Most fun to play Black Legion lists

[Bloody Legionnaire]

I have a Black Legion collection going that I am super excited to dive into and play with... eventually (cries in 11 simultaneous projects)

It's no surprise that CSM are once again in a weird spot. I believe it will be sometime before we have a new codex that will allow us to see how competitively we can play. SO, in the mean time we can focus on other facets of the game like sheer enjoyment. With that in mind, what are your most fun and enjoyable lists to play win or lose? 

I started Black Legion because of 2 models, Abaddon and Haarken. They are IMO some of the best CSM models GW has done in a long time (even if not all of their rules are great *hangs head at haarken*) I'd like to run Terminators with Abaddon and I have a bunch of Raptors I'd like to run with Haarken. That'll be a key part of my Army. Not sure what else I'll include, so I'm looking to glean some ideas from you all  

I probably have 30-40 cultist from 2 Dark Vengeance boxes as well as about a bunch of CSM units from Shadowspear that will all be dedicated to my Black Legion Army. 

[MegaVolt87]

Anything mid ranged/ can manoeuvre, melee units with a dash of long range is very BL/ SoH. Sounds like you already have enough for a lore friendly BL force to me based on what you have. Sure its not that great competitively for CSM right now, but we can take the army themes to 11 with conversions + painting etc. 

[battle captain corpus]

So from personal experience of using my BL over the last few years:

 

- Abaddon can actually be tricky to use. He’s the elephant in the room. In the end him jogging along next to nice groups of Chaos Marines works best. Sure beaming down with the terminators is very thematic etc and I’ve tried it dozens of times, but in reality they don’t need his support most times. His bubble influence is better given to the chaos marines squads.

- Chaos Marine squads with bolters using Black Crusaders are a gem. For mid table firepower and manoeuvring. Being able to have assault bolters is underrated and often forgotten over the flashy stuff. I have a 20 man unit all with bolters that’s job is to sprint around just piling in the shots.

- Haarkon. I have no real opinion on gaming wise as I didn’t like the mini massively and I run Warp Talons mostly. I’m sure he’s great boosting Raptors though.

 

The main thing to remember is don’t run a “spikes & chains loyalists” army. As in: design lists that are making the most of our strengths and coolness factors. Not a carbon copy of loyalist lists but just painted as chaos. Celebrate our awesomeness, take the huge squads of Chaos Marines, use daemon engines & go with your heart on everything. :)

On that note…and this is purely personal preference…make sure you’ve got more Chaos Marines than cultists. We’re Chaos Marines after all. Not meat sacks on coat hangers. Sure they’re ok but I’m a firm believer in power armour over T-shirt saves. ;)

 

BCC

Edited June 23, 2021 by battle captain corpus

[Bloody Legionnaire]

I appreciate the responses, gents. Would anyone mind sharing some examples of “classic” black legion lists?

[Prot]

I appreciate the responses, gents. Would anyone mind sharing some examples of “classic” black legion lists?

 

From personal experience (I've been a tournament chaos player since about 2000), I would guess this means CSM, Lord/Sorc/DP, Termies, Dreads?

 

Your post is from June, and your follow up is from November..... so taking that into account, it's fair to say very recent changes should be considered...

 

I just played my Black Legion (what I consider old school) and reported on it in the forum. I'd say chainswords are the way I am going now. The added incentives make it better with Abaddon and some of the marks you can use, or just keep them dirt cheap with chainswords.

[Bloody Legionnaire]

Prot, I have a decent assortment of units in my collection but not many of them are built yet. I'm thinking some example lists will help my tailor a decent list from my collection. 

The main HQs I'd like to run are Abaddon, MoP and Haarken. For troops I'll have about 30 CSM and then the 40 cultist I've already mentioned. I was also planning on using 2 greater possessed alongside a unit of possessed in a rhino and 15 raptors to join Haarken. For HS I'd like to play around with some Vindicators in addition to a unit of Oblits. 

 

I'm have 0 reference point on what makes a good list. I know there are some synergies with MoP, GP, and Possessed, and I'm hoping Haarken and Raptors will play well together. If not I guess it comes down to rule of cool. I'm not sure if having Abaddon role around with some terminators would be a good idea or not. 

[techsoldaten]

Let's remember, there are rumors of a new Codex on the horizon. Whatever is said today may not apply for much longer.

 

I've been playing Black Legion for multiple editions. The two mainstays for me have always been Abaddon and a Daemon Prince, they have always been a terrific one-two punch. When it comes to list building, I'm usually building around them.

 

Way back in 5th edition, I would surround them with Khorne Berzerkers in Rhinos. The Rhino Rush would keep an opponent off-balance while Abby and the DP got into position. The mechanics of the game were different then, disembarking from Rhinos after they moved was a thing and Rhinos could move during the shooting phase. This illustrates what I think of as the hallmark of playing Black Legion, denial. I could create a Rhino Wall and cut half an opponent's army off from my troops.

 

In 8th edition, I would use Abby and the DP along with multiple CSM squads, 3 squads of Havocs, and some Cultists. The CSMs and Havocs had lascannons, I would deploy on my table edge and daisy-chain everyone into Abaddon's reroll bubble for distance shooting. Most games, I would shoot up anything with a long-range gun turn one and earn a turn or two where an opponent could not shoot back. 

 

When Vigilus Ablaze came out, Black Legion also got the World Killers Stratagem, which let them override ObSec on opponents. Turned out to be a pretty powerful mechanic, I was denying opponents VPs in a lot of games.

 

Hope this helps.