Primus
The Masked King knows no fear.
His is the kingdom of fear.
He has the face and physique of a lion. An Alpha beast cloaked in a veil of alien darkness, artificer armor with chameoline skin that can render him almost invisible. He is regal and terrifying, a Master of Man, an Angel of Death. His mind is brilliant, sharp as a serpent. Ancient he is, perhaps as old as the stars, yet the fire of life burns brighter in him than any being I’ve previously met.
His father’s father built him to create an imperium and that’s what he has done. We are his soldiers now. Soldiers of Darkness.
A Fraternity of Fear.
Hydra Dominatus.
Alpha and Omega
You should start here. Pilgrym – XX Reduxx
And there is a prelude: The Summon
After the monstrous undertaking that was Pilgrym, I was very happy to be invited to a very promising, landmark US “Inquisitor/Necromunda/Blanchitsu/28mm” event Curse of the Alabaster and just have a little group to build and paint.
I first considered a wild Fenrisian party, but the IV has been sent to destroy the Thorn Moons. I’ve been reading a FANTASTIC! Black library novel, Praetorian of Dorn, by John French that features the Alpha Legion in a grand way, instantly igniting my imagination. Alpharius and Jargassor are still in Nottingham, but the Legion responds.
I contemplated keeping this a secret all the way to finally revealing the masked king in a game, but my trusted council of Pilgrym’s cautioned some might find a Warrior God a sour surprise in a game, so decided a reveal after a brief tease was the way to go.
I wanted to compose a very different theme, mood, wibe and ultimately collection of hopefully exquisite miniatures. A merger of inspirations, Brando’s character in Apocalypse now, Ninjas, Erudite Warriors, Legion as described by French, my previous takes on the subject matter as a contradiction, and once again, directing an imagery Warhammer 40000 movie in my head, in a setting initiated by Shibboleth.
Still a night time utopia – but cloaked in Cameoline, I did not want to paint chipping and weathering, rather an exotic new flickering cape of night – even bolder interplay of green and blue, now including the metallics. On hyper realistic basing. I’m quite pleased where he ended up, though capturing the flowing green blue scheme was much harder than the other Alpharius’ scheme.
When Alpharius is all unmarked, warrior monk and elite clandestine operators, Anax, Headhunter Primus of the XX, Alpharius is esoteric Warrior king with a freak show servitor court, and newly masked elite mercenaries who worship him for his martial prowess.
Should be fun!
I’ll leave you with one more image, this one shows the green blue interplay in the armor and the metallics a little better. Stay tuned for some pretty bizarre stuff to come.
IRON SLEET 
Intrigued!
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The narrative of the Masked King and his veiled cohort is incredibly intruiging. I loved reading about his hidden but elaborate lair in the marshes and seeing him unveiled is a real treat.
He how he radiates feline. Wonderful mask. Credits for taking a different path on his armour that fits his particular narrative perfect…expressive, explorative and beautiful. A development of your take on weathering as we have spoken about often before. Weathering as in bringing the world he inhabits into the paintjob.
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His armour reminds me of stars. It’s as a winter’s evening sky has come to life.
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Perfect – thank you! It was supposed to be the night sky 🙂
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Yes!!! This has to be one of the coolest characters I’ve ever seen. Thoroughly enjoyed The Summon and now this icing on the cake.
New painting technique again proves how exploration and originality is the key. It just looks so good.
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Ps. Love the book! From somewhere 1800s? Items like that are super inspiring.
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Yes, 19th century Terran religious Grimoire 😉 I recently acquired 5 gorgeous old books from that era and will be featuring them in the photos. The “desk” is getting more and more Gothic.
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Can’t wait to see more of them! I love stuff like that. I have similar tome in my possession with Gustave Dore’s illustrations but is size and weight of a cement sack 😛
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Thank you kind sir! This was definitely a trip experiment. Glad it worked, there is always a moment in there with “oh shit” before knowing. Always.
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Wow! Excellent. I would love to see some close ups if possible. How are you achieving the greeny blue? From the looks of it it is a mix of 4 or 5 different colours? Don’t feel obliged but if you are inclined to give away some secrets I would love to hear some details of the paints and the process. 🙂
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Thanks! I’m always open to share. This started with an interplay of dark green, sea blue, then egg green and pale blue airbrushed on him exactly like Alpharius for Pilgrym. Then a quick sign of the aquila and stippled my way through with a tiny brush and light greens and blues to create abstract stars. I then ignored the desire to use oils so it doesn’t come a mannerism and went with Citadel washes (which I usually despise – so it was a welcome challenge – I knew from Kari that they can work golden) and played with green and blue wash from side to side. It worked really nicely, but is a bitch to photograph.
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Interesting thanks! I’m thinking of painting some Alpha Legion myself but I don’t want them to just be Chaos Ultramarines if that makes sense so I am grappling around looking for a style that grabs me! I like yours but I’m not sure I could do it justice so I am thinking a really dark blue with greenish highlights….
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The colour wavelength of the studio/ camera flash lighting will wash out the green/blue spectrum, this occurs in aquarium displays, they change the tubes to produce the full spectrum or range, wavelengths that throw out more of the desired colours not absorbed – reflected, refracted by the medium ( light thru water in aquria ) – you may experiment using the flash and supplement the source light with a small tube/ led to compensate the desired green/blue – this is a late help but will give you guys something to think & try for next project.
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Given the recent conversations about stratification and the purity of terms, I imagine this miniature will make a lot of heads spin! Hah!
I absolutely love this. At first, I agreed with Peter and thought that the World Eater knee was too much of a distraction, but that in conjunction with the Deathwatch pauldron, the Crux Terminatus and the Inquisitorial sigil really make for a disquieting, jarring combination, adding to that shape-shifting, cameoline idea. Angron’s legs are really great, and I’ll forever love your continual pushing of painting technique. I think he’s masterful.
On a side note, I’ve heard a lot of good things about Praetorian of Dorn – John French is an excellent writer and a person who really ‘gets it’ – thanks for adding your voice to the choir, I might go and pick that up today.
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thanks! Do it mate, you’ll really appreciate the book.
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You have made so many Alpha Legion marines in your time, but I think this is my favorite! I suppose I have always been really partial for Egan’s Angron model (still probably my favorite primarch, both because of the quality and because it showed the world that Primarch models were possibly to capture 20+ years of myth and collective vision), and it works perfectly here. The formfitting plates really convey a suit of specially tailored recon armor, fitting your concept. It also allows the model to be suitably massive, while maintaining anatomical proportions. I like your choice of sword, as it is not comically oversized. It sort of makes me chuckle that his storm bolter which verges on too big even for a Primarch is standard fare on the much smaller stock terminator models. I must say, while I see the logic for maintaining the World Eaters symbol on his knee, I still feel it would be better without it. While the rest of the model seems to scream care and consideration, the knee comes off as an oversight to me.
The background material is also very engaging. I really like the leadup post; it set my mind to wonder. And I must say I did not expect the XX’th legion. Well played. Hail Hydra!
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Thank you Eric. I hear you on the knees, I filed the lower teeth, but felt it too fitting to the lion mask theme to use the detail completely. Previous Alpharius was pretty bare of detail – wanted this one to be the opposite. And the tight fitting armor really felt like a custom Recon suit like you say.
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The lion argument is a good point, and taking out the lower teeth helps. The model is quite different from your others, but still very uniform. A great achievement. I am about half way through Praetorian of Dorn. It is great thus far, and this models armor reminds me of it!
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“Stay tuned for some pretty bizarre stuff to come” Those words are music to my ears! The mask is inspired and really helps draw the eye and give a focus-point to this otherwise stealthy looking model. And if this is a member of the 20th Legion then why does he wear the mark of the Inquisition I wonder..?
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Thanks. Or he just collected a prize from one?
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Great mini, and courageous experimentation with the paint job mate – could’ve backfired majestically, but you really nailed it. He has a superb sleek ‘spec-ops’ vibe to him that really draws the eye. Love it 🙂
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Like I told you earlier, I have never seen so well converted storm bolter! A true thing of beauty. The paint job is phenomenal in every imaginable level also.
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Love how this is essentially a summing up of your recent work. There’s the obvious XX, some Fenrys, the Sentinel, and a bit of the Eldar model.
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Gorgeous! Dynamic but grounded, cinematic and painterly at the same time. The starry sky stipples are so wonderful. And again, your almost monochromatic handling of detailed models is inspiring (love how the purity seal parchment is painted the same as his armor; cameoline field? warp-mystery? artistic focus?). I’m still not sure how I’m going to paint my Alabster gang but you’ve set a high bar once again.
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I’m sure I left a comment on here yesterday? Anyway…I think this one is better
I love the paint job on this model. It has character and it has feeling and life. This is stealth armour brought to modelling form. You’ve been hanging out with Jakob too much and he has rubbed off on you. The cameleoline parchment is a clever touch.
So I think I’ve changed my mine and decided that I now like that each of your Alpha Legion have gotten different paint jobs. It now seems to fit the Legion and its many faces. Not that you’ll want me to rate them but imo it definitely goes: 1. Alpharius. 2. Alpharius 3. Alpharius…..aw bugger that doesn’t work 😉 1. Original Alpharius, 2. The Masked King, 3. Ultramarine Alpharius 4. Squad of Alphariii and 5. Pilgrym Alpharius (he just seemed a bit too airbrushed and lifeless to me)).
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