All Space Marine Legions in order of release in Warhammer 40K

There are 20 Space Marine Legions in Warhammer 40K, with two being unknown. The canon is fluid and dates back to the magazines and books released in the 80’s—so it’s hard to verify when exactly each Legion was first mentioned, but thanks to dedicated fans, we have some idea.

All Space Marine Legions in Warhammer 40K

All Weapons in Space Marine 2
What’s the difference from one Space Marine Legion to another? A lot, it turns out. Image via Saber Interactive

The Legions, once called Legiones Astartes, were created by the Emperor of Mankind to conquer the galaxy on multiple fronts. They were each led by a Primarch—the genetically engineered children of the Emperor with superhuman abilities far surpassing the Space Marines in their Legion—and each also had a different specialty.

There were 20 Legions, but at some point during the Great Crusade period of 40K lore, two of the Legions were completely erased from history and no one knows anything about them. As the Great Crusade ended and the Horus Heresy started, nine Legions joined Warmaster Horus to serve Chaos and were considered traitors. The Horus Heresy is probably the most famous event 40K lore revolved around, and the Emperor eventually prevailed against the wayward Primarchs and their Legions. Since then, the Legions have been separated into Loyalists and Traitors according to which side of the Horus Heresy each Legion joined.

Here are all the Space Marine Legions in Warhammer 40K, their Primarch, and allegiance.

Legion number Legion Primarch Allegiance
I Dark Angels Lion El’Jonson Loyalist
II Unknown Unknown Unknown
III Emperor’s Children Fulgrim Traitor
IV Iron Warriors Perturabo Traitor
V White Scars Jaghatai Khan Loyalist
VI Space Wolves Leman Russ Loyalist
VII Imperial Fists Rogal Dorn Loyalist
VIII Night Lords Konrad Curze Traitor
IX Blood Angels Sanguinius Loyalist
X Iron Hands Ferrus Manus Loyalist
XI Unknown Unknown Unknown
XII World Eaters Angron Traitor
XIII Ultramarines Roboute Guilliman Loyalist
XIV Death Guard Mortarion Traitor
XV Thousand Sons Magnus the Red Traitor
XVI Black Legion Horus Lupercal Traitor
XVII Word Bearers Lorgar Traitor
XVIII Salamanders Vulkan Loyalist
XIX Raven Guard Corvus Corax Loyalist
XX Alpha Legion Alpharius and Omegon Traitor

All Space Marine Legions in order of release in Warhammer 40K

It’s hard to determine when each Legion was first introduced in Warhammer 40K because of the vast amount of content distributed in magazines and books that date back to 1987; however, a very dedicated fan posted on Reddit what edition each Legion appeared first.

Here’s what Vromikos cataloged as the order of appearance for the Space Marine Legions in Warhammer 40K:

Legion mentioned Year Source
– Dark Angels
– White Scars (as “Whitescars”)
– Space Wolves (as “Spacewolves”)
1987 White Dwarf No. 93
– Ultramarines 1987 White Dwarf No. 94
– Blood Angels
– Iron Hands
1987 Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
– Salamanders 1988 White Dwarf No. 101
– Emperor’s Children
– World Eaters (as “Worldeaters”)
1988 White Dwarf No. 104
– Iron Warriors
– Imperial Fists
– Death Guard (as “Death Guards”)
– Thousand Sons
– Black Legion
– Alpha Legion
1988 Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness
– Word Bearers 1989 White Dwarf No. 110
– Night Lords 1990 Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned
– Raven Guard 1993 Most likely in the second edition Codex

Warhammer 40K fans also said that the Legions were first mentioned only by their numbers before receiving their name in the magazines and books from the list above. The whole story behind each Legion was published in parts as the game magazines were released and were later unified in the Codex’s editions. Since then, those stories have been refined and continued as the game has progressed and spread to different forms of media—like Space Marine 2.


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