Modeling advice for Alpha Legion?

[LostAlone]

So I have a really thing for the Alpha Legion at the moment, both from a fluff and game play standpoint, and I'm thinking about taking the jump into 30k (finally!) with them because... Well who can't resist a little enigma? And also being able to play either side in multi-sided apocalypse games sounds pretty fun to me. 

 

Anyway - There are a couple of things that I'd love to get you guys opinions of about modeling The Harrowing. Obviously we haven't got any proper XX Legion models yet so that's a minor problem first off, but honestly that's not the thing I'm worried about. The things that have me scratching my head are kinda... Other stuff. 

Thing is - Alpha Legion can take other legions unique units, and while some of them are just kinda slightly pimped vanilla units that wouldn't look out of place in a coat of Sedition Blue like Justearian, the more iconic ones like Deathshroud or Firedrakes or even Butchers I feel would be a bit strange to just repaint in XXth livery. So that leaves two other options (I am not really willing to entertain not taking some form of two wound terminators) which are:

 

Model and paint those kind of units in their parent legions style.

 

Convert my own versions of those units to be more sneaky looking. 

 

The first one makes a certain amount of sense, since the Alpha's certainly did re-paint themselves into their enemies colours it would  make a decent amount of sense for them to keep the old heraldry. On the other hand, it'll make the army look weird as all get up, which is something of a problem for a legion that valued uniformity so highly. The other choice though would be a real modeling challenge, with all kinds of potential problems that involve writing off really expensive models - The iconic parts like the shields and scythes only come with those unit kits, but the termie bodies are also just covered in intricate legion specific detailing to that I'm really not confident I can remove without leaving really obvious signs of it. So neither of them really jump out to me as being 'right'. I figured I'd ask what you guys think. 

 

There's also some similar worries in my head about if I should paint some units of headhunters or similar in other legion colours too. Is that a good idea or not do you think? That kind of specific sneakiness is a huge part of the Alpha's fluff, and in fact it's the one really unique thing they have that you can show on the tabletop to make them stand out compared to the other sneaky legions (Night Lords, Raven Guard, Dark Angels). Again it feels really odd either way. I definitely want to show off some degree of 'peel off a dudes face and steal his memories' stuff in how the army is modeled, but again I want a force that feels unified. Going something that feels a bit more subtle, say the same dark blue but with white/yellow trim in the style of Ultramarines, doesn't feel like it really cuts it because the Alphas are supposed to be masters of disguise, same for using other colours with XXth shoulder pads etc. So should I just drop this idea and go for a sexy unified army? Or should I try for a kind of 'distressed' look with Alpha colours showing under other paint, or should I just dress them up like proper other legion units?

 

Finally, and thanks for sticking with me, how do you feel about power daggers and how they should be modeled? I know we'll get an official model at some point, but if you were going to add daggers today then what kind of thing do you think fits? I've found some nice gladius style short swords that seem to fit alright, smaller than the 'official' gladius in the weapon packs anyway, but they feel a bit too martial maybe - Like you are supposed to honorably duel with them instead of slashing throats in the darkness. Any other ideas would be helpful.

 

Cheers!

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I'd say just paint whatever you want in AL colors to make it all uniform. It would make more sense that if they were wearing the panoply of other Legions, it would be easier to paint it than to remove all the icons - for them and for you .

[LostAlone]

I'd say just paint whatever you want in AL colors to make it all uniform. It would make more sense that if they were wearing the panoply of other Legions, it would be easier to paint it than to remove all the icons - for them and for you .

 

You think I should hit up the detailing say on Firedrakes in Salamanders 'flame' style, or find something that works more for the AL's scheme? It feels like a shame to just make it all uniform silver instead of picking it out more.

[Tiberius Cato]

I'd say aslong as it looks like Alpha Legion, you're free to paint them all upp however looks good to you. The beauty of the Alpha Legion lies in it's ability to be whatever you want it to be, tactics and appearance wise.