Hydra Dominatus

[Cammerz]

[Apologies to anyone here looking for pictures, the forum doesn't yet host them, they had been hosted by Facebook and copied across but sadly that was only temporary. If this changes in the future then I will happily re-upload the images.]

Something I have long promised, when I get a phone with a decent camera I'll start sharing pictures of my Primaris Space Marines. That day is now upon us so prepare for a lot of photos (my camera quality is a lot better than it was but I'm not a photographer so the pictures may not be my best work).

A bit of background; I've read some background from the Horus Heresy and i know that Omegon stole the Raptor project from Corvus Corax which was being used to create brand new, better Space Marines. So that explains the true-scale Alpha Legion. As there's little-to-no evidence that the Alpha Legion are in fact heretics it makes sense to keep them looking un-spikey and I've mostly kept to their pre-heresy colour scheme.

Let's start with the HQ choices:

First we have my Captain in Gravis Armour who I usually spend 3CP on to turn him into a Harrowmaster [Chapter Master]. He's as he was, straight out of Dark Imperium with the exception of his head which came from Forge World's Armillus Dynat via ebay.



Next up we get his counterpart from Shadowspear (the box which catagorically proves that Guilliman is actually Alpharius in disguise - in my mind). He is also standard with the exception of his head which is from the Alpha Legion Praetor in Power Armour. This picture also gives a nice view of my Primaris Ancient, or at least his banner the 'Standard of the Hydra Ascendant' which used to belong to an Imperial Fists command squad but has been improved witht he help of Forge World's Alpha Legion transfer sheet.



Here's a better view of the banner in all it's glory,



Next come my two Librarians, the standard Primaris variant with his head replaced with that of a Deathwing biker;



and his even sneakier brother in Phobos Armour;



Many of my Alpha Legion, particularly those from Dark Imperium, have their heads swapped out for Forge World Mk IV Alpha Legion helmets which I have dispersed throughout the army. In order to confuse the enemy, helmet designs are shared between ranks so lieutenants, sergeants, infiltrators and intercessors could all look very similar in the eyes of an enemy sniper.

Here are a few of my Intercessors, these are wielding the standard Bolt Rifles and are accompanied by the Dark Imperium Lieutenant with Power Sword;



A few of my Intercessors are mid-way through conversion, I'm replacing their Bolt Rifles with the Stalker pattern. They will eventually feature the long scopes and straight magazines from the Intercessor kit but for now the only change is the addition of silencers which are constructed from the ink well of a ballpoint pen. If any wish to copy the idea (I myself stole it from someone on Google Images) a word of warning, the ink will go everywhere and will ruin any paintbrush it comes into contact with.



My Infiltrators from Shadowspear have a few extra conversions, besides a large number of head-swaps (I'm not fond of the standard Infiltrator helmet design). Half of them have their guns replaced with those of the Forge World Alpha Legion Headhunter Kill Team.



For Scouts I found myself at a bit of a quandry, what do I do for these? Cultists maybe? But I recalled a fun piece of fluff from the 6th edition Militarum Tempestus codex which I commented upon here; https://secondsphere.org/index.php?topic=1791.0

So with a bit of kit-bashing, here we have the Scions of the 55th Alphic Hydras!

Firstly the unit with Sniper Rifles and Camo Cloaks who are mostly Scout Snipers with Scion helmets, legs and backpacks;



Then we have the more recent unit with Shotguns who are mostly Scions with the addition of Scout arms;



Jumping back to Dark Imperium, I proudly present my Lieutenant with Master-crafted Auto Bolt Rifle and my unit of Hellblasters. I decided that blue plasma just wouldn't work with blue armour and decided that yellow would make a great spot colour. You don't tend to see yellow plasma but I feel it works well here;



My final Lieutenant (so far) is the one in Phobos Armour from Shadowspear, accompanied here by my Reivers.
Like all of my Alpha Legion, those without helmets must be shown to be bald. I liked the head this guy came with but had to remove the mohawk. The Reivers make use of the aforementionned FW Alpha Legion Headhunter Kill Team set, with helmets and left shoulder pads. The kit also features hip plates which I have attached to the back of their backpacks (not pictured). These guys also have silencers made from the same inkwell as the ones on the Stalker Bolt Rifles;



Time to bring in my air support;

First we have the Inceptors with their twin sawn-off Heavy Bolters. I disliked the heads that came with them so they all have somethimg new;



And now we have the Suppressors, only the sergeant has a new head here, once more for reasons of him needing to be bald. In this picture you can have a clear look at the sergeant's right shoulder pad. The symbol shown is what differentiates my sergeants from the marines around them;



My last infantry unit is also from Shadowspear, the Eliminators. With one head swap and one mohawk shave. One thing to note is that this unit has green eyes while all other marines have red. The only other units with green lenses are the 55th Alphic Hydras;



Now we move on to the vehicles.

You may already have seen a couple of these in the background, we will start with my Predator Annihilator which has been converted with the FW Alpha Legion Doors front plate and the FW Predator Extra Armour kit.
I gave it a base to add a bit of height for group shots and to tie it in better to the rest of the army but this base is magnetised so can be removed for battle;



And then we have the Dreadnoughts.

First the two Contemptors which are both pure Forge World models, although one has a scenic base to give him an action pose;




And in the background of those two pictures, you can see Omegon.

The Relic Leviathan Dreadnought with Leviathan Siege Claw, Meltagun, twin Heavy Flamers and a Grav Flux Bombard.



Let's have some group pictures shall we?









To be continued...

[Narric]

Hot dayum, these are some gorgeously painted and converted miniatures!

Superb choice of conversion components, along with their use.

The Yellow works well as a spot colour against the uniform blue of the force.

Looking forward to more of these dudes :3

[Cammerz]

Thanks Narric, it really means a lot.

Don't worry, more is on the way very soon. I recently picked up a little toy for Omegon which I've started to basecoat today.

Painting often seems like a chore but when I see the results I'm always glad that I made the effort.

[Cammerz]

Update Time!

My profile picture shows my Captain in Phobos armour with the helmet from an Alpha Legion Praetor, I have finally constructed and painted the rest of him with a standard Alpha Legion helmet. I had a look at adding some green glaze over the blue, I think it works quite well but it's a little late for the rest of the Alpha Legion.

He's not Primaris so won't fit in my army but he's a nice display piece.





And I previously mentionned acquiring a little toy for Omegon, here's a size comparison to show just how little it is...





That's right, it's a Dreadnought Drop Pod.
I'd been waiting a long time for Forge World to bring these back. I've applied liberal amounts of Nuln Oil to represent the paint being lightly scorched on entering various atmospheres and, as with the rest of my army, I've customised it with the fantastic Alpha Legion transfers;






I'm thinking of acquiring masking tape to create hazard stripes around the inside of the doors. The areas which I have currently left black could eventually become black and yellow.
Here's a picture of Omegon looking pleased with his new toy;




I also realised that, when I posted my original batch of photos, I missed the thrusters on my Inceptors. I'm found a guide online and did my best to copy it and, while it doesn't quite match up to the original, I'm pretty pleased with the result;




I received a new box from GW today so there shall be more to share in the near future.

[Narric]

Did you scuplt those toros and leg spikes?!

Also, the first thing that caught my eye was that green glaze. What did you use? GW glazes?

I think the cap is probably the only thing that needs work, but I'm sure you already knew that.

Drop Pop and jump trops looking awesome as well :3

[Cammerz]

Forge World are the ones who sculpted the details there, for their Alpha Legion Praetor in Power Armour.

They are GW glazes. My recipe for the blue is 2x thin coats of Runefang Steel followed by 3x Glazes of Guilliman Blue (I'm now onto my third pot). Some of my models then have Nuln Oil washed over the top to darken the blue a bit more.
With the Praetor there I applied some Waywatcher Green over the top.

For the cape I ran out of patience and just wanted to get it done. It's meant to look like the one on my Gravis Captain although that one is far from perfect.