Loyalists or Traitors, Whats your army

Ive been wondering on how many see the Alphas as truly dedicated to the Chaos Gods, cos in light of Legion, a number of players are going for the secretly Loyalist approach, rather than the traditional Traitors approach.

So im curious.... whats your army?

Well my force is (pre) Heresy Era, and I like to think that they're neither good nor bad.

Pragmatic in their approach to the heresy & the Cabal's revelations, I always pictured the Alpha legion being neutral and persuing their own agenda, though on the outside they may appear as traitors. The same could be said about the Dark Angels (although they appear as loyalists) - the first and last Legions have a similarly selfish modus operandi.

I have just been reactivated (see welcome thread)...

I normally play LaTD with very neutral CSM but ...

I have just finished reading THE BOOK. I am now sold to a - non Traitor - AL Cell using lots of operatives. They are of course not loyal to the Imperium, but to the Cabal, and the original thought of the Emperor (defeat chaos) and of course to themselves.

The galaxy is a big place and when you think that most of the Legion didŽnt go into the EOT at the end of the Heresy, but first went to ground in most of their secret lairs. Then the fact that a few wouldŽnt be touched by chaos is the basis for my
cell.

No mad screaming cultists for my AL list (i have enough in my LaTD)

I will be using the new SM Codex with roughly:

Shadow Captain (Twin-Talons are called Alpha/Omega) cause thats the first and last thing that you see, when he deep strikes.

2 x 7 Legionaire Assault cells

2 x 5 Legionaire Tac cells

1x 5 Legionaire Dev cell

1x 5 Legionaire Vet cell

4x 5 Operative cells (snipers, hvy bolters, m. launcher)
Most are reactivated Geno 52 that were put to sleep after Nurth
John G. with the stats for Telion will lead one operative cell

1x Razorback hvy bolter
1x landspeeder storm

John G.

evil always evil

Evil because good is dumb

I beleave the legion fights to fight and who better than to test the strength againest, then you own once brothers

I run my Alpha's as Chaos dedicated but once I have them finished im looking too make a Pre Heresy Alpha Legion force. JD

Traitors all the way!!

I've been firmly on the fence over this topic for some time now, so haven't posted/voted. However, that all changed when I bought the new SM Codex on friday. I was flicking through it, thinking "How could I use this for my Alphas?", and in the back of my mind there was something niggling at me. Now I've realised; it's just too 'Codex' (shudder)

I still think it's up to an individual to use whatever they want, but this scenario (and others similar) kept going through my head:

Recently Corrupted Marine #1 "Isn't it great we've gone traitor now, let's go kick some Imperial butt! I'll just go get my combat knife to gut those witless dogs with...."
Recently Corrupted Marine #2 "Err...hold on a sec. If you're coming with us, you'll have to leave your blade behind."
Recently Corrupted Marine #1 "What?"
Recently Corrupted Marine #2 "Well, even though we have finally declared how much we hate the minions of the false-emporer, we're still going to follow all their rules on how to fight, until we grow horns on our helmets, at least......."
Recently Corrupted Marine #1 "Aw, shucks!"
(I love the idea of a fully grow marine saying "Shucks!")

Just the thought of having to use bland old tactical squads in exact numbers of 10, and without the Bolter/BP/CCW goodness that we've come to know and love just fills me with a feeling of 'meh'.

I think the only way that I could be comfortable fielding an army based on this codex would be to include Scouts as operatives, and even then I am struggling to think of what support units I could include that would be fluffy and effective (maybe take Sicarius with an infiltrating tactical squad.....err without CCW? (another shudder)

Good points WW.
Looks like its going to be Codex Chaos for me then, but then I do like to give me that Chaotic edge to the Alpha Legion.... Chaos before Codex.

Traitors. Because... No dammit ,I am not having this debate for the 8th time this week.

DAMN YOU ABNETT!!!!

< shakes fist in impotent rage >

Loyal to the Emperor, but not to the Imperium. My cell understand that to finish the Emperor's work in defeating chaos, all of mankind must be sacrificed.

An incidently, I use both the chaos and the loyalist space marine codexes depending on the type of army I want to field.

Chaos when I want an army of millenia old marines doing my bidding.

Loyalist when I feel like fielding operatives with AL support. Scouts, scout bikes and land speeder storms all scream AL operative. This has the added bonus that the only marines I field are then sternguard or vanguard squads and are therefore miles ahead of the operatives in terms of power, but also points cost.

That was about the only configuration I thought about using with the new SM codex; how does it fare generally? I wasn't sure I could use enough choices (within the bounds of fluffiness) to support the scouts adequately? What sort of HQ do you use with is? I'd also love to see some pics/army list, if you're up for it.

I'll hopefully get around to some pics some day. At the moment I tend to use the rules for Sicarius for my HQ, as bad as that sounds with him being an Ultramarine. Things like seize the iniative rerolls and the upgrade of a tactical squad to take infiltrate are too Alpha Legion to ignore. If you read his background then it certainly sounds like he's in the wrong legion!

Failing that, I'll take a chaplain. His re-rolls to hit represent him reminding his fellows of the grim mission that they undertake in the Emperor's name.

The army fares well sometimes, it depends who you're against. Cluster mines are horrible for orks, guard and eldar but will bounce off power armour. Astartes grenade launchers are useful for outflanking and then hitting the side/rear armour of artillery. Locator beacons are fun on bikes too as they can help you call down a deep-striking vanguard squad to the right place.

Landspeeder Storms I don't know how to use properly yet. Though I'm sure I can find a way to make them useful against daemons.

Oh, and take Telion, he's awesome. In a squad with a missile launcher.

I look at the Alpha Legion almost like undercover cops that have been in too long. They may have started out with the best of intentions but 10,000 years of acting like the bad guys means they have ended up as the bad guys themselves.

Besides, Chaos armour just looks cooler and we all know thats what really counts

Some good tips there Kalarn, thanks. With those deep striking Vanguard, are you attempting to do that 'assault from deep strike ability whose name escapes me right now' thing? I'm guessing that's the point with the locator beacons. Maybe an alternate use for possessed models, there?

That's a great analogy, Hereticus, I'll try and remember that. Plus, once the Imperium went alll Codex (shudder) being the good guys just wasn't the same as the old days.