Hi Everyone, Tom here with m first article for 2023! While this mostly painted in 2022, I wanted to show my Alpha Legion Vigilator model from Forgeworld that I use in my Horus Heresy games.
Being a Forgeworld model, this is made from resin. I was careful to wash the parts well before sub assembling the model (the chest and cape would have been hard to paint without doing this!), and it all went together really well after that.
The main paint scheme can be found in my other alpha legion tutorial, but there are a couple of key extras for this model. The cloak I wanted to model like a modern military desert camouflage, and a brief Google later had a pattern to follow. The base coat is Zandri Dust with Agrax Earthshade to shade and Ushtabi Bone to highlight. The pattern itself consists of big blobs (splodges?) of Dryad Brown, small spots of Corax White and then lining a third to a half of the edges of the white spots with Abbadon Black.
My only other painting tip here is that it pays to spend time on the face – it’s a focal point on any model, and with this kind of colour scheme doubly so due to the blue/green vs pink/yellow colour contrast.
I really wanted to photograph the cloak in a scenic photo, but the back of the model makes telling a story much harder. Colour contrast by off camera flash helps focus the viewer on both parts of the photo, while the composition leads the eye through. I look at in and wonder what is about to happen – are these from the same company, about to meet before heading to an objective? Are the on different sides of the conflict, and shooting about to occur? I leave it up to you to decide!
Want to see my other Alpha Legion? Excited for the recently shown heads and shoulder pads pack, or the teaser for Exodus? Let me know on my instagram.