Nurgle’s Plague Fleet: A Voyage of Decay
Very cool Oldhammer painting. It shows the richness of colours and is a great piece of Art.
The Plague Fleet of Nurgle on the High Seas
This Oldhammer artwork captures a chaotic and apocalyptic scene aboard a corrupted warship, part of a dreaded Plague Fleet of Nurgle. The scene is brimming with a sense of motion and destruction, as if the ship has just emerged from a violent storm or is heading into one. The sky is a swirling mass of purple clouds, punctuated by flashes of eerie lightning, suggesting the influence of the Warp. The ship itself is a nightmarish vessel, its sails tattered and festooned with sigils of Chaos, bearing the unmistakable marks of rot and decay. This is no ordinary fleet, but a cursed armada that sails both real and immaterial waters, spreading Nurgle’s gifts of disease and corruption wherever it makes landfall.
The Chaos Space Marines of Nurgle
Dominating the foreground is a Chaos Space Marine of the Death Guard or a Nurgle-worshipping warband, clad in bloated, corroded armor marked with the iconography of the Plague God. His posture is one of absolute dominance, wielding a massive, diseased weapon, likely a plague-infested mace or club, crusted with filth and inscribed with Chaos symbols. To his side stands another Plague Marine, horned helmet gleaming, his armor a grotesque blend of organic rot and ancient ceramite. These warriors are walking manifestations of decay and endurance, shrugging off wounds that would kill lesser beings, their very presence spreading sickness and despair. The grotesque yet striking color palette—mossy greens, rusted golds, and the pallor of the damned—adds to their unholy majesty, making them the unquestionable lords of this rotting warship.
The Chaos Daemons and Mutated Crew
Adding to the nightmarish vision, the ship is crewed by a mix of corrupted mortals and daemonic entities, all twisted by the touch of the Warp. One particularly grotesque mutant in the background wields a crude weapon, his face contorted in manic rage, possibly a Plaguebearer or a Chaos-mutated human thrall. The ship’s rigging and decks are crawling with Nurgling-like creatures and other pestilent horrors, grinning wickedly as they scuttle across the rotting wood. These lesser daemons are the heralds of contagion, carrying their master’s unholy blessings in their bloated forms. Every inch of the ship reeks of corruption, from the diseased banners fluttering in the wind to the foul water lapping against the hull, thick with unnatural filth.
The Dreaded Role of a Plague Fleet
A Plague Fleet of Nurgle is one of the most terrifying forces in the Warhammer universe, a festering force of destruction that sails not only the seas but also the void of space. These fleets spread pestilence across planets, bringing civilizations to ruin with slow, insidious infections before their warriors even set foot on land. In the context of Warhammer Fantasy, this ship could be part of a great Chaos incursion, a harbinger of doom making landfall on an unsuspecting empire’s shores. In Warhammer 40,000, such fleets roam the galaxy, turning planets into rotting wastelands, their ships carrying the foul diseases of Nurgle through the Warp. Whether in space or on water, the sight of a Plague Fleet is a dire omen—one that promises a slow, inevitable death rather than swift destruction.
