++ Iron Within, Iron Without An Iron Warriors Community ++

[Gen.Steiner]

Lessons From a Game

 

I played the latest Fate of Konor mission with the figures I have, which is to say "a sub-optimal list", so take all advice with that context please.

 

I had:

Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour with Black Mace and combi-bolter
Sorceror with Force Sword and plasma pistol
5 Terminators with 3x combi-melta, heavy flamer, combi-flamer; power fists, power axe;
5 Terminators with RAC and 4x combi-bolters

10 CSM with Icon of Chaos, heavy bolter, melta, plasma pistol/chainsword
10 CSM with Icon of Slaanesh, 2 plasma guns, bolt pistol/power sword
12 Cultists (Mark of Slaanesh) with heavy stubber and autoguns
18 Cultists (Mark of Tzeentch) with flamer and autopistols/ccw
Dreadnought with RAC and power claw

Came to about 1,400 points ish.

 

I faced off against two 750 points lists that totalled:

Space Marine Captain with storm bolter and relic blade
Space Marine Chaplain
5 Intercessors with bolt rifles
5 Intercessors with bolt rifles
5 Intercessors with bolt rifles
5 Tactical Marines with flamer and combi-flamer
5 Tactical Marines with multi-melta and combi-melta
Razorback with TLAC and storm bolter
Razorback with TLAC and storm bolter
Repulsor with ALL THE GUNS (storm bolters, two heavy stubbers, twin lascannons, pintle gatling, turret gatling, fragstorm, krakstorm...)
Redemptor with HOG and flamer and the little rocket launcher pods

I lost the roll to go first even with a re-roll.

In their first turn I lost my Slaaneshi cultists, 12 of my Tzeentchian cultists (6 to shooting and 6 to morale), and four of my Slaaneshi CSM.

In my first turn I dropped in my Terminators and concentrated fire from both squads of Terminators, my heavy bolter and my Dreadnought destroyed one Razorback and four of five Marines inside it. This was a mistake - I should have dropped behind his armour advance and killed his Captain for 1VP and then done as much damage as possible to his Repulsor.

 

In their second turn I lost the rest of my Slaaneshi Marines, a couple of wounds off the Dreadnought, and four of my melta-Terminator squad. Oh, and their Razorback came back on.

In my second turn I put as much fire as I could into the Repulsor and took it down a couple of wounds.

In their third turn I conceded after they killed my remaining melta-Terminator, the surviving Cultists and Dreadnought, leaving me with no real way to take back or even contest Objectives 1 and 2 - a squad of CSM I needed to control Objective 3, a Sorceror, and 6 Terminators (one of them being a Lord) was not enough to combat their entire 1500 point army (the destroyed combi squad with multi-melta came back on in turn 3)!

My real learning point is that my Iron Warrior collection is way too small to build even half-way decent armies from.

Also, kill Repulsors dead. They have a ridiculous amount of firepower.

[Goreshed]

Repulsors are nasty, I've only gone up against one so far and they rolled poorly for shooting against it. This latest mission is tough without a lot of high toughness units to protect the objectives and such. Terrain and objective placement will be key. But I gotta agree with Primaris stuff, they are nasty. The Ancient is especially nasty with Hellblasters.

 

But it looks like you need more hard hitting, like a pred, hell even a Land Raider would offer up some hitting power. I've had pretty good luck with mine so far. Or Havocs with a number of different weapon combos so you can tailor it to you needs.

[Blackcadian]

(...)

 

So all in all I'm pretty reconciled with the new edition. I really like the command points and the otions they provide. I feel they make the game more tactical. After I had analyzed the ETC lists, I thought "omg unbound is the new battleforged, 40k is over". But for friendly games its still fun and the errata that flyers don't count against sudden death also did its part. I will probably be at a tournament in September to see how that landscape develops. Right now I have a good feeling about CSM and the edition as a whole.

Thank you Iron Skull Mask for your first impessions, your report got me excited to try out my force soon! The Dreadclaws sound really cool and I love the models, so thats good! Glad to hear our much maligned legion tactic is not so meh after all. I thought so too because my strongest opponent is eldar who loves to cover camp.

[Blackcadian]

 

PS: Is there any good fluff for Iron Warriors? I'd like to read up on them to stoke my motivation.

 

 

There a whole list on the first page, under Iron Library - Black Library.  Listing the Horus Heresy & 40k novels.  It only more recent that need to be added to the list.

 

Storm of Iron the one ever Iron Warrior hobbiest should own.

No idea how I missed that, thanks!

 

Bought Storm of Iron the same day and now am 3/4 through it. I'm starting to like Iron Warriors a lot more but thats DESPITE of the book which I find pretty bad sadly. Compared to the Night Lord trilogy or the early HH novels it doesn't really captivate me at all. There have been quite a few moments when I thought to myself - "this doesnt make any sense at all/breaks the immersion". The characters of the Iron Warriors aren't all that fleshed out and quite bland and unimaginative imo, but tastes vary, it's just not my cup of tea I guess. I'll have a look at Angel Exterminatus next.

 

Your army is very nice by the way, looking through it right now.

[Goreshed]

You also have to keep in mind that Storm of Iron was early 2000's and at the time one of the few chaos books out there. A lot has evolved at BL since then.

[Iron Skull Mask]

 

(...)

 

So all in all I'm pretty reconciled with the new edition. I really like the command points and the otions they provide. I feel they make the game more tactical. After I had analyzed the ETC lists, I thought "omg unbound is the new battleforged, 40k is over". But for friendly games its still fun and the errata that flyers don't count against sudden death also did its part. I will probably be at a tournament in September to see how that landscape develops. Right now I have a good feeling about CSM and the edition as a whole.

Thank you Iron Skull Mask for your first impessions, your report got me excited to try out my force soon! The Dreadclaws sound really cool and I love the models, so thats good! Glad to hear our much maligned legion tactic is not so meh after all. I thought so too because my strongest opponent is eldar who loves to cover camp.

 

 

Glad to have been able to raise spirits :) Yes, the legion tactic is better than it looks at first glance. Here in Germany most tournament tables feature a significant amount of terrain and in our hobby group we also tend to use a good deal. And having your 5 man devastor squad ontop of a ruin or within a forest gives them a 2 up save so that's not to be underestimated. Being able to ignore this is pretty good.

 

I have to say that something else I really love is the challenges and especially the "champion of chaos" rule gone. CSM 5 man tac squads now can take a rocket launcher and a reusable flamer combi-weapon each, without danger of automatically losing the champion as soon as they find themselves in cc. I think making the boon table a stratagem was agood choice. People who like it can still use it, but the rest doesn't have to. 

I also had another look at the DP after I revisited the stratagems. I think Tzeench is the way to go for him because then you can very effectively use the stratagems for exchanging psychic powers and using an extra power. With them you can both cast warp time and another spell needed, be it death curse to keep a character from using invuls, or beefing up the DP with diabolic stength.

But what GW did to our obliterators still makes me sad. Yes, they fire more shots now, but their random guns are still a slap to the face and not reliable against quality targets. They also still have no cc profile, for what their 3 attacks each can't make up for. I will give them a try some time, but what has been the backbone of my tournament list in 7th will now be resting in peace in my army storage case. Can't understand why they had to bring down their foot on this one effective unit we had in 7th. They probably wanted them to be as useless as mutilators.

[Iron-Daemon Forge]

You also have to keep in mind that Storm of Iron was early 2000's and at the time one of the few chaos books out there. A lot has evolved at BL since then.

Agree

No matter how many time I've re-read Storm of Iron, there always a new idea from the novel. Inspiring a new model & unit. Also I've got a list on the front again that cover the Honsou series, I think I've got the Ultramarine side of the story on there as well. Last time I spoke to Graham he commented he'd like to get a few more story on Honsou done, but that was before he move to the USA.

Just though I'd show my new Exalted Champion inspired by the art work of the Iron Warrior from codex Chaos.

[Plaguecaster]

^^^^

Damn that is awesome :D love the use of the varanguard hammer just wish we had thunder hammers

[Marqol]

That's looking great Psychopath. I'm still gathering pieces for my version. Friend has given me the death watch two handed hammers for the arms and I'm getting plasticard to try and build the bionic knee. Where are the legs from? As they look good for my dark apostle idea I'm planning. 

[Iron-Daemon Forge]

That's looking great Psychopath. I'm still gathering pieces for my version. Friend has given me the death watch two handed hammers for the arms and I'm getting plasticard to try and build the bionic knee. Where are the legs from? As they look good for my dark apostle idea I'm planning. 

 

There Khârn

 

If you get plastic rods different size & there also a plastic rod that has a metal wire inside.  There great for bionic legs.  If I can find the old photos I'll try up load the once I did year ago.

Other chose is the Iron Hands upgrade pack from Games Workshop as well.

 

[sebs_evo7]

Insane psychopath how do you attach the servo arms to your minis and where do you source them from?

[Goreshed]

Looks to me like the servo arm is from the Admech line.

[Marqol]

If you get plastic rods different size & there also a plastic rod that has a metal wire inside. There great for bionic legs. If I can find the old photos I'll try up load the once I did year ago.

Other chose is the Iron Hands upgrade pack from Games Workshop as well.

I have no plastic rods to hand but I do have the Iron Hand bionics. Decided to chop the right leg off and attatch it to some mark 3. I want to make it as close to the art work as I could, though certain parts are impossible unless I sculpt them myself. I've settled on a mk1 version of the model that's half finished right now. The chest piece matches up nicely and I've tried to get the hammer too. I might take off the loin cloth though and try green stuffing one so I can make it all raggedy like the picture.

I'm going to take more angles for my WIP thread but I thought I'd also throw in my Daemon prince. The arms aren't finished and I might add some more fleshmetal coming out of the armour but here he is so far.

[Iron Cookie]

Salutations to all my fellow Iron Warrior players!

 

After i was lost in the warp for 15 years i have found my way back to the hobby.

 

The 33rd Grand Company the "Iron Branded" reporting in, Led by Warsmith Tacitus. 40k Chaos

[Marqol]

Always good to see more Iron warrior players! Especially returning ones! Welcome to the community!

[Blackcadian]

I keep thinking - what do I LIKE about Iron Warriors? I mean, out of a rather unlikeable bunch (Chaos Space Marines) they're probably one of the most if not the most unlikeable legion. Dark, brooding, matter of fact and straight forward.

 

The paint scheme is fairly easy to execute whilst still looking good, but is that a good reason?

 

Their lore fits my current battle plan and units (just assembled my brand new Whirlwind Scorpius and a Rapier Battey), as does the warlord trait. Fearless cultists wrapping a gunline - like I said, straight forward.

 

But I'm still looking for fluff that'll actually make me LIKE them. The Night Lords trilogy portrayed that legion brutal, selfish and insane, but at some level gave us ways to actually like and root for the main characters no matter their character. When the Word Bearers turned to Chaos I was shocked (even though I knew the story), but after Monarchia I could understand why they did it. The brotherhood of the Sons of Horus in the first few HH books is great to read about, and even some of the Alpha Legion are likeable even though that novel wasnt really all that good. But when I read Storm of Iron I didn't like any of the Iron Warriors. Theres no band of brotherhood, no likeable facets to any of the main characters. And Perturabo ordering his legion kill every tenth (?) of themselves and them actually doing it is still incomprehensible and an awful piece of fluff imo.

 

So, after all that, why do YOU like the Iron Warriors so much?

 

Maybe I can take a page put of your book.

 

Thanks for putting up with me so far :/

[Iron Cookie]

Thanks Marqol,

 

I had a right game against my mates Space wolves,

 

The Death Hex is amazing against all his storm shield units.

 

Before the Codex dropped i could not beat them no matter what i tried.

 

The Stratagems make CSM, it gives them so much more depth that they had lost.

[Azekai]

I keep thinking - what do I LIKE about Iron Warriors? I mean, out of a rather unlikeable bunch (Chaos Space Marines) they're probably one of the most if not the most unlikeable legion. Dark, brooding, matter of fact and straight forward.

 

The paint scheme is fairly easy to execute whilst still looking good, but is that a good reason?

 

Their lore fits my current battle plan and units (just assembled my brand new Whirlwind Scorpius and a Rapier Battey), as does the warlord trait. Fearless cultists wrapping a gunline - like I said, straight forward.

 

But I'm still looking for fluff that'll actually make me LIKE them. The Night Lords trilogy portrayed that legion brutal, selfish and insane, but at some level gave us ways to actually like and root for the main characters no matter their character. When the Word Bearers turned to Chaos I was shocked (even though I knew the story), but after Monarchia I could understand why they did it. The brotherhood of the Sons of Horus in the first few HH books is great to read about, and even some of the Alpha Legion are likeable even though that novel wasnt really all that good. But when I read Storm of Iron I didn't like any of the Iron Warriors. Theres no band of brotherhood, no likeable facets to any of the main characters. And Perturabo ordering his legion kill every tenth (?) of themselves and them actually doing it is still incomprehensible and an awful piece of fluff imo.

 

So, after all that, why do YOU like the Iron Warriors so much?

 

Maybe I can take a page put of your book.

 

Thanks for putting up with me so far :/

I am drawn to the Iron Warrior's implacability, their use of technology, and their callous disregard of all life; Iron Warriors are some of my favorite Chaos Space Marines. They are nihilism writ large, a faction that screams '40k.' I don't actually much like real-world nihilism, but if I were faced with the 'grim darkness of the 41st Millennium,' I might just lower my head and plunge headlong into the madness.

 

Perturabo's decimation of his own legion seems both in-character and believable. Real-world units decimated themselves, why not the Iron Warriors? Unpleasant... yes. Incomprehensible? No, not at all. 

 

[Marqol]

Why I like the Iron Warriors. Part of it was because Storm of Iron was one of the first BL books I ever read. I had gotten a little booklet from white dwarf that had three small teasers from different books. One being Storm of Iron. I can remember looking through the old 3rd edition codex, where they had access to basilisks and vinidcators, and I remember just the colour scheme and the play style of these armoured columns really jumping out at me. Their brute force style also speaks to my personality as a lot of the time I end up brute forcing through problems I have. 

I liked how they saw Chaos as a weapon and not something to worship, while a lot of their fellow traitor legions are off killing in the name of the chaos gods, the Iron Warriors are digging trenches, methodically planning the destruction of their enemy. There is a cruelness about them but not because they enjoy it (most the time) but because it's efficient. There's also a kind of tragedy in their backstory. They were eroded down, given more horrible missions to take but like unbending iron they kept doing it. Where other legions were being paraded as heroes they were in the dirt doing the worst campaigns. 

Also yellow is not a primary armour colour. It is an accent and that is why the Iron Warriors wear the colour the best. 

[Goreshed]

Blackcadian - Read Hammer of Olympia. Honestly it gives you more of the background than Angel Exterminatus did and when you take Perturabo and distill that into an entire legion you can see why so many of us love the 4th's story. It is hard for me to describe it in anywhere near the justice it deserves when it comes to not giving away anything. Needless to say with each new publication that involves the 4th we see more details and more refinement.

 

For me the IW fit my play style, I've always loved the fluff and has just been a solid fit in my 40k gaming that I don't even question anymore why I like the old iron boys but instead question why others don't love them as much as I do.

[Iron Cookie]

I like the uncompromising attitude to victory.

 

Victory is worth it, whatever the cost.

 

I also love all the daemon engines and Obliterators and that they will cut off mutations and replace them with bionics.

 

They use Chaos as a weapon, rather than been used as a weapon by Chaos.

 

And  Hazard stripes are cool lol

Edited August 23, 2017 by Iron Cookie

[Commander Dawnstar]

And Perturabo ordering his legion kill every tenth (?) of themselves and them actually doing it is still incomprehensible and an awful piece of fluff imo.

 

To quote the man himself in Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero: "... sometimes cruelty is the only way to make a point so clearly that nobody can ever mistake its intent."

 

Perturabo is someone who analyses the Legion he is to assume command of and finds it wanting against its peers on a great many levels. In this grand edict he makes a very clear statement that his Legion's performance is utterly unacceptable and that this is a failure on the Legion's part, not merely of weak links in the chain. Decimation serves as a punishment which ensures that no Legionary will ever want to fall short of their Primarch's estimations again, not only as an individual but as part of the greater Legion. It is a supremely cruel way of making a point so that every son of the IVth understands the price of weakness and failure.

 

I feel like Khârn's words before heading out to meet all but certain death at Angron's hands in After Desh'ea do a pretty good job of explaining why the Legionaries would have followed such orders. "We have our Primarch now [...] and he will lead his legion in whatever manner he chooses. We are his just as we are the Emperor's. What we wish or plan no longer matters [...] and what happens will be as the Primarch wills it. So be it. No more talk." They would doubt, they would question, they would despise the man who told them to kill their own brothers ... and they would do it because he was their Primarch and his will was that of the Legion and the Emperor.

Edited August 23, 2017 by Commander Dawnstar

[sushi2001]

I play Iron Warriors because they are the only chaos space marines who actually know how to defend and can do it right. Although it is much more often shown how they lay sieges to fortresses, I like the defensive aspect much more. One might argue why wouldn't I play Imperial fists instead. Well its beacause when I first played Warhammer 40k it was:

20 cultists (dark vengence)

1 hellbrute

Against a tactical squad and a raven wing squad.

1st round my hellbrute gets blown into high orbit withraven wing plasma while my cultist hoplessly expend their magazines on the seemingly inpregnable 3+ armour saves until all 20 lie dead.

 

And since that day I have some inate hatred for anything wearing power armour and doesn' t have horns. And since that day I thought that bikes weren't cool in the least I still haven't used a single bike in any of my games preffering hellbrutes and other deamon engienes.

[Blackcadian]

Thank you for your answers! I'm still on the fence but not really in a rush other than wanting to get started with painting. Something I wanted to share with you in case some of you havent seen this beautiy yet:

 

Iron Warriors Kytan Daemon Engine - Commission from Goldfish of Justice - View on Imgur: https://m.imgur.com/r/Warhammer40k/KDOer

 

Any of you having used it in 8th yet?

Edited August 25, 2017 by Blackcadian

[sushi2001]

No, but gathering what I saw frim battle reports the khorne juggernaut isn't aa unkillablw as hw mught seem and rhe two legged version is even squishier. The offensive capabilities are supperb.