Proceeding from where I had last left off, the next big part of project: possessed was to cover the various legions. While not as well known as the cult legions, these guys have a very strong history in the 40k universe, and are just as important as their zealous brothers.
The Dragons: Alpha Legion
I remember when I was first playing 40k, one of the guys in my club had an Alpha Legion army. It was a pure demon bomb cheesed out list (good old 4th edition with the 3rd edition chaos codex), but it was a pretty and well presented demon bomb cheese list. He wasn't the best painter, but he could make his models clean, and he always had a little something extra to help his guys stand out. Easily the most memorable model in his army was the greater demon, a model he represented with a hydra from a different range. Just seeing the multiheaded beast was enough to give an inexperienced player (ie: Me at the time) a healthy dose of fear.
I see this model as a loving tribute to those days gone by, a respectful nod to the army that crushed my poor Ultramarines time after time. The one thing I really wanted to draw on was the hidden beast in the Alpha Legion history, the darker side that always stayed hidden. As well painted Alpha Legion marines have the dragon scales carefully embossed on their armor, I figured the transformation was a fitting one. The original plan was to have multiple heads, but in the modeling stage I determined it would be too much and cut the project back to a single head.
This is a very important stage that many hobbyists skip over. You've got your custom model all cut and ready to paint, all the fits are perfect, and you're about to take him out to prime. Take 5 minutes and do a complete dry fit of the entire project. I've discovered that some custom conversions don't totally fit together only when I'm gluing the painted pieces together! That is not the stage you want to figure that out, trust me. But even if everything fits, take a step and look at the project. This is going to be the easiest time to add or subtract something, and in today's 40k hobby world of a billions of extra bits, sometimes subtraction can lead to a much superior project. Maybe a single well placed purity seal will give a much stronger impression than 10 seals making the guy look like he just tossed a frag grenade into a Yankee Candle Factory. Remember, as is often the case, less is more.
The Favored Sons: Black Legion
Wow, talk about pressure. How do you even begin to epitomize the legion that covers all the bases? They're the biggest, most active legion in the Universe, calling on all four powers, and lead by the heir to Horus himself. The Black Legion is just too big to smash into one model, but hey, a guy can try right?
Black Legion armor is (pardon the pun) boring as hell. Black and gold... yep, that's all you get. Thankfully this guy is no ordinary legionnaire, and it was easy to pile on some extra colors, namely red and turquoise. The red of his skin breaks up the large patches of black, adding some real interest to otherwise ordinary armor, while the turquoise becomes a nice highlight for the black and a few tertiary objects (cables, details, etc.) For the face I just went for pure evil, the classic image of the devil inspired the skin tones, and faded nicely to black for the horns. Toss in some bone for the weapons and armor and he's ready for anything, just as he should be.
Relentless Endurance: Iron Warriors
Another army of good memories. My very first attempt at a 40k army was a battle box of CSM painted as Iron Warriors. I didn't have the rules, the codex, or any info from the interwebs. All I had was 4 or 5 paints, clippers, some glue, and some cheap spray paint. It was glorious. I spent countless hours building and painting units, oblivious to their in-game functions. I gave guys weapons because they looked cool (double bolter!), bought single metal blisters of stuff I didn't have (3 terminators!), and loved every second of it. Obviously, they turned out looking as though I had no clue what I was doing, big surprise.
This was my shot at redemption, my chance to see just what almost 10 years of painting could do to improve one's skill. Turns out it can do quite a lot. I still have one original model from that first "army", and holding them side by side is always cause for a good laugh.
This guys was actually pretty easy to paint. He got a layer of boltgun, washed with asurman, and highlighted with mithril. From there I went in and picked out the details, since 75% of the model was now complete. I went a little crazy with the chevrons, but I was driven to really pour everything I had into this one guy. Ignoring my own advice, I made sure everyone knew he was there, and shamelessly dressed him up at every chance I got. Thankfully I pulled back just before it became entirely too much, and I was very pleased with the result. Still hilarious to see him next to his older brother.
The Very Stuff of Nightmares: Night Lords
I hate the helmets that the current Night Lords have. They're so cheesy, and not in a good way. I think bat wings can be successfully incorporated into armor (Vampire Counts, Batman, etc.), but the helmets don't do nearly enough to make this idea work. I understand they're ancient, but hey, so are the Dark Eldar at the moment, and the new models I've seen on the net are amazing. If GW can resurrect the DE range, then anything is possible.
Removing the wings from the helmet and putting them on his backpack made this guy work almost instantly. Once I had him mounted on his base, I knew I had a winner. He just looks like he's about to tackle some poor unsuspecting loyalist and shred them. The other trick was the lightning on the armor. I've never painted lightning well, and I looked into several tutorials before I settled on a technique that worked.
The easiest way to paint lightning is in layers. I started with the highlight shade for the armor, tracing the basic path I wanted the lightning to travel. From there I built it up over 5 layers from dark blue to pure white. With each successive layer, I made the paint brighter, thinner, and more jagged. By the time I was applying my 5th layer, I was literally just dabbing white at the the intersection of the bolts, and a little extra here and there. This gave the lightning the simultaneous sharp-yet-soft feel.
Nin's Glorious Destroyers
I happen to have one of the rarest gifts a gaming nerd can claim, a wife who shares in his interest for little toy soldiers. It was only a natural fit that my possessed champion be of her custom legion, Nin's Glorious Destroyers!
Of all the models in this project, this guy was the easiest to make look good, simply because the color scheme is immaculate. The rich greens and golds merge perfectly with the black and red accents. The head and backpack icon were pulled from the warhammer fantasy range (khorne lord and marauders respectively). I also had a very high standard of paint quality to match, as my wife is a very talented artist in her own right. Leaving the best for last, I wrapped the project with the true best of the best.
And that was that. I am interested in trying this project out with other box sets that light my imagination on fire, and hopefully I'll be posting about it in the future!
