Snailed It

"I can't feel my legs!"

Happy St Patrick's Day! Green Daemon time, as usual.

Alan Rotmarsh

Yeah, it's this guy, Horticulous Slimux. The model won a few 'best new model' shouts from various nerd sites last year, and it's not hard to see why. Heaps of detail, plus an inventive take on their IP. You know, relatively inventive, for GW. A daemon gardener riding a giant snail is a bit more out there than some of their po-faced grimdarkery, anyway.

A pleasure to paint, as ever for Nurgle models. Something about maggots, gaping wounds and fecund grossness just appeals to me, I guess, either that or I've done enough of them that they come out well without too much thought on my part.

The shell was the main challenge for this. Some brief internet research showed me that my original idea for the stripes would be a step away from nature - the stripes generally seem to follow the spiral of the shell, not go across it as I originally thought. This daemon also has a sinistral spiral, which is rare in real life and probably appropriate. Everyone knows lefties are associated with the damned, after all.

The rider is magnetised, just in case you wanted to field Mulch the snail as a beast of Nurgle. The new models for those are pretty nice, I think, but hellishly dear for a single model. They haven't made it as far as the bottom of my shopping list, anyway.

Painting Guide:

• Undercoat - Death Guard Green
• Slimux - Athonian Camoshade wash, Elysian Green highlight, Underhive Ash drybrush
• Mulch - Black, then Nuln Oil Gloss, a quick drybrush with Eshin Grey and Longbeard Grey, then more Nuln Oil Gloss. Screamer Pink, Druchii Violet and Changeling Pink on the tongue and spiracles (or whatever they are), Ardcoat over everything, Nurgle's Rot to taste
• Toes and Teeth - Zandri Dust, Agrax Earthshade, Seraphim Sepia, Ushabti Bone
• Leather bands and blankets - Steel Legion Drab, Agrax, either Zandri Dust layer (on the blanket) or Deathclaw Brown (on the belts and bands), Tyrant Skull drybrush
• Tree - Dryad Bark, Nuln Oil, a variety of Sylvaneth Bark, Underhive Ash and Longbeard Grey drybrushes. Spanish Moss done with Deathworld Green and Bilious Green, puffballs with Rakarth Flesh, Serpahim Sephia and Pallid Wychflesh, the treefrog with Wazdakka Red and Bad Moons Yellow
• Shell - Karak Stone, Rhinox Hide and Averland Sunset stripes, all washed with Agrax, then layered up towards Ushabti Bone mixed with the base colour, a little Tyrant Skull to finish
• Plough - Leadbelcher, Agrax and Nuln Oil, Ironbreaker and Runefang Silver
• Base - PVA, sandy gravel and Rust Red paint powder, blobs of Nurgle's Rot round the plough

Only one unit left to do for the Death Guard!