The Alpha Legion is well known for using small units of agents for their nefarious schemes, which makes them ideal for Kill Team! We spoke with Marc Büsing about how he converted and painted his awesome squad.
Marc: I started my Alpha Legion in 2012 with the release of the Dark Vengeance box – the Chaos Chosen models just pulled me into the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium. I converted some Chosen with Chaos Space Marine bits and took photos in the local Games Workshop store with the Alpha Legion fighting Dark Angels. To make use of the Dark Angels inside the box, I imagined the Alpha Legion trying to infiltrate the Rock in order to kill Lion El’Johnson. I tried to make an original Alpha Legion theme and sacrificed about 25 Chaos Warriors to get the greenish-blue paint scheme right – and thus, my Alpha Legion were born, long before The Horus Heresy made them (in)famous.
My Kill Team Teslar was an idea I first had in 2013 after reading Legion by Dan Abnett. I wanted to achieve the look of the cloaking device described in the book.
Now, 5 years later, I reimagined this idea and added some Dark Angels bits to emphasize the original concept. With Kill Team, you have the ability to make every model stand out, so I put a lot of time into converting and posing the Legionnaires, so every single one tells a story itself.
Cerxis is protecting an Astropath while shooting at enemies on a higher level, Dimitrius is about to stab an enemy with his dagger, Kunas and Andrellus are just turning off their cloaking devices to reveal the truth and Mattheus receives intel from Cultists ranging outside the battlefield, destabilizing planetary command.
All of the miniatures are based on Primaris Intercessors, but I also used bits from the Deathwing Terminator kit, Deathwatch and Chaos Raptors for Andrellus. For Kunas, I sanded one wing on the chest to make the cloaking effect stand out. Both of them use Chaos Raptor feet, which fit perfectly. The tabard used on Kunas is from the Dark Vengeance Librarian and the little hologram on Mattheus is a Cultist miniature from the old Epic game.
I also made datacards with portraits and an illustrated background to use in-game. I use the Deathwatch or Adeptus Astartes rules as they fit best to this deadly kill team and offer a lot of customisation – and to be honest, who knows if the Alpha Legion is loyal or not?
Even though the gene-seed of my Alpha Legion is not very susceptible to mutation, some veteran Chaos Space Marines will expose themselves to the warp in order to infiltrate other Chaos Legions. Sometimes this doesn’t end well, as you can see in this Greater Possessed! This former Chaos Chosen has gone mad with all the gifts that the Chaos Gods granted him and is now just a raging tool in my Kill Team roster. I painted this miniature almost completely with Contrast paints – I used Talassar Blue for the armour, which I undercoated with Leadbelcher first. All the colours on the flesh were thinned down heavily with Contrast Medium and some parts are Wraithbone and Grey Seer mixed with the different skin tones (also thinned with Contrast Medium).
In the future I want to add some Reivers with very dynamic poses, jumping over obstacles. Obsidius Mallex is already primed and will reinforce this kill team soon, along with a number of Chaos Cultists and Renegades. I’m planning a narrative campaign with my friends where the Alpha Legion have infiltrated a city and my kill team and a lot of Cultists are the main foe.
Thanks, Marc! If you want to get into skirmish battles in the 41st Millenium, pick up a copy of the Kill Team Core Manual. If you’ve been inspired by Marc’s conversions, make sure that you also grab a squad of Space Marines Primaris Intercessors, but don’t be surprised if they turn out to be Alpha Legion in disguise!