Alphy's Alpha Legion

[I_am_Alphy]

Hey there. Long time lurker here. Long time. I started my Chaos army back in the tail end of 4th ed and into 5th ed, but then kind of fell out of it. I picked up a few models here and there but haven't done any serious hobby work since before 6th ed came out. That is until this new CSM release. These new models are fantasitc and really lit a fire under me. That's why I'm starting this little thread. Hopefully tracking my progress will keep the pressure up because I really want to have a fully completed army. Been building a lot of stuff past weeks.

 

Let's start things off with my Chaos Lord:

 

 

 

I always loved the robed marine look, and an anonymous, hooded man seems like the perfect choice to lead an Alpha Legion army. This was an idea I've had percolating for a long while. The body is a Dark Angel Chaplain and the hood is from the Deathwing Knights. My plan is to put this guy in the middle of some chosen with plasma and havocs to provide those rerolls. Most likely he'll be using the Fangs of the Hydra, but fighting in melee isn't why he's there.

 

After him is my sorcerer:

 

 

 

Yes I see the mold line on his left hand now . Will fix before painting.

 

I mentioned Chosen earlier:

 

 

 

Not new models I know, but this is again, something I wanted to do a long time ago. Ultimately I'm going put all these guys on rocks so they don't look like dwarfs next to the new models, but these guys are sort of the central focus of the army.

 

Now of course I need some cultists. I have the cultists from the Dark Vengeance box, but I didn't want to just have 40 of the same looking guys on the board. That's why I made these:

 

 

Been sitting on a lot of these Forgeworld pieces for a long time, and now you can't get them anymore. I guess these cultists will be special .

 

One last thing to show right now, the first of the new models:

 

 

Those assault cannons and the boltgun on the champion are both from the DA veteran box. I got a lot of mileage out of that kid.

 

There's a lot more stuff to be built, but I might paint something first. I'm not sure what I have in mind just yet, but updates to follow.

Any and all ideas/suggestions/critiques are welcome.

[MegaVolt87]

Give us a group shot of what you got assembled so far mate. I like the HQ's. 

[Darnok]

Looking good, I think you are up for a great start. I especially like the "fallen angels vibe" I get from the characters and Chosen.

 

Come visit us down in the CSM subforum, we have cookies.*

 

 

* ... might have tentacles

[chosonofchaos]

Nice work so far. I like the chain canon conversions, also good job on drilling the barrels. Looking forward to some painted miniatures in the future.

[Leviathus]

Looking good already mate!

[I_am_Alphy]

Looking good, I think you are up for a great start. I especially like the "fallen angels vibe" I get from the characters and Chosen.

 

Come visit us down in the CSM subforum, we have cookies.*

 

 

* ... might have tentacles

 

Funny you should say that. My original plan for this squad way back was to paint them as The Fallen and just use them as regular chosen. But then the Fallen got their own rules and I wanted to keep the Alpha Legion rules so I just made them robed AL veterans, which turned out to be more fun anyway.

[Darnok]

Yeah, the robed bodies work wonders for all kinds of Chaos shenanigans.

 

Have you considered joining this years ETL with your CSM? It has just started, and might help with motivation. Don't feel pressganged though, it is entirely up to you!

[I_am_Alphy]

I managed to do a bit more work. Mostly building. First up, second squad of havocs:

 

 

I found that when you're trying to put different weapons on the havoc bodies, some of them get a bit fiddly, and I had to dip into regular CSM heads since the cables wouldn't reach the backpack. It ends up looking pretty good in the end.

 

 

Did a slight repose on the champion. What I wanted was to have a boltgun hanging from his army on like a strap, but my green stuff skills were no up to snuff. The pistol arm worked out.

 

Next up I put together the bolter marines from Shadowspear for a quick 5 man CSM squad:

 

 

If I ever do use CSM as troops it will likely be this kind of 5 man squad with a plasma gun and combi-plasma. Some closeups of the champ:

 

 

 

Finally, one last little update. I hit some paint to plastic last night. Just a quick little proof of concept for the armor color I'm shooting for:

 

 

 

I actually got this color scheme from the new Skaven Battletome. It's the recipe they use for the blue-ish armor on the official Skaven models. I wanted a slightly muted blue so that when I hit with some bright greens those will jump out more. Hopefully tonight I can get the rest done.

[I_am_Alphy]

Finally got an update. I didn't  much time to sit down and paint, and you'll also find that I am NOT a fast painter. But I've finally got a fully finished model for a color test:

 

 

 

I'm pretty happy with how the blue and the green turned out. I'm not married to the color on the loincloth. I could see a sort of off white color or a super dark grey working too, but I'm open to suggestions. 

 

From here I'll paint the rest of the 4 regular marines.

[I_am_Alphy]

I bet you thought this was dead. I almost did. I've had a hard time getting time to sit down and paint, but I finally managed to get something finished:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brother Dallo]

Nice to see you post again.

 

There’s some cool stuff here.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

[Frostbit3]

The minis really pop. Nicely done.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the squad.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Excellent painting! The green makes it stand out looks very cool, I really dig the conversions you did as well.

[I_am_Alphy]

Real quick update. I threw together a cultist. This was mostly a test of Contrast paints, which I hadn't used yet. Big fan of the browns and greys that's for sure. Those boots are literally a single coat of the Wyldwood paint.

 

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

He looks great!

[I_am_Alphy]

Thanks for all the comments. No pictures to post right, just wanted to thank you guys for the encouragement.

 

Still plugging away at these cultists

[Lucerne]

What's your blue armor recipe?

[I_am_Alphy]

What's your blue armor recipe?

 

The blue starts with a base of Stegadon Scale Green, then a wash with Nuln Oil, touch up the Stegadon Scale Green again, highlight with Thunderhawk Blue, and then finally edge highlight with Fenrisian Grey.

 

I got the recipe from the Skaven Battletome. It's how they did the blue armor on the Skaven models. I liked it because it results in a slightly dulled out blue than if I used the standard Kantor Blue and highlight up.

[I_am_Alphy]

Little update on some cultists I'm working on:

 

 

I'm painting them one at a time because I'm using them to test out Contrasts and also work on different flesh tones, which I need practice on.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

They came out really well done, good job!

[Son of Sacrifice]

Nice looking warband taking shape in here. I really like the touches of green on the marines.

[I_am_Alphy]

Been yet another hot minute. I spent a bunch of time painting some Stormcast, but I did manage to get some more Alpha Legion done.

 

First off I finished that unit of cultists:

 

 

 

They started out as just testing ground for contrast paints but then I started using them as practice for different types of skin tones.

 

 

I also started working on the next 5 CSM:

 

https://imgur.com/YYf3RPg

 

 

Not quite finished yet and I'm not certain when I'll be able to paint again because I'll be moving real soon, but they're approaching done.

[Xenith]

Marines look ace, keep it up!

[hushrong]

Alpharius and the other Alphariuses look awesome :) The blue and the green you've got do these operatives right.