Changing the Horus Heresy

[Dominion]

What Chaos Legion would you keep loyal in the Horus Heresy & which Loyalist Legion would you swap with to become corrupt?

Personally I would pick the Emperor's Children to save because I love their ideal of 'perfectionism' and their sick royal colours, plus they're the Emperor's Children (remind me why they still call themselves that?) and I would replace them with the Dark Angels, I always thought of them as quite mysterious, that with the fallen I feel if they would turn to Chaos they would fit a unique role with their fanciness and robes.

PS: I added all the former titles if you wanted to say bring back the War Hounds (Luna Wolves FTW!)

[ElectricPaladin]

I picked Thousand Sons because I've always thought their story was the most tragic. Until the very end, Magnus only wanted to serve his father loyally. It's true that he deserved what he got - he was hubristic, proud to the point of damnation - but I always thought that they got a raw deal anyway. And it really was a jerk move to have an entire legion dedicated to supporting their powerful psychics with their limited number of ordinary battle brothers and then outlaw the only thing they're any good at. In that context, Magnus seems less arrogant and more desperate. It's like he's saying "I'm only trying to work with what I've got here." The Emperor should have had a little more faith in him. If he'd trusted Magnus enough to listen, or sent anyone but the Wolves - the Blood Angels, maybe - to demand answers, everything could have gone differently.

I would also throw the Dark Angels under the bus to save the Thousand Sons. They're already so close... and in modern 40k they're such douchebags, spending almost as much of their time and energy protecting their 10k+ year old secret rather than actually doing good for people...

[Tyrendian]

Magnus&Co for me too, for pretty much EPs reasons...

And maybe I'd have thrown the Blood Angels to the Wolves instead (maybe even literally?! that would have been a fight to rival Prospero I'd reckon! Though not one Russ was all that likely to win probably...) - they were (and some are still - hello Blood Drinkers and such) close enough and would have given the World Eaters a serious run for their money/skulls...
Then again, who among the remaining Chaotics would have represented Tzeentch? Alpha Legion are mysterious and scheming, but don't care much for gods either way... So maybe it would have to have been Dark Angels yet...

[dreadtanker]

I just wish alpha legion had their own codex to keep the mystery of their allegiance alive...But I regress. I would like toga seen the Iron Warriors remain with the emperor. Im an Iron Warriors fanatic. And I thought it would have been cool if the Khan wasn't a loyalist. Just out doing his own thing.

[White Tiger88]

I would save any of them but the Word Bearers to throw the Wolves under the buss..........

[Proiteus]

The Thousand Sons because they were loyal as well as a very interesting legion when compared to what they are in the current 40k universe.

[DrBored]

Thousand Sons really got a raw deal. Magnus was trying to remain loyal, but through the most massive misunderstanding in the Galaxy, the Space Wolves were sent to knock them out.

That said, I'd much rather have the Space Wolves converted to Tzeentch.

Yep. Let's just swap that sad story around.

[ElectricPaladin]

I just wish alpha legion had their own codex to keep the mystery of their allegiance alive...But I regress. I would like toga seen the Iron Warriors remain with the emperor. Im an Iron Warriors fanatic. And I thought it would have been cool if the Khan wasn't a loyalist. Just out doing his own thing.

I agree that one of the most frustratingly limited things about how GW has written the Horus Heresy is that when the dust settled, there were only two sides: Chaos and the Imperium. Wouldn't it be neat if one or two of the legions had said "you know what? Screw all of you!" and gone off to found weirdo transhuman enclaves? While some "loyalist" chapters certainly do their own thing and don't come and go at the beck and call of the High Lords of Terra, all of them have to at least give lip service to Earth and the Imperium. It'd be neat of there wasn't this straightforward "good guy/bad guy" dichotomy...

I'd have arranged it like this:

• Loyal: Blood Angels, Imperial Fists, Raven Guard, Salamanders
• Independent: Alpha Legion, Iron Hands, White Scars
• Chaos: Death Guard, Emperor's Children, Sons of Horus, Night Lords, Thousand Sons, Word Bearers, World Eaters

And then there'd be so many interesting plot threads, with Imperial officials trying to convince the independent chapters to help them, calling in ancient debts or trying to manipulate their own enemies into joining with one of the chapter's enemies, or even just begging and trying to invoke their tenuous human kinship... it would also help to explain many of the Space Marine on Space Marine battles we see on the table. You know, if my Blood Angels successors aren't part of the same faction as your Iron Hands army, it kind of makes sense for them to duke it out on a regular basis.

Oh, well.

[DarkDesigner]

I would also save the Thousand Sons.

To be fair on the Emperor (something I rarely am), the Space Wolves were sent because Horus made sure they were the closest legion at the time. But then again, if the Emperor had just been open and trusting towards his sons and told Magnus why he wasn't to use his psychic powers to reach him, then Magnus would have known better. Probably.

Also I would leave the Dark Angels to face the music. They're more Chaosy than some Chaos armies. Them or the Iron Hands (if Ferrus Manus had just turned alongside Fulgrim, they would have been unstoppable).

[sfshilo]

Thousand sons for the iron hands.

iron hands have nearly fallen a couple times, thousand sons were screwed from day one and never really had a chance.