Wargames Gallery: Is There Such A Thing As Too Many Lernaeans?

Is there such a thing as too many Lernaeans?

Possibly. Or Not?

Exodus Painted

Exodus was a pleasure to paint! My take on him follows the standard Alpha Legion approach that I've worked on over the years with metallic blue main parts, silver edging, and highlights as appropriate. 

The Instrument is not so picked out here - I was aiming for a plainer approach overall which is complemented nicely with the Armageddon Dunes on the base in terms of the colouring. The decal on the tabard is from the standard transfer sheet. 

For the cape of the model, I decided on something much more original!

Behold a pointillism colour transition! The idea here is straight forward enough. Stripes of colour from black to blue and back again have been done diagonally across the cape. These have then had points of colour from the adjoining colours applied to them to help blend them together. From a distance the effect is beautiful. Even close up, it still works, but it becomes obvious how the transition has been accomplished. And maybe that's how Exodus' technology works: pixels of colour that change like a chameleon. Just my take on the concept anyway. Hope you like it!

Alpha Legion Painted Infernal Master (Librarian or Esoterist)

The Infernal Master from the Thousand Sons provided a good basis for a mini conversion a while back. I've finally got around to painting this marine up and I do like the results here.

What appeals to me here is that we are possibly seeing the corruption of what was a loyal marine into something a bit more sinister. It is a half way house between something that used to exist, and something that will exist in the future. Still enough of a remnant of the past to give a flavour of the Alpha Legion that was (iconography, decals) and what will become (sorcery and Tzeentian corruption). What also appeals that the blue and green should never be seen, and I've made a whole pallet out of the poor colour pairing!

 

Alpha Legion Lernaeans

The final painting post of 2023: Alpha Legion Lernaeans!

Enjoyed painting these up immensely! I have more Lernaeans in the collection that these will join and probably enough for 2 or 3 deadly squads worth. Love the sculpts, and they were a pleasure to paint. 

Lernaean Terminators: Conversion Beamer and Harrower

And just before Christmas, here are two more Lernaean Alpha Legion terminators painted up.

The man on the left is toting a conversion beamer with a power axe. He might or might not get too much use depending on whether I'm thinking of a back line squad, or something much more aggressive.

The man on the right is intended to be the sergeant / harrower of the unit. There's a power dagger hooked on the right of his tabard which in game will generate a handy extra attack -- even with the chain fist that he is wearing. Indeed, the power dagger upgrade is almost always going to be worth taking for a character model in the Alpha Legion. 

Painted Volkite Culverin Lernaean Terminator

It seems like a long time ago since I posted the conversion I did for an Alpha Legion Lernaean terminator toting a volkite culverin! Regardless, here is the painted up outcome ready for the table top.

The model follows my newer approach to the metallic blue for the Alpha Legion (which is to say using contrast paints). This has come out well but is a touch darker than some of my earlier terminators. I can live with that since the Alpha Legion is notorious for slightly different armourial colours and iconography. 

The silver edgings are reasonable, but I think they could do with a touch more edge highlighting as this is lost in the distance. The Alpha Legion icon on the knee is something that I might come back to to pick out in gold as well. Other than these minor issues, I think that this one is safely done and dusted. I'm very pleased with the base in particular which blends in with the ruined Imperial Sector terrain that I own in terms of colour scheme. 

To Whom Does the Blood Belong?

Finally finished painting most of the Lernaean Terminator squad for the Alpha Legion. This particular battle brother seems to have splatters of blood streaking down an otherwise freshly washed and ironed cloth hanging between his legs. The main question is whether this blood is his own, or that of his enemy. And if the latter, which enemy was it? So many questions!

Reasonably satisfied with the paint job here even if the photograph doesn't quite do it justice. The colours are nice and crisp, and the base has come out exactly how I wanted it to, including the tuft of grass that has been squashed by the steel plating falling on to the ground. I will have to photograph the whole squad together at some point!

Lernaean Progress

I've made quite a bit of progress on painting the Lernaeans over the weekend. This marine is just one example of many. 

To state up front: they're not finished yet.

Tasks left to do include, but are not limited to: fine highlights, gun lenses, base shading and highlights as well as finishing, decals, blood for the blood god technical paint accents, and doing something with those white clothes between the legs. 

But regardless of all of those tasks, I'm pleased with the progress made so far considering how many I've been processing in parallel as part of the painting process!

Infernal Master: Alpha Legion Style

A bit of a conversion from the weekend. This is the Thousand Sons' Infernal Master miniature from the plastic range being used as the basis, but with added Alpha Legion resin parts to convert the legion's loyalty.

The shoulder pad is a direct Mark 4 Alpha Legion resin piece from Forge World that I had lying around. The head meanwhile is one of the newer heads - Character Heads Upgrades Set 1. Obviously, I have also converted parts of the miniature in addition to this to remove some obvious Thousand Sons trappings such as the scarabs here and there, and to remove the warp flame backpack bits which really didn't communicate the Heresy vibe that I wanted them to. I've also covered the bit holding the cape on with green stuff to actively get rid of the final Thousand Sons' heraldry. I intend to use a decal to go over the top of this when it has been painted up eventually. 

The idea here is to portray a marine who has or soon will succumb to full chaos affiliation but otherwise heralds from the Alpha Legion. As the legion would later discover, no man can be master of chaos, and as the civil war within the Legion was fought, sides were chosen and lines were drawn between its twin masters despite their otherwise erstwhile unity. 

Exodus -- Assembled

Behold: the assembled Exodus model!

Hopefully from this angle it can easily be seen that the right hand is feeding The Instrument. The level of detail on this miniature is absolutely insane though. Really looking forward to getting some time to paint Exodus now that he's here. 

Exodus -- Unboxing

Exodus -- the one who is many -- has arrived!

And to whet everyone's appetite, here are the parts fresh out of the box!

Let me offer two bits of advice to anyone else who has bought and received Exodus. 

(1) Dry fit the parts before committing to gluing. 

(2) The left arm - the one that is holding The Instrument - is especially painful. Take extra care with this. It really is one of the more fiddly arrangements that I've come across and why the middle of the left arm could not be attached to the instrument or the shoulder is a bit baffling. 

Regardless of the above, I'm really pleased with the level of detail of this miniature. What might not be apparent from the box art is that Exodus' right hand is inserting a bullet into the Instrument, rather than switching the modes on the end of the weapon. This is a really nice touch indeed. 

Although I was sorely tempted to paint and then assemble, I have decided that I am going to do it the other way around. It will mean the inside of the cape remains solid black, but I can live with that!

Hobby: Lernaean Volkite Culverin

Today, a second Lernaean conversion armed with a Volite Culverin, and a chain fist. 

This one follows the same basic approach as the first Lernaean Volkite Culverin. The right arm is in a different pose to the first one and the basic issue with the conversion is getting the wrist of the weapon to sit flush with the terminus of the right arm. In this case, I have pinned the joint to supply more strength. I might yet add a touch of liquid green stuff to ensure that the joint is sufficient hidden for the painting stage, as well as more stones on the base. The handle of the Culverin has had the left hand removed for obvious reasons. It has been shortened, but I have retained the end of the handle which now looks a bit like a sight or a scope light? Meanwhile the left arm is simple a plastic chain fist and the head from the same terminator range. The idea behind this squad is to have them all chain fist armed and ready for close combat or tearing apart vehicles and dreadnoughts at close range whilst retaining anti-infantry fire power.

Hobby: Painted Alpha Legion Xiphon Interceptor

Behold! The might of a fully painted and operational Xiphon Interceptor that belongs to the Alpha Legion!

I wanted to aim for something that looks a bit more battle damaged than the usual affair. The reason for this is that the Xiphon is supposed to be an ancient construct and those that are in existence may have been pressed back into the civil war due to sheer need. I think this particular example shows this well. I have also taken some inspiration from the image of "survivorship bias" that you can see on wikipedia here and that I reproduce below under the appropriate CC-BY-SA-4 license. 

To cut a long story short, there are certain shots on target that won't matter, and others that will. The picture shows the shots that returning planes in real life came back with. The point is not to reinforce where these shots are, but where they are NOT (i.e. on the pilot, engines, and so forth). Admittedly, I have a few shots on one of the engines here, but they're not mega serious otherwise the craft would already be out of action. Instead, I have tried to put most of the damage shots on areas where the craft would be likely to tolerate, survive, and return to base. I think this works overall, and the decals for the Alpha Legion really ties everything together very nicely.

The final confession is that I haven't actually modeled the base yet! Suggestions are very welcome as to what should be on that grand sized oval based!

Lernaean Conversion: Volkite Culverin Terminator

One possible upgrade for Alpha Legion Lernaean Terminators is the Volkite Culverin. The range produced by Forge World only supplies the conversion beamer as an upgrade though. Therefore to create a culverin wielding terminator, I have turned to the heavy weapons upgrade sprue. 

The hard part of this conversion is getting the wrist to sit flush with the resin part of the Lernaean. A lot of filing and dry fitting is required to get the correct angle and make sure that the weapon is not pointed downward which I think would not look quite as good. I have also deliberately selected a pair of legs where the right leg is forward, which felt like the more natural pose compared to the opposite way around. 

Completing the look is some plastic bits from the old bits box and gravel. Overall I am very happy with this conversion and the way it has worked out here. Certainly better than trying to get a Night Lords Contenkar terminator volkite look-alike on the same hand. 

Wargames Gallery: Flight Omega

Flying across an unoccupied part of the battlefield, the Alpha Legion attempts to create air superiority and punish the only remaining ground troops able to skyfire back at them with serious weaponry.

[Aside: still need a touch more paint on this one - as well as the based paid some attention of course!]

Wargames Gallery: Alpha Legion Lernaean Conversion Beamer

Following a harrowing encounter for the enemy, the Alpha Legion Lernaean Terminator positions himself on the upper level of the ruined Forge World building. His conversion beamer takes aim at a target at long range away from himself. 

I think this might be the first time I've actually posted an image of my painted Lernaean Terminators? If so, then the painting scheme follows a typical approach but with some choice locations for Blood for the Blood god added in here and there - most especially visible on the tabard. The base has also been painted to try to reflect the painting scheme of the ruins as well. Not sure what colour the conversion beamer is supposed to be, so I just followed the hint from Forge World themselves on this and used a golden colour that gives a certain antique look to the weapon. 

Painted Alpha Legion Exodus Conversion

Today has been a bit of a painting day. Among other things, I managed to get my Exodus conversion painted up entirely. 

The painting scheme is a new one for me and follows the Games Workshop approach for painting Alpha Legion which I thought was worth a try. Under coat is lead belcher followed by iron breaker and then the critical ingredient of contrast Akhelian Green to create the classic metallic blue colour. The cape was done in browns, ambers, reds, and oranges to create a camouflage style unique to the miniature. 

Rounding off the model is a gritted base covered with a dry brush of bone colour which I intentionally extended to the legs and the low regions of the blown cape to bring everything together. A pair of decals from the Alpha Legion decal range finishes off the right knee pad as well as the left shoulder pad. Overall, I think this is okay for a bit of a speed paint, but if I had more time, I'd go back and apply some more edge highlighting - most especially to the rear of the back pack which at the moment is somewhat muted compared to the rest of the model. Table top ready though!

Hobby: Alpha Legion Exodus Conversion

Exodus is an Alpha Legion character that does not yet have an official model. I have been keen on playing Exodus over the years and have generally substituted a sniper of some description to represent him on the battlefield. Hence it is long over time that I should now create a conversion for him. This is the fruits of my labour. 

For this work, I have used a Vigilator from Forge World as the basis. My one regret in doing so is that I am missing out on being able to apply the Forge World Alpha Legion shoulder pads to him, but it was either that, or use a Head Hunters torso and lose out on the billowing cape that I really liked. Hence I can live with this.

The Instrument uses plastic components from the dark eldar range, pinned on to the resin of the sniper gun that comes with the vigilator. The head is a simple substitute from the head hunters range -- I thought about several of the different heads, but none quite match 100 per cent the sketch of Exodus from the First (or Second) edition rules. 

Overall I am content with this conversion and it certainly communicates a unique character. My only regret will be if Forge World release a model for Exodus in the near future. If they do, I will end up purchasing it regardless and will then use this model as a regular vigilator, or as an Alpha Legion sniper - possibly the saboteur consul. 

Praetor Painting Progress

A pictorial progress report on the Alpha Legion Praetor painting today. 

Clearly there is still work to be undertaken and completed on the miniature, but the painting scheme is really taking shape nicely at this point -- hence the update. Some shading is needed on the silver edging, eyes need to be done, and other fine details attended to. The subtle blues and greens of the miniature are all in place nicely and the claw is starting to look suitably wicked as well. 

Dreadtober Leviathan Contribution

In an effort to not be entirely out-done in Dreadtober, here is my humble progress to date. I doubt that I will get this one finished up by the end of the month, but its a vast improvement on where this miniature was up to by the last time I focussed on it!

Hope that you like it, unfinished as it is.