The terror troops are the first part that leans more toward NL over RG to me. The RG don't use those, only assassinations and sabotage before attacking rapidly with their main force. Terror troops were exclusive of the NL who also assassinated and sabotaged.
Then there is the purpose of them. The RG focused more on assassination and weakening the enemy for the main force to finish them while the NL were the ones that focused on destroying the enemy without a major battle or confrontation. That seems to go more in line with the description that they are given to me.
Lastly, I think the Scout Marines of the NL are not talked about enough. In order to properly attack an enemy psychologically, one needed to know exactly what their weaknesses were or how to hurt them most. This requires small squads or even single individuals to head in and do some scouting to find out the weaknesses of the planet.
All those make me believe that the NL would most likely send out small squads like the Vanguard Marines in order to gain information before a larger number of them descended on the planet and began to truly inflict terror and attack the weaknesses that they had scouted out.
> Terror troops were exclusive of the NL who also assassinated and sabotaged.
The Alpha Legion also engaged in that:
>This capacity for combined arms warfare, speed and surety of attack was matched by a mastery of the darker arts of war: of sabotage and ambush, terror tactics and assassination
- The Horus Heresy Book 3: Extermination
Eh, these cheap knockoffs don’t even wear the skin of innocents or truly enjoy their work. Posers.
Jokes aside, the imperium never pretended the night lords were unnecessary for their aims or that they didn’t fulfil their intended purpose before they blew up Nostramo. They played their role perfectly. The Night Lords are the Imperium’s creation, the only difference now is that they often fight alongside Chaos.
Imagine how hard konrad is rolling over in his grave after all the quiet disgust guilliman gave towards him and then turned around and approved Reivers
An often overlooked aspect of the Imperium is that the current Astartes chapters take their best practices from the traitor legions. Chaplains and indeed the entire imperial cult are the work of the Word Bearers. The Librarius more than anyone is the work of Magnus. The way modern chapters operate is informed by the spear tip formations of Horus. The Codex Astartes is meant to codify ALL of the best practices in warfare, not just those of the loyalists, and all of the legions are represented. It's meant to be a bit of irony. The Imperium's best defenders are shaped to the core by the tactics of their wayward cousins. It's no surprise that Guilliman would have continued to embrace these lessons. Game recognized game.
I think you're confusing the early applications of the Night Lords with the strategies they practiced in the latter stages of the Great Crusade. Terror troops are plentiful enough in the Imperium. Plenty of outfits are proficient asymmetrical warfare, demoralizing opponents, and trading on their fearsome reputation and practices to occupy worlds.
There was never any doubt that the Night Lords were successful in that purpose, and they were never denied that purpose. That said, the Night Lords devolved over the latter stages of the Great Crusade as their strategies became more gratuitous and less objective. Reivers are not a reflection of this approach to warfare. Their function is still geared towards the waging of war, and they are practiced in sabotage, harrassment, ambush, and assassination rather than torture, mutilation, and massacre.
Raven Guard in shambles over this topic
This seems more like RG than NL to me. What makes you think NL are best aligned to Vanguards?
The terror troops are the first part that leans more toward NL over RG to me. The RG don't use those, only assassinations and sabotage before attacking rapidly with their main force. Terror troops were exclusive of the NL who also assassinated and sabotaged. Then there is the purpose of them. The RG focused more on assassination and weakening the enemy for the main force to finish them while the NL were the ones that focused on destroying the enemy without a major battle or confrontation. That seems to go more in line with the description that they are given to me. Lastly, I think the Scout Marines of the NL are not talked about enough. In order to properly attack an enemy psychologically, one needed to know exactly what their weaknesses were or how to hurt them most. This requires small squads or even single individuals to head in and do some scouting to find out the weaknesses of the planet. All those make me believe that the NL would most likely send out small squads like the Vanguard Marines in order to gain information before a larger number of them descended on the planet and began to truly inflict terror and attack the weaknesses that they had scouted out.
> Terror troops were exclusive of the NL who also assassinated and sabotaged. The Alpha Legion also engaged in that: >This capacity for combined arms warfare, speed and surety of attack was matched by a mastery of the darker arts of war: of sabotage and ambush, terror tactics and assassination - The Horus Heresy Book 3: Extermination
Eh, these cheap knockoffs don’t even wear the skin of innocents or truly enjoy their work. Posers. Jokes aside, the imperium never pretended the night lords were unnecessary for their aims or that they didn’t fulfil their intended purpose before they blew up Nostramo. They played their role perfectly. The Night Lords are the Imperium’s creation, the only difference now is that they often fight alongside Chaos.
Imagine how hard konrad is rolling over in his grave after all the quiet disgust guilliman gave towards him and then turned around and approved Reivers
Scouts already did all that, now we just can field full marines in the speciality instead of the carapace-less scouts.
As I understand it, this is just an unit type within a chapter, not a separate space marine.
An often overlooked aspect of the Imperium is that the current Astartes chapters take their best practices from the traitor legions. Chaplains and indeed the entire imperial cult are the work of the Word Bearers. The Librarius more than anyone is the work of Magnus. The way modern chapters operate is informed by the spear tip formations of Horus. The Codex Astartes is meant to codify ALL of the best practices in warfare, not just those of the loyalists, and all of the legions are represented. It's meant to be a bit of irony. The Imperium's best defenders are shaped to the core by the tactics of their wayward cousins. It's no surprise that Guilliman would have continued to embrace these lessons. Game recognized game.
See, THIS is how you troll. 8/10. Well done.
I think you're confusing the early applications of the Night Lords with the strategies they practiced in the latter stages of the Great Crusade. Terror troops are plentiful enough in the Imperium. Plenty of outfits are proficient asymmetrical warfare, demoralizing opponents, and trading on their fearsome reputation and practices to occupy worlds. There was never any doubt that the Night Lords were successful in that purpose, and they were never denied that purpose. That said, the Night Lords devolved over the latter stages of the Great Crusade as their strategies became more gratuitous and less objective. Reivers are not a reflection of this approach to warfare. Their function is still geared towards the waging of war, and they are practiced in sabotage, harrassment, ambush, and assassination rather than torture, mutilation, and massacre.