What's Your Favourite Legion, and Why?

[Spiral]

I have a great deal of warmth for the Dark Angels, mostly due to my childhood love of Knights and the fact that the first army I really loved in 40K was my Dark Angels. I also love the Sons of Horus and their descent from the finest of the Legions further and further into Barbarism, like late Roman Legions in the west. The fall of Horus is beautiful and tragic...but my heart belongs to the Thousand Sons. Scholars and Warriors, part Monk part Artisan, they hit all the right notes for me. The tragedy that is Magnus is perhaps my favourite part of the heresy. And that colour scheme! 

[Vantraxx]

World Eaters! Chain axes... Butchers nails... such a tragic tale... so filled with awesome... all roads lead to worshiping the blood god...

[Draakur]

Love seeing there are others here who enjoy the Vth as much as me :) Was not expecting that! But yes, definitely the Scars for me at this stage (though I still have a lot of HH reading to do and am looking hard at the Iron Warriors lately). Chris, you had me at "Laugh while you are killing"...

[Gorgoff]

Iron within- Iron without.

Since I started in 1993 I loved their paint style. Heavy Metall, Chevrons and big guns.

Awesome.

My first army where Orks though, because I loved them as well.

Fast foreward to 2014 or '15.

GW thought that it is a wonderful idea to ignore CSM players all together. I had a decent CSM army at that time, but after years of playing with those crappy csm stuff I had enough, sold my Orks, which where almost as badly treated, and started finally with a true Iron Warriors army.

Never looked back and my best hobby decision so far.

[DarkApostle7]

The Word Bearers, always loved the bad guys more than goodies in almost everything, cont get much more evil than WBs. After reading the omnibus my imagination ignited and ive always been dedicated to the eightfold path ever since, theres just isnt a single part of their fluff i dont like

[Jimm]

The Word Bearers, always loved the bad guys more than goodies in almost everything, cont get much more evil than WBs. After reading the omnibus my imagination ignited and ive always been dedicated to the eightfold path ever since, theres just isnt a single part of their fluff i dont like

Erebus stabbing Argel tal in the back is a real low point for me and was one bit of fluff I hated

[Kizzdougs]

This is what I wrote last time this question came up :)

 

 

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 working on Alpha Legion at the moment), but the Great Crusade III Legion will always be my favourite.

 

[Ascanius]

I'm about evenly split between Iron Hands and Thousand Sons.

 

The Iron Tenth has a couple of easily grasped hooks. They have an affinity with machines, a close relationship with the Mechanicum, and a preference for augmetic replacements. Their Terran commander stuck around the longest after their Primarch was rediscovered (if memory serves). They were the first Legion to lose their Primarch and the most devastated by the Drop Site Massacre.

 

The Thousand Sons are a classical tragedy in the form of a Legion. They have unique abilities, a great aesthetic in 30K and an even better one in 40K, and to my mind the single most interesting and compelling Primarch, both in terms of personality and story arc. I also think Ahzek Ahriman is a fantastic character, and I haven't even read John French's post-Heresy novels yet.

[Legatus]

This is what I wrote last time this question came up

*snip*

Sadly this bit from their old Index Astartes article does not seem to have made it into the FW book:

"After the near destruction of the Legion in the gene-seeding process, surviving fragments of the Codex Apothecarion Terra indicate that absolute excellence was demanded of the Apothecaries who handled and worked on the precious genetic material. This ethos quickly merged with the Legion's general belief in perfection, so that the Emperor's Children gene-seed was perhaps the most pure and stable of all the Legions. Only the finest physical specimens were chosen for implantation, so that the mutation rate of the gene-seed was practically zero. Every enhancement produced by the gene-seed functioned at peak efficiency, allowing the Space Marines to achieve their full potential in battle. No other Space Marine Legion achieved such a goal, and the technology and expertise required have never been rediscovered in the millennia following the Horus Heresy."

[k0nahrik]

Ksons, because back in 2014 when I first found out 30k was a thing, there were very few players (that I knew of anyway) and they were a sort of 'underdog' legion with an amazing paint scheme, cool fluff and nice Egyptian themes.

 

Oh how we have grown since then! Makes me very happy seeing the increase in Ksons players

 

Honorablen mentions go to White Scars, Alpha Legion, Luna Wolves, Imperial Fists and Word Bearers

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

The Wolves are my favorite Legion of 30k. 

 

The ones willing to do what is needed to win. No matter the insult, no matter the dishonor. They'll make the ugly kills and suicidal attacks. 

 

They counter that by not being callous. They arent wasteful or spiteful. They know that monsters lurk in the deep, dark parts of the galaxy, and to fight them, you have to strike without remorse.

 

They will always be loyal, no matter how degrading the task. They will not bit the hand of command.

 

Before the BL novels, I would have added the Raven Guard as just behind the Vlka Fenryka. Gav has eroded my enjoyment of them.

 

 

WLK

[jeremy1391]

Loyalists are definitely the Fists. Stoic sense of duty unwavering loyalty, amazing characters. And they were featured in the first 40k story I ever read (storm of iron) since then I've been hooked.

 

Favorite traitor legion are the World Eaters. ADB did wonders bringing them to life, Khârn went from a 2 dimensional mad man to a very human character who has a savage nobility to him. Also Angron's back story is tragic and beautiful.

[Kizzdougs]

This is what I wrote last time this question came up

*snip*

Sadly this bit from their old Index Astartes article does not seem to have made it into the FW book:

"After the near destruction of the Legion in the gene-seeding process, surviving fragments of the Codex Apothecarion Terra indicate that absolute excellence was demanded of the Apothecaries who handled and worked on the precious genetic material. This ethos quickly merged with the Legion's general belief in perfection, so that the Emperor's Children gene-seed was perhaps the most pure and stable of all the Legions. Only the finest physical specimens were chosen for implantation, so that the mutation rate of the gene-seed was practically zero. Every enhancement produced by the gene-seed functioned at peak efficiency, allowing the Space Marines to achieve their full potential in battle. No other Space Marine Legion achieved such a goal, and the technology and expertise required have never been rediscovered in the millennia following the Horus Heresy."

Indeed. I fell in love with the Emperor's Children when I first read their IA article in WD.

These days it's all about Chief Apothecary Fabius and is meddling. He is the ultimate bad apple in the III Legion.

The only thing Betrayal has to say about the III Legion gene-seed is that it:

"...produced warriors with finely sculpted physiques, a noble bearing, and finely controlled thought processes, with psychological tendencies driven towards personal achievement and competition to prove individual superiority. The only abnormality registered was the occasional incidence of albinism, and a shift in iris colour to violet in some recruits. Such minor effects of the gene-seed implantation and conditioning process did nothing to distract from the aura of aesthetic refinement that clung to the III^rd Legion, even in the first years, and they were held up as an archetype to be lauded and by whom others were judged."