Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hiya

So, I've been eyeing the Chaos Space Marine miniatures for a while, and man, do I like 'em. Sure, they're Space Marines but spiky, but they're just really, really cool in my humble opinion. I've also made a start reading the Horus Heresy books, picking the ones that I like best, instead of just following the series (boo, I know, I know). I'd already decided I would collect an "official" army, in the sense that it isn't my homebrew fluff, as I have done with my Space Marines and Imperial Guard. Next was deciding if I'd prefer a non-Legion warband, or a Legion one. Judging by the title, you can guess which one I picked! Of the Traitor Legios, I like the Word Bearers, Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion best. Alpha Legion shouldn't be an army composed of Chaos Marines, though, which is what I'm going for, so they were off pretty fast. That left the Iron Warriors and Word Bearers, and that's where my dilemma starts, and the great Dakka community comes into play! Huzzah!

I don't play 40K that much, and I'm mainly out on creating a fun and fluffy (no no no, not that kind of fluffy!) collection o' Chaos miniatures. So, next is my list of reasons why I would choose either Word Bearers or Iron Warriors, and why not.

Word Bearers

- Great conversion oppertunities. Using the Possessed kit, I could churn out a lovely bunch of Word Bearers, all given some love by the Chaos Gods.

- So far almost all of the HH books I've read are with the Word Bearers as the main characters - in fact, I think I've read all the books with them as main characters, save for Betrayer! I can say I know quite a lot about them, and am actually able to sympathize with a lot of them, even Kor Phaeron (gasp!).

- The main problem with Word Bearers would be that I'm no great painter, and I pretty much suck at painting red. While this could be a challenge for me - "Paint those red marines as best as you can!" - it'd be quite a feat for me! I'm also not very good at painting logos and the like, and I feel like the Iron Warrior insignia is easier to paint than the Word Bearers one.

Iron Warriors

- Again, some great conversion oppertunities. I've got quite some regular Astartes bits lying around and, even better, lots of WHFB Warriors of Chaos stuff! I've also been looking at the Raptor kit, and it seems to include some rather brutal weapons on its frames - perfect for Perturabo's baldies!

- I've not read a lot on the Iron Warriors. I know some stuff about them, but haven't really read any books about them, though I've started reading Angel Exterminatus today. I quite like the idea of them not being that fond of Chaos, save for the assault elements, which could also make for some cool Khornate, gore-splattered units!

- While hazard stripes aren't compulsory for Iron Warriors, I'm not good at painting them. On the other hand, I can paint iron quite alright, and enjoy doing it a lot!

So, well, that leaves me here, being indecisive and all that...

Please vote - any input would be appreciated!

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat470015a&prodId=prod2230002a


here is some red spray paint GW has. that should help with word bearers

As a kid who has done an all gunmetal paint scheme for a while: it gets old so darn fast.

Go Death Guard

Johnnytorrance wrote:
Go Death Guard

I don't like Death Guard.

 Tiger9gamer wrote:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat470015a&prodId=prod2230002a


here is some red spray paint GW has. that should help with word bearers

As a kid who has done an all gunmetal paint scheme for a while: it gets old so darn fast.

While I'm sure the Spray paint is great (thanks for the tip!) the only problem is that I can't use it due to several circumstances

I figured painting a lot of metal could get dull, but on the other hand, I only buy and paint in small groups spread over the time, which should make it a bit less dull. Spattering assault elements with gore might also de-dulify the process

Iron warriors are one of the best factions in the 40k universe in my eyes. Everything is done in the most efficient way and are fantastic siege masters. It all depends upon what you enjoy the most flufff wise but don't chose until you finish reading Angel Exterminatus, such a fantastic book, read it so many times haha.

Oh and about those hazard stripes? I have 3000ish points of IW and only some of my vehicles have them and to paint them I paint the entire section yellow, then put masking tape over it and paint the uncovered bits black, boom, perfect straight hazard stripes

Yeah, figured I could use that for stripes on my vehicles, ta!

I'd give Storm of Iron a read it really gives across the whole weird mechanical and brutal side of the Iron warriors.

I feel like Iron Warriors would be a lot more fun on the table. Thing about a lot of the units that'd be fluffy to word bearers, only Cultists are usable in the actual game. Possessed are the worst unit in the whole codex, Mutilators are a close second worse unit in the whole codex, and Warp Talons while at least usable are not worth their points compared to other things in the same slot (Nurgle Bikers and Heldrakes will outperform them point for point).

Iron Warriors lets you go tank spam and use one of the cooler HQ choices in the codex in the chaos Warpsmith.

So I guess I'd look at it as if you want to get more tanks, or more foot units.

Siege of Castellax, read it, build your army off it. Don't bother with the Honsou novels, they bear little relation to the true Iron Warriors.

And there's still lots of mutations in the Iron Warriors, it's called the Obliterator virus. It starts out manifesting as one arm being turned into a collection of metal scythes that regenerate out of nothing capable of cleaving through armor.

If you do go Iron Warriors though, don't use the crappy Obliterator models from GW. Try to scratch-build off a terminator with greenstuff to get something like this.

Thanks for the advice!
Daemon Engines are more IW than WB, if I recall correctly?

 Wyzilla wrote:
If you do go Iron Warriors though, don't use the crappy Obliterator models from GW. Try to scratch-build off a terminator with greenstuff to get something like this.

Spoiler:

Or try the new Centurions. Yes, they may have an actual use, now!

 thenoobbomb wrote:
Thanks for the advice!
Daemon Engines are more IW than WB, if I recall correctly?

The best advice I'd have for Iron Warriors is decide if you want more Iron Warriors, or a fluffy representation. Fluffy Iron Warriors for example would actually have the main Iron Warriors be allies, with your primary force being Iron Warrior Janissary force (traitor guard).

But Iron Warriors are just a lot of fun, and you can do a lot with them. Plus they have a fairly simple painting scheme besides the one leg.

I say Word bearers, a whole army of them makes for a splendid sigth indeed!

I vote for word bearers. I especially like the paint schemes that are a bit darker like the example terminator in the csm dex or the ones that are more red-brown than red. They also have more interesting fluff in my opinion.

WB also use pretty much everything so there's little in the codex that doesn't mesh well with a word bearer theme. Iron warriors on the other hand have a harder time justifying using certain units fluffwise. Spawn are an example of this. IW don't worship chaos or tolerate mutation let alone encourage it. So if you want a fluffy army you have to think of a reason to have them or make some really cool techno spawn conversion...

book wise for the iron warriors I can't reccomend Storm of Iron eneugh. fantastic book

WB also use pretty much everything so there's little in the codex that doesn't mesh well with a word bearer theme. Iron warriors on the other hand have a harder time justifying using certain units fluffwise. Spawn are an example of this. IW don't worship chaos or tolerate mutation let alone encourage it. So if you want a fluffy army you have to think of a reason to have them or make some really cool techno spawn conversion...

Some IW worship the chaos gods it's just that the majority don't. Half the fun is thinking up fluffy alternatives for the stuff in the book anyway.

 thenoobbomb wrote:
Thanks for the advice!
Daemon Engines are more IW than WB, if I recall correctly?

Fluff-wise, I'd say it's a wash. Either army has a legitimate excuse to bring them. It's not like the Word Bearers didn't utilize vehicles and considering how warp-tainted the rest of the army tends to be, their vehicles morphing and fusing with daemon entities while spent in the warp is fitting. The Iron Warriors are known for their siege engines, which a lot of the daemonic engines tend to be. Therefore it obviously fits them very well, too.

JubbJubbz wrote:
Iron warriors on the other hand have a harder time justifying using certain units fluffwise. Spawn are an example of this. IW don't worship chaos or tolerate mutation let alone encourage it.

This can't be true.

They find use for Khorne's values because they enjoy close quarters combat and wanton, brutal slaughter of their enemies. The find use for Tzeentch's values because they employ warpcraft and the melding of daemon and machine in their war engines. They find use for Nurgle's values because they were the (apparent) originators of the Obliterator virus, and also viral, chemical warfare and the slow grinding decay of siege tactics are their "thing". The only one I don't really see as fluffy for IW is Slaanesh, but the argument can be made that they strive for perfection and excess in the field of siege warfare and so also indulge in the Prince of Pleasure's circle of worship.

Okay, so they're not as spiritually zealous as other legions (WB), but they still find pragmatic, battlefield uses for the Ruinous Powers and their circles of worship.

They can use Slaanesh to destroy defenders morale, get a couple of noise marines playing guitar for a few days and anyone will be ready to surrender.

I've liked Iron Warriors since Strom of Iron by Graham McNeill so it was a no brainer for me . The Word Bears fluff OTOH is kinda sad second biggest legion with the least amount of victories and the lamest primarch ever Eberus and Kor Pharon basicly bend this guy Logar in any direction they want him to go .

They cant even Pearl Harbor the Smurfs correctly,

Iron Warriors OTOH seem dead hard

It comes down, in my mind, to ONE question: Can you paint clean and neat hazard stripes? If YES, goto Iron Warriors. If NO, goto Word Bearers.

 Jimsolo wrote:
It comes down, in my mind, to ONE question: Can you paint clean and neat hazard stripes? If YES, goto Iron Warriors. If NO, goto Word Bearers.

Prime black, paint iron, let it dry. When it's dry, wrap a small string of pliable, easily removable putty in a snake around a leg of a CSM fig. Paint yellow around the putty. Remove putty and let the paint dry. Now take another strand and wrap it over the yellow, paint the area around it black, remove, done.

Tedious, but it'll work perfectly fine in the end.

Iron warriors! If your models are not "properly equipped" just buy some plastic and make some servo arms and give them what you need!


Dark colors are easier to get to table standard too.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I'll finish reading Angel Exterminatus, and then take my choice with the help of this thread!

Word Bearers just because they actually recognize their masters (I'm a Daemon player that's been toying with a Word Bearers allied detachment for a while). The Iron Warriors think they're above Chaos? That's when the gods come knocking on their door and say "Hey, guys. Just a reminder, you belong to us!"

Iron within, Iron without.

Imnsho, word bearers are a bunch of pansies.

Well, I faced Iron Warriors a lot in the 3rd ed. I like their fluff being a siege army.

From iron cometh strength! From strength cometh will! From will cometh faith! From faith cometh honour! From honour cometh iron!"

Iron Warriors all the way. Btw, You might also consider a pre-heresy IW army?

Check this out: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?318874-The-Iron-Without-Pre-Heresy-Iron-Warriors

I like Iron Warriors a lot. Their style and bits are great and they have cool tactics. That said, the Angel Exterminatus book soured me a bit on them. Too much whining and bitching, not enough iron.

Word bearers, on the other hand, grew on me the more I read. Lorgar does start out as an insecure follower, but both he and his legion change very fast: him into a Bond-style magnificent bastard of an uber-villain (that is still relatable), and his sons into fiery zealots warping the galaxy into the image of their gods.

I think a nicely done WB army would look great on the table. Using Possessed bits liberally (they look amazing on bikers and aspiring champions), allied daemons and WFB chaos standards, crucifying loyalists to their tanks...it's something I'd do if I had money and they had their own rules.

In fairness though the "whining" issues in the heresy is something we've known about for awhile. the Iron warriors are the guys who think they're damn good at what they do, but that no one reckongizes it and thus get more and more bitter as time goes by over it.