Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So there's a local ZM event coming up soon, and I'm pondering possibly starting up the Legion for it. That said, I'm sort of reaching for options on ways to represent them. Not only do chaos models not fit my mental image of the legion, but they don't really seem the types to be handing out marks of chaos left and right either. Operating in big blobs of marines doesn't fit their style, and neither does the daemonforged thing. I'm sure they'd utilize cult troops if it was to their advantage, but that doesnt' really help me represent them as their own entities.

As far as I can tell, the best way to play Alpha Legion is to play loyalist marines using relatively sneaky chapter tactics.

I know that they exist in 30k, but A.) I'm pretty sure that doesn't work well for Zone Mortalis, and B.) I don't particularly want to s hell out the money for that book.

Second person I'm going to suggest the Tyrant's Legion to in as many days. Loyalist looking Marines with pseudo Guardsmen that they use as human shields in some cases. VERY limited Marine choices though. It's pretty much just Assault Marines without packs, Bikes and Tacticals with other Forge World choices. Chapter Tactics are about Bikes and Skimmers mostly and more ways to beat on the Guardsmen working with them.

As an added bonus, the Assault type of their Marines come standard with Void Hardened Armor, which has a benefit in Zone Mortalis. And since the Army List is free on Forge World, no need to buy a book. Money saved.

Short answer, you can't, long answer

Huron or ahirman as counts as for infiltrate
cypher for the same and a counts as moritat
no marked units
no daemons, including prince's

Basically you will not be able to take any of the cool stuff chaos has if you want to stick to fluff.

Proxy loyalist Marines. Use something like White Scars or Raven Guard Chapter Tactics with LOTS of Imperial Guard allies.

Short answer: pick a Marine army, any marine army.

Long answer: Allies. The main force should represent the local populace uprising (conversions are encouraged) with allied Marines (again, any chapter you feel fits best there). This would get you the "small number of Marines, large number of rioting citizens" thing that fits them.

Or just go CSM, take 3+ full units of Cultists and flavor the rest to fit.

If you want to use the CSM book...
Cultists and Predators/Vindicators to represent your main force (this would be the force that Alpha Legion is controlling), then specialist marine forces (Terminators, Chosen, Raptors, Bikers, Havoks, etc). Use counts-as Cypher and Huron for their shrouded/infiltrate.

Otherwise, I would use the vanilla SM codex, and take Raptors CTs with counts-as Lias Issodon and Cypher for their special abilities. Lots of dirty tricks possible with these guys.

Use the FW Renagades list, and add a CSM allied detachment with a single 5-man unit of unmarked marines and a dark apostle (again, unmarked). Keep the CSM models out of line of sight for the entire game. Cackle maniacally throughout the game at random times.

As mentioned above: Forgeworld's Tyrant's Legion army.

Space Marines protected by poor quality bullet magnets. Ahem, I mean, Militia. Quite a characterful list and you can add in plenty of the vehicles from IA1 and IA2

So sorry, but using guard in a traitor army?

I'm a little confused here, though. Where in the fluff does it say Alpha Legion never gives out marks or has followers of chaos gods? AL is not the same as Night Lords, who are actively apostatical, or the Iron Warriors, who are too bitter to believe in anything. They might not be Word Bearers, but that doesn't make Alpha Legion irreligious.

Likewise, where does it say they have absolutely no warpsmiths either? Where does it say that they can't be in squads of 20 and still be sneaky?

I don't think that you're looking for an army that matches the Alpha Legion, I think you're looking for an army that matches a more restrictive version of Alpha Legion in your mind. A version that also doesn't use cultists or apostles for some reason.

As for wanting to make them look less chaosey, there's no reason you can't just buy regular tac marines and paint them up alpha legion after filing the aquillas off. Or mixing traitor and loyalist bits together.

You're assuming that The Alpha Legion are traitors.

They are.

 Ailaros wrote:
I'm a little confused here, though. Where in the fluff does it say Alpha Legion never gives out marks or has followers of chaos gods? AL is not the same as Night Lords, who are actively apostatical, or the Iron Warriors, who are too bitter to believe in anything. They might not be Word Bearers, but that doesn't make Alpha Legion irreligious.

Likewise, where does it say they have absolutely no warpsmiths either? Where does it say that they can't be in squads of 20 and still be sneaky?

I don't think that you're looking for an army that matches the Alpha Legion, I think you're looking for an army that matches a more restrictive version of Alpha Legion in your mind. A version that also doesn't use cultists or apostles for some reason.

As for wanting to make them look less chaosey, there's no reason you can't just buy regular tac marines and paint them up alpha legion after filing the aquillas off. Or mixing traitor and loyalist bits together.

Outside of DOW, the Alpha Legion is irreligious, has no marks, cult troops, or stuff like Warp Smiths (who are more of an Iron Warrior thing).

And here we see, IMO, the greatest flaw of the CSM, the inability to represent several iconic legions beyond "color them the like the legion and forge the narrative harder."

Wyzilla wrote:Outside of DOW, the Alpha Legion is irreligious, has no marks, cult troops, or stuff like Warp Smiths (who are more of an Iron Warrior thing).

I'm sorry, but where does it say that an alpha legion army can consist of nothing but tiny squads of cultists and CSM without vehicles or any religious affiliations whatsoever? Where has the fluff ever said they were a more or less one-unit army?

Nothing in the idea of sabotage and insurrection is there the demand that they ignore almost everything in the codex.

---

I mean, in the current codex it even explicitly states they spread demon cults. Not exactly a hard line against the chaos gods.

 Ailaros wrote:

Wyzilla wrote:Outside of DOW, the Alpha Legion is irreligious, has no marks, cult troops, or stuff like Warp Smiths (who are more of an Iron Warrior thing).

I'm sorry, but where does it say that an alpha legion army can consist of nothing but tiny squads of cultists and CSM without vehicles or any religious affiliations whatsoever? Where has the fluff ever said they were a more or less one-unit army?

Nothing in the idea of sabotage and insurrection is there the demand that they ignore almost everything in the codex.

---

I mean, in the current codex it even explicitly states they spread demon cults. Not exactly a hard line against the chaos gods.

Index Astartes says hello. Their troops are all undivided/bear no marks. Only the cultists are allowed to bring daemons into play.

 Wyzilla wrote:


Outside of DOW, the Alpha Legion is irreligious, has no marks, cult troops, or stuff like Warp Smiths (who are more of an Iron Warrior thing).

AL have been shown to have Tzeentch tattoos in the older fluff.

To quote myself in a related thread. There's rumours of a Legion supplement coming out this year too.


Either way, to address the OP, I'm adjusting one of my older posts on the same topic.

These are the commonly played ones

30k Adeptus Astartes codex

Imperial Armour 13

SM and IG codex

CSM codex

Tyrant's Legion

Back in the good ol' days, the Alpha Legion deployed wholesale and smashed stuff, but only after using loaded dice and having extra minis up their sleeves. Loads of stuff about that in the HH: Extermination book. So, if you want to roll a full-scale assault, the 30k list is pretty good.

IA 13 is a Renegade and Heretics list, which would give you loads of Cultist/Imperial Guard, then ally in some CSMs.

Furthermore, using ForgeWorld Raptor tactics (available for free) with Lias Issodon (Raptor Chapter Master) with IG with a Master of the Fleet is another fun version, where the enemy's Reserve rolls get messed with doubly.

The CSM codex can be done as well, but it's generally not considered that suited for Alpha Legion. I run a Helcult formation (2x35 Fearless Cultists and a Helbrute) to boost my Cultists and making them useful, in addition to a few Havocs and CSMs, in addition to a Fallen Angel detachment with Cypher, with Huron leading the charge (so I can Infiltrate even more). I've just ordered 30 MKIV and an Alpha Legion Dreadnought from ForgeWorld though, as I'm working on being able to use a Deep Striking Mayhem pack, Deep Striking Learnean Terminators (still to acquire) and CSMs in a Dreadclaw (Still need to acquire a Dreadclaw), so my Infiltrating units can deploy, wait for the Deep Strikers, and hopefully take out the opponents army piecemeal.

Personally, I steer clear off Daemons, Obliterators/Mutilators, Forgefiends/Maulerfiends and Heldrakes, as I can't make them work fluff-wise, but that is a personal thing, probably due to me having played wh40k back in the 90's and I can't stand the newfangled things! I steer clear of Berzerkers, Thousand Sons, Noise Marines, Plague Marines etc too, but I wouldn't have a problem with Counts As at all.

Wyzilla wrote:Index Astartes says hello. Their troops are all undivided/bear no marks. Only the cultists are allowed to bring daemons into play.

You're going to place one part of one part of one white dwarf article as definitive over years of codices and rulebooks?

If you're going to go off on some weird tangent where you believe that alpha legion is really loyalist marines, then use the codex and minis for loyalist marines. If you're going to play the actual alpha legion, then use the CSM codex. You have plenty of options to do a fluffy AL list, so long as you don't corrupt the fluff by foisting extra arbitrary restrictions on yourself.

 Ailaros wrote:

Wyzilla wrote:Index Astartes says hello. Their troops are all undivided/bear no marks. Only the cultists are allowed to bring daemons into play.

You're going to place one part of one part of one white dwarf article as definitive over years of codices and rulebooks?

If you're going to go off on some weird tangent where you believe that alpha legion is really loyalist marines, then use the codex and minis for loyalist marines. If you're going to play the actual alpha legion, then use the CSM codex. You have plenty of options to do a fluffy AL list, so long as you don't corrupt the fluff by foisting extra arbitrary restrictions on yourself.

And there's nothing that contradicts IA outside of Dawn of War. Whenever they pop up, it's either a Chaos Lord or an elite unit. I can't ever remember there being mention of Alpha Legion Noise Marines, 'Zerkers, etc, being used.

 Ailaros wrote:

As for wanting to make them look less chaosey, there's no reason you can't just buy regular tac marines and paint them up alpha legion after filing the aquillas off.

Quoted for Truth. I don't know about the new Vraks compendium, but the Alpha Legion squad entry in the Imperial Armour 5 recommended that you use loyalist models painted in Alpha Legion colours as they had arrived on Vraks disguised as loyalists.

Wyzilla wrote:And there's nothing that contradicts IA outside of Dawn of War. Whenever they pop up, it's either a Chaos Lord or an elite unit. I can't ever remember there being mention of Alpha Legion Noise Marines, 'Zerkers, etc, being used.

Stick to the point. Where does it say they can only use lords, CSM and cultists?

Where does it say so that contradicts, say, the giant picture on page 72-73 of the codex that shows Alpha Legion helldrakes, hellbrutes, and forgefiends? Where does it say that because AL is chaos undivided, they can't take marked or cult troops despite the fact that Word Bearers are undivided, and can? Which rulebook says it's unfluffy for AL to use rhinos? Which codex says its unfluffy to use possessed?

The only restriction I could find anywhere is the 4th ed restriction against Alpha Legion lords and sorcerers carrying personal icons. In that same paragraph, though, it explicitly says they use demons, and can take both demon princes and possessed.

Restrict yourself all you want, but they are restrictions in the mind, not in the fluff.

Gashrog wrote:the Alpha Legion squad entry in the Imperial Armour 5 recommended that you use loyalist models painted in Alpha Legion colours as they had arrived on Vraks disguised as loyalists.

In that case, it would be best to paint your army to look like ultramarines, and use the regular space marine codex. That way no one will know who they really are.

Plus, if the alpha legion is secretly part of the imperium, then you'd have space marines wearing ultramarine armor who are loyal to the imperium. You would, in fact, have ultramarines, if by a second, secret name...

Why not just play regular space marines, if your version of alpha legion is identical to regular space marines.

 Ailaros wrote:

Wyzilla wrote:Index Astartes says hello. Their troops are all undivided/bear no marks. Only the cultists are allowed to bring daemons into play.

You're going to place one part of one part of one white dwarf article as definitive over years of codices and rulebooks?

If you're going to go off on some weird tangent where you believe that alpha legion is really loyalist marines, then use the codex and minis for loyalist marines. If you're going to play the actual alpha legion, then use the CSM codex. You have plenty of options to do a fluffy AL list, so long as you don't corrupt the fluff by foisting extra arbitrary restrictions on yourself.

Well, there's that and Legion of course, which probably stands as the amongst largest amount of information ever written about the Alpha Legion, and is decidedly ambivalent about their motivations. There's certainly as much to suggest they're working to some higher agenda, and have been branded traitor because the Imperium don't deal very well with shades of grey, as there is to suggest that they turned. There's also the angle that they're traitors who have been tricked and believe they're loyal.

There's plenty of doubt about their true allegiance.

 Ailaros wrote:

Wyzilla wrote:And there's nothing that contradicts IA outside of Dawn of War. Whenever they pop up, it's either a Chaos Lord or an elite unit. I can't ever remember there being mention of Alpha Legion Noise Marines, 'Zerkers, etc, being used.

Stick to the point. Where does it say they can only use lords, CSM and cultists?

Where does it say so that contradicts, say, the giant picture on page 72-73 of the codex that shows Alpha Legion helldrakes, hellbrutes, and forgefiends? Where does it say that because AL is chaos undivided, they can't take marked or cult troops despite the fact that Word Bearers are undivided, and can? Which rulebook says it's unfluffy for AL to use rhinos? Which codex says its unfluffy to use possessed?

The only restriction I could find anywhere is the 4th ed restriction against Alpha Legion lords and sorcerers carrying personal icons. In that same paragraph, though, it explicitly says they use demons, and can take both demon princes and possessed.

Restrict yourself all you want, but they are restrictions in the mind, not in the fluff.

Gashrog wrote:the Alpha Legion squad entry in the Imperial Armour 5 recommended that you use loyalist models painted in Alpha Legion colours as they had arrived on Vraks disguised as loyalists.

In that case, it would be best to paint your army to look like ultramarines, and use the regular space marine codex. That way no one will know who they really are.

Plus, if the alpha legion is secretly part of the imperium, then you'd have space marines wearing ultramarine armor who are loyal to the imperium. You would, in fact, have ultramarines, if by a second, secret name...

Why not just play regular space marines, if your version of alpha legion is identical to regular space marines.

Index astartes disallowed any marks, they also limited the use of deamons to cultists, chaos 3.5 also reinforced this, then came the "scouring" where the legions are all torn from the chaos book and chaos lost almost all of its flavour, so to answer your question, every book that has had alpha legion specific rules has stated it, the fluff backs up the distrust of chaos and using it only as a means to an end, they try not to get corrupted by it.

Nothing states however that they do not use deamon engines, or the other standard chaos marine stuff like vindicators etc.

Formosa wrote: every book that has had alpha legion specific rules has stated it, the fluff backs up the distrust of chaos and using it only as a means to an end, they try not to get corrupted by it.

Except for the 4th edition codex which says "When operating on a world where they have secured the belief of Chaos cults, they will gladly add Daemons to the diversity of their attacks." This is in the same codex that says of night lords "Because the Night Lords do not worship the Chaos Powers as gods, they are reluctant to enter into Daemonic pacts, so there are few Daemons in their armies."

Which means the Alpha Legion does worship the chaos powers as gods, and, even if they won't summon them directly, will still enthusiastically work with demons.

Alpha Legion isn't Night Lords.

Your quote directly backs up what I said, I don't see your point :/
they get the cults to summon the daemons, that hasn't changed a bit?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
they use Deamons as another tool in there box, but even with your quote, and the previous fluff, they don't do it themselves, the quote you have used doesn't replace what has been written before, it just reinforces it

My suggestion would be use IA13. Alpha Legion mostly works through human agents. Trairor PDF and mutant rebels make perfect pawns. After that id go with CSM that have either infiltrate, scout, or outflank. Take cultists as troops and concentrate on elite units for the csm to represent thier ancient badass-ness. Id say Forgeworld dreads and maybe 30k hover bikes. Maybe even true scale for the csm to make them really stand out.

Or:

Arrange a game for a time and place.
Don't turn up.
Claim victory.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Ailaros wrote:

Wyzilla wrote:Outside of DOW, the Alpha Legion is irreligious, has no marks, cult troops, or stuff like Warp Smiths (who are more of an Iron Warrior thing).

I'm sorry, but where does it say that an alpha legion army can consist of nothing but tiny squads of cultists and CSM without vehicles or any religious affiliations whatsoever? Where has the fluff ever said they were a more or less one-unit army?

Nothing in the idea of sabotage and insurrection is there the demand that they ignore almost everything in the codex.

---

I mean, in the current codex it even explicitly states they spread demon cults. Not exactly a hard line against the chaos gods.

Index Astartes says hello. Their troops are all undivided/bear no marks. Only the cultists are allowed to bring daemons into play.

That's not because they don't want anything to do with the gods though. They need cultists to summon the daemons as they tend to operate so far out of the Eye of Terror there is a much lower rate of warp disturbance (making summoning and maintaining daemons much more difficult).

In my experience of 40k fluff Alpha Legion are generally described as a force that likes to fight against other space marines and also makes extensive use of cultists/operatives. They are relatively well equipped but split into small (but elite) warbands often hiding their base of operations in asteroid belts.

If I were playing a 40k alpha legion army I'd take plenty of cultists to secure objectives and my space marines would tend to be chosen to represent how elite/tooled up they are. I wouldn't necessarily be against including marked units per se, but I'd probably go with undivided to represent how Alpha Legion are always pursuing their own inscrutiable agenda.

Going by C:CSM, I'd suggest to follow the old army list of IA, the main specifics of which is that your troop slots are filled purely with cultists. Elites would be Terminators or Chosen, with the other parts of the FOC being whatever you want really.

Very few actual power-armoured CSM. An Alpha Legion army should be mostly Cultists and Daemons.