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.

So the question is easy enough what where the name of the Legions before they reunited with there Primach when they fought directly for the Emperor

I know the Death Guard where the Duck Raiders
the black Legion was originally the Luna wolves (and then the sons of Horus)

but what about the Likes of the Iron hands (seeing as there Primach didn't always have iron hands and if it was the legions name before that it would be one heck of a coincidence)
I don't think the Emperor's children had any other name
along with the Dark Angels
World Eaters
word Bearers
Blood angels (may have been different)
Imperial Fists
Night Lords (maybe)
Raven Guard
Iron Warriors
Ultramarines (they couldn't have always been this must've been Rowbout tooting his own horn lol)
Thousand Sons (didn't change I think depending on what the new books say)
now space wolves I think may have had a different name before meeting Russ


is there anf fluff stating there old names?

World Eaters were named War Hounds before the Emperor founded Angron.

any idea on the war hounds colors?

Pretty much every legion's name somehow ties in to their primarchs. The thing is, most of them resonate with things that the Emperor couldn't know about until after he found the primarch in question. So, I'm guessing most of them had been renamed at some point.

Okay, not the Thousand Sons, maybe not the Blood Angels (I mean, you could see fledgling wings on an embryo in a test tube, right?).

I'll run a list of legions depending on whether they have been confirmed to, suspected of or confirmed NOT to have changed their names.

Also, as I've been pretty much reminded that according to the new fluff, the DA just refered to themselves by the number of their legion. Could be that most of them simply used their assigned number until the primarchs named them.


Confirmed to have changed their names
- World Eaters (formerly War Hounds)
- Black Legion (formerly Sons of Horus, formerly Luna Wolves)
- Death Guard (formerly Dusk Raiders)
- Emperor's Children (changed their name by order of the Emperor, who was so impressed with one of Fulgrim's speeches)
- Dark Angels (The Lion did in fact name them when he was reunited with them; previous name unknown, they were refered to simply as the 1st Legion)

Confirmed not to have changed their names
- Thousand Sons (old bit of fluff says that it was just a bit over 1000 marines before Magnus was found, and hence the name seems to be pre dating the primarch)
- Blood Angels (as I said, wings are something that sticks out, even on an embryo)


Suspected to have had their names changed Obviously, this means pretty much every other legion. Also obviously, I have no way of knowing their old names

- Iron Warriors (it just fits in a bit too well with the niche Perturabo was cast into when he was discovered)
- White Scars (most likely named after the Khan was discovered on Chogoris; the nomad tribes there used scars to... well, compensate for something?)
- Space Wolves (no, honestly, what are the odds that the primarch is raised *by wolves*, on a planet famous for and named after *a wolf*, and the Emperor names that legion Space Wolves by coincidence?)
- Imperial Fists (okay, this seems like a legit original name, but Dorn's left hand fist emblem might be a hint. Still, a right hand fist could easily be replaced with a mirrored version when it was discovered that Dorn fancied that hand better)
- Night Lords (again, big contender, primarch lands on a black-as-the-ace-of-spades world, specializes in terror attacks, and then trains his legion to do the same. I'd be surprised the Emperor cooked up their name before meeting Konrad)
- Iron Hands (yeah, right, because there's enough living metal around the galaxy that the Emperor foresaw Ferrus was bound to dip his hands into some of the stuff)
- Ultramarines (Okay, this might also be the original name depending on whether they named the Ultramar sector in honor of the legion, or the other way around)
- Word Bearers (might be the original name, if the Emperor had specifically planned Lorgar as the charismatic preacher of the lot, but somehow, I doubt that's an issue of genetics rather than upbringing on a fanatically religious world)
- Salamanders (Because the only world were Salamanders exist is the one where Vulkan was found)
- Raven Guard
- Alpha Legion (do I need to ask? it seems pretty obvious Alpharius kept his old name, rather than the legion)

Dark Angels (HH books say that was the original name of the legion even before being reunited with the Lion)

errr.. not quite. They were just known as the 1st Legion, it was the Lion who renamed them the Dark Angels after various myths from Caliban and their first appearence.

Strange... Guess my mind just read it as "We are the first legion... we are the Dark Angels" instead of "We shall be the Dark Angels"

Editing that out accordingly now.

crazykiwi wrote:
I know the Death Guard where the Duck Raiders

That sentence made me laugh SO hard :p

I think you mean the Dusk Raiders

I know the world eaters were called "dogs of war" or "war dogs"

Dark Lord Seanron wrote:

crazykiwi wrote:
I know the Death Guard where the Duck Raiders

That sentence made me laugh SO hard :p

I think you mean the Dusk Raiders

at least I didn't replace the U with a I then I'd be in trouble lol