As you know, here at Master of Magics we like to keep our eyes pleaded for interesting and unique painted miniatures. Hobbyists spend hours of their time creating, for lack of a better word, art. So, when we see some mini’s that impresses us, we reach out and ask the owner if they want to tell us about how and why they came up with their ideas.

One such collection I came across belongs to one Nathan Sims, an American hobbyist who had caught my eye with his wonderfully painted Deathguard army. So, I dropped him a message, asking if he wouldn’t mind showing us his collection here for you all. And despite been busy over the weekend winning a local RTT (as well as picking up an award for his painting) he said yes. So, lets take a walk on the heretical side and check out his work.

So Nathan, how long have you been in to 40k? Are you primarily a painter, a gamer, or both?

I’ve played 40k off and on for around 7 years. I really picked the hobby back up at the beginning of 2020 like many others when Covid struck.

I would say I’m primarily a painter. It lets me just sit at home in my free time with the wife and paint. I love playing the game too. Just in the last couple years I’ve collected and painted several armies including Custodes, Blood Angels, Thousand Sons, and of course my Deathguard.

I do try to get in a game or two every week when able to. Working in the healthcare field I was able to get my Covid Vaccine early and have enjoyed getting back to gaming on a somewhat regular basis.

What paints and techniques did you use for your minis?

Currently I use citadel paints primarily as they are easily accessible from my LGS.

In creating my Deathguard I actually only used a small number of paints.

• Step 1:  Airbrush primed black using badger Stynylrez black with a zenithal highlight of white Valejo ink.
• Step 2: A top down zenithal base-coat of citadel Wraithbone.
• Step 3: Painting the trim of armor using citadel Balthazar Gold and other metal details using citadel Iron Warriors.
• Step 4: A healthy wash of citadel Seraphim Sepia on all the armor.
• Step 5: And Final step, in true Death Guard fashion I used Athonian Camoshade to tint the nasty bits green before using thin glazes of Moot Green and Tesseract Glow to add depth and bright green areas on the tentacles and fleshy bits.

To base my models, they’re just all standing on pieces of 3/8’s Cork and then Valejo Ground Texture was used to tie it all together.

Nice, they do look great. How long did it take you to complete the army?

If you follow me on Instagram, I actually added photos as I completed this army. After finding out I was going to be a father I challenged myself to see just how quickly I could get an army battle ready. With the exception of Mortarion and my Plague Marines I completed the whole army in under 2 weeks. The marines were done with the same technique as the rest of the army, and I finished them in only a couple nights of painting after work.

Do you have a particular model you are the proudest of?

Probably my favourite model is the Deathshroud Champion who is holding the bells. The way the highlights on the model just make him pop always makes him catch my eye first. Obviously Morty is beautiful, but he wasn’t a “speed paint” so he’s probably not as impressive since I took a lot longer on him.

The only other model that comes to mind that specifically stands out is one of the basic plague marines. Just how he matches the book art kind of makes me grin when I look at him.

So, what’s next on the painting table for you?

I’m currently working on repainting my Thousand Sons. I started them a couple years ago and told myself I’d repaint them to a higher standard once they got a new book. Well, here we are (ha).

Thanks again to Nathan for sharing his collection with us today. If you have a unique and interesting army you have been working on and would like to share it with the wider community, then you can contact on twitter @TenguPlaysGames where I can be found posting random Warhammer speculation and memes.

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