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Hi all, first post here. I played Eldar and Dark Eldar back in the day, stopped playing right as the Eldar got reworked with a new codex/army box. Looking to get back into the gaming world and have mostly decided on Iron Warriors but was curious about a few things. It seems Death Guard and 1k sons are the two big CSM factions currently, I am kind of a purist in that I would really only like to use traditional CSM units and stick to purely having an Iron Warriors army (little to no demons, no other legions troops, etc). I was curious: is this type of army viable in the world of today? Thanks in advance!

It depends.


Will you want to be ultra competitive? Then not likely.
Otherwise most armies do pretty well on their own. Especially chaos since we have all the tools.

It's possible really tough lists will get toned down soon making this option more viable across the board, but that will bw ongoing for a long time.

How competitive do you want to be? Do you just want to have a fun time and not get tabled every game at a really competitive tournament, or do you want to win a really competitive tournament?

Do you consider Cultists to be a traditional CSM unit? The Iron Warriors' warlord trait works really well with Cultists.

What about Daemon Princes? The Iron Warriors' relic works really well with them, but isn't bad on other models.

How do you feel about putting Marks on your Iron Warriors units?

How do you feel about Obliterators and Predators? Those definitely aren't Iron Warriors specific, but Iron Warriors are known to use a lot of them and they're pretty good right now.

The Iron Warriors' Legion Trait can be really good sometimes, but it isn't as reliably good as most other Legions.

Well, looking at pure iron warriors...

Your outright best warlord is a daemon prince with the unholy fortitude trait and fleshmetal exoskeleton relic-he will NOT go down easily between 2+ armor, 5+ invul, 6+ FnP and regenerating a wound every turn (and 9 base wounds)

Oblits and havocs are your best units-as your tactic rewards shooting units infantry. mark of slannesh is the best for them because of endless cacophony.

Cultists are good objective holders, as always.


Pure IW without "daemon marines" like oblits and a prince will be...ineffective.

Hey ya'll, thanks for the responses! Getting back in has me more nervous than ever to say the least, not to mention I have never truly played/looked into chaos prior to me reading the new rule book and always admiring the IW.

To answer some of the questions you have all put forward: I am completely ok using Daemon Princes (it appears I can make them look a bit more mechanical if I find the right models/FW?). Predators, Oblits, Possessed, and Havocs are A-OK. I would have to see what marks (other than IW) look like on IW but I don't forsee that being an issue on my end. Personally I want to stay away from cultists (at least at the start). And lastly, I do not plan to be winning any big tournaments but just would enjoy not getting rolled every time I play.

For a bit of clarification; I mainly want to stay away from bloodletters etc (demons in this regard- if that is even a thing still). Would rather not have any berzerkers or sound marines or anything in that regard, trying to keep simple marines/mutations of such while maintaining the IW aesthetic.

I guess I should really pick up a new codex and go from there, thank you all for giving me food for thought!

Well, if you want to stay away from cultists, someone I know plays IW and some of his troops are 5 man CSM squads with a lascannon. its not amazing-but they are not too much of a burden.

Cant recommend IW possessed though. they gain literally nothing from being IW

And remember, each unit needs to pick BOTH a legion, and a mark (a god's mark, or undivided. though undivided is generally inferoior)
The god choice CAN be different for different units in your detachment, and it mostly effects what banner that unit can take, a special spell, a special stratagem and synergy with other chaos factions (including other legions with the same god at times)
So, its something to keep in mind while building your force-but often not too critical (except for oblits. they REALLY want the slannesh stratagem...)

Someone I know plays iron warriors (pure marines) and brings some sorceries, a Daemon prince with all the saves, then lots of heavy bolters. If you're ok with forgeworld then quad heavy bolters in square of 3 are crazy.

For example:
Battalion
Dp with buffs.
2 sorcerers
20 man marine squad
10 squad with special weapons
10 squad with special weapons
Havocs with missile launchers
Quad heavy bolters.

A really good box is betrayal at calth. It gets you lots of mkIV marines and other cool things.

Hope this helps!