Saturday, December 5, 2015

Heresy Era Alpha Legion - Batch painting gets out of hand!

Got the heads on the Geno Five-Two, but the weather is chilly enough that I can't warrant primering 'em yet. That means it's time to switch gears and get stuck in with the Alpha Legion, and it was time to fire up the batch painting machine! Started off with the 20-man tactical squad, and suddenly got the idea that I may as well knock out the base purple on all of the models at once. I've often wondered how many models is too many. It turns out 46 is too many. Hah!


I started off with a basecoat of Vallejo Night Blue, which is a very dark blue/violet. Almost indistinguishable from the black basecoat in the pics.


Next up was a drybrush pass of Vallejo Dark Blue, which to me is much more of a dark violet/purple than blue in my eye. Definitely on the cooler end of the spectrum.


The next step was a much lighter drybrush of Hexed Lichen just on the upper surfaces of the models, leaving the naturally shadowed areas far darker.


Lastly the models were all given a wash of GW's Druchii Violet to tone down the purple and blend them all together. Bit of a slog plowing through all the models at once, so will likely break the units out for the detailing stages - trying to do all of them to completion in this batch size? That way lies madness!
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14 comments:

  1. ZabDecember 5, 2015 at 11:39 AM

    Oddly enough that kind of batch painting is what drove Horus over the edge.

    Strong start :)

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  2. UnknownDecember 5, 2015 at 12:26 PM

    Is the purple colour scheme inspired by the novel Legion by any chance? it looks really good though!

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  3. Siph_HorridusDecember 5, 2015 at 1:28 PM

    I'll say it again... You sir are a painting machine! I had a similar experience with drop pods, four is too many, Twenty of this, forty of that....

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  4. Rory (Stepping Between Games)December 5, 2015 at 4:07 PM

    You are a braver person than I do all that in one go. I had trouble with 18. Bit your results show that although it can be taxing it can provide strong results.

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  5. Mordian7thDecember 5, 2015 at 4:53 PM

    @Zab: I can totally understand his rage and frustration. Hah!

    @Alpha Omega: Indeed! Both these and the Geno Five-Two that I'm doing (they will be allied forces for one another) are based on the characters and descriptions in Legion. Trying to go with a purple on the blue end of the spectrum similar to the cover art on the book, so far so good!

    @Siph_Horridus: Audiobooks are key I find - I can put my hands on autopilot and mostly just listen to the story, and suddenly I'm at the end of the line and ready to start with the next color. Aye, all those fins and doors looked like a nightmare when you worked 'em!

    @Rory Priest: Cheers! It takes a bit of a change in approach, mentally - I don't try and 'finish' any models during a session, just set a goal of 'I'm gonna get 2-3 colors on the batch this session', and after 3-4 sessions suddenly you have a whole mess of minis done. This is too many at one time for me, easy enough when it's just slopping on drybrushed base colors, not so good when it comes time to start picking out details. Definitely don't like to do more than 20 at a time at that stage. Madness!

    Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

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  6. StephenDecember 5, 2015 at 10:09 PM

    Wow, I couldn't cope with doing so many at once - impressive!

    .. And sorry tomaccientally reject your post on my blog (blush)

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  7. Col. AcklandDecember 5, 2015 at 11:01 PM

    Gob smacked! That's the way to do it!!

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  8. VitorDecember 6, 2015 at 1:24 AM

    Nice job!! they look really good so far.

    For me that is about a months worth of painting, add envy here.

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  9. NafNafDecember 6, 2015 at 7:09 AM

    Wow, you are crazy! ;)

    I can barely batch paint 5 minis let alone 45!. Still, if you can do it the rest will be alot of fun as the boring bits are out of the way in one go. They are shaping up really nicely too

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  10. Pawn CocktailDecember 6, 2015 at 8:36 AM

    That is a lot of Alpha Legionnaires... Impressive output!

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  11. jabberjabberDecember 6, 2015 at 9:31 AM

    Great colour scheme - and wow -- so many done all at once! Very impressive!

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  12. Mordian7thDecember 7, 2015 at 7:59 PM

    @Frothing Muppet: Cheers mate! Indeed, there's just no way to continue on with this many at once. Madness!

    @Stephen: Haha! No worries, man! Loving your historical work, beautiful stuff!

    @Col. Ackland: Trust me, this is most assuredly not the way to do it. ;)

    @Vitor: Thanks very much!

    @Jakub Furlanetto: I'm quite pleased with the contents of the BaC box, will most definitely be picking up another one or two boxes in the future!

    @NafNaf: It was a brief bout of madness that led to this many being worked at once. I've come to my senses now. Hah!

    @Pawn Cocktail: Cheers mate!

    @jabberjabber: I appreciate it!

    Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

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  13. DaiDecember 8, 2015 at 4:30 PM

    *blinks*

    This is.... too much? Impressive? Overthetop? Extravagant? Elegant? Ostentatious? Cool?

    I think cool. :)

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  14. Mordian7thDecember 10, 2015 at 7:44 AM

    @Dai: Pretty sure "Absurd" should be in there somewhere. :)

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