Plague Marine ready for the Tabletop!