How do you see your Legion?

[Loesh]

Or faction, or Warband. Reading one of the posts ADB made in a thread, it got me to thinking, people might fundamentally agree on legion themes but they may see components of it very different, I suppose I should go first.

 

In the very few posts i'v made on the forums so far I think it's been firmly established i'm into the Emperors Children, a lot of how I view them is influenced both by my background in religion, culturally being Vietnamese, psychology, and my reading of Lovecraftian stories.

 

I tend to regard Slaanesh as my favored god as an embodiment of Mankinds sin save Wrath, and even then Slaanesh is pretty wrathful. Despite her bad rap as the weakest Chaos God I always found her the most fundamentally horrifying, Chaos is meant to be corruptive and tempting which the other gods can be, but not quite to the extent of Slaanesh, she appeals to the weak and strong with equal measure and tantalizes not only with the base promise of pleasure but with the more complex ideas that mankind holds, he can blindside an unwary foe with pure innocence just as easily as he can with sex or drugs, she plays to our pride and desire for something greater, she can evangelize nations to her cause while at the same time turning them into ravening iconoclasts that shatter anything that tries to hold them back. An agent of wealth, a bearer of deeds, promising paradise no matter what it is...she plays both upon the Superego that shackles our humanity and the near mindless and ravenous Id that composes it.

 

With the Emperors Children I see a legion that pre-heresy were the more common definition of a super-soldier, not excelling in anything in particular like the Imperial Fists or Iron Warriors but striving to be very good at everything. Like the Blood Angels they cultivated their humanity by indulging in art, culture, and the best aspects of humanity, eventually this led them to try and improve on even the Emperors work and begin Gene-modding themselves. While the Blood Angels had their vamperic traits as their inner monster, the almost Frankenstein desire to toy with Life was the Emperors Children, and where the Blood Angels fought their inner monster the Emperors Children chose to embrace it.

 

Really, turning them to Slaanesh was never going to be hard. Before Horus had even started his rebellion they were altering themselves in strange ways, eventually even adding Xenos components to their bodies in an effort to change their geneseed. As the Heresy progressed they only became more warped and transformed, culminating in the Mavegilia where the first Noise Marines were created, the legion became ever more self focused until they stopped even caring for the war and broke from the Siege of Terra to pillage the populace in pursuit of simple pleasure.

 

Fast forward to post Heresy where they raid and pillage even the other legions of Chaos, inevitably being crushed and scattered to the winds. These days they have been growing back to the point where individual warbands approach company strength or greater, and yet they are fundamentally all much different people then who they used to be. Each devoted to themselves, some art, to war, to pleasure, or even complex perhaps even idealistic concepts in the hell universe that surrounds them, so consumed by their individuality that aside from some basic components of their paint scheme no two Emperors Children ever look alike.

 

A dark parody of who they were wearing the Emperors insignia, more then any legion I think they are probably the most mutated under the prince of excess save Thousand Sons who succumbed to the flesh change, gifted boons in Slaanesh's mercurial moods to ever more become a piece of art to the point where they barely resemble the humans they once were, an ever shifting mass of flesh without gender or any sensible biology, somewhere between Chaos Spawn and man while constantly tittering on the edge of both as the Lord of Excess shifts in focus, perhaps an Eldritch Abominaiton in and of themselves after sailing for centuries in a hell that is like heaven to them.

 

To the masses of the Imperium who know nothing of Chaos these raiders appear from the warp, indescribable and barely identifiable, clad in eye watering colors they depopulate  and corrupt worlds.

 

I suppose that's what makes them the most frighting to me, they are so inhumane in appearance and yet they may be more human then they ever were before their transformation into Space Marines, embracing desires and urges long since dead to the other legions. Each individual pursuing his own path without the fetters of morality or sanity, in a twisted way they can lead their dreams in a way no other can, even as they outwardly become monsters that warp reality around them and cause the stars to groan and shudder with their passing. 

 

In the end a collection of poets, serial killers, artists, occultists, heroes, and villains who signify the terrible hydra of the post human, bound together as one only because they are all far too strange to live but much too rare to die.

 

What about you? how do you see your legion(s)?

[Forté]

Good topic to talk about here Loesh.

 

I would go into my view on the Emperor's Children, but I'd likely be repeating what you have already said what I think.

[incinerator950]

It depends on the Legion, context, and viewful mood I'm in. I let the 13th campaign still influence my disposition, and despite GW's (and to a certain extent some authors and users) attempts, I still see the Legions as an existing force. Declaring them void is like trying to claim Templars and Wolves are codex adherent, and Legion players need to start speaking up. Despite the breakdown of their old CoC and relocation, death or ascendence of primarch, and how coordinated the remnants or Warbands are. With many specialists and new Warbands polping up, many cult specials seem to derrive from their Legionary Ancestors or recruited from the Black Legion. It is a fact Chaos Marines are organized into Warbands. Whether still complete Chapters, followers under a force of personality, or actually remniscent or Loyal to their Legion ancestry or maintaining the colors and allegiance to their Primarchs. It's the division that is remarkably noted in dumbed down rulebooks, not a careful progression or regression.

 

Taking into account I don't consider BL fluff as high in status GW Rule/FW rulebook fluff unless they're gap fillers. I view Warband cohesion as something either fiercely independent (NL, WE), loosely divided, or cohesive enough for joint operations or some form of Command structure (WB, BL). My perspective runs on the Legions Scattering, dividing, or maintaining a loose or fairly cohesive order. If we go by the new, Chaos Legion instead of Heresy Legion, these are rearranged after the Slave Wars and we have to determine what makes them gone or together. You'll have to consider the BL as not a proper Legion also, but ordered under Abbadon even as loosely independent Warbands until called upon. For many of us, a Warband is undefined as similar to an older scale Chapter or Legion Conpany, or just a small or massive gathering of forces. While a good portion are only united in name, many are still aligned in cause, cults, and the Long War.

 

Thousand Sons: Virtually destroyed by Ahriman, most of the Legion was turned to Rubrics and the line on how much of a soul is left in the Rubicae is blurry. Outstandingly powerful sorcerers, but loyalties are scattered. Tzeentchian Cult, primarch on primary world Demon World.

 

Sons of Horus: Sacked by the Emperors Children, nearly destroyed in a civil War. Re-emerged under Abbadon as the Black Legion or small, independent Warbands who revere Horus. Black Legion recruitment is outstandingly high (Anyone can join) but SoH as a Legion is dead, and the Thrice Cursed are too few in number and independence.

 

World Eaters: Scattered by Khârn. Able to reunite under circumstances such as Angron's two invasions and by the 13th Crusade, a massive amount of them now fighting under Abby. Primarch away, Khornate Cult.

 

Emperor's Children: Scattered by Khârn, breezing and deliciously decadent. Fragmented but less written on than the WE, so I cannot offer an opinion. Slaaneshi Cult. Primarch somewhere.

 

Night Lords: Scattered after Night Haunter's death. Various Warlords but general consensus is they're still fairly unaligned despite Warp exposure. Mercs and pirates down to Terror cults or using Demons as simply weapons.

 

Death Guard: Divided after Terra. Not totally scattered, but maintains several interdependant Warbands and many Plague fleets that make port on the Plague world. Two major leaders are Mortrarion and Typhus. Nurgle Cult.

 

Iron Warriors: Blurry coordination, Perturabo maintains a defacto leadership but it is never written on. Many Warbands reside on Medrengard or several Fortress Worlds. While inter-warband rivalry is common, there is some level of cohesion if they haven't killed themselves off on their new homeworld despite paranoia. Primarch alive in his personal fortress. Undivided, seems to maintain Grand Company and possibly Battalion organization, as Warsmiths are still tbe primary leadership.

 

Word Bearers: Blurred between cohesion. Dark Council rules on Sicarus in Lorgars isolative meditation. Independence is maintained, but they maintain order of control. Considered ordered if they're maintaining a sizable force on Sicarus and Ghalmek if the BL supplement indicates a size ratio of Black Legionaires having ten to one on Word Bearers. Undivided by most accounts, and almost always led by Dark Apostles.

 

Alpha Legion: ??????

 

 

 

 

 

 

Intentionally split up to various Cells, deep cover ops, and combat Warbands. Cells have no definite composition, nor do they adhere to regular structure (besides codex limitations). Chaos worship varies on beliefs or use, but the Legion mainly stayed out of the Eye after the Heresy. There is hint that there is some underlaying coordination, but every cell is independent and ones demise doesn't affect anothers.

[Kol Saresk]

I consider my Night Lords, the Sinners, to be a small, tightly knit group. These guys have been through Hell and back, quite literally. And long ago they made that to survive, they must not only depend on each other, but to trust the murderers at their backs not to kill them. 10,000 years later and they are a brotherhood of the most unlikely sort, bound together by blood and fire and since then, have absolutely refused to kill each other. Everyone else however, even allied warbands, is fair game.

 

Alongside them are the Bloody Hymn, formally known as the Chapter of the Veiled Warden of the XVII Legion. Survivors of Calth, they have since reached the conclusion that Lorgar sacrificed them as part of the birthing of the Ruinstorm. And so they marched forward. To look back is to look upon failure of the greatest magnitude; the failure to please their father. So where once they were the cliff that stood against wave and storm, now they are the unstoppable tide, crushing all beneath their feet. No retreat, no failure. Victory or death. For Calth, for redemption.

[Beachymike123]

I see the Iron Warriors as a force that shows no mercy and are cold even by astartes standards. This leads to them not even truly trusting each other, and only act together to maximise their raids on the Imperium. However, they aren't savages or hermits who tinker away on their weapons when not at war. To me, they were denied the ability to embrace the finer points of life thanks to their typecasting during the Heresy, and now embrace the chance to destroy the enemy whenever they get the chance. 

I also see how, despite some nay-sayers, how the Iron Warriors would worship each of the gods although this would only be in a 'end justifies the means' way. Their allegiance is to Perturabo first and foremost. Some may worship Khorne for extra brutality in the closing parts of the siege; Nurgle can be used for chemical warfare or for extra durability; Slaanesh can make brain activity go off the scales to pin point accuracy; whereas Tzeentch would be beneficial for commanders who work on intricate battle plans to the smallest details. Daemons would also play a massive part, but these would generally be bound in Defilers, Fiends and any other machine they need it for (eg cyber-Possessed), unless they need the Daemon in its true form for an objective or if its needed for battle. 

Just my 2p on the subject. 

[Prot]

Really good topic.

 

How I view my Chaos? It's irrelevant to everyone else but myself.

 

However I will say I have learned something about ALL of the armies, loyalist or not since this... 'new' era in Black Library fiction:

 

- The old school fiction had most of us (myself included) believing you have to play Chapter/Legion X like 'this' and Chapter/Legion Y like 'that'.... because it is so written.

 

^^^^ THAT is why I had soooo many problems playing the last few chaos codexes.  But then something happened....

 

- The new school fiction told us anything goes.... anything. The best example of this is my favorite ADB post (I hate to keep referencing it) showed the life of a Chaos Lord. The range shown there goes basically from being Nurgle dropping status to Omnipotent Warp-o-matic 9000 and back to Warp goofball no one pays attention to again. 

 

- Even in his own fiction ADB has shown us that amongst the authors one writer can write a story quite contradictory to another writer because it is retold as seen by the characters in play! 

 

Conclusion: The days of saying, "Hey you can't play a sorc in that Khorne army!" Are dead! (I had to learn this myself) with the last couple of codexes, and I STILL struggle with it.

 

The reality is your Khorne might not play nice with a sorc, but maybe mine had Khârn in it, and he remembers how the old Librarians helped keep the Nails from kicking too deep.... He tolerates them and demands the same of his Berzerkers.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++ My Crimson Slaughter: +++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

- Kranon's Black Crusade 'condition' to Abaddon was looked at by many lesser minded fools as disrespect. However Abaddon saw it as fuel for the cause and wisely caressed that cause and deeply welcomes the incredible stomach calming asset a fully operational 'chapter' brings to bowl of soup that can often cause diarrhea during Black Crusades.

 

- Kranon is king. In his mind it really doesn't matter who leads the charge to terra, as long as someone does it, and Abaddon is someone he does respect greatly.

 

- Crimson Slaughter does not align to any entity aside from their brotherhood. They are haunted, and use it well. A Librarian/Sorcerer works very easily alongside a Khorne haunted Possessed as long as between them lies an utterly broken slave to the corpse god.

 

- Crimson Slaughter, whole or in part do not trust anything below Abaddon. They have been betrayed once already by the very ideal they sought to uphold at all costs. Now they spit on that memory. You will not see my Crimson Slaughter allied with Croissant Wing, or those dirty Tau, and never the detestable, arrogant eldar. 

[incinerator950]

Didn't Azrael kill Krannon?

 

I only see playing anything goes as a having the benefit of being ignored by the parent company. Yes it's great when one or two groups will be established for embellishing by people with an artistic license, but for a lot of people, it's a copout by being abandoned further.

 

Our greatest strength is also our greatest weakness, no matter if you either ignore it or exploit it. The mainline difference is the exceptions in our dex are not noteworthy anymore like the Loyalists, and they're being dumbed down too. So while you have X models and say you're a Y army with an excellent paintjob and developed background, you're only a Z army because you're still using a broad, poorly spread set with at best two potential modifiers and add ons. My army relies on CS for the Prophet upgrade and Fear, but in the end it's still a CS army with a different paintjob, because we lack that tabletop identity we used to have, or had the illusion of. That's what sucks about anything goes, and no amount of handwaiving and fannon can change that.

[Prot]

Didn't Azrael kill Krannon?

 

I only see playing anything goes as a having the benefit of being ignored by the parent company. Yes it's great when one or two groups will be established for embellishing by people with an artistic license, but for a lot of people, it's a copout by being abandoned further.

 

It gas been less about playing what is established, but having structure to identity, which GW has been dumbing down and sweeping under a rug for every army the last few editions.

 

It would be excusable more uf they up the rules or show more equal recognitions like the Loyalist dexes, but that's probably never going to be the case again.

 

Our greatest strength is also our greatest weakness, no matter if you either ignore it or exploit it.

 

 

Well I use Kranon's gear. He's basically Kranon, but the story is far less amusing if I told it from "Lord Bob's" point of view.

 

I understand your point of view on this, but it's not going to change the reality of where it is. With people who have this view I really think there are only a few choices:

1 Move on to something else (a different game, a different genre, a different army)

2 Work with it

3 Play it your own way

 

I'll never understand the unending complaining about it. I despised Gav-dex as a fundamental tool of chaos. Most of my friends actually took option 1, I eventually went with option 2. 

[incinerator950]

I'm with three, but eventually you're right, and moving away has happened quite often enough.

 

In my case, an unfeasible game would be more redundant if I plunge into Hereay, a game I can't even afford or play with anyone.

[Tenebris]

‘Traitors, all of you!’ screamed Chengrel through the din. ‘The Long War is not done while the Emperor sits on that throne on Terra! And all we have left is fops and cowards who will not do what it takes to settle the account!’ Even as he crashed forwards, bolters and cannons tracking, the left cannon mount fell silent. Hodir had glided forwards with perfect calm, slipped between two hulking thralls whose senses were full of flame and gunshots, and gutted the cannon’s mechanism with a single precise jab of his power knife. Now he spun to defend himself as the grunting thralls closed in.

 

‘Us?’ cried Khrove as a burst from Chengrel’s other cannon drove Drachmus back from his other flank, the little daemon scrambling for a grip but continuing its monologues with not a syllable out of place. ‘Are you so stunted, Chengrel? So trapped? Leave your so-called Long War to the elders, all eaten up with spite, who cannot drag themselves out of a rut of ten thousand years! Think of all that Chaos offers you. Think of the power and grandeur. Think of what you have built already, and what you could achieve if you let the Great Ocean pour through you and push wide your understanding. Think of what awaits you if you would just shrug off your dreary little feud and strike out to explore! You are the traitor, Chengrel! Traitor to the potential our forefathers saw in us when they turned their backs on the Emperor and led us out into the void! Think on that, Chengrel, and learn shame!’

 

Excerpt from The Masters, Bidding, by Matthew Farrer, Treacheries of the Space Marines Anthology. 

 

 

In the above are presented the two most common outlooks of the chaos space marines, the ones who still live in the past, and the ones who wont have anything to do with the past. I belong to the second group, the Long War is more than just a crusade, Chaos is more than undiluted power, the gods are more than patrons. My Thousand Sons live in the present, in the now, thus they have joined with the Black Legion. There is nothing for them left in the blind loyalty to the Cyclops, nothing to be gained wearing the colours of the legions of old. Chaos is evolution, Chaos is change and my warband believes in this ideal. How can one fulfil his potential when he is shackled by ancient mores and blood feuds. How can one change, embrace Chaos in all its glory and all its tragedy if one does not wish to travel, to seek, to learn, experience and adapt? 

 

Most legion warbands get mired in this ideal of the Long War only to never understand the meaning of the Long War. Most were always soldiers, soldiers in the past, soldiers now, soldiers for ever, but Chaos is not for them, Chaos fans the emotions and the ambitions of the individual, it offers opportunities for growth, power, knowledge, opportunities which seldom align with the outlook of this ancient military elite. My warband is vibrant, energetic and a herald of Change. They have stepped away from the shadows of their fathers and their prominent brothers and united in this they have embraced the Black Legion as a new home, as a new potential for growth, as a new brotherhood, divided as it might be.

 

It is hard to express this point of view but I am of the group which sees the legions of old an ancient relic around which only those too stubborn to see the truth of Chaos cling on. My astartes walk with their own legs, think with their own minds and embrace the colours they wish to bear, not those which were imposed upon them by birthright or bloodline. This does not mean that they deny their birthright, they still are Thousand Sons, Alpha Legion, Word Bearers and so on, they know what comes with the blood in their veins, the set of obligations, the complex pattern of loyalties and feuds, vendettas and glories shared, yet cognisant of all this they have chosen to walk their own path and see the Black Legion as their brotherhood. 

[Forté]

Can we keep this thread away from actual rules please. Go for the fluff route.

 

I admit. I am one of those who still believe a sorcerer of Khorne would explode on the spot. But since stepping back and thinking that Legions would have changed from Company to Warband with their Lords deciding the direction they would take. I've been able to paint and build again.

 

Don't let this devolve into yet another "our Codex sucks" topic. Cheers.

[Kol Saresk]

I don't know, I've always like the idea of blood-witches an I think Dan Abnett did a superb job of one in his Gaunt's Ghosts series.

[incinerator950]

‘Traitors, all of you!’ screamed Chengrel through the din. ‘The Long War is not done while the Emperor sits on that throne on Terra! And all we have left is fops and cowards who will not do what it takes to settle the account!’ Even as he crashed forwards, bolters and cannons tracking, the left cannon mount fell silent. Hodir had glided forwards with perfect calm, slipped between two hulking thralls whose senses were full of flame and gunshots, and gutted the cannon’s mechanism with a single precise jab of his power knife. Now he spun to defend himself as the grunting thralls closed in.

 

‘Us?’ cried Khrove as a burst from Chengrel’s other cannon drove Drachmus back from his other flank, the little daemon scrambling for a grip but continuing its monologues with not a syllable out of place. ‘Are you so stunted, Chengrel? So trapped? Leave your so-called Long War to the elders, all eaten up with spite, who cannot drag themselves out of a rut of ten thousand years! Think of all that Chaos offers you. Think of the power and grandeur. Think of what you have built already, and what you could achieve if you let the Great Ocean pour through you and push wide your understanding. Think of what awaits you if you would just shrug off your dreary little feud and strike out to explore! You are the traitor, Chengrel! Traitor to the potential our forefathers saw in us when they turned their backs on the Emperor and led us out into the void! Think on that, Chengrel, and learn shame!’

 

Excerpt from The Masters, Bidding, by Matthew Farrer, Treacheries of the Space Marines Anthology.

 

 

In the above are presented the two most common outlooks of the chaos space marines, the ones who still live in the past, and the ones who wont have anything to do with the past. I belong to the second group, the Long War is more than just a crusade, Chaos is more than undiluted power, the gods are more than patrons. My Thousand Sons live in the present, in the now, thus they have joined with the Black Legion. There is nothing for them left in the blind loyalty to the Cyclops, nothing to be gained wearing the colours of the legions of old. Chaos is evolution, Chaos is change and my warband believes in this ideal. How can one fulfil his potential when he is shackled by ancient mores and blood feuds. How can one change, embrace Chaos in all its glory and all its tragedy if one does not wish to travel, to seek, to learn, experience and adapt?

 

Most legion warbands get mired in this ideal of the Long War only to never understand the meaning of the Long War. Most were always soldiers, soldiers in the past, soldiers now, soldiers for ever, but Chaos is not for them, Chaos fans the emotions and the ambitions of the individual, it offers opportunities for growth, power, knowledge, opportunities which seldom align with the outlook of this ancient military elite. My warband is vibrant, energetic and a herald of Change. They have stepped away from the shadows of their fathers and their prominent brothers and united in this they have embraced the Black Legion as a new home, as a new potential for growth, as a new brotherhood, divided as it might be.

 

It is hard to express this point of view but I am of the group which sees the legions of old an ancient relic around which only those too stubborn to see the truth of Chaos cling on. My astartes walk with their own legs, think with their own minds and embrace the colours they wish to bear, not those which were imposed upon them by birthright or bloodline. This does not mean that they deny their birthright, they still are Thousand Sons, Alpha Legion, Word Bearers and so on, they know what comes with the blood in their veins, the set of obligations, the complex pattern of loyalties and feuds, vendettas and glories shared, yet cognisant of all this they have chosen to walk their own path and see the Black Legion as their brotherhood.

I see what you're saying and it's great from a narrative standpoint. The difference between conservative or stubbornly loyal forces to new ones or just bandwaggoners is fantastic in and off the setting.

 

It starts to suck when the proportions get eclipsed because Reasons, and one side gets thrown under a rug, but I'm getting sick of this in every single topic the word Legion is mentioned.

[Forté]

It starts to suck when the proportions get eclipsed because Reasons, and one side gets thrown under a rug, but I'm getting sick of this in every single topic the word Legion is mentioned.

So ignore it. You can see here already that players have very different ways of viewing Chaos, Legions, and Warbands. Don't get hung up on rules which could never meet expectations ;)

[Goreshed]

I'll stick with my favored Legion because well...I could make a novel about all of them together so I will try to keep to the bullet points.

 

-The Iron Warriors have the rage of being shunted throughout the Great Crusade as being diggers and not warriors. Sure there may have been moments but for the most part they were stuck doing sieges and garrison duty. Therefore their hate and rage would be even greater after the fact, specially when some warriors have had ten thousand years of hatred to let stew.

 

-They stick with what they know, why? Because it is what they know and they do it better then any other (at least in theory) but now they don't have a leash on them so they can also be the warriors they've always wanted to be, but now that sits like worms in their stomachs as it doesn't really matter anymore, except to fuel their own greed.

 

-They fall into two groups. One who still fights the long war but this seems to be the minority. They were betrayed twice, why would they fall for it again? The second group is to fight because that is all they know how to do and are really able to do given their current situation.

 

-They might not be as broken as the World Eaters or Night Lords but they aren't Word Bearers. Perturabo sits on his throne and broods and doesn't really seem to interact with his legion at all. This leaves his legion down to his warsmiths who in turn rule as they think they should. They have Medrengrad and other foretress worlds to work around with so they hone their craft even further, specially with the application of the Warp.

 

-The gods are used to further their own ends but not further. They walk the paths of one or the other for a reason then leave the god. They were never a religious or faith based legion to begin with, why start now? As with their weapons so too do they use the gods of chaos, when it suites, they use it.

 

-Could other cults work with them? Sure. But why would they? They have been betrayed enough times to harden themselves and be paranoid that those not of the legion would be viewed with more scruitiny. If anything, others would flock to them but still, the Iron Warriors would not trust them and use them like they use anything else, until its blunted and no longer workable.

 

-If anything, given all that has happened to them they would stick to the old ways because of their paranoia. Change is an athema to them, at least on any grand scale and splitting themselves or altering who they are and why they were created would be harder to them then destroying a sun or creating another Eye of Terror.

[Loesh]

I don't know, I've always like the idea of blood-witches an I think Dan Abnett did a superb job of one in his Gaunt's Ghosts series.

 

 

A good rule of thumb for me when it comes to this is: Sorcerers might be used for navigation or support but they cannot be marked by Khorne. The distinction is probably purely arbitrary but I consider things with names like Blood Witches to be ritualists, though it's all just warp energy, the difference is largely how one carries themselves.

[Dragonlover]

Alpha Legion - Supremacy over the foe. The grand gesture. These are the two concepts that sum up the Alpha Legion to me. They will crush you, and you will know it was them, but not until they want you to know. The Long Games at Carcharias and We Are One are perfect examples.

 

That said, I see them as a fractured legion. Some fight for the gods, some against the gods. Although they tend to operate outside of the Eye, I figure there's a few that are sitting in the warp growing extra faces on their legs.

 

World Eaters: Kill. Maim! BURN! The World Eaters are the edge of the axe, the howling horde, an unstoppable tide of wrath that will show up at your planet and render it to nothingness. I think they still work strategically, they still have something resembling a plan at the start of things, they're just very used to the plan going out of the window when the Nails kick in. I diverge massively in one way though, in that I firmly believe there are World Eater Librarians. I just don't think anyone notices them using powers all that much. I mean, a Marine punches someone and they explode? Cool, whatever. Happens all the time, humans are fragile. I also hold to the martial honour side of Khorne, which seems to have fallen out of favour in the fluff.

 

Legions in general: They'll hunt Marines over any other foe. Some for vengeance, some for the thrill, but ultimately only an Astartes can give an Astartes a decent fight. I also hold that a reasonably large percentage of Traitor Marines regard the Chapters as unworthy inheritors of the empire they struggled to build.

 

Dragonlover

[incinerator950]

I see Khornate enchanters and navigators whose blood flows with the Warp as a natural extension of their being. It's the sorcerous magic that is an anathema to Khorne. Anti-casters and blade workers.

[Chaeron]

With my Death Guard, I'm all about cohesion - pretty traditional. Just a monstrously large horde. I'm not into excessive conversions of either bio, mechanical or physical rot - but I do like them weathered. I see them as corrupted from what they were - but maintaining the stoic discipline they had in life. I therefore pride myself on Troop heavy lists, more classic builds - but I'm equally not afraid to chuck in the big guns where appropriate.

 

My scheme naturally reflects their original - it just looks right to me.

[Loesh]

I think I see an Emperors Children Warband as somewhat coherent, near company strength mimicing the formations they used to have with Sun Killers wielding Blastmasters and Palatine Blades shrieking into the foe with chainblades, power swords, and halberds sharpened to a mono molecular edge, the newest addition being the Sorcerers who were likely warriors that just started practicing warpcraft before the Siege of Terra.

 

They move toward the foe silver of hair and black of eye, so dilated that it seems like they have twin black holes in their skulls. The sky seems to darken as those sorcerers chant rites that cause the warp to well up and vomit out it's excesses, washing over this degenerate elite to make every pinprick feel like joyous immolation and terrifying the enemy as every sensation becomes agonizing, some falling into ecstatic seizures as their nervous systems fail to process whats happening. Slowly that cohesion breaks down into a organized madness, each warrior taking to their task while dancing to a song only they can hear.

 

That darkness spreads as serpentine bodies and fanged mouths emerge from the shadows, pure chaos energy flowing into some and melting their bodies or doing just the opposite: Causing them to bloat into hideous chaos spawn at the Prince of Pleasures whim, what little sentience like that of an animal as they jump from man to man, bladed tentacles flash and it's hard to see if they are caressing or disemboweling. To these things that have descended on the Imperials it matters not which it is, as the defenders go from thousands to mere handfuls of soldiers they began to rampage across the planets surface. That organization completely breaks down as each madman tends to his own desires, people are dragged screaming through the streets and blood spatters against windows and bedsheets, inhumane choirs play as a great chaos storm devours everything.

 

All around the world now they come like a blackened cloud, breaking through doors and windowsills, like a storm they flood everything and wash it away. People die screaming or  start worshiping Slaanesh, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between death and being set free by them, the worlds no longer pays imperial tithes but instead the wage of mortal sin.

[Forté]

Sounds like a good party.

 

Keep it coming people. Just don't forget kids may be watching.

[Loesh]

I think really when going off Tenebris analysis I find it a bit interesting, I tend to take the opposite view of Chaos and that is the Legions are still very much a thing that serve a form and function. I consider the Word Bearers and Black Legion a hammer where the mono-god legions are a scalpel, very precise and specialized. I feel that order is not something that is distinct from Chaos, that if you pour enough nonsense into something it starts to take an order purely by chance, in terms of sorcery it's organized rituals or Heretek technology that takes advantage of the Eye of Terrors unique properties, or even something as basic as formations based on their particular gods holy numbers.

[Chaeron]

It starts to suck when the proportions get eclipsed because Reasons, and one side gets thrown under a rug, but I'm getting sick of this in every single topic the word Legion is mentioned.

So ignore it. You can see here already that players have very different ways of viewing Chaos, Legions, and Warbands. Don't get hung up on rules which could never meet expectations

I'm out of likes, but can't resist quoting this for absolute truth.

Really, this topic is great because it allows us to extrapolate our feelings and project how we utilise the rich background for our own narratives. Nothing can stop that imagination: be they rules or retcon.

[Loesh]

It starts to suck when the proportions get eclipsed because Reasons, and one side gets thrown under a rug, but I'm getting sick of this in every single topic the word Legion is mentioned.

So ignore it. You can see here already that players have very different ways of viewing Chaos, Legions, and Warbands. Don't get hung up on rules which could never meet expectations

I'm out of likes, but can't resist quoting this for absolute truth.

Really, this topic is great because it allows us to extrapolate our feelings and project how we utilise the rich background for our own narratives. Nothing can stop that imagination: be they rules or retcon.

Precisely why I made it. I had noticed there had been a lot of arguing over legions rather then a lot of discussing the legions in my short stay. I thought this would make a nice, safe bubble where we can explain how we see things and why we see them that way.

It also allows us to explain those feelings in a way outside the game meta. I mean, look at my posts on the Emperors Children, there would be no way to represent what I picture in my head through the tabletop rulesets.

[A D-B]

Such a great topic.