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View Full Version : Trying to decide between Black Legion or Iron Warriors (fluffy CSM army)



Wayniac
08-18-2016, 10:26 AM
First, this is from purely a fluff and aesthetics standpoint. I know CSM is in a bad place right now, I don't care :) Anyways I want to focus on building a fluffy Undivided-style CSM army (i.e. no taking Mark of Nurgle and saying "Oh it's really bionics" or using SM rules instead) and I've narrowed down the traitor legion I want to one of these two. I have some pros/cons of each I'm braingstorming, but still I can't make up my mind!

Black Legion
Pros:

I really like the fluff, having read "Talon of Horus" and started reading the Heresy series; the idea of being the setting's ultimate bad guys and the Legion that was reborn to conquer the other legions is cool
Flexibility to basically do whatever I want
If I play 30k, I would 99% pick Sons of Horus so it would be cool to have a parallel army in both settings
Have some cool ideas for using Chaos Warrior/Knight helmets for conversions

Cons:

Boring color scheme for the most part, also very easy to make look awful and hard to make it look good
Very generic being the "default" Chaos legion
I think there's already a BL player or two at my GW store and the special snowflake in me dislikes this :)


Iron Warriors
Pros:

Love the color scheme (also it's easy to paint and I paint in a very gritty/earthy style that I think would suit them)
I enjoy the fluff to an extent, something about being treated like dogs and never being given respect or having what you do be enough until it causes you to break resonates with me (maybe after my horrible marriage)
Seem to be slightly more unique visually than Black Legion
Allows for using FW Rapier weapons batteries, which Black Legion doesn't quite fit
Rumor has it that Perturabo is going to show up as a Daemon Primarch, so some power creep might be showing up
For whatever reason whenever I think of Iron Warriors I think of the Decepticons from Transformers.

Cons:

Not a big fan of the fusion of mechanical and flesh stuff that I see
May need Forgeworld stuff if I want them to look different
No more 4 Heavy Support choices :p


Right now I'm basically reading fluff on both, looking at artwork and other people's works to see which appeals to me more, while also reading Horus Rising and planning on reading (or maybe reading in tandem) with the Iron Warriors Omnibus, again to see what strikes my fancy.

Mud Duck
08-18-2016, 12:07 PM
More in line with the Black Legion myself. Iron Warriors seem to me to be 'overdone', and kinda boring to be honest, around these parts. And the BL does have different 'levels' of Legionnaire according to the fuff in the codex, so you could do something different from the other guy. Also it allows for the addition of other legion allies, with you need a break in painting the same old, same old.

Deacon Ix
08-18-2016, 02:34 PM
Words Bearers player here,

Maybe paint up a marine of each? see which you prefere?
Also - and I find this helps alot - since you seem to be a 'Fluffy' player, make up an army with each and try to make it as fluffy as possible, with BL it would be an overabundance of elites, IW - heavy support, see which one 'feels' better, about 2000pts would do teh trick. I enjoy playing a fluffy army and if you can build one that you thinks fits your playstyle then that could be the army for you :D

Wayniac
08-18-2016, 05:44 PM
Words Bearers player here,

Maybe paint up a marine of each? see which you prefere?
Also - and I find this helps alot - since you seem to be a 'Fluffy' player, make up an army with each and try to make it as fluffy as possible, with BL it would be an overabundance of elites, IW - heavy support, see which one 'feels' better, about 2000pts would do teh trick. I enjoy playing a fluffy army and if you can build one that you thinks fits your playstyle then that could be the army for you :D

That's a good idea, actually! Word Bearers were on my list too at one point but I'm tired of painting red (I play Khador in Warmachine) :p

Wayniac
08-22-2016, 08:39 AM
So I actually did this. I painted up one of the regular looking DV Chosen (with the bolter) as a Black Legion CSM to see how it looked. And, while it didn't look bad, it confirmed my general fear that it looks flat. The gold came out well, but the black plates are just that, black even after a highlight and a shade to darken it. It looked too basic.

So I think that seals Iron Warriors, because I can't bear to look at bad black and sadly my meager paint skills result in "bad" black.

Deacon Ix
08-24-2016, 12:29 PM
So I actually did this. I painted up one of the regular looking DV Chosen (with the bolter) as a Black Legion CSM to see how it looked. And, while it didn't look bad, it confirmed my general fear that it looks flat. The gold came out well, but the black plates are just that, black even after a highlight and a shade to darken it. It looked too basic.

So I think that seals Iron Warriors, because I can't bear to look at bad black and sadly my meager paint skills result in "bad" black.

Good going! I had the same issue when I started collecting Eldar, already collecting WB and BA I really did not want a another red army so I went Ulthwe and created a fluffy list to go with it : Clicky (http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?71596-2000pt-Eldar-Ulthwe-quot-fluffy-quot) I think it's both fun and fluffy and hopefully won't get rolled too easily :D