Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi guys.

I've been an avid GW follower since about 1992, but took a break from the hobby around 2000 and have just got back into it again. I stopped just after the release of 3rd edition 40k, and basically own every boxed game GW have produced, but thinking back I realise I have never managed to collect a fully painted army. The nearest I ever got was in Necromunda, but constant weapon swapping and deaths meant my gangers were never fully finished.

Eight years later and I feel the pull of the warp - I must return to the hobby that gave me so much pleasure as a child! Basically what has brought me back was the Dark Library novels, and finding out that in my absence all these awesome websites and forums have appeared on the interwebs. I particularly enjoyed Legion by Dan Abnett, and I particularly enjoyed following this modelling blog...

Full props to Synapse (and Doghouse before him etc etc) for creating not only a stunning army, but also providing an excellent tutorial on how he did it. His army looks wicked and I want to do my own version.

So my idea is to create a fully painted Alpha Legion 40k army based on the Dan Abnett version of 40k. Specifically I want an army that has both Space Marines and Imperial Guard so I can model the characters that appear in the book. And the Marines will be True-Scale. So like Synapse, I will be using the Deamonhunters codex, with my marines being Grey Knight Terminators.

To start with, my marines will be built from the terminators that came with the Space Hulk game, plus the one I got free with my White Dwarf.

For my first attempt at true-scaling, following the Synapse Method, I am trying to recreate the marine on the front of the Legion novel:



Here is my mutilated terminator:



As you can see, his legs are not quite the same position as the book cover. This is because I use the 'pin-and-hope' technique. The shins were extended by just using bits of sprue, and the feet were built up using the plastic from old bases.

I then started applying the green-stuff...

...and here he is finished:



As you can see, I have tried to create a simplified version of the book cover. This was the first time I have used green-stuff, and you can see how I have bitten off more than I can chew when it came to the chest skull. But overall I think it came out well. It is certainly impressive when placed next to a normal marine.



For my colour-scheme, the book cover shows the pre-heresy Alpha Legion symbol on the right shoulder-pad. Although BellofLostSouls.com have some nice decals, I would have to buy special paper and I couldn't be arsed. Also, I like to try and do all the painting free-hand, because although it doesn't look as crisp as a transfer, I get more satisfaction knowing it is all my work.



The book cover doesn't show much of the left shoulder-pad. So I decided it would be cool if I painted an Omega symbol. So all my Alphas will have the same shoulder pad designs, with squad markings denoted by the head and knee stripes.



After I have done a few more, I might go back and give this guy more detail (like scroll writing on the silver armour, and maybe his B.A. Baracus necklace).

looks good, i like how you have done the bolter and the knee pads are great!

In my own experience of true scaling, the main problem you'll have is what to do with the right power fist arm. You can't have every model with a power fist, so you'll need to work something out, especially if you want models to be holding bolters with both hands. It's a tricky problem, and one I haven't found a solution to. The terminator power weapon arm can be used for that, but that's only one in five.

Also, you have lengthened the legs, which is fine, but seemingly not the arms, or at least not the power first arm. It seems a little too short in comparison to the rest of the model Adding a little bit of sprue above and a little bit below the elbow should sort that out.

get a terminator close combat squad set, the storm shield arms are all missing the hand and you can put a normal marine hand on and a little gs they look great

If you haven't seen it yet, I feel obligated to direct your attention to migsula's true scaled Alpha Legionaire Alpharius. Scroll down a little bit and see his take on the subject ^_^.

Yours is definitely a good start. Looking forward to watching it refine as you progress with the unit!

Nice start and a great selection of subject matter!

I would like to see more wear and tear on the paint job.

AN army of these would be the most amazing thing in the world but just imagine the sise of your terminators

Beowulf: Thanks, this was my first time doing anything with greenstuff, and I started filling out the legs slowly. Then I thought, "This is easy! I seem to be the King of Sculpture! I did the funky knee pads and that further inflated my head. Then I tried to do the skull on the torso and everything came crashing down in flames.

GCMandrake: Good point on the arm. I think it looks acceptable so I'm not going to change it, but I will be trying to keep proportions in mind with my next models. Arms (at least my arms) end with the tips of the fingers about 1/2 way down my thigh. The powerfist on the marine also ends there, so I thought it was fine, but now thinking about how a powerfist might work (ie whole hand inside the 'palm', with the 'fingers' being robotic extensions) I see that really it should be scraping his knees. A tricky conundrum.

da-chaos-orks: They don't call it Tactical Dreadnought Armour for nothing... When my greenstuff skillz improve I might try a termi. In the Legion book they talk about the terminator squad being the 'stealth' unit

grey_death: Thanks. This project is quite a challenge for my current level of converting and painting skills, but how can you improve if you don't push yourself? And thanks for the link...

...to migsula: I am blown away by your Alpha, and have immediately used it as a base for the improved paintjob and hydra design. Since this was a bit of a colour-scheme test, I didn't want to do any weathering etc until I was happy with the basic scheme. I have now done more highlights to the armour so they now have green-tinged edges (which has not come up very well on the photo)



I have now done some weathering so he looks like he is striding through a dusty desert. I'm much happier with the painting now, as he seems more tied to the base, and the highlights make him less boring. I am definitely going to redo the skull, and I might stick a purity seal or grenades to his belt area which seems quite bare at the moment.

What's this? Two more Alphas have just teleported in!



Bolter Guy is my favourite so far. GCMandrake, please note the longer powerfist arm. Also, I wanted to do rivets but I didn't have plasticard, so I have used thin slices of rolled out GS, which seems to work. I have put more detail into the shoulder pads, both the edging making them look more like normal marine armour, and also more detail at the shoulder joint. Also, note the skull on his belt, which was shaved off the Crus Terminus thing when I was filling down his old pad.



Flamer Dude is a fat idiot who I am annoyed with. Basically I think I have mucked up his neck banding a bit, and I am not happy about his weapon. I think I will add a fuel cannister to extend the flamer a bit. This is a shame since game-wise he will be one of the last ones to die, whereas Bolter Guy will be one of the first.

Perhaps you could better use that barehead with the mouthpiece (gasmask?) for the flamer dude to kind of hide the fact that his neck seems sort of missing.

Also, remove the cable/wire/tube/whatever on the first models right (bolter) arm.

So far so good man! Great to see true scale pre-heresy Alpha Legion stuff!

Got any fluff for your units yet? Check my signature, the Alpha Legion have a major role in the Sector's history, especially in it's conquest during the Great Crusade!

I dunno, I kinda like flamer dude. Excellent work man.

Your green-fu is most potent! Fantastic sculpting there! Makes me wonder if you do payed sculpting for others...

great sculpting and fantastic painting, however, thetorso loos a little small still. But nice freehanding

the weathering has come up pretty nice on the first legionare, the second two look good aswll, liking the new power fist guy he looks great, the only concern i have is the gs work on the bolter lets the work down a bit as the rest is great ( the bit where the ammo clip meets the bolter )

What about adding some minor damage to the armour? Scratches and stuff like that, you know from those desperate fools who think they can shoot down such a large armoured figure!

VERY nice.
Exactly what I belive all marines should look like.
Forget the "we gotta run" poses. Sturdy, striding slowly, through enemy gunfire.

Awesome work. The paintjob is top notch as well!

Nice start here, your GS skills are looking pretty good. My only criticism would be all the power fists and terminator weapons (heavy flamer). Makes it a bit too obvious theyre based on terminators if that makes any sense?

Cheers,

Dante

Awesome stuff!

It brings a tear to my eye...

Loyal until the end,

Alpharius

Great progress!!

Hmm is anyone else noticing how tiny the heads look now?

The GS work is great, but the heads are way out of proportion as a result.

GW tends to use weird scales when it comes to their own minis, they tend to give them oversized heads, hands and weapons most of the time, so a smaller head in itself isn't that much of a problem. Only problem is that it's a helmet filled with lots of equipment...

Joyous_Oblivion: Yes, you are correct that the proportions are not perfect, however I am using the term 'True-Scale' as a colloquialism for 'My marines now look like the Games Workshop artwork and fluff, especially when placed next to normal Imperial Guardsmen'. In particular, my guys stand at about 42mm, which is about 8.5ft in game terms. This is big for main GW cannon, but correct according to the Dan Abnett books (eg in Horus Rising, Captain Loken of the Luna Wolves is described as being almost 2.5m tall, unarmoured).
Also, if you look at comic book super heroes, they all tend to be drawn with much smaller heads and big legs (eg superman and batman are often drawn 8-9 heads high). This emphasises their power and heroism, in comparison to the villains who often have larger than normal heads, or big hair. So you could describe the marines I am building as caricatures of the fluff background as oppose to anatomically correct.

The army itself is intended to be a 'count-as' Deamonhunters list, so that when you look at the army you can see the size differences between my Alpha Legion marines (count-as GK Terminators) and the Alpha Legion's normal human agents (count-as Imperial Stormtroopers).

[Spoilers for those who haven't read 'Legion']

Fluff-wise, what I am trying to create is an army that represents 'The Cabal', set in the years after the Heresy. I want to model as many of the main characters in the book as possible, so for example I plan to model Salu Dha, the Cabal's Autarch as my Inquisitor Lord, with his retinue being the rest of the Cabal, Rukhsana and Shere. I will be using John Grammaticus as a Death Cult assassin for smaller 1500pt games, and as a Callidus assassin at larger points.
Much as it pains me to write this, I have decided that the big blue idiot Roboute Guilliman did in fact fight Alpharius himself. So now my Alphas are led by Omegon (thats right, I will have my army led by a Primarch in his "Stealth" Terminator armour). This is why I have painted an Omega symbol on the marine shoulder pads as well as the pre-heresy Capital A.

However, the Ultramarines did not kill Alpharius. Although mortally wounded, the Ultramarines were swiftly driven off and Alpharius was rescued by the Legion's apothecaries.

Question: What happens to heroic marines near fatally wounded in battle?

...Primarch Dreadnought.



Finally, no new model pics at the moment, but younger viewers might like to look at some of the heresy-era paints I am using on my heresy-era army. The black top pots are ink washes from the 'expert' paint set circa 1993, and what is that on the right? An unopened pot of Goblin Green circa 1998??? Surely this vintage will sell for thousands on ebay.

Wow... for your first time using Green Stuff, you did an awesome job. I definatly want to follow this, and to be honest, you couldn't have started a better project to kick back in with if you tried!

darth Fugly: Thanks for the explanation, don't take my criticism the wrong way, these guys look amazing!

alsolutely awesome, alpha legion are one of my favorite chaos armies i would be interested for a full tutorial on how you painted the armour so i can try it out on some spare marines i have lying about

wow i used to have a stack of the round tall paints, and later some of the hexagon ones, its a shame i never kept any of it really as when iwas 16 and gave it up i never thought i would get back into it, had loads of the classics too, would have been worth a fortune now :( :(

About the heads, the smaller the better! GW heads are way oversized, and with Darth Fugly's biggerizing work, they are just about right now - not too small at all.

For my Alpharius, I used a flagellant head which are really small and shaved it further. It is now in line with the artwork, really emphasizing the bulk of the power armor. Just the way I like it.

Joyous_Oblivion (and to everybody): Please feel free to give criticism, it's all helpful because it can be difficult to look at your own models impartially. The question of 'scale' and 'proportion' does crop up a lot on other True-Scale threads; your post was simply the first to mention it - and I used it in order to describe my thoughts on the matter and the general direction I wanted to take the project. It wasn't meant to sound snappish or anything.

Ok here's my Hydra Trio.



Again, because I live in a dark cave the harsh camera flash I use has bled out all my nice pain-staking highlighting on the armour, but you get the general idea. The liquid in the flamer cannister is actually 9 layers of purple ink, giving off an oily purple sheen, but has turned crap-blue for some reason in this pic. I was at a bit of a loss on how to paint the flamer, so it's ended up a hodge-podge of ideas, none of which work particularly well. My plan is to leave these guys as they are for now, and once I've made more of the army maybe come back to give them an overhaul at the end.

For my next lot of marines I will attempt to get the chest plate looking like the middle dude (ie more defined), but with the overall bulk of the bolter dude. However, in general I do not want my marines to be too bulky, because the Alpha Legion is more sneaky than the World Eaters or Luna Wolves, and that is one of the reasons I have gone for a slightly thinner and taller approach.

very nice sir!

they are looking good, if you are having problems with flash then dont use a flash, just a bright light and use the correction on your camera to brighten iy up if the pics are too dark

The metallics seem a bit rough, even a bit undershaded. Try and give them some shading with a heavy hit of badab black and come back with a highlight on the high points above the horizon line. This will give you paint shading in addition to natural shading that will really make the metals look even better.