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

[hd3]

Chosen are almost done, I'll add more photos once finish the last few touches. I also FINALLY based my sorcerer with accompanying grey knight basing trophy.

 

Incidentally, Fabius and his chosen brick led 'the last surprise' to a double header victory today. Including avenging the loss of Harmony in the legion wars by taking down Abaddon. Thank you Fabius enhanced Chosen and pactbound zealots undivided rerolls!

 

P.S

In the Roman empire, if a general killed the enemy warlord in single combat he was entitled to the '

spolia opima' the highest ranking war trophy. Fabius didn't 'quite' face Abaddon in single combat but he did get the killing blow after all the chosen had fought and won me the match. Now I kind of feel obligated to make a second mutant to follow him around waving a tattered black legion banner with the symbols crossed out.

 

I've also included a few photos of my entire Alpha Legion army I assembled today. Everything fully painted on one table.

Edited May 9 by hd3

[hd3]

Tidied up my chosen though the vexilla needs more work. I went with casian flesh to Kislev to ushabti bone and nuln oil for the banner. Then thinned goregrunts for the skull and runelord brass for the casing on the rods. The laurels are thinned warp lightning.

 

Just the vexilla, decals and varnishing and then I can finally start on my long awaited contemptor.

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

I really like the colour you're getting for the armour

[hd3]

I put the decals on my chosen and tidied up the black trim on the base.  Then I was finally able to make a start on my Contemptor dreadnought. I used my normal blue mix here with the same metallic paints for the servos and joints etc. as the Leviathan and Abaddon black for the shoulders and knee pads. Next I think rattling grime for the runelord brass parts of the servos and maybe sponging on some eshin grey along the black flat part of the chainblade to help try and hide the scuff marks.

 

 

P. S

 

I realized now actually I maybe should have put the chain links on the power fist instead according to the alpha legion squad markings guide.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 18 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

Looks like good progress.  

 

A couple of them are out of focus, because the camera's Abominable Intellect decided to focus on the print, rather than the model.  Maybe it might be better to use a sheet of printer paper next time?  

[hd3]

1 hour ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Looks like good progress.  

 

A couple of them are out of focus, because the camera's Abominable Intellect decided to focus on the print, rather than the model.  Maybe it might be better to use a sheet of printer paper next time?  

What? You don't want to know the local news of northern Japan????

 

But yes, I'm going to replace these as soon as I can. These were taken in a rush as I hurried out of the house. Honestly it makes me want to get a digital camera and spare myself the headache. Or makes it a rule that I only post photos monthly from the light box at my club.

Edited May 15 by hd3

[The Pounder]

Well, I think they’re great!

 

The metallic blue is sublime and is perfect for Alpha Legion.

[hd3]

5 hours ago, The Pounder said:

Well, I think they’re great!

 

The metallic blue is sublime and is perfect for Alpha Legion.

Thanks so much!

 

 

I stayed up all night and finished my Alpha Legion relic contemptor dreadnought. I just used the same colours as my Leviathan Dreadnought except for the hydras on the torso which are corax white, space wolf grey, corax white dry brush and Fenris grey spot highlights along the hydra underbellies.  I used a 60mm sector imperialis base to help keep the ruined industrial look. Its important to me to try and keep the basing scheme as consistent as possible so the marines all look like they're part of the same battle. (Cult marines being the exception since they're a different army.) The alpha legion resin upgrade was honestly horribly overpriced but it really does add so much detail compared to the blank plastic torso. Plus now I can use the plastic contemptor chassis as a basing trophy. I'm thinking I'll use the aquilla version and paint it as an EC dreadnought that's fallen.

 

I'm mostly really happy with this and I have REALLY wanted to paint this model for ages. One thing I realize looking at this model though is that I also REALLY need to improve at doing red eye lenses. I'm not satisfied with this red negative space look. I though maybe gold with blood angels red contrast might give me a look closer to an eye lenses but still be easy?

 

 

Now I just need to add the decals and I can varnish my Contemptor. Next it's time for the random character grab-bag of my last Lernaen terminator, chaos lord, chaos lord with jump pack and warpsmith.

[hd3]

I've started on my miscellaneous character pile. For various reasons, the terminator lord, dark apostle and (REDACTED) can't be started yet. So for now I'm doing my final Lernaen terminator whom I was finally able to get a second arm for over a year after the rest were finished. I'm also doing my chaos lord which is a legion praetor with sword from 30k. However I swapped in the Alpha Legion officer helmet because frankly it was more thematically correct and fancier than the praetor helmet. 

 

 

 

The chaos lord with jump pack is a kit bash. I used a raptor arm and plasma pistol with a primaris intercessor shoulder, a CSM skull emblem shoulder, 30k assault squad sergeant body and the left over fancy helmet from legion praetor with axe/master of Executions. I'm quite proud of the fit with the  tactical rock which I recycled from one of my possessed.

 

Finally, my warpsmith is from the dakkadakka STC (STL) store 'scylla legion' range which I thought looked much more alpha legion appropriate than the GW model. I did make some concessions though, I added a left over shoulder with the cog teeth trim from my havocs to make him look more like a standard marine. (He lost his right shoulder pad in a skirmish evidently. ) And a CSM plasma pistol I had left over. 

 

These have all followed my normal leadbelcher spray, Tamiya bright silver, gloss varnish, nuln oil pre - treatment and today I applied the first coat of my 2:1 talassar blue/aethernatic blue mix.

Edited May 19 by hd3

[hd3]

Finally attached the decals and varnished my contemptor. I  went with the command variant of the hydra for the left shoulder since the regular hydra and alpha/Omega are on the chest. I guess this guy was a senior office before he got interred. The right shoulder has the honoured ancient squad marker while the knee pads are the mysterious sigma honour mark? And a text which I think is an excerpt from a pre unity tragedian text about the folly of hubris in seeking immortal legacy. I also added the hazard stripe to the chain fist which I think I may just make standard protocol. 

 

I also tried something new, adding chain decals to the fist itself which is suspected in the legion markings guide to be a rank indicator with each link in the chain denoting a degree of seniority. 

 

 

[Kommisar_K]

Wow. Been a while since I checked this thread. Gorgeous work being done! The contemptor is awesome. Assembled army looks great too. The blue, the osl... just amazing.

 

Out of curiosity: any thoughts on the future Solomon Akurra mini? 

[hd3]

1 hour ago, Kommisar_K said:

Wow. Been a while since I checked this thread. Gorgeous work being done! The contemptor is awesome. Assembled army looks great too. The blue, the osl... just amazing.

 

Out of curiosity: any thoughts on the future Solomon Akurra mini? 

 

Thanks! I appreciate that.

 

My considered opinion has always been that each of the first founding legions should get a named epic hero and perhaps a specialist unit to bring them into parity with the loyalist first founding legions.

 

Akurra is probably going to be a black library character though I would bet. But hey, a quick head swap and I finally get a named character. I'm surprised they've taken this long to release him honestly given the author confirmed the mini in the forward to ghost legion. Hopefully he'll be out soon.

[Nagashsnee]

Great looking army, nice to see alpha legion, contemptor looks grand too. 

[Doghouse]

Really nice stuff, especially loving that army shot.

[hd3]

Made a proper start on my Warpsmith! I used the normal ironbreaker for the trim etc sand black legion with nuln for the armour ribbing and seals. The tabard is Vallejo neutral grey while the shredded tunic is mephiston red with black templar thinned down by contrast medium. I really wanted red to feature prominently somewhere as it's the traditional colour of mars/tech-marines. I figured the chest tunic was a good choice because it looks like it's been torn away to reveal the alpha legion beneath. Its just like them to sneak a tech marine onto mars to get training by lying about it. 

 

The plasma pistol is Abaddon black with iron warriors and runelord brass as is the hammer. Next it's plasma coils then highlights ! I think I'm going to have to figure out how to do some battle damage on the hammer to cover up the printing deformities.

 

 

I also blocked in Abaddon black over the leather and cloth details for the last Lernaen and chaos lords to help dull down the shine a bit hopefully. 

Edited May 30 by hd3

[hd3]

I applied the blue to my Deimos rhino at last. This is the first time airbrushing a large model instead of brushing. I think it went a little heavy on the dark blue. The scale work in the doors may need a new downward  silver highlight too.

Edited May 31 by hd3

[hd3]

Finished the warpsmith! I used evil suns to highlight the cloth in honour of sacred mars, my usual green plasma formula and castellan green with nuln oil for the thunder hammer. I used a techmarine decal for the shoulder. I figured if the alpha legion bothered to sneak this guy onto mars for training, he's probably going to keep a visual reminder of that. I also used white scar and gryph hound orange for the slits on the top of the melta tendril. The head is courtesy of grotsmasha.

 

I've also cleared up the trim on the Lernaen with ironbreaker and added runelord brass for the icons.

 

 

Edited June 8 by hd3

[hd3]

I've blocked in more of my Lernaen terminator. Same as his fellows, it's xv88 for the leather straps, gor grunta then agrax. Flesh tearers for the eye lenses and runelord with agrax for the emblems. Now he just needs highlighting and to add metal at the tips of the straps.

 

 

I also started my hellbrute. I went with the autocannon and the fist load out.

Because there's so much daemon flesh AND armour on the hellbrute, I used Tamiya grey primer and Tamiya matt black spray. Then airbrushed ironbreaker over the armour before I tidied up the daemon flesh with Abaddon black to keep it non metallic. 

[hd3]

The last Lernaen terminator is almost finished. Just needs the black trim on the side of the base and a quick spray of varnish.

[hd3]

Quote

 

 

I finished the base on the terminator and started on my chaos lord/legion praetor (sword). I've tidied up the trim with iron breaker, blacked out the leather with Abaddon black to reduce the shine.  For the tabard I used Vallejo royal purple with a black templar wash thinned down by contrast medium. Next I plan to highlight with more royal purple and then daemonette hide.  Finally khorne red around the neck cushioning which I plan to wash with carroburg crimson.

 

Edited June 13 by hd3

[hd3]

Mostly finished the main body of my Lord/praetor though I'm serious starting to think my worklamp is bad for these photos. 

 

The aquilla is brass scorpion and agrax, while the filigree and sword hilt is gore grunta fur that has been really thinned with contrast medium then dry brushed with necron compound/highlighted with runelord brass respectively. Then blood angels red in the gem/core. The power blade was a little new experiment, thinned down layers of kroxigor scales followed by a bit of aethernatic blue in the patches and then stormhost silver on the edges and tips to help hopefully give the impression of a power sword just activating now. 

 

After I finished I realized the tactical rock and the other foot would leave my lord standing askew on the sector imperialis base I prepared. So I grabbed a little tactical rubble out of my bits box and improvised a new base that makes him look like he's standing astride the debris. I plan to go over it with pro acryll cement texture paint later.

 

 

I went with retributor armor for the poeer

[hd3]

The chaos lord is mostly finished. I abandoned the glow on the power sword, it looked too similar to the armour. I painted the base in pro acryll cement texture paint though I found it really hard to produce a completely flat surface. 

 

The pistol is my normal volkite formula though I think I'm going to go back and add a spit highlight of canoptek alloy to differentiate it a little. 

 

Also the grey cable casings on the arm and the power pack definitely need a spot highlight of administratum grey.  Next it's the helmet. 

[hd3]

Finished the helmet with castellan green for the cresting serpents. I needed a slight highlight so I mixed more castellan with white scar then drybrushed it. I also discovered that the right eye lens has a hole in it which makes keeping the shape and detail clear really hard. So I just used blood angels red contrast.

 

I've got the same problem as the axe praetor though as the head kinda sinks into the torso.  Might be forced to use the helmet included in the kit and use this head for someone else.

[Grotsmasha]

A small blob of greenstuff/modelling putty under the neck with give the small lift you need

[hd3]

2 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

A small blob of greenstuff/modelling putty under the neck with give the small lift you need

 

Will it stick to the sides of the neck cavity?  And am I ok to put super glue on top of putty to get it to stick?