Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

After reading FW Horus Heresy: Extermination, I'm going with Alpha Legion.

Before that, I would have had a toss up between Night Lords and World Eaters.

morpheuschild wrote:

 Jimsolo wrote:
I kind of went into this poll with the default assumption that the respondent is going to lose. (How many worlds fought off the Great Crusade?)

I can see why you might pick World Eaters now. The Night Lords would at least let you surrender. It's always possible the boys in red would just kill you anyway.

acually, they wore blue and white prior to the heresy.

Yes, thank you Helpy Helperton.

More people identify them with their current colors, though. And if I had said 'boys in blue and white' you KNOW someone would have responded with something brilliant like, "Duuuuh, were the Marines Errant even around in the Heresy?"

I'm going with Space Wolves - they were complete and utter monsters with Russ leading them, especially on Prospero vs the Thousand Sons.

I voted Alpha Legion, Iron Warriors being a close second.
With the Iron Warriors, you'll be locked in a gruesome siege with no way out. You'll slowly starve while getting mad of the endless artillery bombardments.

Alpha Legion... Well, you're fighting someone you can never find. They're always three steps ahead of you. Everyone could be employed by them. Your wife, with whom you've been married for 20 years and the mother of your children, could be one. And so forth.

I voted for Night Lords.

Flaying and torturing thousands of helpless beings is really bad in my book.

The whole chapter revolves around fear and pain.

It's six one way, half a dozen another. Any legion turning up to force compliance is going to be a bad day.

 Stonerhino wrote:

 Inkubas wrote:
Night lords. They breed terror. World eaters would be traumatic and the other legions may stop depending on how you surrender but with the night lords...

You know there is a Night Lord Captain named "The Bloodless" because he brought a troublesome world into compliance without bloodshed. So before they went traitor even the Night Lords would let you surrender. Unless they were making an example, then it is your own fault anyways/maybe.

He's named like this cause he's the only night lord chaptain that brought a troublesome world into compilance without too much flaying and organising maraphons-with-your-own-guts-tied-to-remaining-parts-of-legs. For once.

Night lords.

Faster death is more preferable to this. Horrible death from toxic gas is comparable but it's at least faster. Even when your own comrades turn on you, they don't tend to make origami using your still connected entrails while keeping in check that you're still alive to admire how beautiful the figures are. And they don't generally use your skin as a decoration for armor.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Marius Xerxes wrote:
None of them.

Before the Horus Heresy they were all plot armored to eventually win whatever conflicts they got into.

How the feth did any of the Legions need plot armor to seize a planet? They're astartes and they have orbital superiority, along with Army and Mechanicus support. You're dead if any Legion shows up and don't intend on surrendering (or if the Legion in question will even recognize it).

Considering this is a make believe story, you proved my point.

The correct answer is night lords. Theyd kill you, sure, but they would rather have some fun with you first. No other legion proactively tortures a planetary population just for kicks.

World eaters slaughter you but they do it to kill, not inflict pain.

Deathguard would be nasty because of the chemicals but I dont believe it would be as horrible as what the night lords would bring to the table.

Nobody else even comes close

Word Bearers as you either die from their bullets and knives or get bored to death from their constant proclamations that the Emperor is the one true God, he is the way, there is no one as benign as he yadda yadda yadda ... yawn ...

 Marius Xerxes wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Marius Xerxes wrote:
None of them.

Before the Horus Heresy they were all plot armored to eventually win whatever conflicts they got into.

How the feth did any of the Legions need plot armor to seize a planet? They're astartes and they have orbital superiority, along with Army and Mechanicus support. You're dead if any Legion shows up and don't intend on surrendering (or if the Legion in question will even recognize it).

Considering this is a make believe story, you proved my point.

I really don't think you actually understand what plot armor is and what literary tropes are.

Maximus Bitch wrote:
For me it is definitely the white scars. Why, you might ask.

They're so freakin fast that they will secure victory before the enemy even realizes it.

Then the enemy will painfully agonize over how they lost.

Linebreaker!

I voted for the Night Lords, the people who were so scary that their reputation alone was enough to bring worlds that would have resisted other Legions into compliance.

Alpha legion - by the time you have decided to fight them, they have already defeated you and moved on, leaving you a shattered husk of your former glory.

Terror tactics work and we are talking about a legion not an individual. The way I visualize it is like this. Say Earth was attacked by <legion>. You are screwed. They would destroy your militia and either bring you into the fold or destroy you. The night lords as a legion would not only destroy you but make it so that the very notion of revolt would be terrifying. They would be the most likely to erect a few million crosses with the bodies of civilians to remind you not to rebel and they would enjoy it. Heck there was a remark that the curze's bed chamber looked like a slaughter house. This was pre chaos!

 Inkubas wrote:
Terror tactics work and we are talking about a legion not an individual. The way I visualize it is like this. Say Earth was attacked by <legion>. You are screwed. They would destroy your militia and either bring you into the fold or destroy you. The night lords as a legion would not only destroy you but make it so that the very notion of revolt would be terrifying. They would be the most likely to erect a few million crosses with the bodies of civilians to remind you not to rebel and they would enjoy it. Heck there was a remark that the curze's bed chamber looked like a slaughter house. This was pre chaos!

I believe this adequately sums up my doubt in this point

(There's the odd rude word)

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Marius Xerxes wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Marius Xerxes wrote:
None of them.

Before the Horus Heresy they were all plot armored to eventually win whatever conflicts they got into.

How the feth did any of the Legions need plot armor to seize a planet? They're astartes and they have orbital superiority, along with Army and Mechanicus support. You're dead if any Legion shows up and don't intend on surrendering (or if the Legion in question will even recognize it).

Considering this is a make believe story, you proved my point.

I really don't think you actually understand what plot armor is and what literary tropes are.

Or I do. *gasp*

 Marius Xerxes wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Marius Xerxes wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Marius Xerxes wrote:
None of them.

Before the Horus Heresy they were all plot armored to eventually win whatever conflicts they got into.

How the feth did any of the Legions need plot armor to seize a planet? They're astartes and they have orbital superiority, along with Army and Mechanicus support. You're dead if any Legion shows up and don't intend on surrendering (or if the Legion in question will even recognize it).

Considering this is a make believe story, you proved my point.

I really don't think you actually understand what plot armor is and what literary tropes are.

Or I do. *gasp*

Except if you did you'd know superpowers don't qualify as plot armor. Plot armor is Doctor Who.

You really have to wonder what brought sanction down on the two "missing" Primarchs if Curze really was so bat-gak crazy...

 Retrogamer0001 wrote:
You really have to wonder what brought sanction down on the two "missing" Primarchs if Curze really was so bat-gak crazy...

Don,t know but he gave primarchs huge leeway to do what they wanted.
When that crazy pass,s for as military leader, primarchs with butchers nails, pcycopaths, ones with massive daddy issues, or raised on planets with chaos influences.

 Retrogamer0001 wrote:
You really have to wonder what brought sanction down on the two "missing" Primarchs if Curze really was so bat-gak crazy...

According to some older fluff the Night Lords were being recalled to Terra for censure when the Heresy began. This is of dubious canonicity now since the same source (Index Astartes II) suggests that Curze was being influenced by chaos, but regardless of the details I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the Night Lords were next on Russ's to-do list once he'd finished with Prospero.

In that sense Curze was forced into the Heresy as much as Magnus was.

As to why the Emperor turned a blind eye for so long - my impression is that he was only interested in results, and the Great Crusade was such a massive venture that tne ends always justified the means. Once he handed over the reins to Horus I'd say he considered the Crusade won, and was starting to think about how it would go down in the history of his new Imperium - hence the remembrancer project. Once that happened there would be no more place for the likes of Curze or Angron. Like the thunder warriors before them they had served their purpose and could now be discarded.

Or to put it another way : the Emperor was a bastard.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Marius Xerxes wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Marius Xerxes wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Marius Xerxes wrote:
None of them.

Before the Horus Heresy they were all plot armored to eventually win whatever conflicts they got into.

How the feth did any of the Legions need plot armor to seize a planet? They're astartes and they have orbital superiority, along with Army and Mechanicus support. You're dead if any Legion shows up and don't intend on surrendering (or if the Legion in question will even recognize it).

Considering this is a make believe story, you proved my point.

I really don't think you actually understand what plot armor is and what literary tropes are.

Or I do. *gasp*

Except if you did you'd know superpowers don't qualify as plot armor. Plot armor is Doctor Who.

Have any of the Legions lost a campaign during the great crusade?

No?

Why?

Because the authors wrote it that way. Along oth everything else we know about how powerful they are for any number of reasons.

Plot armor at its finest.

 Marius Xerxes wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Marius Xerxes wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Marius Xerxes wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Marius Xerxes wrote:
None of them.

Before the Horus Heresy they were all plot armored to eventually win whatever conflicts they got into.

How the feth did any of the Legions need plot armor to seize a planet? They're astartes and they have orbital superiority, along with Army and Mechanicus support. You're dead if any Legion shows up and don't intend on surrendering (or if the Legion in question will even recognize it).

Considering this is a make believe story, you proved my point.

I really don't think you actually understand what plot armor is and what literary tropes are.

Or I do. *gasp*

Except if you did you'd know superpowers don't qualify as plot armor. Plot armor is Doctor Who.

Have any of the Legions lost a campaign during the great crusade?

No?

Why?

Because the authors wrote it that way. Along oth everything else we know about how powerful they are for any number of reasons.

Plot armor at its finest.

They did lose several battles though....

Just how much of the Horus Heresy have you bothered to actually read before making snap judgements? One book?

Gotta love the VIII Legion.

My unknown 21st Kawaii Legion.

For The Emperor-san! desu~

I would say from the battle perspective without a doubt the Ultramarines because you there were the most of them and you'd lose.

From a brutality perspective I'd say the Word Bearers. Even the World Eaters are disgusted by what the Word Bearers do to live enemies in sacrifice to the dark gods.

I was debating either the Night Lords or World Eaters. The Night Lords win by inspiring fear, the World Eaters leave you little else but to fight. The Word Bearers bring religious zealotry into the mix. They bring human sacrifice to the dark gods. They bring demon possessed marines of the Gal Vorbak to the equation. They are utterly devout and in a wierd way this makes them even more unshakeable than an standard marine. On top of that, they have an utterly huge legion that rivals the size of the Ultramarines and a war fleet to boot.

jakejackjake wrote:
I would say from the battle perspective without a doubt the Ultramarines because you there were the most of them and you'd lose.

From a brutality perspective I'd say the Word Bearers. Even the World Eaters are disgusted by what the Word Bearers do to live enemies in sacrifice to the dark gods.

This is Great Crusade era, when Word Bearers served the Emperor.

I'll say the Raven Guard. A foe that Can strike from shadows and melt into darkness.

Went Night Lords. Though if I had a choice between Night Lords and the Megarachnids I would throw myself whole heartedly at Night Lords

The Emperor's Children, post-Laer.

The World Eaters? They'll kill you all, sure, but it will be quick.

The Night Lords? They'll instill terror on your force sure, but you can surrender to the Night Lords. They'll take prisoners. Plus they're cowards. When faced with a force that can actually fight them on equal terms they will flee like the scoundrels they are.

The Emperor's Children once under the thrall of She Who Firsts won't kill you slowly. They'll prolong the suffering of the entire planet for as long as they possibly can. They'll slowly grind your body into paste to be used as narcotics, and then continue the slow, twisted slaughter. The promise of pain does nothing to sway the Emperor's Children like it does the Night Lords. They relish it. Breaking their bones and slicing apart their flush makes them shudder for one sluggish moment, only for them to drive their blades in your groin and pull you close, bringing your face to them. You see nothing of the Marine's face, for the one worn is not his own. You see nothing but their gleeful, dilated eyes, literally feeling an arousal or high from watching and feeling you bleed out so close to them.

There is no more terrifying or horrible Legion to face than the Emperor's Children.

I voted Alpha Legion because nobody knows what's up their sleeve. Also possibly 2 primarchs, and the marines are not completely dependent upon the primarchs.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I voted Alpha Legion because nobody knows what's up their sleeve. Also possibly 2 primarchs, and the marines are not completely dependent upon the primarchs. Also, those banestrike bolt shells manufactured by the Alpha Legion are deadly against power armour. Who knows what else they are hiding?