the biggest legion

[yhta]

HI!. i come here. because i have a question. what legion was the biggest legion of all?(im talking about numbers of marines) i ask this because a friend told me that the TS was a big legion and that i remember. the TS was a small legion like SW and EC. but now i don`t really know.

 

and sorry for my English. and from venezuela and i know now read English but speak and write in English are very deferent. a least for me are deferent. so sorry if i have a mistake

[Marshal Rohr]

The Ultramarines numbered around 250,000 marines, making them the biggest.

[DarKHaZZ13]

IIRC the two largest legions are the Ultramarines and towards the end of the GC the Word Bearers

[JamesI]

I have never seen any fluff that indicates anyone was larger than the Ultras.

[Razhbad]

Even with the fluff in The First Heretic it only ever indicates that the Word Bearers took the number 2 slot with size.

 

The useful thing is that due to the Ultramarines lack of involvement and huge numbers by the time the HH ended they were still absolutely huge and were the main driving force in the time of scouring.

[Gv0zD]

The Ultramarines being 250,000 is canonical, and they were the largest Legion. According to The First Heretic, the Word Bearers were the second largest Legion (IIRC 100,000 - not sure where I saw this number).

TS were relatively small Legion. Like the EC they suffered the initial flaw and flesh change, so Magnus had to restore them just like Fulgrim did (Magnus just lacked Fulgrim's strive for perfection), so they couldn't have reached the sizes of WB, not mentioning Ultras.

If memory serves (sadly, it does not sometimes ;)) the TS accounted 2 or 3k before the SW attacked them. Nearly 1k survived and were teleported to the Planet of Sorcerers.

[tiberium40k]

the Word Bearers were the second largest Legion (IIRC 100,000 - not sure where I saw this number).

 

The First Heretic probably.

 

If memory serves (sadly, it does not sometimes :lol:) the TS accounted 2 or 3k before the SW attacked them. Nearly 1k survived and were teleported to the Planet of Sorcerers.

 

I dont think the TS were under 10.000 before the Battle of Prospero. Ahriman states at some point that only one tenth of the Legion survived the initial stages of the Battle of Prospero, and considering little of over 1k Thousand Sons made it to the Planet of the Sorcerers that makes their Legion strength somewhere around 10.000 before the BoP. Of course, it would be nice if we got more specific info on this, but the HH writers seem to think strategy and the disposition of forces dont matter to the Horus Heresy.

[tiberium40k]

what legion was the biggest legion of all?(im talking about numbers of marines)

 

As others have stated, the Ultramarines numbered an unprecedented 250.000 Space Marines at the height of the Great Crusade. It is part of the reason Horus ordered Guilliman to the Eastern fringe.

[Gv0zD]

I dont think the TS were under 10.000 before the Battle of Prospero. Ahriman states at some point that only one tenth of the Legion survived the initial stages of the Battle of Prospero, and considering little of over 1k Thousand Sons made it to the Planet of the Sorcerers that makes their Legion strength somewhere around 10.000 before the BoP. Of course, it would be nice if we got more specific info on this, but the HH writers seem to think strategy and the disposition of forces dont matter to the Horus Heresy.

Oh, thanks for clarifying. I forgot Ahriman mentioning that nearly 1/10 of the Legion survived.

[Bulwyf]

ADB said recently in another thread that it is canonical that the Legions were 100k in size. I'm assuming he also meant to add the Ultrasmurfs were the largest at around 250k.

[Captain Tezdal]

...but we have other canon that implies they are smaller...in the same series

[Khestra the Unbeheld]

...but we have other canon that implies they are smaller...in the same series

 

That's because BL didn't firmly set the Legion sizes until A Thousand Sons. Add a zero to any Legion size number given in every HH novel prior to that, and you'll have the real number.

[Razhbad]

Indeed but as ADB has said before much of the information on legion sizes was done by authors who had no official size for a legion. An official size came out after a thousand sons was released.

[Legatus]

The "official" size that had been the basis for a lot of the 40K background (such as the numbers of Chapters created during the Second Founding, the traditional Company numbers of the Space Wolves and Salamanders, and a few Index Astartes articles) was about 10,000 warriors per Legion, with the Ultramarines numbering 25,000 at the time of the Second Founding. But with the advent of the detailed Horus Heresy storyline it was decided that these numbers were not epic enough. Inconsistencies with established background be damned.