The Alpha Legion warband of Thorfinn The Bloody Furious.

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I am currently working on another unit of cultists.  Over the last couple of years my cultists have become more like Traitor Guard and less like the first 10 miniatures out of the box painted as cultists!  I am increasingly interested in making a proper traitor army using oldhammer models, and less interested in using whatever models are to hand to make a meatshield to go alongside my Alpha Legion marines.  Of course, if I stop making that side of the army, I might as well try a different flavour of Chaos Space Marines too.  And lo! it was decided that my Alpha Legion army was complete

The next twenty or so photos show off this army in its completeness.  I’m pretty pleased with it, but there are some problems.  First of all, and most obviously, quality control.  Included in this army are many of the earliest miniatures I ever painted and so the quality of painting is simply pretty low (even by my standards).  Secondly, I never found an Alpha Legion colour-scheme that I was entirely satisfied with, so there are lots of variations on blue-with-green-and-silver-trim.  Thirdly, the style of the cultists is all over the shop.  Early in my painting hobby I liked the idea of the cultist gangs being a mix of soldiers, civilians, mutants, human chaos champions and magicians, etc etc.  So basically it was a bit of an anything goes, lots of fantasy miniatures with guns.  Later on I decided that this style wasn’t really working and so the cultists became a bit more themed, with only the odd mutation here and there.

Less talk and more pictures.  At 6th ed. prices there’s just over 4000 points here.  HYDRA DOMINATUS!

 

The whole army - mutants and assault squads to the front, cultists next, then CSMs, with the bosses and the artillery at the back.

The whole army – mutants and assault squads to the front, cultists next, then CSMs, with the bosses and the artillery at the back.

 

Tsunami of mutants!  The eagle-eyed might spot a genestealer hybrid in there.

Tsunami of mutants! The eagle-eyed might spot a genestealer hybrid in there.

 

CSM Assault!  Chaos Terminators, Chaos bikers, and loads of (incredibly hard to paint) Possessed Chaos Space Marines.   I'm also very pleased with the Vindicator with it's dragon skull on the barrel.

CSM Assault! Chaos Terminators, Chaos bikers, and loads of (incredibly hard to paint) Possessed Chaos Space Marines. I’m also very pleased with the Vindicator with it’s dragon skull on the barrel.

 

Chaos Rough Riders!  My first conversion work, very rough but you gots to learn somewhere.

Chaos Rough Riders! My first conversion work, very rough but you gots to learn somewhere.

 

Frenzied Mutant Mob!  You can see how I just threw everything in there.  I've now decided that if I've got a couple of Dark Elves they can be part of a ROC warband rather than a 40k one.

Frenzied Mutant Mob! You can see how I just threw everything in there. I’ve now decided that if I’ve got a couple of e.g. Dark Elves they can be part of a ROC warband rather than shoehorned into a 40k one.

 

Possessed and Vindicator

Possessed and Vindicator.  Both are very differently challenging models to paint.

 

A dastardly psyker and his cultist retinue.

A dastardly psyker and his cultist retinue.

 

A Sentinal, piloted by a crazed cultist.  I love these egg-walkers!

A Sentinal, piloted by a crazed cultist. I love these egg-walkers!

 

A commissar has turned to chaos.  Oh such heresy!  His quad include an Heroquest elf and a Blood Bowl Chaos Cheerleader!

A commissar has turned to chaos. Oh such heresy! His quad include an Heroquest elf and a Blood Bowl Chaos Cheerleader!

 

Another Chaos Sorcerer and his bodyguard of foolish cultists.

Another Chaos Sorcerer and his bodyguard of foolish cultists.

 

Alpha Legion Tactical Squads.

Alpha Legion Tactical Squads.

Uncle PusHugs, my Great Unclean One.

Uncle PusHugs, my Great Unclean One.

 

Big Moo.  Big Moo is a Chaos Spawn, made huge and idiotic and deadly by the warping power of chaos.  I really liked painting and converting this model.

Big Moo. Big Moo is a Chaos Spawn, made huge and idiotic and deadly by the warping power of chaos. I really liked painting and converting this model.

 

"DIE YUPPY SCUM"

“DIE YUPPY SCUM”

 

The Bosses: Muriel The Cancerous, Great Megarhyssa, Thorfinn, and the Slimequeen.

The Bosses: Muriel The Cancerous, Great Megarhyssa, Thorfinn, and the Slimequeen.

 

Thorfinn and the Slimequeen, beloved of Nurgle!

Thorfinn and the Slimequeen, beloved of Nurgle!  The bunker behind is a card Battle Bunker from White Dwarf magazine in about 1994.

 

Mark IV Chaos Dreadnought.  One of the first miniature I painted!

Mark IV Chaos Dreadnought. One of the first miniatures I painted!

 

Chaos Sorcerer Magdi and his familiar Vissel The Possessed.  Confession time, Vissel is a conversion that came in a lot I bought on ebay and i liked him so much I didn't touch him.

Chaos Sorcerer Magdi and his familiar Vissel The Possessed. Confession time, Vissel is a conversion that came in a lot I bought on ebay and i liked him so much I didn’t touch him.

 

More Chaos Space Marines.  I love the early Rogue Trader Renegades and in the next army am going to try and increase the ratio of early CSMs to modern ones.

More Chaos Space Marines. I love the early Rogue Trader Renegades and in the next army am going to try and increase the ratio of early CSMs to modern ones.

 

CSM Chosen from the Dark Vengeance box-set.  Fantastic models but this is a shonky paintjob.

CSM Chosen from the Dark Vengeance box-set. Fantastic models but this is a shonky paintjob.

 

 

 

 

 

Colonel Clichy’s ‘C’ Force!

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When you’ve got a task and only the best will do!  If no-one else can get their man and kill the baddies!  etc etc.

The last few weeks I have been painting up the Last Chancers.  Col. Shaffer’s Last Chancers were a late 90s WH40k gang that allowed you to recreate movies like The Dirty Dozen, or play Action Force “GI Joe” with your armies.  The idea was that this squad were hand picked by a tough old Colonel from a bunch of prisoners, picked because of their unique skills, and were offered the chance to embark on a suicide mission (or be executed).   Each character isn’t really a character but an action movie cliche.  Especially the two women, “Warrior Woman” and “Rocket Girl”.  I guess being female is a character trait in Nottingham.

I really enjoyed painting this lot.  I put a lot into it, and whilst my critical eye sees now lots of things I could have done better, I’m still very pleased with them.

 

Clichy ad Ox

‘C’ Force

 

Rocket Girl  and Brains

Rocket Girl, Brains, Shiv

 

 

 

Scope, Demolition Man, Rocket Girl

Scope, Demolition Man, Rocket Girl

 

Hero and Warrior Woman (I am particularly pleased with her neon orange legging!

Hero, Warrior Woman (I am particularly pleased with her neon orange leggings), Grease Monkey

 

Grease Monkey and Animal

Grease Monkey, Animal, Fingers

Battlemasters Goblins!

Golly, it’s been a while hasn’t it?  Since I last posted I’ve completed a couple of squads but I’ve not been happy enough with them to post pictures.  Here’s the first complete thing in ages that I’ve been relatively happy with.  It’s a tray of Goblins for a Chaos warband.  Not perfect but they’ll do!

 

Gobbos

Squad Nisista: Steel Guard 2nd Company V Tactical Squad

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I know a lot of the Oldhammer fans don’t approve of the whole Insignium Astartes thing, seeing it as a way of dictating how you paint and play.  For me though I enjoy trying to get the squad markings right!  It has an added bonus that you don’t need any further markings to work out which miniatures are a squad, so that if they get mixed up there’s no guessing what toys go together! When I first started painting I used coloured splotches on the bottom of the bases to indicate which marines went where, but as I became more confident and started painting squad markings I found that there was no longer any need.  Of course, I couldn’t tell you why it’s important not to confuse Marine With Bolter A with Marine With Bolter B, but there you go.

This latest squad means that I now have painted (and named) 9 out of 2nd Company’s 10 squads.  One more tactical squad and we’ve got a full company.  Expect that sometime this year :p

I’m pretty pleased with this squad.  Slowly I’m getting better.  I reckon I’ve done maybe 500 of my 10,000 hours – the 10,000 hours you need to spend on something to become a master!

Squad NisistaUp close

Space Orks boxset

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I bought this off ebay the other day and thought I’d share a few pics with you.  This is, of course, the plastic Space Ork boxset.  My ostensible reason for buying it was that it had lots of half used sprues and I’m always on the look-out for old Ork arms and weapons at a reasonable price!    But the lure of the cardboard box helped too.  I think I bought a few of these when I was a kid.  Much better value than the lead miniatures, though to my adult mind the plastics aren’t anywhere near as good.  I’m painting a couple at the moment and they’re not as fun to paint.  Because they’re not as detailed they’re actually more challenging to paint well (especially for someone like me whose still an enthusiastic amateur).  Still, they were dead cheap and enabled you to bulk out your squads really well.  they contained more weapons and arms than you needed so you had spares for your bits box, and the sprues were full of pouches, grenades, armour, spades, binoculars and all sorts of things that you didn’t really use but were considered essential to the full experience.  Enjoy the pics of the packaging!The contents, painted.  Warhammer 40000 boxed setsSpace Orks!Information about Ork families

Is this orc famous?

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Evening Oldhammerers.  I found this orc standard bearer in a small collection I bought.  It’s a bit good, isn’t it.  And faintly familiar.  That could be the style though.  I haven’t yet decided whether to strip it, but before I decide I’d like to know if anyone recognises the paint job and banner?  Maybe it was in a white dwarf or rulebook, maybe a golden daemon entry.  Or does it just look like a particular orc from WD?  Help me out here!

 

It's beautifully painted - but is it an Oldhammer artifact?

It’s beautifully painted – but is it an Oldhammer artifact?

Battle Masters Chaos Warriors

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I recently tracked down a copy of Battle Masters from ebay.  My brother had this back when I was a kid, and we got plenty of games out of it.  I don;t remember painting any of the models back then, so this is all new to me.  The models aren’t great, but are fairly typical of one-piece plastics from the early 90s.  My favourite is the Ogre – I’m going to keep on buying BM Ogres until I’ve got a small regiment of them!

As BM is a good game, I have decided to keep the miniatures as BM playing pieces, which means affixing them to the large green plastic bases.  I’ve painted these to a basic standard (even by my basic standards) but I hope that it’s good enough.   In order to imply that they are Nurgle worshippers I have given then a dull green trim and dark green cloak.

 

Battle Masters Chaos Warriors

Alpha Legion Tactical Squad Mead

Good afternoon,

Been a long time since my last post, slow time for painting.  As you probably know by now, my favourite Chaos Space Marine Legion is the Alpha Legion.  I love the fluff, I love that there is much that is contradictory, and lots of space to fit my version of them into the 40K universe.  They’re also a bugger to paint!  I’ve tried lots of different ways, so my Alpha Legion warband is a bit hit-and-miss in terms of colour schemes.

I decided that I wanted to paint a squad of Alpha Legion that hadn’t yet been touched by chaos.  The Alpha Legion never went to the Eye Of Chaos, they have maintained at least one warband in realspace for ten thousand years, recruiting secretly across the years.

As usual all the figures are second hand, reclaimed marines from ebay.  I’ve stripped and rebuilt where I can but a couple remain in odd poses!  It’s all part of the fun for me to try and salvage them.  Most of these are 00s plastic marines but there is a single RTB01 marine and an early 90s metal Devastator there for Oldhammer goodness.

Devastator! Run! RTB01 Marine Trooper Alpha Legion tactical Squad Mead

We Can Rebuild Him!

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This little guy is a Chaos Thug that I was sent to rebuild by a nice chap on the Oldhammer forum.  When I received him, he was an arm and a leg down, and his sword was long-gone too.  Someone had started the process of chopping off his other leg as well.  So I filled the saw-marks in his thighs with green stuff, then raided my bits boxes for replacement parts.  For each limb I laid out a selection of suitable parts, then put the decision into the hands of the chaos gods and rolled a dice to see what he ended up with.  So his leg is from a plastic chaos space marine, his arm is a plastic zombie arm, and the sword blade i think is from a plastic skaven.  I gave him the best paint job I could – it’s hardly golden demon standard but I’m quite pleased with it.  I think the skin tone blending is a bit too subtle though.

Chaos Thug Rebuild Chaos Thug Rebuild

Legion Of The Damned

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In search of a new project having gotten tired of painting grey Space Marines, I opened a copy of White Dwarf for inspiration.  White Dwarf number 98, I think.  Featuring the first iteration of the Legion Of The Damned.  In modern WH40K LOTD are flame-wreathed ghosts, using melta and flamer weapons.  In their first version they were much simpler – normal marines, albeit pale sickly ones, who had painted their armour black with scary flame and bone logos.  They had an awesome death frenzy special rule that meant that as long as there was another enemy within 4″ they would keep on killing.  So I decided to paint up a squad according to the list given.  This meant ten marines, armed only with bolters except for one special weapons marine.  All black armour decorated with flames and bones.  Any skin should be sickly and warp-tainted.

How did I do?  Painting black and getting subtle highlights was tricky – I drybrushed it in really dark greys.  Painting flames was tricky too – they look alright from a distance but are pretty laughable up close.  But painting bones and skulls were really hard.  Still, i figured that the bones and skills weren’t meant to be photo-realistic!  I enjoyed this challenge and will be doing similar again in the future.

Currently on my painting table are a rebuild project – i was sent a tatty damaged Chaos Thug by a kind poster on the oldhammer forum and am rebuilding it and painting it.  I have also decided to stay in the past, and am painting up Pedro Cantor and his squad as laid out in Rogue Trader: The Battle At The Farm.

 

I've tried to use a good mix of miniatures from different eras.

I’ve tried to use a good mix of miniatures from different eras.

Lovely old Doom Eagle marine.

Lovely old Doom Eagle marine.

Standard Bearer