X.IV - Nurgle Giant

It's my look back to the year 2011 as part of my X celebration series. This was a very busy period for the blog, as I added to three of my main armies.

The dwarfs got the bulk of my time and attention as Avatars of War released plastic dwarf berserkers. It was quite an exciting time, I struggle to remember if there were any other plastic non-GW figures around at the time. It re-ignited my interest in my long dormant beard collection and I added two units to the army, berserkers and warriors.

Towards the end of the year I also made a start on resurrecting my very first fantasy army, as I made the first faltering steps in a new Undead army. I hammered out a large regiment of zombies and a couple of characters. Looking back, I was very productive at this time, regiment after regiment painted up. If only my current stamina levels matched those glory days.

My pick of the year is this friendly looking Nurgle giant. It's not a GW model, but possibly the first resin figure I ever added to my collection - an Ilyad Games grotesque which I was lucky enough to find on ebay. The company are long gone now, one of many that produced high quality figures but never managed to find their niche in the market.

I chose this figure for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I really like it - a good enough reason to be selected. Secondly, it marks the point when my painting changed to something resembling my current style. I started to use white primer and multiple layers of thin washes and glazes, a technique I have continued with to the present day. The result can be very subtle, as this close-up hopefully demonstrates. I find it far easier than the base/shade/layer/highlight system, and far more realistic.

So, another year assessed, another chaos appearance. I did also paint up a very nice unit of chaos ogres. At the time, the chaos army was my "elite" project, the one that I was in no hurry to finish, just wanted to achieve a high level on every element of the army. Apologies if you are not a chaos fan, there will be some other factions eventually, but chaos certainly ruled at the time. If you disagree, have a word with these friendly looking chaps, I'm sure they will be very understanding.....