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Red Corsairs or Alpha Legion?

1K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  The Forum Idiot 
#1 ·
As you may all know I am a recent convert to the powers of chaos for a small 1500 point army (of Lost And The Damned). I am currently trying to decide between Alpha Legion and Red Corsairs for the CSM side of things. Basically, my questions are:

Can I still have Nurglesque Plague Zombies in Red Corsairs and/or Alpha Legion?
Which god are the Red Corsairs allied to?
Which are most likely to fight alongside mutants and traitor guard?
Do the Red Corsairs have any special rules?
Could I use Berzerkers in Red Corsairs/Alpha Legion?

All help would be greatly appreciated and the gods of Chaos shall smile upon you (offsetting your transformation into chaos spawn by at least a year or two).

My playing style will involve a wall of zombies/mutants locking dangerous units in combat while my more specialised units (probably a Basilisk, Obliterator, Berserkers (if possible) and such) tear up the enemy from the inside.
 
#2 ·
Couple of answers
(1) plague zombies could be used to symbolize cultists in Alpha Legions pretty nicely.
(2) Red corsairs count as undivided list, so no god alignment necessary
(3) Both would fight alongside mutants and traitor guard
(4) Red corsairs are a undivided list following the rules in the Chaos Codex, or can be made out of the Marine Codex, or the Lost and the Damned Codex. No specific rules for them
(5) No bezerkers in Alpha legion per the codex, only undivided. Allowable under Red corsairs depending on which list you build your army from.

Other:
Basilisk only usable in Iron Warriors or Lost and the Damned, not usable in Army lists from the chaos codex. I'd suggest you figure out which primary list you want to build from first, however you could have a pretty interchangable army easily.
 
#3 ·
If you ask me, the generic alpha legion list (with cultists) makes for nice, aggressive corsairs. But I suppose if you really just want a horde of human pirates it will work either way.

It depends how confident you feel, really.

Alpha legion is easier. Alpha legion followers can look like just about anything. There's no single type of alpha legion sponsored cult, they range from barbarians with big axes to converted armies of imperial guard. For this reason, you have a lot more modelling flexibility.

Corsairs are pirates. Their followers should look like deranged boarding parties and raiders. I think alpha legion cultists would be best for this, but there's no rule to stop you using traitors and mutants in this role.

There's also no rule to stop you using plague zombies in either alpha legion or corsairs. It's not hugely fluffy, especially for corsairs (see the reasons stated above.. zombies make poor pirates.) but if you want to do it, it's perfectly legit.

As stated, there are no special rules for the Red Corsairs. Personally I think the alpha legion list suits them better than the undivided list (They both favour surprise raids, and they both use human cannon fodder.) On the plus side, I don't think there's any rule to stop you using alpha legion/red corsair marines (from the alpha legion list) as allies in a lost and the damned army.

The problem with lost and the damned is that it's very heavy on the humans. This works well for alpha legion, but not so well for Corsairs. Though, of course, others may disagree on that one.
 
#4 ·
Well, I decided to do my own ex-chapter which are fighting their way across the galaxy with the goal of exterminating the imperium (or inducting those who surrender). I've written a tone of fluff for them which I'll post some time. Basically, they are under the influence of Khorne and fanatically believe that the Imperium is the ultimate evil and must be exterminated for mankind, they see Khorne as a fair god who only wants violence in the name of humanity against the regular space marines. Their moto is "those who join us we fight alongside, those who fight us we honour and those who are too opposed to fight us we torment". Basically, when raiding a world they will give the people the chance to join their ranks or fight them. If the people do not denounce the Emperor then they call upon Nurgle (who they think is allied with Khorne) to turn the cowards into the unwilling, undying zombies (their minds do not die and live on, trapped in the decayed corpse for ever, so death in 40k terms means no longer a threat).

I almost certainly will do a small Chaos Space Marine force which I probably will use Alpha Legion rules for.
 
#5 ·
Just to highlight, if you use Alpha legion you cannot use any marks other than undivided. Nice fluff, but you won't be able to use units how you seem too. You could use basic Chaos Marines with CC weapon and bolt pistols, and cultists looking Nurglesque would be cool.
 
#6 ·
I found that out too...I'll just use them like regular CSM then... Well, it should still be nice with the fluff (I'm also collecting a smallish side-project Chaos 1500 point army, I currently have around 900 so it isn't that far away) to see hordes of mutants and zombies staggering towards the enemy while the Bezerkers tear at the enemy violently. I'm building the two forces together with plenty of inter-changeable bits (Defiler, possibly Greater Demon, etc) and under the same banner (the army my traitors have formed is now collectively called the "Heralds Of Khorne")
 
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