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At work I was thinking about the Astartes Legions during the Great Crusade and the roles they were supposed to fulfill. Now I am wondering about a couple of them. Especially the Dark Angels. Without their fluff-twist of losing half their personal to Chaos what were they supposed to do in the first place ?

I. Dark Angels = ?
II. ? = ?
III. Emperor´s Children = ?
IV. Iron Warriors = ?
V. White Scars = hit & run/disruption
VI. Space Wolves = executioners
VII. Imperial Fists = siege
VIII. Night Lords = guerilla warfare/terror
IX. Blood Angels = close combat
X. Iron Hands = siege
XI. ? = ?
XII. World Eaters = close combat
XIII. Ultramarines = tactics/strategy
XIV. Death Guard = offensiv grimdark NBC defence
XV. Thousand Sons = scholars/warriors
XVI. Sons of Horus = ?
XVII. Word Bearers = scholars/"monks"
XVIII. Salamanders = craft
XIX Ravenguard = guerilla
XX Alpha Legion = Infiltration & Covert Operations

1. Dark Angels: General battle field role, hammer or anvil
2. ?
3. Emperors children: perfection, picking apart the enemy gracefully+support other legions due to small size
4. Iron warriors: siege warfare
5. White scars: as you said
6. Space wolves: as you said
7. Imperial fists: defensive fortifications and holding positions-anvil
8. Night lords: as you said
9. Blood Angels: close combat
10. Iron hands: anvil, armoured spearhead warfare
11. Ultramarines: absorb broken legions, mass warfare+ as said
12. Death Guard: anvil+support
13. thousand son: support and psychic warfare. All units work together
14. Word bearers: Crusaders, seek to enlighten the galaxy and brainwash colonized planets
15. Salamanders: as said
16. Raven Guard: as said
17. Alpha legion: as said

Hm... I think the Sons of Horus where especially known for daring assaults and otherwise succeding under difficult conditions. Yeah they were the poster boys the Ultramarines became after the heresy .

The Dark Angels drew their traditions from the knightly orders of Caliban, and Lion El'Johnson is known to be one of the best military strategists among the primarchs, so they are probably not a one-trick-pony, so much is true.

Death Guard focused on fighting in hostile enviroments

Tsons focused on using sorcery

Iron Hands never focused on seige

Raven Guard didn't develop their guerilla style of warfare until long after the Heresy.

 Omegus wrote:
Raven Guard didn't develop their guerilla style of warfare until long after the Heresy.

yeah werent they just swift, death from above before they got chewed up at Istvaan


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The sons of horus specialized in tactics and their cunning warmaster. Horus was the greatest of the primarchs and he used his legion tactically to it's full extent.


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The alpha Legion was the youngest legion and the last found primarch. When they were infiltrating they were always seeking to prove themselves with the most complicated assaults and tactics


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The night lords forcused on morale. They sought to inflict terror but also to demoralize the enemy. They would make a show of taking out the enemies most powerful warriors, ships and fortresses publicly in the most direct way possible to make the enemy lose hope and lay down their arms in despair.

 Omegus wrote:
Raven Guard didn't develop their guerilla style of warfare until long after the Heresy.

Having just read “Deliverance Lost “, I disagree. It is plainly stated that hit and run tactics are a defining trait of the ravenguard, and they rely on stealth, too. They pride themselves on coping with being at af disadvantage. And the blow to their numbers that forced them even further into that direction was Istvaan.

KhornedBeef wrote:

 Omegus wrote:
Raven Guard didn't develop their guerilla style of warfare until long after the Heresy.

Having just read “Deliverance Lost “, I disagree. It is plainly stated that hit and run tactics are a defining trait of the ravenguard, and they rely on stealth, too. They pride themselves on coping with being at af disadvantage. And the blow to their numbers that forced them even further into that direction was Istvaan.

Agree, and read young Corax vs mining slavemasters - He used guerilla tac too, if I'm not mistaken !?....Hit and run baby was his thing....

On Istvaan he used it too, which pissed SA and IH (because they went head on to their deaths, lol)....

Hmm I think of the Imperial Fist more as Defense/Fortifications instead of Siege. But they are indeed specialized in Siege Warfare.

BaconUprising wrote:
1. Dark Angels: General battle field role, hammer or anvil
2. ?
3. Emperors children: perfection, picking apart the enemy gracefully+support other legions due to small size
4. Iron warriors: siege warfare
5. White scars: as you said
6. Space wolves: as you said
7. Imperial fists: defensive fortifications and holding positions-anvil
8. Night lords: as you said
9. Blood Angels: close combat
10. Iron hands: anvil, armoured spearhead warfare
11. Ultramarines: absorb broken legions, mass warfare+ as said
12. Death Guard: anvil+support
13. thousand son: support and psychic warfare. All units work together
14. Word bearers: Crusaders, seek to enlighten the galaxy and brainwash colonized planets
15. Salamanders: as said
16. Raven Guard: as said
17. Alpha legion: as said

This is pretty much what i agree with and the Sons of Horus/Luna Wolves were stated by other legions as being the most vicious close combat fighters besides the World Eaters. And Famous Drop Pod barrage into the heaviest of fighting as well

Yeah I forgot about sons of Horus drop pod assault

KhornedBeef wrote:

 Omegus wrote:
Raven Guard didn't develop their guerilla style of warfare until long after the Heresy.

Having just read “Deliverance Lost “, I disagree. It is plainly stated that hit and run tactics are a defining trait of the ravenguard, and they rely on stealth, too. They pride themselves on coping with being at af disadvantage. And the blow to their numbers that forced them even further into that direction was Istvaan.

Maybe. That book is also stupid, because apparently a non-scholarly Primarch and a couple of humans could out-do the Emperor in genetic manipulation in a matter of months... and the Alpha Legion are over the top ridiculous in it, as well.

Just remember, while they might have prefered methods of doing things, they still were required to be able to do everything. They were simply known for certain things over others. No one is going to call Legion A halfway across the galaxy to do a particular specialized task when Legion B happened to be in the next system over.

Col. Dash wrote:
Just remember, while they might have prefered methods of doing things, they still were required to be able to do everything. They were simply known for certain things over others. No one is going to call Legion A halfway across the galaxy to do a particular specialized task when Legion B happened to be in the next system over.

Untrue, the emperors children would never have been able to fully destroy another legion they were far too small.