The Unwinding Coil - Acquisition 042119

[Honda]

First a story...

I started playing 40K back in 3rd Edition. Some of you will remember the heady days of the Eye of Terror campaign and other marvels.

It was a very interesting time in the hobby and I'm glad I was there.

My first army was Alpha Legion. I had a few ideas that spawned off of things like the original Index Astartes article, my general academic interest in counter-insurgency and terrorism, plus stories and modeling.

For the Eye of Terror campaign, I actually registered as an Ultramarine player, realizing that I wasn't as good as most of our group at the time, so any losses I experienced would weigh against the Imperium and further the goals of the Legion.

I had a very fluffy mix of models, mostly built to explore a concept I had and have some fun. As you might expect, I got killed a lot on the table top, but in my mind that was Ok because in my own way, I was furthering my goal.

That seemed very Legion-ish to me.

Times changed, I wanted to do different things in the hobby and work with different armies, so I sold my AL and moved on.

But that initial "coil" of the Legion always stayed with me. I was always curious about them and their concept. As the fluff built up around them, especially from a HH perspective, the coil loosened a little, bit by bit.

Then a couple of what I will call pivotal events took place.

1. I read the most excellent book, "Praetorian of Dorn". Mind blowing ideas from a Legion perspective. I keep reading it over and over.

2. I saw Migsula's own rendition of the Legion. From a modeling perspective, this was everything I ever wanted to see in a Legion force. I was totally smitten.

I'll put the link here, but be careful. You could be bitten by the serpent.

https://ironsleet.com/2017/06/30/defenders-of-the-realm-alpha-legion/

The coil began to unwind.

So this thread will be an exploration for me. I don't intend to build a big army (Famous Last Words #758), but more of a skirmish force that could complement or be attached to another army for whatever reason.

I want to "true scale" the Legion, but will accomplish that by using Primaris as the base model. The models will be constructed to support stories and narrative, not because they are killer on the table.

It's Ok if they are, but that won't be what drives the modeling.

This thread will be about stories. Our group really embraces narratives. Over the past couple of years we've told some amazing stories through our games and it's what drives the 40K in us. I can't exactly say if and how this might wind it's way into our stories, so mostly I will be striving for a stand alone story component.

Then again, who knows. After all, we're Legion are we not?

Modeling:

This is the effect I am going after.

I have absolutely no idea how to get there from a painting perspective. I'm just going to have to figure that out, but that's Ok, That's why I model.

The first effort will be to develop a Headhunter team of five guys. Not sure what they will look like yet, so probably something pretty simple while I experiment with how to get those kinds of colors.

In between that, there should be stories, some old, some new. I intend to resurrect my old fluff and build a few things to support that concept. More on that later.

Originally when I was thinking about kicking off this thread, the title was going to be "Resurrecting Monsters", but eventually settled on something more along the Alpha Legion lines.

Anyway, I am looking forward to this journey, the explorations, successes and challenges.

But mostly I intend to have a good time.

Hopefully you will as well.

Cheers,

Edited April 21, 2019 by Honda

[Calas Typhon]

I am actually really bloody impressed. 

 

That is easily one of the coolest and best looking schemes I have seen painted. Especially with the Alpha Legion. The Primaris models really do make this all that more better.

[Fracture]

Loving the sound of this. I think well those thought out Alpha Legion armies can be some of the best to look at and offer a huge range of conversion ideas. Looking forward to see how this goes.

[Honda]

I am actually really bloody impressed. 

 

That is easily one of the coolest and best looking schemes I have seen painted. Especially with the Alpha Legion. The Primaris models really do make this all that more better.

 

 

Just to be perfectly clear, the picture above are not my models.

 

They are, however, the look that I am striving for, aspire to.

 

They are one of the most inspiring images I have ever seen.

 

The bar is set rather high, but I feel up to the challenge.

[Calas Typhon]

 

I am actually really bloody impressed. 

 

That is easily one of the coolest and best looking schemes I have seen painted. Especially with the Alpha Legion. The Primaris models really do make this all that more better.

 

 

Just to be perfectly clear, the picture above are not my models.

 

They are, however, the look that I am striving for, aspire to.

 

They are one of the most inspiring images I have ever seen.

 

The bar is set rather high, but I feel up to the challenge.

 

 

None the less, what I said stands! Beat it man, you can do better!

[Honda]

Grenadier 89702034917, 534th Corp, 11th Assault Company, Hadrian's Blood Campaign, Pictus Quintus

Last seen in the vicinity of Armory Depot 1118-J which exploded with significant loss of life and 83.4% of the stored munitions. The lack of ammunition stores caused the delay of the final assault by 92 days. After the assault was concluded, onsite forensics determined that the target of the siege, the insurrectionist's Blood Council, had escaped.

Sgt. Ishmael Bartus, Sadr Team 3, Arbites Precinct 1411-A9, Helios Septa

A non-violent demonstration by representatives of Bond Servant Workers Guild was met with extreme force by several crowd control units forwarded by three Arbites precincts. Casualties among the demonstrators were in the hundreds. The massacre of innocents led to a general strike in multiple manufactorums. The halt in the production lines of several critical components required to complete the power plants of Leman Russ tank chassis, prevented the delivery of approximately 400 vehicles to the ongoing campaign on Stellus 9.

The lack of armored support for the assaulting infantry divisions was determined to be the primary reason for the failed campaign. The inability to successfully conclude the campaign allowed the insurrection to spread to other planets in the system. The Stellus Cluster is currently in open revolt against all forms of Imperial rule.

Analysis of vox feeds from several picters confirm that Sgt. Bartus initiated high volumes of fire on the demonstrators. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Alpharius

Alpharius

Edited August 15, 2017 by Honda

[Honda]

Who Hunts the Hunter?

 

 

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. - Gen 3:1

 

 

 

Jorda could feel consciousness slipping away with every heartbeat.

 

<nick>

 

The safety of the forest she was depending on had turned into an orchestra of knives and blood. Each turn or pause resulted in a fresh cut, a little more of her precious lifeblood yielded from rent flesh,  her  assailant <was there more than one?> invisible, silent, and relentless.

 

<nick>

 

Her world reduced by every slash.

 

+++

 

Initially, this mission started out like so many others.

 

Her body was subjected to a multitude of poly-morphine treatments, endocrine washes, and hypno-conditioning. Then something unusual and unsettling took place. When the treatment had completed, her body did not feel like her own anymore, that some other agent was in control. When she questioned the medicae servitor, it merely responded that the accelerated gene therapy protocol had been successfully applied.

 

She had never heard of gene therapy before, but questioning the servitor only returned the same response, "Accelerated gene therapy protocol successful."

 

Before she could pursue her concerns further, an anesthesia servitor injected her with medicants and the edges of her world slowly folded into darkness.

 

She awoke to unfamiliar surroundings.

 

Her entire body was restrained to a medicae gurney. A servitor hovering near her shoulder, stated in a monotone voice that "immobility during the recovery period would be enforced."

 

This time, Jorda was unable to question the servitor.

 

They had done something to her throat.

 

+++

 

When consciousness returned, a servitor declared that the surgery was successful, allowing her training to continue. For a brief moment, she wondered what the consequences would have been if it had failed.

 

During her rehabilitation, she was informed that the physiology of the human throat would not allow her to meet specific operational parameters. The servitor explained that she would be expected to converse in the language of the alien breed known as T'au.

 

Therefore modification of her vocal mechanisms was required. She was told that this assignment required an ability to converse in their native language. Other operational requirements would be revealed later.

 

The surgery bothered her.

 

It was explained that she had undergone an extensive set of operations to remove her human esophagus and replaced it with an alien's equivalent. She never had a chance to ask where the "equivalent" had come from, nor if it should have been placed inside her.

 

The pace of her preparations accelerated.

 

The next day, more revelations came as the bandages on her hands were removed.

 

Her hands had changed.

 

She no longer wielded the delicate, deadly fingers she was born with. Instead a much less elegant four fingered appendage formed at the end of her arm. She also noticed that her skin tone had turned a light blue. Since there were no mirrors present, she could not see how her facial structure had changed, only that it felt... different.

 

Alien.

 

The sound of her breathing had changed. She no longer felt the warmth of her exhalations upon her upper lip. Now when she exhaled, the sound emanated from higher up, closer to her eyes.

 

+++

 

Once she had healed and the transplanted alien voice mechanism was deemed "viable", she began an intense curriculum of Xeno linquistics and mental reconditioning. Soon she began to listen to transcripts of intercepted T'au vox communications to familiarize herself with intonation and vocal cadences.

 

The training was incessant and brutal. There were no breaks. Jorda could not remember the last time she had slept.

 

She was attended to by a cadre of servitors. She never ate, being fed intravenously. She was told that these precautions were to ensure that no damage occurred to her speaking apparatus.

 

No human contact was allowed.

 

+++

 

The next phase of her training was even more unconventional.

 

She was conducted to a softly lit, plain white room. The only contents were a large screen fastened to a wall framed by banks of vox emitters, a chair, a broad shallow table and several microphones.

 

A headset rested on the table before the chair.

 

Jorda sat down, put the headset on and waited.

 

For many long moments nothing happened.

 

Suddenly, the screen flashed, COMMUNICATION IMMINENT followed by one word:

 

LISTEN.

 

She heard the sound of a conversation between two individuals. She did not know who they were, nor understand what they were saying.

 

The screen flashed, CLOSE YOUR EYES.

 

LISTEN.

 

Jorda complied and as if a switch had been turned on she understood. It was as if the two individuals began speaking in her native language. She was hearing their conversation in their language.

 

Slowly, her head began to nod in rhythm with the conversation's cadence.

 

+++

 

Many weeks had passed since that initial session. Jorda no longer just listened to the conversations.

 

Soon she was sending communications and interacting with T'au individuals.

 

The vox screen told her what to say and she obeyed. Her training had transitioned directly to the actual mission.

 

What had also changed was the nature of her communications. Initially, the vox screen would present statements of fact or queries for the respondent to answer. The responders always dutifully complied with the requests.

 

Then everything changed again.

 

The vox screen flashed, TARGET LOCATION IDENTIFIED, followed by a string of instructions.

 

TRANSPORTATION IMMINENT.

 

MISSION OBJECTIVE TO FOLLOW.

 

ATTACH DEVICE TO TARGET.

 

Two images flashed on the screen.

 

The first was apparently a device followed by an arrow pointing at the second. The second was much larger than the first. She noticed that on the side of the target a metal plate was inscribed with the letters "TRD.Z".

 

The last image was a line diagram of a set of buildings along with a highlighted path. After five seconds, the image faded and the vox screen went dark.

 

The door to her room opened to a lighted hall as the lights in her room flickered out.

 

Time to go.

 

+++

 

The infiltration of the T'au compound was surprisingly easy.

 

As Jorda moved through the complex, she sensed a design philosophy firmly rooted in an overconfidence in technology. This allowed her unfettered access to apparently every area of the complex. Along the path she had memorized, multiple encounters with drone/AI security stations occurred.

 

It seemed that as long as she was able to pass what she assumed were 3D scanning protocols while responding to the audio challenge, the armed sentry systems would let her travel wherever she wanted.

 

The absence of organic controls struck her as very practical, efficient, and effective.

 

It was also extremely naive.

 

The Imperium would never have relied on so simplistic an approach in an area as critical as security. Systems can be hacked <had they?>, organizations compromised, operatives infiltrated.

 

Except for the security checks, the rest of her journey was uneventful.

 

Jorda wasn't the only person in the complex. Many T'au were walking on sidewalks or riding on conveyors. She observed almost no interaction between anyone. It struck her as odd, and she briefly wondered what kept a society together that did not interact on a personal level.

 

It certainly made her task much easier.

 

She stood in front of the door where the target was located and mentally prepared herself. When the security protocols finished processing her response, the portal opened and she immediately launched into action.

 

There were three T'au in the room.

 

Banks of diagnostic equipment lined the walls. Other machines orbited the target located on a raised and lighted dais.

 

The T'au looked up from their workstations at her as if deep in thought, expressionless.

 

She charged into the room.

 

The closest T'au died from a strike to its neck, instantly severing the spinal cord.

 

The second dropped to the floor after she stabbed it in the eye with a stylus shaped device.

 

The third T'au fumbled with a data slate, perhaps attempting to call security. Jorda crossed the room and punched through the T'au's chest with her four fingered hand.

 

All this took approximately 2.7 seconds.

 

5.007 seconds later, security blared, presumably as a result of the dead T'au biometric traces no longer being published to their network.

 

No matter, her mission was nearly complete.

 

Next she slowly ejected from her abdomen, a pouch containing the first device displayed in her training. Once the device was attached to the target, she pressed the activation button and stepped back.

 

The edges of her vision darkened, followed by a blinding flash that filled the room. When the light finally faded away, the target was gone.

 

Jorda left the room and retraced her steps back to the compound's entrance. She kept her head down, continually scanning the surroundings within her peripheral vision. Interspersed with the plodding masses, armed security teams accompanied by weapons-bearing drones moved in the opposite direction she was traveling. Multiple squadrons of the weapon drones also sped at high speed in the same direction as the security teams.

 

Exiting the compound had been as easy as entering, but then she paused.

 

Now what?

 

It did not occur to her until now that her instructions did not include any extraction protocols.

 

Stunned by the revelation, she quickly reviewed the plan. How had she missed this detail? Was she not expected to succeed?

 

Moving to avoid thinking about the implications of that line of thought, she traveled in a manner designed to confuse any pursuing forces.

 

Then another shock. Her body would not respond to her muscle commands. She was unable to shed her current form and return to her natural shape.

 

Holding her anxiety at bay, she stopped to formulate a plan.

 

Which is when the first cut occurred.

 

<nick>

 

She never saw where the attack came from. She was only aware that her brow had been sliced open and that she was bleeding across her left eye.

 

<nick>

 

The second cut caused blood to run down her face as well as into her nasal area. Everything smelled like  blood.

 

Her battle reflexes quickly turned her to face the attacker.

 

There was no one there.

 

Jorda ran.

 

After sprinting through the trees for several kilometers, she stopped to catch her breath. She could see that she was leaving a trail of blood. Somehow, she had to get back to her Order and report what had happened. They had to be made aware of what had happened.

 

<nick>

 

Jorda shrieked in pain as the next cut landed directly across the Achilles tendon of her right leg. Using her good leg, she somersaulted back into some nearby brush, rolling down a hill. Each impact elicited a grunt of pain.

 

She had to escape.

 

Keep moving.

 

<nick>

 

Unwilling to give up, she pulled herself along the ground, since neither of her legs functioned.

 

<nick>

 

It would not be much longer now...

 

<nick>

 

...she was bleeding out...

 

<nick>

Edited August 19, 2017 by Honda

[Honda]

Errold Grige, Laborer, Aurelius Prime

Pict capture of suspect disembarking from Hold XII of the labor pool transport Sargento on the planet Aurelius Prime at the spaceport located in the capital city, Aurelia. The significance of the ancient time device and the missing left hand is unknown at this time. Suspect appears to be experiencing elevated levels of discomfort and therefore is believed to be Patient Zero.

A suspect named Errold Grige is believed to have boarded the Sargento (xref. O-4243088.3 see attached ship logs) and after a three month journey to the Aurelius system, disembarked. Shortly after the placement of the new labor volunteers (approximately 45,903 individuals), a previously unknown pandemic swept through the population, completely overwhelming the local medical infrastructure in 41 days. With an incubation period of approximately 15 days and a mortality rate estimated at 93.8 percent, the city of Aurelia soon became a ghost town. Because the labor pool replacements had been required on the planet's surface as well as orbital locations, the pandemic quickly consumed nearly the entire population in a very short period of time.

Hardest hit were the naval personnel stationed at the Fleet sector base, Apogee-9.

Shortly thereafter, [unidentified faction] Chaos raiders invaded the Aurelian system and the combat ineffective Imperial naval forces were incapable of preventing the traitor's acquisition of the entire fleet and infrastructure.

The Aurelian system is now considered hostile to all Imperial naval traffic.

+++

I wanted an image of Errold to go with the outline of the above story I jotted down a couple of days ago. The Dark Vengeance chaos cultists are pretty decent base models to work with, though you do need to clean them up a bit. After that, I dug through my bitz bags and located a suitable head (Empire Flagellant) and from there it was a matter of changing how arms were posed and adding some GS for extra fabric bits.

As he was supposed to be disembarking, I envisioned him carrying all of his belongings in a couple of bags and just let things go from there.

When I get to painting him, hopefully soon, he'll be pretty drab looking, with pasty tones in his skin as he's supposed to be very sick.

Alpharius

+++

I've always wanted to put a sniper rifle in PA hands. This seemed like a really good time to do that. As part of my "true scaling" effort, i.e. using the Primaris marines for that effort the one thing I didn't want to do is use the Primaris helmets. I love the helmets, but I also wanted to shift away from the visual of the Legion just looking like another Primaris chapter.

As it turned out, I have 20 Mk V helmets from <somewhere> and that sort of is the number of Legion warriors I thought I'd build.

My initial concept is still to have "core" of Legion troopers, who are then supported by many operatives.

Cheers,

Note: Looking back at Errold's pics, I see mold lines on the hour glass and the back of his right arm, so Yay for me, more touch up needed.

[Honda]

The Iffriete

Planetary Governor, Yakob Brunzoni awoke from a troubled sleep.

His left hand throbbed with a dull ache and it was difficult to move his fingers. Waving his right hand in the air, motion sensors turned on the room lights.

While looking down at his hand, he saw a small child sized bundle perched on his bed.

Except that it wasn't a child.

A child's eyes blink.

+++

Like a lot of people, I had one of those free goblin figures that came with WD a long time ago. I always liked the figure but really didn't know what to do with it. I'd seen some pretty amazing conversions, mostly AdMech influenced, but I wanted to do something different, something that would fit in with my Legion concept for operatives.

So I settled on an assassin, kind of a creepier Yoda, but more obviously reptilian. So he has split toes and a large tail. But he also needed some kind of weapon. I settled on a double kusarigama as I figured he could use his gekko toes, cling to the ceiling and then slice a target's throat.

My primary concern though was to not have him look too cartooney or cute. So to that effect, I will try to put this kind of scheme on him...

I think if I can pull that off, he'll look kind of deadly looking. Not sure what color his clothing should be just yet, though whitish comes to mind first.

Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.

Also, additional operatives continue to manifest themselves.

Cheers,

[Excessus]

Nice Honda! And yeah, Migs Alphas have always been on point!

[FuriousFerret]

I love the little guy, but until I read the text, I was certain he was having a go with semaphore flags. ☺

[Honda]

Errold Grige, Laborer, Aurelius Prime, Comercia District 9

Note: This image was captured after the suspect had disembarked approximately 53 hours previously. It is not clear whether he retains any functional eyesight.

+++

So, I finally was able to get some color on Errold. I wanted something drab, but not so muted that he looked like a colorless blob. The orange work suit seems to helped with that. The head is still WIP, but I'm happy with the overall effect.

Originally he had the hourglass attached to him, which cam e off while I was drybrushing. It was supposed to infer that something was going to happen, as if he were some sort of herald.

What do you think, should I add it back on or is it more of a distraction?

I'll let him sit for a bit while I get started on the Iffriete.

Also, basecoats have been applied to the first head hunter team.

Cheers,

[Honda]

Updates:

So it was time to jump into the pool and start swimming. To that end, I began doing some color research, first applying color to a primered piece of card, then to a test figure.

From there I was able to determine that I wanted to primer the figures in black and then work my way up from a light coat of VMC Sea Blue to a mix of Sea Blue and Light Grey (990).

Not bad, I like the end result, but there will need to be a fair bit of recess work with washes and what not. Still, not too bad.

I also made some progress on the Iffriete:

Cheersssssssss,

[Honda]

Update time: I finally decided to try and figure out the scheme for the AL Headhunter cell. After a lot of experimentation with my two dummy figures, I settled on a base of VMC Dark Sea Blue, working VMC Lt. Grey into the zenithal "moonlight" highlighting.

All in all the color is close to what I was envisioning and once I got the recesses deepened and a little paint chipping on, I'm a lot happier with the overall effect.

There are still areas that need some work (e.g. eye lenses), but now that I have a general idea of what things are supposed to look like, I can start on the rest of the troopers.

I've also started on the bases.

This shows the bases after they've been primed black, then drybrushed with P3 Pig Iron, followed with some Vallejo weathering powders to rust up the metal.

Visually, I'm thinking I'll need to tone down the "orange" effect, which may get handled when I add sand to the bases and some lighter ash powders. We'll see. I don't mind how the rust complements the armor color, but I want a slightly softer contrast.

Cheers,

Edited September 17, 2017 by Honda

[deathspectersgt7]

Looking Good Honda !!!!

[malika666]

Oooh, very interesting!

[KBA]

Great start. Your colours and those bases will go lovely together

[Stercus]

This is all very cool indeed.

[Honda]

Ok, another quick update on Longbow. I feel like I'm pretty close on him and I'm happy with how the bases have turned out.

So, I'll let him sit for a day or so and just look to see if I have anymore touch up areas and get him on his base.

Bases: After applying the rust powders, I glued sand/cat litter to the open areas and let that dr. Then I painted the sand a dark brown (craft grade paints) and then applied Vallejo Ash Grey. I kind of like the effect.

Next up is getting started on the rest of the Headhunter squad.

Cheers,

[sockwithaticket]

Camo on the weapon is great and I really like the little lizard boy, came out very well. Are the arbites based on Anvil's Afterlife models?

[Honda]

Camo on the weapon is great and I really like the little lizard boy, came out very well.

 

 

Thank you good sir! Originally, the sniper weapon was going to be all black, but after looking at it a bit, the gun kind of faded into the background. Now it seems to stand out a bit without overwhelming the rest of the model.

 

little lizard boy,

 

 

Hah, I'll have to remember that. I've also made progress on his robes, so he should be making an appearance again before too much longer.

 

Are the arbites based on Anvil's Afterlife models?

 

 

Actually, they are Puppetswar.  I stumbled on them while perusing sites for SWAT type bits and liked how they looked. What really makes them attractive for this exercise is that they are more of a "true scale" representation, so they allow the scale of the Alpha Legion to show and they will also integrate well with my FW Elysians, which are also proportioned correctly.

 

Cheers,

Edited September 21, 2017 by Honda

[Honda]

+++ I am Alpharius +++

[Blindhamster]

great work, really nice muted scheme and weathering. Love the bases too, very clever ideas in them.

I think if you're aiming for the colours of the first post, you probably need to push the contrast a little more, but its definitely a good start!

[Honda]

I think if you're aiming for the colours of the first post, you probably need to push the contrast a little more, but its definitely a good start!

 

 

Hmm...that's an interesting observation. I'm working on a 5 man team that will most likely end up looking very close to this.

 

However, the next 5 man squad will use VMC Light Green Blue as the "moonlight" color, but per your comment, it seems like I ought to make more observable jumps between the base to highlight in order to get that contrast.

 

Noted and I will make that change.

 

I do like how this scheme turned out, but will try your suggestion. I think even with the green as the highlight, I can still bring them together so that the squads look like they belong together. It might be as simple as mixing the figures in a squad.

 

Thank you for that input.

Cheers,

[Blindhamster]

I think it looks great regardless, which is why i lead  with that observation :)

But if you want something like the reference image, I'd suggest pushing contrast a bit more (it'll also make them more noticeable on the tabletop - something I myself am only just coming to terms with the idea of).

I'm fairly sure the reference ones were done with an airbrush in a similar way to how LutherMax does his stuff - so might be worthing dropping Luther a PM for advice on airbrushing if you fancy giving it a go (I'm terrible with airbrushes)