Tuto : How to paint an Apostles of Contagion

In my case I used Vallejo’s Russian Green 4BO primer, but pretty much any other dark primer will do. Even black or dark brown. With dark brown the overall tone of the figure will end up being a bit warmer of course.

For the next step a coat of Vallejo Model Air (VMA) Light Brown is applied via airbrush. If you don’t own an airbrush you can do this step by painting the paint onto the most exposed surfaces and the ones which would reflect the most light. If it’s a little rough looking don’t worry. If you don’t have this exact colour, don’t worry. Any light, sandy brown will do. Note how I barely touched the feet and legs in the front, because these very much are in the shadows, and painting 28mm figures is all about contrast, isn’t it.

This step is followed by a drybrush with white paint. Broad, soft brush, put on paint, wipe it ALL off, brush against edges. There are tons of guides online on how to do this. We will be offering assembly and painting tutorials designed specifically for beginners as soon as possible. The goal is to publish them all at once, in the form of a coherent set. Since this represents around ten articles to produce, we’ll do our best to bring them to you as soon as we can.

Next I apply a coat of mid-brown wash. I use Army Painter’s washes (same stuff as GW’s older washes, so it’s good). Feel free to apply some more into deeper-shaded areas once the first coat is dry. While that’s drying I use the time to put a base coat of silvery metallic onto the sword’s blade and the boltgun’s metal parts.

Once that’s completely dry (nothing worse than have metallics run into wet washes) I start basic detailwork by painting the metallic fittings on the armour with Vallejo Game Color Tinny Tin. If you’ve got GW’s old Tin Bitz lying around use that, if you use Army Painter’s True Copper or something other vaguely similar paint use that. It’s not what colours we use, it’s how we use them. Especially so on Nurgly figures…

…and another round of washes! In this step I use the dark wash to deepen some shadows, give the whole affair a bit more definition. I also use a black wash to give the silver-y metallics on the gun and the sword a bit of a shade.

Apply the rust in two steps: First a darker step with lots of wash added, followed by a brighter rust tone within the bigger rusty spots and deeper rusty gaps. Technically you can build up as much as you like, even adding orange or a bit of yellow to the mix for the final spots.

Now for the tinny metallics: mix turquoise paint with green wash (or brown. Or black.), and do the same thing we just did on the armour and on the silvery metallics.

Now add some white to the whole mix and paint that into the deeper gaps and larger spots of weathering on the metal fittings. How crazy you go in terms of contrast is up to you. Just always keep in mind that the figure will stand on a usually dark gaming table, at arm’s length distance (at least), and gaming tables usually aren’t as well lit as a painting desk. While we have white paint at hand do some stark highlights on fleshy parts such as tentacles, skin, bits where the armour broke open, and so on…

…because now we break out the nice colours! At this step you can go with any colours you like really. If you prefer greener skin go with greens, if you prefer darker skin, go with that, and so on. Papa Nurgle’s got a place in his heart for any colour of boils. I apply purple wash over the tentacles with a bit of red in the tips. On tubes I use dark blue (p3 Exile Blue, because it’s a bit toned down) in a very thin, watered-down layer. Goes well with the rest of the colours used so far.

Apply dark brown wash over the wood grain parts (also over skulls and other details if you deem it necessary), highlight back up on the edges where necessary. Paint white highlights onto skulls, claws and teeth.

Looking good already. For the next step I add some highlights to the metallics using some bright, silver-y metallic paint such as Runefang Steel. I apply it to the silvery and tinny metallics alike, just a few dabs here and ther on the most exposed edges; a bit more on the gunmetal parts and the sword’s blade.

Now for the blisters on some of the fleshy parts. Again, there are thousands of possible approaches and colours you could go for. I give them a light wash of red and again pale yellow dots on top. If you feel like it you can research zits and boils on the internet (general tip: research what things look like in real life rather than how people painted things); probably not right after you’ve had a hearty meal.

Let’s add one more little bit on top to finish the mini off – glowing green slime! This one’s really easy – it’s just a mix of gloss varnish, green and yellow. This step is strictly fun and free-form. Apply where you see fit, apply as much as you see fit, have the viscosity and density as you see fit.In general I seek out bits where stuff may ooze out of and where it fits in terms of colour balance.