Make Your Own Post-Heresy Deathshroud Terminators

The Deathshrouds are chosen by the Primarch Mortarion from the best of the best within the Death Guard and used as bodyguards for the Primarch and senior commanders.

This makes their backstory really, really characterful for the Death Guard. The multiples of seven etc. The models look in fitting with the pre-heresy Death Guard, but what about ten thousand years later? In my ongoing Nurgle marine army, you’d think there would have to be a cadre of these monsters running around, right?

Well, there are now.

Forgeworld have traditionally put up pieces of a puzzle giving clues as to models that will be released in the coming year. At Christmas 2012, the parts of the puzzle added up to this:

forge world deathshroud terminator

Keep in mind, the above are all for Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal, hence it’s all ten thousand years ago. Things change in the Warp over time and even the most stalwart and brave of the Traitor Legions succumbed to the subtle(?) warping that Papa Nurgle bestows upon his followers. Even the mighty Deathshroud would need armour repairs etc.

Below are the start of Post-Heresy Deathshroud Terminators.

forge world deathshroud terminator
forge world deathshroud terminator

The hurdles at the moment are:

  • The face. Use the decidedly un-Nurgle-y face on the left side or the classic Chaos Space Marine head on the right. Or a third option would be the CSM Sergeant’s head suitably remodelled to fit more closely with the Pre-Heresy Deathshroud versions.
  • The Scythe. The Deathshroud are known for carrying around the scythe to carve up all and sundry. To maintain the overall feel of the models, they are an absolute must. The problem here is how best to model them? The scythe from the Warhammer Zombie sprue? Or buy a heap of Typhus’ scythe wielding arms? In game terms the scythe would (probably) be treated as either a power weapon or a power maul.
  • The remaining weapons. … the alchem-munitions for which the Death Guard Legion were so darkly famed …. Going back to in-game play, NORMAL Chaos Terminators (that the Post-Heresy Deathshroud would count as) are armed with a potential variety of firearms. If you suitably Nurglify them, this should account for the alchem-munitions
  • The paint job. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem as the rest of the army looks pretty close to the scheme used on the Forgeworld site. That and the whole paint them whatever colour is appropriate to fit them into the army.

Building the Post-Heresy version doesn’t require a lot of additional skill, just a bit of time.

  • The model pictured is based of an old metal Chaos Terminator, but could easily be one of the new plastic kits. There is a little difference in size between the metal and plastic versions, but the more variation, the more Chaos-y the models become. The excess Chaos icons are either Dremmel-ed off or ground away using files and glass paper. The Dremel is an easier choice; the files more accessible.
  • The head comes from a Blood Angels Dreadnought (on the left) and the Chaos Space Marine sprue (on the right). The multi-part nature of the Chaos Terminators means that the head swap is dead simple: just don’t stick in the one supplied.
  • There is some Green Stuff smeared across the top of the model, to a) make it more Nurgle-y and b) because the trophy racks that would normally be there were not to be found (the man cave urgently needs cleaning up!).
  • Most of the fun on this model is had with the tabard. The instructions for making it are surprisingly simple.
    1. Cut a piece of heavy paper to size and coat it a couple of times with Super Glue making sure that it’s completely dried between coats. Once dry the paper is like plasticard, but still shapeable. Using Super Glue on the dried “paper”, stick it down to the model in place.
    2. Roll out a piece of Green Stuff that is about the size of a pea. The size of the cured paper will mean more or less is needed. Coverage can also be controlled by the thickness that you roll out.
    3. Cut out a piece of the flattened green stuff to the shape of the paper tabard and place it on the paper. Green Stuff has a natural stickiness that will hold it in place.
    4. Leave the tabard for about ten or fifteen minutes so that it starts to cure and take a modelling tool (in this case a dress makers pin stuck into a bamboo skewer) to the greenstuff, scoring lines across to make bands. You can make as many as you like, but three or four looks about right.
    5. The links between the bands are just VERY thin sausages of Green Stuff cut just long enough to touch both bands. Once in place push the very end of the sausage in with the modelling tool to create an indentation (the hole that would usually join to bands together).
    6. Start worrying about what to do with the arms …
  • Start worrying about what to do with the arms (yes, it’s there twice)

Once the arm conundrum is sorted, we’ll be able to make at least seven (Nurgle’s favourite number) Deathshroud Terminators and Deep Strike our way to pestilent glory.

What do you think about the head/arm problem? Comments are very much appreciated!

Reference: From the Warp for the tabard sculpting ideas. They work brilliantly, too!

Check out Deathshroud Terminator deals on eBay!

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