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I just bought a Dark Vengeance to expand my marines out, and I'm thinking of painting up the Chaos Marines as Alpha Legion, because I really love their fluff, so what sort of units do they field frequently?

Right now I think a lot of Rhinos, Raptors/Warp Talons, flyers and fast moving units backed by lots and lots of cultists.

Any more, or better suggestions would be excellent.

Cultists for sure.

Units from other armies, of course. Because Alpha Legion.

An allied force could be something to consider.

Don't know if they use Raptors or Warp Talons more than other Legions.

IIRC they had these traits:

*flexibility
*no or not many daemons/daemon engines/chaos marks
*always a back-up plan
*specialised cultists for sabotage and distraction

So when building such a force I would propably use normal CSM (Rhinos are good as they're longing to attack from everywhere, so they need the speed (ugh...)) with one or two units (each) of Chosen, Havocs, Raptors and/or Bikes. I'd keep the number per unit small and not that expensive so if one is wiped out you always have another left to do the job (you know, the Hydra stuff). One or two Predators and Heldrakes that don't look like the Heldrake model and some units of cultists. Maybe some small Terminator squads too (teleporting of course).

Don't know if such a list is successful (it propably isn't), but it looks "right" for me.

I've been using loyalist rules for mine. ^_^; The chaos marine book lets you play a mindless, numerous horde of guys who like to stab people. The marks are either lack luster or let you brute force your way through the enemy. The cultists are fine, but there's no way to really represent elite, well-trained cultists or even to join a power armored guy to them short of using up a precious HQ to do so.

So instead, I've been using Raptor chapter tactics (note that that's the chapter; not the chaos fast attack option). The Raptors chapter master has a sabotage attack, makes your already sneaky marines even sneakier, and generally feels like a great Alpha legion HQ representative.

I don't have any IG, but if I did, they'd make great cultists/elite cultists, and you can even think about using inquisitor rules to sprinkle in some power armored support into their midst. Scouts might make decent elite cultists too. Sure, they're tough and strong, but that's not going to be terribly apparent outside of melee which they shouldn't spend much time in if you give them sniper rifles.

Mantis Warriors and the Tyrants Legion (if I remember the name of it) also represent Alpha Legion fairly well in their own ways.

Sadly, the only things in the chaos book that seem even remotely Alpha Legion-y to me are the fact that cultists exist (even if they can't be elite cultists) and Huron/Ahrimans' locked in warlord trait. :(

Wyldhunt wrote:
I've been using loyalist rules for mine. ^_^; The chaos marine book lets you play a mindless, numerous horde of guys who like to stab people. The marks are either lack luster or let you brute force your way through the enemy. The cultists are fine, but there's no way to really represent elite, well-trained cultists or even to join a power armored guy to them short of using up a precious HQ to do so.

So instead, I've been using Raptor chapter tactics (note that that's the chapter; not the chaos fast attack option). The Raptors chapter master has a sabotage attack, makes your already sneaky marines even sneakier, and generally feels like a great Alpha legion HQ representative.

I don't have any IG, but if I did, they'd make great cultists/elite cultists, and you can even think about using inquisitor rules to sprinkle in some power armored support into their midst. Scouts might make decent elite cultists too. Sure, they're tough and strong, but that's not going to be terribly apparent outside of melee which they shouldn't spend much time in if you give them sniper rifles.

Mantis Warriors and the Tyrants Legion (if I remember the name of it) also represent Alpha Legion fairly well in their own ways.

Sadly, the only things in the chaos book that seem even remotely Alpha Legion-y to me are the fact that cultists exist (even if they can't be elite cultists) and Huron/Ahrimans' locked in warlord trait. :(

Very interesting! I reckon I'll be getting Codex Chaos Space Marines anyway, and using that, but that is quite an interesting idea.

Take allied SM detachments.

Or you could just play 30k Alpha Legion and troll your opponent

Either 30k or use the marine codex because thats what AL does. If you have read their fluff, you will find they often disguise themselves as loyalist marines.

So to answer your question, Tactical marines.

Coils of the Hydra in 30k (Alpha Legion special rules) require 3 SM squads, and they're also famous for mechanised infantry according to HH3. They are also famous for their Lernean Terminators, SMs and Cultists involved in sabotage, well-equipped and organised Cultists, and "cleaner" looking CSMs (they passed as Loyalists during the Vraks campaign), in addition to using the LatD (Vraks).

In accordance with the fluff, there's not a problem with running anything really; Cult Marines may be a bit unfluffy, but there's Alpha Legion Daemon Princes (Voldorius) and Possessed/Mutated CSMs (old Index Astartes article), Tzeentch-marked marines (IA article I think) etc.

How you want to play your Alphas depends really on what you want - the Alpha Legion is first and foremost flexible. The foremost used ones are the Tyrant's Legion, CSM (any way you want), LatD/Vraks Renegades, 30k Alpha Legion, SM and/or IG codex.

Personally, I'm using the CSM codex now (Cultis-heavy with CSM and Sorcerer support), but working on getting enough Marins to play 30k and Cultists/Renegades to play the Lost and the Damned.

Alpha Legion tend to operate outside the Eye of Terror so require a chaos cultist presence in order to summon any daemonic allies.

Also as a result of conducting the Long War outside the Eye of Terror means the Legion has not had the benefit of Warp Time Dilation, so for many Alpha Legionnaires the Long War has been very long indeed (10k years), making them very experienced combatants.

There is a nice big picture of a Alpha Legion army in the chaos codex, which seems to play up to this background;

Hordes of cultists rising up from the depths of a Hive City, accompanied by their blessed spawn. A Dark Apostle raises the rabble, accompanied by a Helbrute, probably worshipped by the cultists as a walking god.

The Chaos space marines themselves are well equipped, each prepared for combat at range and in melee with a bolter, bolt pistol and close combat weapon. The marines are split into several squads, reflecting the many heads of the hydra.

Perhaps because of the difficulty to manifest daemons where they operate these Alpha Legion are in possession of a Forge Fiend that instead has daemons bound into its form.

Taking the point of the battle is the bite of they hydra; A Heldrake, the fusion of an Alpha Legionnaire pilot who has become a little to attached to the Alpha Strike nature of his warmachine, which has developed a sinister sentience that dominates it's should-be master. In the Heldrakes shadow follows a large group of chosen, which make up around a third of the space marines' total numbers and are the most skilled and favoured amongst the army, which is led by the scheming intelligence of a Chaos Lord.

nareik wrote:
Alpha Legion tend to operate outside the Eye of Terror so require a chaos cultist presence in order to summon any daemonic allies.

Also as a result of conducting the Long War outside the Eye of Terror means the Legion has not had the benefit of Warp Time Dilation, so for many Alpha Legionnaires the Long War has been very long indeed (10k years), making them very experienced combatants.

There is a nice big picture of a Alpha Legion army in the chaos codex, which seems to play up to this background;

Hordes of cultists rising up from the depths of a Hive City, accompanied by their blessed spawn. A Dark Apostle raises the rabble, accompanied by a Helbrute, probably worshipped by the cultists as a walking god.

The Chaos space marines themselves are well equipped, each prepared for combat at range and in melee with a bolter, bolt pistol and close combat weapon. The marines are split into several squads, reflecting the many heads of the hydra.

Perhaps because of the difficulty to manifest daemons where they operate these Alpha Legion are in possession of a Forge Fiend that instead has daemons bound into its form.

Taking the point of the battle is the bite of they hydra; A Heldrake, the fusion of an Alpha Legionnaire pilot who has become a little to attached to the Alpha Strike nature of his warmachine, which has developed a sinister sentience that dominates it's should-be master. In the Heldrakes shadow follows a large group of chosen, which make up around a third of the space marines' total numbers and are the most skilled and favoured amongst the army, which is led by the scheming intelligence of a Chaos Lord.

This seems pretty spot on. I am in the process of building an Alpha Legion myself, and the majority of my Marines will consist of Chosen for the same reasons. To add to the fun, I'm using Cypher's Fallen Champions formation. The Chosen in the formation are Alpha Legion, while Cypher is obviously DA. Are they escorting him to keep him protected from loyalists, or are they keeping him safe from other Chaos Warbands so he can return Johnson's sword to him?

Huron re-fluffed/modelled as your own Alpha Legion warlord would work pretty well, too.

They work best when you use the Loyalist codex and pick Raptors as a Chapter Tactic. Then you get access to Lias and you give him a retinue of Centurions to kill things with.