Alpharius Forgeworld Mini: Head of the Hydra

The Alpharius Forgeworld model is hands down my favourite model Games Workshop (Forgeworld) has ever produced. Primarch of the Alpha Legion, Alpharius is one of the 18 primarch charecter series for the Horus Heresy. I currently use him as my Chaos Lord for my Warhammer 40k Alpha Legion Army.

I decided to re-paint my Alpha Legion early last year, finding the original grungy paint job didn't really stand out on the table. The old schemes low contrast made reading the silhouette on the table difficult, and while I am a huge fan of Streak and Grime, I definitely went overboard on the army.

Old Alpha Legion Paint scheme

The new Scheme is a bright Turquoise with shades of purple and green, inspired by the cover of Sons of the Hydra, with NMM dark steel trim.

Sons of the Hydra by Rob Sanders
Image property of Games Workshop

Painting guide for the Alpharius Forgeworld resin miniature

Paints used

Armour Panels

  • Basecoat Vellejo Black Primer
  • 50/50: Vellejo Heavy Violet/Vellejo Black Primer
  • Highlight with pure Vellejo Heavy Violet in all but darkest recesses/shadows.
  • Stipple 50/50: Heavy Violet/Vellejo Turquoise on the largest highlight areas
Base Coat of black and purple
  • Gradually add more Vellejo Turquoise to the mix, highlighting up to pure Turquoise
Highlighting the scales and armour
  • Edge Highlight the scales and highest points with Vellejo Blue Green
  • Add Ice Yellow to the Blue Green and pick out smaller and smaller areas, until the very finest point is 50/50 Ice Yellow/Blue Green.
  • In shadow areas, glaze a very thined coat of shyish purple contrast paint
Alpharius by Forgeworld

Steel Trim

  • Base coat Vellejo Black Primer.
  • Stipple Vellejo German Grey highlights over 90% of the trim leaving only darkest recesses.
  • Add Ice Yellow to German Grey stippled in progressivly lighter layers until pure ice yellow
  • Edge highlight with a mix of 50:50 White/Ice Yellow
  • Highlight the very edges and points with pure White

So there you have it, thats the core of how I painted my Alpharius Forgeworld Mini.

Close up of the nearly finished Alpharius Forgeworld miniature
Alpharius Primarch of the Alpha Legion