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Hello dakka so as the question says if you were the enemy of the imperium be it xeno or human which legion would be the worst to face at its height of power during the grate crusade? Now it can be any reason why there the worst be it the total annihilation that you would face if facing the world eaters or the horrific gas attacks the death guard used or the night mare of the alpha legion taking your planet and society apart piece by piece without being able to hit back because you have no idea where or who they are.

Now I have to choose the Night Lords because we all know how they "pacified" planets with there terror tactics of skinning hanging and what other kinds of torture that took there fancy. Then there's the fact that once you planet was pacified that you still weren't safe cause the night lords thrived of terror and would continue to terrorize the population for sport until they left.

So let me know which legion you chose and why

I voted for the World Eaters.

While the terror spread by the Night Lords would be horrifying, they did not torture/kill everyone. Terror is ineffective if there is no one left alive to experience
the terror.

The Night Lords would leave some of the populace alive. The Word Bearers would enslave a population and put them to work building monuments of worship.
The Thousand Sons would be interested in saving the areas of learning and pouring over any knowledge the world may have.

The World Eaters were not interested in spreading fear or terror or accumulating knowledge. Once unleashed upon a world, there was no outcome other than
extermination. There was no reasoning, no parley, no negotiation. To have the World Eaters released upon a planet was to every living thing on that planet
killed in the most brutal ways imaginable.

Tom

 BrningHalo wrote:
...
The World Eaters were not interested in spreading fear or terror or accumulating knowledge. Once unleashed upon a world, there was no outcome other than
extermination. There was no reasoning, no parley, no negotiation. To have the World Eaters released upon a planet was to every living thing on that planet
killed in the most brutal ways imaginable...

I would not say that body count equals power.

At Tizca the Thousand Sons fought the combined forces of Space Wolves, Custodes and Sisters of Silece without any form of air- or orbital support. Not to mention the fact that Magnus held them back both in terms of strategic intelligence and psychic ability.

I cant see any other legion face such odds in the way the thousand sons did and still dish out such an immense ass-whopping.
(Yes yes, they had the spireguard. A minor speed bump against a charging Space Wolf)

It depends on what context you're using "Worst".

If you mean your chances of survival, which I'm assuming you are... Space Wolves. They *might have* erased 2 legions. Maybe only 1, while the other got folded into Ultramarines, not important. Then they nearly deleted the entire Thousand Sons ON THEIR HOME PLANET! The case is clear.

If you meant pure terrifying, then Night Lords of course.

I'm voting Space Wolves.

The world eaters alongside The Deathguard, both would be utterly horrid to figth. One would be a endless wave of blood crazed super human beserkers lead by a hulikng brute in the form of Angron, the other would employ the most horrid weapons known to man, and reduce the battlefield to a chemical drowned and corps stained field of slaugther and despair

Death guard or world eaters would be bad, one crazed brutal close combat troops led by a brutal and remorseless chomasndor who loved to get his blades wet with blood.

Death guard you face all kinds of chemicals to kill and destroy, some ships like terrmious eat able to decimate entire planets.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Though special merit for alphas legion making you kill each other futilely before they choose to strike in complex schemes and convalouted battles.

Soldiers are prepared to face blood and gore. Soldiers are prepared to see their comrades die in horrible ways.

They are not prepared to see their comrades turn their guns at each other due to mind control.

Commanders are prepared to give lives to archive certain strategic goals. Commanders knows that no plan survives contact with the enemy.

But what can they do when the opposition outflanks them at every move, are impossible to ambush, only attacks you at your weakest point and every attack you make seems to face their strongest. It is almost like they can read our minds... And if we try the "no plan at all" approach they still foresee our every move. Pure hopelessness and morale killing frustration. You know that whatever you do, you'll lose.

Yes, Thousand Sons.

 BrningHalo wrote:
I voted for the World Eaters.

While the terror spread by the Night Lords would be horrifying, they did not torture/kill everyone. Terror is ineffective if there is no one left alive to experience
the terror.

The Night Lords would leave some of the populace alive. The Word Bearers would enslave a population and put them to work building monuments of worship.
The Thousand Sons would be interested in saving the areas of learning and pouring over any knowledge the world may have.

The World Eaters were not interested in spreading fear or terror or accumulating knowledge. Once unleashed upon a world, there was no outcome other than
extermination. There was no reasoning, no parley, no negotiation. To have the World Eaters released upon a planet was to every living thing on that planet
killed in the most brutal ways imaginable.

Tom

I think you're over-stating the brutality of the World Eaters and under-stating the horror of the Night Lords here.

Yes, the World Eaters often murdered entire worlds, but it was usually fast and brutal, not slow and agonizing.

The Night Lords on the other hand may leave some portions of the population unharmed (physically unharmed at least), but the parts they do kill? Those would be among the worst deaths imaginable, because those deaths then traumatize the rest of the population into a) surrender and b) quiet servitude for centuries to come.

I suppose it depends on what the OP means by 'worst' though. Almost every legion can make some sort of claim (some better than others), but what the HH tries to show (at first anyway) is that the legions were the weapon of last resort, and all of them were utterly terrifying to face. Heck, in the first HH book the 'noble' Luna Wolves unmake an entire culture in the first few chapters.

If you were Cheese folk any legion during the Grate Crusade would be terrifying.

 Pilau Rice wrote:
If you were Cheese folk any legion during the Grate Crusade would be terrifying.

It would brie terrifying to imagine.

 Pilau Rice wrote:
If you were Cheese folk any legion during the Grate Crusade would be terrifying.

True, very true. I imagien any foe of mankind that had to do battle with any of the legions considerd them the incarnate form of dread. Seeing how having thousands upon thousands of Space Marines attacking your homeworld would make anyone cringe with fear

Ultramarines

They were the largest, most well-equipped of the legions and they had probably the best strategic and tactical knowledge.

You would be destroyed utterly, efficiently and there would not be a damn thing you could do about it.

All you could do is watch as all your plans are unfurled before your eyes and all your stratagems are nuetralised.

Emperor's Children.

They picked a fight with a xeno race that was so advanced that the Imperium was seriously considering letting them live because killing them would've cost too many soldiers.

And they won. More than that; they erased all trace of the race from the surface of the planet.

In a month.

With fewer than 1000 casualties.

 Krellnus wrote:
Ultramarines

They were the largest, most well-equipped of the legions and they had probably the best strategic and tactical knowledge.

You would be destroyed utterly, efficiently and there would not be a damn thing you could do about it.

All you could do is watch as all your plans are unfurled before your eyes and all your stratagems are nuetralised.

Definately, Space Marines are all pretty hard, surely numbers counts for the most. If they are easily the largest, and have no logistical issues, surely they would be unbeatable?

They even twatted Lorgar's dogs, and I read KNF, that was a full on ambush and they still prevailed.

None of them.

Before the Horus Heresy they were all plot armored to eventually win whatever conflicts they got into.

For me it is definitely the white scars. Why, you might ask.

They're so freakin fast that they will secure victory before the enemy even realizes it.

Then the enemy will painfully agonize over how they lost.

The Iron Warriors. if you faced them, it was a siege, because that is all Dah Empruh ever used them for. if you failed to surrender by the time they finished preparing to demolish your "impregnable" fortress, then you were slaughtered to a man when the walls came down...

 Marius Xerxes wrote:
None of them.

Before the Horus Heresy they were all plot armored to eventually win whatever conflicts they got into.

How the feth did any of the Legions need plot armor to seize a planet? They're astartes and they have orbital superiority, along with Army and Mechanicus support. You're dead if any Legion shows up and don't intend on surrendering (or if the Legion in question will even recognize it).

I voted dark angels, with the lion at its head nothing.you could do to stop him out thinking and then out fighting you, specialists for every roll, the undisputed master of tactics and strategy would run circles around any plan you had.

I'm astounded to see anyone answer anything other than Night Lords.

The mind boggles at World Eaters being in the lead.

I say Night Lords. The World Eaters will just kill me. The Night Lords will do so much worse.

I voted Space Wolves, if you were to view their strength based on cunning and power.

The World Eaters aren't going to be a nice bunch if they win, but they have a very poor grasp of strategy and when that matters they tend to lose. The Wolves are also brutal, cold, merciless most of the time and at that have cunning and the understanding to do more complex things like their solution to the heavily fortified planet seen in Prospero Burns near the end.

If you've read the book, you know what I'm talking about.

 Formosa wrote:
I voted dark angels, with the lion at its head nothing.you could do to stop him out thinking and then out fighting you, specialists for every roll, the undisputed master of tactics and strategy would run circles around any plan you had.

Do you have a credible source for this other than your own opinion of their aesthetics and theme? The first three points here could be applied to any Legion.

If anyone can be claimed to be the "undisputed" master of tactics, based on numerous in-lore references and suggestions, its Roboute Guilliman or Horus, depending on your margin for selection.

Night lords. They breed terror. World eaters would be traumatic and the other legions may stop depending on how you surrender but with the night lords...

I voted Alpha Legion.

By the time you know you are fighting them you have already lost. Not only that, but now EVERYONE you know is possibly working for them and could turn on you at any second.

Yes facing the Nightlords would be terrifying.... but facing any Legion would be. Being constantly on guard, probably rightly so, that any of your friends or loved ones could off you at any moment would be more painful and scarier though

 Inkubas wrote:
Night lords. They breed terror. World eaters would be traumatic and the other legions may stop depending on how you surrender but with the night lords...

You know there is a Night Lord Captain named "The Bloodless" because he brought a troublesome world into compliance without bloodshed. So before they went traitor even the Night Lords would let you surrender. Unless they were making an example, then it is your own fault anyways/maybe.

the raven guard.

I kind of went into this poll with the default assumption that the respondent is going to lose. (How many worlds fought off the Great Crusade?)

I can see why you might pick World Eaters now. The Night Lords would at least let you surrender. It's always possible the boys in red would just kill you anyway.

 Jimsolo wrote:
I kind of went into this poll with the default assumption that the respondent is going to lose. (How many worlds fought off the Great Crusade?)

I can see why you might pick World Eaters now. The Night Lords would at least let you surrender. It's always possible the boys in red would just kill you anyway.

acually, they wore blue and white prior to the heresy.

 Mr.Omega wrote:


Do you have a credible source for this other than your own opinion of their aesthetics and theme? The first three points here could be applied to any Legion.

If anyone can be claimed to be the "undisputed" master of tactics, based on numerous in-lore references and suggestions, its Roboute Guilliman or Horus, depending on your margin for selection.

Guilliman is the undisputed master of logistics. Horus is the most balanced Primarch, having served for longest. The Lion had more successes then any Primarch bar Horus, and served for far less time. Dulan castle shows him to be a master strategist, as well as being rapidly able to adapt to changing situations. He is renowned on Caliban for his planning and strategy. And the Dark Angels are mentioned as continuing "their Primarch's tradition of conducting particularly effective and well planned campaigns."

Back on topic, the Night Lords. Curze has his moments of mercy, but assuming they allowed you to surrender (I'm assuming from the title that war actually occurs) they then decimate your population, skinning, flensing, hanging, quite possibly cannibalising. You'd be better off just shooting yourself straight out.

I vote Thousand Sons for sure. Physically as bad ass as any other legion. And they have I sank psychic powers on a level far higher than any other legion. The only reason the wolves won against them is they brought sisters of silence. Without them nobody would ever have a chance.

Space Wolves. The other Legions were created to destroy the enemies of Mankind.

The Space Wolves were created to kill Legions that got out of hand.