How To Paint Everything: Death Guard

In our How to Paint Everything series, we take a look at different armies of the Warhammer universe, examine their history and heraldry, and look at several different methods for painting them. This week, we’re looking at the most wonderfully putrid Space Marines of all, the Death Guard.

The Death Guard

Contents

The Death Guard are a traitor legion who worship and act in service to the Chaos God Nurgle, the god of plagues and pestilence. Originally the XIVth legion of the First Founding, the Death Guard fought in the Great Crusade under their Primarch, Mortarion. They can trace their origins in the game and their rules all the way back to the first edition of Warhammer 40,000. They first received rules, and their primarch was named, in the Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned supplement, which covered armies dedicated to Nurgle and Tzeentch. Since that time, the Death Guard have had faction rules that were broadly defined through the use of Plague Marines, the Mark of Nurgle, and Chaos Daemons, though like the other Chaos Legions they received formal faction rules during 3rd and 4th edition after the release of their Index Astartes article. The faction lost specialized rules in 5th edition but received new ones in the Traitor Legions supplement at the tail end of 7th edition.Reading: how to paint death guardAs an Imperial legion, the Death Guard were known for their tenacity and toughness. They took after their Primarch, Mortarion, who grew up and was discovered on the harsh world of Barbaros, an industrial planet covered in toxic smog and ruled by brutal warlords. Mortarion was raised by one of these warlords, but would eventually betray his adoptive father by becoming a warrior for the planet’s oppressed peoples. When the Emperor arrived on Barbaros, Mortarion was locked in a battle with the planet’s last surviving warlord – the same warlord who had raised him and taught him the arts of war. When Mortarion succumbed to the planet’s toxic atmosphere trying to scale the warlord’s tower, the Emperor stepped in and finished the job, and Mortarion pledged his services to the Great Crusade, though he never forgave the Emperor for denying him the opportunity to slay the Tyrant of Barbaros. Mortarion had always felt more comfortable around Horus than most of his other brothers or the Emperor, and when the Warmaster announced his rebellion, it didn’t take much to convince Mortarion to join his cause. The conversion of the Death Guard was further aided by Calas Typhon (who would later become Typhus), the Captain of the Death Guard’s First Company. He had long been a follower of Chaos and led the Death Guard’s fleet into the warp, where it became stranded and beset by plagues sent by Nurgle. These strange diseases ravaged their numbers until finally Mortarion cried out for aid, and was met by Nurgle. The legion was transformed, becoming bloated and vile. Typhus was transformed, becoming a living host for the Destroyer Plague that had ravaged the Death Guard. And Mortarion emerged as a champion of Nurgle.With the release of 8th edition, Death Guard moved into the spotlight, taking a central role in the return of Roboute Guilliman as Mortarion’s forces attacked the Konor system, destroying valuable worlds and corrupting whole populations and destroying food sources. The Death Guard received their own Codex for the first time, featuring unique units and rules and rules for Mortarion, the second Daemon Primarch to receive a model. In the fiction, Mortarion clashed with the reawakened Roboute Guilliman, fighting him to a standstill on Iax before withdrawing with his fellow Death Guard and virus bombing the planet. When 8th edition released, Death Guard received a feature role as the main villains of the edition, showing up as the enemy force in the Dark Imperium box set, and getting their own standalone codex as the second release of the edition’s Codexes. They also got an entirely new plastic range that saw the release of the third plastic primarch model, Mortarion.

Where to Read More

You should start with the content in Codex: Death Guard, but after that there are a few different places to read about the Death Guard:

Dark Imperium and its follow-up novel, Plague War, both cover Roboute Guilliman’s return to the Imperium in the 41st millennium and the resulting campaign that rages across the Konor system. The second book focuses more heavily on the battle against the Death Guard, but Mortarion and Typhus both figure into Dark Imperium.
Mortarion doesn’t have his own novel yet in the Horus Heresy series, but there are a few books that prominently feature the Death Guard. Lantern’s Light is the closest thing you can get to an origin story, detailing Mortarion’s relationship with the Emperor one year into his joining the Imperium and taking the helm of the Death Guard.
Horus Heresy Book 54: The Buried Dagger details the transformation of the Death Guard from a legion of superhuman warriors into a pox-riddled horde of Nurgle-worshipping monsters.
The Lords of Silence is the first book focusing primarily on Death Guard as protagonists that takes place in the “modern day” Imperium. It follows The Lords of Silence, a Death Guard warband of about 600 traitor legionnaires devoted to Nurgle.
Daemonology covers some of Mortarion’s first steps down the path of Chaos, following his defeat at the hands of Jaghatai Khan in the White Scars novel.

Credit: Games Workshop

Playing Death Guard

Warhammer 40,000

The Death Guard are marked by two major factors in Warhammer 40,000: The first is being incredibly difficult to kill. Many Death Guard units have a higher Toughness characteristic than similar Chaos Space Marine units and most of the units in a Death Guard army have the Disgustingly Resilient special rule, which allows units to ignore damage on a D6 roll of 5+, functionally meaning that they’ll shrug off one third of the wounds that make it through their armor. Their other hallmark is being incredibly slow — most of the army sacrifices Movement for that Toughness, which can make getting around the table and closing distances a real pain. This is further compounded by the fact that most Death Guard units lack strong, long-range firepower to take out heavily armored targets. The upside is that the Death Guard can be brutally adept at taking out targets, particularly hordes, when they start to close those distances, and the Death Guard’s Inexorable Advance trait gives INFANTRY and HELBRUTES the ability to move and fire heavy weapons without suffering a penalty to their To Hit rolls. Death Guard also have the NURGLE keyword, and combo very effectively with Nurgle Daemons where many psychic powers and auras can benefit units from both armies. For a full rundown on playing Death Guard competitively, check out our Start Competing: Death Guard article.

Kill Team

In Kill Team, Death Guard teams can be really tough to take out, using their extra toughness and Disgustingly Resilient ability to stick around longer than most units. Unlike other high-cost, elite teams, Death Guard can bolster their ranks with Poxwalkers, using their shambling cohorts to open doors and control parts of the board while using plague marines as heavy hitters to act as Plasma Gun snipers and Demo/Heavy Blight Launchers take out high-value targets while moving across the table. The Elites expansion made Death Guard even tougher in this regard, bringing Inexorable Advance into Kill Team and allowing your Plague Marines to march or advance across the table and close distances without having to worry as much about the drop in accuracy. For a full rundown on playing Death Guard in Kill Team, check out our guide to Death Guard Kill Teams.

Apocalypse

Read more: how to install hanger bolts in table legsGenerally, you’re probably going to run Death Guard in Apocalypse as Nurgle-heavy Chaos, taking advantage of the ability to seamlessly mix detachments of Daemons and Death Guard into one large, putrescent force. The Death Guard have a few special tricks open to them in the form of 5 bespoke Command Assets. Most of them specialize in putting blast markers on nearby units, ensuring you’ll want to march your Death Guard across the table and get right up in your opponent’s face in order to use them. This fits the Death Guard’s historic style of grinding forward relentlessly.

Painting Death Guard

Death Guard are fun as hell to paint, primarily because they are just an incredibly sloppy, gross army. In many ways, they’re one of the most forgiving armies a newbie can paint, because the models welcome a lot of splatter and messiness. On the other hand, it can be really easy to overdo it with effects and grime and come out with something that looks muddled and overdone. The best Death Guard armies know when and where to apply color and grime, and strike a good balance with other colors. Death Guard also create a lot of opportunities to really use the Games Workshop technical paints, and several of the techniques we’ll dive into below make good use of these.

Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

I loved the new Death Guard minis the moment I first saw them in blurry, leaked preview images six months before 8th edition launched. They’re a wonderful blend of gross, grimy, grim, and goofy that appeals to me. While I like the crisp white look inspired by the Heresy-era Guard, I’ve always been a fan of the 2nd edition color schemes for Chaos armies, and so I knew I wanted to do mine more of the traditional green. I also really liked the studio’s scheme for incorporating purples into the cloth effects, so I went with that too. Finally I use a lot of technical paints on these guys — Nihilakh Oxide, Typhus Corrosion, Blood for the Blood God, and Nurgle’s Rot all see regular use when I’m painting Death Guard.Credit: TheChirurgeonMy basic method is pretty similar to the method showcased in White Dwarf.Prime: BlackArmor

Basecoat with Castellan Green, Wash with Nuln Oil. Then I do a layer of Castellan Green on the raised parts over that, and then I go over that with Death World Forest and hit the topmost areas/edges with Death Guard Green. They’re edge highlighted with Ogryn Camo.
After I do the basecoat, I’ll go back over some of the recesses and lower parts of the model and hit those with Agrax Earthsahde. I’m pretty liberal with this, and trying to paint oil spots/drips/topqa.info I hit patches of it with Typhus Corrosion.
The Gold Trim and Bronze Parts are Balthasar Gold washed heavily with Agrax topqa.info I hit it with Nhilakh Oxide to give it that oxidated look. For the armor trim, I’ll edge highlight or hit parts of it with Retributor Armor.
Chainmail and other Steel parts are done by basecoating with Leadbelcher, then I wash with Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade, then edge highlight with Ironbreaker. If I want them to look real rusted, I hit them with Typhus Corrosion and then drybrush that with Ryza Rust to make it look old and rusted over.
Snot is painted Death Guard green, then covered in Nurgle’s Rot

Bone: Basecoat Rakarth Flesh, then wash with Agrax Earthshade. Re-paint with Rakarth Flesh, then edge highlight with Reaper Polished Bone.Fleshy Bits:

Basecoat with Bugman’s Glow
Wash with Agrax Earthshade
Re-coat with Bugman’s Glow. Edge highlight with a 50/50 mix of Bugman’s Glow and Reaper Polished Bone
Boils are done with Averland Sunset
Coat with Nurgle’s Rot

Read more: Forbidden Stars Game RulesPlague Weapons: Basecoat with Leadbelcher, wash with Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade. Hit with splotches of Typhus Corrosion. Edge with Ironbreaker. Coat in Nurgle’s Rot. Cloth: Basecoat with Naggaroth Nightshade. Wash with Nuln Oil. Re-coat with Naggaroth Nightshade. Shade up with a Mix of Naggaroth Nightshade and white. Edge highlight with Genestealer Purple. Smoke: Basecoat with Reaper Ghost White, then wash with a mix of Coelia Greenshade and Drakenhof Nightshade Viscera: Basecoat with Bugman’s Glow, then coat with Blood for the Blood God. Re-coat with Nurgle’s Rot.Credit: TheChirurgeon

Bonus: Painting Poxwalkers

For Poxwalkers, I tend to start with a flesh tone base (Rakarth Flesh, Bugman’s Glow, Cadian Fleshtone, Kislev Flesh), then I wash them with various colors, based on what I want to do with them color-wise. Washing flesh tones with Carroburg Crimson, Duruchii Violet, Coelia Greenshade, Cassandora Yellow, and Biel-Tan Green all produce interesting results, and I’ll usually combine them on a single model to get interesting effects. I then do the largest boils with Averland Sunset, and I hit most of the green parts of the model (and then some) with Nurgle’s Rot, to give it a shiny, snot-covered look.

Daniel “Zuul the Cat”

I had been reading a bunch on the background of Warhammer 30,000 and came to the realization that Chaos was, in fact, right. I was originally drawn to Death Guard because I felt the models really captured what Chaos Space Marines were supposed to look like – warriors that had existed for 10,000 years in the warp. I never gave them much thought prior to the new models because they just looked like regular Space Marines but with spikes on them.Credit: Zuul the CatThe Armor: You want to start by spraying the entire model Death Guard Green, then picking out any of the pockmarks on the armor or deep gouges with Screamer Pink. Following this, wash the entire model with Agrax Earthshade, taking care to not let it pool too much (although a little bit is fine). Once that dries, a 2-step downward stroke drybrush is done with Elysian Green followed by Ogryn Camo for the armor. You can also highlight the pockmarks with Pink Horror and Emperor’s Children. The Metallics: The trim of the armor is picked out with Balthasar Gold, while any metal bits (plague knives, boltguns, armor decoration) is Lead Belcher. For any ornaments on the armor, such as the bells or censers, I used Screaming Bell to give it a different tone than the armor trim. These are all then washed with a 1:1 mix of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade. Using a thinned down mix of Nihilakh Oxide with water, you can then apply it as a wash to the gold trim and ornaments. It’s okay if it looks heavy when it goes on, it’ll flatten out in the recesses. Beyond this, your metallics are done. I don’t think Death Guard look right if they’re highlighted. They should look grimy and dirty, as Grandfather Nurgle likes. The Details

For the smoke from the censer on top, base coat with Celestra Grey followed by a highlight of Ulthuan Grey. Wash with Coelia Greenshade and pick out the highest points with Ulthuan Grey once again.
For the shoulder pads, basecoat them with Ushabti Bone and wash with Seraphim Sepia. For the red markings, basecoat with Mephiston Red and highlight with Evil Sunz Scarlet.
For any ooze or the veins in plague knives, basecoat with Caliban Green followed by a highlight of Warp Lightning. Wash with Biel-Tan Green and finish with a final highlight of Moot Green.
For tentacles, I simply paint these Screamer Pink on the tops and Thousand Sons Blue on the bottom, also adding a few Temple Guard Blue dots for depth.
For flesh tubes (lol), base them in Screamer Pink followed with a layer of Pink Horror. Wash the area with Carroburg Crimson. Once dry, layer once again with Pink Horror but leave the recesses dark. Layer up from there with Emperor’s Children, Ushabti Bone and Kislev Flesh. Add a little thinned down Druchii Violet around openings to make the flesh look bruised. I got this recipe from someone online and I can’t remember their name.
To make the model look dirty, I use AK Interactive Streaking Grime for, well, the streaks of grime. It’s an oil paint, so you can thin it down later if you want with mineral spirits/white spirits. I left mine a little stark here so it’s easy to see from the table top.
Lastly, for the eyes, it’s a simple Averland Sunset base with an Yriel Yellow highlight. This is then glazed over with Lamenter’s Yellow.

Macathu’s Bog Death Guard

Greetings fellow disciples of Papa Nurgle! In this tutorial, you will see how my squad of Blightlord Terminators emerged from the muck and onto the battlefield. This was the first set of terminator models added to my army, so I wanted to experiment a bit and make them differ slightly from the rest of my models. The two standout components wound up being the utilization of multiple texture paints and some OSL (which was honestly a happy mistake).Credit: MacathuTo start things off, the first phase will be priming followed by zenithal underpainting. I prime my models with “ultra flat” black to aid in shadows and take care of any hard to reach spots later on. I’m not really picky and will use Krylon or Rustoleum rattlecans from a hardware store. In the instance of those brands, the “camouflage” lines in particular. Neither of them are actually primer, but are formulated to adhere to plastic. Supposedly the Krylon line is better, but I haven’t had any issues with the Rustoleum. The next three coats will use a selection of greys and “Matt” white from Army Painter. I’m a big proponent of that dirty filthy casual technique of dry brushing and in this case, I will be using some makeup brushes to apply the layers. If you haven’t tried them out yet, I highly recommend it. They are super cheap (I think I paid $7 shipped for an assortment of 10 or 12) and the extra soft bristles help accomplish the job with ease. The rounded tip ones seem to work best for ease of access on a model. The only downside is that they can be a bit paint thirsty, but that’s a minor complaint. I used the larger brush for 90% of the dry brush work and will note when I switch over to the smaller one. For the more detailed work I used a normal hobby brushes, sizes ranging from 1 to 5. Here is the dry brushing progression – you will notice that as the color being applied gets lighter, I attempt to stop a littler higher on the model with it: Field Grey: Ash Grey: Matt White: Now why spend all that time underpainting? Well, my little bubo, I’m glad you asked! The first reason is pretty obvious – it gives you a great idea of how the shadows are naturally going to fall and where you should focus your efforts or do “just enough” for each section of the model. Sure, you should try to paint all of the surfaces, but if it will never be an eye focal point there’s no reason to go overboard with it. The second reason isn’t as obvious – your models will look freakin’ bad ass! I’m sure many of you have hit that wall where you don’t want to finish a painting project because the model “looks like garbage” until the final stages. This helps to circumvent that and provides a nice boost of motivation to help carry you forward (as you go through the progression pictures, you can see that there really isn’t a stage where they look “bad”). In the next phase of actually applying color, we will start with Venom Wyrm green for the shoulders, shins, helmets and gloves. Even when I was still using the GW green I went for Deathworld Forest instead of Death Guard green. It is slightly lighter which helps compensate when a wash is applied. One of the major issues I’ve had in this aspect of the hobby, is winding up with models that are just way too dark at the end. To combat this, I’ve gradually adjusted my paint schemes. In wanting to keep the models a little on the lighter side, I leaned towards the 30k scheme instead of just hitting the whole model with green. Duncan be thy name, two thin coats shall be done. There are two out of production paints that I used for this project and here is the first. The bloaty and grabby bits will pulse with Liche Purple (according to the conversion charts I found, its now called Xereus Purple from the current GW line). These pots were brought back to life with the nectar of Nurgle!…..water…it was just water. At this point, it’s so diluted that it resembles a heavy glaze more than regular paint (the pot is full of air bubbles after shaking it up). I’m still adding a few brush tip fulls of water to the solution, but I do indeed blaspheme with only one coat. At this point, technically I’m done applying the main colors and I’m on to the details/accessories stage – weapons, capes, chain mail, etc. I will be using GW’s Snakebite Leather contrast paint for weapon handles and wraps. Boltgun and Balthasar Gold for the metallics. The goal for the metallics is a nice bronze color, post wash. All of it will start with a dry brush of Boltgun to provide a reflective base. The locations with full coverage of the Balthasar will be part of the pauldrons, some tubing, and some trim here and there. The rest will be more of a highlight with, you guessed it…dry brushing! In addition to getting the eyes, the last part of the “details” phase (even though the surface area is a decent size) will be the cape that some of the models have. I will be using the highly specific and rare color, “RED.” No joke, that’s what its called in the instructions included in this paint set (Editor’s Note: It’s Mephiston Red). To blow your mind even more, I received this kit years ago for FREE….from a coupon I cut out of a weekly shopper (look it up, kids). For this step we will again be performing the ritual of two thin coats. The next phase will be very simple but very time consuming – using the texture and slime paints. Martian Ironearth and Armageddon Dunes will compose the base of the “bog” look – Ironearth for the crackle and Dunes for the gritty mud.Read more: How to get rid of ants in car