Noserendas Pre Heresy Alpha Legion

[Noserenda]

<Edit 20/5>
Well, the first stage of the army is complete, and has caned through the Great Crusade admirably...


But Ofc that just means more to build! The Horus Heresy is coming in September, and ive got me a tasty Traitor ticket...

<Edit 17/12>
The Concept for this army remains unchanged throughout, but the models? Well, the army has effectively gone through 4 Codexes (2 Marine, 2 Chaos) since inception, and a few models got chopped after tabletop performace (I needed more powerfists!). Currently the Army is heading to the Tempus Fugitives events detailing the Heresy Era, although thats only the focus from Page3 onwards.

So yes, read on. And PLEASE comment, even if its criticism. Silence is soo much worse!

On bear in mind, there are definitely Legion spoilers throughout...
<>

So, in an effort to motivate me a bit more to actually finish one of my projects im gonna run a log on my Alpha Legion, seeing as they are the coolest army im currently working on.

The Concept is an early period army shortly before the Heresy, which allows me to use a few armour variants as well as the standard MkIV because variety is always nice.

Originally the army was based on the old Chaos dex, but as I wanted to add a sniper squad, and an all infiltrating army is impossible in the new dex, I switched it over to the marine Dex and the army list im currently using is floating around the relevant forum.

I should probably mention my design philosophy too, whilst I love the Heresy Era I am not a particularly "pedantic" modeler, so whilst the a Helemts and Chests will be correct (And I f I ever do Mk 5 or 6 the shoulders too) Re sculpting fifty kneepads would probably make me flip out and murder anyone who didnt notice them. Im also not sold on the (To my mind) utterly random assumption that anything Rogue Trader era is Pre Heresy. Ill use the models I like for bolters and such and I prefer the newer ones on marines. (guard is another matter entirely!).

Anyhow, seeing as black models are nigh on impossible to photograph (By me anyhow) in any detail, heres what ive done so far in plain plastic and resin...

My Commander


I went for the double ended Power weapon a)For a bit of Variety and b)Because I had a buttload of mutilated Power swords lying around looking useless at the time. Its stright in reality i swear, its just that rear photo which makes it look skewed...

And his command Squad

A command squad is essential for two reasons, a)Its fluffy for Alphas not to have lone characters wandering around, they live and die as squads after all. and b) It means he can Infliltrate (Muahahahaha).

[Noserenda]

Continuing with detail shots of the Command Squad...
My Vet Sergeant, who looks far more dramatic than my commander o.O

My Apothecary, who doesent quite look the part yet, hes got some gubbins on his belt which are difficult to see, but paint should make his role more obvious... (I used most of the Apothecary parts on my Ravenwing whilst this was a Chaos army... Doh!)

And a couple of regular Vets, the Twin Bolt pistol guy is a personal Fave of mine, and I do Love Meltaguns..

[Noserenda]

Another Meltagun for extra Armour cooking, and a guy tossing a grenade to phys rep their Frags (And look cool)


Next My assault Squad, still in Mk3 for its superior close in protection.


And detail Shots...
My Sergeant, Originally my commander had a jump pack and lead this squad (In the chaos list) which is why this guy is in a "deferring" posture, but its still one which kinda oozes menace (At least the fist does...)

[Noserenda]

The guy on the left was for a bit of Variety, checking the Auspex to see where all the damn infiltartors are! I added flamers to give a bit of punch against Hordes, and I like burninating things...

I kinda imagine the guy on the left Strafing left as hes firing here. The Right guy used to be a (Terrible) Autocannon conversion, who got the Commander old Jump pack and an assualt armament when id had enough of its badness. He has a hand flamer for extra burntness.

The Left hand guy is the twin of the above, but hes diving right! And this flamer i wanted firing down to catch all the buggers in his cone.

[Noserenda]

Next Up! Tactical Squad 1 (With Extra Plasma goodies)


And Detail Shots...
My Plasma gunners, for some reason I could never make the guns sit "perfectly" on these two, but eventually conceded I was after some illusionary Zen Plasma stance and went with these...

Bolter guy #4271 and the Squad Sergeant, I avoided Veteran Sgts wherever plausible in this army to keep the Anonymity theme the Alphas have, but I do love the idea of Sergeants waving the men forwards with Chainswords...

[Noserenda]

My knifemen! Both of these guys have Knives with your sentries throats written all over them...


And Finally (For Now) My Devestators, Originally still in Mk3 because they were the Amy's Veterans (Infliltrating Tankhunters ftw). Now they just Infiltrate, oh and forgeworld bits are awesome, but im too poor to clothe an entire army in em! Why Missile Launchers? Well i have hundreds from previous armies (Im not a fan of Heavy weapons in Tac squads, except cheapo Heavy Bolters) and when they were tankhunters they were cheap, well now theyre flexible at least o.O


And in Detail
The Guy on the left is mid reload, but the pic doesent show it well, and another Chainsword waving Sergeant (Although he'll hopefully never use it...)

[Noserenda]

The Left most guy kinda illustrates the "Vet" look i was going for in the squad, looking grizzled as all hell, and alos carrying spare missiles like any good bolter boy in a devastator should. I imagine the guy on the right is examining his handiwork, and liking what he sees.

These are my Favorite Pair in this squad, the Left hand guy came together perfectly (so im guessing im gonna botch painting him) and the Right guy a)Has my favorite Mk2 helmet and b)Is righteously going for his sidearm, which is always cool.

And finally, well, another meatshield/ammo carrier o.O


As for the next stage... Ive already picked up the sniper squad, im just considering what to do with them, id add shoulder pads, but I love the camo cloaks... Im thinking of using Mk5 Stylee helmets (A light helmet later used a a basis for Mk5 maybe?) but ill see how that looks, the heads may be waaaay out of scale...

Then ofc ive got to undercoat the lot of em, that just means finding my sprays (God I hate moving house).

[Cheatah]

Looking good!

*insert random motivational text*

[doghouse]

Looks like a great start so far mate! Look forward to seeing more.

[anselminus]

The association of various armors produces very well, deeply the painting

[VERITAS/AEQUITAS]

It is a great start. I like that you tried to stay with Mk.4 and 5 as well as the first Mk.6 Powerarmours. But why did you absolutely stay with those when you are mixing the legs wildly with Mk.7 parts (those with kneepads)? Not enough Mk.6 ?

[Darkseer]

You were lucky to get those old jet packs. They're long OOP!

Lookin good so far

[Noserenda]

Thanks for all the encouragement so far guys! Ive gotten by scouts together over the weekend, although getting the camera off my mate will probably take long enough that ive gotten a few painted by then

As for the legs... Well, tbh whilst there are some differences between the various types of armour's legs I went with the decision to largely leave them aside from some strimming and inappropriate stars. The chests and helmets largely define the models, the knee pads seem a lot of work! (Extra respect for those that do them though!).

Also, Mk6 is my fave armour mark, and a majority of my 40k era marines wear it in complete suits, cutting down the number of spare bits I had I had originally planned a "Siege of the Emperors Palace" era Worldeater army, although that might be an idea for another time... Mind your Worldeaters are a popular choice, Alphas are a bit out of left field.

[Ventris_Fellstorm]

Whoa! I just fell in love with how the commander looks! All the other models look nice already at this point.

Now go onto painting them!

-

[GWvsJohn]

Where can one get those resin helmets on the command squad?

[VERITAS/AEQUITAS]

Originally Posted by GWvsJohn

Where can one get those resin helmets on the command squad?

forgeworld's red scorpion squad...

[Noserenda]

Just a quick update...

I have been working on the army, but getting a camera to prove it continues to prove troublesome

The Commander and first Tactical Squad are painted, and ive mostly finished my Terminator squad, just need to do green stuff on em.

But, a couple of questions for you folks out there first...

1. How should i be basing the army? I was originally considering a basic "brown field" approach, but now im considering "Martian Desert" so I can sling my Tech guard on as reinforcements for bigger games and not look silly. Or Possibly arctic, but I do hate snow flock What do people think?

2. Tanks, ive aquired a couple of Rhinos and a Whirlwind and seeing as ive got little use for APCs I was thinking of picking up a FW kit to spruce up at least one of the Rhinos. The two i had in mind were The Damocles Command Rhino or the Hyperion AA Whirlwind variant.

My problem is, I have no idea what these two do, or if they are effective enough to be worth my money (Im poor ) Especially the AA tank as my mate has a Valkyrie based army which it could be potentially very useful against. Obviously dont post their rules, but a summary is ok isnt it?

Ofc if both are a bit choz ill order some pred sprunes.

[Brother Loki]

Hey dude.

Can't answer your question I'm afraid as I don't have IA2.

Have you built your snipers yet? If not, I have a suggestion. All the Heresy era artwork of recon squads shows them as fully armoured marines with sniper rifles. I don't think the legions used scout armour in those days. Maybe you should look at building power armoured snipers and simply counts-as?

Just an idea. These are looking great, I'm looking forward to chopping them up with my wolves.

Pete

[AbyssRaven]

For basing i wouldgo with some city scene textures.
One of my favourite alpha legion fluffs is from the IA. where they allow the rebels 7 days to build their forces in the city. then anhialate them in afew hours.
I always saw alpha as more a city scape fighters then desert/barrens where there is little to control and infiltrate!

[Noserenda]

Originally Posted by Brother Loki

Have you built your snipers yet? If not, I have a suggestion. All the Heresy era artwork of recon squads shows them as fully armoured marines with sniper rifles. I don't think the legions used scout armour in those days. Maybe you should look at building power armoured snipers and simply counts-as?

Yar, I did contemplate it for some time, and magled more than a few helmets trying to get an armoured look but eventually just went for a de-aquillaed basic squad, who are now proving very frustrating to paint

Originally Posted by AbyssRaven

For basing i would go with some city scene textures.
One of my favourite alpha legion fluffs is from the IA. where they allow the rebels 7 days to build their forces in the city. then annihilate them in a few hours.
I always saw alpha as more a city scape fighters then desert/barrens where there is little to control and infiltrate!

Hmm, thats a thought, think I might go with a dusty frontier kinda Urban effect-ee.