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Hi guys, I just have some questions regarding the next army for an upcoming beginner tournament at my LFGS.
The tournament looks at painting and modeling along with tabletop results which I think is quite nice.

I have two armies in mind.

Alpha Legion and Dark Angels.

For Alpha Legion, since I'm not a fan of the current CSM models I thought of using the Horus Heresy SM models but paint them in the current colour scheme(the blue to green transition is sexy).
But reading the fluff it seems like Alpha Legion utilize Cultists a lot...
Is it possible to run an Alpha Legion army without Cultists? (Not a fan of the models)

And my second idea was going a Dark Angels army but everyone has robes and or hoods to give a real grim and mysterious feel to the army.
For Dark Angels, do I have to include Ravenwing or Deathwing elements? Or can I just have mainly the regular marines like vanilla-style and include some Knights etc.?

Thanks for any advice guys!

Yes you can run Alpha Legion without cultists (It removes part of the point of their decurion style detachment not to though)

And Dark Angels don't have to use Ravenwing or Deathwing elements.(CAD or LBSF has no requirement of either- discounting characters of course)

Alpha legion can totally be run without cultists. Like the guy above said they have a decurion style formation that gives them benefits if they bring them, but you can ignore that and bring other stuff from the CSM codex, or ask if you can bring a 30k list. if it's a beginners tournament it should be fine, as you probably won't be bringing some of the more powerful toys that 30k has to offer.

Also Dark angels have some pretty good "green-wing" builds available to them that are just the regular power-armored guys. I even think that their named librarian ezekial is one of the best named characters in the game with his squad boosting special equipment and very fun psychic powers

Not at all - I'd even say you shouldn't ever bother with Cultists. They're not very good, and add very little to the Alpha Legion. Point for point, they're terrible right now. Sure, they come back, but you can compare them to Renegades of Vraks in an Unending Host detachment. They have IG options (plasma, melta, autocannons etc), come back on a 2+, have an improved run move the turn they come in, and they're cheaper to boot. The only thing CSM Cultists have better is easier (But still at a premium) access to Fearless.

The way Cultists are handled by the Alpha Legion tactics and Decurion makes them feel more like a Word Bearers force; Dark Apostles and loads of rabble, which I think works poorly fluff-wise. The Alpha Legion Cultists are more like guerrillas or specialists, not the unending horde of rabble.

Hydra dominatus, frater!