tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post8350136493411250161..comments2024-03-27T01:28:28.346-07:00Comments on False Machine: Trailing Corposant 5 - Shell Gamepjamesstuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13288777018721199748noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-24029317944394085092021-08-22T07:42:35.918-07:002021-08-22T07:42:35.918-07:00(cont.)
So what remains for pre-Horus era? Scoutin...(cont.)<br />So what remains for pre-Horus era? Scouting and data collection, sabotage (in sense of unit clandestinely dropping in, hitting a vulnerable spot, dropping out), hit-and-run tactics, disrupting supplies and communication lines, as well as assassinations of key figures.<br /><br />But during- and post-Heresy they are written as two mirrors positioned against each other, endless reflections all way to nothingness. Suddenly there are all those plans within plans and layers of deceptions within deceptions, used, eventually, to a such absurd degree that Alpha Legion became, to me, that common comical parody of Tzeentch where he screeches 'Just as planned!!!' as he loses again and again, out of desperate attempt to look competent.<br /><br />One of the very few points of their competence is making Raven Guard life harder, but I'd say, narrative-wise it was just a support role to give Corax his subsequent mental breakdown, and Alpha Legion was just sort of slotted into it. Most charitable interpretation would be that they stole that tech to clone their own troops (which would at least fit with themes of legionaries being replaceable and having no self), but it still doesn't sit right to me that Alpha Legion would be able to thwart one of the rarest gifts of secret tech from the Emperor himself, so soon after Corax got it, without anybody in the universe noticing until it is too late, and yet they failed to achieve anything as significant against less formidable secrets or targets later.<br /><br />I wonder if the necessity for Alpha Legion to pull triple duty of being competent as space marines, having all those special thief skills on top of it, and having area of expertise in something other Legions theoretically didn't have countermeasures for, made them difficult to write, because if they were portrayed as actually competent, they would be much more efficient and thus Horus Heresy would have to take a different course.<br />Hence authors sort of had to nerf them (in a clumsy and not at all satisfactory way) so they won't mess with grand narrative. Kyanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12992025061183651850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-61524620323328232022021-08-22T07:42:25.595-07:002021-08-22T07:42:25.595-07:00I am just a casual reader for WH40K, but Alpha Leg...I am just a casual reader for WH40K, but Alpha Legion always struck me as something from/more suitable for different game/genre and an oddity in WH40K universe. <br /><br />Here we have a universe where big men in power-armour rather straightforwardly kill a lot of other beings with flaming chainsaws and mind bullets, and here we have big men in power-armour with chainsaws and mind bullets but also are masters of espionage, counter-intelligence and sabotage in addition to it. <br /><br />It sort of makes sense, in-world, to have this kind of specialized legion, but I wonder if what they are supposed to do (being sneaky, sort of unnoticeable units with a lot of logistical, technical and informational skills) inherently clashes with how they are supposed to look on a game table and how they are supposed to behave (big power-armour and chainswords, just like other space marines). Later plots, where they are antagonists, demand that they would be more or less equally capable as both straightforward fighting force - so they would make decent adversaries - but also doing all those covert things that other legions simply cannot do. <br /><br />(I don't know much about specific army units but to me it looks like no other legion (except maybe Raven Guard) developed any troops specialized in similar kinds of actions. I.e. Alpha Legion should have been much more successful with infiltration, sabotage, and misdirection, at least at first, because other legions presumably had no counter-measures. Yet, there are no major tangible victories for AL or their course)<br /><br />It also a bit odd to me that most suitable target for infiltration for Alpha Legion are other legions: after all space marines being so distinctive in appearance they cannot really infiltrate as cover agents any alien societies and even in human societies 7.5ft tall human would fit only occasionally. But presumably before Horus Heresy there was no need for internal affairs investigations (Emperor trusting his sons and such) - otherwise HH would either not happen at all, or Alpha legion would be able to do way much more harm during HH.<br />(cont.)Kyanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12992025061183651850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-15451929622067577472021-08-22T05:17:43.063-07:002021-08-22T05:17:43.063-07:00Ah, the Cabal. Or 'What the Dickens are we goi...Ah, the Cabal. Or 'What the Dickens are we going to do with all the Xenos?'<br /><br />Best thing to come out of Legion was the Geno 5-2 Chiliad. If they can be said to come out of it at all, poor blighters. Solomon VKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11763252777153908412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-55206442188976969812021-08-21T23:35:00.502-07:002021-08-21T23:35:00.502-07:00I know next to nothing about the alpha legion but ...I know next to nothing about the alpha legion but they still strike me as one of the most 'accidentally' thematically interesting, even if writers struggle to pay off that interestAnnon #8107https://www.blogger.com/profile/16869484989966434932noreply@blogger.com