Which legion suits infantry

[The Grim Badger]

Hey gang,

 

A friend of mine looking into joining us in the age of darkness is keen on large infantry forces. Which Legion, in your opinion, would be the best for a primarily infantry based force (based on the BaC and BoP box sets in particular) and why?

 

Answers on a postcard :) thanks all!

[Apostle of the 30th Host]

Hey!

 

I would suggest Word Bearers.

I always imagine them as being waves of infantry, chanting and praying as they march into battle, with a small amount of support Vehicles.

Furthermore, their Legion Rules would benefit a massed infantry army with good morale (especially in large squads) and increased sweeping advances.

They also look great in MKIV and MKIII, whereas the other infantry forces lean more toward just MKIII (think Death Guard).

 

With both Betrayal at Calth and Prospero, you're looking at something like this:

 

Praetor

Chaplain

2x15 Man Tactical Squads (MKIV)

10 Man Tactical Support Squad (MKIII)

10 Man Heavy Support Squad (MKIII)

10 Man Veteran Squad (MKIII)

Contemptor

5 Tartaros Terminators

5 Cataphractii

 

Most of that could be done with the boxes with some extra special/heavy weapons to taste.

 

Sisters, custodes and Prospero characters won't be of use but they could be sold/traded to fund expanding this.

[Sete]

Hmm Iron Warriors. Mk3 and mk4 suits them well.

[Icarus1138]

I second the Word Bearers suggestion, for the reasons listed above. If for some reason your friend wants something else, I'd take a look at the Death Guard.

[Corsovitt]

Death Guard are described in one piece of fluff as being mainly an Infantry Force, slowly grinding their way forward... 

 

I think all legions would have used large infantry formations during the compliance of Industrial or Hive Worlds, or in Zone Mortalis type engagements aboard star-ships...

[Jackalwolf]

Most likely to have large infantry blobs:

- Word Bearers

- Death Guard

 

Least likely to have large infantry blobs:

- Emperor's Children

- Thousand Sons

 

The rest of the legions I don't particularly see as fitting or unfitting.

[jimbo13]

Umm... Blackshields.

 

Either the FNP or the +1s/+1t trait. You could make some beastly infantry.

[Interrogator-Chaplain Ezra]

World Eaters and Iron Warrior also engaged in infantry slugging matches, especially the former.

[Legatus]

All Legions use infantry, so you cannot really go wrong if that is your main interest. The centerpiece of every Space Marine force will be the power armoured infantry.

 

As suggested, the Death Guard are specifically known to specialise in large infantry formations and attrition tactics.

 

Waves of Word Bearers marching across the field while chanting is also a popular image, as recommended above. However, I am not so sure how much of that they picked up after going full Chaos and how much of that was present in the earlier Legion.

 

The Ultramarines do not really specialise in infantry, and use all arms as is expedient. However, they do got a somewhat "large infantry formation" Rite of Battle in their army list in 'HH5: Tempest', and the HH5 lore emphasizes their numerical strength. The Rite of Battle is not technically a pure infantry formation, and can include vehicles as well, but it does come with a limitation of no more vehicles than infantry units.

 

Of course the World Eaters mainly use Infantry, since they favour melee combat more than any other Legion, though they do traditionally also use a surprisingly large number of heavy war machinery.

 

 

Well that is all lore. If you are more interested in which Legion's rules would be more suited for an infantry force, perhaps someone else will have a better grasp than me of their performances.

 

From what I can see, the Iron Warriors (units ignore morale and pinning tests from shooting), the Iron Hands (units reduce enemy shooting attacks by -1 strength), the Salamanders (auto pass fear tests, re-roll 1D6 of failed morale or pinning tests) and the Alpha Legion (pick one of these rules at the beginning of the gane, which then applies to all your units: Scout, Infiltrate, Tank Hunters, Counter-Attack, Move Through Cover, Adamantium Will) have fairly strong rules that enhance all the infantry units on the table, whereas the other Legions have more situational special rules. Though the Word Bearers rules (take all morale tests on 3D6 and use the two lowest results) are not that bad either.

 

The Ultramarines have so-so army wide special rules, but their special unique units are pretty strong. Especially their special Shield unit (2+ armour and power axes that strike at initiative speed) and their special assault squad (2+ save and default power swords, at a very low price). I am not that familiar with the special units of the other Legions, off the top of my head, the Salamanders and the Imperial Fists have pretty good Terminators (uniquely in 30K with Storm Shields).

 

Not all the Legions are out yet. The Dark Angels, Blood Angels and White Scars have preview rules in HH6, and the Thousand Sons and the Space Wolves are about to be released.

[Lord Asvaldir]

There's several legions who fluff wise are known to use large infantry forces, however there are far fewer that actually work out well tactics wise. The unfortunate truth is that in 30k, it's pretty easy to find lots of ap3 blasts, or just high volume of fire that can wipe power armored blobs off the table fairly easily, so for most infantry units you really need a transport. Even the humble rhino does the trick, as it's still a turn or two that you're saving the squad from that ap2 large blast. 

 

So that being said, if your friend wants to use lots of infantry, but doesn't mind loading them up all in rhinos or other transports, I'd say pretty much any legion works. If he wants to footslog however, I'd say that limits your options. The legions that are going to work best for large numbers of foot slogging infantry are legions that can get those units up the board into rapid fire range faster, and that would be Raven Guard and Alpha Legion, since they can infiltrate/outflank any of their infantry units. Starting further up the board gives you a better chance of getting into rapid fire range before being blown to pieces. The opposite approach that might also work is just using a legion that can lay down a lot of heavy firepower without necessarily relying on artillery/tanks, and thanks to the Reaping RoW Death Guard can do that fairly well given heavy support squads are non compulsory troops. 

 

I'm saying this all from a purely tactics standpoint. Of course you can run say a Word Bearers force heavy on foots slogging infantry if that's what you like fluff wise, you just can't be surprised when a couple rapier batteries with phosphex rounds wreck half your force within a few turns. 

[DuskRaider]

Off the top of my head, I'd say the following:

 

Death Guard: Mortarion's doctrine revolved around the Infantryman. Every Legionnaire was heavily trained in every possible weapon that was available to Astartes so they would be able to pick up whatever was at hand and use it proficiently if needed. This was unique amongst the Legions, who most likely would have otherwise had specialists for each type of weaponry used.

 

Word Bearers: The Legion was actually quite varied in warfare specialty from Chapter to Chapter, it seems, but they all still seemed to have massed Infantry as their backbone. They were a massive Legion, second only to Guilliman's XIIIth, which would be why Horus sent them to deal with the Ultramarines. Their morale rules also lend themselves well to massed infantry, almost a proto-And They Shall Know No Fear.

 

Ultramarines: Another quite varied Legion, much like Word Bearers, but bigger. I think even just to try and emulate the scope of the size of the XIIIth you could justify huge blobs of Marines. Their "Markerlight but not Markerlight" Legion rule also compliments massed bodies as well.

 

World Eaters: Probably the first Legion that comes to mind when I think of "Infantry centric". I think they actually fit this category so much that it's to their detriment in that often times people forget they also had Legionnaires that could operate armour, proficiently fire weaponry, and function as the other Legions to a large degree. Massed Berserkers running across no-man's land and crashing into the enemy is a classic visual for Angron's Legion, though.

 

Of course there are others, and honestly all of the Legion's could field Astartes en masse if they chose to, but those are the ones that stand out in my mind.

[Terminus]

What is meant by mostly infantry? Mostly foot sloggers with a dreadnought or two? Make sure to get your opponents to agree to similar lists, because without transports you're not getting anything done.

[foamy248]

The thing is... the legions of the 31st millennium are so large that you could really do anything with them (and have it make sense fluff-wise). The Death Guard are most known for their foot-slogging infantry, but I'm sure that they have multiple wings of fighter jets (and thus an army could be made out of this theme). The White Scars are famous for their lightening speed and fast vehicles, but they do have detachments of tanks and artillery, too. My point is that you don't have to build a legion around their 'stereotype', and that the legions are so vast that it is very easy to justify things fluff-wise (and every legion contains the kind of basic troops and units in the two box sets). Sooo, which legions' fluff does your friend like the most? Does he like the commando, spec-ops feel of the Raven Guard? Or the fanatical nature of the Word Bearers? And what colour scheme does he love (and would feel comfortable painting on lots of models)?

 

Every legion has the tactical, dreadnaughts and termies in the boxed sets, so my honest advice is to just pick whatever legion's fluff he likes the most and whatever legion he would feel comfortable painting. Rules-wise, most of the legions are quite balanced, so I wouldn't worry too much about this yet.

[Demonl]

Sons of Horus - The Long March.

[Ion]

When I think of huge infantry blobs I think Death Guard, and the Mk III in Prospero box suit them well

 

 

Most likely to have large infantry blobs:
- Word Bearers
- Death Guard

Least likely to have large infantry blobs:
- Emperor's Children
- Thousand Sons

The rest of the legions I don't particularly see as fitting or unfitting.

 

You forgot the scars in the 'least likely' list

[Jackalwolf]

Mmm fair enough, though there's no hard evidence to support that. I only listed EC and thousand sons since the first were wiped down to 200 men, took time to rebuild and were all about mobility, and the sons because they were notoriously the smaller Legion.

 

Other than these two I can see any Legion being able to field blobs but you're absolutely right, here are some other legions that preffer one style of combat over the other, excluding the four already covered:

 

Preffer large numbers of bodies:

- Sons of Horus were all about the application of sudden, overwhelming force

- World Eaters

- Iron Warriors

 

Preffer small mobile units:

- White Scars

- Raven Guard

[RandomMarine]

IH make surprisingly good foot sloggers supported by the odd tank

[The Grim Badger]

Thanks all :) great insight :)

[Kasper_Hawser]

I think you guys are forgetting the 1st Legion as well. I can see them being the first of the mass infantry before discovering and pioneering new rites of war for the subsequent legions.

But rules wise, you might be surprised the White Scars happen to be all skilled riders, even those without bikes, so they automatically pass dangerous terrain and are not slowed by them at least. None can match their riding and parkour skills. So they essentially have the fleetest of foot even on the ground.

Space Wolves are suppose to be focused on infantry, though I suspect their is not so much mass infantry, but closer to what 40K wolves play like, versatile veterans with the right tools for the right job. With a slight favouring of close combat. Will only know for sure when new book comes out, but it's always been said that Russ believes in fighting on foot like everyone else.