Arkos and The Faithless

[Doom Herald]

I was considering using Akros and The Faithless, but there are some questions I have on them.

 

First question, what is THE FAITHLESS as a keyword? Is it a stand in for <LEGION>? I would assume it is, but the rules are a little odd for how <LEGION> interacts with keywords. Further, per the errata, Akros has Both ALPHA LEGION & THE FAITHLESS as keywords. Does this mean he has 2 <LEGION> equivalent keywords?

 

Assuming THE FAITHLESS is a valid <LEGION> replacement this would mean they would have to run with Renegade rules, if your whole dettachment had THE FAITHLESS as their <LEGION> but, what if Akros was in an auxilary? Would he be required to ALPHA LEGION traits, or would he have both traits?

 

Strange rules interactions aside, the main things I want to know are, is THE FAITHLESS a <LEGION> and am I therefore able to make a warband out of them and do they need to follow renegade rules and therefore have the renegade legion trait?

 

I don't know if this is addressed somewhere and I missed it.

[Deadass]

The Faithless are an Alpha Legion warband, just like the Hounds of Abaddon are for the Black Legion. This means that it'd be the most logical choice to run with the Alpha Legion tactic.
I think THE FAITHLESS is meant to be his legion keyword. ALPHA LEGION is present to let any rules affecting Alpha Legion units also influence him.
Because of him having both keywords, you do have the choice on wether you want the rest of your army to have THE FAITHLESS or ALPHA LEGION as their keyword. The smart decision is of course THE FAITHLESS, as Arkos gives his buffs to units with that keyword.
 

[Doom Herald]

Right, but if THE FAITHLESS was meant to run as ALPHA LEGION because they are an Alpha Legion warband, there would have been no point in renaming them and his rules would simply affect ALPHA LEGION. If I replace <LEGION> on my troops to benefit from Akros' rules, they will not have the ALPHA LEGION keyword and therefore are not eligible for ALPHA LEGION legion trait, strategems, relics, etc.

[Deadass]

You're still eligible for the legion trait. The codex states that your units' legion trait is determined by the legion they hail from, and the space marines of the Faithless are still part of the Alpha Legion. Concerning the relic and the stratagem you're right as they do indeed require the ALPHA LEGION keyword, but I don't think you'll ever run into a guy that won't let you use them if you explain the situation.

[Doom Herald]

I thought it the legion traits section mentioned keywords, but apparently not. It makes sense to me that way, so thank you. I will definitely have some arguments ahead of me though, at least until this gets FAQd which will probably take a while since Games Workshop utterly ignores the issues that I have questions about until 3 FAQ batches later.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

First, its Arkos, not Akros. Secondly, he doesn't benefit from both FAITHLESS and ALPHA LEGION; that's why his keyword line specifies that you take one *or* the other. Third, the example for Legion Traits gives NIGHT LORDS in all caps as a keyword and the RED CORSAIRS as a keyword, even though the actual trait is Renegade Chapters. This shows us that to benefit from a non-Renegades trait your Legion must be a keyword and since there is no associated trait for THE FAITHLESS in table, it defaults to Renegades.

 

I wish it weren't so. I love using Arkos, he's a badass. But this is RAW and RAI; when this issue first came up someone around these parts emailed FW about it and there was response was that The Faithless should use the Renegade trait. A little search fu will settle that.

 

I still use him often, with the ALPHA LEGION keyword. With his sword, infiltrating, and all the close combat traits from the warlord table, he's a murder bot that you can afford to lose thanks to our Legion warlord trait...but his charge/advance bonus does us no good unless you run a mixed list.

[Doom Herald]

Iron Father, read the new errata on Arkos, he now has both not either.

[Doom Herald]

I would assume THE FAITHLESS to have renegade traits as well, but the point a horrible person makes is a fair point. It never says they need that legions keyword but rather they get the trait of the legion (not <LEGION>) they are from which would adress the issue of successors. They may well have responded that THE FAITHLESS use renegade traits, but that should have been in the FAQ if that were the case.

[Doom Herald]

I found the board with the response you mentioned. I am perfectly willing to accept this, however my question would still stand, what if he is in his own Auxilary, a Spearhead with nothing else but FALLEN, or a Supreme Command with Fabius Bile and Cypher (assuming we aren't using the beta rules)? Would he gain both legion traits? It says any of THE FAITHLESS would count as Renegades until they expand on them, so in a dettachment absent other <LEGION> units, he would be a renegade and ALPHA LEGION.