I am Alpharius...

[Legatus]

You think Alpharius, probably the most cunning and shrewd primarch, would have been suprised by a rapid advance?

 

Rapid advance of an enemy is something all commanders prepare for, even the worst, so again it comes down to the fact that realistically Guilliman would have been allowed to advance the way he did even with overwhelming numbers.

You think Guilliman, who had developed counter maneuvers for any sort of enemy in his Codex and who had seen the Alpha Legion's tactics for himself on several occasions would be completely taken by surprise by the guerilla tactics of the Alpha Legion on Eskrador, and be completely incapable to deal with it?

 

A lot in that story makes no sense. And official representatives of the Ultramarines chapter have voiced their doubt. It may well be that the battle never happened, or at least not as described in that Index Astartes article. Whenever I am discussing the issue of Alpharius' death I am usually prefacing it with saying that we assume that it is an accurate account. Manyle because people are usually only too happy to take other elements of that account as true ("Guilliman had to go against his own Codex to stand a chance against the Alpha Legion, harhar." "The Ultramarines got their asses handed to tehm by the Alpha Legion, harhar.") Somehow only the death of Alpharius is in doubt, but not the account in its entirety, when the Index Astartes made it very clear that the entire battle account is in question, and when there is no reason to doubt the duel between Guilliman and Alpharius in particular. (It is by no means the most unreasonable claim in that account.)

 

If the account in inaccurate, then we don't know what happened to Alpharius. If the account is accurate, then Alpharius is dead. Until BL/GW retcons him back to life. Simple.

[Pulse]

You think Guilliman, who had developed counter maneuvers for any sort of enemy in his Codex and who had seen the Alpha Legion's tactics for himself on several occasions would be completely taken by surprise by the guerilla tactics of the Alpha Legion on Eskrador, and be completely incapable to deal with it?

Yes i do to be honest, seeing the Alpha Legion in battle and actually knowing their tactics are completely different things.

 

A lot in that story makes no sense.

Agreed.

 

If the account in inaccurate, then we don't know what happened to Alpharius. If the account is accurate, then Alpharius is dead. Until BL/GW retcons him back to life. Simple.

If the Ultramarines can't prove Alpharius is dead nor GW back it up saying "he is offically dead" then he is more alive than dead in terms of fluff. So no, it isn't simple.

[Azarias]

I'm wondering if a Schrodinger's Cat analogy is appropriate here...

[Legatus]

If the account in inaccurate, then we don't know what happened to Alpharius. If the account is accurate, then Alpharius is dead. Until BL/GW retcons him back to life. Simple.

If the Ultramarines can't prove Alpharius is dead nor GW back it up saying "he is offically dead" then he is more alive than dead in terms of fluff. So no, it isn't simple.

As I said: If we take the account as being a fake, then we just don't know what happened. If we take it as accurate, Alpharius is dead. We don't know whether it is a fake or accurate, but depending on the premise we are assuming for teh sake of discussion (fake or accurate), that is what we can definitely say.

[Lord Ragnarok]

I think the original question was answered.

 

 

Question:

Which leads me to wonder...are all members of the Alpha Legion the same size as their primarchs?

 

Answer:

In the extract of ADB's novella Aurelian, it is mentioned that Alpharius is a head shorter than his brother Primarchs. In Legion itself, it is noted that many of the older Alpha Legionnaires are themselves very tall, even for Astartes. Sheed Ranko and Ingo Pech are noted as being very tall, allowing them and other older Legionnaires to masquerade as the Primarchs on occasion.

 

 

All other discussion is off topic. As I don't think anything new is out there that will provide any further illumination I will close this thread.