Iron Hands 1500pts

[Emperors Teeth]

I'm working on a much larger army, but I mostly play 1-1.5k against my mate's Necrons & Nids. As such it makes sense to get my Legion army usable at this level asap.

 

 

 

HQ

Legion Centurion + Master of Signal, Artificer armour (95)

 

Troops

Legion Tactical Squad [15 men] (225)

inc. Power weapon, Artificer armour & Melta Bombs on Sergeant

 

Legion Tactical Squad [15 men] (225)

inc. Power fist & Artificer armour on Sergeant

 

Elites

Mortis Dreadnought + Two Twin Lascannon, 2 Hunter Killer Missiles (175)

Terminator Squad (215)

inc. 1 Power Fist, 5 Combi-weapons

 

Heavy Support

Heavy Support Squad [5 men] + Missile Launchers (165)

inc. Augury Scanner on Sergeant

Sicaran + Lascannon sponsons (175)

Sicaran + Lascannon sponsons (175)

 

Fortification

Defence Line (50)

 

 

Total = 1500

 

 

 

The bulk of the force; Tactical Squad, Heavy Squad, Master of Signal and Dreadnought will sit behind the line enjoying their Cover Save and Stubborn rules and sit on home objectives, while the Assault squad and Predators (using the Predators as cover if needed) move up the flank blasting anything that moves. (...although it is aweful tempting to swap the Predators for two sponson-less Sicarans.)

 

 

I'm aware that a Mortis Contemptor at 10 points more is more survivable, but I have a modeling idea that I'd like to see through with a FW Ironclad model. Plus I can whack a couple Hunter killers on there for more AA when I really need it.

 

 

I've never used a fortification, but it seems a logical choice with Iron Hands gaining bonus for being in their Deployment Zone. Since I can't squeeze Apothecaries in either, for the FNP rolls, I can at least get cover saves vs. the big guns.

[Sevatar]

I would swap out the Assault squad for Terminators or a Veteran squad. At this level they are just too expensive. I would also consider some Barrage weapons - a Medusa or Basilisk perhaps?

[Moonstalker]

I think you're a little light on anti-armor - specifically for dealing with AV14.  If your opponent brings a Monolith you're pretty much stuffed for dealing with it.  The first thing he's going to do is kill your Mortis and then laugh off your Missile Launchers and Orbital Bombardment.  Perhaps you could swap out the guns on one of your Predators for Lascannon Sponsons and a Predator Cannon.  It would probably still be a bit less than I would like, but it's something.  It would make for some pretty expensive Predators, but if you're super-attached to the Plasma Cannons you could give them Lascannon Sponsons instead of the heavy bolters and Machine Spirit so they can fire their lascannons at armor and their Executioners at things that need executing.  You can leave off Machine Spirit, though it would make the tanks a little less efficient in applying their firepower.

 

I think Sev is right about the Assault Squad.  That's a lot of points for only 10 power armored bodies, and if they start putting their mobility to use they could end up caught out and defeated in detail while your tactical squads are too far back to be of much help.  It would be the place to start looking for points to upgrade your anti-tank with.

[Emperors Teeth]

Alrighty... I hear you about the Assault Squad, and he is likely to (and regularly does) bring a Monolith. That thing is the bane of my Imperial Guard...

I want to avoid Artillery at the moment, although Medusa's are on my shopping list long-term. My Imperial guard is very stand-offish and I'd like to be a bit more aggressive with my Marines (Iron Hands probably weren't the ideal Legion, but they're easy to paint, and I love tanks).

Regarding Terminators, I would have put them in the original list, but I was expecting comments about how static they are and that they would need transport. Which isn't really realistic at 1.5k.


As such, I've come up with the following:

 

-Assault Squad [10 men] + 2 Power weapons (295)

 inc. Power fist & Artificer armour on Sergeant

-Predator + Executioner Cannon , Heavy Bolter Sponsons (135)

-Predator + Executioner Cannon , Heavy Bolter Sponsons (135)

+Terminator Squad (215)

   inc. 1 Power Fist, 5 Combi-weapons

+Sicaran + Lascannon sponsons (175)

+Sicaran + Lascannon sponsons (175)

(amendments made original post)

 

Being an Imperial Guard player, I'm a big fan of doing things in 2's (sometimes 3's). 2 Sicaran's can handle anything he can throw at me... fliers, Monolith's, whatever. I expect. I'm happy to include Terminators (Cataphractii) as I love the models and really want more than 2 scoring units. They're a little sparsely equipped I admit. I'll mix plasma and melta on their combi's. I was tempted by a 5-man Heavy squad with Lascannons... but that's 235 points!!! For 5 PA men!

 

I think this sets me up well for when I push past 2k and start adding more Cataphractii and Spartans.

[coloroutofspace]

I was about to say 'delivery system for termies' :) But overall I'm biased against Terminators, they're an underperforming unit for me, I'd rather take another big Tactical instead.

 

Also, I'm not sure about those MLs. Autocannons of Volkite Culvarins seem a much better choice. Or a Rapier battery. 18 twin-linked heavy bolter shots against Nids for the price. Or Thud Guns. Or Laser Destroyers to laser-destroy the Monolith?

[Siebold]

I'd say, wait for the next book.

Fortifications just look so very Iron Warrior.

Especially if we start using more artillery-ish units.

[Sanct]

 I would say that as an Iron Hand (power) gamer you would be best with an all Toughness force. 

 

Unless you're using a RoW - if you aren't then you're better off using the elites/fast attack FoC (or at least any toughness based selections) 

 

 

If you're using 1-2k then you're better off relying of a basic power armour force (3+/no INV) and no RoW regardless of source or legion

 

If you're a power gamer the Salamander and Iron Hands Legion have equal power gamer potential - depending on your personal bias between character/unit 

Otherwise it entirely depends upon your organisation/RoW

[Emperors Teeth]

Ouch man, way to kill the mood. I appreciate the input, but the tone could use some work.

I had not thought to use the other organisation charts, but then, I'll mostly be playing standard 40k games against a friend and don't want to throw that curveball at him too.

 

Most armies I have written before end up all or nearly all infantry. What did you find the advantage of doing so? Are you not, then, horribly struggling with movement or do you take some fast moving infantry? I'm not looking for a win-at-all-costs army here, but I have a track record of remarkably ineffective army lists and could use some pointers.

[Moonstalker]

Well, this list mirrors my own in a lot of ways, so it would be hard for me to poo-poo it without looking quite silly.  Stubborn in own deployment zone + Inviolate Armor + ADL should keep those two tactical squads on their feet and firmly placed on their home objective, even without my normally preferred Apothecaries and Vexillas.  I'm a big fan of Sicarans, Master of Signal, and Heavy Weapon Squads with missile launchers (or Autocannons, or Volkite Culverins).  I'm still not sure if there is a really good way to get out of your own deployment zone so you can try and grab objectives mid-field, but I think the Terminators at least bring some more melee punch (SO PUNNY) and ranged power, depending on which combi-weapons you choose.  A support squad with special weapons and a Rhino would fit within the same points, and would be scoring + mobile + lots of pew.  Meltaguns, plasmaguns, or volkite calivers would all be good choices, I think.  I'm not sure if that really does anything better than the Assault Squad, since you're going to end up with just an AV11 vehicle and 5 power armor bodies instead of just 10 power armor bodies with jump packs, buuuuut... well, the support squad can be dangerous from range/doesn't have to get into melee to do its job, and if you lose the support squad but not the Rhino, you could stuff one of your tactical squads in the Rhino and rush forward if you take at least 5 casualties in the Tactical squad (thus making the squad small enough to fit in the Rhino).

 

But the rest of your list seems solid enough that whatever you choose to do with those 215 points will be fine in the end.

[Siebold]

I put some terminators with a plasma blaster in a land raider for my list.

You not only get a nice big av 14 vehicle and it's lascannon but also a way to savely deploy a scoring unit of terminators.

Do you plan to run them in cataphracti or tartaros pattern armor?

[Russ Brother 92]

 

I put some terminators with a plasma blaster in a land raider for my list.

You not only get a nice big av 14 vehicle and it's lascannon but also a way to savely deploy a scoring unit of terminators.

Do you plan to run them in cataphracti or tartaros pattern armor?

 

 

The only downside I can see from this (and I run an entirely Cataphractii Terminator army) is the points sink - my 2k PoTL force is roughly 25 models (and that includes 2 contemptors)...

 

I'd say getting a LR Phobos for a 5-man wrecking crew can work out, certainly likely to take a lot of strain of other units (such as the sicarians) who will attract enemy fire, though against Necrons it will relatively negligable (they'll glance even AV14 to death) - so it upto you.