The wolves would come to heel after the fighting had stopped. :grin: Also, they had no problems going straight to using ridiculous force - rather than talking and solving differences or even landing and conquering at times. Thinking about that planet they wanted beat so they dropped a massive space station on the enemy base from orbit - with no remorse.
I think if crashing a space station into a planet was the most tactically sound solution, most legions would do it, with the exception of probably the Salamanders and Thousand Sons. Salamanders would be worried about collateral damage, and the Thousand Sons prized potential knowledge and despised needless destruction.
The B.A were berzerkers, same as the world eaters. Both legions would've been next to impossible to reign in after getting their blood up. The World Eaters were known for excessive savagery even then. Also, Sanguinious was too noble and would've used the phrase 'wracked with guilt' in every appearance after in the heresy.
The Blood Angels were known for being brutal in C.C. but they were not even remotely as hard to control as the World Eaters. It is only during Signus where they lose control on any serious scale. There are no horror stories about BA during the GC, and the gene curse couldn't have been very common if only Horus knew about it, and only because Sang confided in him.
I think the Ultra's, DA and IF were too honourable to fight other legions at first until they realised it was absolutely nescessary. They wouldn't have just got on with it like the wolves did. Although I did like the description of the Ultra's box
That doesn't say anything about their actual efficiency at fighting other legions. Just their initial willingness to do so.
I think the 1ksons would've been awesome at taking other legions out. Most of them couldn't defend against that amount of psykers (especially after nicea). But the Emp had plans for them - IIRC, he wanted Magnus on the Golden Throne and therefore he wasn't expendable for primarch fighting.
I don't think Magnus would have gone for the role of executioner quite frankly, even if it was offered to him and his legion. His whole outlook was the polar opposite of simply wiping things out.
The Night Lords use terror - Marines don't do fear in the way of lesser races so their effectiveness would've been dimished. As shown by the DA handing their ass to them in the end of the (thramas?) crusade
The 2 legions were pretty much stalemated until the Dark Angels managed to get their hands on that other little nifty device which allowed them to give the Night Lords one of the greatest sneak attacks in galactic history.
The Iron Warriors couldn't have done it as they were split round the galaxy, guarding/garrisoning....setting up for the heresy.
I agree here. They were spread far too wide across the galaxy to be able to be called upon to sanction any other legion within any reasonable timeframe.
The Emperors Children could've done it, same as the Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus but I think location plays a part - weren't they off at the leading edge of the crusade? (Logistics would've prevented them from taking that role.)
Both these legions, in terms of ability, could have fulfilled the role IMO. I don't know about where they were in terms of leading the Crusade, but I actually think that there is a good chance that neither Horus or Fulgrim would have been keen on being the Emperor's watchdogs. Both were pretty arrogant, so they'd probably feel like it was a job that was beneath them.
The Salamanders were too nice.
Yeah, probably.:laugh:
The Iron Hands could've done it, but due to their shit representation in the heresy so far (everyone knows they only charge in blindly and angrily) I don't think they could've pulled it off.
Well, that is just poor writing so far. The Isstvan suvivors have shown plenty of strategy and tactical ability. Also, Ferrus was noted as a potential candidate with Guilliman, Lion, Dorn etc. for Warmaster, and Guilliman considered putting the Iron Hands in as the command base for the "shattered" legion presence in Ultramar. He wouldn't have considered that without good reason.
Nobody can find the White Scars.
Haha, actually very true, if
Brotherhood of the Storm is anything to go by.
The Alpha's wouldn't have needed to enact sanctions. The opposing primarch would've just found out that all his marines were Alpharius...
But I don't think 1 vs 1 they would've held up to another primarch in battle and due to narratives having to involve primarch vs primarch they wouldn't have been first choice.
Well, the twins have shown the ability to outsmart a number of their brothers, as well as successfully infiltrate a number of legions. As far as legions go with a very high success rate against other legions in terms of achieving their objectives, the AL are probably at the top.
So The Wolves were the legion used as sanction because
Location
Not questioning orders
Stopping once they'd finished
Small legion, so they were more expendable - the wolves losing wouldn't be the same as Rogal Dorn or Roboute's legions losing.
Russ was one of the better primarchs to go 1 vs 1 with another primarch.
I don't get what you mean by location. They were out crusading, like all the other legions.
Also, a number of primarchs, most notably Dorn, would also follow the Emperor's orders without question. Hell, Pollux had Perturabo by the balls, and retreated simply because Dorn said so.
Stopping once they'd finished? Other than the Wolrd Eaters, who sometimes lost control, the legions also stopped fighting when there was no longer any need to. And the Wolves did not always stop. See the encounter between them and the Thousand Sons at Shrike, where the Sons had secured the one large library, but then the Wolves still wanted to destroy it, even though it was no longer a military threat.
And I don't see how smaller numbers would make them a better choice at taking out legions. A numerical disadvantage when fighting warriors who are your equals is never a plus. And the loss of any legion would have been a major blow to the Imperium, whether it was the Wolves or the Ultramarines.
And the last point about Russ is purely opinion. There is nothing to suggest that Russ was more suited to fighting his brothers than any of the others were. Case in point, he lost to Angron, has never managed to best the Lion, and got lucky to beat Magnus, even with the odds stacked in his favour during that fight. I'm not saying Russ is weak or anything, but there is nothing so far to suggest he is so much better than most of his brothers to warrant making that kind of claim about his one-on-one abilities. All the primarchs were very close in terms of combat, that external factors make a HUGE difference IMO. For example, I think a fresh Angron vs fresh Russ will see Angron victorious. But say Angron after he fought Guilliman on Nuceria (assuming Lorgar didn't do the whole turn-him-into-a-giant-monster thing afterwards) vs a fresh Russ and Russ would win.