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G'day everyone!
So i have been reading through some of the space marines codex and i found a chapter that caught my eye!
The iron hands!

I absolutely love the emphasis they have on mechanised warfare especially rules wise! I have been looking around for ideas for a planned 2000 point list and came across a problem!
I can decide between taking a gladius strike force or a medusas strike force.
I love the rules that the medusas stirke force brings, with better FNP and POWS (vindicators would be even scarier!)
But then with the amount of free Razorbacks a double demi company with a gladius would bring would be amazing!

Id love to hear everyones opinion on this! Which do you think would be better?
Also if you want to put up any other crazy iron hands combos, or formations that you think work well with iron hands, please dont hesitated to throw them at me!

(Just as a heads up, i know the rules about iron hands vehicles all getting IWND are up for debate. My group has house ruled that they do all get IWND)

Opinions anyone?

I tends to medusa strike forces. It is both fluffy and competitive. If you want Objective Secure, just take demi company and libby conclave and CM smashbane. You will have some Necron immortal level tough Objsec guys unless you are hit by large blast S8/S10/S AP2 ignore cover. (but who don't die to such thing?)

If going fun and mildly strong, take the armored task force for squadron of Vindicators. It should be great for a casual game.

I do like the idea of a demi company and a libby conclave!

What do you think of a double demi company with lots of free razorbacks though? (gladius strike force)


I was wondering though. CM Smash sounds nigh un-killable, but how much damage can he put out? I find too many people consider that he isnt worth the points?
Has anyone had any experience with him?

Double demi company is doable. (see Emperor's Knights battle company for mine)

For Iron Hands the main thing is It Will Not Die. And if you're doing a double demi-company then consider having razorbacks all the way. You can take full 10 man squads and NOT have them in the razorbacks but walking behind. That way the razorbacks can sit on an objective while the tac squads move.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also consider for the razorbacks t-l plasma gun and lascannon.

Should you suffer a weapon destroyed result you choose one or the other weapon. you don't lose the whole point of the razorback..


Also consider taking an Armoured Spearhead formation if possible.

Yeah the double Demi company sounds amazing!
I Definately like the las plas Razorbacks!
With that, how does twin linked effect the gets hot? Or does it only effect the scatter?

if plasma gun gets hot it explodes but you still have the lascannon

TLing gets hot takes a lot of the sting out of it. Roll to hit, re-roll any dice that miss (even if they are 1’s). If there are any ones showing after you are done shooting, then you take the effects of a gets hot. Which I’m a little fuzzy on personally for vehicles, as I tend not to mount them there. IIRC it’s a glancing hit on a 1-3 on a d6.

There are a lot of ways to build a marine army. The full company gladius is one of them, a quite a strong one. Very spammy though, as at most point levels it’s going to be a minimalist MSU build. Very strong in objective games (which are most missions). Mechanically, probably one of the best builds available to us. It’s hard to turn away hundreds of points of free stuff.

The other formations (or even CADs) give you more flex to build an army that fits your play style more. Personally I don’t want to play a MSU spam list. So even though it might be better to field the full company, that has no appeal to me. If I wanted to play a “I’ve got more bodies then you have bullets” list, I’d go guard.

IMHO, YMMV, etc. The important thing is finding an army that you want to play.

Yeah I was t sure about the Gladius strike force. I mean sure it's powerful, but it's a bit bland.

So say I decided on taking a fist of medusa strike force, what are some formations you would recommend taking?
Especially ones that synergise with each other?

One thing to remember, is that you can take the gladius and not go full company. The doctrines can be quite nice to have.

Even if you don’t want to spam bodies all over objectives, you do need a way to hold them. So getting a little ObSec into your list is a good idea. The basic demi-co is good for that here, although there are other formations that grant it (or adding a CAD)

A lot of the medusa’s advantages require being within range of an IC. So you are probably going to want a few in your army. The hard part is going to be finding a place for them. Bikes is a good place, but you could also tuck one into a razorback with half a tac squad.

If I were starting an Iron Hands army, I’d look into units that could be used in a number of formations. Both the normal battle demi-co and the stormlance have a lot of overlap, and would be a good place to start. You obviously want some tanks, so building up the armored TF is the next go-to. Especially as it’s a core pick in the medusa.

My normal demi-co is a 1,000 points. 3 full tac squads, and 5 man assaults/devs. Might need to tweak that a bit to taste, as the devs will want a razor so you can field them as a stormlance if needed, and bikes are probably going to be better then assaults. But this is a solid, fluffy core to build around.

Then we start adding the heavy metal. For smaller games, a suppression force is a good start. Whirlwinds are nice low cost tanks that can fill slots in your armored TF as well later. A techmarine on a bike will give you an IC to scoot around fixing things and granting the bubble of buffs from the medusa. He needs 3 tanks to form the TF, preds and vinds are going to bring the firepower, WWs can fill space (and thin hordes)

What else to add depends a lot on points and taste. Librarian conclave is nice, and a good way to get more ICs on the table. Adding some dreads in drop pods will give you some backfield disruption. A 1st company TF is another good (if expensive) pick. Sternguard in pods, terminators in a LR, or just some VVs jumping around. A little air power is nice if that floats your boat.

Good thing about Librarius conclave is as they are ICs you don't HAVE to have them together, you can spread them through your force.

In bigger games I agree air defence is a must....

I would take the Medusa; it's going to be more fun for you when the "fluff" part of the army shines through.

Also, YMMV but I think that the seeing the same boring Gladius/Battle Company lists all over the place that just sit tons of units on objectives and wait for the game to end get stale to both play and play against... so not sure of your local scene, but if it's a small one, bringing and/or playing against stagnant Battle Company every time can get old, fast.

Oh and also, White Scars seems to be the "only way" that people really play Gladius/Battle company so since you're NOT looking to do that, stick to the fluff and go Medusa!

Another idea would be to take a look at some Cataphractii Terminators (you could use the forge world ones from 30k which look outstanding for Iron Hands!), and maybe even consider an Imperial Knight. I imagine an Iron Hands "conversion" of one would look and feel pretty appropriate.

Ooh i love the idea of taking an imperial knight! That would be amazing with iron hands!

With that, is the only way to take one, through a CAD?

Also, if i did take with iron hands, what do you think would be a good load out?

yes the only way is CAD

Depends what you're wanting to do with your Knight. If you're looking for long rang firepower then go Battle Cannon or Thermal Cannon.

Aviax wrote:
Ooh i love the idea of taking an imperial knight! That would be amazing with iron hands!

With that, is the only way to take one, through a CAD?

Also, if i did take with iron hands, what do you think would be a good load out?

Technically, the only Imperial Knights that can be physically PART OF A CAD are the Forge World ones. They may go in the Lord of War slot. However, you can easily ally in an Oathsworn Imperial Knight Detachment which can consist of a minimum of 1 of the GW Knights.

As for how to gear them up, it really depends on what role you need them to fulfill... there are cc options, crazy shooting options, or even a blend of each. I would suggest building the rest of the army out to then see what role you need filled!

So technically its not possible to get an iron hands knight?

Aviax wrote:
So technically its not possible to get an iron hands knight?

No. They are both separate factions within the imperium. There should never be a knight piloted by a space marine.

That’s not to say they don’t work together. Or that there is a knight household with long ties of loyalty and a history with the Iron Hands. To the point where they are considered if not an honorary member, at least earned the rights to bear their insignia and colors. So if you wanted to paint your knight to match your marines, and call him brother, the fluff will easily stretch that far.

But will he have the faction and chapter tactics special rules? Unfortunately no.