The best 40k novel I have read in a long time is Dan Abnett's Legion.
If you have not read this novel, it is about the Alpha Legion; who, prior to this book, have had very little fluff or story written about them.
If you have read this novel, talk about inspiring!
Long story short, I am creating a fluff based, Alpha Legion army. My objective is not to make another pre-heresy traitor marines army. I want to keep the Alpha Legion closer to the fluff and story outlined in Legion.
SPOILER ALERT.
Alpha Legion that are still 'loyal' to the Emperor but are still seen as 'traitors'. This will have a choice of my unit selection. Ergo, I will be using a modified codex.
My first choice is what Codex do I use to represent a 'loyalist' Alpha Legion in the 41st Millennium?
Space Wolves? - The newest and one of the most popular, but not suited to Alpha Legion.
Dark Angels? - Possibly, but too much emphasis on Termies, Bikes, and Speeders.
Blood Angels? - I already have 12000 points of Angels; So, no.
Space Marines? -Certainly the best choice. A huge array of options. Too easy.
Chaos Space Marines? - Chaos Space Marines Army List? Bingo.
The Alpha Legion are sneaky and subtle. When they attack, they follow the principles of the Hydra; Attacking from multiple directions at once. I want to emulate this on the battlefield as well, but keep with the faux-traitor feel of the fluff. I will augment Codex: Chaos Space Marines as follows.
No marks of Tzeentch, Nurgle, Khorne, or Slaanesh. No Icons of those either. Nothing with a Chaos-y feel.
HQ
Abaddon - NO.
Fabius Bile - Unmarked Chaos Lord? In, but rarely used.
Huron Blackheart - In, but rarely used.
Typhus, Kharn, Ahriman, Lucius - No.
Daemon Prince - By the Emperor, No!
Chaos Lord - In.
Chaos Sorcerer - In, but will never have a Mark, so no Lash, Bolt of Change, etc...
Elites
Chosen - In.
Terminators - In, will play a big part.
Possessed - By the Emperor, No!
Chaos Dreadnought - Crazed War Machine? No.
Troops
Chaos Space Marines - In, I have no other choice!
Berzerkers, Thousand Sons, Plague Marines, Noise Marines - Nope.
Rhino - In.
Fast
Bikes - In.
Raptors - In.
Spawn - Still Undecided.
Heavy
Havocs - In.
Obliterators - No.
Predator, Vindicator, Land Raider - In.
Defiler - Daemon Engine? No Way!
Summoned Lesser Daemons/Greater Daemon - Possibly, but not as 'Daemons'.
There you have it! I will post more about modeling/list building later.
-Mike
3 comments:
If you'd want to do spawn, simply model them as civilian auxillaries that the Alpha Legion has convinced to join their cause, or some alien race that they have enslaved to the Emperor's Will, like a pile of Hrud.
Thinking about it, lesser daemons could be the civilian auxillaries. Your "Icons of Chaos Glory" could be vox like devices used to coordinate ambushes.
Matt,
EXACTLY!
-Mike
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