Hello and welcome to my next hobby project! I always run at least two projects at once for variety (sometimes more), and while Horus Heresy wasn't intended to begin quite yet, an insane friend gifting me Age of Darkness for Christmas really shook up my plans as I simply couldn't wait to get started. My 40k Space Marine project is all but complete so I feel comfortable committing to this one, and just as with my Tyranids, I am posting only finished models online and therefore the thread feels more appropriate here rather than in the blogs subforum.
In 30k first edition, I dabbled in Word Bearers, but fell off at some point around a decade ago. For 2.0 I am starting almost from scratch (a few units will survive and be repainted and/or be used as allies) with an Alpha Legion traitor force, designed to complement and oppose a dear friend's Iron Hands. I have stocked up on plenty of conversion parts and the outlook is good, the Narrative is being Forged™ and I am optimistic.
As is tradition, my first unit of a new project is always a basic troops unit. Usually a project will involve a lot of these, so I want to make sure it works well, and if something goes wrong it's better it does so on the rank file. And of course, the fancier models are good carrots to keep you going!
In this case, the basic troops unit is simply a Tactical Squad. Several upgrades from the box, but very little in the way of conversion parts used just yet (they will set apart the elites later), aside from sculpted pauldrons as pauldron transfers are a foe I've yet to conquer.
The basic scheme is based on the scheme used by 'eavy metal. I do not have the same level of technical skill, as 'eavy metal relies on complex volumetric highlights for depth, but nonetheless the basic mix is similar. I am working on finding the perfect blend I am happy with myself - the unit here uses only the first 1:1 mix (heavily thinned, two layers) and eschews the Ultramarines Blue, but I mean to experiment with more blue on future units.
Overall, I am very happy with these, and their completion a couple weeks ago convinced me to go full steam ahead. More to come.
I almost didn't want to post this model because it isn't really up to my standards and I don't want to muddy the borders between this and a P&M blog, but it is still finished and I felt it is part of the story.
This Rhino proved shockingly troublesome. The mould lines were poor for such a modern kit (2022), the fit along the floor and where the exhausts slot into the side was exceptionally terrible, and there was even flashing the likes of which I'd never seen outside of large Forge World models. The gaps at the exhaust tips were not nice either.
The painting part also brought me down to earth - this project is based on using contrast mixes, and despite many hours of trying, I could not achieve a smooth finish on such large surfaces with a brush.
So after years of defiance, I threw in the towel. I ordered an airbrush and will use it later in spring for the rest of the tanks. Let's hope I can at least do Contemptors without - I certainly have no intentions of using it on infantry!
Anyway, here is said Rhino. It's really not much to see, but it's part of the story, so in it goes. I want to make transports feel like they match their intended cargo, so I painted the Legion armourial the exact same way, and added prominent "tactical" arrows to match that other transports and units might not necessarily have.
It's not a fridge. It's a light box with benefits.
They look cool. I have the feeling the blue is not as metallic or rich as the tac squad though.
Really enjoying your work ?
Really amazing work. You're going to have to give us a run down on your basing. A few people have commented, including me - it looks really interesting and makes the model pop so well.
Comparatively, I prefer the first batch of AL paint schemes. They are slightly more green-blue than the Terminators.
Zambro wrote: Really amazing work. You're going to have to give us a run down on your basing. A few people have commented, including me - it looks really interesting and makes the model pop so well.
So when it comes to basing I often subscribe to the idea that more is more.
You can make up for lack of skill elsewhere (and I don't think I am all that skilled at painting - I am just growing increasingly experienced at hiding my lack of precision and other flaws) by piling on more stuff. In this case, the bases are made of five elements:
1. Stirland Mud all over.
2. While the Mud is still wet, stick little grass tufts in, liberally but scattered.
3. Patchy Astrogranite applied in small piles (ensuring to get plenty of texture and rock formations) in various places, including right up against the tufts. Dab it on nice and heavily.
4. Apply PVA glue with a trash-brush to various places on the base where there are no tufts, then dip the base in suitable basing material (I use Green Stuff World "scatter foliage", which looks less like fallen leaves than I hoped, but at least decently looks like forest floor). Leave to dry overnight, then shake of excess material back into the tub.
5. Apply Valhallan Blizzard (I actually prefer it over my GSW snow for this) to patchy areas, especially to the tufts. Not too much in any one place, though! You want "the first snows of autumn" vibes, not big snow drifts.
In between steps 3 and 4 I applied Agrax Earthshade (old, as I thankfully have lots of it and it colours more strongly) all over the non-tuft areas, then drybrushed the Mud very heavily with Mournfang Brown and the rock with Dawnstone. After all else is done, I paint the base rims black, then apply AK ultra matte varnish to the rims and Stormshield to everything else.
Nice and easy steps individually, but by applying some time and variety, it becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
Future units will feature other elements as well. Part of the army is moving through a woodland, but part of will be crossing from the woodland into the edges of civilisation, or will be walking past rusted ruins.
Today... Dreadnought! I made this one very plain as I imagined it to be a Contemptor-Cortus (maybe it'll get rules again in the future?) As a side effect of that, at 9 hours this is certainly the fastest unit I've ever painted. Lovely kit!
Brilliant.
Your Hydra on the models is excellent, the basing is fantastic, the metallic blue is so nice.
If I was going to do Alpha Legion, THIS would be the template.
New entry today. A trio of Alpha Legion characters! In order it's a Champion, Armistos and Master of Signal, left to right. This was more of a challenge and less clean than the Dreadnought but I am happy.
Decided to try something very different for my recon squad. My first idea was to mix in some greys or blacks on the regular scheme but I felt that would tread on Destroyer toes.
So then I saw this in Extermination: cameoline, Astartes active camouflage coating, in its passive mode.
It's very very black, but I gave it a shot anyway as it definitely makes sense for Alpha Legion recons. How did I do?
I did suspect it might come across that way - it's difficult to nail this kind of black on this kind of scale.
If it's any comfort, while I did spray prime the models black (it seemed sensible enough), there's very little of the black primer still showing in the end result. I began with thinned coats of Black Templar to unify the finish and cover where the primer missed, then went all over with Abaddon Black as the darkest colour, before gradually mixing in more and more Gal Vorbak Red (and Corvus Black to control the saturation level, and even some Mechanicus Standard Grey near the end), working my way upwards to the final hue layer by layer before picking out some details like the power cabling with pure Corvus Black.
As the scheme's inherent point is to minimise contrast, it does end up being sort of contradictory in that sense - how do you get it to not look flat when it's meant to?
Still, even if it was a failure, I am glad I tried. I think if I did this again I'd try musou black for the really black-black areas, like the joints. Here I used pro acryl coal black for them, but it's just not black enough to pull off the void black in the reference picture, in the end.
It's been a while. I got an airbrush and toyed with it, and while I can see it being useful, for my tanks I didn't get any result I was happy with - so I figured I may as well keep using the brush. And that is what I did! The three tanks I had built and primed I did the blue on by hand, then shelved two of them to finish later as scheduled, with the third being finished now! Sicaran Venator, truly a lovely kit.
I'm interested to hear why you didn't like the airbrush? What was the finish that you didn't like? Are you completely new to airbrushing?
That's right, completely new to airbrushing, though I had a friend (who does airbrushing) come over and help me get started.
What I hoped to get out of the airbrush was a quicker way to do tanks with my contrast paint mix, and with a more even finish than I could get with a brush.
Unfortunately, I found that the airbrush felt very weak, consumed paint voraciously if I wanted a solid coat, and the paint still didn't dry evenly. So I returned to brushwork as, while it has drawbacks, it's also more convenient.
I will still use airbrush for other purposes. I have a Titan I haven't finished as it's quite daunting to do with a brush, but experimenting with my airbrush (and using solid colours, not contrast) gave very promising results.
The next unit! To think I built these ten years ago and they hid in the pits of my cellar until now. Grudge settled!
10 years ago me did a shoddy job on the cleanup and barrel drilling but I tidied up and now they are as colourful as they deserve to be. I adore the models, truly, even if painting those tiny recessed eyes is a right menace. But it's good I adore them because I still haven't painted the 10 from the Age of Darkness box!
A friend showed me a bunch of leaked Liber pages from the preorders today and while I won't break the rules by telling you what I saw, it's definitely heartbreaking. But we steam on, don't we? There are always things we can do even if worst comes to worst, like fan rules or continuing with second edition. We will see! Regardless of what happens I don't plan to stop painting any time soon.
Time for the medical staff! Two Apothecaries and a Primus Medicae, ready for the field.
Just as with the Cataphractii last time, the Primus Medicae here was dug out of the cellar after being forgotten for ten years - hence the somewhat janky conversion (and awful barrel drilling). Still, I think he's found redemption now that he's painted at last!
Also, guess who shaded their armour studs and left them to dry and forgot to thin the shade paint first? Yeah. I, uh, am going to quietly hope no one looks at the MKV guy too closely! On the other hand, the MKVI guy I am very happy with, I think he's got my best white cloth yet.
Sometimes, we're our own worst critic. They look amazing to me! Your whites are crisp, the models are characterful, and the detail makes the model interesting. And extra kudos for getting something out of the pile of shame finished!
Plasma TSS up next! I am replacing this darker blue (also seen on above MKV Apothecary and Tartaros) with a different recipe later as I think it's a bit too dense, but I am rounding it out first with this unit and their transport (soon done - I did most of the blue on it a while ago).
You might wonder why they all have orange beaks like Donald Duck, but it's in a fact a canon scheme:
That I thought would look nice to set my support squads apart from everyone else.
The plasma is an experiment. This is a simplified version of Duncan Rhodes' method, and it's not bad, but I don't think I've quite "struck gold" yet like I did with the melta earlier.
And a second Rhino, to bus the plasma boys above around!
I tried a different approach to the lanterns this time, but I think the old one was better - this unevenness might work better if there had been an actual flame in there, but experimenting's the way forward.
Veteran Squad done! Their potential third edition entry papers may say "Centurion Command Squad" but don't mind that. Must be a clerk error.
This is the first unit where I feel photos really doesn't do it justice, especially around the eyes, weapon grips and power weapons. Maybe it is about time I look into a better setup than my phone camera in a fridge...
So by my schedule, next up was a character trio again: two centurions and a librarian.
But I didn't reeeeally feel like painting so much cloth. So I rejigged the schedule and treated myself with the first of three Praetor models. (All the same guy, different loadouts).
...And I was reminded that my planned conversion has a massive cape which means loads of cloth. Oops.
Well, here is Harrowmaster Minerva in all his glorious... erm... glory! So named for an ancient deity of war, wisdom and victory - his homeworld has long forgotten anything else about that figure of old Helac myth, but he liked the name enough that he kept it throughout his life as Astartes (when not looking to deceive, at any rate).
Yes, my favourite Elden Ring weapon is the guardian swordspear. Hey, I think it looks neat like this!
Closing on the first anniversary of the AL project's beginning, this might be my last unit of the year!
I have loads of points but I only now have two compulsory troops (as recons and TSS are support squads). Oops? Well, there'll be more to come, and our 2.0 campaign is very far yet from finishing!
Zambro wrote: More great work. What is the format of the campaign?
I won't go into too much detail lest I stray offtopic and incur the wrath of the mods, but in short it's a fairly freeform campaign (since it's just me and my main opponent, who primarily plays Iron Hands, so we can pretty much do what we want) battling over Cyzicus, a system that attempted to declare independence only to be caught when forces from both sides came to lay claim to it.
Currently the Alpha Legion hold the advantage, but it's far from over! We play sporadically when we feel like it.
Okay, actual last unit of the year! I had a Spartan basecoated back from the same botched airbrushing experiment where I prepped my other two last tanks, so I finished it up.
Yes that frontal hydra symbol is messy... it's not very visible in natural light (especially as the mess is mostly in the recess, which the symbol itself actually protrudes over) so I didn't even notice until the exaggerated photo lighting. I will go back to tidy that up later, but I think it's quite good for now, and worth posting!
Old Forge World Alpha Legion doors! While this project's start was kicked off by a generous christmas gift from a friend almost exactly a year ago now, it's been long in the making. I snapped up a bunch of Alpha Legion-pertinent resin before it went out of production.
Jetbikes! Another lovely kit. In all: 5 hours 20 minutes on mould line and sprue gate cleanup, 1h15 assembly, and 18 hours painting not counting the primer.
With this I've done four full sequences of the army (troop > vehicle > elite > special > character/s). Time to paint something else for a bit... and then I'll be back, for there's much more Alpha Legion to paint!
Yes, believe it or not, this Skyshield Landing Pad is part of my army! I've not checked 3.0 yet, but in 2.0 this monstrosity is a 75 point fortification that's a solid competitor in the "worst points for money" contest, and is pretty bad just in general, being very fragile and only really providing improved deep strike on top of it.
It is, however, very cute. And shockingly big! So much so it didn't really fit on my paint station and I had to do much of the painting in my lap. The paintjob is sort of rough, but surprisingly enjoyable, and I think more terrain may be in my future.
Trivia: this abomination has something like 56 lanterns. Yep, I painted the ones on the underside too. FML. But now we're back to form!
Here's a new unit, actual OG resin Tartaros restored to glory!
These guys are super interesting. Their scale is essentially identical to the plastics. I love the more expressive posing on these, though the plastics coming with a sergeant so fancy he can double as a centurion is a nice perk.
The most interesting change though is the hip. It makes the resin ones feel a lot bigger than the plastics even though it's just because their hips are so wide.
What made the OG Forge World designer decide that these suits are worn by Pixar mums I can only guess at, but hey, I am not judging. The Emperor's plans are truly beyond us.
Though not intended to be the same character, I was heavily inspired by Archontas Origo for this one. I find it interesting that it is the AL of all people who have been depicted using the Relic Contemptor (though during 30k it's not become a relic yet, I suppose) but since I had the model, I am not complaining!
Contemptors are always a joy. And so, so fast to paint, since they aren't very large.
Because I am clumsier than a Charonite trying to tie his own shoes, I managed to drop Exodus and smash his antenna to absolute smithereens, so that is why I had to emergency repair it with a Nuncio-Vox antenna instead. His rifle barrel I also couldn't get perfectly straight again... but he lives!
Blazing through it right now. Let's hope the momentum keeps up!
Yes, it's quite deliberate that there's just 8 of them this time. Can you guess why?
While this is the least used of my AL scheme variations as I think the blue is a bit too dense, I settled on it to match my other TSS (alongside a Legion icon in silver). And the bronzed bits are a canon scheme!
What do you think Graviton Cannons sound like? In my head they go shwumshwumshwumshwumBWOOAAAMMMMM
I really really enjoy these models. I could easily see myself getting more Rapiers later for a big battery, so I converted one crewman to a gunnery officer to lead however many guns I end up having. In-game he just counts as a regular crew, though.
I tried out pure Kroxigor Scales for a change instead of my other usual mixes. I have to say, I really like the blue-greenish hue. My beloved fridge "lightbox" rarely lets me down, but here I feel like it actually did, so I snuck in a bonus picture in daylight (hanging out with the plants) to show the colour better.
Ah, the Green Stuff World has quality stuff.
I was hoping it was a nifty diy tech I could attempt.
But it does look really good ngl.
I do have Green Stuff World leaf punchers and punched out some leaves, but they do not look as good as the ones you have.
Perhaps more testing is still needed on my part.
Spoiler:
I punched out when it was fresh yellow (not dried)
And as they dried they turned brown (in the bottom right tray section)
Thank you for sharing your work, it is eye candy! very clean and crispy work.
Ooh, this one was done quick! It helps that I basecoat my tank hulls all together so I just have to do the rest once the individual tank gets its turn.
This one is painted in my darkest blue mix to match its passengers, my tactical support squads above. I don't quite like this blue mix as much on a vehicle as I did on infantry. It's so intense and thick it ends up looking a bit flat. But I am glad it matches its cargo. I'll try it on a dreadnought later and see if it's a nice middle ground, but otherwise I'll try my other mixes for my future tanks. And today I had nice daylight, so no fridge pic needed! Yay!
On the other hand, I got a small heart attack from my gloss varnish. I don't know what's wrong with it, I shaked it so much but it kept creating this insane texture like sand dunes on the tank. It took many, many layers of my matte varnish to get the tank hull looking decently smooth again...
