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Both in the fluff and on the tabletop.

Word Bearers. They're about as "satanic" as CSM come.

Dark rituals? check
Daemonic summoning? check
Desecration of Ecclesiarchal worlds? check
Unholy litanies and invocations all over their armor? check
Still a relatively coherent legion not dissolved into maddened warbands? check

On the tabletop, IMO Deathguard are the tops on pure toughness and FNP.

Fluff-wise, pick your poison. I'm partial to the Scourged story, short as it is.

I've heard some good things about the Alpha Legion....I've also heard they don't exist so ya know who knows?

Death Guard! So awesome in the fluff, and they kick so much ass on the tabletop! Plague marines, plague zombies, MoN oblits, MoN Spawn and Typhus are awesome and fun! MoN lord on bike with nurgle bikers are really strong and popular also!!

Kavik_Whitescar wrote:
I've heard some good things about the Alpha Legion....I've also heard they don't exist so ya know who knows?

Alpha Legion exists. They just don't have any unique rules.

Maybe forgewoeld had published some rules for them ???

 jasper76 wrote:

Kavik_Whitescar wrote:
I've heard some good things about the Alpha Legion....I've also heard they don't exist so ya know who knows?

Alpha Legion exists. They just don't have any unique rules.

Maybe forgewoeld had published some rules for them ???

Not post heresy. Only in their 30k game.

The mark of Nurgle +1 toughness generally performs the best on the tabletop, though all other gods have their niche situations where they're best.

Fluffwise, I'm a Thousand Sons man, but everyone has their favourites for their own reasons.

 Rippy wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:

Kavik_Whitescar wrote:
I've heard some good things about the Alpha Legion....I've also heard they don't exist so ya know who knows?

Alpha Legion exists. They just don't have any unique rules.

Maybe forgewoeld had published some rules for them ???

Not post heresy. Only in their 30k game.

What'd be cool is if Alpha Legion could get the chapter tactics of the codex marines. But, that goes against the image of CSM that GW wants to push. Nurgle looks silly good. But Thousand Sons is tempting due to lots of psykers.

Raven Cowl wrote:

 Rippy wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:

Kavik_Whitescar wrote:
I've heard some good things about the Alpha Legion....I've also heard they don't exist so ya know who knows?

Alpha Legion exists. They just don't have any unique rules.

Maybe forgewoeld had published some rules for them ???

Not post heresy. Only in their 30k game.

What'd be cool is if Alpha Legion could get the chapter tactics of the codex marines. But, that goes against the image of CSM that GW wants to push. Nurgle looks silly good. But Thousand Sons is tempting due to lots of psykers.

I've taken to using Raptor Tactics to represent Alpha Legion. Their Chapter Master makes them especially good at feeling Alpha-Legionny with infiltrate, outflank/scout, sabotage attacks, expert marksmanship (feels very 'Legion to aim for the weak spot), access to imperial tech, and the ability to take competent human allies all without leaning on marks of chaos to get a power boost.

My vote for fluff is a toss up between Thousand Sons and Alpha Legion. Mechanically, Thousand Sons are pretty meh, though grey knight rules can represent them fairly well. >_>

The current top-dog mechanically is probably death guard.

Death guard / plague marines are your simple, bad-guy pinups. Simple to understand, simple to use.

Khorne bezerkers are even more simplistic maniacs.

Noise Marines / Slaaneshi are more for your 1980s adults who liked the debased adult themes of evil.

Thousand Sons are for people who like to think and plot and have a less obvious background story as unwitting bad guys

Ruleswise I am a big fan of Death Guard and Khornate berserkers.

Fluffwise I love the Scourged, Iron Warriors and of course the Noise Marines.

In terms of Game Play, I would want access to all of the Marks, so wouldn't choose a Legion that prevented that.

I really like the idea of using Huron Blackheart as Warlord, for his guaranteed access to the infiltration trait. So far as I know, and I don't have much knowledge about them, the Red Corsairs have no issue with various Marks, nor the use of Daemonic influence upon their units, so you can pretty much use anything you want with them.

I also like Cypher, for his access to infiltrating Chosen. I find the infiltration offsets the somewhat lower mobility that CSM faces, compared to many other factions.

I don't think there would be any particular animosity between the two leaders, so that's a bonus for potentially mixing and matching them.

I like the idea of taking marks to support the individual unit. MoN on Bikes. MoT on Terminators. MoS on Warp Talons. Or not taking marks if the situation supports it.


I'm not a big Fluff guy. I'm much more interested in the game mechanics of things. I do dig on the Iron Warriors "perversion" of their duties in the Mechanicus. Instead of venerating their vocation, they use it to leverage their own personal power and ambitions, grafting flesh to steel to the immaterium, with no care to the consequences. They subjugate their machines, instead of worshiping them. I appreciate the utter "inversion" compared to Imperials. Where other CSM factions are sometimes viewed as having noble intentions gone awry, or maintaining some kind of "noble" pride in martial prowess, or at the very least serving a "higher" power in one of the Gods, IW are are kind of Mad Scientists, quite happy to trade any semblance of Humanity for whatever power they can acquire to further their goals. They aren't evil for the sake of evil. They're simply Immoral [being without a sense of morality] so follow their desires without compassion or remorse. That's what I get from the Codex description of them, anyway.

Iron Warriors would get my fluff vote.

I'm a Word Bearer fan, personally (as the name might suggest) but I agree with greatbigtree abou the Iron Warriors, they've always been appealing to me, in terms of fluff and playstyle.

Black Legion. 10x larger than their closest legion rival (Word Bearers). Access to every trick Chaos has available, nothing is off limits. Probably the only legion that actually poses a serious threat to the Imperium.

I like the Thousand Sons the most IMO. I just with they had more than a single unit in the codex and the rules weren't so bad for them and magic in general.

I'm a huge fan of the Iron Warriors, Night Lords and Thousand Sons in terms of fluff.

In tabletop terms of "best", probably largely anything "Nurgle". Plague Marines, Nurgle Oblits, etc.

Deathguard in both. Brutally tough and awesome models

Chaos doesn't have to have poor mobility. There's nothing slow about 5 Spawn and a Juggerlord. The unit moves 12" per turn, they don't get bogged down by Difficult Terrain, and they have Fleet.

Every competitive CSM list should have 15 Spawn in it IMO, and at least 2 characters capable of joining them. Usually I do 15 Spawn and 3 ICs, one allied via Crimson Slaughter.

Slannesh flavored chaos is the only flavored chaos Ive ever wanted to play. Fluff wise they may not be the best. But on the Tabletop id say they are even with nurgle for effectiveness.

Chaos bikers are just as viable as spawn and they can benifit greatly with MOS and the toys that come either it.

 Jayden63 wrote:
Slannesh flavored chaos is the only flavored chaos Ive ever eantrd to play. Fluff wise they may not be the best. But on the Tabletop id say they are even with nurgle for effectiveness.

Chaos bikers are just as viable as spawn and they can benifit greatly with MOS and the toys that come either it.

They are OK but every time I run them, I find myself really missing Fleet.

On the tabletop? Deathguard.

On the fluff side of things? Well, you probably don't have to guess my answer.

 RunicFIN wrote:
On the tabletop? Deathguard.

On the fluff side of things? Well, you probably don't have to guess my answer.

Death Guard?

Thousands sons by fluff

On tabletop? Probably Word Bear... I mean, anything coming out of the Crimson Slaughter Supplement.

Fluffwise, I love the Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion.

Alpha Legion techincally does have "rules", they have a character in the latest Imperial Armor: Siege of Vraks book.

Arkos the Faithless is actually a solid CSM HQ choice. His Warlord Trait is to choose which side to deploy on (no rolloff necessary) in exchange for forfeiting the first turn - but also gives you a reroll to Seize.

Aside from Pre-game shenanigans, he's also 3+/5++, shoots with a combi-Melta and has a S6 AP3 Rending sword. And he gives the unit he's in counter attack. All this for 30 points less than Kharn. Given his statline, he sorta has all the Chaos Marks at the same time. Counter-Attack from Khorne, T5 from Nurgle, I5 from Slaanesh, and has a baseline Aura of of Dark Glory, which is better than just Tzeentch.

So Alpha Legion isn't too bad. If you play them based off this, they get every Mark as an option as well!

Iron Warriors.
Logical, they like solving problems usually with intelligence and larger firepower.
They like fortifications: building them or tearing them down.
Favorite saying "Iron within, iron without.".
Shiny metal paint motif, yellow/black hazard stripe is striking.
Tend not to be a fan of mutation, will usually hack off the offending part and replace with mechanical components, mind you if becoming an obliterator: cause for celebration!
More of a cold anger kind of group, keep cool and make it hurt.

Space Wolves. All of the benefits of being an Imperial Army without actually following Imperial Doctrines.

Yo Joe!

Fluff-wise I'd say Alpha Legion, they're awesome, but from a painting perspective, for me there is no question about it, Iron Warriors

Astral Claws are giving me a good time. Using the Loyalist Codex, AoC with any IoM army, and Tyrant's Legion has access to its own version of Renegade Guard options with Auxilia units. Not to mention the Grail of two Special Weapons in a squad. Two ways to run the army, Codex and Tyrant's Legion, a focus on Bikes, and a quick step to the side and the same models can be used as Chaos by 'advancing the timeline' a little and calling them Red Corsairs. Gives a reason to use minimal Chaos models as mutations haven't fully set in yet.