++ The Harrowing - An Alpha Legion Community ++

[Nemisor]

Hang on, our Warlord trait is to just pick a new Warlord when he dies.

 

So it doesn't actually buff in any way except to deny "Slay the Warlord" kill points?

well you get to pick a new wt, which could be helpfull. denying stw in tournaments is still quite powerfull

[Saadjor]

The wording of our WT as I can make out is as following:

 

In addition to this warlord trait, your Warlord has one randomly selected Chaos Space Marine Warlord Trait (see left).

If your warlord is slain, you can immediately select another "Alpha Legion character" in your army to take their place and generate a Warlord Trait for them (including this one).

If the mission you are playing grants Vicory Points for slaying the enemy warlord, your oppnent will only achieve that objective if all of the "Alpha Legion characters" have been slain.

 

Now as i read this i wonder:

When our first Warlord is slain, does the new Warlord still get this trait in addition to a randomly selected one?

 

It is cool that in either case we seem not give up Slay the Warlord if our first Warlord took this Trait.

 

Hydra Dominatus!

[Panzer]

 

Hang on, our Warlord trait is to just pick a new Warlord when he dies.

 

So it doesn't actually buff in any way except to deny "Slay the Warlord" kill points?

well you get to pick a new wt, which could be helpfull. denying stw in tournaments is still quite powerfull

 

That's true. Being able to change Warlord Traits could be quite powerful.

[Custodian Athiair]

Hello chaps,

 

this seemed to be as good as time as any to emerge from deep cover to share some intel. (I always lurk, but never post)

Our Legion specific relic is an exact copy of the Teeth of terra option from the loyalists:

 

Blade of the Hydra (Melee) +1S -2AP 2D

D3 additional attacks each time the user fights.

 

looks like i need to get me some fancy new chainsword.

 

So Alpha Legion summary:

Tactic - Same as loyalists

Strategem - Same as loyalists

Relic - Same as loyalists

Trait - Only stops enemy gaining victory points.

 

I know people are saying Alpha Legion have gotten a good deal rule wise, but they seem to have been given a poor deal in terms of effort by the development team. Don't ya think?

[Nemisor]

i think combining the cultist stratagem with the infiltrate one could be fun. set up at cultist blob 9 away at deployment, use as a distraction, when they are almost dead suck them back to your board edge at full strength to claim an objective

[Panzer]

i think combining the cultist stratagem with the infiltrate one could be fun. set up at cultist blob 9 away at deployment, use as a distraction, when they are almost dead suck them back to your board edge at full strength to claim an objective

I think I'd do the opposite. Use the infiltrate stratagem (if at all) to deploy them midfield so the enemy has almost no place to put his reserves turn 1 and once the enemy advanced a good bit and reduced the number of Cultists, use the other Stratagem to re-deploy them in full strength behind the enemy lines to make him split his attention.

[Brother Aiwass]

 

Hello chaps,

 

this seemed to be as good as time as any to emerge from deep cover to share some intel. (I always lurk, but never post)

Our Legion specific relic is an exact copy of the Teeth of terra option from the loyalists:

 

Blade of the Hydra (Melee) +1S -2AP 2D

D3 additional attacks each time the user fights.

 

looks like i need to get me some fancy new chainsword.

 

So Alpha Legion summary:

Tactic - Same as loyalists

Strategem - Same as loyalists

Relic - Same as loyalists

Trait - Only stops enemy gaining victory points.

 

I know people are saying Alpha Legion have gotten a good deal rule wise, but they seem to have been given a poor deal in terms of effort by the development team. Don't ya think?

 

 

Well, I don't know. There were 18 legions and most of them, if not all, were supposed to be mirrors or opposites of the other side. Call it balance.

 

AL-RG

IW-IF

TS-SW

NL-BA

BL-DA

EC-Sallies

DG-IH

WE-WS

WB-UM

 

And AL being arguably the least corrupted legion out there, is fair to think that they retain his ancestral way of war. And that way being one very powerful is not a bad thing.

 

 

i think combining the cultist stratagem with the infiltrate one could be fun. set up at cultist blob 9 away at deployment, use as a distraction, when they are almost dead suck them back to your board edge at full strength to claim an objective

I think I'd do the opposite. Use the infiltrate stratagem (if at all) to deploy them midfield so the enemy has almost no place to put his reserves turn 1 and once the enemy advanced a good bit and reduced the number of Cultists, use the other Stratagem to re-deploy them in full strength behind the enemy lines to make him split his attention.

 

Or, instead of using cultists why not cult units like berzerkers? Or possessed? Spam 3 units of them and make a triple 1st turn charge. And before you say "but AL doesn't have mutations! or cult troops! that's unfluffy" think about it. Nobody expects the AL to do this, and that's why they do it :P

[Panzer]

 

 

i think combining the cultist stratagem with the infiltrate one could be fun. set up at cultist blob 9 away at deployment, use as a distraction, when they are almost dead suck them back to your board edge at full strength to claim an objective

I think I'd do the opposite. Use the infiltrate stratagem (if at all) to deploy them midfield so the enemy has almost no place to put his reserves turn 1 and once the enemy advanced a good bit and reduced the number of Cultists, use the other Stratagem to re-deploy them in full strength behind the enemy lines to make him split his attention.

 

Or, instead of using cultists why not cult units like berzerkers? Or possessed? Spam 3 units of them and make a triple 1st turn charge. And before you say "but AL doesn't have mutations! or cult troops! that's unfluffy" think about it. Nobody expects the AL to do this, and that's why they do it

 

Sure, if you want to get into melee that's an option. I was more thinking in line of having a mainly shooty army tho.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Given the speed with which some stuff can advance up the board, an all-shooty army is going to have issues.  You're still going to want something that can speed bump the midfield, whether its Cultist screens, a Marine blob, or deep strikers.  Slow enemy advance guards down and buy more time for your gunline units to shoot.

 

And here's where I plan on putting the warlord trait into play.  A couple Terminator squads and a Termie Lord as warlord.  Against aggressive armies rushing to close combat, they can teleport in in front of them or hell, even behind them as they move across the midfield and fill the enemy with plasma and bolt rounds.  Try to suck that initial alpha strike onto themselves while my backfield heavy weapons do what they can at long range.  If my lord dies, it's not a problem; I'll just nominate a new one that's sitting back with the gunline and pick a new trait for him, one that benefits those units.

 

Against a relatively passive army that doesn't want to rush too far forward, my Terminator strike force allows me to hit them out of the blue from one direction while the infiltrate stratagem and the cultist surprise party stratagem allow me to hit them from multiple other directions as well.  As Alpharius taught us.

[Lord Asvaldir]

 

 

Well, I don't know. There were 18 legions and most of them, if not all, were supposed to be mirrors or opposites of the other side. Call it balance.

 

AL-RG

IW-IF

TS-SW

NL-BA

BL-DA

EC-Sallies

DG-IH

WE-WS

WB-UM

 

 

 

Completely disagree with that list, many of those examples aren't really mirrors of each other at all and have fairly different tactics, like TS and SW? Sure mortal foes of each other but couldn't be more different in terms of their tactics during the heresy. So honestly I think it's lame that GW just made AL the "traitor RG" legion (especially considering it's NL, not AL that were the main rivals of RG during the heresy). Instead of the -1 shooting trait it would have been far more fluffy to give AL something like an army wide infiltrate rule and give them a completely different strategem. 

 

That all being said, from a gaming perspective if I were an AL player it would be difficult to be upset with the rules. Definitely one of the most solid legion tactics with an excellent strategem, relic and warlord trait. I also agree that I wouldn't think of AL as just a shooty army. Like Iron Father Ferrum said you'll want some disruption units to distract from your backfield, plus the AL strategem combined with a unit like bezerkers is pretty brutal. 

[shaun03]

For now I still sticking with meq force concept, using the rhinos as last minute speed bumps if need be. But This will be short lived, most people still view rhinos as paper bags, so they not expecting to have one charge them. Make your own terrain, or rolling cage. Nothing stop fast moving CC power house like getting boxed in with rhinos.

I am not hughe fan of having to relay on taking cultist. If we had to enhance a unit of cultist that would be great. Anyway for slowling down the other army. Spawns are effective cheap, I just hate the aesthetics of spawns, looking to alternatives. Anyone know the size of spawn off hand?

Kinda leaning towards more havocs as they can max out heavy weapons and special weapons, chosen are bit more pricy but come with 2 Attacks. But they fighting for elite slots, so I guessing that's going to come down to what type of detachment you want to build.

Still got a week before codex drops so it may force major changes or minor tweaks. 

[Brother Aiwass]

 

 

 

Well, I don't know. There were 18 legions and most of them, if not all, were supposed to be mirrors or opposites of the other side. Call it balance.

 

AL-RG

IW-IF

TS-SW

NL-BA

BL-DA

EC-Sallies

DG-IH

WE-WS

WB-UM

 

 

 

Completely disagree with that list, many of those examples aren't really mirrors of each other at all and have fairly different tactics, like TS and SW? Sure mortal foes of each other but couldn't be more different in terms of their tactics during the heresy. So honestly I think it's lame that GW just made AL the "traitor RG" legion (especially considering it's NL, not AL that were the main rivals of RG during the heresy). Instead of the -1 shooting trait it would have been far more fluffy to give AL something like an army wide infiltrate rule and give them a completely different strategem. 

 

That all being said, from a gaming perspective if I were an AL player it would be difficult to be upset with the rules. Definitely one of the most solid legion tactics with an excellent strategem, relic and warlord trait. I also agree that I wouldn't think of AL as just a shooty army. Like Iron Father Ferrum said you'll want some disruption units to distract from your backfield, plus the AL strategem combined with a unit like bezerkers is pretty brutal. 

 

Did you read the bit that I highlighted now? :P

 

And the Alphas have an history with the Ravens. Infiltrate the whole army for free would be OTT, and that is pretty strong as it is. Don't know about the NL being rivals of the RG, tho. The NL had rivalry with the DA, BA and UM, and minor ones with others AFAIK. Would be more fitting to give them the -1 to hit if the unit is 12" or more? If you ask me, yes, but they're not a shooty legion, so it's better the Terror Tactics imho.

 

But anyway, things are not bad at all for the XX.

[shaun03]

Does the infiltration rule work with units in a DT like it did in 7th?

[mika_angelus]

No. There are no dedicated transports anymore, and the stratagem works only on infantry.

[shaun03]

that impact a few units choices I was looking at working with that stratagem.

[Orkinstein]

How many units can we infiltrate? I think one can only use 1 stratagem in 1 phase in a match game. But my friend said before game is no a phase … I am not sure …

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Honestly, I wouldn't want to use it more than once anyway in most cases.  CPs are a relatively rare resource and we have no way to mitigate that rarity (the way Ultramarines can, for example).  I'd rather use Forward Operatives once and get the absolute most out of it, and spend the rest of my CPs on other things.  Like letting my Slaaneshi lascannon Havocs fire twice, or outflanking my Cultists somewhere.

[Saadjor]

How many units can we infiltrate? I think one can only use 1 stratagem in 1 phase in a match game. But my friend said before game is no a phase … I am not sure …

The Raven Guard boys have discussed this one already. The current wording does seem to indicate when can use it on multiple units. Seeing as it happens before the first battleround and, as your friend said, that is not a phase as such.

 

EDIT: I Do agree with Ferrum, we can use our CP's on so much good stuff. The cultist and VoTLW strategems both cry out for use in battle. (And are fluffy as all hell, especially the cultist one)

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Our Legion Focus is up!  Here.

 

 

Edit:  So nothing earth-shattering there which was. . . kind of expected I guess.  They don't mention our chainsword relic which I can understand since I personally think it's a little underwhelming; with stuff like the AOBF and Murder Sword available to us, I can't see taking the Blade of the Hydra unless you're playing in a small game and/or are super strapped for points.

 

They yammer on about the sorcerer and the flexibility he brings to an Alpha list, which is something I certainly agree with.  I've been trying to plot out the best distribution of Marks to make use of powers and stratagems, like MoT Termies for 4+ saves, MoK Termies with IoW that strike twice in combat, Nurgle Cultists for +2 to be hit at over 12", and Slaaneshi Havocs to fire twice.  I'm going to pull the Apostle I had planned on using for a second sorcerer, I think, because the Tzeentch and Nurgle powers in particular buff durability quite nicely.

[Breakthrough]

Guys are there more Infos profiles out?

 

Especially for the Hellbrutes and the Cultists?

 

Cause I am thinking of what to use as Alpha Legion Hellbrute, I dont like this Heavy mutated chaos look you know-.-

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I'm with you on the Helbrute Chaos Dreadnought.  I've got a pair of the old Forge World Legion-specific box-noughts that I use.  FW doesn't sell them anymore, but you can usually find some on eBay (caveat emptor, a lot of them re-casts).  Here's one of mine as an example, fresh painted to boot!

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/LqZbR7e.jpg

[Lord Asvaldir]

 

 

 

Completely disagree with that list, many of those examples aren't really mirrors of each other at all and have fairly different tactics, like TS and SW? Sure mortal foes of each other but couldn't be more different in terms of their tactics during the heresy. So honestly I think it's lame that GW just made AL the "traitor RG" legion (especially considering it's NL, not AL that were the main rivals of RG during the heresy). Instead of the -1 shooting trait it would have been far more fluffy to give AL something like an army wide infiltrate rule and give them a completely different strategem. 

 

That all being said, from a gaming perspective if I were an AL player it would be difficult to be upset with the rules. Definitely one of the most solid legion tactics with an excellent strategem, relic and warlord trait. I also agree that I wouldn't think of AL as just a shooty army. Like Iron Father Ferrum said you'll want some disruption units to distract from your backfield, plus the AL strategem combined with a unit like bezerkers is pretty brutal. 

 

Did you read the bit that I highlighted now?

 

And the Alphas have an history with the Ravens. Infiltrate the whole army for free would be OTT, and that is pretty strong as it is. Don't know about the NL being rivals of the RG, tho. The NL had rivalry with the DA, BA and UM, and minor ones with others AFAIK. Would be more fitting to give them the -1 to hit if the unit is 12" or more? If you ask me, yes, but they're not a shooty legion, so it's better the Terror Tactics imho.

 

But anyway, things are not bad at all for the XX.

 

 

O my bad, missed that part about opposites. Fair point. 

 

I mean army wide infiltrate if it was limited to like 18" from enemy units seems reasonable to me, but whateves AL got a good tactic and stratagem anyway so no big deal.  

 

Guys are there more Infos profiles out?

 

Especially for the Hellbrutes and the Cultists?

 

Cause I am thinking of what to use as Alpha Legion Hellbrute, I dont like this Heavy mutated chaos look you know-.-

 

Check out the review of our codex on youtube, the guy flipped through all the unit profiles so you can find both of those units there. 

[mika_angelus]

How many units can we infiltrate? I think one can only use 1 stratagem in 1 phase in a match game. But my friend said before game is no a phase … I am not sure …

As many as you have CP.

It's in the rulebook under stratagem's.

[Ancient Terror]

I miss the old days of subtle-but-persistent, passive differences beyond just a single trait & relic. The focus on active bonuses feels a bit overdone and gamey. It would be nice to have some of the old passives back. That subtle differentiation would go a long way, even if it was just a tiny rules adjustment or two rather than the great ocean of special rules that drowned 4th to 7th edition. I like the concept of stratagems, but think some of them would have been better off built in as paid unit upgrades here and there. 

 

Another thing they seem to have skipped over this edition, is that it's often as much the extra restrictions as the extra options that made the old legion rules interesting. Latter day 7th edition went a bit far in forcing you to build your army a certain way, but I find things like unit caps and force org chart alterations cool in principle. A slight few more nudges away from certan units and towards others, without hemming us in completely, would have been fun. That said, it seems their design intent for 8th was to make it as open-ended as possible in list building, as well as putting most of the heavy lifting for army differentiation on stratagems. I feel like if they added another few variables pr. legion/chapter, it would have been a bit more interesting.

 

That said, I love the direction the design team have taken with the Alpha Legion. Their parallels with the Raven Guard are justified, even as they approach battle very differently from their corvine ex-buddies. The differences in unit selection across codexes, not to mention general use stratagems, relics and psychic powers, means you're fielding a very different fighting force by default. Traitors by their very nature are more combatative and CC-oriented than the loyalist rabble. Both in terms of fluff and in-game mechanics, cultists play a big part in Alpha Legion operations and the ability to infiltrate even 20 of them up the field should make for some hilarious situations. 

[Iron Father Ferrum]

That said, I love the direction the design team have taken with the Alpha Legion. Their parallels with the Raven Guard are justified, even as they approach battle very differently from their corvine ex-buddies. The differences in unit selection across codexes, not to mention general use stratagems, relics and psychic powers, means you're fielding a very different fighting force by default. Traitors by their very nature are more combatative and CC-oriented than the loyalist rabble. Both in terms of fluff and in-game mechanics, cultists play a big part in Alpha Legion operations and the ability to infiltrate even 20 of them up the field should make for some hilarious situations. 

 

I can't wait for the first time my Alpha Legion fight against a Raven Guard army.  Neither of us are going to be able to hit a :cuss ing thing!