Nurgle Chaos Chosen [WIP - Armour]

In a nod to the four gods of Chaos, I will be undertaking a project - amid many others - to paint four (one for each god) Chaos Space Marines with above average details. These I found in the form of Chaos Chosen Space Marines from the Dark Vengeance starter set. And of all six miniatures found in the set, the one below seems most suited as a visual tribute to the Chaos God of Disease, Decay and Destruction; the Lord of Pestilence; or otherwise affectionately known as Papa Nurgle. 

Nurgle Chaos Chosen, work-in-progress (WIP) on the armour

Olive green and yellowish ochre colours dominate ...

... complemented by a complex wash comprising six different hues

For my Nurgle Chosen, I went with the long established yellowish green hues that have always been associated with the warriors of the Plague Lord. As for the washes, I referenced a paint recipe used by the Games Workshop's dedicated painting studio ('Eavy Metal). It called for various combinations of old Citadel Leviathan Purple, Devlan Mud, Ogryn Flesh, Baal Red, Gryphonne Sepia washes as well as Golden Yellow and Scab Red acrylic paints. But because I wasn't too sure as to the way these washes/paints were applied to the model, I instead used my gut feeling in many instances.

Right pauldron awaits a suitable freehand painting to signify the Chosen's dedication to Nurgle  

Metal bits were painted to block off the underlying areas and in the early stages i.e. before weathering

Back view of the Nurgle Chaos Chosen, WIP

You'll have to trust me on this but I expect the colours of the Chosen's armour to get better (or the technical term 'pop') as the other hues are layered onto the model, for example the bones and horns. This is a lesson I've had to learn the hard way. When I first started painting I tended to make frequent colour modifications to a particular part of a miniature without realising that its look will eventually change as other hues are layered on. Nowadays I trust my instincts more and even if the colours turn out wrong it's always, always better to make changes to the colours then and not before.

Still deciding between a fully metallic bolter with rust vs worn down one with orange panels

Washes applied around bony protrusions on the left pauldron will become clearer when hues come into play

Next up for Nurgle's Chosen are the bones, horns and other calcified protrusions

Painting miniatures in between sating my new found addiction for Bandai's Star Wars model kits is turning out to be a fantastic 2016 so far. It has been months since I've felt this invigorated by the hobby. I'm also learning so much stuff from the vehicle painting side of things. For someone more attuned to painting figures than vehicles, it finally took a modified Corellian YT-1300 light freighter to push me to try my hand at vehicles too. At the very least, it's going to be an interesting year ahead.