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[REDACTED] - A XX Legion Plog by Dangermouse425

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Dangermouse425 Novitiate

Dangermouse425

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There was movement to the east. Watch-Corporal Thuro was certain of it. 

 

The young trooper reached into his pack and removed the caps from his rangefinder. Working out exactly how far out the beast was would be critical when sending out the servitor that would either scare the waste-beast off or kill it. The servitors had to be manually programmed lest they strayed out too far into the radioactive wasteland that surrounded the small outpost, but Watch-Corporal Thuro knew he'd rather do that than have to go out into the darkness himself.

 

He refocused the rangefinder onto the eastern crags, searching for further signs of life. The waste-beasts had been getting braver over the recent months, probably something to do with the recent meteor storm a few sectors over that had occurred one night. The blazing flames of the storm had brought half the research station's crew out onto the roofs of their buildings, using picters to capture images of the fearsome display of nature. 

 

Thuro wistfully thought of the rest of the crew, tucked up in bed whilst he was out on watch and sighed to himself. He had only just taken over from Lathis but the night was already beginning to drag. He wondered to himself whether...

 

The rangefinder beeped suddenly as it detected movement in amongst the boulders at the edge of one of the great cliffs that dominated the horizon, Thuro flicked the unit from scan to confirm and squinted into the goggles as the creature slowly came into view. All he could make out was some sort of insectoid carapace, the smooth chitin almost resembling a plate of armour. It was a bluey-green, or a greeny-blue. In the dim light the trooper couldn't quite decide, and it almost seemed to change in the dim light of the silent night. The creature had stopped moving now and all Thuro could see was a section of its insect-like carapace through a gap in the stones, the colour closer to turquoise than blue, or perhaps even teal? He zoomed in further for a closer...

 

The Astartes' power dagger slid into the neck of the human peering through the goggles with ease, immediately ending his life. A power armoured gauntlet reached out to catch the falling rangefinder, preventing it from clattering to the metallic floor. The hulking Space Marine slowly eased the body of the human to the floor without a sound and signalled to his brothers out in the wastes.

 

<<Perimeter secure. Move to Phase 2.>>

 

Nine other shapes in power armour arose from positions surrounding the research station and slowly began to move towards their target, like a serpent coiling around its next victim.

 

I painted a few test models for my upcoming Alpha Legion army, concentrating solely on the enigmatic blue/green base layer that we all know and love, rather than finishing the models.

 


 


 

What colour do we think is best?

Dangermouse425 Novitiate

Dangermouse425

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Thanks for the replies, my favourite was probably the second from the right too, but it wasn't QUITE what I was looking for, so I did three more test models. 

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y47/Danger_Mouse/Alpha%20Legion/20150719_224333_zps7cquwfiy.jpg

 

Ultimately, I've narrowed it down to these three. 

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y47/Danger_Mouse/Alpha%20Legion/20150719_224414_zpssju1omf3.jpg
  • 2 months later...
Dangermouse425 Novitiate

Dangermouse425

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After all that time, I am finally ready to show you my first Alpha Legionary! The boltgun needs a bit of tidying, the Marine needs a bit of weathering and the base rim could do with a tidy up - but I'm far too exciting to have finally finished the first Marine in my Legion to be bothered about all of that. Let me know what you think!

 

For now, a bit of fluff:

 

The headaches came at night. They manifested as a searing pain at the front of the skull which kept her awake at night, tossing and turning in her hab-block bed. The only way Aina could clear her head was to get some fresh air outside on one of the research station's viewing platforms, where she would stare at the endless stars and wait for the agony to subside.

When she did finally get to sleep, the dreams came.

 

Ever since the crash Aina had had terrifying nightmares which left her waking up screaming into the darkness. The night-terrors were always the same, recalling the night so many years ago when she had lost her husband in the monorail crash on an off duty leave visit to a nearby recreation-station. The nightmare would always start the same, with her gazing out of the window, holding her husband's hand as she turned to him smiling. The crash would come slowly, inevitably, but she would immediately see images flashing before her mind's eye; her husband gasping as his hand slipped from hers, falling to his death from the suspended monorail, the med-bay she woke up in, the surgeon service's mechanical clicks as it worked on her injuries, and a member of the staff, wearing a surgical mask, flicking a light on and off into her eyes as she lay, semi-conscious, in the med-bay. It was then that she would wake up in agony, her head pounding, screaming into the dark room.

 

To save her colleagues the inconvenience of being woken up by her night-time disturbances, she had moved to one of the smaller rooms, usually reserved for visiting dignitaries on the odd days when a military delegate or ambassador would visit to check on the progress of the station's project. The room was the smallest of these, sparsely furnished in a functional manner. The only evidence of her inhabiting the room beyond the unmade bed and her possessions in the storage locker was a framed pict-graph of her and her husband the day before the crash.

Aina stared at the pict-graph, rubbing her temples in an attempt to soothe the pain. She had woken up moments ago in the same manner as the night before, sweating and screaming. She pulled on a overcoat, reaching for her security pass and grumbled to herself that the idiots on the security desk had printed her name wrong on the pass. Why did everyone forget to put the K in her name.

"Dr Aina Acs" the pass read, "Unescorted access, Levels 1, 2, 4 and 5". She had never needed access to Level 3, which housed the kitchens and service bay, but she knew to override code anyway. She was one of the head researchers after all!

 

She reached for the door and started her walk to the viewing platform where she went to wait for the headaches to leave her. She stepped out into the night air, pulling her overcoat tight as she stared up to the stars. It wasn't particularly cold, but there was something about the vastness of space that made her shiver.

 

A noise some way to her right made her jump, Aina turned to peer into the darkness, relaxing as she saw the soldier on sentry duty shouldering his rifle and scanning the perimeter towards the mountains with a rangefinder. Aina never bothered to learn the names of the soldiers who guarded the station, but she thought his name was Thuro or Thoro or something like that.

 

Aina returned her gaze to the endless blackness above her, wondering why the pains abated when she was outside. The pressure behind her eyes was beginning to get better and she turned towards the access hatch, intending on returning to her quarters. She screamed as she saw a huge man stood in the shadows, raising his gauntleted hands towards her, palms down in a reassuring gesture.

 

"Dr Acks", the hulking armoured man said through his helmet, "We're here to assist with your work on Mar-e-Seyah".

 

She felt her skin grow cold, despite not understanding the last word her said. Was that a name? Some distant part of her mind recognised it, but she couldn't recall exactly.

 

"Who are you?" she whispered, her voice hoarse.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y47/Danger_Mouse/Alpha%20Legion/Alpharius%20001_zps70mxgoc0.jpg

 

"My name is Alpharius."

 

"We're here to to assist you with your work on Mar-e-Seeya".

 

Her eyes twitched, she blinked tears away as the headache returned, worse than ever. "I don't know what that is," she replied nervously, "This is a restricted station, what are you doing here?" She reached for the walk-vox in her overcoat. "I'm calling security."

 

The figure moved closer, stepping from the shadows. "Mar-e-Seyah." he repeated, his tone seeming to become more urgent, frustrated even. "Mar-e-Seyah."

 

"No..." she whimpered, falling to her knees with horror as the moonlight fell across the figure's face, a face she recognised.

 

It was the face of her husband.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y47/Danger_Mouse/Alpha%20Legion/Alpharius%20002_zpsidzxlqjh.jpg

Dangermouse425 Novitiate

Dangermouse425

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"I don't understand..." Aina moaned, staring up at the figure in front of her. "You're dead..." she whispered through gritted teeth, the pain in her head threatening to overwhelm her. Aina felt hot tears on her cheek. She brushed them away, the sleeve of her coat coming away red as she wiped the blood from her face.

 

"Mar-e-Seyah, Dr Acks." the figure repeated again, placing a gauntleted hand on her shoulder, the pressure strangely light in an odd contrast to the size of the hand.

 

Her vision blurred and she began to slip from consciousness, she closed her eyes and felt blood starting to seep from her nose and ears. As the darkness overwhelmed her, the nightmare returned, details that she had missed seemed so clear now.

 

The monorail crash. Every face in the carriage belonging to her husband.

 

The servitor at the med-bay. A branded "XX" on its faceplate.

 

The surgeon removing his mask, his face her husband's, with a serpentine tattoo across his bald head.

 

"It's broken." a voice said, distant.

 

"It's not broken, brother. It was never built to survive. The activation code should destroy it. There must be no trace of the Legion using AI, for the sake of us all." another voice said in reply.

 

"What's the point in infiltrating an asset, even if it is an Abominable Intelligence, so far in advance if all we're going to do is destroy it. It could have been useful."

 

"The Primarch's decisions are not for us to question, brother, you know as well as I do he sees things differently. The data-transfer will be finished in a moment. All we need are the codes for Level 3 from the data drive, but the vid-cast from the start of the project will provide a useful training aide for the Legion."

 

The simulacra automata that knew itself as Dr Aina Acks began a terminal shutdown sequence, its data drives stripped of all the information it had recorded since it was placed in one of the senior research positions two decades ago. The carefully designed memories the servitor had been given were destroyed during the transfer and the two Legionaries stood, moving towards the access hatch.

 

One of them transmitted a short broadcast on an encrypted vox channel, it was heard by a sum total of ten Legionaries who all knew what it meant immediately.

 

"Phase 2 complete. Move to Phase 3. Hydra Dominatus."

 

Progress has been made on the first 10 Tacticals. Their metalwork is now complete (using Vallejo Steel) and they have been gloss varnished ready for oil pin wash.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y47/Danger_Mouse/Alpha%20Legion/20151012_214958_zpslfqowkhi.jpg

 

As you may have guessed from the first Marine, I am rebasing them onto 32mm. As I am going for an arid dusty planet using GW's Martian Ironearth (the red Agrellan Earth) I decided to add a few bits and pieces to add interest to the bases themselves. I have also ordered some scorched brown tufts which will be added to the bases once the Marine is glued on to further add variety.

 

Here they are prior to being drybrushed with Tau Light Ochre. Whilst the crackle effect of the paint is fine on its own, adding a drybrush of a lighter tone really adds a second level of depth, without drawing any attention away from the model itself.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y47/Danger_Mouse/Alpha%20Legion/20151012_215103_zpsv6fjbopd.jpg

 

Stay tuned for more Alpha updates. I'm working on something awesome. Here's a sneak preview. Any ideas?

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y47/Danger_Mouse/Alpha%20Legion/2015-10-13%2008.50.12_zpsirujlble.jpg

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