Alpharius: Head of the Hydra (The Horus Heresy: Primarchs) [Hardcover] Brooks, Mike

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I truly enjoyed this novel. It was the first of the Primarch series that I'd read, but after Dan Abnett's excellent "Legion," I was looking forward to learning more about the XXth legion's mysterious leader. That's because you are also Alpharius, your mom..... Alpharius, that next door neighbour... Yup that's Alpharius, that stray cat that occasionally comes over for pets? Also Alpharius. In the grim darkness of the far future there is only Alpharius. For the uninitiated, Alpharius is one of twenty demi-god like post-humans gene wrought by the Emperor of Mankind to re-take the stars about 28,000 years from now. While his nineteen brothers specialise in one form or another of brute force warfare, Alpharius and his Alpha Legion use the shadows to sow dissent and destabilise entire planets before the other primarchs and their legions arrive to bring the light (or death) of the Emperor to the lost arms of humanity. 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? Get this audiobook free then 1 credit each month, good for any title you like - yours to keep, even if you cancel

The Horus Heresy: Primarchs Series by David Annandale - Goodreads

Gitslayer by Darius Hinks takes Gotrek into the Realm of Metal, but when grots interrupt his mission, he’s not going to turn down the opportunity to slay some greenskins. Probably an awful lot of greenskins, actually… Here’s the lowdown.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? 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!

REVIEW: Alpharius: Head of the Hydra - Grimdark Magazine REVIEW: Alpharius: Head of the Hydra - Grimdark Magazine

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. For the best viewing experience, we recommend using old reddit version - https://old.reddit.com/r/40kLore/

Liber Xenologis

Depending on what books and fluff you’ve read, you’re either firmly in the “Alpha Legion are traitors” or the “Alpha Legion are the most brutally loyal of all the legions” camp, or like me, you just love skipping between the two depending on what you add to your body of knowledge about them. You’re never really sure, and this story doesn’t do a tremendous amount to solidify your opinion one way or another, but it does give you the story of how Alpharius was found and what his purpose was.