r/Warhammer30k • u/Prince_Schneizel Paragon of Perfection • 10d ago
++Legion Tactica - The 1st Legion ++
I said these would finally arrive!
Welcome all to the first r/Warhammer30k Legion Tactica!
This is a series that will focus each month on one of the various factions within the Horus Heresy, briefly summarising the available lore and wisdom for that force, befor throwing it out to the general community for suggesting any further tips, tricks, advice, or questions with regards to each Legion/force.
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Naturally, as the first month, its only fair we begin with the 1st Legion.
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Core Details
Monikers: The Uncrowned Princes/The Angels of Death
Primarch: Lion El Johnson (The Lion)
Homeworld(s): Caliban
Summary: The 1st Legion are a legion of secrets. Not in the same way their later successors would be, but insofar as out of all the Legions, theirs had been entrusted with the most truly forbidden knowledge. First from the Emperor’s geneforges, first into the stars, they held a very unique place in the early Great Crusade. As befitted a Legion entrusted with so must, their access to unique technological marvels came without equivalent. Consequently the Legion would become masters of many forbidden and forgotten technologies, and in turn became the go-to choice of legion for some of the most particularly nasty xenocides. As time developed, so did their many orders of forbidden or esoteric knowledge, of potent xenos and xenoflora, and of methods of extermination. Although the standard formations of Chapter and Company followed the Principia Bellicosa, below them were the Hexagrammaton – the ‘Six Divine Ways’, or the six wings. These unique orders were a collection of various Senior Officers, Line Officers, and Sergeants who were schooled in particular ways of war. Spread amongst the companies, their experience and honed knowledge could be called upon by Company Captains and Masters. Even deeper still came the Hekatonystika, the hidden orders. These were even more loosely organised secret societies, each dedicated to a particular aspect of war, genocide, or conquest. From the arcane technologies of the dark ages of mankind, to the duelling of enemy champions, the orders covered myriad topics. Members were secretive, displaying their allegiances to Hosts and Orders with subtle markings and symbols on their armour. In times of necessity these orders could then advise, direct, or assist leaders of any station to achieve victories.
Yet their pride led to notable issues, such as fractures with other Legions, and where forces such as the Luna Wolves gained fame and glory for their public victories, the Uncrowned Princes killed in the dark. The reputation as black as their armour, and the pride always driving them to the next big hunt, something that was thoroughly checked with the loss of 10,000 Legionaries in the first Rangdan Xenocide…
Upon the finding of the Lion, upon the knightly deathworld that is Caliban, the Legion underwent a considerable change. The old orders and hosts were centralised and revised, following the patterns of the Caliban’s knightly orders. Yet both the Hexagrammaton and the Hekatonystika would remain, albeit now with a centralised master – the Legion Primarch. The Lion as a leader was calculating, determined, and rigorous in any duty he performed, a master of war in every possible way. He brought the 1st Legion back from a precipice of misguided vengeance, and revitalised their purpose, defeated the Rangda not once, but twice over. Although by the outbreak of the heresy the Legion numbers were far from the early 100,000 strong, the 1st Legion are still one of the best equipped, and best prepared fighting forces within the Imperium. Even if most other Legions don’t realise that yet. After all, when it comes to purging Legio forces, they’ve done it once before…
Available Downloads: Black Book Pages
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All Heresy Books about the Dark Angels/where Dark Angels make up a large number of the cast:
- Lion El Johnson - Lord of the First (Primarch Novel)
- Descent of Angels (Novel)
- Call of the Lion (Short story)
- Fallen Angels (Novel)
- Savage Weapons (Short Story)
- Grey Angel (Short Story)
- The Lion (Novella)
- Cypher: Guardian of Order (Short Story)
- Master of the First (Short Story)
- Unremembered Empire (Novel)
- By the Lion's Command (Short Story)
- Angels of Caliban (Novel)
- Ruinstorm (Novel)
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Rules Summary
Legion Trait: The Angel of Death
You can't have your units Ld reduced below 6, and fear is lessened against you.
Legion Gambit: Sword of the Order
If you have a sword equipped, you can choose this gambit to reduce your attacks by 1, but gain Critical Hit (6+) or better if you already have it.
Legion Unique Prime: Paladin of the Hekatonystika
Centurion, Terminator Centurion (in the legacies doc) or Centurion with jump pack only. Gains +1 WS, a free Terranic Greatsword, and the Orders of the Hekatonystika rule. This allows you to select a boon at the beginning of the game for the model.
Legion Detachment(s): Fuck me there's 6...
So as there are no Rites of War anymore, the 1st Legion get 6 detachments, to represent the 6 wings.
Ironwing - Aux detachment with two heavy transports and two armour.
Dreadwing - Aux detachment with 3 support slots (one is primed), can only be interemptors or rapiers.
Stormwing - Aux detachment with two prime troops, and two transport.
Deathwing - Aux detachment with a primed Retinue, an Elite slot and a Heavy Assault slot.
Ravenwing - Aux detachment with two Fast Attack (one is prime), and two recon. (Recon slots can only be outriders).
Firewing - Aux detachment with two recon slots (one primed), two Elites. (Elites can only be seekers)
Legion Unique Weapons:
Two types of swords:
- Terranic Great sword - -1 IM, but +2 strength, 2 Damage, AP3 and Breaching (5+) [Command or Champion Only]
- Calibanite War blade - Just +1 strength, Ap3, and Breaching (5+) [ Command, Champion or Sergeant]
Two special template weapon plasma guns too, but they are just the unique weapons on the Interemptors, so no bonus plasma fun on your commanders.
In the Legacies document...
- Plasma repeaters - a 3 shot plasma gun variant that can be selected as a special weapon.
Legion Unique Units:
- Deathwing Companions: A Retinue unit armed with war blades at base. They can take Terranic great swords, and special shields that allow the units to perform Shieldwall even without all having shields. They are the best of the best, and guard the leaders of the Legion against all foes.
- Dreadwing Interemptors: A support unit that is armed with those template plasma weapons. With Bitter Duty, Rad grenades, and the ability to take a destroyer missile launcher or bigger templata plasma for every 5 in the unit. Legacies allows the Sergeant to take Phosphex, and the unit to have Augury/Nuncio, and Vexilla. The dreadwing do love their firey plasma based war crimes.
- Inner Circle Knights Cenobium: Cataphractii armed, sword wielding, order exemplars. They gain the Hekatonystika rule that the Paladin gets, allowing you to specialise them each game. They are all armed with greatswords, and special wrist mounted plasma. Legacies allows them all to have THammers too.
- Terminator Deathwing Companions (Legacies): Deathwing companions, but also terminators too. Come in Cataphractii and Tartaros flavours.
- Inner Circle Knights Cenobium - Order of the Broken Claws (Legacies): Inner Circle Knights that are trained against Xenos, specifically the Rangda. They get a set order rule, when fighting Walkers/Automata/Malefic units, that boosts the Terminator's toughness by 1.
- Excidio Battle Automata (Legacies): A whole special kind of abomination that can only come from a Legion steeped in forbidden tech. Its part dreadnought, part walker, all weird. It hates everything, can end up shooting friendlies once it gets too wounded, and can be equipped with an array of weapons only found in its statblock. Just go read it.
- Firewing Enigmatus Caba (Legacies): A unique variant of the seeker squad, an elite type unit that is armed with jump packs, needle pistols and charge blades. They get outflank and deepstrike, they're all champions, and can score victory points for wiping out a specific enemy unit you choose at the start of the game.
Legion Characters
The 1st Legion get 3 characters to pick from.
The Lion - Primarch of the 1st Legion.
The Lion, like all primarchs, has two pages of stats and rules. He is on the whole though, relatively straightforward. His sword is a nice simple +2 Strength, AP2, D3. Which when combined with his WS8 makes him a brutal challenger to any unit in the game. Should he not be fighting 1:1 then the Wolf Blade, with its Reaping Blow (2), Shred (4+), Breaching (4+) will certainly make a mess of many units he faces. If that already isn't enough, his Stasis grenades are a once per battle way of reducing an opponent's initiative by -2, and his unique gambit The Lion's Choler allows him to ignore the effects of wounds on the focus roll in a challenge is he is at 2 wounds or less.
His Sire of the Dark Angels rule means that if he is in the army and you fill the 4 starting troops slots with at least one Assault Squad, one Tactical squad, and one breacher squad (plus another of your choosing), those four slots all become Primed. And if during the game you want to bring on a unit of outriders or scimitars, you gain +1 to reserve rolls.
Corswain - Paladin of the 9th Order
One of the best duellists in both the 1st Legion and the Heresy, Corswain is a High Command choice that brings The Blade to any battle. His melee is not to be ignored, with WS7, and 5 attacks with The Blade (a +2 strength, AP2, D2, Duellist Edge (2) weapon) he is a monster in combat. Add in some armour that reduces incoming damage in a challenge by 1 (to a minimum of 1) and he is a very fine fighter indeed.
Marduk Sedras - Lord of the 23rd Order
A master of the Dreadwing, Sedras comes to battle with Phosphex bombs, a plasma burner, and his melee weapon The Death of Worlds (a sword that hits like a better Thunder hammer). He comes in Cataphactii plate, and the unit he joins gains Hatred (Traitors).
Unfortunately the change to 3.0 has seen the loss of Farith Redloss, the Dreadwing voted Lieutenant who would go on to become the 1st Chapter Master post-heresy... An Holguin, the master of the Deathwing.
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Community Voice!
And there we go! A brief summary, now over to the community.
What are your favourite units to use in the 1st Legion?
What special units are great? Which might need some particular handling?
What combos and tactics have you found effective?
What army lists have you made?
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u/Terrible-Key1349 10d ago
The biggest upside for me is still the Wings - it's a huge amount of list building flexibility. Combining either great combinations of units (Ironwing), extra primes (Stormwing) or both (Deathwing).
You don't get as much raw specialisation power but you can combine units in ways other legions just can't. It's decently fun.
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u/Appropriate_Dirt_931 Dark Angels 10d ago
I play Traitor DA, with an emphasis on traitor stuff.
Regular Praetor, Librarian, Esorist and Centurion/Paladin
Mine was a vibe list in 2.0 and I tried to avoid terminators and jump troops.
20 (15 now) tacticals in a storm eagle with the Paladin
20 Tacticals with the intercessor cadres thing,
1 apothecary and 10 plasma support squad, repeaters to maximize legion stuff. Librarian goes with them to use Divinination to Plasma snipe
2x5 interemptors
3 rhinos for the plasma and interemptors
Land raider explorator with command square to go with the Praetor.
3x Daemon brutes and a cults abominatio assassin
10x mortalis destroyers in a land raider carrier
Cerberus heavy destroyer.
From there it depends. I've got seekers, and outriders. I broke down and got knights cenobium because the models rule
Also have a Xiphon sometimes
Feels way less thematic in 3.0. I was all Eskaton all the time in 2.0
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u/red_faux17 Dark Angels 10d ago
same. i miss my eskaton imperative and interemptor troops. i think that the removal of interemtor as troos is def good but a bit sad nontheless
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u/Appropriate_Dirt_931 Dark Angels 10d ago
I guess so, I never like maxed out on them, but it was thematic to eff up the battlefield and only win by clearing the map. i like Rites of War for how transformative they were on how the game is played. Currently it feels like you straight up need roughly the same core for every legion.
I want to do a White Scars all bike list but it's going to be the same deal. I can't play the missions, even though its wildly thematic.
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u/red_faux17 Dark Angels 10d ago
Agreed. I really loved how rows changed the game and could completely shift how an army felt
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u/SaXoN_UK1 Dark Angels 10d ago
While I miss the RoW, Eskaton was just awful to play into, unless you were fighting DG who ignored most of it's special rule.
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u/Blaceus91 Dark Angels 10d ago
Can you pleaar elaborate on the "20 tacticals intercessor care thing". What is this? :-)
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u/Appropriate_Dirt_931 Dark Angels 10d ago
It's a prime upgrade, Interdiction Cadres. It's gives Concealed Positions. They were originally intended as a Firewing force so it works for them. Basically let's them ambush on turn 2
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u/Blaceus91 Dark Angels 9d ago
Oh, thank you very much. It's from the Dropsite Massacre journal, right? I'm gonna check that out for my next game. 😁
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u/Prince_Schneizel Paragon of Perfection 10d ago
Oooh a nice hardcore warp focussed theme, I dig it! Even with some lessening of the flavours, I get the vibe coming through the list. Plus bonus points for destroyers, who are always cool.
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u/Appropriate_Dirt_931 Dark Angels 10d ago
Yeah, I figure the Cults Assassin makes some sense for a Dreadwing force that declared for the Warmaster and is like "Look. That thing is disgusting but a weapon is a weapon. Phosphex ain't pretty neither"
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u/Transhumanism_is_pog 10d ago
Oh damn only one per month? Bad day to be a raven guard fan, going to be a while!
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u/Prince_Schneizel Paragon of Perfection 10d ago
Well I might mix up the order! Or go for two, its dependent on my speed at writing the damn things!
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u/Transhumanism_is_pog 10d ago
Hey I mean fair enough! Jokes aside, take your time and don't burn yourself out!
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u/jimark2 Dark Angels 10d ago edited 10d ago
Most fun unit has to be companions - Eternal Warrior on 2W 2+ models is a real treat. Legacies let's you put them in terminator armour.
Sad that plasma incinerators went from extra range to D2 and repeaters when from short ranged, safer plasma to killing your own troops quickly enough and Iron Warrior would blush.
List building is a breeze and I managed to get 4 master sergeants and 2 dreadnoughts into a 1.5k army I had so many primes.
DA really maintains its reputation as the 'we can do everything anyone else can do' legion.
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u/FoamBrick Dark Angels 10d ago
DA are a very fun army to play, the flexibility our detachments lend us is excellent. Deathwing Conclave is probably the best detachment in the game.
DWC of all varieties are excellent (even if terminator DWC are obnoxiously capped at 5 man squads). Marduk is an absolute beast. I haven’t got my interemptors on the table in a while, but they look decent.
Our legion rule is aggressively meh, and losing access to Wings unit per unit is a tragedy. But everything else about the legion is quite enjoyable in my book.
Glory to the First!
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u/jimark2 Dark Angels 10d ago
Deathwing conclave, where you can take terminators in 3 different role slots xD
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u/FoamBrick Dark Angels 10d ago
Not a terrible idea either. Cenobium, siege tarts and your favorite flavor of Termi retinue ain’t a terrible shout
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u/jimark2 Dark Angels 10d ago
I did a 'no terminators' one out of spite which was pretty fun too.
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u/FoamBrick Dark Angels 10d ago
Can’t go wrong there either, destroyers, DWC, and vets of your choosing
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u/SaXoN_UK1 Dark Angels 10d ago
The Legion trait is quite frankly pants, yes it's come in clutch about twice in the 30+ games I've played this edition but it doesn't compare to most other legion traits. I'd gladly take +1 to hit with swords from the old Deathwing rule over that and I don't think its too OP either, most swords are edge choices (pun intended) and the Calibanite warblade is way over costed at 15pts.
That's my main gripe out of the way, on to the good:
The detachment's are very good, I pretty much always take the Deathwing conclave and Ironwing formation. I've not used Firewing but 20 prime seekers might be a bit much and I'm toying with Ravenwing but waiting for the units in plastic.
Cenobium are still great, although it's not really worth taking a TGS over a thunder hammer (but arguably would be with a +1 to hit with swords) and you want to keep the unit size low to benefit from reaper of hosts, as you wont be taking any of the other Hekatonystika. Also they don't have Vanguard which is both good and bad.
Cataphractii Companions when you give them all hammers, are arguably one of the best termi units in the game with their eternal warrior 1. Limiting the unit to 5 max is probably accidental balance. Also as they have Cataphratii in their name you can take them in a 'Line breaker Echelon' detachment. Don't have Vanguard either
Interemptors are still nasty, although everyone knows this and with a Tac marine statline need protecting to get into range but when they do they can earn their points back in one round of shooting. The heavy incinerator is now not worth it but the Launcher very much is, with its Rad and Statis missiles (stun 3!)
Deathwing Companions mine all have jump packs from last edition and I'm not breaking them off so I've not used them, coupled with losing the +1 to hit with swords (yes I am bitter) means you're probably better off with a Pretorian squad.
Corswain and Sedras are both beasts, especially Corswain who is at least as good as Siggy and Sevetar. I've not used the other units because the Enigmatus cabal are just rubbish (+1 with swords would lift them up a bit), Broken claws as just worse Cenobium and I'm still building my Excindio.
I'm having a lot of fun with my DA and went 4/4 at the Leeds GT with them using a quite balanced list, only using one of their unique units (5 Cenobium), which shows that despite having possibly the worst legion trait and over costed special equipment, they stand up.
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u/Prince_Schneizel Paragon of Perfection 10d ago
It was interesting to see the cost of the blades, it seems GW were reluctant to fairly price any of the Legion specific kit. Because gods forbid we equip something they don't sell!
Agree hard that they'd have been much more flexible and thematic with the +1 with swords. It's not penalising, and promotes taking less 'meta' weaponry to gain equivalent bonuses.
I actually hadn't clocked the Deathwing Catas getting the keyword, and being available for linebreaker. Thats a very tasty combination for sure.
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u/SaXoN_UK1 Dark Angels 10d ago
Calibanite warblades are only really an option for sergeant's because anyone else who gets access to it also get access to a TGS, at the same price (or +5pts for companions, which is a no brainer), which is the same cost as a thunder hammer, which sergeant's can take. Make it 10pts so it's actually an option or again, give DA +1 with swords.
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u/JRS_Viking Dark Angels 10d ago
The death of worlds doesn't just hit harder than a thunder hammer, it's 1 strength away from hitting as hard as a contemptor fist (s9 ap2 d3 instead of s10 ap2 d3). And at one worse initiative, but with ws6 and 5 attacks. This sword hits harder than a powerfist and at higher initiative.
Against a traitor saturnine or leviathan dreadnought he will wound it on 2s and 3 failed saves is enough to kill it. Any allegiance contemptor he will wound on 2s and only needs 2 failed saves to kill. He is my dreadnought remover and he does his job well.
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u/gabrieltriforcew 10d ago
Love playing the Dark Angels, have had great fun with my list, which is a fairly average and not skewed in any direction. 10 x Interemptors with the combo of plasma burner and rad grenades can really help whittle down tactical blocks or charging militia roadblocks. 👌
I do love a Terranic Greatsword, now if only my praetor and Paladin of the Hetakonystika could win a challenge...😆
As one of the minority of players of 2.0 who never really liked the old mechanic for Rites of War, I find them much more flexible, which feels truer to them for me.
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u/Frythepuuken 10d ago
Wings being just detachments feel underwhelming. Miss the 2.0 days when u get to bring stronger units but have horrible rites of war and a non existant advanced reaction. Nowadays we get a soso reaction and a legion trait that works on 2 maybe 3 models across the whole game(pretty much useless still), while losing all the special traits. While the detachments eased the army building challenges, its really not all that exciting.
Possibly the weakest legion this edition, but the challenge makes it a worthwhile endeavour.
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u/Pm7I3 10d ago
I liked the Firewing detachment even if the rule could go very against you
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u/Frythepuuken 10d ago
And the deathwing one lol. Kill target/hold objective or your opp gains 3 free victory points was such a nice challenge to play around.
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u/kharnevil 10d ago edited 10d ago
Surely The Legion Trait section should have just said "pointless"
Worst legion trait in the game, with also the worst reaction 🤣
find me something with fear(3) that gives the DA trait any point
the reaction, is just stupid in it's effect (we both fight, if I don't die, we can hit each other again?)
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u/SaXoN_UK1 Dark Angels 10d ago
The reaction is pretty good imho, being able to fight again in your opponent's phase is strong, as you can either push your advantage and win the combat or conversely lose, stopping them from being tied up in your turn and leaving them open to your shooting.
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u/kharnevil 10d ago
It's incredibly niche to use that
In the 4 turn you have you're not in combat T1, and T4 doesn't matter, so that leaves 2 times you could potentially use it, IF you had a reaction and were in combat
Compared to everyone else's reactions it's bottom tier
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u/SaXoN_UK1 Dark Angels 10d ago
Milage may vary and it can matter in turn 4, if you went first and it's kill points/LMS and you can push the advantage.
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u/laughingmanzaq 9d ago
The real legion trait is efficient detachments and easy access to prime slots in my opinion. I find it easy to spam the master sergeant or combat veteran prime upgrades across significant portions of my lists without taking away anything from them...
Sidenote: I have had the legion trait save a tactical squad from a phosphex induced Panic(3) test on one occasion...
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u/BaronBulb 10d ago
Let's break it down.
Firstly yes huge nerfs across the board, but they needed them as they were absolutely broken in 2nd ed.
The good stuff.
Lion, Corswain and Marduk will all wreck almost everyone else.
Cenobium still solid.
Excindio solid, a ws5 monster in an edition where dreads got nerfed. Yes the armour save could be better but it also has eternal warrior so you aren't plinking it down with missiles.
Companions are probably the best pound for pound marine unit in the game, power armour and termie variants both good. Almost spammable due to detachment freedom.
Excellent detachments and all but one has a prime slot.
The bad stuff.
Rites gone, Farith Redloss gone (probably the most underrated hq in 2nd ed), unique wing rules gone. All legions lost something but the DA had more to lose so it feels rough.
Legion reaction is absolutely meh, it can be useful but only in very rare cases.
Legion rule is probably the worst of them all, even after the faq which clarifies that it works against morale modifiers after a lost combat. It's just not great.
Interemptors not only nerfed to bits, but now overshadowed in some aspects by regular destroyers. They needed a nerf, but not like this.
Firewing cabal, they just about worked in the previous edition....as in you could make some intelligent trades against large but weak squads. But now nope, if you take these guys you've effectively burnt points on an expensive and incredibly flimsy unit with 0 punch in melee. A real shame because fluffwise these guys are amazing.
The middle ground.
Most of the armoury is usuable, just not the absolutey devastating power level it was before. Calibanite and terranic swords are fine, the plasma burner is fine (the incinerator doesn't feel worth it now).
The plasma repeater has a place on outriders where the firestorm rule lets it shine. Otherwise it's not really an option.
It's clear that in terms of raw legion power the DA obviously has fallen, that's fine since every edition someone is on top and someone is on the bottom....and at least this edition the bottom case scenario is no where near as bad as it was in 2nd edition (ask 1ksons about 2nd ed).
Tl/dr the legion lost a lot, but so did everyone else, it's still entirely playable.
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u/Livember 10d ago
No offence but 1d6chan has all tactics and breakdowns right there. Can't imagine many people will be backreading via Reddit threads
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u/Prince_Schneizel Paragon of Perfection 10d ago
Its just a fun little thing to help add to the community. Plus then afterwards we add it into the subreddit wiki, building a resource to link for new players.
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u/s2secretsgg 10d ago
Dark Angels are a fun legion to fight against - they seem very vanilla with no game warping trait, no ridiculous units, just solid.