Pre-Heresy Alpha Legion 1000 points Army List

Background.

Locally, we are going to be having a round robin style tournament in the coming weeks. I've decided to field a 30k Pre-Heresy Alpha Legion force for said tournament. My main goals are just to get a feeling for how it plays, rather than wanting a "winning" list that will crush all opposition.

Indeed, one of the participants in the tournament will be a new-comer to the game. Hence I really didn't want to alienate them by taking a Death Star army, or Leaf Blower, or any other combination that is really overly hideous to play against. In short: I don't want to be "that guy" since the tournament is a friendly one (with no prizes other than bragging rights), and I want the new-comer to remain! 

We agreed that the points limit would be 1000. This is an interesting points level for a number of reasons. Most obviously it really restricts what you can do with building an army. Particularly in 30k. Indeed, I feel I will be at a distinct disadvantage compared to the participants who will be playing 40k codex armies. Hence I don't expect to win. But that's okay.

With all of that in mind, I decided that I would build a force around Autilon Skorr. Although I do not have the miniature for Skorr, I can readily create one from a scratch build. But what I like about Skorr is his ability to select his warlord trait. I'm therefore going to opt for Infiltration of 3 units with Skorr. On top of that, I will then use the Alpha Legion mutable tactics as either Scouts (to get closer) or Tank Hunters depending on the army. Realistically, Adamantium Will might also be an option too. So I'll keep those options open until I see the opposition. 

Speaking of the opposition, its likely I will be facing at least Chaos Daemons (probably a mixture of 2 or more patron powers); Chaos Space Marines (probably Nurgle based) and Eldar (craft world … probably a mixture of forces with a danger of seeing Eldrad). Hence: all options are being kept open here.

List Building.

To build the list, I then thought about which Rite of War I wanted to take. Although I did consider taking Skorr's Delagatus Rite, I eventually opted for taking Pride of the Legion. The main reason for this is that I really just wanted to use my terminators! Plus, they're assembled and painted, unlike some other components I have planned.

To ensure that I can benefit from things like Infiltrate, Scouts and Tank Hunters, I wanted a spread of troops, each with an ability to do things to more than one type / category of enemy unit. Knowing that I'm at a troops disadvantage in a low points game means that I have to play flexibly. And that it where the Alpha Legion should excel. Here's the list that I will be playing without further ado:

HQ:

*Autilon Skorr (125 points). Rite of War = Pride of the Legion (i.e. terminators and veterans are troops, as below).

*Master of Signals, melta bombs, power dagger (95 points)

Troops:
*Legion Veteran Tactical Squad, 10 members, 2 melta guns, sergeant with power fist and artificer armour (225 points)

*Legion Terminator Squad, 5 members, 1 Thunder hammer and 1 plasma blaster (200 points)

*Legion Reconnaissance Squad, 5 members with sniper rifles, sergeant with power weapon (160 points)

Heavy Support:
*Legion Heavy Support Squad, 5 members all with missile launchers, sergeant with augury scanner (165 points)

I think it should be obvious what I'm up to here. I'm aiming for an Alpha strike (pun not intended) through getting my marines up close and personal with the enemy as soon as possible in the game. 

Skorr will deploy with either the Veterans or the Terminators. I'm likely to give Fearless to the veterans for a few of the match ups, but could see other options there too. They will target either transports or big blobs of enemy troops early on, before charging in. 

The terminators will have a similar role, but be more focussed on anti-infantry compared to the veterans. 

The Master of Signals will be deployed with the heavy support squad for bonus BS. They will sit back and reach out to destroy vehicles, etc. Hopefully the big pie plate from the Master of Signals will happen in the first turn or two as well to take care of another big blob of troops. 

The Recon squad is there to do some target practise. I'm hoping to get a few precision shots off to take care of enemy characters, or even exploit AV=10 armour in a few places. 

Evaluation.

The weaknesses of this list are painfully obvious though. I've decided to not play any fast attack choices (I was toying with an assault squad, but could not justify the cost at this points level; I toyed with bikes as well, but wanted terminators more … and the bikes were not assembled in a big enough squad yet either). Fliers are going to be a pain as well, so I'm hoping I don't see too many of them. And obviously, I've foregone dedicated transportation to ensure that I can conduct a strong Alpha Strike with the infiltrate / scouts combination. I'm really worried about playing against the Codex: Daemons player as well. But being a daemons player myself, I guess that I just know what to expect!

I know I'm not going to win many rounds here. But that's not the point. I want to see how it plays and how I might alter it later on. 

[image credit: "XX" by Eric E Castro / flickr]