On the Nature of the Alpha Legion

[Tenebris]

The greatest "sin" of the Alpha Legion is their arrogance. They want you to know that it is they that are killing you, they want you to know that you are defeated even before you fire the first round in a battle and it is they that want you to know the error of messing with the Hydra. The Lernean Terminators were a weapon of such an arrogance, they made a bloody display of anything that kept your army together, they were intentionally messy, brutal, uncompromising and ferocious, ripping people apart and all this. Know this the Alpha Legion adores to be seen in battle, they want you to look upon them when they fight, they are the bipolar in this aspect. While their preparations for battle are secret and mostly take the form of covert operations, once full battle is joined perhaps only the Sons of Horus of old or the Emperor's Children are more extroversive then the Alpha Legion. 

 

When an Alpha Legion operative dies, you can bet that he will have some sort of catch phrase or hint on his lips. Remember, most probably his death was either engineered or planned for so most of them actually know that they are going to die. A great example were the single operator torpedo teams who were effectively suicidal units, same goes for their operators. When an Alpha is going to die he still fulfils his task by mesmerizing the enemy, by planting a seed of doubt in his killer.  

 

 

Now pardon me but I will prod Forte the Excessive for some AL token art. 

[Trevak Dal]

Yeah, the Alpha Legion are definitely rockstars.  Not until they've beaten you-and then they get their Vegeta-like "And now, you bear witness to the True Tactical Genius of the Alpha Legion!  Your Codex Astartes is nothing more than meaningless sanitary paper, written by a slovenly buffon!  You think our Primarch dead by Guilliman's feeble gambit?  He lives within us ALL."

 

I'm thinking very strongly about making an Alpha Legion army, of all the Legions I like them the most, only really disliking their name.  I may even have this army be a Dual or even tri purpose army (Chaos, Horus Heresy Alpha Legion, and Vanilla Marines).  

I am "Doing it Right" in that I'm going to have a test model for each potential Model Type painted out in the scheme so I don't run into the problem I was running into with my Red Corsairs (the color scheme I had just wasn't working on Terminators...and I was confused as hell over what to do about Raptors-I LOVE the models, but all the raised surfaces on them make me sadfaced)

I'm going for an...experimental paint scheme.  A Greatcoat Grey base coat, with silver trim, and using colored pencils to draw scales and camo patterns onto the larger parts of the models-shaded by Coelia Greenshade.  I've already tested the Greenshade over the Grey paint I'm going to be using-and I like the look of it.  My next step will be developing a painting method for each model type as I said before so I don't come out with a color scheme I don't like again-if I happen to fail at it again, I'll strip and paint them as Black Legion (Rustoleum automotive primer, strong tone dip, paint the details)

I know they aren't tactically sound, but I kinda want Ubergrit CSMs, maybe with the Mark of Slaanesh and an Apothecary on a Stiiick, to represent being prepared for any contingency, hit first (before most marines) and have better survival rates with the FNP.
 

Edited August 24, 2014 by Trevak Dal

[Tenebris]

Well they are the legion who always wished to be "the best". The Emperor's Children were the most perfect, the Sons of Horus the most victorious, the Ultramaries the most organized,... and so on. But of all those legions the XXth was very clear in their claim that they want to be the best soldiers of the Imperium, not warriors nor crusaders, the best soldiers. That is why they have quickly removed themselves from things which are not integral to a soldier, such as morality, antiquated codes of honour, individuality... The lesson of the Alpha Legion is the lesson of a clear martial pride and an iron will and discipline behind it. Their marines strived to be removed from things like emotions, morals, questions and anything that could play fun with your mind when you are a soldier, and this is why I love them, they came to Chaos not as unwilling pawns or as deluded believers, arrogant conquerors or the like... they came to Chaos as one comes to a truth, with deliberate consideration, with as much knowledge as possible and with a clear idea what they are expected to do and what are they expected to become. 

 

Whether they are traitors, loyalists or fools is of no concern to them. When they fight for Chaos they fight as a soldier of Chaos, they are above morals or concerns as long as their mission is met and their legion victorious. Even the side is of no concern for in the end they know that inevitably Chaos is in the ascendant, that everything begins and ends in chaos and they are well aware that the "Imperium" is not the true destiny of mankind, nor a regime which was in line with the vision of the Emperor. The Alphas are simply enlightened, yet I do not see them as crusaders for the Chaos cause, but more as the logical transition, merging of an astartes legion, with the knowledge of Chaos. I don't see them as slaves or pawns of the Chaos Gods but as a military force which knows full well the will of the Dark Gods but also the need of humanity as a whole. They are also unconcerned by the petty hatred of xenos or the demands of the traitors. The Alpha Legion is effectively an autonomous force, an instrument of change, evolution and adaptation.  

 

 

PS: I ask for the possibility to change the name of the community to "The Harrowing"

Edited August 25, 2014 by Tenebris

[Tenebris]

 

Simply epic. One of the most inspiring video tributes for a 40k army out there. The monastic choir thing evokes this feeling of hermeneutic orders, secrets within secrets and truths, oh so many truths. 

[Xin Ceithan]

I always liked that "supervillain" aspect if done properly...after all, what's the point in a perfect crime when no one knows about it? ;)

[Tenebris]

Hmm, lets see. The main, the undercurrent theme of the Alpha Legion is not their sneaky style but replication. Each Cell of operatives, each Harrowing, each Splinter has a way or finds a way to replicate. It is the whole concept of the Alpha Legion, they can tank losses, they can recover from suicide missions, they can resist the purges of the Inquisition and still be fully operational. What this means?

 

In HH: Extermination we know that the Alpha Legion had massive centres of recruitment and implantation spread across the galaxy in secret locations. Not only that, they had secred manofactorums, shipyards and bases of operations, as well as countless caches of weapons to be used when in dire need. In M41 the Alpha Legion is still able to replicate marines and still has access to some of this hidden bases but here comes to play the division between HH era vets and new recruits.

 

It is safe to assume that the majority of the Alpha Legion are now Chaos, one cannot escape the corruption once he is illuminated with the truth about Chaos. I expect that the modern Alpha Legion is led by ancient masters from the shadows, the marines who have fought in the Heresy and who now either reside in the Eye, Maelstrom or somehow prolong their lives, while on the other hand the fighting is done by new recruits. Keep in mind the following, when you have an ideal, it erodes with time, so I consider the ancient masters quite the free agents and theirs is only an echo of the ancient ideals of the legion. Then you have the new recruits, elevated in the astartes ranks as squads, not as individuals, with either stolen geneseed or Alpha Legion geneseed (which was said to be impressive). This recruits know almost nothing of what happened before so I assume that they are the perfect subjects to indoctrinate for the specific purpose of a Cell. Some cells might indoctrinate them to be loyalists, some to be traitors, but all share the common tactics and traits of an Alpha Legionnaire. Consider also that the Alpha Legion is very conservative of its strength, committing only when the battle is inevitable so a lot of their assets are still very much operational in M41. 

 

As for prolonging the lifespan, we have stasis fields, rejuvenate treatments, warp magicks, technomancy, xenos technology. In short a flexible legion like the Alpha Legion has a wealth of options to support its astartes.

 

 

As for the armour, Alpha Legion is flexible. They always had an inclination to adapt the newest and deadliest technology available to them so not only I think they have the access to all the new marks but much like with the Alpha Corvus armour during the HH, they can very well have the facilities to manofacture anything up to the newest Errant armours. As for the adornments of the armour, depends on what is the goal of the Cell. Alpha Legion is know to constantly shift markings, templates, squads and formations and all this is reflected on the armour. I think covert operations demand for pristine suits of armour but when battle is joined the full horror and majesty of Chaos are made apparent. They want you to see what they have become and what they can do to you. So spikes, chains and trophies can be a given.  Are the newest marks superior? No, they are perhaps more efficient but not superior. HH era marks are beyond the newest marks in both crafstmanship, maintenance and materials. 

[Alpha One]

Thank you for your detailed and well thought out reply Tenebris, definitely helps with some future purchase decisions. :)

 

Unless of course it was all lies. ;)