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Extensive preparations are made before actually attacking an [[Imperium|Imperial]] target, including the use of espionage and corruption to weaken an enemy's resolve. Not only is an enemy attacked from every angle, but every attack is often coordinated to achieve the most destructive results. Many actions are planned to exploit and support local [[Cultist]] activity. These cults go to considerable efforts to spread propaganda, perform sabotage and carry out acts of unrest and rebellion, providing a distraction and weakening the enemy before the Alpha Legion strikes.{{Fn|1a}}{{Fn|8}} Furthermore, the [[Traitor Legion|Legion]] has been known to ally themselves with anti-Imperial forces including other Traitor Legions and [[Xenos]].{{Fn|1a}} On worlds far away from the [[Eye of Terror]], [[Daemon]]s are relied upon less since they cannot remain stable for long enough to be useful. If the Alpha Legion succeeds in securing the allegiance of a local Chaos cult they are summoned to add to the Legion's tactical repertoire.{{Fn|1a}}{{Fn|8}}
The Alpha Legion does not fight like any other [[Traitor Legion|Chaos Space Marine Legion]] or warband. They prefer to avoid direct combat, using subterfuge, infiltration, sabotage, brainwashing and meticulous multi-year plans to destroy their enemies as opposed to a simple attack. The very identities of Alpha Legion Marines are the subject of mystery. Their supposed identities are frequently aliases which are shared by cell members, meaning the name and identity of one Alpha Legion Marine could actually refer to many. Genetic face-changing technology is utilised to change the appearance of Legionnaires to confound Imperial authorities as to their real identity. Due to this habit of shared aliases, members of the Alpha Legion often refer to themselves as part of a greater collective identity. When they do show themselves, Alpha Legion Marines prefer to let their cultists and underlings do most of the combat while they themselves wait for the decisive moment to strike or make their escape.{{Fn|15}} Perhaps the most infamous stratagem used by the Alpha Legion is ''"The final overwhelming push Harrowing"'', by which the massed forces user wields a devastating mixture of subtlety and overwhelming force, reveling in both meticulous planning and imaginative cruelty. While such assaults begin with various operative or [[Cultist]]{{Fn|17}} uprisings and sabotage, the Alpha Legion at then infiltrates a world to spread further confusion and panic while bleeding the precise moment when enemy of its main strategic assets and command. This continues until it is time for the enemy final kill, The Harrowing itself, which is at its weakest a final overwhelming push from subterfuge is known as ''a hundred different directions. These final overwhelming attacks are often led by elite [[Terminator]]s and heavy armor.{{Fn|88}} While the Alpha Legion developed The Harrowing''during the [[Great Crusade]] under Alpharius, the warbands of today continue to still revere its use.{{Fn|1776b}}
Unlike most of the other [[Chaos Space Marine]] Legions, the Alpha Legion rarely operates within the Eye of Terror itself. As a result, they have not been subjected to the time distortion that the [[Warp]] has affected other Traitor Marines with, leading many in the [[Inquisition]] to debate how the Legion, now ten thousand years after the [[Horus Heresy]], can still be active. According to Inquisitor [[Kravin]], the Alpha Legion acquires new recruits, genetically modifies them and then trains them for missions all within Imperial territory itself.{{Fn|14}}
*{{Endn|86}}: [[Campaigns of the Age of Darkness: The Siege of Cthonia]], pgs. 34-43
*{{Endn|87}}: [[The Harrowing (Short Story)]]
*{{Endn|88}}: [[The Horus Heresy: 3rd Edition Rulebook]], pg. 114
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