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This is the thing that I've never understood since my intro to 40K. Dorn and the IF have always been favored over Perturabo and the IW. Perturabo and his IW have always proven that they're better than the IF. The greatest example is the Siege of Terra, where Perturabo challenged Dorn's defenses of Terra and Perturabo prove to be the better siege master. Had it not been for Perturabo and his IW, the traitors would've never breached Terra, Fulgrim was fooling around, Angron raging as usual and Alpharius was doing Alpharius things. Perturabo destroyed Dorn's defenses and left the traitors at the mercy of the loyalists, kicked daemon Angron and Fulgrim's ass and Dorn still somehow gets the spotlight, he couldn't even beat Alpharius. Petrurabo being one of the traitor primarchs turned into the hard carry in the Siege of Terra. Yet not just Dorn, even his traitor brothers wanted to take the spotlight for the Siege of Terra.

The IW and Perturabo prove many times to be better than the IF and Dorn, yet all I see is the IF being glorified everywhere, like they're popular up there with the Ultramarines, something I've never understood. The IW while still remaining the best traitor legion, get no attention and get smacked for Perturabo being a crybaby or something. The best forger of the Primarchs and siege master is somehow overshadowed by his yellow banana brother who couldn't even beat Alpharius.

Note: I've always loved the IW and Perturabo, their brutality, mastery of siege and advanced weaponry they use compare to the rest of the legions is bad ass. It's like always waiting for Perturabo to show up teamed together with the Dark Mechanicus to show advanced weaponry STC's from the Dark of Technology that would devastating against the Imperium. I just never understood why Dorn and IF get all the credit. It's like that episode of Duck Dodgers where both Dodgers and the Cadet do everything to accomplish the mission in the end "dying" only to appear as ghosts where Captain Star Johnson claims that he was the one who did everything and the Cadet comments "I can't believe we killed our selves in the end for someone (Cpt. Star Johnson) swoops in and takes all the credit".

Perturabo was callous with life. He had little regard for mortals and his Legion, using them as tools to accomplish a goal. He was an exceptionally brilliant tactician and siege master but his utter lack of ability to not be a massive prick meant he wasn't ideal for running the Emperor's armies.
Dorn was far more human than Perturabo and while that technically made him slightly worse as a strategic officer, he excelled as a battlefield commander and was much more suited to life as an Imperial general.
Perturabo was the superior tactician but Dorn was the superior general.

No fortification is impervious. Eventually, with enough time and effort, it will fall. The fortification of Terra almost fell. But it did the job fortifications are built for; buying time. The traitors were running out of time, loyalist reinforcements were closing in. Perturabo the greatest fortification destroyer failed in his job. He ran out of time. He almost did it; but he didn't.

It's just a matter or values and conduct. Purtabo, while he might be a great tactician and general, is ultimately an ass and works towards the downfall of the Imperium our of bitterness and hatred. Dorn has his values in the right place, wants humanity to prosper, etc.

There's some message here about how doing a good job and being a tolerable person will earn greater recognition than doing a great job and being a dick.

Also another log in the 'COMMUNICATION IS IMPORTANT' bonfire.

I can't really speak to Perturabo specifically, but I can share my recent experiences slowly reading through the Iron Warriors Omnibus.

I picked it up specifically because I didn't see the appeal of the Iron Warriors, and I wanted to see what it was that makes their fans enjoy them. What I've seen so far is basically a bunch of emotionally immature hypocrites. They get points for taking a very pragmatic and efficient approach to warfare. Seeing some of their insights into siege warfare is genuinely interesting. But then they lose a lot of points for falling into the same childish, selfish, bickering behavior that most marine characters do.

If your intended appeal is your cold efficiency, whining about petty rivalries and throwing tantrums when things go sideways kind of destroy that appeal. And I think that's kind of the crux of their problem (for me). When Alpha Legion guys or Thousand Sons are bloodthirsty or selfish or whatever, it's still annoying, but at least the faction as a whole still has its scheming, magic, other selling points in tact. When Iron Warriors act like children, it ruins their gimmick of being the calculating and efficient faction. So you're just left efficient marines who aren't efficient and who are also giant babies.

And if I'm stuck with marine stories being frequently about overgrown babies, I'd rather read about wizard babies, trap card babies, vampire babies, werewolf babies, etc. instead of babies with hazard stripes.