Yuzi Ranks the Legions
Image is a screenshot from YouTube.
date: 21/08/2025
I recently watched this fun video wherein a chap and his girlfriend rank the first founding Space Marine legions. Since I found it funny and Yuzi is coming in with a similar level of 40k knowledge to what I can gather of this chap's partner (some! She has wrote a story for this very site, allowing me to expand into Warhammer Romance as I always wanted! but not huge amounts) I thought I would get Yuzi's take on the legions. So I made her a document with my own brief summary of the legion's themes and aesthetics along with some pictures to illustrate, then asked for her take. She gave me permission to share here! Where she refers to something we have seen together or an image from the document I have shared or linked here to make the context clearer. Enjoy!
Dark Angels: 9/10. Aesthetics/theming is a bit meh, but I love the secret stash of super power ultimate weapons they can bust out when narratively convenient, and the cute little unexplained xenos buddies get SO many extra points.
Alpha Legion: 8/10. I love their (very much un-sneaky) teal colour and the twin primarchs. Gotta love these sneaky bois.
World Eaters: 7.5/10. Not the best tier but they're doing pretty good. They're bloody, angry, and violent and they wear red and their faces are twisted with rage and they have glowing red eyes. They're doing great! I also think they're a good part of Warhammer world because you would most likely never encounter them because they're stuck on a planet trying to find more people to murder, but when you do encounter them, it feels like you've accidentally stepped into hell. The universe is filled with creatively nasty things that want you dead.
Ultramarines: 7/10. These guys are also doing great. Strong theming and the shade of blue is a nice one that suits them well. They are too basic for me to ever have them as my faction, but I appreciate what they're doing from afar. For ULTRAMAR!
Salamanders: 7/10. Also doing pretty good. I like the green (+ red) colour scheme and that they are lizards and everything is fire-themed. The flamethrowers are ridiculous. Otherwise, though, they seem a bit plain.
Black Legion: 7/10. Not bad. They use their colour (black) well, but overall, not super appealing to me. This is some nice art for them, though (the older pieces)!
(She actually initially gave them 5.5/10 but explained bumping them up this way "I feel like I should probably bump up the Black Legion. They're a bit plain and I didn't find their mode of operation interesting, but on the black knight aesthetic alone, probably more like 7/10." So it's a genuine bump up the rankings just on strength of John Blanche art alone. He's so great!)
Night Lords: 6.5/10. Awful and bat-themed. Love them.
Iron Warriors: 6/10. Solid look/theming, but nothing special. Are these the people that attract a fanbase of boys who would rather become iron for Father than go to therapy? They seem very functional, what with turning badass fighting skills into a practical power source, which I like. They will never win any popularity contests but they show up and I appreciate that.
White Scars: 4.5/10. I sense a lot of untapped potential here. Seems like it could be a really badass and cool chapter but stymied by the fear of going too Orientalist or Mongol apologist/fanboy with it (a legitimate fear). Aesthetic looks quite cool, though, despite it seeming a bit empty otherwise.
Raven Guard: 4.5/10. While I like the art of the two raven bois sitting in a field doing reconnaissance, I don't find much interesting going on here.
Thousand Sons: 4/10. Nice theming and I like the notion of animated suits of armour walking around. However, I think wizards are for me what elves are to you -- I never find them that interesting.
Iron Hands: 4/10. Oh wait, is THIS the chapter people are using identification with as unofficial therapy? I don't like this aesthetic as much as the Iron Warriors, which is a shame because I think AdMech are pretty cool and funny, but similar things used for a marine legion just isn't as interesting to me.
(I subsequently clarified with her that it was indeed the Iron Warriors she was thinking of, but I am keeping the confusion here cos it's wild to me that they had to come up with just 18 legions and still couldn't keep from two of them being Iron themed chaps with a desperate need for therapy.)
Death Guard: 3.5/10. Good theming and another great "the universe is filled with horrors that want to kill you" addition to the Warhammer world, but they get so low because they are gross. Sowwy. :(
Emperor's Children: 3/10. Gotta admit, most of the points awarded here are because of the incredibly bishie Fulgrim and the colour purple, but I feel like they are not living up to the awesome potential of purple.
Imperial Fists: 2.5/10. Just OK. Get a bit of a boost because of the fist logo.
Blood Angels: 2.5/10. The specifically Horus-related madness is great. But nothing else about the aesthetic is at all appealing to me.
Space Wolves: 2/10. I'm sure this is appealing to someone, but everything here is unappealing to me, and quite cheesy.
Word Bearers: 2/10. A bit all over the place and the one constant (religious fanatic theming) doesn't do much for me. I think they are lacking in sauce.
So there you have it, the legions ranked according to my partner. Thus sayeth the Lord!