As the resident Goonhammer Chaos Guy, you might expect that I’d jump at the chance to read a book about Alpharius’ origins. And well, you’d be about half right. While I’m generally big on reading more about all the traitor primarchs and each of their fallen legions is one of my special, unique boys, over the last few years I’ve grown more and more fed up with the Alpha Legion’s bullshit. Over the last twenty or so years, the Alpha Legion have gone from “the one legion that specializes in guerilla warfare and subterfuge” to “the guys who were just pretending to lose this whole time and are actually behind you and also it turns out your dog was a covert operative working for them the whole time.” In the process they’ve gone from “interesting” to “tiring,” as the twists often seem to fire from out of left field and their triple- and quadruple-crosses just feel convoluted and unnecessary, while new plot revelations around the Alpha Legion tend to feel like similarly unnecessary tweaks that make them even more special and secret. In writing this I’ve steered away from talking too much about the plot, and quite deliberately so. I went into this knowing next to nothing about the story and I think I enjoyed it all the more as a result. However one thing I will say is that the more familiar you are with the 40k canon the more you’re likely to enjoy this. If you’re completely fresh to 40k then this really isn’t the best place to start, a degree of familiarity with the big players of the pre-Heresy era is vital to save yourself a lot of frustrating head scratching. If on the other hand you’re well versed in the story of how the Imperium came to be, the Great Crusade and the finding of the Primarchs, then prepare to enjoy having some well established “facts” revealed as falsehoods, key events turned on their heads and major players re-examined from a uniquely insightful perspective. After hearing things from Alpharius’s point of view I don’t think I’ll ever trust Rogal Dorn again! I Horus Rising • II False Gods • III Galaxy in Flames • IV The Flight of the Eisenstein • V Fulgrim • VI Descent of Angels • VII Legion • VIII Battle for the Abyss • IX Mechanicum • X Tales of Heresy • XI Fallen Angels • XII A Thousand Sons • XIII Nemesis • XIV The First Heretic • XV Prospero Burns • XVI Age of Darkness • XVII The Outcast Dead • XVIII Deliverance Lost • XIX Know No Fear • XX The Primarchs • XXI Fear to Tread • XXII Shadows of Treachery • XXIII Angel Exterminatus • XXIV Betrayer • XXV Mark of Calth • XXVI Vulkan Lives • XXVII The Unremembered Empire • XXVIII Scars • XXIX Vengeful Spirit • XXX The Damnation of Pythos • XXXI Legacies of Betrayal • XXXII Deathfire • XXXIII War Without End • XXXIV Pharos • XXXV Eye of Terra • XXXVI The Path of Heaven • XXXVII The Silent War • XXXVIII Angels of Caliban • XXXIX Praetorian of Dorn • XL Corax • XLI The Master of Mankind • XLII Garro • XLIII Shattered Legions • XLIV The Crimson King • XLV Tallarn • XLVI Ruinstorm • XLVII Old Earth • XLVIII The Burden of Loyalty • XLIX Wolfsbane • L Born of Flame • LI Slaves to Darkness • LII Heralds of the Siege • LIII Titandeath • LIV The Buried Dagger

Book Review: Alpharius: Head of the Hydra, by Mike Brooks

PDF / EPUB File Name: Alpharius__Head_of_the_Hydra_-_Mike_Brooks.pdf, Alpharius__Head_of_the_Hydra_-_Mike_Brooks.epub Off all the primarchs, Alpharius(Omgeon) has been the most difficult to pin down with exception of the two "lost" primarchs. This, off course, has been by design. The Alpha legion as a whole is made to be impossible to pin down; are they still loyal in the 40K setting? Is Alpharius still alive in the 40K setting? How many of them are still left? Are they still one force with one goal? Who can tell?For all it's 80ties metal and coke infused madness, every warhammer 40K fan has to admit that space (werewolf) vikings are just a bit silly. The beauty of warhammer 40K is making you forget that while reading the lore/stories or playing the games. As is the whole cult of the primarchs that sprouted in the legions which made the Horus Heresy possible or the cult of the divine emperor at that. Suspending your disbelief is absolutely obligated when you dive into this crazy sci fi world and setting. But with the Alpha legion, this suddenly is a whole lot less necessary. Their tactics, operations, ethics, mindset and methods feel as an extension of modern contemporary warfare rather then bizarre "just roll with it" warfare most other legions have. An Alpha legionnaire is something like a green beret or american ranger mixed in with some KGB/CIA shenanigans, something I did not fully appreciate until reading this book. Legends abound of the glorious - or infamous - deeds of the Emperor's sons. Yet almost nothing is known of Alpharius, the most mysterious of them all, for the Lord of the Alpha Legion is unparalleled in the art of obfuscation. Such are his gifts of secrecy and deceit that even his rediscovery has remained an enigma - until now. But when the tale comes from the serpent's mouth, where does the deception end and the truth begin. [1] Sources

The Horus Heresy: Primarchs Series by David Annandale - Goodreads

A Primarchs novel Who better to relate the tale of Alpharius than the primarch himself? As he tells of his deeds, bear one thing in mind: nothing can be trusted when it comes from serpent’s mouth. READ IT BECAUSE I am Alpharius… and so are you. THE STORY Legends abound of the glorious – or infamous – deeds of the Emperor’s sons. Yet almost nothing is known of Alpharius, the most mysterious of them all, for the Lord of the Alpha Legion is unparalleled in the art of obfuscation. Such are his gifts of secrecy and deceit that even his rediscovery has remained an enigma – until now. But when the tale comes from the serpent’s mouth, where do the lies end and the truth begin? Alpharius: Head of the Hydra (The Horus Heresy: Primarchs #14) by Mike Brooks – eBook Details

Dawn of Fire: The Gate of Bones

The difficulty of pinning down Alpharius and his legion extends beyond that, all legions have a "thing" going for them; the space wolves are vikings in space, the white scars are mongols, thousands sons have that Egyptian thing going for them. These are the most in your face examples off course but still the Alpha legion at first feels like an odd one in the bunch. Reading this book made me reflect on that conundrum for longer then before and then it hit me. The Alpha legion is probably the most realistic of the legions. Never before have I been this sold on a Primarch. Alpharius thinks, talks and acts in a way that simply makes me adore his character. He is so multifaceted: at one point he is calmly and efficiently destroying xenos creatures, and at another point he is musing on how it is often beneficial to be kind to humans. He actually comes across to me as remarkably human, with all the traits of kindness, humour, cunning and arrogance - which makes his prowess in planning and battle all the more terrifying. He is one with his Legion, both its Astartes and human elements, and that makes him even more effective and interesting to read about. This is what concerned me at the outset of this book. The discovery, motivation and nature of Alpharius/Omegon is littered with unknowns and I was worried that new lore would detract from their identity as the primarchs we knew the least about. Having now read the book, and digested the new details within, I can happily report my fears were not realised. There are big reveals, and Brooks strikes a wonderful balance between dropping new lore oozing with detail that 40k lore nerds crave and maintaining the aura of mystery that surrounds the Alpha Legion. A feat that is particularly impressive considering the whole narrative is told from the 1st person perspective of Alpharius.

Alpharius: Head of the Hydra (The Horus Heresy [PDF] [EPUB] Alpharius: Head of the Hydra (The Horus Heresy

I almost shelved this one part way through, while any lore bits about the Alpha Legion I'm gonna sink my teeth into, let alone about their Primarch this one started out rough. It was clear the author was trying to present Alpharius a certain way but it had the reverse effect for much of the book, it came off nearly masterbatory and was afraid it was going to be more generic bolter porn 'space mahrine best' crap.Brooks writes a pretty decent primarch—something I see as incredibly difficult to do as they are as a level of intellect above the post-human astartes as the astartes are to us mere humans. Their imagination, innovation, motivators, and such are somewhat removed from our own, but at a base level driven by the same foundational emotional stalwarts: loyalty, friendship, exclusion, jealousy, betrayal. In many of the primarchs, these things are thrown at you with the force of a thunder hammer, but with Alpharius’ blunt, pragmatic, and duplicitous point of view, you can never be sure, and I liked that.