Which 30k Legion?

[Sevatar]

Hi all,

The dilemma of which legion to pick is gnawing at me for a couple of reasons. First, forgeworld costs a TON which is why i'd like to pick the right legion the first time around. Secondly, I would like to start a force soon but don't want to regret my decision when one of the later heresy books comes out. Of course further down the road I could probably afford to do a second legion force anyways so its not the biggest deal.

I believe that the legion I want to do will be either in betrayal or one of the two upcoming massacre books which is nice. I've begun planning to collect some of the more generic sets such as tacticals and the legion praetors to begin my force.

I really enjoy the aesthetics of 30k, so that matters somewhat in the decision. (i.e. legion colors, predominant armor marks, legion badge designs).

The legions that interest me the most as well as reasons why in no particular order
-death guard: mortarion is awesome, they have core beliefs which I like (humanity's freedom from tyrants), and have a gritty style of battle
-word bearers: really love their heresy colors, their fluff, and those circle of ashes marine pictures floating around. plus a sweet legion badge
-night lords: sevatar is one of my favorite characters, and they have cool almost batman-esque fluff. the one drawback here is that I almost do not want to accept that they killed for the sake of killing in many cases if I were to play them. it doesn't appeal to me as much. a plus is a great color scheme.
-salamanders: great legion beliefs (protect humanity/ humane treatment). Their new units sounds amazing. I'm not too hot about their color scheme, but a darker green would suit me just fine.
-alpha legion: this is by far my favorite legion color scheme/ legion badge the way that forgeworld has done it. I think they have amazing fluff/ combat tactics.they also have fluff that allows me to play them in a mysterious fashion that makes them out to be simply more than greedy traitors. Check out the photos on Loken's blog, apocalypse 40k, is you haven't seen them. I think this one is a top three. only drawbacks are that I'd have to wait until at least december to see any legion specific stuff, and they also have two of the lamer primarchs in terms of actual combat ability from what i've read. won't be taking the primarchs in every game though so it wouldn't be the biggest deal plus they will probably have awesome rules.
-thousand suns: cool colors, fluff, and badge. not purely evil.
-iron hands: ferrus is awesome, but their scheme is meh. I like the way that fw has portrayed it slightly better though.
-blood angels: I LOVE sanguinius. I don't have too much interest however, due to them being a 40k army.
-world eaters: awesome badge/ color scheme, but not to big on their nature.

Open to playing any legion really, but these are my main interests. all suggestions are welcome.

30k is fascinating to me and I think one of the reasons is the ability to play as the badass characters that we read about in the horus heresy novels as well as the ability to play the fluff that many of us have found so interesting for so long. What i'm saying is that the actual character of the legion matters. I don't enjoy the purely evil nature of some of the legions or the vain nature of some (looking at you fulgrim). Included in that is having numerous strong characters that embody the nature of that legion.

Having said that, I haven't read nearly as much as I should have/ am not knowledgeable enough about the HH novels to make some of those judgements myself. Any suggestions on novels to pick up/or even laying out some of the characters that make these legions so great would be appreciated.

I think due to my interest in many legions I am open to having a couple of smaller allied forces so that I can game with some of their legion specific goodies as well. Would like to come to a firm decision on a main legion however.

As far as loyalists go their loyalty is an extremely appealing factor (what can I say i'm an emperor's man), but I think that the traitors are the way to go in 30k because its an extremely unique opportunity to play them in such a different fashion than in 40k.

rough top 4

1). alpha legion
2). word bearers
3). night lords/ t sons
4). salamanders

Thanks in advance for reading this rant/ any help. All suggestions are welcome.

[Dalleron]

Can you not just pick a legion and use the rules in Betrayal for any legion. I believe that is how it goes, but I don't have the book so I'm going off second hand info from the web. Sure you may not have a bad *** special character but do you really need one. The character sound pretty nailz to me.

[Sevatar]

You can. Each legion uses the same basic structure from betrayal, but each legion gets a number of special rules, units, and characters.

It isn't so much needing a special character, but being able to peruse my options, whether that be rules or units before deciding. I think the characters, units, and rules really add to the flavor of the legion and differentiate it from the bland betrayal list which is why I think its important in terms of choosing the correct one.

But since obviously no one here can tell me what forgeworld is doing behind their closed doors, i'm more asking people's opinions about which legions are their own favorites, why, as well as any info on the charachter of various legions garnered from hh novels/ sources that aren't betrayal, lexicanum, and hh novels I have read.

[Bigred]

Always go with what YOU think is cool. If you are really into the fluff, you will lavish attention on your new army. May I assume your forum name is a strong hint at your Legion loyalties?

[energongoodie]

What Bigred said.
If Alpha Legion is at your number 1 spot, then you do Alpha Legion.

[Thaldin]

I'd go with Alpha legion myself. More so after reading the "Horus Heresy" books and why they turned traitor.

[Kaiserdean]

Which armies are in the HHB book? Are they just the lists you mentioned?

[Sevatar]

Always go with what YOU think is cool. If you are really into the fluff, you will lavish attention on your new army. May I assume your forum name is a strong hint at your Legion loyalties?

I definitely agree with this, and am trying to get a little feedback on what to check out. Sevatar has got to be my favorite character after prince of crows. Although i'm not sure about the legion as a whole.

As I recall you have a very nice deathguard army yourself bigred?

[Sevatar]

I'd go with Alpha legion myself. More so after reading the "Horus Heresy" books and why they turned traitor.

The more I hear about them, the more I like them. Any suggestions on books or orher material aside from "legion"?

[Kirsten]

personally I am doing World Eaters at the moment, then Raven Guard when that book comes along. just don't do emperors children or thousand sons, way over done