Legion of the Damned query

[vincegamer]

So I just picked up some old Legion of the Damned minis on ebay.
I\'d like to include them in my army, but I have no idea how they are used game-wise. I read about them on Wikipedia, and the description sounds a bit complex for integrating them, but the iconography on the sculpt is nice and I\'d rather not file it all off to include them in my army.

So, how are LoD used in the game?


p.s. does anyone have a spare LoD heavy weapon right arm?

 

[demonherald]

I believe they have been relegated to the standing of space marine allies with deep strike ability.. As far as I can tell this is while GW work on some new rules..
Heres a couple of links with ideas...
link 1
link 2
link 3
last one

 

[RedSevenBlue]

This is a story that I heard from a few GW employees.

3 space marines are standing in the middle of a field with ONLY 4 bolter shells between them, completely outnumbered by \'nids. All of a sudden a fog rolls in and with it, the Legion of the Damned. The LoD completely wipe out the tyranids and the fog rolls out and all that\'s there now is the three space marines and a bunch of dead nids.

 

[OrkyDave]

I\'m sure I have the old white dwarf knocking around, when they released Sgt Centurius with the opening of the 100th store (although unfortunatley not the Centurius mini...) will have a look tomorrow and PM you as much info as I can find, will also hunt my bits box for the heavy weapons for you as I\'m positive I still have an unpainted squad of these .

The bit about allies for existing marine armies does sound very familiar though, although I am sure with the chapter traits in the new(ish) codex you could knock up a characterful and game legal army based around their background.

 

[demonherald]

Yeah they\'ve been batted around a little background wise.. They were originally thought to be The emperors personal bodyguard.. Then Ghost warriors ..then grouped into the cursed foundings.
The rules were in WD not so long back as part of the index astartes series ..

There they say they were once thought to have been the Fire hawks and confusion reigns as to wether they are lost souls from a past era or from the future (cool 40K timecops ) They appear kick the shit out of everything and leave..
I\'m sure if there aren\'t full current rules then you culd soon combine a couple of traits..
Also the heraldry and look really does rock and could be used for so much..I use them to make some Mortifactors..
all good fun..

 

[Godlikebuthumble]

http://uk.games-workshop.com/spacemarines/cursed/1

There you go!

For some background:
http://uk.games-workshop.com/spacemarines/legionofthedamned

Hope that helps.

 

[penguin]

lol I just googled Legion of the Damned and this was one of the first hits!

 

[Querysphinx]

I happen to still have this copy of White Dwarf. (#278)

The Legion of the Damned have the Apparitions special rule that states that they ALWAYS deep strike (even at the beginning of the game - just set them up anywhere but your enemy\'s deployment zone and roll scatter) If the Reserves or Deep Strike rules are in play, the LotD must begin in Reserve and Deep Strike.

Also, all LotD models including vehicles get a 6+(I) save to represent them being insubstaltal.

All this costs +5 pt per non vehicle model and +10 pts per Dreadnought or other AV vehicle.

All cursed founding marines do NOT get the And they shall know no fear special rule.

Last but not least. All cursed founding space marine are likely to leave the board. At the
beginning of the LotD player\'s turn roll 1D6 per squad. If a one is rolled the unit \"retreats\" (like a fall back but withot the ability to be trapped or crossfired). If any models make it off the board the whole unit disappears. If no models make it off the board the unit fights as normal the next turn (unless they roll another 1)

 

[vincegamer]

So basically it sounds like I can just include them as part of my normal army - they don\'t have to be the same chapter or follow the chapter rules. I guess I\'m best off painting them up as LoD rather than trying to convert them to my chapter colors and heraldry.
(I only have a squad of them).

 

[Dedwrekka]

Pre-new space marine codex: There\'s an article for using chapters out of the \'Cursed Founding\', of which the Legion of the Damned are from, in the Chapter Approved 2 compilation (Technicly it\'s the third, but few remember that one). It gives rules, background and such, everything but the full story of the cursed founding which appeared a long while back in White Dwarf.

Post-new Space Marine codex: There was nothing that said that the previous arcticle was outdated or could no longer be used, so as far as I say, use it. -OR- Use the variation rules to give them all special saves and drop pods w/o launchers (Essentially what the original article gave them).

 

[Trevor]

They were originally thought to be The emperors personal bodyguard.. Then Ghost warriors ..then grouped into the cursed foundings.

Rubbish, I\'ve read all the WD articles on the LoTD from the priginal WD 95 issue, they were never the Emperors bodyguard.

The rules have changed considerably with each rules edition, in RT they were close combat killing machines with a points cost to match, in 2nd ed they appeared in the codex as a single squad entry with considerably reduced powers, there was even a complete army list for them in WD for 2nd edition that came out 1 month before 3rd ed (so was completely useless to those switching to 3rd...).

Anyway, they are basically the Firehawks, a chapter lost in the warp. They have always turned up and disappeared mysteriously, but have not always been incorporeal as such. There is heaps more background, but again it varies depending upon edition.

As far as rules go, I would paint them up as LoTD, and then use the counts as rule to have them as whatever seems appropriate to your army and the person you are playing, having them deep striking and close combat (although they generally took bolters and not HtH weapons) is certainly very fitting with the background fluff, and there are quite a few troops types that fit with that (simplest being assault troops).

My own LoTD army is based on the chaos marine army list with pretty heavy restrictions of what can be taken.