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I am really confused how Iron Hands is referenced in the regular Space Marines codex, but then have an entirely different set of rules in Horus Heresey and "Age of Darkness".

Can someone explain how these armies are related, if at all? I'm not sure if I want to play SM: Iron Hands or SM Legion Iron Hands. Any clarification would be great! Thanks.

Codex: Space Marines (and the Clan Raukaan Supplement) are for the Iron Hands Chapter in 40,000. The Forgeworld books contain the Iron Hands Legion for 30,000.

Iron Hands Legion: some 100.000 - 250.000 (depending on the exact time) Legionaires, mounted up in Land Raiders as light transports, with superheavy battletanks, artillery companies and whatnot for support.

Iron Hands Chapter: <1000 Space Marines with some rhinos and predators to make two or three combat-worthy companies among them with a handfull of Land Raiders as venerable relics of the chapter, to be furiously ma....shinespirited upon before battle.

Anything that has to do with the Horus Heresy is not 40k. It's a tertiary game that Forge World specializes with its own core rulebook changes, model line, army lists and so on but it is not the common game type that most people play. If you want to play 30k, you would be playing a different game than 40k. So if you want to play 40k, you would be looking at SM: Iron Hands and the Clan Rauukan supplement.

And just to cover all the bases:

The Iron Hands legion, and all the Horus Heresy books from Forge World, are part of the "history" of Warhammer 40k. It's set roughly 9-10,000 years before the "present day" 40k setting (which is why it's usually referred to as 30k). So the space marine legions described in the HH books are the ancestors of the chapters described in the Space Marine codex.

The Horus Heresy books from Forgeworld use the 40k rulebook, with the only real change being the way you select your forces. But the 30k armies aren't written specifically to play against 40k armies, so you may or may not have a fair match. You *can* play against other 40k armies with a 30k army, but it isn't necessarily going to be balanced (and I will let others argue over which side is on the unfair end of that matchup).

That being said, there are going to be a lot of units in common between a 30k and 40k army. Most models would work alright in either setting, unless you are a real stickler about your marks of power armor and other little details. It's a safe bet that if you like a space marine unit from 30k, you can find a way to get it into a 40k army too, either as a proxy or using Forgeworld rules for it from one of the Imperial Armor books.

Great thanks for the replies guys, totally understand now.

That being said, I guess there is no way to take the Questoris Knight Styrix in 40k? Seems like a 30k model based on what I've read and the info presented in this thread.

The Styrix is the one most likely to remain "30K only" as Forgeworld doesn't want to share the nifty Volkite weaponry with 40K.

You can play 30k armies against 40k and in my experience it's usually the 30k army at a disadvantage due to points. Certain special rules that come free on lots of 40k marines cost a significant amount of points in a 30k army. Everyone isn't just handed some form of fearless because they wear power armor. Also the 30k HQ choices are usually extremely expensive. The only advantage is having 20 man tac squads and some fancy weapons. I will say that 30k armies are much more balanced against each other than 40k armies and have more intuitive special rules.

Playing 30K against 40K is really an insignificant distinction. It'll be like any other match-up: it will do well against some lists, and do poorly against others, and it can often be surprising as to which it will be (but you're still fairly certain to lose against Eldar and Tau, though). Besides, 30K doesn't come anywhere close to some of the shenanigans that 40K can pull.

The irony is that 30K is very well balanced within itself, but 40K isn't balanced in the slightest.