The Legion for you... Community Assistance Thread

[Father Mehman]

I knew I wanted to field some "bad" guys since it's been all "good" guys, basically, from the beginning of my hobby career. That wiped-out a lot of legions from the outset. Next I thought about my current armies. Well, at that time, my current ones were Iron Hands and my Astra Militarum regiment. Iron Hands were already eliminated from the start due to their siding with the Emperor but who were most like them? Some legion that was cold and efficient in combat; calculating losses without a care. A legion that was a wall of death. They had to hate the weak; within or without.

Making my choice was a bit easier than those parameters, even though they were very helpful. WWI and early European Theatre WWII attritional fighting done in trenches with tanks rolling through no man's land really spun my gears. Who fit that? Who could I paint that would be a reflection, in some small part, of me?

The answer came quickly: Death Guard. To me, they're the hardest bunch of in the entire Great Crusade. Drilled like Spetsnaz all, they strove for perfection in killing with whatever tools were at hand (mirroring their Primarch and his penchant for War Scythes on Barbarus and beyond). The marine beside you just get shot in the head, his life juices splattering your armour, what say you, Death Guard? There is no need for talking when there is war about.

Equipped for any situation? Check. Steel constitution in the face of overwhelming odds? Check. These are both things I would have loved to have counted on my resume.

Also, I love their ceramite white paint scheme with filth and corrosion aplenty. It speaks to the mouldering souls within us all.

[Castiel]

Whats up 30kers its threee daaaaaaawg!!!!! I mean that one marshal.(sorry, I've been playing to much Fallout 3 recently). So I've basically started horus heresy but before I can make any buys I gotta figure my poison legion. When I went into the heresy I knew that I was playing imperial fists for the black templars except that all changed when I actually looked at all the cool stuff that the heresy has to offer. Every single legion has appealed to me in some way or form. Since the heresy is pretty expensive I've got to get it right the ifrst time unlike some of you on this board (you know who you are ). To solve this problem my ingenious brain decided to use the process of elimination. In total I elimnated three chapters the blood angels, space wolves, and the dark angels. Not a lot as you can see lol. So I turn to the board members of the B&C how did you guys find your right legion. At the moment I like the idea of a mass of marines coming at you with tank support rolling with them and having things like terminators or elite squads jumping down and killing important targets. PLZ help me I'm a wreck and this question is surprisingly very difficult its like choosing a new army.

The bolded sounds like the Iron Warriors to me.

[Slips]

 

*snip*

The bolded sounds like the Iron Warriors to me.

 

Or Death Guard and World Eaters. Maybe even Iron Hands.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Or any Legion in the Great Crusade/Horus Heresy...

[Castiel]

Or any Legion in the Great Crusade/Horus Heresy...

This is a very valid point. All of the legions could do this, so if there is a paint scheme/legion you particularly like then choose that. Iron Warriors, Death Guard and World Eaters are all legions that would classically be associated with this type of warfare, but that doesn't mean that the other chapters couldn't do it.

[LongGone]

... but that doesn't mean that the other legions couldn't do it.

Thank you, Jeebus, somebody gets it. At this point, I think people like BCK and (the artist formerly known as) Heathens would be tired of telling people the same thing over and over again. If you like a color scheme, don't worry about what a legion was 'known for', unless you like that particular tactic. Then use that as your deciding factor. Or maybe you like the fluff, and the rest is irrelevant. Maybe you like the models, so all that other gobbledygook doesn't matter. Or maybe you just want to be the good/bad/just misunderstood guy for a change.

 

Bottom line: if you feel pigeonholed, you're doing something wrong.

[Hexagon Sun]

Hi all, I know I'm a bit late to the party but I thought it was high time I stopped putting it off and got into the heresy. I've had the legion dilemma since betrayal was released but I've been biding my time whilst the models got released to see if it helped. I finally got the legion and crusade books so hopefully you can help steer me in the right direction as I think I'm almost there...

 

There's a couple of unassembled FW things in bags that will probably go towards this project and may sway the decision. All were originally bought for a Minotaurs army that I haven't got off the ground yet, but there's a Typhon siege tank, Storm Eagle and Caestus assault ram just sitting waiting along with a few MKIII and MKIV bits I can use as testers.

 

I know I want to do a traitor force as all my 40k armies are imperial and eventually I've got it down to Night Lords or Sons of Horus. The Typhon was leaning me towards the Iron Warriors and they are a close 3rd, but I'm a bit bored of painting Grey Knights and I think they might tip me over the edge. I need a paint scheme that I can get enthusiastic about and I think both of these give their own challenge for different reasons. So it's more of a fluff/gameplay factor that will help me decide I think and not including those models isn't a deal breaker. I am going to borrow the first three books to get some more inspiration fluff wise.

 

On the NL front I thought it would be pretty cool to have a Typhon, a massive super heavy mounted cannon is a pretty fear inducing thing after all. Which started me thinking that it would be good to have some kind of heavy hitting force based around that when I get up to that points level. On looking at a few NL lists I was a little put off by the 3 terror squads all with volkites which just struck me as a bit uninteresting. Could there be a way to revolve an army around a mix of tanks and terror squads? Fluff wise I can see the justification, the tanks keeping the enemy occupied whilst the more mobile infantry attack the flanks and rear to sow confusion and fear. I'd like to do something different if possible, but I'm not sure how it would work list wise.

 

The SoH can go a few ways, but I do like the idea of starting with reavers then adding other stuff to add colour and variety. I have less of an idea about fluff for this though as I've not read any background apart from the HH series.

 

Come at me with your thoughts people!

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

 

Thank you, Jeebus, somebody gets it. At this point, I think people like BCK and (the artist formerly known as) Heathens would be tired of telling people the same thing over and over again.

 

 

Yeah, kind of. I think a lot of the people posting for the first time in the thread lately haven't actually read any of the previous pages as it seems to be a constant stream of the same questions.

[Father Mehman]

Hi all, I know I'm a bit late to the party but I thought it was high time I stopped putting it off and got into the heresy. I've had the legion dilemma since betrayal was released but I've been biding my time whilst the models got released to see if it helped. I finally got the legion and crusade books so hopefully you can help steer me in the right direction as I think I'm almost there...

There's a couple of unassembled FW things in bags that will probably go towards this project and may sway the decision. All were originally bought for a Minotaurs army that I haven't got off the ground yet, but there's a Typhon siege tank, Storm Eagle and Caestus assault ram just sitting waiting along with a few MKIII and MKIV bits I can use as testers.

I know I want to do a traitor force as all my 40k armies are imperial and eventually I've got it down to Night Lords or Sons of Horus. The Typhon was leaning me towards the Iron Warriors and they are a close 3rd, but I'm a bit bored of painting Grey Knights and I think they might tip me over the edge. I need a paint scheme that I can get enthusiastic about and I think both of these give their own challenge for different reasons. So it's more of a fluff/gameplay factor that will help me decide I think and not including those models isn't a deal breaker. I am going to borrow the first three books to get some more inspiration fluff wise.

On the NL front I thought it would be pretty cool to have a Typhon, a massive super heavy mounted cannon is a pretty fear inducing thing after all. Which started me thinking that it would be good to have some kind of heavy hitting force based around that when I get up to that points level. On looking at a few NL lists I was a little put off by the 3 terror squads all with volkites which just struck me as a bit uninteresting. Could there be a way to revolve an army around a mix of tanks and terror squads? Fluff wise I can see the justification, the tanks keeping the enemy occupied whilst the more mobile infantry attack the flanks and rear to sow confusion and fear. I'd like to do something different if possible, but I'm not sure how it would work list wise.

The SoH can go a few ways, but I do like the idea of starting with reavers then adding other stuff to add colour and variety. I have less of an idea about fluff for this though as I've not read any background apart from the HH series.

Come at me with your thoughts people!

I don't know much about Night Lords but it sounds like you already have some good fluff for them. If you like both legions enough, you could always find a way to play both- allies and such. If the fluff works, you've got it.

[GhostMalone]

 

 

 

Thank you, Jeebus, somebody gets it. At this point, I think people like BCK and (the artist formerly known as) Heathens would be tired of telling people the same thing over and over again.

 

Yeah, kind of. I think a lot of the people posting for the first time in the thread lately haven't actually read any of the previous pages as it seems to be a constant stream of the same questions.

Also have to remember alot of people are new fraters that are unaware of all the advocating we've done, it took us long enough to get you on board :D

 

But here's a simple statement;

 

If you want to do the heresy do it for the love of the hobby not the game play.

 

 

Most people rarely game with there 30k armies but they do these forces for the love of an idea a legion or even a story.

 

Let's not use things like painting the colour as a deterrent, if you can't paint yellow teach yourself to paint it.

 

At the end of the day if you can't decide between a & b just do both as an allied detachment.

 

Anything and everything goes if you plan it out

 

As hyaenidae BCK Flint13 Slipstream Depthcharge Myself and countless others have said "it's a big galaxy anything is possible"

[Nakuth]

Thank you, Jeebus, somebody gets it. At this point, I think people like BCK and (the artist formerly known as) Heathens would be tired of telling people the same thing over and over again.

Yeah, kind of. I think a lot of the people posting for the first time in the thread lately haven't actually read any of the previous pages as it seems to be a constant stream of the same questions.

Also have to remember alot of people are new fraters that are unaware of all the advocating we've done, it took us long enough to get you on board

But here's a simple statement;

If you want to do the heresy do it for the love of the hobby not the game play.

Most people rarely game with there 30k armies but they do these forces for the love of an idea a legion or even a story.

Let's not use things like painting the colour as a deterrent, if you can't paint yellow teach yourself to paint it.

At the end of the day if you can't decide between a & b just do both as an allied detachment.

Anything and everything goes if you plan it out

As hyaenidae BCK Flint13 Slipstream Depthcharge Myself and countless others have said "it's a big galaxy anything is possible"

Such as a XIIIth Legion company, comprised largely of Terran veterans, that survived the betrayal of Calth only to suffer (in their eyes) a second betrayal in Imperium Secundus. How they react would make an interesting story, and the building of such a force would make an equally interesting hobby task.

/Ideas Fairy

[Slips]

If I may give some examples:

 

I recently read about the Storm Wardens chapter and while their whole deal is that they locked away all of their ancient knowledge such as their founding, who their Primarch is etc. They Struck me as very Imperial Fists in temperament. So I decided to use a bit of their Heraldry here and there for the moments that I get tired of painting Yellow, Black and Gold. It will also make them stand out a bit more with Blue/Silver Marines.

 

Another is portraying Heresy Era Iron Snakes. Again, Blue and SIlver but it'll help to break up the Blue, White and Gold of the Ultramarines. And speaking of the XIIth, they probably have the best platform for bringing in 40k chapters to 30k (or is it the other way?).

 

So, experiment and read up on stuff before committing. If you thought GW was expensive boy are you all in for a Nasty surprise when you finally make your first FW purchase.

[KBA]

 

Bottom line: if you feel pigeonholed, you're doing something wrong.

 

 

If you're playing in the Heresy post Istvaan, and you're playing Raven Guard, you will feel pigeonholed. Read Gav's poopy fluff, and you will even more so. Of course, you can deviate from Corax's remaining 3-4000 and do your own thing, but you will lose the feeling of inclusiveness. Which is something. Just sayin'.

[LongGone]

See, but then you have all those nomad predation fleets that are just floating out there doing the Emprah knows what. There's already one or two plogs on the B&C about them. Plus once the legions are shattered, no one really know what happened to *all* of them. The fluff has only covered the exploits of a few groups, and has definitely left the door open for others to exist. You're also limiting yourself to Gav's fluff, and ignoring the rather awesome direction that FW has taken the fluff on their own. I don't know if I'd call it separate, but it is somewhat tangential. Somewhere in between in where happiness lies for you, my friend.

 

If you want to do an army based off a specific unit or group, then yeah, you're pigeonholed by the fluff. But that's of your own doing, and any limitations are self imposed.

 

But if anyone truly does feel that way, and they just can't operate within the incredibly loose structure given to us by FW, I would point them to the II and XI and tell them to go hog wild.

[KBA]

We'll have to agree to disagree.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

The only walls blocking your idea for your army are created by yourself.

[Emperor's Furor]

I literally wrote out two paragraphs explaining how :cussty the "The only walls blocking your idea for your army are created yourself" comment makes you feel, but decided this wasn't the place to sound like an amateur psychiatrist. Suffice to say I basically thought some people want to follow the characteristics of the legions for a variety of reasons. I for one felt bad after you used that comment on me before.

[Fire Golem]

I literally wrote out two paragraphs explaining how :cussty the "The only walls blocking your idea for your army are created yourself" comment makes you feel, but decided this wasn't the place to sound like an amateur psychiatrist. Suffice to say I basically thought some people want to follow the characteristics of the legions for a variety of reasons. I for one felt bad after you used that comment on me before.

People are welcome to follow the characteristics of whatever legion if that's what they feel, but BCK is right, each legion is so open that you can do whatever you want with them. It is only you stopping yourself. But that doesn't mean you can't follow the characteristics of a legion if you want to. You don't have to push the envelope if a legion already sings to you. I don't know why you'd feel bad if he said that to you before? It's true.

[Operative]

 

I literally wrote out two paragraphs explaining how :cussty the "The only walls blocking your idea for your army are created yourself" comment makes you feel, but decided this wasn't the place to sound like an amateur psychiatrist. Suffice to say I basically thought some people want to follow the characteristics of the legions for a variety of reasons. I for one felt bad after you used that comment on me before.

People are welcome to follow the characteristics of whatever legion if that's what they feel, but BCK is right, each legion is so open that you can do whatever you want with them. It is only you stopping yourself. But that doesn't mean you can't follow the characteristics of a legion if you want to. You don't have to push the envelope if a legion already sings to you. I don't know why you'd feel bad if he said that to you before? It's true.

 

I for one agree with WoT, as I too felt slightly annoyed when I was told (far back in the thread) that "This is the heresy, anything is possible", I feel that it doesn't actually help people to come up with ideas themselves seeing as the main point of people coming to this forum is to pool the thoughts of the community and so people don't deserve a one line reply. And although BCK said that he thought people hadn't read the previous pages (personally I had) I feel people still have the same problems, as many of us evidently struggle with creativity.

[Emperor's Furor]

To me it implies that you're not imaginative enough to come up for your own reason, but some people just simply don't want to come up with a reason they want to play within the characteristics of their chosen legion, but supposedly that's bad and you have to open up and accept any legion can do anything and you have to like it.

 

For me I like to theme my armies around the characteristics of the legion as that's the point of the legion without those characteristics there's nothing unique about them to me, that's just the way I see the legions and the way I like it. Some legions are more open to having dedicated companies, such as the Ultramarines, others are less prone. When it comes down to it, it's all about the players own perception on what's acceptable for them to include, some people may disagree on the extent of inclusion, but that doesn't mean they are wrong.

 

Also obviously anything goes isn't entirely true because you can't have destroyers in a Salamanders army and there's numerous restrictions put down in the actual rules that follow along fluff based lines.

[Castiel]

I for one agree with WoT, as I too felt slightly annoyed when I was told (far back in the thread) that "This is the heresy, anything is possible", I feel that it doesn't actually help people to come up with ideas themselves seeing as the main point of people coming to this forum is to pool the thoughts of the community and so people don't deserve a one line reply. And although BCK said that he thought people hadn't read the previous pages (personally I had) I feel people still have the same problems, as many of us evidently struggle with creativity.

 

I don't think it is meant as the catch all reply, but more as a caveat if that makes sense. So for example Death Guard and Iron Warriors are certainly the go to example of legions who specialise at attrition warfare. But that doesn't mean that if you don't like their paint scheme or background (maybe you don't want to be a traitor legion) you can't take the Salamanders or Space Wolves and design a unit within their formation that specialises in that. We're basically saying "Well, here's the guys that are best at it, but if you don't like them its a big galaxy and big  armies, plenty of room for a formation that does that in another Legion. There are certainly legions like the Scars or Raven Guard where I would be dubious of such a tactic, of course.

 

Basically, I know this is maybe not everyone's cup of tea when it comes to this kind of list building and army theme and may not be how you view the legions, and that's cool, but similarly there are other people who like the idea of a formation that is a bit contrary to the classic image of their legion, and that's fine too.

 

TL;DR: Enjoy the hobby your way!

[Fire Golem]

But you don't have to be creative with it. That's not his point at all. If you want to stick to what the legions were best known for, then by all means do that. But if you really like the colour scheme of a certain legion, and the usual tactics of another, nothing stops you doing close assault Ultramarines, or siege warfare Raven Guard. If you want to do something different, there's nothing stopping you. Hence, the only walls blocking your idea for your army are created by yourself. Because anything (well almost anything) goes. The legions were vast. They all fought, and we're capable of fighting, in every style of warfare imaginable. Again, nothing is wrong with sticking to what they were known for, but nothing is stopping you mixing it up, except yourself.

[GhostMalone]

This is the legion for you thread not the I'll give you my ideas thread, it's one thing to ask about a certain legion but if your not sure on anything a bit of research on one's part does help, I'm happy to ask with ideas on a legion I'm toying with and this thread is supposed to support and nurture but most people aren't reading the topic or say something like the following;

 

I like World eaters but don't want to paint white what do I do?

 

Well here's an example answer;

learn to paint white.

 

do them warhound colours.

 

Or paint them silver and give them a white arm.

 

Or do them post angron ascension and paint them red.

 

Or paint them in a underarm our coat and say they stripped there heraldry as there loyalists.

 

There's 4 answers for a question asked God knows how many times, FW GW BL can only do so much and they have given us 1000s if not 1000s of ways to make this our hobby at the end of the day the easiest thing to do is throw yourself in the deep end and if your not happy strip the paint start again.

 

I've gone through WE DG BA back to WE started some SA and now I'm starting Ultras.

 

 

This isn't a dig or negative this is blunt and to the point.

 

 

pitch an idea don't just expect us to tell you, this is your hobby do what you want to do and just Google the info or buy the books first.

 

Each new book will make us jump between legions so if your waiting on DA or BA or WS just dont do anything legion specific yet

[GhostMalone]

"Man, I love X, Y, and Z Legion, but I don't know what to pick"

 

"Help me find the Legion for me!"

 

"What the heck do you mean that the -blank- Legion does that? The old IA article doesn't say that!"

 

We see these threads and comments a lot in the Age of Darkness forum. Many folks are still getting their bearings with the release of the Horus Heresy Tomes from Forgeworld, and the novels from Black Library. Some are brand new to the glories of the Old Legions. Many simply love all the Legions for various reasons. Who's to blame them? The Legions are vast, and as Forgeworld and Black Library expands on their histories, from the Unification Wars to the Great Scouring, we are treated to even more variation and wonderful stories that we could never have imagined.

 

But this doesn't exactly make it easy to pick one to build for an army, huh?

 

So, this thread is dedicated to assisting our Legion Brothers and Sisters in deciding on the Legion (or Legions) to choose. This is NOT a "which Legion is best" thread, but rather is a "how can we, as a unified community, help jump start your imagination" thread. 

 

So, if you're in the dark or a touch lost in an idea, post your questions here, and we shall guide you to the light. If you prefer the darkness and are blinded by the light, post your questions, and we shall guide you to the darkness.

 

Just remember, this is a community exercise to be helpful to our future brethren and cousins; please be civil and polite....

 

....No matter which side of The War they choose.  :devil:

[Slips]

Look, theres nothing a bunch of us here wouldn't love more than to see people choose a legion and passionately start up a 30k project. So none of us here are here to put you down and tell you "You're not doing it right".

 

That said, we still need a starting point to help brainstorm some ideas and help you along your way. Saying "I love all 18 Legions Equally" ins't really true for anyone and doesn't help us in our attempts to help you.

 

So, Narrow it down. Make a DEFINITIVE list of your top 3-5 legions maximum. Next, why do you prefer said legions above the others? What is it about those chosen legions that you perceive as hurdles that might stop or impede you starting a project on them? What do you want out of a force in general regardless of legions? 

 

Start by answering these questions and give us something to work with and we'd be more than happy to help you out. Just don't limit yourself. Even if its uncharacteristic for Legion 'X' to do A/B/C, well, they probably did anyways.