Best Primarch Tactician

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**BlaxicanX**

On the other hand, if committing exterminatus was absolutely the only way to win without suffering massive losses of manpower, resources or time, then that would definitely be Sun Tzu.

**Roadkill Zombie**

Omegus wrote:
Frecklesonfire wrote:
The Ultramarines

why? i dont understand ultramarine fans, they do not seem to have any redeeming qualities that i have read at. what are their top strong points? their primarch apparently steals all of Dorns honor, and is he a good tactician or does he just have large numbers, and a strong economy and planetary setup, from my understanding hes smart at politics and governments and recruitment like hes a good political head, and organizer but in warfare?

During the Crusade, the Ultramarines had the longest record of successes, while also achieving compliance with the least amount of casualties, making them one of the largest legions by far. Their efficiency and efficacy under Guilliman was unmatched. If he had a flaw, it was that he would always take the most efficient and efficacious approach, opening up the door to being predictabile (something that has culminated into a serious problem for 40K-era Ultramarines). Horus could probably match Guilliman, but being a glory hog, he wouldn't always make the "best" decision tactically if a more bombastic approach would still achieve the objective (casualties be damned) while making him look better, so he falls a tad short. The Lion could also probably match Guilliman/Horus on a tactical level, but the Lion's whole paranoia/inability to judge a person's character would likely hamper him in the grand scheme of things.

I guess another way to distinguish them is that Guilliman and Horus are better strategist and big picture guys, while Lion is better at the nitty gritty while missing the big picture (the only real example we have is his skill in void warfare). Alpharius-Omegon may also qualify as great, if unconventional tacticians (which is why Guilliman disliked them and Horus favored them).

Rochronos wrote:Although Guilliman is THE tactician, I would hazard that Russ shows more brilliance. As the Emperors executioner he had refined his Astartes slaying abilities long before Roboute and co were all shocked that some of their members were contemplating killing other Space Marines.

I seriously doubt they had "refined" his Astartes slaying abilities. Russ and his Legion weren't specifically designed to be executioners; a lot of what the Emperor did with the Primarchs seems to have been blind experimentation. Like a quote from Kharn in a later novel states, the Wolves were picked to attack other Astartes because they were loyal hounds, who would follow their orders and go no further, and could always be called back to heel. The World Eaters could just as effectively kill other Space Marines, but there was no recalling them once they were unleashed. In Aurelian, we're told that in an alternate timeline where the Emperor decided to sanction Lorgar rather than give him a second chance, the purge of the Word Bearers is enacted by the Wolves and Night Lords working in tandem (which makes sense, Kurze was another tool of the Emperor's vengeance, and the Wolves by themselves would be far too outnumbered to handle the Bearers solo... hell, they needed a huge detachment of Custodes and Silent Sisters to barely handle the Thousand Sons).

Roadkill Zombie wrote:
thenoobbomb wrote:Russ isnt a tactician. He may win battles, but tactical? 'Nope'

The Codex Astartes says different.

And I quote:

" Many of the most brilliant minds of the age contributed to the Codex Astartes. It describes not only methods of fighting wars, but also deals with such diverse elements as organizing troops, establishing supply lines, clothing and feeding troops, subtrefuge, and espionage, and of course, countless tactics and ploys to confound the opposing commander.

With such brilliant minds as the Space Marine Primarchs Leman Russ and El'Johnson offering sagely advice, as well as the practical wisdom of the great Imperial Guard commander General Tybour, the Codex Astartes has always been regarded as an essential part of every young officer's education. Every Imperial officer is familiar with its contents, and its many precepts and ideas form the basis for much lively debate. The book remains fresh and valid ten thousand years after it was written. "

From Armies of the Imperium, page 25.

This bit goes back to the early days of 2nd edition, when the game and its setting were significantly different than now.

That doesn't invalidate it. It still proves that Leman Russ and the Lion were still superb tacticians. Nothing I've ever read has changed anything about Leman Russ or the Lion contributing to the Codex Astartes and being called brilliant minds. They were brilliant and they were both superb tacticians.

If you have something that contradicts what I posted other than " the codex astartes was written by Roboute Guilliman" and comes out and says Russ and the Lion sucked at tactics then I'd be glad to see it. But in the entire time I've been playing this game Russ and the Lion have always been portrayed as they were in that bit of fluff.

**Amaya**

I think people are confusing tactician and strategy. Rommel was a great tactician, but a mediocre strategist who often out ran his supply lines and had issues with logistics.

**BlaxicanX**

Yep, that's been stated about 17 times in this thread thus far.

Let's get an 18th!

**DarthMarko**

BlaxicanX wrote:Yep, that's been stated about 17 times in this thread thus far.

Let's get an 18th!

I think people are confusing tactics and strategy......:-)Guiliman knew how to get extra rations for hungry man in the trenches while Alpharius and Omegon infiltrated,scouted and then attacked enemy stronghold in a most unique way....

**CainTheHunter**

DarthMarko wrote:
BlaxicanX wrote:Yep, that's been stated about 17 times in this thread thus far.

Let's get an 18th!

I think people are confusing tactics and strategy......:-)Guiliman knew how to get extra rations for hungry man in the trenches while Alpharius and Omegon infiltrated,scouted and then attacked enemy stronghold in a most unique way....

with the only purpose to steal those rations!

So, at the end of the day - do you want to be a hungry strategist or full tactician?

**DarthMarko**

CainTheHunter wrote:
DarthMarko wrote:
BlaxicanX wrote:Yep, that's been stated about 17 times in this thread thus far.

Let's get an 18th!

I think people are confusing tactics and strategy......:-)Guiliman knew how to get extra rations for hungry man in the trenches while Alpharius and Omegon infiltrated,scouted and then attacked enemy stronghold in a most unique way....

with the only purpose to steal those rations!

and then give them back, just so that they can steal it again....

**Omegus**

Pilau Rice wrote:
Which was an amalgamation of tactics and strategies used by various military leaders, scholars, including other Primarchs, correlated into a book.

Guilliman was a leech.

He's living' in that 30k century
Doin' something mean to it
Doin' it better than anybody you ever seen do it
Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it
I guess every superhero need his theme music

DarthMarko wrote:
You sir, know NOTHING of the Wolves, clearly you are traitor TS fanboy who is always pissing on one legion and it's primarch - so please stop,go prey to Tzeench and read some books

Oh yay, we have another BrotherRamses. Uninformed Space Pups fanboys are so dime-a-dozen.

Durza wrote:It kind of depends on how the question is interpreted. Guilliman was a great tactician when it came to the battles, but alienating another commander just because you don't like how he chooses to fight is not a tactically sound decision. Similarly, the Lion sent some of his most loyal allies back to Caliban because one of them got kind of jealous because the Lion outshone him in almost every way. Fulgrim won a war that was meant to have taken years in less than a month, but wasn't smart enough to not listen to a creepy voice in his head telling him to do drugs and rape things.

Well, on several occasions in the various Dark Angels novels, it is stressed that the Lion would not have been able to accomplish what he did without Luther. The Lion was the symbol at the head of the army, the general fighting at the front, but what kept the whole crusade together was Luther. While Luther's jealousy/resentment of the Lion was a weakness of character, he did actually deserve the recognition he craved. If nothing else, it's just another example of the Lion's poor judgement when it came to dealing with people (as if we needed any more). As for Fulgrim, he accomplished his objective by throwing lives away. That campaign probably gave the High Lords inspiration for future IG tactics.

Justicar_Thunderflanks wrote:In short, he used minimal resources, concise attacks at important targets, and mental warfare to acheive the desired results with little to no loss of valuable ammo, fuel, captured enemy tech and infrastructure, and Astartes lives. That is what makes him the best.

. . . Borderline rant done now

I'm not so sure about that. Space Batman's idea of bringing a planet into compliance was to herd all of the survivors into pits they dug themselves, and then systematically skin them all alive.

**CainTheHunter**

Did I mention that tactics and strategy are two different things?

**DarthMarko**

Omegus wrote:
Pilau Rice wrote:
Which was an amalgamation of tactics and strategies used by various military leaders, scholars, including other Primarchs, correlated into a book.

Guilliman was a leech.

He's living' in that 30k century
Doin' something mean to it
Doin' it better than anybody you ever seen do it
Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it
I guess every superhero need his theme music

DarthMarko wrote:
You sir, know NOTHING of the Wolves, clearly you are traitor TS fanboy who is always pissing on one legion and it's primarch - so please stop,go prey to Tzeench and read some books

Oh yay, we have another BrotherRamses. Uninformed Space Pups fanboys are so dime-a-dozen.

Durza wrote:It kind of depends on how the question is interpreted. Guilliman was a great tactician when it came to the battles, but alienating another commander just because you don't like how he chooses to fight is not a tactically sound decision. Similarly, the Lion sent some of his most loyal allies back to Caliban because one of them got kind of jealous because the Lion outshone him in almost every way. Fulgrim won a war that was meant to have taken years in less than a month, but wasn't smart enough to not listen to a creepy voice in his head telling him to do drugs and rape things.

Well, on several occasions in the various Dark Angels novels, it is stressed that the Lion would not have been able to accomplish what he did without Luther. The Lion was the symbol at the head of the army, the general fighting at the front, but what kept the whole crusade together was Luther. While Luther's jealousy/resentment of the Lion was a weakness of character, he did actually deserve the recognition he craved. If nothing else, it's just another example of the Lion's poor judgement when it came to dealing with people (as if we needed any more). As for Fulgrim, he accomplished his objective by throwing lives away. That campaign probably gave the High Lords inspiration for future IG tactics.

Justicar_Thunderflanks wrote:In short, he used minimal resources, concise attacks at important targets, and mental warfare to acheive the desired results with little to no loss of valuable ammo, fuel, captured enemy tech and infrastructure, and Astartes lives. That is what makes him the best.

. . . Borderline rant done now

I'm not so sure about that. Space Batman's idea of bringing a planet into compliance was to herd all of the survivors into pits they dug themselves, and then systematically skin them all alive.

I'am space pup fanboy as you are thousand orphan's fankid (or more like 100 now) - but I've read all heresy books you can call me whatever you want but don't call me uninformed,ty

**LordofHats**

CainTheHunter wrote:Did I mention that tactics and strategy are two different things?

OMG raelly?

It'll probably stop getting brought up when people stop confusing them, just fyi

**DarthMarko**

Hm - what about that guy Perturabo? Siege warfare and all that crap ? Hell- positioning fat Bertas around enemy is tactic?

**Redcruisair**

Justicar_Thunderflanks wrote:People will give me funny looks for saying this, But my vote goes to Space Batman, Konrad Curze.

As far as tactics, he is too specialized to compete with Papa Smurf or Horus, and Alpharius is similar in his tactics. However, the OP's question includes overall strategy, not just tactics (kinda confused me at first, but I'm working off of the description and not the title which is tactics specific.)

Sun Tzu says on Offensive Strategy that "Generally in the best policy is to take a state intact; to ruin it is inferior to this." As Space Marines are designed as an offensive spearhead primarily (no offense Dorn, you're still awesome), their mandate is to defeat the enemy while doing as little harm to potential resources as possible. As such, he goes on to say that, "Thus, those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle. They capture his cities without assaulting them and overthrow his state without protracted operations." The key word that Sun Tzu uses here is subdue; Curze and the night lords were the masters of subjugation.

Curze was possibly the only Primarch who used warfare as an option rather than a necessity (the reason I cringed when I saw Russ as one of the highest rated Primarchs). He used terror tactics to avoid open warfare and resource draining, time consuming sieges. Grand Strategy is all about acheiving your goal with as few losses as possible. Few can say they've taken a planet without firing a single shot (and I don't count World Eaters using only chainswords either ). In this respect, he was a radically advanced strategist in comparison to all the other primarchs. Even in warfare, the Night Lords would kill the enemy leadership and conduct stealth raids on vulnerable targets, keeping the fights protracted with minimal use of resources.

In short, he used minimal resources, concise attacks at important targets, and mental warfare to acheive the desired results with little to no loss of valuable ammo, fuel, captured enemy tech and infrastructure, and Astartes lives. That is what makes him the best.

. . . Borderline rant done now

Hmm I don’t quit agree with you on Curze’s scare tactics being a very efficient strategy. In fact, I consider myself one of the few, who believes the purpose of the tactics used by the Night lords to be the very opposite of what it means to be a Space marine. Here you have a legion of capable warriors, who have been build and trained to take the heat and deal the heavy punches. And then what does this almighty legion spend their time on? Skulking in the dark and cutting the throats of blind sheep, when they otherwise just could have manned up and put those guns to good use.

Sure, once in a while a planet or two gives up when they hear the scary Night Lords are approaching them. But generally we are talking about weakling human societies here, and not the real threat that is the Xeno. How well would the tactics of NL work against the fearless Orks I wonder?

I know I’m going to get flack for this, but I just can’t help but see NL as anything but a huge waist of manpower. Take from it what you will.

Rant over.

**BlaxicanX**

Redcruisair wrote:Hmm I don’t quit agree with you on Curze’s scare tactics being a very efficient strategy. In fact, I consider myself one of the few, who believes the purpose of the tactics used by the Night lords to be the very opposite of what it means to be a Space marine.

I'm pretty sure that all that would mean is that "real" Space Marines are morons.

The best strategy is the one that uses up the least of your resources, and obviously Kurze's strategy was highly successful. After all, remember that Lorgar's legion acted in a manner more similar to the "average legion", but still got reprimanded for not conquering planets fast enough! Kurze never received such reprimands.

**Redcruisair**

BlaxicanX wrote:
Redcruisair wrote:Hmm I don’t quit agree with you on Curze’s scare tactics being a very efficient strategy. In fact, I consider myself one of the few, who believes the purpose of the tactics used by the Night lords to be the very opposite of what it means to be a Space marine.
I'm pretty sure that all that would mean is that "real" Space Marines are morons.

The best strategy is the one that uses up the least of your resources, and obviously Kurze's strategy was highly successful. After all, remember that Lorgar's legion acted in a manner more similar to the "average legion", but still got reprimanded for not conquering planets fast enough! Kurze never received such reprimands.

If the best strategy of saving resources revolves around not engaging your enemy and subsequently wasting your time (in my eyes,) then yeah, I guess you could call the NL a recourse-minded legion.

Nah, Lorgar got rebuked because his legion spent more time ‘converting’ than actual fighting. Also, please note the events following after, were the WB got back in the game and conquered more worlds than any other legion (including the Night Lords).

Actually, Curze did get such a reprimand. Just for different reasons.

**Surtur**

BlaxicanX wrote:On the other hand, if committing exterminatus was absolutely the only way to win without suffering massive losses of manpower, resources or time, then that would definitely be Sun Tzu.

It was simply a planet that fell out of compliance. He did it simply as retribution.

**King Pariah**

Surtur wrote:
BlaxicanX wrote:On the other hand, if committing exterminatus was absolutely the only way to win without suffering massive losses of manpower, resources or time, then that would definitely be Sun Tzu.

It was simply a planet that fell out of compliance. He did it simply as retribution.

That I feel is more of a reflection upon his mental state rather than his tactical mindset.

**DOOMBREAD**

Pilau Rice wrote:
DOOMBREAD wrote:Gulliman.

He wrote the Codex Astartes.

Enough said.

Which was an amalgamation of tactics and strategies used by various military leaders, scholars, including other Primarchs, correlated into a book.

Guilliman was a leech.

I believe they each had their certain fields that they outshone their brothers on and developed superior tactics in these areas. To say one is better than the other is wrong.

However, the Lion does appear to be the one mentioned to be the most tactical of the Primarchs but Russ, the most quoted, back in 2nd Ed at least.

Actually, much of the Codex Astartes was Gulliman's own tactics. It wasn't all stolen.

**BlaxicanX**

Redcruisair wrote:
BlaxicanX wrote:
Redcruisair wrote:Hmm I don’t quit agree with you on Curze’s scare tactics being a very efficient strategy. In fact, I consider myself one of the few, who believes the purpose of the tactics used by the Night lords to be the very opposite of what it means to be a Space marine.
I'm pretty sure that all that would mean is that "real" Space Marines are morons.

The best strategy is the one that uses up the least of your resources, and obviously Kurze's strategy was highly successful. After all, remember that Lorgar's legion acted in a manner more similar to the "average legion", but still got reprimanded for not conquering planets fast enough! Kurze never received such reprimands.

If the best strategy of saving resources revolves around not engaging your enemy and subsequently wasting your time (in my eyes,) then yeah, I guess you could call the NL a recourse-minded legion.

Nah, Lorgar got rebuked because his legion spent more time ‘converting’ than actual fighting. Also, please note the events following after, were the WB got back in the game and conquered more worlds than any other legion (including the Night Lords).

Actually, Curze did get such a reprimand. Just for different reasons.

You would have a point about it "being a waste of time" if it didn't actually work. The sheer fact that Kurze did routinely succeed at making whole worlds go compliant just by scaring them, proves you wrong. While a Legion such as the Death Guard might have assaulted a planet using traditional Astartes tactics, and conquered it in two month while sustaining 300 losses, the Night Lords would conquer a planet in one month while sustaining 3 losses.

So I really don't see how that's an inferior tactic. Dishonorable? Sure. But if it gets results than it gets results, and economy of effort is the name of the game for any strategy.

**Galdos**

How the hell did ANYONE say Leman Russ. He was probably the second WORST with only Angron worse.

Okay I though about it, the 4 worst would be Leman Russ, Magnus, Logar, and Angron would be the actual worse one. (That may even be in order, that im not sure about)

I said Lion in the end because his fluff apperently says he is. Im not sure if I see it but whatever. Man its hard to say a top 5 because there are so many good leaders among the Primarchs

**jifel**

1. Lion
2. Horus
3. Guilliman

Lion is stated as the best pure tactician, while Horus is just the best all arround. Guilliman is best with Logistics, and would be the best to overall run an Empire.

**Galdos**

I also feel the need to edit myself. These are Primarchs. So even the worse tactically minded Primarch is still leagues better than the average military officer of the Imperial Army or alien races.

Compared to each other, some are considered down right gakky, compared to average living beings, they are increadibly dangerous even if you ignore their personal combat abilites

**Redcruisair**

BlaxicanX wrote:
Redcruisair wrote:
BlaxicanX wrote:
Redcruisair wrote:Hmm I don’t quit agree with you on Curze’s scare tactics being a very efficient strategy. In fact, I consider myself one of the few, who believes the purpose of the tactics used by the Night lords to be the very opposite of what it means to be a Space marine.
I'm pretty sure that all that would mean is that "real" Space Marines are morons.

The best strategy is the one that uses up the least of your resources, and obviously Kurze's strategy was highly successful. After all, remember that Lorgar's legion acted in a manner more similar to the "average legion", but still got reprimanded for not conquering planets fast enough! Kurze never received such reprimands.

If the best strategy of saving resources revolves around not engaging your enemy and subsequently wasting your time (in my eyes,) then yeah, I guess you could call the NL a recourse-minded legion.

Nah, Lorgar got rebuked because his legion spent more time ‘converting’ than actual fighting. Also, please note the events following after, were the WB got back in the game and conquered more worlds than any other legion (including the Night Lords).

Actually, Curze did get such a reprimand. Just for different reasons.
You would have a point about it "being a waste of time" if it didn't actually work. The sheer fact that Kurze did routinely succeed at making whole worlds go compliant just by scaring them, proves you wrong. While a Legion such as the Death Guard might have assaulted a planet using traditional Astartes tactics, and conquered it in two month while sustaining 300 losses, the Night Lords would conquer a planet in one month while sustaining 3 losses.

So I really don't see how that's an inferior tactic. Dishonorable? Sure. But if it gets results than it gets results, and economy of effort is the name of the game for any strategy.

I can totally see your point friend. Regardless, I still believe Curze’s tactics to be useless, when said guy is confronted with an enemy, who does not let it self be scared so easily, or an enemy who is incapable of feeling fear. This is why you only see Night Lords dealing with wayward human worlds, and not fighting against Xeno threats (because his methods are unpractical against them.)

Yes, we can agree on his methods being efficient at subjugating lost human colonies, though his tactic fails him, when confronted with an enemy, who have no fear (space marines.) Hence why his tactics did not succeed against the Dark Angels and subsequently had his legion broken and defeated by Lion’s men.

**BlaxicanX**

Yeah, I agree with that.

I don't remember which book it was in the Night Lords trilogy, but I remember how at one point in the story, the Night Lords were being used as common front line soldiers, and it was clear that they were out of their element in that role, and suffering for it. Open warfare ain't there MO.

**Frecklesonfire**

Yes the night lords aren't front line soldiers however they aren't bad and are just as good as the typical dogs of the 13th. In the fist NL book 5 night lords take down a war hound titan. I do not recall them loosing a single battle brother in the skirmish. They are also good in dog fights in corridors and boarding attacks. Good in void warfare. If you were to put them in an open field in the middle of the day against another legion, i'm sure they would loose to anyone, however they still wouldn't be to shabby.

**Redcruisair**

Frecklesonfire wrote:
Yes the night lords aren't front line soldiers however they aren't bad and are just as good as the typical dogs of the 13th. In the fist NL book 5 night lords take down a war hound titan. I do not recall them loosing a single battle brother in the skirmish. They are also good in dog fights in corridors and boarding attacks. Good in void warfare. If you were to put them in an open field in the middle of the day against another legion, i'm sure they would loose to anyone, however they still wouldn't be to shabby.

No one here is so naïve as to accuse the Night Lords of performing below standard. I personally just wanted to point out what I saw as a flaw in the NL’s strategic approach to warfare.

That is all. Carry on soldier.

**DeffDred**

BlaxicanX wrote:
Yeah, I agree with that.

I don't remember which book it was in the Night Lords trilogy, but I remember how at one point in the story, the Night Lords were being used as common front line soldiers, and it was clear that they were out of their element in that role, and suffering for it. Open warfare ain't there MO.

The first novel Soul Hunter had the NL fighting on the front lines for Abaddon. The second, Blood Reaver had them making a deal with the Astral Claws/ Red Corsairs to fight as part of a vanguard.

**Veteran Sergeant**

DarthMarko wrote:I think people are confusing tactics and strategy......:-)Guiliman knew how to get extra rations for hungry man in the trenches while Alpharius and Omegon infiltrated,scouted and then attacked enemy stronghold in a most unique way....

And you're confusing strategy with logistics, and still confusing tactics and strategy yourself.

Alpharius was a strategist too, lol. It was just that his strategies were in unconventional warfare. If anything, it just highlights how limited Alpharius was in his generalship portfolio. Nobody will dispute that Alpharius was the master of his particular trade, but that was what he was good at. Guilliman understood Alpharius's strategies and their effectiveness, but he called him out on how they were inefficient and unnecessarily time consuming given the role the Space Marines were supposed to fill during the Great Crusade.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

DOOMBREAD wrote:
Pilau Rice wrote:
DOOMBREAD wrote:Gulliman.

He wrote the Codex Astartes.

Enough said.

Which was an amalgamation of tactics and strategies used by various military leaders, scholars, including other Primarchs, correlated into a book.

Guilliman was a leech.

Actually, much of the Codex Astartes was Gulliman's own tactics. It wasn't all stolen.

Yeah, calling Guilliman a leech is pretty dishonest and ignorant.

Guilliman wrote the thing. Most of it was probably his. He was just smart enough to gather input from his brothers and other military minds in the cases that they might have insights he hadn't thought of. There has never, ever been an implication in the fluff that Guilliman wasn't the mastermind behind the Codex Astartes. This was the Codex Astartes by Roboute Guilliman with included references and citations. This was not the Codex Astartes ed. by Roboute Guilliman.

**Formosa**

Gulliman did write the book, but not all the info inside it came from him, some came from how fellow primarchs fought (iron warriors siege warfare etc.), I think his gift was to look at all the other legions and take the best parts and skills they had and imcorporate them into the codex astartes.

Only a complete fool would not take advantage of all the tactics and skills the other legions had to offer.

So this made him a great author, a great expert in logistics and Strategy, but he was no where as "gifted" as the Lion and Horus.

As Know no fear shows us, Gulliman was like a living computor when it came to the overall strategy, he absorbed information at an insane pace and could plan for all kinds of situations, but at the end of the day it was without any real pazzaz..

The lion and Horus were gifted in the Strategy department (horus in a diferent way) and could pull all kinds of crazy tactics out of there arses due to that.

Gulliman was paint by numbers strategy/logistics

**Prince_of_Crows**

Redcruisair wrote:
BlaxicanX wrote:
Redcruisair wrote:
BlaxicanX wrote:
Redcruisair wrote:Hmm I don’t quit agree with you on Curze’s scare tactics being a very efficient strategy. In fact, I consider myself one of the few, who believes the purpose of the tactics used by the Night lords to be the very opposite of what it means to be a Space marine.
I'm pretty sure that all that would mean is that "real" Space Marines are morons.

The best strategy is the one that uses up the least of your resources, and obviously Kurze's strategy was highly successful. After all, remember that Lorgar's legion acted in a manner more similar to the "average legion", but still got reprimanded for not conquering planets fast enough! Kurze never received such reprimands.

If the best strategy of saving resources revolves around not engaging your enemy and subsequently wasting your time (in my eyes,) then yeah, I guess you could call the NL a recourse-minded legion.

Nah, Lorgar got rebuked because his legion spent more time ‘converting’ than actual fighting. Also, please note the events following after, were the WB got back in the game and conquered more worlds than any other legion (including the Night Lords).

Actually, Curze did get such a reprimand. Just for different reasons.
You would have a point about it "being a waste of time" if it didn't actually work. The sheer fact that Kurze did routinely succeed at making whole worlds go compliant just by scaring them, proves you wrong. While a Legion such as the Death Guard might have assaulted a planet using traditional Astartes tactics, and conquered it in two month while sustaining 300 losses, the Night Lords would conquer a planet in one month while sustaining 3 losses.

So I really don't see how that's an inferior tactic. Dishonorable? Sure. But if it gets results than it gets results, and economy of effort is the name of the game for any strategy.

I can totally see your point friend. Regardless, I still believe Curze’s tactics to be useless, when said guy is confronted with an enemy, who does not let it self be scared so easily, or an enemy who is incapable of feeling fear. This is why you only see Night Lords dealing with wayward human worlds, and not fighting against Xeno threats (because his methods are unpractical against them.)

Yes, we can agree on his methods being efficient at subjugating lost human colonies, though his tactic fails him, when confronted with an enemy, who have no fear (space marines.) Hence why his tactics did not succeed against the Dark Angels and subsequently had his legion broken and defeated by Lion’s men.

But facing an enemy that was fearless isn't what Curze is designed for! Konrad works when he can at least unnerve an enemy and make them paranoid. And nothing unnerves the enemy like a threat from a psychopathic space batmen who regularly flay people alive to leave as a warning. Curze being bad against a xeno civilization is as much a point as saying "Angron wouldn't win a psychic duel". No he wouldn't win a psychic duel, but thats not his purpose, leave that to Magnus the red. Likewise don't ask The lion to create an all powerful space cannon, Ferrus Manus is brilliant at it, give that job to him. Vulkan, as far as I can see, is suited to killing Xenos, let Curze terrify people into compliance and let Vulkan deal with Xeno civilizations. Doing it the other way round would like asking a clock maker to create an ornate throne while paying a throne maker to create a grandfather clock, and then wondering why neither of them are very good at the jobs you put them up to do.

Admittadly his chosen tactic may be useless against an opponent like orks, but you have to remember these aren't just men in skeleton costumes, there still capable of beating everybody and generally being better than orks or the like, and like all space marine legions, they can adapt and evolve, just because Konrad Curze liked to use this tactic doesn't mean he can't use others (I always saw them as traitor Raven guard but with the bonus that they terrify as well as attack from 1000 unseen angles, which is in itself a brilliant tactic).