Progress Log: Alpha Legion Warband: "The Last Surprise"

[hd3]

9 hours ago, Brother Christopher said:

Man, I really shouldn't visit your thread. Every time I see your marines, I kind of want to get some metallic marines painted. I can't get over how striking your paint scheme is.

 

The details on the helmets are small, indeed. But I think you won't have too much trouble getting them right. Remember that you can always cover some of the mistakes up with a glaze or wash (and get some additional shading done, too).

 

I was debating that or a toothpick with rune fang steel on it to pick out the tiny trim 

[hd3]

I started on the chosen, doing black legion with nuln for the armour seals, black templar for the chest bandoliers and runelord brass for the secondary metallics. I used warp lightning to make a similar glow effect for the combi weapons but I wanted it to look distinct from plasma coils. 

 

One thing I'm noticing is that the wash pooled up much more than I realized before. I think I expected it to work like normal CSM models where it pools above the raised trim but of course mkvi armour doesn't have that being mostly flat panels. It's too late for these guys but for my 30k marines I'm going to be much more careful with the wash and maybe thin it down a bit more to try to avoid this.

Edited November 24 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

Honestly, they look fine to me.  

[hd3]

My first unit of Chosen is almost finished. The gear choices are supposed to reflect the rank within the warband. The newest and most inexperienced brothers get the CSM recycled salvaged plate. The veterans here are granted the preserved mkvi armour but have to make some concession, a salvaged sternguard combi weapons, a recycled lightning claw, an arm from a rubric marine etc. While the terminators get the perfectly preserved heresy era terminator plate.

 

I think I went too thick on the dorn yellow for the plasma pistols. Ibid some of the runefang steel highlights. I tried sponging on the steel around the legs to try a more scattered chipping effect. I'm honestly indifferent to it myself. 

 

I also used volupus pink and druuchii violet  for the grav combi weapons glow.

 

I also feel like there has to be a better way to do red eye lenses that pops out more. I also suddenly wish I had a bunch of spare rubric marine arms for putting two handed guns on HH model marines. 

 

I also got some 30k death guard decals to fix up my plague caster and for a future project I'm thinking of.

 

There are a few major changes I'm considering after this:

 

*Giving up zenithal highlighting. Just do a light grey primer over everything and then a bright silver. The bright silver parts seem to look the best under the contrast paint mix anyway.

 

*Washing slower and much more carefully with the nuln oil gloss wash. Especially on mkvi armour to prevent pooling up on those big flat panels.

 

*Focus on improving my edge highlighting skills especially on my next few models. 

 

*Find a better formula for doing glowing red eye lenses, preferably using contrast reds.

 

*Get a proper drybrush set and also get a really small dry brush set for plasma pistols like these.

 

I also think I might take a break before I do the rest of the chosen because unlike these 5, I forgot to leave a nice chunk of sprue on the foot for the grip to clip onto on the other five and my bases aren't ready for them to be glued on yet.  So I think next it will be the rest of the Rubric Marines. 

 

I've also ordered a bunch of custom bases from oz, most of which are for my crusader host project but one lot are going to be the ruins of Tizca strewn around the feet if my Thousand Sons.

Edited November 29 by hd3

[hd3]

I've finished assembling my last Chosen with accursed weapon. I used khorne red for the grip and just a light touch of flesh tearers red to hopefully make the power mace look bloody. 

 

I also started on my rubric marine bodies as well as the extra heads I am converting to  basing trophies.

 

(I ran out of gold spray for the last few bits)

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30 by hd3

[W.A.Rorie]

AL look great can't wait to see more of the 1k Sons and DG!

[hd3]

Finally added the head to my master of executions. Also added some photos of my recent victory against the Dark Angels including Fabius Bile facing down the Lion himself.

[kabaakaba]

good job, looks like bile in troubles.

[hd3]

Finished assembly (almost) on my Deimos Rhino at last. I also painted the interior and added a hinge so I can actually open the door since it's a transport.

[hd3]

Just blocking in the second coat of thousand sons blue on my rubrics and aspiring sorcerer. This time I'm going to do the blue and the druchiii wash first and then paint the gold trim and add the reikland to it. Also tragically,  one rubric marine was lost to the warp. Thankfully I had the arms and a spare head and chest so I just had to buy some extra legs. My custom bases for these guys are also coming soon.

 

Also finished my death guard basing trophy head.

Edited Wednesday at 01:22 AM by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

I like idea of using the crocodile clips to hold the minis

 

13 hours ago, hd3 said:

. Also tragically,  one rubric marine was lost to the warp. Thankfully I had the arms and a spare head and chest so I just had to buy some extra legs

So that means they'll turn up the day after the spare parts arrive, then?

[hd3]

13 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

I like idea of using the crocodile clips to hold the minis

 

So that means they'll turn up the day after the spare parts arrive, then?

 

Naturally. But hey, he can be a basing casualty. I've finished up the thousand sons blue and added a wash if 1:1 druchii violet and lahmian medium.  I like the shadows but I worry it dulls down the blue too much. Like, does this match the thousand sons armour on the box?

 

I also started adding retributor armor to the trim which I'm going to wash with reikland 

[hd3]

I'm debating now if I should apply a bit more thousand sons blue in the middle of the panels to try and re-establish the base colour or if it's close enough to the box set colour that I can just go straight to highlighting with Ahriman blue

[Firedrake Cordova]

If you're worried about the tone of the blue but like the effect of the wash, you could try painting the wash into the recesses instead? It takes a bit more time, but it would mean that the centres of the panels aren't affected, and you might use a bit less paint, too.  

[Grotsmasha]

15 minutes ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

If you're worried about the tone of the blue but like the effect of the wash, you could try painting the wash into the recesses instead? It takes a bit more time, but it would mean that the centres of the panels aren't affected, and you might use a bit less paint, too.  

 

If you're quick, you can also "clean" an area of wash with a fresh, wet brush.

[Volgon]

To my eye, if you are going for a box art color, I think your blue is close but not quite. Based on your previous pics, the violet wash did a number on the armor color. Definitely more blue than teal now.

 

I would mirror @Firedrake Cordova's suggestion for the rest of the squad: pinwash rather than all over wash. For this guy specifically, should be an easy (if laborious) fix of simply relayering your base color.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Also, if you're using the new washes (in the 18ml pots), the base medium is Contrast Medium, so using that instead of Lahmian Medium might help it cling to the recesses a bit more.

[hd3]

4 hours ago, Volgon said:

To my eye, if you are going for a box art color, I think your blue is close but not quite. Based on your previous pics, the violet wash did a number on the armor color. Definitely more blue than teal now.

 

I would mirror @Firedrake Cordova's suggestion for the rest of the squad: pinwash rather than all over wash. For this guy specifically, should be an easy (if laborious) fix of simply relayering your base color.

 

Thanks for the tips everyone. Yeah, I think for these guys I'll just relayer thousand sons blue without the wash towards the center of the panel as much as I can. 

[hd3]

On 12/11/2025 at 12:06 AM, Firedrake Cordova said:

I like idea of using the crocodile clips to hold the minis

 

So that means they'll turn up the day after the spare parts arrive, then?

 

You were right. Found him this morning on my way back from the post box with my replacement legs.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Tzeentch works in mysterious ways   

[hd3]

17 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Tzeentch works in mysterious ways   

 

I meant to say, the crocodile clips came about because I wanted a way to paint models without touching them but weren't ready for basing yet for whatever reason. Hence why I left a bit of sprue on the foot of each model. 

Edited yesterday at 12:19 AM by hd3

[hd3]

So I stayed up all night and relayered the thousand sons blue in the center of each panel of the armour to bring it back to the original colour

 Once I add the Ahriman blue for the highlights, it should get back to approximating the box art. I also painted in the black legion of the belts and armour seals. Next I'll wash the armour ribbing etc with nuln oil for a little extra definition and add retributor armor over the gold trim which will be followed by reikland flesh shade.

 

I also did a little build work, half of which was for my crusader host project but I also added the missile launcher, hatch and smoke launcher to my Deimos Rhino. I really want to add the extra large legion decal over the roof doors but I have no clue how to get the decal to fit given the crack where the doors open.