Iron Hands on the Mind

A while back I had been exchanging some e-mails with my buddy LaMonte about sticking to one army for the near future in 40K.  This would allow me to focus on painting the models up and getting better with one army.  I suppose that was some time during football season because between now and then the Imperium has gotten quite a few updates along the way culminating in the Fall of Cadia book.  I think this book gives Imperial players much more options than the Agents of the Imperium book had given us.

One nice thing is that this does allow me to still focus on my Space Marines while still building up some Mechanicum, Imperial Guard, and other Imperial sources.  Shoot, I may finally build up and paint one of my Imperial Knights!

That said, my Iron Hands are going to be the way to go.  As you may have noticed, my Iron Hands aren't the traditional black and silver.  I opted to go with a burnt orange (I'll admit in large part because of my alma mater).  I had started painting up some Dark Angels in burnt orange before and in general it lets me do something different.  I found the black and silver to be very sharp but also very plain.  I didn't want to paint another green army to confuse with my Salamanders.  It just made sense!

I need to flesh out the fluff for my chapter.  I also need to come up with a good name for the chapter as well.  I know I had come up with quite a few names in the past.  I'll have to think about things a bit more and decide soon.

Hrmmm, here are a few things I've fleshed out:

Location: Subsector Strellia
Home Planet:  Moros

Chapter Name:  The Fire Guard, an Iron Hands Successor Chapter

Before I moved I had started running a campaign for some former coworkers.  While I had to hastily finish, I think I will use it as inspiration for the development of my chapter.

Fire Guard Tactical Marine (Basic)

Today I exchanged an e-mail with my buddy LaMonte where we talked a little about the tournament this past Saturday.  One thing he had asked was how I would potentially flesh out my 1000 point list into an 1850 point list.

Almost immediately I started thinking of ways to parlay it into what was my old BeakyCon list.  But this list would be different.  I think I wanted it to be a bit more fun to play.  Have a few more options.  I know that min-maxing is the way to go to win tournaments.  But I'm hoping I can get more utility out of this list.  Here's my first cut:

Fist of Medusa (Iron Hands Formation)
Core - Battle Demi Company
HQ - Captain (Cataphractii Terminator Armor, Gorgon's Chain, Lightning Claw, Power Fist) - 185 points
Troop - Tactical Marines x5 (Melta Gun, 30 year anniversary Marine, Rhino) - 115 points
Troop - Tactical Marines x5 (Melta Gun, Rhino) - 115 points
Troop - Tactical Marines x5 (Flamer, Rhino) - 110 points
Fast Attack - Attack Bike - 40 points
Heavy - Centurion Devastators (5x Grav Cannons, Omniscope) - 410 points

Auxiliary - Honored Ancients
Elite - Ironclad Dreadnought - 135 points

Auxiliary - Raptor Wing
Fast Attack - Storm Talon (Skyhammer Missiles) - 115 points
Fast Attack - Storm Talon (Skyhammer Missiles) - 115 points
Fast Attack - Land Speeder  - 45 points

Inquisitorial Detachment

HQ - Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Toby (Mastery Level 1, Force Sword, Rad Grenades, Psychotroke Grenades) - 85 points

HQ - Coteaz - 100 points

Allies - Iron Hands

HQ - Librarian (Force Axe, Auspex) - 70 points

Troop - Scouts x5 - 55 points
Fast Attack - Lucius Pattern Drop Pod - 50 points
Heavy - Thunderfire Cannon - 100 points

List Thoughts

So that puts me at 1845 points (I had to double check points costs as I whipped this list up based off memory).  I guess the approach is still generally similar to what I did before.

My Centurion Devastator squad went up to a 5 man unit to be able to really put the hurt on something.  It is possible that 4 Centurions is the right number.  I opted to give the Sergeant an Omniscope to allow me to Split Fire elsewhere as needed.  In most cases, 25 Grav shots is overkill (especially when potentially having Prescience and Grav Amps).  But unless I can come up with a better way to spend 80 points, I'll stick with a full unit.  Both my Inquisitors will be joining the Centurions per the norm and allow me to roll for Divination (Toby) and Telepathy (Coteaz).  The Captain will join the unit and provide a better beat stick melee threat.  He can do AP3 or AP2 attacks as needed and with a 2+ armor save, 4++ Invulnerable save (re-rolling 1's due to Cataphractii armor), and a 4+ native FNP, I'm sitting pretty.

I decided to ally in Iron Hands to provide me with some more support units.  The Librarian opens up access to Biomancy and all the Space Marine powers.  I'm only going to get 1 roll on the table but I didn't want to put too much focus on the Psyker phase.  Most Daemons, Grey Knights, and Eldar will have enough dice to shut this down if they want.

All three of my Tactical Squads will gain mobility by having Rhino's.  I stuck with a cheap Attack Bike for late game objective grabbing.  I also was able to get a single ObSec Scout Squad.  I could easily give them all Sniper Rifles but may opt to give them a CCW and a Pistol to threaten close combat.  They are still Marines with a 4+ armor save.  Plus it gives me a guaranteed Outflanking unit.

I upgraded my regular Dreadnought into an Ironclad Dreadnought as the Iron Hands allies give me the option to bring a Lucius Pattern Drop Pod.  This creates an immediate threat that my opponent must address.  Additionally, it gives me a place to hide the Dreadnought on Turn 1.

I know that I already have an auxiliary choice but brought the Raptor Wing formation to shore up some AA weaknesses.  They may not win me the game but provide some options against other vehicle flyers.

Lastly, I picked up a Thunderfire Cannon that allows me to deal with horde units and potentially snipe out characters/weapons that are causing me problems.  The added benefit of bolstering one unit of terrain is just the cherry on top.

All in all, it is a more well rounded list.  Weaknesses are still pretty obvious.  My Centurion "death star" unit does not have a good Hit and Run option and could get bogged down in close combat.  I had thought about bringing in St. Celestine but that is very limiting.  I also don't have a guaranteed FNP (so I'm "stuck" at 5+) and don't have an Invulnerable Save.  My Centurions also suffer from lack of mobility unless I'm willing to risk Santic Daemonology  (or if I try to get the Space Marine teleport power).

I also don't have a great way of dealing with Super Heavies.  I guess Grav Centurions can eventually make a dent but otherwise I just have a couple of Melta Guns that need to be within 6" to be effective.

Still...the list seems a bit fun and has a lot of answers (even if they are few).  Already I begin to think that by removing 1 Centurion I can upgrade my Librarian to ML2 and put him in Terminator Armor (50 points).  But that doesn't gain me too much outside of an additional roll on the Psyker spell charts.  Maybe a Rifleman Dread?  That's 120 points and while they aren't what they used to be, they do offer me poor man's AA and a good way of taking out light vehicles.  Or I could change the Attack Bike into an Assault Squad only...wait...nevermind.  I can't take Melta Guns on regular Attack Marines.  I guess I could just upgrade my Attack Bike to have a Multi-Melta too.

In any case, any thoughts on the list?