Alpha Legion Do you paint your RoT units as AL or parent Legion

[Xenith]

Basically the question in the title - I have a good base of painted alphas, and am looking at adding some rewards of treason units - do you paint yours as Alpha Legion, or as the parent legion? Either way, do you have photos?

 

I'm currently looking at painting up some Sekhmet, and am torn between painting them in the metallic blue scheme, or painting them in the candy red of the Thousand Sons - this would obviously open the door to adding more TS units to build a Sons army in the future. Or could I just use all my alphas as counts as Thousand Sons and say they have been copied en masse?

 

Looking for ideas and inspiration! Thanks folks! 

[suxdavide]

At the beginning of my journey in 30k (several years ago) I was pretty close to joining Alpharius' forces.

 

The main reason behind this though was the possibility to field units from other legions.

My idea was to paint them properly with the source legion schema and add a few stripes of metallic blue (like weathering effects), a few decals here and there in hidden places and have (as all other sergeants would have across the army) the same bold head. :)

[Loquille]

I've only painted up the one unit for rewards of treason but I did my own spin on them in Alpha Legion colours as it meant I could play with being more ornate and fancy with the legion colours but still match the rest of the Legion. 

 

My Suzerins (sp) 

 

 

[Brother Sutek]

I prefer to paint them Alpha Legion colors but if I had more hobby time I'd mix the models up a bit more and have more of the stolen legions colors.

[LameBeard]

I plan to paint them Alpha Legion colours. Check out @Kizzdougs’s DawnBreakers. (But he also has an excellent scheme of Alpha Legion in White Scar disguise).

 

I like the idea that RoT is really about stealing ideas and tech, not a false flag operation necessarily- but the new Rite of War seems to go against my idea?

[MARK0SIAN]

I don’t play Alpha Legion but I’ve always thought they’d really enjoy the confusion it would sow in their enemy if that enemy were being attacked by soldiers that look exactly like their own force or a force of their allies. So that means I’d paint them as the parent legion but either way would look cool for most units :)

[Sgt.Sangha]

Im painting mine as the original legions, but thats because I want to practice painting fun and unique models 

[LameBeard]

Sekhmet will look amazing in metallic blue, and I've never seen that done before, so it will be a chance to do something unique.

[Corswain]

I was very close to collecting Alpha Legion when the new edition hit and the Rewards of Treason rules were one of the biggest drawcards. For me the appeal was to paint lots of mini projects for all the Legions I wanted to collect but realistically couldn't.

The Legion-specific units are some of the most exciting, model-wise, and I think it's a brilliant way to scratch that hobby itch.

 

That being said, there are some stunning examples of those units painted in Alpha Legion colours, like Loquille's above (very cool, by the way).

[Xenith]

Thanks for the feedback all!

 

I'm thinking that for units that can have multiple roles within the AL army, that they should be in the AL colours - namely something like Sekhmet which can also just be regular catas, or with shields could be huscarls, they should remain in Alpha Legion panoply. Same with something like the lightning claw command squad I'm thinking of making - they could also be dark talons or night raptors, so metallic clue they go. I do have a unit of headhunters that are in BA colours though, so the army will still be confusing to an extent!

[Spottswoode]

@Xenith I was originally planning to do what you've done on your Sicaran in your Advanced Infiltration thread: paint my RoT units in their parent Legion colours, and use chipping medium to have some blue showing through in places to reveal their true alliance, but I've moved away from that idea.

 

My RoT choice was Phalanx Warders, because I figured they filled the breacher / dedicated CC slot that AL tend lack (and they look cool) - but unfortunately I misclicked on a Shapeways order, and what was supposed to be a couple of AL shields for special characters turned out to be a pack of 10, which I then had to use up. Obviously shields with a hydra on explicitly demonstrate what legion they belong to, so I decided to use them on my PW and just go with my standard AL colour scheme. 

 

The way I see it, although the common understanding of AL and RoT is that it's imitation for infiltration (using the colours of another Legion to get close or pass unnoticed), it can also be explained as part of the AL pragmatism. Every Legion eventually adopted specialist units from other Legions, be it others following the AL's lead with Seekers or RG being the origin of Moritats, but it seemed natural to me that the AL would be more likely than other Legions to recognise when another Legion had a unit that could useful to them. They don't seem to be bound by tradition or have the same myopic pride that a lot of the other Legions have, unlike others where a clash between Legion ethos and a units style of warfare led to a reduced or reluctant adoption (eg: Guilliman and Seekers).

 

Painting your RoT in AL colours also has the added benefit of allowing even more flexibility - technically I've got a unit of ten power armour marines with boarding shields and power axes, which I'm running as PW because they fill a Fast Attack slot needed for the Headhunter Leviathal RoW, but I could also run them as an Invictarus Suzerain sqaud if I want to because the load out is the same. Similarly a unit of Cataphratii terminators with Cyclone missile launchers can be either Fulmentarus or Tyrant Siege terminators, if you don't paint them in their original Legion scheme.

[arnesh88]

There are two ways that I like that I've seen somewhere:

1) A paint scheme to look like a 'cloaking field' transitioning from the original legion colors to Alpha Legion colors

2) Paint them as the original legion, then do 'chip' damage on the armor, but instead of just showing metal underneath, it shows alpha legion colors (like if Alpha Legion just painted over their armor to blend in)

[Halandaar]

Although my own Alpha Legion project has ended up on the back burner so long it's probably reduced to a thick sludge by now, my intent was to paint RoT units in Alpha Legion colours. Allows you to keep a consistent feel across your army, potentially have models pull double duty as different unit types with similar loadouts (as @Spottswoode mentions above), and allows for kitbashes to make overtly Alpha Legion versions of other cool units.

 

I understand the logic of having them painted in the parent chapter's colours, but for me that would feel a bit jarring in any game that was against a legion other than the one the RoT units came from. 

[Irongert]

I paint the RoW units in the color of their parent legion, mostly because the units I use I tend to lift from my other legions that I already have. I base all my armies the same so I can plug them in without too much of a jarring look. It might also be just the case for me but because I'm the one painting the various schemes in the same way I find that they don't stand out that badly as being different. The colors are different but the way it's painted and the same bases make up for a lot. 

 

That said, I have been thinking about the fun that might come from converting a few units as Al units, mostly for legions I definetely won't start. The conversion possibilities doing it that way are also very appealing. 

[Petitioner's City]

I always love the full "false flag" army - one where it's all "imperial fist yellow but for patches of the alpha legion colours underneath" style. That's really cool. I must admit it is not my preference for Rewards of Treason units to be in AL colours, it just doesn't make so much sense to me - except as gaming pieces, not as versimilitudinous representations.