Alpha Legion Command Elements

Alpharius' sons gather near Lake Superior...

Painting at the lake has been a little slower this year than last, as the summer distractions at the cabin have been getting the better of me - a nice "problem" to have.  Nonetheless, a few figures have been completed or, as in this particular case, mostly completed.

The "bling" checklist is filled in full by this commander. Cape? Check. Fancy pistol? Check. Silly sword? Check. Couple of parchment seals to certify general awesomeness? Check.

This is an assortment of command figures for the XX Legion forces.  There is a standard bearer, two body guards, an apothecary and a champion-type figure which I can use either as a Centurion or as one of the many different variants for "consuls", like a Legion Champion, Delegatus, Herald etc.

Better view of the gear on the apothecary, ready to provide top-notch "medical care" for fallen battle brothers...

Standard bearers are silly anachronisms for the gun, tank and artillery-filled battlefields of the 31st millennium, but I just love to have these crazy things for my Space Marine Legions.  In particular, I felt the senior commander I had painted for my Alpha Legion forces seemed like the sort of fellow who would have a standard following him around as he traveled about the war zone in style.

In the 30k lists the standard bearers are always accompanied by two "chosen" Legion Marines, presumably to protect the bearer on the battlefield etc.  You can give them spiffy guns, so I dug into the bits box and gave each of them a combi-weapon, basically a bolt gun with an added one-shot special weapon.  I think one of them has a plasma gun, and the other is a flamer - those will provide a nice extra jolt to anyone who gets too close to the standard carrier.

It's the Alpha Legion! We have a banner in case you forget!

These figures are a blend of plastic Mark IV kits, the plastic Space Marine Command Squad from the current 40k range (which will be cancelled as soon as GW finishes rolling out those appalling Primaris Marines) and Alpha Legion upgrade bits from Forge World.  I like that you can mix and match all the various plastic components and it was fun to put them together. I'm particularly fond of the upgrade bits for the Alphas, as the helmets are really quite cool, and many of them are "beakie" style.  I was sure to use "beakie" custom helmets for the officer - to match the pimped out cape, after all...

Another view of the apothecary and one of the "chosen"; I just love the specialist accent bits from Forge World, they add a ton of character to the figures, and are pretty addictive...at least on the apothecary and the standard bearer you can really see the customized chest plate.

These had been sitting primed for some time in my huge "pending pile", as I had sort of run out of momentum after finishing a big chunk of my initial Alpha Legion forces in the winter and spring.  It was fun, however, to finish these off and have them ready for a game this fall. 

I say these are "mostly" complete as I managed to forget a bunch of my Alpha Legion decals back in Winnipeg.  I applied the larger ones I had on hand, but the spots for the smaller ones will wait until I return to the prairies.  So for now you can see the gloss-coat base I have put under the decal areas (or areas intended for decals) and I will apply the matte varnish after I get back to Winnipeg and finish off the final few decals.

Just a few more decals and a coat of matte spray and these fellows will be ready for action!

This little assortment of troops will just about "round out" the infantry forces I have for my Alpha Legion collection - it works out to about 45 figures in all at this point. They now require some vehicles to help them get around. That is something I'll try to get to later this summer or into the fall.

Old Goulais Bay as seen from my kayak - Lake Superior was nice and calm that afternoon!

Up next are some more troops for the XVI Legion, the Warmaster's own! But in the meantime, as you can see above, more relaxation at the cabin too.  All the best from Northern Ontario