Search the Community

For those of you that haven't been keeping up on discussions in the + NEWS, RUMORS, AND BOARD ANNOUNCEMENTS + forum, a debate has sprung up around the thematic influences on the Iron Hands Legion/Chapter in the discussion about the latest models and combat patrols announced for the Imperial Fists, Iron Hands, Raven Guard, Salamanders, and White Scars Chapters. If you just crawled out from under a rock, you can see the announcement, which was part of the recent Big Summer Preview, here. The issue arises from the weapon that the new Iron Hands Iron Captain, Caanok Var, is bearing. To simplify things, the image is below. (click the image to see the large version) Many hobbyists have described the weapon as a tetsubō (or kanabō), the studded/spiked war club used in Feudal Japan, both in history as well as in legend (e.g., by the mythical oni). That is not an inaccurate description, though it should be remembered that studded/spiked war clubs were not confined to the Far East, having been used by various cultures across the world, not to mention primitive post-apocalyptic settings such as Neegan's Lucille. Examples can be found in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, sub-Saharan Africa, across Europe (including Ancient Greece), etc. More importantly, Caanok Var's club includes stylistic choices that are reminiscent of the various mauls that are used by the Adeptus Arbites. The controversy (okay, it's controversial to some, but not to others) stems from whether or not the club is accurate to the Legion's/Chapter's theme, whether you base that on the cultural influences that you perceive or from precedents from other Iron Hands models. Some people like (or accept) the club and others don't, and that's okay. The "debate" was becoming disruptive in the context of the NRBA discussion, but it's worth pursuing, so this topic has been created so that members can identify the various thematic influences they see on the Iron Hands Legion/Chapter and how those influences might be represented on models. It is important to remember that while there are a few key elements of the Legion's/Chapter's theme, the overall theme of the Iron Hands is a lot more subtle and complex than some of the more overtly themed Chapters such as the Space Wolves and Blood Angels (both of which also have myriad other subtle influences woven into the more obvious elements). Different hobbyists are going to focus on different things, emphasizing those things and de-emphasizing other things. Where one hobbyist might see the Iron Hands being X, others may see them as being Y or Z. There is no right or wrong answer here.

http://taleofpainters.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/tutorial-how-to-paint-iron-hands-space.html This isn't mine, just found it on my Facebook wall posted in the Iron Hands FB group.

So I keep hearing that Stronos said that we need to dial it back on the whole bionics thing. I have not seen that reference at all, so if someone could provide a page number in the codex and quote the specific sentence that would help a brother a lot. Secondly, I know all of us were... hesitant to accept Stronos when the 6th ed codex came out. My reason for resistance was the fact that it was mentioned that he was trying to dial it back on bionics. However that was when I had no codex and had to rely on second hand info. Once I read the codex and saw no mention of the sort, I calmed down :P Honestly, I like Stronos. I like the fact that he wants the chapter to master emotion, not just discard it. Its how I envisioned our chapter anyway. I never liked the whole emotionless character that the IH in Wrath of Iron had. After burning with the need for vengeance and hatred towards certain legions for 10,000 years (They know what they did! ), it just wouldn't make sense for the Iron hands not to be full of contempt and rage. Controlling that rage and using it to your advantage is... logical. So aside from that weird bit about dialing back about bionics (which needs to be resolved as to whether its true or not), I don't see a reason to dislike our democratically elected Chapter Master.

So.....I've been wanting to challenge myself for a while now and part of this will be trying to model a viable Iron Hands army based around The Crusade of Steel. For anyone who's yet to read the codex here's the brief summary we find: " Kardan Stronos leads the full might of the Iron Hands and Brazen Claws chapters against the Necron dynasty of the Crimson King. Stronos refuses to fall back in the face of a massive counter-attack, and alongside Garrsak Clan Company he somehow fights his way to strike the Crimson King a mortal blow that shatters the Necron's command structure." I chose this excerpt to base my army around as it is a snippet with quite a open scope I think. As it's a small mention it gives me a great chance to explore some concepts. To begin with I have the new strike force box set, 2 sets of the IH upgrade packs and also I think one of the old battle forces. What I really need is your help! - what other fluff exists for the Crusade of Steel? - modelling ideas for Necron gauss blast damage on power armour? - army list ideas to reflect fluff and also be flexible enough to hold its own? Really looking forward to hearing your ideas folks! :) BCC

So I've been a little busy with a Clan Raukaan project, And thought I'd share the Start of my own Iron hands. After reading the Novel Wrath Of Iron I've felt extremly compelled to create a Clan Raukaan themed Army. I Love Terminators and the idea of the hq wearing terminator armour has always been appealing to me. So naturally Arven Rauth was my Favorite character in the story. Although I will be making My very own Telach and his Codicers as they were also a HUGE and awesome part of the story. Generally I don't take kindly to psykers coming from the Templar forums, but they were so freaking awesome I couldn't leave them out. So before I post anything I want to thank the Iron hands forum in general for all the great an inspirational work that I've found here. I've been browsing lots of threads and forums for ideas and interesting conversions. One of which was the most helpful from Cortons ETL thread, he mentioned using watch parts so I picked some up from Ebay. So Here is what I've started so far, This will be used in an up and coming escalation league that me and my friends are playing, and I'm hoping it will be a change of pace from the Templar. http://i.imgur.com/cqb9C4G.jpg?1 The man himself, Arven Rauth. While he doesn't have the storm bolter he does in the story I felt like betrayers Bane would be a cool way to step away from my standard th/ss loadout I always take. Now maybe the servo doesn't fit, but I thought it was too cool to leave off the model. http://i.imgur.com/K35aPpE.jpg?1 Clave Arx, Lead by Brother-Sergeant Naim Morvox http://i.imgur.com/chCVW7o.jpg And finally Venerable Brother Khatir. I felt it Fitting for the Iron Father to be the First of Any Dreadnought I field. http://i.imgur.com/1ijrYg5.jpg It might be a while Before I get some paint on these Guys with being Locked in the Templar ETL it feels like I'm cheating on my other army just by building these guys. But I couldn't help myself. Either way I'll probably end up sneaking some iron hands into my painting projects inbetween the Templar. So I'll keep you guys updated! More to come! Imperator Vult!

How to you view Ferrus Manus and his personality? I was reading the thread about Ferrus's eyes and general portrayal complaints (most of which I agree with), and thought this would be an interesting discussion topic. I really like hearing other people's perspectives on the characters in the 40k lore, because we all interpret it a little differently. So, what do you imagine Ferrus to be like? Does your army view him the same way? For sake of generating interest, here's a bit of my opinion: We know that so many of the Primarchs harbored secret fears and doubts, and I think Ferrus was actually very similar to Fulgrim in this sense, plagued by a fear of inadequacy, and a growing obsession with bettering himself. Obviously different personalities meant different approaches: Fulgrim needing to be good at everything by doing everything, Ferrus needing to be the best by stripping away anything that would weaken him, but both fueled by a sense of being an "innate" failure. (It's a pretty common psychological trait in perfectionists, ofc.) I view him not as hating things that were "frivolous", and maybe even really liking art and such, but chose to reject them anyway due to their lack of practicality - and Emperor forbid if we make a slip. This would be why he and Fulgrim got along so well, of course, and why he got along well with someone who, on the surface, he should dislike. Fulgrim regularly showed him the practical value and application of things Ferrus dismissed, which I think writers have shown (more or less). Why wear fancy-pants armor? Because troops need pride and inspiration. For example. I liked the Nemurial Scrolls concept (though I too despise the overused "hoist by own bionic pertard" trope) because it was similar to my own view, and also that it showed he wasn't as cold and harsh as he carried himself and was genuinely concerned for his Legion and his brothers. One could argue that they sort of....approached this idea in Feat of Iron, I also like the idea they've touched on with a lot of the Primarchs, that each was hiding some Problem in themselves and their Legion but was putting it off instead of dealing with it. As for the Iron Hands himself, I always got the impression that, beyond strict adherence to his rules, Ferrus let them play whatever stupid squabble games they wanted to do and stayed out of it, because he felt the struggle made them stronger in the end - they weeded themselves out. And that this was general Medusan culture - that they survived harsh conditions by being dogged (and relying on their own technological creations). What I mean is, Ferrus figured that B.S. had a way of weeding itself out if one stayed focused. But, of course, this wasn't happening, and new problems started presenting themselves in the legion prior the Heresy, which surely he knew about, whether or not he blamed the "reliance on technology" or rejection of humanity or whatever. I'd actually presume he would more likely have blamed himself: failure to lead, being to soft, something he was at fault for. Like his metal arms that were something out of his control, he would blame himself for outside problems. Maybe for not being able to control everything? I also imagine him to actually be a really funny guy, in a Laconic way, which they give snippets of in some stories but I don't think they show enough. He was the Sparta to Fulgrim's Attic salt, of course. (I also don't think he was so darn mad all the time, just a grump who was quick to point out malarkey.) I liked that Iron Hands character that made dry jokes in machine voice, and people weren't sure he was joking. (I forget what his name was.) (For the Tabletop, though, I like my armies obsessive and hypocritical, because I think it's funny, but that wouldn't have been true in the year 30K.) I didn't mean to write an essay, sorry. Share your thoughts! (New to the forum but not in the game, so, hello!)

So I figured I'd come to you guys for a Chapter-specific painting question. I finally found the motivation to put paint to brush to model, and I started working on my Honor Guard models. No sneak peaks (I want to wait until they're finished to post any), but suffice to say that I'm using the most-techy artifcer armored models I could find, aka the new(ish) Techmarine models, with arm swaps for weapons, obviously. The question is, what color do I paint their helmets? The rest of them are the standard black, highlighted with gray, that I used on this lot: http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h96/DTRI/Iron%20Hands/Leaders/IMAG0242_zps054babd1.jpg Each has a Mechanicus shoulder pad with red, and the Chapter pauldrons are standard metallic-lined with white iconography, but I'm stuck on how to paint the helmets. More red, to show more connection to the Mechanicus? White, as the Codex-approved helm color for veterans? Stick with black?

+Update+ This has turned into a mini blog; so I've changed the title. Since it's solely focussed on Iron hands, and will be as much asking for background advice and guidance as modelling and painting, is it okay here rather than in the painting forum? +++ As a little side project, I'm painting up some Iron Hands, and would appreciate some help on iconography. As I understand things, the Chapter symbol goes on the left-hand pauldron, the clan Company symbol on the right, the squad number on the lower right leg and the squad designation on the lower left. Is that broadly correct? Here's the test model as he currently stands; awaiting iconography and detailing. I've used white on the pauldron trims to help distinguish him from Raven Guard, and was considering some classic Rogue Trader helmet stripes. Anything jumping out as screamingly wrong? I'm aware the clan Company organisation allows for quite a bit of freedom in terms of iconography and decoration, but it's nice to know the rules before you adapt them. To whet your appetites, here's some WIP stuff at an earlier stage. Hope you like 'em! Tacticals: Scouts: (You can probably ignore the White Consul lurking in the back; he'll be repainted to join the Tenth.) Captain: If you'd like to see any more, or read some unrelated thoughts on Iron Hands, there's more WIP on my blog (link in the signature)

So, today I played two games against new and unknown opponents. First game was 1250p and second was 1850. We somewhat agreed beforehand to keep the model count low so time wouldn't be an issue. Now on to the games: Game 1 (1250p) I took a FoM Strike Force: Armored Task Force (2 vindis, 1 auto/hb pred, techmarine and 1 thunderfire cannon) Raptor Wing (stock land speeder, 2 talons with typhoon) Command(tooled up smashfather with cmd squad on bikes) He plays Necrons with a mechrite formation something containg: 2 squads of warriors, one in a nightscythe the other in an ark 1 squad of immortals with a lord and cryptic 1 monolith Mission is maelstrom something (the one where you get tactical objectives by controling objective markers) I's a pretty even game where the decisive factor was his bad teleport with his lord. He was trying to flank my cmd squad to avoid the chapter master tanking but scattered bad and didn't get a clean shot. My CM and his overlord where locked in combat for the entire game, I think we where both down only 1 wound by the end of the game. On turn 4 and 5 I manage to draw good objective cards and I go from 2-3 to 5-3 VP's, winning me the game. Game 2 (1850) I take pretty much the same list as the 1250p game but i remove the thunderfire and add a melta tac squad and ironclad, both in drop pods. I also bring my Knight Crusader He plays AM and the most funny list I've seen He deploys his entire army consisting of 3! units. 2 Chimeiras with a melta and a plasma vet squad. And then the 1500points blob consisting of a Storm Lord containing 10 bullgryns, yarric, 3 lvl2 psykers, 3 priest, an engine seer and something else I don't remember, filling up all 40points of transport capacity. He have nothing to compete with for the objective game, the mission is deadlock, and the desicive point of this game is when his 1000p 'deathstar' disembarks and fail their charge roll, leaving them to eat the combined firepower of my whole army and the charge from my knight. The remains manage to get a few power maul and meltabomb glances on my knight before he stomps them all to death. He concedes after turn 3 with only the Storm Lord left and me up by 3 VP's Conclusion on the FoM rules: I found the benefit of getting PotMS very lacklustre. I was excited about the ATF being a cheap core but it didn't do very much for me. Maybe it was the composition of my forces or how I played them. The +1 fnp was very good even though these list didn't capitalize so much on it. Next time I will definately try one of the demi-co's as my core and add a conclave. Maybe run with a second cmd squad in a pod as well.

I swear I have the worst luck with this army. Four times I have built this force up, only to forcibly have it part ways. I swore the last time that I would never again buy another 40K army. So I haven't. I started 30K. Like most people I purchased the Betrayal boxed set, and promptly drooled over the models contained there-in ...well, maybe not so much for the wonky looking Captain, or the Contemptor with a stick up its rear, but I'm getting off subject. With that, I am using some of those to make my first vow. So with that, I am using: Iron Father (Praetor) 5 Cataphracti Terminators; 3 w Lightning Claws, 1 Heavy Flamer n Chainsift, and a Sergeant with a Combi-Melta, and Grenade Harness 12 Legionaires w Power Fist wielding Sergeant Contemptor (really REALLY modified one) w Kheres Ass. Cannon, and Fist http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/u628/cornertablestudios/fbae6dab-fd4f-4f12-95e3-a50a9484c798_zpsgvsosjm0.jpg While its probably not the most optimal options for models load-outs for I still have more to build. As for paint, I will be departing the usual black, in favor of a closer loot to Iron Hand Fanatic's artwork. I will be retaining the Vurgaan Clave, but I like the look of his work. ....And, hopefully, this time I get to keep it

So Iron Hands remove their left hand upon becoming Space Marines. Did this ritual continue unbroken among their successor chapters? If there is no fluff providing the answer, which successor chapter or chapters do you think would have most likely forgotten or left this ritual behind?

Hello everyone! As a person who is constructing a force of Emperor's Children at them moment (And who vowed for Dark Angels for etl...) I was curious what makes Iron Hands special. I understand they have close ties with the mechanicus, so I could see someone making an allied force. However, if one were to make a fluffy Iron Hands force that still has some bite what would it have? Dreadnoughts? Techmarines? On a side note, I am confused as to the roles of the iron fathers. I have read that they are a chaplain/ techmarine hybrid, but at the same time I also read they are most similar to a captain of their company. Thanks! ~Sapphon

From an Advanced Review here: http://www.thebolthole.org/forum/viewtopic...f=35&t=1894 If true then this certainly throws the Iron Hands culture into a new perspective.

Sometimes you just get tired of painting Green ... Or so I kept telling myself for the last 2-3 years. It had been ages since I had the urge to paint one of my Salamanders, I had dabbled with the Imperial Guard, done some nice work with Battlefleet Gothic and generally mucked about without actually painting anything even vaguely Space Marine orientated. New toys kept arriving and going into the "Space Marine" box, money spent on a pile of plastic that was getting bigger and bigger. It is disconcerting to be the owner of one of the biggest Space Marine websites in the world and not have the urge to play or paint Space Marines. You feel in some strange way disloyal, a bit of a failure, almost like living a lie. I have always liked Space Marines, loved my Salamander Marines, I created the best space marine painter program on the web ... hell my namesake even got a place in the Salamander books by Black Library. But I could not stir any interest in picking up and painting a Space Marine, "Sometimes you just get tired of painting Green ..." kept going around in my head. Maybe that is the problem, perhaps I am too hooked up "Painting Green", being THE "Salamander" player. So I am going to try and paint some other Space Marines and try not to feel oddly guilty and importantly I am not going to try and make them "works of art". The nearest I ever got to the Demons was making the cut in 2003 at Baltimore, its time to put that dream away and just enjoy painting some stuff to whatever standard takes my fancy. So I started thinking about what I would like to paint that wasn't a "Salamander", I decided I like old Chapters as they have cool looking old armour etc. So a founding chapter perhaps? ... Well to cut a lot of self analysis waffling short, I decided this week to try and paint an Iron Hand Space Marine. Here is the work in progress ... still need to work on the purity seal and I am not happy with the bolter casing either ... but its a start and my first Space Marine in over 2 yrs. I am waiting for Forgeworld to deliver the Decals for the shoulderpads! I used a metal bolter (because of the bionics) and the surface is uneven and the white casing sure as hell shows it! not happy with that ... next one will be a Plastic bolter and should be better. I am using the "chipped" weathering look because normally I paint "pristine" space marines and I wanted a change! (its also VERY quick) Its taken me 2 hrs painting to get this far and that's about the fastest I have ever painted any marine, so I am quite pleased by that :) I need to decide on some kind of basing theme next, I am tempted to go for steel plate with significant rust and oil ... but I will test that later. Overall I am pleased with the result, its fast and a little dirty ... but its a space marine in under 3 hrs and that is unheard of for me. Lets hope FW deliver my stuff quickly while I can maintain interest!

These two short stories from the Black Library form an Iron Hands narrative revolving around the Chapter's servitors, seen through the eyes of Veteran-Sergeant Dolmech: The Blessing of Iron, by Anthony Reynolds The Memory of Flesh, by Matthew Farrer Published in 2012, they both make for short but sweet reads, and are both wonderfully bonkers in the 40k way. Warmly recommended. Farrer's penmanship is especially suited for the weird story playing out. Have you read them? What did you think?

I'm reading The voice of Mars and have come across some fluff bits that are new to me. The chaplaincy and libraius have no in put in chapter decision making. Clan racoon have a AI controlled starfort that is self aware and refuses to accept a crew. It's fairly out in the open that kristos might be a heretek When you join Clan racoon/kristos cult you have all prior memories of self removed. Medusa's maximum population is 2 million. Personally I think guymer is doing a pretty good job

For Warlord Traits, I've been using Storm of Fire and Iron Resolve; in most cases, my Warlord carries a hammer & shield so the Chapter specific trait Merciless Logic does me no good. In the interest of brainstorming, how would you gear a Warlord to take advantage of it? The most Dakota I can come up with is a stormbolter and power fist with wrist launcher -- max of seven shots -- but then you lose out on close combat chances to use it. Taking the relic axe, relic sword, or a generic relic blade all give decent CC stats without a hit penalty, though you can't take the axe with a Terminator Captain (my preferred option) and as a codex we're not particularly vaunted at melee anyway. It's quite the predicament. Any ideas? Anyone actually use Merciless Logic and if so, what was your opinion on its utility?

So I've purchased well more than my fair share of the Iron Hands Tac Squad boxes (though now I think they serll the hits as a separate pack?), so I've got probably a dozen of the bionics arms holding thunder hammers. I was going to put one on my Sternguard Sergeant but that's is inexplicably prohibited in the Codex, so...what would you guys do with all those hammers?

Morning gents. I had a scout around and I couldn't find any clan info for Sabik Wayland. If and one can point me in the right direction that would be great.

If there is a Techmarine next to a unit of Honor Guard and the Techmarine is shot, it wounds, he fails his armor save and the 6+ "feel no pain", or whatever it is called now, but then the Honor Guard rolls for their ability to take the wound instead of the character and succeeds, do they to get the 6+ "feel no pain"? So, is that ability kinda better for the Iron Hands? Please excuse grammar, Spelling mistakes and such.

Brother Astartes, the ETL is upon us once again. And once again we are united as a codex. Yet now our foes have multiplied ten fold with the inclusion of the foul xenos. But we shall not waver, for there can be no meeting of minds with such beings that exist in the dark places of the galaxy. There is simply a choice, defeat them... or be defeated by them. And defeat them we will. FOR ARE WE NOT SPACE MARINES? ARE WE NOT THE CHOSEN OF THE EMPEROR, HIS LOYAL SERVANTS UNTIL DEATH? TO THE DARKNESS WE BRING FIRE, TO THE IGNORANT WE BRING FAITH. THE EMPEROR'S WILL IS YOUR TORCH, WITH IT, DESTROY THE SHADOWS! THE TEMPLARS CALL YOU TO WAR, WILL YOU ANSWER?

In preparation for the new model being released tomorrow I thought I'd make a thread where people who like the model, have some conversion ideas or tweaks they want to make to the model and for people to show off their version of him. Obviously there's a separate thread for his rules side and this is purely a modelling/painting appreciation thread. I really love this new model, honestly way better than I thought it would be. When we were shown previews way back, just the image of the model alone was enough to get me back into my space marine army. That said there's a couple of things I would like to change mainly: 1) that weird block thing near the bottom of the axe 2) the dangle claw 3) his face 1 and 2 are easy fixes for me. Just switching the dangle claw for something more fixed, maybe the claw from a rocket launcher backpack or the new havoc kit and cutting off that box on the axe. 3 is a bit more difficult because of the way I want to do it. I basically want to replace his face with a visor helmet from the inceptor kit. It may now be more of a pain because the gravis hood is further back. What are your thoughts on the model? Got any ideas for conversions? Post your versions for the Sons of Ferrus to appreciate

So the consensus seems to be that Iron Hands are top tier and possibly overpowered(unproven). It is possible that a rules change by GW could result in nerfs. What do you think might be reasonable possible changes they might make? Are changes necessary? If no changes come is that a signal of power creep to come? My personal opinion is that a small change is coming and will pull back on stacking defensive abilities in some way. It should be noted that my ability to predict GW rules changes is poor

Hi all. I’ve been reading through the Space Marine codex, looking for different units that would combine well with the Iron Hands traits (beside the obvious ones). There were a few units that caught my eye, but the Whirlwind has truly peaked my interest. A Whirlwind with a Castellan launcher has 2D6 (meaning an average of 7) Str 6 and AP -1 shots on anything within 72”. And I mean anything since it ignores LOS. Then add in the Iron Hands ability to move and shoot heavy weapons with no penalties and re-rolling 1s, and the strat to fire a Whirlwind twice in one turn. And all this for a unit that costs 80 points. How is this not a thing in more Iron hands lists? 1 or 2 in any list can be a major nuisance. Am I missing something? Has this been brought up before? Let me know if I’m totally out to lunch here.