What made you LOVE your Legion?!

[Ishagu]

The Ultramarines and their culture speaks to me the most.

I love Italian and Roman history, and the Ultras reflect it in their style. They are cultured and professional, not savage or brutal. Say what you want about their Primarch, but given the choice you'd always chose to live on one of his worlds!

[depthcharge12]

We should take a show of hands who chose their legion via reading a story or if they chose it because of aesthetics/fluff :)

[Ishagu]

For me it was aesthetics that drew me to start painting my Marines blue all those years ago... but I've had chance after chance to start a new main force.

 

The lore sealed the deal and I remain an Ultramarine :-)

[Stoneheart]

Salamanders - first ever army, I like the green colour scheme and the drake hide trophies.

 

They are humble, kind, methodical, slow to anger and have the constitution of a steel ox. They are quick to offer their lives in defence of the people of the Imperium. They're the Groots of the 40k universe, only not as flammable.

[HaSY]

"And the Angels of Darkness descended on pinions of fire and light... the great and terrible dark angels."
 

 'Unending Imperial ambition has not bred warriors with the warm hearts of men, but angels with the cold hearts of weapons.' 
- Luther

"The measure of true glory is not to give battle in the bright moon of war, surrounded by brave comrades upon the field of victory, but to valiantly fight on alone in the darkness, with no hope of aid or even remembrance, and to spit defiance in Midnight's eye."
-Lion El'Jonson

“We were the First Legion, Brother Sapphon. Consider for that moment what that means. We had to do everything. We fought fleet actions and planetary assaults, razed fortresses and captured whole worlds. We were both the hammer and the anvil, the bait and the trap. We brought death from afar and slaughter at close hand. We acted and others followed.”
-Merir Astelan 

"In Warfare, preparation is the key. Determine that which your foe prizes the most. Then site your heavy weapons so that they overlook it. In this way, you may be quite sure that you shall never want for targets."

— Lion El'Jonson, Tenets of Strategy and Supremacy

 

There was First Legion and it is the only Legion before other Legions were raised.

 

In terms of adaptability and range of operations, First Legion is flexible and contain 6 specialist formations of warfare.

 

Among all legions, First Legion has a dedicated warfleet of sufficient numbers to prosecute fleet action or long range pursuit.

 

Receives old, archaic relic weapons and have stockpile of them.

Have loads of equipment that no one knows about such as star forts. 

 

Lord Cypher.

Watchers of the Dark

Truly dark knights fighting against unseen horrors

Beyond a grim knight lord whose loyalty is such that he will sacrifice his own legion for his worthy liege, his closest brother or friend who found and raised him was being denied of his glory and his brotherhood to him. Another, a veteran, a soon-to-be master of his own legion, forever being denied of his right of commanding his own host, plotted and conspired to wrest what is rightfully his. Upon his rise to be his master's seneschal, the other beloved son was his lord's champion and his own hand in leading the rest of the host in fulfilling his master's orders. From dutiful knights charged with protection and hunting to menacing and brooding crusaders that prosecute the campaign without mercy and forgiveness, the Legion is not a savage weapon wielded without cost, the Angels with cold hearts of weapons.  
 

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

This is the explanation I gave a while ago:

My love for the Iron Hands started with: "Bionic Space Marines? yeah!" , but as I read more about them, they evoked the Grim-Darkness of the setting so fantastically I couldn't resist. Clinical, remorseless warriors who revile the very flesh that makes them, who are constantly pushing to replace their flawed flesh with the perfection of the machine? Glorius.

Even when the whole 'The Flesh is Weak' mantra is removed for the Great Crusade & Heresy, the X^th Legion is still incredibly grim. They're an inch away from being a traitor Legion. They're polar opposites to the humanitarian, moral Salamanders to whom they're so commonly compared. The Clan system means they even hate each other. With Ferrus' death, they will stop at nothing to exact vengeance - they'll resort to measures which even the traitor Legions would have qualms with.

The Iron Hands are the vilest, most brutal of the Loyalist Legions by a mile. Boy do I dig that.

[Black_out]

This is the explanation I gave a while ago:

 

 

 

My love for the Iron Hands started with: "Bionic Space Marines? :cuss  yeah!" , but as I read more about them, they evoked the Grim-Darkness of the setting so fantastically I couldn't resist. Clinical, remorseless warriors who revile the very flesh that makes them, who are constantly pushing to replace their flawed flesh with the perfection of the machine? Glorius.

 

Even when the whole 'The Flesh is Weak' mantra is removed for the Great Crusade & Heresy, the X^th Legion is still incredibly grim. They're an inch away from being a traitor Legion. They're polar opposites to the humanitarian, moral Salamanders to whom they're so commonly compared. The Clan system means they even hate each other. With Ferrus' death, they will stop at nothing to exact vengeance - they'll resort to measures which even the traitor Legions would have qualms with.

 

The Iron Hands are the vilest, most brutal of the Loyalist Legions by a mile. Boy do I dig that.

 

And now, for the first time in my memory, I think I actually like the Iron Hands now too.

[Doctor Perils]

Well, we don't call him Iron Hands Fanatic for nothing

[Raktra]

He's part of what got me here. And where I nicked my colour scheme from.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Awww, you guys are making me feel all fuzzy and warm inside

Must have a defect with my internal cybernetics

[Kizzdougs]

The background/fluff his what originally drew me to the III Legion. The Legion’s nobility, honour, discipline, courage, and incredible drive to succeed really appealed to me when I first read their background in 2001. In my opinion the III Legion was what the Legiones Atartes were meant to be. They were the sons of ancient Terran nobility, raised from birth to be leaders of men, and “whose ancestry in war stretched back into lost ages.” As a Legion they were particularly renowned for their ability to commander and utilise ‘lesser’ forces such as the Imperial Army. Many of the Imperial Army’s early victories were masterminded and commanded by elements of the Emperor’s Children who “proved their superb ability to execute and exceed the intent and expectations of their Emperor in war.” If not for the gene-seed crisis, I think the Emperor’s Children would have been one of the Great Crusades most successful Legions, and if not for the Heresy, would have been central to the future shape of the Imperium, as the commanders and generals of the Imperial Army and other Imperial forces.

 

Of course the Legion’s corruption and fall completely changed the Emperor’s Children. The depth of their fall was arguably the greatest of any of the Legions, especially given the height from which they fell.

 

 

 

Here is a selection of quotes from Betrayal that highlight the III Legion’s qualities and aspects that I love most:

 

“The Emperor’s Children were the only Legion to bear the Emperor’s own name and his own standard – the great palatine Aquila – granted to them by his own hand… Given the plaudits and accolades accorded them, few could doubt that they were the embodiment of what the Emperor intended the Legiones Astartes to be: noble in action and aspect, excelling in all matters, strong, civilized, firm of purpose and loyal to the core (Betrayal, p102).”

 

“…even in the first years, they [iII Legion] were held up as an archetype to be lauded and by who others were judged. Clad in thunderbolt and rayed-sun adorned power armour, to the human followers of the Emperor’s cause they were the demigods of myth made flesh and bound in steel (Betrayal, p103).”

 

“…none could doubt that they were the chosen of the Emperor, and such was the record and esteem with which they functioned that for a time it became common for them to bear the Emperor’s wishes and orders to other Legions and military forces scattered across the new-born Imperium… In this role the IIIrd Legion took on the mantle of the Emperor’s will – no other Legion was so honoured. Others bore his words, but at this time the IIIrd were his voice (Betrayal, p103).” When Terra was concerned by the conduct of the Warmaster and his Legion (after Davin), Fulgrim and the III were tasked with expressing those concerns. If Fulgrim hadn’t already been compromised by the Laer blade, I very much doubt that he would have been swayed by Horus’ council, especially given Eldrad’s attempt to warn him.

 

“The Emperor’s Children were an exemplary Legion. It is not the simple accumulation of victories that distinguishes their history before the Betrayal, but the manner by which they won those victories. Each record of every engagement they fought contains some feature that is admirable: a detail of battle planning, a feat of arms, or a note of individual heroism. Few other Legions could rival them for the honours won by individual warriors or units. Ever striving, ever eager to assimilate new skills and hone their craft, they were all that was best in the Legiones Astartes. While others made a way of war their own, and applied it like an iron stamp to all situations, the Emperor’s Children never held to a single mode of warfare. Their victories show more diverse application of strategy and tactics than any of their brother legions, save perhaps the Ultramarines. It is almost as if they sought to rub out any imperfection in their abilities by embracing and honing all modes and skills of war. At range, in close quarters, in swift assault or protracted siege their record is an embarrassment of diverse achievement (Betrayal, p114).”

 

 

I enjoy the fluff and background of all of the Legions and could see myself collecting a force of just about any Legion (I’m trying to decide on a new Legion for the BaC box), but the Great Crusade III Legion will always be my favourite.