2.Bf4 is to delay the development of the knight and avoid lines that black has.
you ofc dont have to take the bishop and play Qc1, but that is super passive and very unpleasant to play as white.
The school of thought I follow is that advocated by Simon Williams, the Ginger GM and others.
When applicable / possible play Nf3 until Black has played e6 - this avoids annoying Bg4 lines for example.
Playing Nd2 before Nf3 also gives you more options against lines with an early ..Qb6.
Cheers
Richie
...but isnt the london kinda like opening a old hope chest & finding a note in it that says 'sorry' ?
Whats the advantage and disadvantages to playing the accelerated London vs playing Nf3 first?
A generic course I followed a while back recommended the accelerated version to avoid "certain move orders" but I'd like to have a better sense of this.