Unboxing: Alpha Legion Praetor in Cataphractii Terminator Armour

One of the recent releases from Forge World are the new series of Legion themed Praetors for 30k and the Horus Heresy. Amongst these are two models for the Alpha Legion: one in power armour and one in terminator armour. I picked up the latter very recently and wanted to show what comes in the box.

First: the obligatory box shot.

As might be expected, this is a modest sized blister pack with the usual Forge World attention to detail in the artwork on the front.

The parts inside consist of five sprues of resin, and the circular base, as shown below.

The sprues here are very logical to put together: the main torso coupled with the cape attaches to the two shoulders and arms which have hands ready to extend them. As usual, the head can be positioned in any rotation. Perhaps unusually, the hand weapon comes with the power cables separate from the weapon itself. 

Although the power cables for the weapon will slot in readily, I will offer readers one word of advice: you will need to heat up the cape, shape it a little where it attaches to the back of the model, and then quickly glue it in to place before getting the shoulders and arms in position. Don't do what I did and glue the shoulders first … that way leads to misery. 

That said, my plan here is actually to do a little bit of a conversion on this terminator. I intend to replace the power sword (pictured lower right) with a different weapon. More on this project later!

Digest from afar on the Horus Heresy Weekender

Another weekend gone, and this one was a Horus Heresy Weekender curtesy of Forge World. I did not have chance to attend this one sadly, but I have been watching the proceedings and reveals from a distance and thought that I would share a few random thoughts and digests about it here.

Most obviously, the main news was concerning the long-awaited and long-anticipated release of the miniature for Sanguinius. There is no doubt about it from me that this is a crazy brilliant Primarch miniature. The sculpt is dynamic and superbly executed. I love the pose (and yes: the pose is correct since that is the grip one would use for the action that is being performed, despite some argument on various other parts of the internet). I very much look forward to reviewing his statistics and abilities here on Warpstone Flux once I am able to obtain a copy of the new book. 

One issue with the miniature is the short-term and exclusive nature of his base. This is a bit of a concern since every Primarch to date has had his base released alongside him and has always been available ever since. I really don't like the idea of a bespoke base only being available for a short time. I can see that Forge World will receive a lot of grief from collectors and gamers alike about this choice (and I would emphasise the word choice here). It would have been better to offer two prices for the miniature -- one with and one without the scenic base if that was the way they wished to play it. Making is exclusive is poor form for me, bearing in mind that I never did manage to get my hands on Skorr for my Alpha Legion army and I regularly run Skorr armies at low points values! I share your pain, battle brothers. 

Keeping the focus on the miniatures, I am thrilled to see models from multiple legions getting attention. Sticking with the Blood Angels for a moment, the new legion terminators look splendid ... so splendid that I might just Coils of the Hydra some of them potentially. I will await their rules. Fabulous that Raldoran is also getting a model as well. Love the pose on that, even if it is reminiscent of a certain Imperial Fists high ranking member ;) The jump pack contemptor is just something else though. It's a game changer for the Blood Angels. Not quite auto-win, but merits thoughts about how to counter it. 

The White Scars are looking significantly supplied as well with the range expanded by legion terminators (once again looking glorious), leviathan and contemptor dedicated dreadnoughts, alongside praetors that continue the theme of these legions gaining specific praetor models. The eagle on the terminator White Scars praetor looks amazing. I think the White Scars have the potential to be one of the most powerful legions if built and played right -- it will be like the way of Saim-Hann all over again once we start facing them regularly. [For newer readers, the Way of Saim-Hann was an elder army all mounted on very fast moving jet bikes and similar. The play style was to largely not engage until the final turn of the game at which point to sweep on all objectives simultaneously and hope the game ended. It won a lot in the right hands and started a play style that still exists to this day under different guises.] 

Good to see previous armies also being supported with the Space Wolves finally getting some miniatures for the Deathsworn. Also good to see the new dreadnought drop pod arrive. I clearly need to get a couple of them later on I think (unless I start a new army ... but that's a thought for a different day). 

News of the Dark Mechanicum gaining an army in the future is also very welcome. Even if it will be in book 9 along with the Dark Angels. Still very much looking forward to reviewing their rules. 

Speaking of news: the main one for me is the release of Book Eight: Malevolence. Blood Angels, White Scars, and the brewing Alpha Legion civil war means that this release is going to be an instant-buy for me. For some of the previous releases, I have held off until Christmas or my birthday. Not with this one. Its too jam packed with glory to ignore. That, and being a daemons player in 40k since before they became anywhere near competitive means I'm double stoked that the daemons are coming to 30k for the legions to fight with. I genuinely hope it is not just Khorne either. Please let it be the full pantheon along with named other daemons that have come out from Forge World over the years. I have my fingers crossed for this. 

I cannot claim that Necromunda excites me much at the present time -- although I totally get it. So I will press on to say that the Black Library release of the Buried Dagger is looking like it will do what has been promised in the wind for a long time: corrupt the Death Guard and set the stage for the final Siege of Terra. Also great to see the new range of buildings and add-on weapons for Adeptus Titanicus as well. They look good and modular. 

Finally, I am left wondering what the ninth book will be called. A pity that Alan Bligh had passed on, as I think it would have been brilliant to have met him and talked with him about what he thought it might have been named. We remember you Alan. 

[Image copyright belongs to Forge World and no claim is indicated by its use here.] 

Striding Reaver Legs

Much dry-fitting later and we have some striding Reaver legs for the titan!

Other progress includes the shin parts and some dry fitting of hip pistons. They will be completed very soon and we can move on to the toes, leg plates, and painting the interior of the main part of the body of the titan.

Alpha Legion Termite Painting Update

Two pictures today on the painting progress of the Alpha Legion termite that I have been working on in the background for a while now. 

The images below show two views of the termite (balanced on different vertices). Both of them cover an access point to the termite that I wanted to show off. The first is in the "open" position, the second is in the "closed" position, just for variation. The doors themselves can be positioned in either depending on your whim. I personally just wanted one open for my own nefarious means (plus I didn't want to be painting the interior too extensively -- I wanted it darkened and muted). 

The painting scheme follows my standard approach for the Alpha Legion colours - a very dark metallic blue over much of the surface complemented by some amounts of silver here and there and some green tinges. The photographs look like they've picked up a bit too much green on the upper layer though, which is something that I will work to correct a little bit when I revisit this.  

I like the positioning of the decals that I've managed to put on this one. In particular the "XX" Roman Numeral for the Alpha Legion being split apart as the hatch opens to the interior in the lower picture is one of my favourites. 

However, I will say that this is clearly a work in progress. I have done a bit of weathering on the metal surfaces, but this needs a lot more attention yet. As can also be seen, the deployed bolters also merit a lot more work yet. That said, the basis is there and it is more than tabletop ready!

Leg Filling

Feeling a bit like a dentist must, I decided that the best way to solve the resin cavity (forgive the term - it is accurate) in the leg of my Reaver was to undertake a filling.

To do this, I made sure that I firstly had drilled a deep enough hole in the cavity to host a brass rod firmly in position. After gluing the brass rod in to the cavity, I proceeded to fill around it with green stuff mixed with a touch of grittier milliput. With that dry, I went over the top of the hemisphere of where the cavity has been and covered it over with liquid green stuff to make the hemisphere whole again.

The job complete, its now time to let it dry before welding it in to place on the other leg. In the image, the first leg can be seen in the background. I have adopted a striding stance for this titan as I wanted it do be dynamic. Having fitted the plates, I'm happy that this stance will work nicely despite the obvious angle. Still plenty of work to go in this titan yet...

Titan Naming Rites

Naming a Titan is tough. Really tough.

Having invested the time (and obviously the money) in to a titan, there is a strong desire to get the name "correct" (whatever "correct" means). It is as much a stumbling block as naming a new born in some respects. The name will have to last, be authentic, and take stock of their surroundings.

Little point then in calling a titan "Fluff Monster Cuddles the Second". It just doesn't meet the requirements. [With apologies to my daughter].

So: what to call my new Reaver then?

Well, this Reaver is going to belong to Legio Perennia, just like the Warhound does. I want a maniple, and therefore I don't want a titan of a different Legio for the Reaver. Whilst this will ultimately shape the painting scheme, it doesn't help with the name.

I therefore went back to my thought process on naming the Warhound. Legio Perennia is a largely undefined Legio. Its origins are in the sneakiness of the Alpha Legion stealing the titans away from the Imperium during transportation. They could be on either side of the Heresy realistically. Hence, I wanted something with a hidden meaning, or a shadowed purpose.

The Warhound was called Novacula Occulta -- the Hidden Razor.

For this Reaver, I am going with Harmonia Tacita. This roughly translates as the silent harmony, or the secret harmony (depending on one's Latin inclinations ... I deliberately went for Tacita rather than Tacet here to emphasise the latter translation; the route of the verb - Taceo - is the same though). I think this suits the purpose as it gives the double edged meaning to the name, as well as some room for interpretation, and a quantum of dread about it.