Which is the least popular Legion?

[BeatTheBeat]

Trying to decide on a Legion to get started with again after a hobby slump. Have done several before (some threads here, lots more on @slowandpurposeless on Instagram), but want a fresh start.

And I do get motivated by underdog syndrome haha.

So, what's the least popular Legion? I'd figure Raven Guard or Salamanders, or maybe even Space Wolves, but I have limited horizons.

Also just bored working on a Sunday haha, so 50% here for just discussion.

All the best,
BTB

[Lord Marshal]

White Scars pretty easily, even after their rules/models were released. A combination of them always being one of the least popular Legions even after Chris Wraight gave them a much needed time in the sun, coupled with running their army in the iconic manner (jetbike focus) being extremely expensive in terms of real-world moolah, in a game that's already very expensive to collect. 

 

After them I'd probably say Iron Hands, more so because they've never really been in-focus that much beyond "their Primarch died early into the Heresy" and if people want to play seething, mechanically-inclined gits there's Iron Warriors over there already.

 

I see a surprising amount of Raven Guard on tables, which seems disproportionate to how 'quiet' their fanbase often seems. Salamanders appear on the lower end of the popularity scale but they're definitely not uncommon. Spaces Wolves do seem a lot less popular when compared to 40k but like Salamanders they show up often enough that they don't feel rare.

 

Now that I think about it, I don't feel like there's an unpopular Traitor Legion in terms of table presence. Emperor's Children maybe? But even then, calling them unpopular would probably be pushing it. 

[SkimaskMohawk]

Another potential factor to scars being unpopular is the scheme. White is daunting to paint for most people, and you don't quite have the fallback that world eaters do of being covered in grit and blood that can help offset things.

 

Also you know, being last to get their primarch and having mechanically disfunctional rules on won't help either.

[Gederas]

Legios II and XI, clearly. I don't think I've ever seen anyone with those two Legions

 

 

In all honesty, it's very likely White Scars because white notoriously sucks to paint.

[Gamiel]

If you ask the Iron Warriors, they will bitterly answer they are

Edited October 31, 2021 by Gamiel

[Lucien Eilam]

Maybe they’re all still sulking about Varagyr fur textures, but I feel like I’ve seen more Luna Wolves in the last year than Space Wolves.

 

I’ve definitely seen more White Scars lately than Salamanders or even Thousand Sons.

 

I guess Contrast paints may have lowered the barrier to entry quite a bit. Or maybe it’s just easier for a crisp white paint job to get traction on social media than something like Salamanders green, which often ends up looking flat and drab in FW-influenced styles even when well-executed.

[Noserenda]

People always mention White Scars colours but World Eaters have nearly as much white and are perennial faves, White Scars were also one of the more popular Legions under the Tempus Fugitives rules, though with one of those events focused on the Battle for Terra its not surprising they pulled in some extra numbers :D 

Besides, Sons of Horus have always had the hardest scheme to get right :P 

It all depends on play groups ofc but i honestly think Space Wolves are probably least common overall in my experience, despite their huge 40k fanbase and range which gives you lots of conversion bits. Probably followed or preceded by Sons of Horus who are definitely the least popular Traitor Legion.

[corvus.calvariam]

You gotta factor in the red jags too for the Scars not just the white. I have the models for a Scars force but have yet to put paint on them because those two things in combination are just so intimidating.

[BeatTheBeat]

Thanks for all the insight! I’m probably colored by not playing at all, only painting and scrolling through Instagram for inspiration, but it feels like I’m seeing more White Scars these days, though of course nowhere near the presence of World Eaters or Death Guard. 
 

Maybe the 40k popularity, coupled with IMO crap sculpts, is what’s keeping people from Space Wolves? Iron Hands I’d rank in the middle of the pack, but that might be because I’ve been drawn to Iron Hands projects haha.

 

Did White Scars very recently and I find that a gritty, realistic white is quite easy to do. Can definitely see the patterns putting people off though! And the white too of course, even if it should nowadays be pretty simple.

[Indefragable]

If you ask the Iron Warriors, they will bitterly answer they are

Hah. But IW are always represented nearly every time I’ve ever played in a group setting, and often have multiple people playing them perhaps more than any other Legion. I would say they are one of the most popular Legions.

 

Realistically it is unfortunately White Scars. As others have said it’s painting white (en masse and not white but really dirty/blood soaked like WE) and the fact that they have been pigeonholed in people’s minds: how many people have built “normal” armies with WS? Tacticals in Rhinos et al? Their 30k rules are *so* good for bikes too that it’s hard not to go that direction. For those reasons I think WS are at the bottom especially from a collection standpoint.

 

That being said, with the caveat that everyone’s local scene is different, I think Thousand Sons are fairly rare, Iron Hands generally speaking (though my local scene has more than apparently the “typical”), and Space Wolves.

 

IH are rare for reasons mentioned above: their “thing” is having their dad get shorter and that seems to be it. The seeds of awesomeness are there, but are just underwhelming enough to make them more popular (I.e. if Meduson or Morr had something a bit more attention grabbing like the Nemean Reaver then I think we would see them more).

 

Space Wolves I think are held back by the community perception that Book 7 was poorly launched and that the models aren’t good (“banana bolters” et al). SW fans tend to be rabid and I think that passion backfired in this case.

 

Thousand Sons I’m not sure why, but I surmise it’s because psychic rules are complicated or such.

 

The other ones I would say are:

- Emperor’s Children, though I think people have them but just don’t play them since theirs rules have not aged wel

-Imperial Fists: because yellow, but again I think there’s plenty of people out there worldwide, but they just appear in ones and twos in local scenes. This is another odd one in the sense that I tend to hear a great many people talking about them with enthusiasm, but rarely actually see them on the table in my scene, though my scene could be the outlier

[Chaeron]

It's definitely been interesting to hear the perspectives of others as to what they see most regularly in their meta or at different events! I'd actually say that Word Bearers are the Legion I've seen the least over the years - I think I've otherwise played against everyone other Legion at least once, but they are one I can't honestly recall ever having the pleasure to game against. 

 

In relation to those that have mentioned White Scars - I've seen quite a few people using them with a lot of skill at various events. But, I'd probably echo that they are rarer, perhaps due to the aforementioned and acknowledged need for their particular builds? I'd also say that I have seen comparatively fewer Emperors' Children or Thousand Sons armies on the tabletop than other Legions. I wonder whether this'll change in future editions...

[Noserenda]

Definitely not Ksons, they made up 2/3rds of a recent event nearby :D 

Which reminds me, WHW tend to publish their results, ill see if i can dig up the recent Heresy one (unless i get distracted or someone beats me to it lol)

Red dags might seems intimidating but once you get the hang of it they are pretty simple, most forgiving time to paint red is over white i can tell you! Behold a big, aaand "normal" White scars army i did for the Siege of Terra event many years ago, please ignore the tank weathering, i went insane the day before the event and attacked them with brown paint. Dont try to paint all these tanks in one week around a day job people :D 

47175979_10156796756895797_4953060254020534272_n 

That was part of a group project of five of us where we focused on different things to not just have identical armies, annoyingly i cant find a shot of all of them together :/ (Back up your data kids)

[sarabando]

i think its a pretty hard thing to see online, because of the way Social media works i get fed a ton of white scars content. However i very rarely seen sallies, or wolves.

[MegaVolt87]

Pre primarch legion schemes. I think if there were more mk II kits, there would be more pre primarch legion paint schemes about. 

[Dagoth Ur]

Personal experience tells me its probably salamanders and I dont know why. They have a great theme, some fantastic rules and lore and Vulkan is probably the one of the sickest FW primarchs period - and yet I've only ever seen them as part of shattered legions.

[Noctus Cornix]

Trying to decide on a Legion to get started with again after a hobby slump. Have done several before (some threads here, lots more on @slowandpurposeless on Instagram), but want a fresh start.

 

And I do get motivated by underdog syndrome haha.

 

So, what's the least popular Legion? I'd figure Raven Guard or Salamanders, or maybe even Space Wolves, but I have limited horizons.

 

Also just bored working on a Sunday haha, so 50% here for just discussion.

 

All the best,

BTB

Didn't you do some really gorgeous Word Bearers back in the day?

[MCC]

From the things i see online and events ive been too id have to say Salamanders and Word bearers. The only time i see any Word Bearers stuff is when 40k players use Gal Vorbak for possessed marines! Such a shame as the Word Bearers have some great models... I guess ill have to start them myself

[BeatTheBeat]

 

Trying to decide on a Legion to get started with again after a hobby slump. Have done several before (some threads here, lots more on @slowandpurposeless on Instagram), but want a fresh start.

 

And I do get motivated by underdog syndrome haha.

 

So, what's the least popular Legion? I'd figure Raven Guard or Salamanders, or maybe even Space Wolves, but I have limited horizons.

 

Also just bored working on a Sunday haha, so 50% here for just discussion.

 

All the best,

BTB

Didn't you do some really gorgeous Word Bearers back in the day?

 

Insane memory! Cheers and thank you, I had a long running Word Bearers project that kind of grinded to a halt with the change in base sizes, and just generally wanting to paint something different haha. Maybe it's time to go back!

[Gorgoff]

 

I see a surprising amount of Raven Guard on tables, which seems disproportionate to how 'quiet' their fanbase often seems. 

Rather fitting for Raven Guard fans. 

[Dark Legionnare]

 

 

I see a surprising amount of Raven Guard on tables, which seems disproportionate to how 'quiet' their fanbase often seems. 

Rather fitting for Raven Guard fans. 

 

Ha!

 

 

I would be inclined to agree that the least I've seen is scars, second least would be sallies, third would be RG, and fourth, the iron 10th. This is from a perspective of 30k playing in CT, VT, and overall view of the hobby as a whole from a Youtube level and such.

 

I think, dichotomously, I'd attribute it to lesser "unique flair count" for IH, Sallies, and RG; but not scars. Scar's I would attribute to the scheme and no-primarch, until now at least. 

 

The other three have very limited unique flair: A primarch, a unique unit or two, maybe a custom dread or two, that's it.  Compared to say, Fists, BA, NL, Scars, etc... absolutely drowning in unique-to-them goodies. 

 

I only chose Luna Wolves (forgoing the SoH line basically as a whole for pre-triumph-time-period restrictions, IE missing out on their fun kits) because I loved the first three books so damn much.  I can still feel that loss though, as I really, REALLY dig the SoH contemptor and justaerin kits. So I could see where those three legions would not be as appealing to most folks due to not having a breadth of unique flair compared to others.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Dark Legionnare

[Indefragable]

What's interesting is that in terms of the corollary to this thread--"what legions seem to be the most popular?"--it's hands down Traitors.

 

From what I've seen on two different continents, and both in person and from afar, the most popular ones are decisively:

 

(in no particular order, grouping these together as "quite popular") : 

• Sons of Horus
• Iron Warriors
• Night Lords
• Death Guard

 

Any time I want to get a game in, there are multiple people with the above available. 

 

In general I think Traitors are more popular than Loyalists, which makes a lot of sense for a couple of reasons:

 

A. Narrative Arc: getting to play pre-corrupted Legions is a huge appeal of HH. Playing DG as they were in late-Crusade/early Heresy, compared to what they look like in 40k, is the perfect example of the appeal. 

 

B. More Loyalist Elements of Traitor Legions than vice versa: everything outside of Word Bearers can justifiably have a Loyalist army version, including many of the special units. Thus from both a gameplay and hobby perspective Traitor legions are a "safe" bet. Many events have people who can "pinch hit" with their say IW as either Loyalists or Traitors depending on what side needs an extra body.

 

C. Bad guys have more fun: again, in a setting with phosphex, Destroyers, and wear Geneva Convention violations are laughed about, being the "bad guys" just has a certain natural draw. 

 

D. Primarchs: for the above 4 mentioned, they have Primarchs in 30k that don't exist in 40k. Either because they are dead (Horus, Curze) are drastically different from 40k (Mortarion), or because they are unlikely to show up in 40k anytime soon (Perturabo). Not that everyone uses Primarchs, but it absolutely ties in with A above. 

 

E. ADB: Night Lords are a cult now thanks to his books. 

 

What it's interesting is that the rules only seem to play into half of the above, with SoH and NL having generally considered good rules in and of themselves and IW and DG having not-super-apparently-strong rules (though most people would say otherwise). 

 

So what does that tell us about the apparently least popular Legions?

 

• Perhaps they have a seemingly not-so-interesting narrative arc
• They can't as easily play as either Loyalist or Traitor
• They don't seem to have as much fun in-setting
• Primarchs are not as interesting in 30k?
• They don't have great media portrayals?

 

What's fascinating about what I just laid out above is that White Scars blow up that logic completely, having perhaps the single best portrayal of all Legions in the HH novel series, they have justification to be used as either Loyalist or Traitor, and they literally laugh as they kill in the fluff. Must really be that white just sucks that much to pain and jet bikes are hella expen$ive. 

 

Like most things its nigh impossible to try to quantify human whims, but I thought it would be interesting to try to break down a bit. 

[LameBeard]

I think one reason Loyalists may be less popular is that for many loyalist legions the visual identity is close to their 40k chapter. If you love Ultramarines, Imperial Fists or even White Scars then you might quite possibly go the 40k route rather than 30k. Sure, some people make armies to do double duty, but I expect that’s getting rarer in the Primaris Age.

 

I feel like that’s part of the appeal of Dark Angels - they have a more distinctive 30k scheme to set them apart.

 

And I also feel it’s a bit of an issue for Space Wolves. 30k players know it’s *not* meant to be Wolfy McWolfface in blue-grey, riding a wolf chariot with beer-flecked braids in your beard, but maybe enough of us haven’t found a way to get a distinctive ‘look’ yet which still reflects the very appealing lore. It’s a question of subtlety (ironically, given what we typically consider to be very un-subtle space marines).

[Bung]

Fists in 30 k can be painted with less yellow, which may get more people interested to do an army.

[Gamiel]

Just wondering, how often do you see traitor factions from Loyalist Legions? I know that olyalist factions from Traitor Legions are relativly populare but what about the other way around?

[Gorgoff]

Just wondering, how often do you see traitor factions from Loyalist Legions? I know that olyalist factions from Traitor Legions are relativly populare but what about the other way around?

I've never seen that.