Death Guard 30K→40K Corruption Paint Scheme
I painted my Death Guard purple. They looked fine. Then I ripped every one of them off their bases and started over — because “fine” wasn’t the story I wanted to tell.
I’d seen the 30K Pre-Heresy Death Guard scheme and something clicked. These guys weren’t always bloated plague carriers stumbling through toxic fog. They were legionnaires. Clean ivory armor, dark green trim, pride in what they were. The corruption came later — and that’s way more interesting to paint than just “everything is gross.”
So the concept became: paint them like 30K marines first, then let the Nurgle gifts tell their own story on top. Bone-white armor that’s still fighting to look clean, with sickly yellows and pinks pushing through wherever the warp has gotten its hooks in.
One thing worth mentioning — since these were repainted over a previous scheme, I think the old paint underneath actually helped. There’s a subtle grime and unevenness you get from repriming over a stripped model that you don’t get on fresh plastic. Happy accident.
The Recipe
This is the order I paint them. It’s not the only way, but it’s what works for moving through a model without constantly going back to fix things you’ve painted over.
Armor Foundation
The armor is the biggest surface area, so get this right and everything else falls into place.
| Step | Where | Paint |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Armor, bones, skulls | Pallid Bone — Speed Paint |
| 2 | Pin wash in armor recesses | Sepia Wash |
Prime white first — full opaque coverage. Speed paints are translucent, so any grey showing through the primer will dull the bone color. You want bright and clean here because everything that comes after is going to dirty it up.
The sepia wash goes into the recesses only (pin wash, not all-over). This keeps the flat armor panels clean while giving you shadow and definition in the cracks and panel lines. That contrast between clean panels and dark recesses is what sells the “this was once pristine armor” look.
Main Colors
| Step | Where | Paint |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Shoulder armor panels | Absolution Green — Speed Paint |
| 4 | Cloth and capes | Murder Scene (Red) — Speed Paint |
| 5 | Armor trim and plating | Green Brown — Vallejo |
The green shoulder pads are the classic Death Guard identifier. Absolution Green works, but honestly if I had to do it again I’d go with something a bit more sickly — a desaturated, muted green that reads as “this color has been through some things.” The bright green is fine, it just looks a little too healthy for a warband that’s been marinating in Nurgle’s garden.
Murder Scene Red on the cloth gives you that warm contrast against the cool bone and green. It reads as dried and worn, which is exactly right for cloth that’s been dragged through a plague ship.
Green Brown on the trim ties the green and brown tones together and keeps the trim from competing with the shoulder panels.
Metallics
| Step | Where | Paint |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Gun base | Grim Black — Speed Paint |
| 7 | Gun metal, chains, melee weapons | Broadsword Silver — Speed Paint |
| 8 | Gun metal, chains, melee weapons | Rust Wash |
Gun gets a black base coat first, then silver on the metal parts. The rust wash over the metallics is doing double duty — it weathers the weapons and ties them into the overall grimy tone of the model. Don’t be precious with it. These aren’t parade-ground weapons.
For bigger melee weapons and chunky metal bits, I follow up with light rust and dark rust applied with a sponge. Stipple it on — the randomness of sponge application looks way more natural than trying to paint rust strokes.
Details
| Step | Where | Paint |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Eyes and lenses | Slaughter Red — Speed Paint |
Quick and done. One coat of Slaughter Red in the eye lenses. You could do a fancy gem effect with highlights, but honestly a flat red glow reads well on Death Guard. They’re not precise — they’re relentless.
Corruption — The Fun Part
This is where the model goes from “30K marine” to “something went very wrong.” Save this for after all the clean details are done. You’re defiling a finished marine, not trying to work around gross bits.
Flesh and Hoses
| Step | Where | Paint |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Hoses, tongues | Familiar Pink — Speed Paint |
| 11 | Hoses, tongues | Flesh Wash |
Familiar Pink reads as organic tissue that’s fused with the rubber tubing. The flesh wash over it knocks back the brightness and makes it look bruised and unhealthy. Speed paints handle ribbed hose texture really well — they naturally pool in the grooves between ribs.
Horns and Teeth
| Step | Where | Paint |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Horns, teeth | Yellow Wash |
| 13 | Horns, teeth | Zealot Yellow — Speed Paint |
These start as Pallid Bone from step 1 (same as the armor — because the bone growths were part of the marine once). The yellow wash and Zealot Yellow push them from clean bone into diseased, rotting territory. The gradient from pale tips to yellowed base tells the story of corruption spreading from the source.
Boils and Pustules
| Step | Where | Paint |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Boils | Zealot Yellow — Speed Paint |
| 15 | Boils | Flesh Wash |
| 16 | Boils | Toxic Yellow — Vallejo |
Three steps but they go fast. Base yellow, wash to create depth around the edges, then a dot of Toxic Yellow right on the top of each boil. That bright dot is what makes them look like they’re about to burst. Gross. Perfect.
Skulls and Damaged Armor
| Step | Where | Paint |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Skulls emerging from armor | Zealot Yellow — Speed Paint |
| 18 | Skulls emerging from armor | Flesh Wash |
| 19 | Damaged armor recesses | Rust Wash |
The skulls pushing through the armor plates get the same yellow-to-wash treatment as the boils — they’re the same kind of corruption, just bigger. Rust wash in the damaged armor cracks ties it all together. Focus the rust near corruption zones — where the belly is splitting, around boil clusters, anywhere the warp is eating the ceramite.
Extras
These aren’t numbered steps — more like things I picked up along the way.
| Where | Paint | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Terminator leather armor | Desolate Brown — Speed Paint | If you’re doing Blightlord Terminators, the leather panels get their own color |
| Ooze and slime | Green-yellow mix — Vallejo | For any Nurgle’s Rot-style ooze dripping off weapons or pooling in joints |
| Big melee weapons | Light rust + dark rust — sponged | Stipple with a torn piece of sponge for random, natural-looking corrosion |
| Nurglings | Familiar Pink (or anything fun) | I went pink on mine but honestly go wild — bright blue, weird green, whatever. They’re little chaos gremlins, they should look like they’re having a good time |
Paints Used
Everything in one place if you’re shopping or checking your shelf.
| Paint | Brand / Type | Used For |
|---|---|---|
| Pallid Bone | Army Painter Speed Paint | Armor, bones, skulls, horn base |
| Absolution Green | Army Painter Speed Paint | Shoulder panels |
| Murder Scene (Red) | Army Painter Speed Paint | Cloth, capes |
| Grim Black | Army Painter Speed Paint | Gun base coat |
| Broadsword Silver | Army Painter Speed Paint | Metallics, chains |
| Familiar Pink | Army Painter Speed Paint | Hoses, tongues, nurglings |
| Zealot Yellow | Army Painter Speed Paint | Horns, teeth, boils, skulls |
| Slaughter Red | Army Painter Speed Paint | Eyes, lenses |
| Desolate Brown | Army Painter Speed Paint | Terminator leather |
| Green Brown | Vallejo | Armor trim |
| Toxic Yellow | Vallejo | Boil highlights |
| Green-yellow mix | Vallejo | Ooze |
| Sepia Wash | Wash | Armor recesses |
| Flesh Wash | Wash | Hoses, tongues, boils, skulls |
| Yellow Wash | Wash | Horns, teeth |
| Rust Wash | Wash | Chains, weapons, damaged armor |
| Light / Dark Rust | Weathering | Sponge-applied on melee weapons |
Things I Learned
They come out gross. That’s the point. I stressed about these models way more than I should have. Death Guard aren’t clean — they’re not supposed to be. Every time I thought I’d messed something up, it just looked more corrupted. Other people who’ve seen them say they love how they look. Trust the process and lean into the mess.
The bases were a lesson in less is more. I mixed paint into basing glue to create toxic puddles on the bases. For the characters and Terminators, I built it up in layers and they came out great. For the Plague Marines, I mixed too much paint into the basing glue on the first pass and it dried too solid — more like a painted surface than a gross texture. I want to go back and build up another layer on top of those to fix it. But here’s the thing — even the “mistakes” kind of work. It just looks like a different stage of toxic sludge drying.
Messy is an aesthetic. Some of the basing glue spilled over the edges of the bases and dripped down the sides. Instead of cleaning it up, I left it. It looks like the plague is so bad it can’t be contained — corruption literally oozing off the base. Could it have been done more intentionally? Sure. But it works, and sometimes the best effects come from accidents you commit to.
The old paint helped. Since these were repainted over a previous purple scheme, the repriming wasn’t perfectly smooth. That subtle texture and unevenness under the Pallid Bone actually contributes to a worn, used look that you wouldn’t get on a pristine model. If you’re doing this on fresh plastic, consider a light texture spray or an imperfect prime coat to get some of that character.
I’d change the shoulder pad green. Absolution Green is fine, but it’s a bit too vibrant for a warband that’s been festering in the warp for ten thousand years. Next time I’d go with something more muted and sickly — a desaturated green-grey that looks like it used to be green.
This is the scheme I use across my Death Guard army, including Plague Marines, Blightlord Terminators, and characters. The toxic wasteland bases were developed to go with this scheme.
Gallery
