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According to most of the lore I see, the Alpha Legion doesn't really do the whole war thing, at least on a regular basis, and when they do, they seem to mostly just chuck hordes of cultists at people. Also, their commanding squad or leader never seems to be of too much importance, the whole hydra idea.

What sort of units in the CSM dex or from FW would be in a Alpha Legion list?

What alpha legion warband?!

On a more serious note, I'd imagine for the CSM part of the warband, the baseline marines would work well - if it has to fit the 30k covert ops thing then go a bit light on the heavies.

I recall there was an image with a possessed alpha legionnaire, for what it's worth I'd say daemons are fine.

And aren't they said to rely on mortal soldiers to do their things? So lots of cultists, of any alignment really.

So basically, pretty much any other Non-monotheistic CSM warband

Back in the old 3rd edition codex alpha legionairs where the only ones that where allowed cultists.

 changerofways wrote:
According to most of the lore I see, the Alpha Legion doesn't really do the whole war thing, at least on a regular basis, and when they do, they seem to mostly just chuck hordes of cultists at people. Also, their commanding squad or leader never seems to be of too much importance, the whole hydra idea.

What sort of units in the CSM dex or from FW would be in a Alpha Legion list?

This is a very good question

These are the commonly played ones

30k Adeptus Astartes codex

Imperial Armour 13

SM and IG codex

CSM codex

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.

The Imperial Armour 13 is based off the Siege of Vraks (which is about one of the very few Alpha Legion warbands invading Vraks) lists for Chaos Renegades, which includes a mix of CSMs and IG, essentially. This can be done with an SM and IG list as well, but it'll be less Chaos-y. These allow you a more 40k as opposed to 30k feel of maybe a few CSMs with a whole lot of units that are considerably better than Cultists, giving you the feel of elite Cultists lead by a few Alpha Operatives. 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 in my mind, 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.

The thing about Alpha Legion in the 40k timeline is that so little is known about them that it's really up to your interpretation how they operate. Some say they eschew daemons completely. Others say they use them as tools, avoiding overt worship of the Chaos Gods. Some say their numbers are next to none. Others say that's just what they want the Inquisition to think. What we do know, is that one of their biggest strategies was/is multi-pronged assaults; attacks from different directions with seemingly conflicting strategies that confused and overwhelmed the opposition. Alpha Legion may be sneaky and underhanded, but don't think that means they don't know how to conduct full scale conflict in a war. They just do it a little differently than, say, the World Eaters or the Iron Warriors.

Honestly, the world is your oyster with an Alpha Legion warband. Pretty much anything can be justified. Play the units you want to play. The only units I would avoid would probably be a Daemon Prince, since that would require a level of devotion to Chaos that the vast majority of Alpha Legionnaires wouldn't have.

Wow, great responses. Thanks all!

Your Primarch is pleased with the variety of responses and options.

Have at them...


...For the Emperor!

 lcmiracle wrote:
What alpha legion warband?!

On a more serious note, I'd imagine for the CSM part of the warband, the baseline marines would work well - if it has to fit the 30k covert ops thing then go a bit light on the heavies.

I recall there was an image with a possessed alpha legionnaire, for what it's worth I'd say daemons are fine.

And aren't they said to rely on mortal soldiers to do their things? So lots of cultists, of any alignment really.

So basically, pretty much any other Non-monotheistic CSM warband

I'm pretty sure that the Alpha Legion like the Night Lords are against any kind of mutation and generally don't like the chaos gods that much..

For the most part, yes.

Chaos is a tool to be used when necessary/appropriate/etc.

At least, that's how it used to be!

 Reality-Torrent wrote:

 lcmiracle wrote:
What alpha legion warband?!

On a more serious note, I'd imagine for the CSM part of the warband, the baseline marines would work well - if it has to fit the 30k covert ops thing then go a bit light on the heavies.

I recall there was an image with a possessed alpha legionnaire, for what it's worth I'd say daemons are fine.

And aren't they said to rely on mortal soldiers to do their things? So lots of cultists, of any alignment really.

So basically, pretty much any other Non-monotheistic CSM warband

I'm pretty sure that the Alpha Legion like the Night Lords are against any kind of mutation and generally don't like the chaos gods that much..

Night Lords, or any Chaos Space Marines for that matter, being against Chaos is a complete myth. The Raptor Cults all suffer from horrible levels of mutation, and the end result of a Raptor Cult are Warp Talons, which themselves have mutated so heavily they are more or less daemons. Plus the Night Lords are lead by a Daemon Prince, they keep daemons as pets, and they take marks and have champions. The only difference between Night Lords and Word Bearers when it comes to Chaos is that the Night Lords don't grovel before it and worship it.

 Reality-Torrent wrote:

 lcmiracle wrote:
What alpha legion warband?!

On a more serious note, I'd imagine for the CSM part of the warband, the baseline marines would work well - if it has to fit the 30k covert ops thing then go a bit light on the heavies.

I recall there was an image with a possessed alpha legionnaire, for what it's worth I'd say daemons are fine.

And aren't they said to rely on mortal soldiers to do their things? So lots of cultists, of any alignment really.

So basically, pretty much any other Non-monotheistic CSM warband

I'm pretty sure that the Alpha Legion like the Night Lords are against any kind of mutation and generally don't like the chaos gods that much..

From the Alpha Legion IA "During the Lethe Ambush, mutated Alpha Legion Space Marines hid their warped body parts, not out of shame, but so they could reveal them as they attacked - adding horror and revulsion to the shock of their sudden attack."

 Wyzilla wrote:

Night Lords, or any Chaos Space Marines for that matter, being against Chaos is a complete myth. The Raptor Cults all suffer from horrible levels of mutation, and the end result of a Raptor Cult are Warp Talons, which themselves have mutated so heavily they are more or less daemons. Plus the Night Lords are lead by a Daemon Prince, they keep daemons as pets, and they take marks and have champions. The only difference between Night Lords and Word Bearers when it comes to Chaos is that the Night Lords don't grovel before it and worship it.

There's a distinct different between the Alpha Legion/Night Lords and the other Chaos Space Marine Legions/traitors, though. After the traitors' defeat at the Siege of Terra, the traitor Legions fled into the Eye of Terror; directly exposing themselves to the Warp. All of them did this except for the Alpha Legion and Night Lords, who retreated to the Galactic East and avoided this direct exposure. There were exceptions, of course, like The Faithless. Whether or not they fled into the Eye of Terror by design, accident, or rebellion, we don't know. What we do know is that Alpha Legionnaires had a very small showing in the Black Crusades (even then, they weren't coming out of the Eye, they were way off in the Segmentum Obscuras), rarely feature Demons or mutations in their forces, and haven't fully indicated they are Chaos Space Marines. I think it's probably a safer assumption that they're using Chaos as a tool, manipulating the power it provides to fulfill their own motivations.

That's distinctly different than the Night Lords, who, by the way, aren't a unified force anymore. Where are you getting the "lead by a Daemon Prince" from? After Kurze was killed, the Legion shattered into disparate Warbands.

 Tezdal wrote:

From the Alpha Legion IA "During the Lethe Ambush, mutated Alpha Legion Space Marines hid their warped body parts, not out of shame, but so they could reveal them as they attacked - adding horror and revulsion to the shock of their sudden attack."

To be fair, though, the Alpha Legionnaires from Vraks (The Faithless) were oddities. The Faithless fled into the Eye of Terror after the Horus Heresy where the vast majority of their Legion avoided it (as mentioned above). Regardless, it still makes sense. I think the Alpha Legion has indicated they're willing to do/use anything to fulfill their goals, and I think that Chaotic mutations are just another weapon in their arsenal. Hell, one of Alpharius' weapons during the Great Crusade is rumored to have been a Xenos artefact; likely a recovered Necron Warscythe. And that was before they turned traitor. A willingness to use Chaos in warfare doesn't indicate worship of the powers that provide them. If they worshiped Chaos, they probably would have all gone into the Eye of Terror. It would have saved them a lot of time, too, what with them spending most of the time since the 31st millennium in realspace.

 Darth Bob wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

Night Lords, or any Chaos Space Marines for that matter, being against Chaos is a complete myth. The Raptor Cults all suffer from horrible levels of mutation, and the end result of a Raptor Cult are Warp Talons, which themselves have mutated so heavily they are more or less daemons. Plus the Night Lords are lead by a Daemon Prince, they keep daemons as pets, and they take marks and have champions. The only difference between Night Lords and Word Bearers when it comes to Chaos is that the Night Lords don't grovel before it and worship it.

There's a distinct different between the Alpha Legion/Night Lords and the other Chaos Space Marine Legions/traitors, though. After the traitors' defeat at the Siege of Terra, the traitor Legions fled into the Eye of Terror; directly exposing themselves to the Warp. All of them did this except for the Alpha Legion and Night Lords, who retreated to the Galactic East and avoided this direct exposure. There were exceptions, of course, like The Faithless. Whether or not they fled into the Eye of Terror by design, accident, or rebellion, we don't know. What we do know is that Alpha Legionnaires had a very small showing in the Black Crusades (even then, they weren't coming out of the Eye, they were way off in the Segmentum Obscuras), rarely feature Demons or mutations in their forces, and haven't fully indicated they are Chaos Space Marines. I think it's probably a safer assumption that they're using Chaos as a tool, manipulating the power it provides to fulfill their own motivations.

That's distinctly different than the Night Lords, who, by the way, aren't a unified force anymore. Where are you getting the "lead by a Daemon Prince" from? After Kurze was killed, the Legion shattered into disparate Warbands.

 Tezdal wrote:

From the Alpha Legion IA "During the Lethe Ambush, mutated Alpha Legion Space Marines hid their warped body parts, not out of shame, but so they could reveal them as they attacked - adding horror and revulsion to the shock of their sudden attack."

To be fair, though, the Alpha Legionnaires from Vraks (The Faithless) were oddities. The Faithless fled into the Eye of Terror after the Horus Heresy where the vast majority of their Legion avoided it (as mentioned above). Regardless, it still makes sense. I think the Alpha Legion has indicated they're willing to do/use anything to fulfill their goals, and I think that Chaotic mutations are just another weapon in their arsenal. Hell, one of Alpharius' weapons during the Great Crusade is rumored to have been a Xenos artefact; likely a recovered Necron Warscythe. And that was before they turned traitor. A willingness to use Chaos in warfare doesn't indicate worship of the powers that provide them. If they worshiped Chaos, they probably would have all gone into the Eye of Terror. It would have saved them a lot of time, too, what with them spending most of the time since the 31st millennium in realspace.

The Daemon Prince, Krieg, leads the single largest Night Lords warband as of M41, this more or less would make him the De Facto leader as he controls the greatest percentage of the force. Although he may be usurped by Decimus.

Also, the Alpha Legion is almost certainly mutated. The Alpha Legion commanders in the DOW series are certainly mutated (with one looking like they have a shark mouth), to er, well, this.

 Wyzilla wrote:


Also, the Alpha Legion is almost certainly mutated. The Alpha Legion commanders in the DOW series are certainly mutated (with one looking like they have a shark mouth), to er, well, this.

I never said that there wasn't mutation in the Alpha Legion. I simply said that the vast majority of them never fled into the Eye of Terror, and therefore wouldn't be introduced to the same level of physical Warp corruption as the Legions that did. Also, quoting books written by C.S. Goto, a man who believes Terminators can backflip, Eldar Falcons can be taken down with rocks and sticks, Space Marines use multilasers, and Necrons bray, is a pretty weak argument. The man's credibility in the 40k fluff department is pretty much null, but to each their own, I guess.

Regardless, the point I'm trying to make is that mutation does not dictate Chaos worship. And what some Alpha Legionnaires do (like the ones in those god-awful Dawn of War games/books) doesn't portray the whole of the Alpha Legion. The sons of Alpharius are hardly known for their consistency.



To quote our Primarch:

 Alpharius wrote:
Guys, this is Alpha Legion.

Every answer is correct.

And wrong!

 Darth Bob wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:


Also, the Alpha Legion is almost certainly mutated. The Alpha Legion commanders in the DOW series are certainly mutated (with one looking like they have a shark mouth), to er, well, this.

I never said that there wasn't mutation in the Alpha Legion. I simply said that the vast majority of them never fled into the Eye of Terror, and therefore wouldn't be introduced to the same level of physical Warp corruption as the Legions that did. Also, quoting books written by C.S. Goto, a man who believes Terminators can backflip, Eldar Falcons can be taken down with rocks and sticks, Space Marines use multilasers, and Necrons bray, is a pretty weak argument. The man's credibility in the 40k fluff department is pretty much null, but to each their own, I guess.

Regardless, the point I'm trying to make is that mutation does not dictate Chaos worship. And what some Alpha Legionnaires do (like the ones in those god-awful Dawn of War games/books) doesn't portray the whole of the Alpha Legion. The sons of Alpharius are hardly known for their consistency.



To quote our Primarch:

 Alpharius wrote:
Guys, this is Alpha Legion.

Every answer is correct.

And wrong!

I'm not talking about C.S. Goto. The actual DOW models where the Alpha Legion Chaos Lords all bear the clear sign of mutation visible through large teeth, bulging eyes, and shriveled up lips.

 Wyzilla wrote:

I'm not talking about C.S. Goto. The actual DOW models where the Alpha Legion Chaos Lords all bear the clear sign of mutation visible through large teeth, bulging eyes, and shriveled up lips.

Okay, that's fine that you're not talking about C.S. Goto, though I personally would question the credibility of the canon from those games as well; seeing as how they were pretty liberal with quite a few bits of fluff. But regardless, that's beside the point. As I said, I'm not denying that Alpha Legionnaires can/may have mutations. Some do, as seen in Dawn of War and in the Siege of Vraks. But that doesn't mean that they're all mutated, nor does it mean that they all worship Chaos (if any do).

What I'm saying is that, judging by the fact that the majority of the Alpha Legion retreated to and operates outside the Warp, it can be assumed that most of them aren't suffering from the level of mutation that Legions like the Word Bearers or Black Legion are. There are exceptions and and outliers, of course, but you can't flatly say that those exceptions make up the norm. The Alpha Legion loves inconsistencies and misdirection. These may (or may not ) be examples of that. Or who knows, maybe it's the other way around!

This is my take on Alpha Legion. There is less of them and more allies of convenience. I would actually primary a Ork, Dark Eldar, Necron, Imperial Guard, etc.. and then allies in CSM and title the Army as Alpha Legion to trick people into thinking they are playing CSM. Or pay so much HQ+Troop Tax to get double CAD for 2 allies. So much misdirection.

CAD 1
Primary CSM

Sorc and 2 squads of cultist

Allies What ever

CAD2

What ever army

Allies: What ever other army.

IMO Alpha Legion haven't been corrupted or mutated much by chaos so you could run codex space marines with imperial guard allies and say their alpha legion and cultists

Taffy17 wrote:
IMO Alpha Legion haven't been corrupted or mutated much by chaos so you could run codex space marines with imperial guard allies and say their alpha legion and cultists

Especially since they're known for painting their armor in different colors to confuse the enemy.

Taffy17 wrote:
IMO Alpha Legion haven't been corrupted or mutated much by chaos so you could run codex space marines with imperial guard allies and say their alpha legion and cultists

best way to get your unmarked armored cultists and renegade list without IA13

Off topic, Krieg is the leader of a large warband yes. But that's it. Most warbands are not under Krieg's flag and absolutely abhor mutation and chaos and look down on Krieg and his bunch. Any of the ADB books will tell you this along with the feeling sorry for those who have gotten marks, which they do not do intentionally.

IMO AL is still a largely uncorrupted Legion, they lost a good chunk of their force at Paramar fighting the Iron Warriors 77th Loyal Grand Battalion and defending forces of the Mechanica, they used three suicide ships just to put a chink in the shield. Its questionable if they are even truly chaos marines or off on their own crusade occasionally using chaos in the form of cultists to accomplish their own ends. I haven't read the new book yet so perhaps more of their hijinks will be explained. They like the NL split up after the Heresy, but unlike the NLs after the sacrifice of their primarch who split int their own warbands based on cults of personality, the AL orderly split up and continue to perform whatever tasks they were assigned, of course by now its not known if the overall plan has been lost in the wind and the various leaders are doing their own thing or if everything the AL actually does is part of a grand plan.

 Tezdal wrote:

From the Alpha Legion IA "During the Lethe Ambush, mutated Alpha Legion Space Marines hid their warped body parts, not out of shame, but so they could reveal them as they attacked - adding horror and revulsion to the shock of their sudden attack."

That excerpt from IA has inspired my to consider doing a Saurus/CSM conversion to make Possessed for my otherwise unmutated Alphas!

 Darth Bob wrote:

To be fair, though, the Alpha Legionnaires from Vraks (The Faithless) were oddities. The Faithless fled into the Eye of Terror after the Horus Heresy where the vast majority of their Legion avoided it (as mentioned above). Regardless, it still makes sense. I think the Alpha Legion has indicated they're willing to do/use anything to fulfill their goals, and I think that Chaotic mutations are just another weapon in their arsenal. Hell, one of Alpharius' weapons during the Great Crusade is rumored to have been a Xenos artefact; likely a recovered Necron Warscythe. And that was before they turned traitor. A willingness to use Chaos in warfare doesn't indicate worship of the powers that provide them. If they worshiped Chaos, they probably would have all gone into the Eye of Terror. It would have saved them a lot of time, too, what with them spending most of the time since the 31st millennium in realspace.

I agree with the Faithless being an oddity. They're the only Alpha Legion splinter group I know of.

 Wyzilla wrote:


Also, the Alpha Legion is almost certainly mutated. The Alpha Legion commanders in the DOW series are certainly mutated (with one looking like they have a shark mouth), to er, well, this.

DoW also has Khornate sorcerers. DoW is a great game, but it's not exactly a great source of fluff!

I like the idea of taking all sorts of allies, painting them in different ways to be as confusing as possible

What if I ran Orks as the main detachment, a couple Alpha Legion guys as allies, and had the Orks in disguise as Space Marines?

In the original Dawn of War, Sindri Myr was a freaking Alpha Legion Chaos Sorcerer devoted to Khorne. He even became a Daemon Prince! So if you're willing to accept the Dawn of War series as fluff, then literally anything goes. One thing to keep in mind though is that 40k battles are intended to represent a "breakthrough" or a specific battle. Now the Alpha Legion may have cultist groups fighting all over the planet, but whatever battlefield you're currently fighting for could be incredibly vital to their overall "war" strategy. Therefore, your war band could be utilizing solely their own assets in order to assure victory.

ArDeZe wrote:
In the original Dawn of War, Sindri Myr was a freaking Alpha Legion Chaos Sorcerer devoted to Khorne. He even became a Daemon Prince! So if you're willing to accept the Dawn of War series as fluff, then literally anything goes. One thing to keep in mind though is that 40k battles are intended to represent a "breakthrough" or a specific battle. Now the Alpha Legion may have cultist groups fighting all over the planet, but whatever battlefield you're currently fighting for could be incredibly vital to their overall "war" strategy. Therefore, your war band could be utilizing solely their own assets in order to assure victory.

Psykers can take marks of Khorne or become Daemon Princes of Khorne, however they must give up their powers in order to do so.

DOW just (miss)used the name of the Alpha Legion. The only thing that made them remotely alpha was having invisible chaos marines... They just wanted a cool known name to show how awesome blood ravens are...

 Keep wrote:
DOW just (miss)used the name of the Alpha Legion. The only thing that made them remotely alpha was having invisible chaos marines... They just wanted a cool known name to show how awesome blood ravens are...

Lol, all the Dawn of War games do is show what colassal morons the BLUHD REHVEENS are, especially with Boreale getting around five hundred Astartes killed in a single campaign.

Thankfully they're broken, and shouldn't be a player again for a very long time. Bloody mary sues should have been excommunicated and executed by the Ordo Malleus long ago.