Alpha Legion

[Natanael]

I just LOVE your work. I have an army just like this one, true scale AL, now being turned into counts-as grey knights ;)

 

Anyway - the statues coming to life are fantastic. I love the way the dust is falling off the parts of them that actually moved. It looks very realistic.

 

Edit: Oh, and I forgot. How do you do your weathering? I like it, and would like to use some of it on my own guys. They have some chipping done to them now, but are otherwise quite plain, and I'd like to try some of the dirty approach that you have.

 

 

- Nat

[Captain Engelhardt]

Thanks man, I thought about making a step by step tutorial once I'm done with the stuff I need for the tourney tomorrow, so expect something concerning that in the near future :D

 

Here's the almost finished Dreadknightcontemptor, just missing a proper right "hand" ...

 

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/jaycop313/DSCF3610.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/jaycop313/DSCF3614.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/jaycop313/DSCF3611.jpg

[Natanael]

Great. I am looking forward to that. The dread looks great. The only thing I'd change would be to give him a little more statue-esque look at the upper body. It seems kinda strange that the cover would not fall off the leg that stepped down from the platform, but the whole upper body (though covered up before) is all blue. You get what I mean?

 

- Nat

[Captain Engelhardt]

It seems kinda strange that the cover would not fall off the leg that stepped down from the platform, but the whole upper body (though covered up before) is all blue. You get what I mean?

 

Yes I do :D But what I had imagined was that the Dread was only covered in dust up until his waist, so that no blue feet would be sticking out from under the shroud... Maybe that's not entirely the AL way to only half-finish things but I really like the look of it ^^

[Natanael]

Alright, then I'm in <_< I agree, it does look very cool, so keep it this way.

 

- Nat

[Captain Engelhardt]

Alright, long time no update, but: IT IS DONE!

 

The tournament is over and the Alpha Legion have taken first place :tu:

 

I had 3 great games of 40k and I scored maximum points on fluff and painting. Maybe in the next few days I'll translate my fluff/army backstory (as it is currently written in German) and post it here. One thing I noticed - this army really is the one trick pony. Every opponent I've played with this list now will be prepared for what is to come once he is to play me again. But for this 3-game tourney, I managed to catch all of them off-guard, more or less.

 

The 1st game, 1000 points against Black Legion Chaos Space Marines:

My list:

Mordrak

4 Ghost Knights

Librarian

2*5 Terminators

 

His list:

Demon Prince

6 Terminators

~2*12 CSM

5 Havocs

 

Killpoints/Dawn of War

 

As you might guess, this turned out to be a pretty easy matchup for the Alpha Legion. Mordrak and his unit deepstruck right next to the Chaos Terminators and ate them all in one turn. One Terminator unit on my side multi-charged a complete CSM squad and the Demon Prince and after 3 rounds of combat they made the CSM run and slayed the Prince. Unfortunately, a single CSM with a meltagun on the run turned around and shot the last member of said Terminator Squad.

The second squad of AL showed up in turn 5 and did virtually nothing. Final count of killpoints: 5:1 - Even it wasn't a massacre in terms of difference in killpionts, it turned out to be one eventually because I wiped everything he had from the board.

 

 

 

2nd game, 1250 points against Valhallan Mech IG:

My list:

Mordrak

4 Ghost Knights

Librarian

Techmarine

2*5 Terminators

Dreadknight

 

His list (can't quite remember)

PlasmaHQ in Chimera

PlatoonMeltaHQ in Chimera

2 Platoon Squads w/ Autocannons

MeltaVets in Chimera

Hellhound

1 Hydra

1 Manticore

1 PlasmaRuss

 

2 Objectives/Pitched Battle

 

So before the game started I looked at his list and went "F*ck". Way too much Plasma & Melta. I got even more desperate when I only managed to immobilize the Russ (pretty much the worst result I could get, anything from 1/2/3/5/6 would have been better) in my deepstriking first turn, because then in his first turn, the Russ of course just blasted my Ghost Knights off the table.

With only Mordrak and the Librarian remaining on the table in my 2nd round, I got lucky and got all of my reserves in. The Dreadknight flamed a Platoon Squad off of his objective and my Librarian joined a squad of Terminators managed to wreck 2 Chimeras with a single Warprift. Mordrak went after the Russ on his own, and as you can imagine just demolished it. Auto-hit with a S10 Thunderhammer is just nice.

This turn had turned the tables around quite a bit, and it went on like that. The Melter vets scored three wounds on the Dreadknight and I saved all 3 of them. The PlasmaHQ shot the Terminators on my objective and killed 2 of them, but at the same time 3 of their Plasmagunners exploded.

From there the Guard player tried to take pot shots and wipe out single units (because at this point in time I had 5 units running around, only one of it bigger than 2 guys), but I made some good saves and on my turns dished out a lot of hurt.

The game ended on turn 6 end I managed to hold both objectives and get yet another massacre. But it had been a really close fight and both him and I had almost nothing left on the board (although my stuff would have easily outdone his in round 7). But in the whole scheme of things, this army worked out just the way I wanted it to and it gave the IG a big bad headache, just as the AL should do.

We both agreed that if I would have had to deploy the usual way and fight my way across the table I would have stood no chance at all.

 

 

 

3rd and final game, 1500 points against half-mech Orks

My list:

Mordrak

5 Ghost Knights

Librarian

2 Techmarines

2*5 Terminators

1 Dreadknight

 

His list:

Bigmek w/ KFF

2*15 Lootas

2*10 Trukksluggas

20 Shootaboys

10 Grots

4 Killakoptaz

2 Battlewagons

 

5 Objectives/Spearhead

 

This one has to be one of the greatest games of 40k I have ever played played, and it was ridiculously close.

As usual I went 2nd and deepstruck the bombsquad (Mordrak, Ghostknights, 2 Techmarines & Librarian) in my first turn right in the middle of the Ork horde. Warprift took out a Battlewagon, but nothing else happened. The Orks then gathered to punch me in the face in his second round...

 

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/jaycop313/rutnag.jpg

 

 

A Trukk rushed to get another objective, but the rest of the Ork horde shot and charged Mordrak's Squad (basically because nothing else was there to shot and charge :P ). I made a really bad roll on my psychotrokes and made all the Orks strike at I1 which really made no difference. Due to Hammerhand & Rad Grenades I wounded Orks on 2+ and killed quite a lot of them which was neat, but the echo was just enormous. The combat lasted for 5-6 rounds of combat, before I finally gave in and Mordrak (last man standing) died to the few Ork survivors.

A Terminator squad arriving from reserve was charged by a squad of Boys and the Killakoptas, and because all of those Koptas sported powerfists he just wiped the floor with my squad.

With that I only had the Dreadknight and another Terminator squad left, but those two wreaked a lot of havoc among the Orks. The Knight exploded a Trukk and then ate all the Boys inside of them, while the Terminators made the Grots run away off the table. Round 5 + 6 I had my back to the wall and I believe I never had to think so hard about where to move and what to shoot. The game then ended after turn 6 because of time limit with 1 objective for each player.

It was an amazing time and we both appreciated the mix of laughs and hard decisions we had during the game.

 

 

 

I had a great time and I'm looking forward to adding more to the army now that I know what will work for future games and what will not.

 

And as we speak of it, here's the whole bunch, finally worthy of a place in the cabinet:

 

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/jaycop313/DSCF3631.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/jaycop313/DSCF3635.jpg

 

And a couple of shots of the Terminator Squads:

 

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/jaycop313/DSCF3653.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/jaycop313/DSCF3650.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/jaycop313/DSCF3656.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/jaycop313/DSCF3663.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/jaycop313/DSCF3654.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k630/jaycop313/DSCF3655.jpg

 

 

So long, any feedback appreciated guys and - merry Christmas to the B&C of course ;)

[Excessus]

Freakin' awesome army! Hydra dominus!!!

[Natanael]

Freakin' awesome army! Hydra dominus!!!

 

I agree. It looks GREAT when on parade like that. I'm gonna have to revisit mine and step up my painting :ph34r:

 

Also - congrats on the wins! GJ.

 

Edit - How do you use your techmarines? They cant deep strike with Mordrak, can they? That is the way I'd use them but can't find a way to make it work with the rules.

 

- Nat

[daemonclaw]

awesome work

now that is how to infiltrate :ph34r:

[WeaponAdept]

I am fast becoming a fan of the AL. And this thread is one of the reasons. Well done mate.

[Honda]

I just love this army. It's well conceived, executed, and it's nice to see it show up and show people a few things. I agree that from a gaming perspective, it's value is in the surprise factor, but hey, that's what the Alpha Legion are all about. :D

 

I just finished building my first true scale trooper (in Maverike Prime's conversion contest) and it gave me a lot of confidence that I could do a project like this...with some twists, because after all, we are Alpha Legion.

 

Thanx for sharing this project with us.

 

Cheers,

[Captain Engelhardt]

Thanks for the replies mates, more power to all future AL players :D

 

Edit - How do you use your techmarines? They cant deep strike with Mordrak, can they? That is the way I'd use them but can't find a way to make it work with the rules.

 

Yes they can, because they are ICs. And whoever is attached to Mordrak drops down with him in the first round. Using that rule with a Librarian with Warp Rift is devastating. He can single-handedly take out the most important enemy tank(s) with the first blow, that's why I took him. At such low points levels my opponent is likely to have just one hammer unit and showing up and warprifting it to death gives quite the shock to people, Alpha Legion style.

Sanctuary from the Librarian and a Techmarine with Psychobrokes and Rad Grenades are there to protect the unit from massive counter assaults (which are likely to happen against any army - but IG and Tau maybe).

I took 2 Techmarines (1 with Defensive & Rad Grenades - 1 with Defensive & Psychotroke Grenades) in my 1500 list, but I quickly found out that 1 with all sorts of grenades should be enough, you could easily spend the points in a better way.

 

 

 

 

What do people think would be a good addition to the force? I'm kinda torn but I really want to expand this list to 1850. I think a second Dreadknight is a must-have, but aside from that, any ideas? :D

[Natanael]

I can't find a way to make them able to DS, still. Them beeing ICs is not enough in itself. They need to be able to DS because of something else. ICs have the "skilled rider" and "move through cover" rules thanks to them beeing ICs, but nothing like DS. In the rulebook it even says as an example that if an IC joins a unit with infiltrate without having it himself the unit can not infiltrate. This should go for DS as well, I think.

 

That said, Mordrak + 5 Ghosts + Librarian is still a very good combination, tho I am tempted to take another GM instead for rad nades (because of the above) and a psycannon. Also, you get the possibility to outflank the rest of your guys with the Grand Strategy and Psychic Communion x2 that you get that way.

 

For 1850 I'd say maybe try swithching the Librarian for another GM, get some servo-skulls to help the other terminators dropping in, or something like that. TBH, I dont really like the dreads with AL because of the whole "sneaky"-aspect. But do whatever you want, if you make it look cool ^_^

 

- Nat

[Excessus]

I said it before and I'll say it again. I think that making PDF/Militia/renegade guardsmen would be an awesome addition to the force.

 

Alpha legion equips and trains their personnel well, which would be represented by the superior equipment of the henchmen... ^_^

 

 

...also, I think you could do them really sweet! Those three servo-skulls are very nice!

[Natanael]

Only problem with the Henchmen is that you need Corteaz or another Inq to get them in the army. That kinda weakens the bomb-squad. It would be very cool tho.

 

- Nat

[Captain Engelhardt]

Does anybody know how Skaven Stormvermin scale up to Imperial Guardsmen and Space Marines? I considered making a squad or two of "counts-as" PA Grey Knights using the Stormvermin kit.

 

 

And:

 

 

I just finished reading Deliverance Lost and OH MY!

 

Now I love the AL even more...shame I did Dark Angels as my "cover legion", now I really want to make some Raven Guard Alphas.

 

So long :huh: