Citadel Journal 17 (1996), p39-40 — Pestilaan by Tim Huckelbery

First off, cut the right arm from Corbulo, making the cut at the shoulder joint so you get the shoulder pad as well as the arm. Anyone who isn't enjoying performing this desecration really isn't cut out to play Chaos!

Then cut the Plaguesword from the daemon at the wrist. While you're at it, cut off the Plaguebearer's head as well! Lastly, remove the head and sword from the Nurgle Champion. Remove the head so that the back-of-the-neck armour remains, and most of the tubing to the neck also is there. You'll want to remove the sword as well (keeping the hilt).

File down the Corbula arm so it forms a flat surface from the shoulder pad, and fits into the flat joint from the Nurgle Champion. It will need pinning later, and I decided to point it away from him, so make the filings so you get the fit desired. You should also drill out the inside of the grail (soon to be a chalice) so it forms a smooth interior. The arm also has far too much Imperial detail around the wrist; fill or cut them off (don't worry too much with leaving cuts or nicks in the finished product - after all this is a Nurgle marine, so the more imperfections the better!). Lastly, file off the "wings" & blood drop from the shoulder pad - keep the grail as it works well for the Chalice symbolism!

Form a small ball of putty, and place it into one of the eye sockets on the chalice. If you want to get really fancy, make a smaller one for the shoulder pad eye socket, and for the skulls on the backpack. You can also use model railroad scale apples, they make fast & easy eyeballs! I also put some dabs of putty on the backpack skulls to form some still-clinging flesh for them. More tricky filing: the Plaguebearer's head will need a flat neck to join to the Champion body, so both areas will need to be filed so they fit.

You should now be ready to join the bits together. Pin the arm & sword down; the new head has enough surface area for its join that you should not need to pin here. Some minor putty work will be needed to cover the gaps in the head/neck join, and the shoulder/body join.

I added a small Nurgling to his right shoulder as well for fun. Flock the base as desired to cap it off.

So at this point you should now be holding one complete, ready to prime figure! (Or a messy lump of metal with glue all over your fingers!)

(Note: for those on a budget, simply go with a Corbulo, and file his chainsword to a regular sword. Putty, chop, or file away his Apothecary & Imperial markings, pop on a plastic Chaos backpack, and paint away!)

To make Pestilaan you will need:

• Apothecary Corbulo (70094/1)
• Any Plaguebearer (I used 73014/1)
• Nurgle Plague Marine Champion with Plaguesword (70310/1)
• Khârn the Betrayer's backpack (70318/4)
• Nurglings (optional, add to taste)

£9.80 complete