Coils of the Hydra - Autilon Skorr

The latest addition to the forces of the Hydra! I set about working on this guy quickly after the last WIP post. As Skorr was an event only model i've had him laying around for some time (Horus Herey Weekender 2015 i think...) Now i'm building the Alpha Legion force, i could finally bust him out and get him painted.

Like the Dreadnought, i tried to better shade the metalics on this model without killing the tone of the pearlescent Teal armour. I tried out oil washes on Skorr, something i've used extensively in the past on my vehicles. I used some Burnt Umber wash on the golds, and some Lamp black on the metalics. I also gave the teal armour a pass with ther lamp black to try and deepen the shadows. Did it work? I'll let you decide!

Skorr is also known as the Hydra's Headsman. While i was doing the base i thought i would hint at this by adding a few helmets to the base, some of Skorrs latest victims! I stopped short of adding blood splatter and gore - its not a World Eater model!!

The detailing on Skorr really makes him pop and stand out. Lots of imagry of death with snakes and hyrda's coiling around it, brilliant!

More soon!

The GunGrave

On the Table

So i have a frustrating amount of un- finished mini's at the moment, but i do have a few things linned up!

Mr Alpha Legion himself, Armillus Dynat! I have to admit, positioning his arms was a huge pain! I'm looking forward to working on him. But first...

Autilon Skorr! The Alpha Legions headsman is next on the painting block to give me a suitable warm up for Dynat. I'm planning to mess around a bit with oil paints on this mini, mainly to try and enhance the shadding against the two tone paint i use on the Alpha's.

Less of a WIP but more of a 'just need to buy some bases'! This is another Infinity Myrmidon with Chain Rifle for my budding Aleph Steel Phalanx force.

Machaon is also completed and destined for service in the Steel Phalanx! Once i get my bases from Antenocitis Workshop i'll get them finihsed off properly and better pictures taken.

In other news i've bought myself a copy of Dropfleet commander from the awesome Hawk Wargames! I've had my eye on this game for a very long time (didn't get on the kickstarter bandwagon unfortunately) and now finally had a chance to pick up a copy. I'll be doing an unboxing a review of it when it arrives, hopefully this week.

The GunGrave

Coils of the Hydra - Contemptor Dreadnought Complete

This bad boy is now complete, and i'm very happy with it! This is one of  the models I've been quite excited over for my Alpha Legion force, and it didn't disappoint. 

I tried to transfer some of the things I've learnt from painting Infinity, in this instance shading black. It was a bit different shading black on an area of this size (Infinity models are tiny!) but i think it worked, and it helped me look at the technique in a different way.

There's so much detail on this model, its one of the main reasons i like it so much!

The Hydra's are just awesome!

Another Infinity carry over i tried was shading the metallics a bit more. I pushed the contrast a bit with some dark Vallejo metallic grey (Gunmetal i think) to try and achieve a better level of shading. Some refinement needed i think, but pleased with the result on this model!

This was a cracking model to paint, and good looking to boot! Highly recommended!

The GunGrave

Coils of the Hydra - Contemptor Dreadnought WIP

Work is starting to progress nicely now i have found my Heresy muse again! Once the Tactical Squad was completed i immediately started putting together the Contemptor.

For me the Alpha Legion Contemptor is one of the nicest in the range. For me it is only matched by the recent Thousand Sons and Custodes Contemptors. So i have been quite excited about this model for a while. I went with the Plasma Cannon configuration with a Fist. I didn't magnetize the arms as i'm not playing Heresy at the moment (for nearly 2 years now!) so its not to important right now. 

So I've hit the whole model with the two tone teal paint I've been using, picked out the metallic areas (there's a lot of metallic trim!!) and then washed the whole model with thinned asurmen blue. I'll be washing the metallic trims with Nuln Oil next then adding shades and slowly start bringing the colours back to life. 

Between drying I decided to get the base done and out of the way. You may remember 2 posts ago i tried out a new basing technique by Third Eye Nuke studios. That attempt was an adaptation, but this one followed their tutorial. I am very pleased with the result, and the rest of the Alpha Legion will be following this basing recipe!

The base just had a few layers of cork added with a bit of the old citadel Urban Basing kit as well.

I also prepped the next 5 Tactical Marines while i had the airbrush out! I'm sure these guys will quickly follow the Contemptor. Maybe a squad of Scimitar Jet bikes after that!

The GunGrave

Coils of the Hydra - Tactical Squad Complete

Its been a long time coming, but the first Tactical Squad is now complete! My new found interest in Infinity has caused large delays in the progress of the Alpha Legion, but lately my interest has wondered back into Heresy. This has largely been down to the release of Inferno and the stunningly beautiful Custodes models (there are some plans in the pipeline for that, as well as a Custodes Knight!)

Before all that though the Hydra needs some love! The second set of 5 Marines is now complete and sporting the 'new look' urban bases from the last post.

This is one of two Tactical Squads planned for the Hydra.

While i had the mini's out i took the opportunity to take a family photo.

I'm keen to make more progress on the Alpha Legion soon, but as i mentioned in the last post, i want to try a new color scheme before i move on. Chances are i won't go for it, but i'll always be thinking 'what if...' if i don't! More on that soon. 

The GunGrave

Back to the Bases

Renovations on the house have kept me away from models and hobby in general for a few weeks. I have been thinking a lot about it though, more specifically my Heresy Alpha Legion.

Firstly I've been looking at alternative color schemes (more on that soon!) I'm not convinced i'll change the scheme, but i need to scratch that itch before i continue painting any more.

The other thing I've been pondering over is bases. I generally put a bit of effort into my bases, especially the larger ones. However, i kept looking at my Alpha Legion and thinking that something was missing. They were quite bland. I did a quick trawl of the internet to get some ideas and found a great tutorial from Third Eye Nuke Studios on how to paint urban bases. I highly recommend it! I couldn't replicate their tutorial completely (i'm waiting for spare parts for my airbrush) but i did try my best to do so using weathering powders.

Below is a Destroyer. I had used some weathering powder on the Destroyer bases, but they did little to make them more interesting.

So what i did (using Third Eye Nukes ideas) was add some black weathering powder to the recesses of the base and anywhere i could achieve a good contrast between the powder and the grey of the base. Then i added some dark rust colored powder over the top of it (sometimes mixing the two before application) This is what the base looks like now:

I think its a big improvement! Golden Daemon statues didn't start falling from the sky, but it just makes the base a lot more interesting and gave the overall appearance of the model more depth. I also took some proper photos in the light box so you could see the effect better.

After thew Destroyers bases were 'treated' i moved onto the Tactical Marines i'd done.

Again, mode depth and better contrast, making the base a bit more interesting! I'll be giving Third Eye Nukes technique a proper go once my airbrush is operational again. I'll let you know how it goes.

How do you do your bases? Do you have any good tricks that can supplement this method?

The GunGrave

Coils of the Hydra: Tactical Squad Pt1

So a quick break from all the Infinity madness lately in the form of some Tactical Marines for my budding Alpha Legion.

I split the painting of the squad into 2 to make sure i could get them done in one sitting. The first 5 came out pretty good considering the time it took!

I'll probably use the next set of Tac' marines to break up the Infinity painting. I've rather enthusiastically signed up for an Infinity ITS tournament in June, so I've got a lot to get done before then!

The GunGrave

Coils of the Hydra: Sicarian Battle Tank Complete

While i was getting the first Alpha Legion tactical squad off the ground, that special package from Fallout Hobbies arrived!  This meant that i could finish off the Sicarian. More on that in a minute. First up, here she is:

So as you've probably already guessed, i was waiting for some smart vinyl airbrush stencils from Fallout Hobbies to really finish this tank off. I went with Dragon Scales 2 to create this effect, which i am very happy with! Not only does it make the vehicle pop, but also really helps to break up all the metallic colour.

Sadly this Sicarian was afflicted with the common curse of all Sicarian tanks, wonky barrels. I tried my best to get them straightened out, but this was as good as it got.

The usual heat distortion was added to the Lascannon barrels.

Here is the Hydra family portrait so far! I'm really pleased with the continuity of the metallic Teal across the models so far. Hopefully i'll be able to maintain this. I'll also be coming back to all of these models later with some Forgeworld Alpha Legion Transfers once i get around to ordering them.

That's all on the Alpha Legion for now. Next up, some more dabbling in the world of Infinity, then back to the Alpha Legion Tactical Squad.

The GunGrave

Coils of the Hydra: Heresy Alpha Legion Tactical Squad 1 WIP

Now that my Infinity itch is scratched and the Ordinatus Ulator is consecrated and ready for mass destruction, its time to slip back into the Hydras grasp and get some more mini's done!

Now you may be asking, dear reader, what happened to the Sicarian? Well, for all intensive purposes it is complete, but i am waiting for something special to arrive from Fallout Hobbies before i can call it finished. More on that soon!

In  the meantime I've turned my attention to one of two Tactical Squads that I've got tee'd up for the Alpha Legion.

Before i started i got the whole squad mounted on some wooden blocks for easy of painting. Not something I've usually bothered with before, but due to the amount of airbrushing the Alpha Legion require i took the time do get it done. This squad had had the Alpha Legion torsos and heads added. 

Right onto the painting. After completing the Destroyer Squad i wanted to see if i could achieve better shading during the application of the Teal base coat, which would of course aid the washes later on. So i decided to give zentithal shading/base coating a go.

When i tried to achieve better shading on the Sicarian i used black on a white undercoat. This made the Teal darker in the areas where the black was applied. Afterwards i thought the black made the Teal a bit to dark, so this time i'm going to apply the same principle but with grey. So i tried the whole process on a test model before i rolled it out on the rest of the squad.

Then i applied white to the areas that i wanted the Teal to be brighter on. In retrospect i should have been a bit more careful in the application here, but i pressed on.

Feeling rather good about things so far, i pressed on with a thin coat of my transitional Teal paint. And that was where the magic ended....the paint killed the whole effect and did nothing for the model at all!

Feeling despondent about my experiment, i tried to reverse engineer the effect by spraying on some Teal lightened with some white. This only went on to kill the teal effect and make the colour 'matt' rather than metallic!! Disaster!

Never mind, back to the original plan of white undercoat with Teal over the top then!

I'm glad i gave it a go, but to be honest, i think the paint selection let me down here. I think this effect will work much better with colours that are a bit more transparent (like washes or very thinned acrylics) so that the effect shows through. The Teal paint is a bit to heavy for it here. As I've got units on the go in this scheme as well, i can't face changing it now.

After the failed experiment i moved on to the squads bases. Urban rubble is the theme here (as it is for most of my armies!) I applied some green stuff to the bases first to give them a bit of texture, then sanded and sprayed. I may add some black oil paint wash over them as well to give them a bit more definition.

More on these and the Sicarian soon!

The GunGrave