Iron Hands 2K - 2 lists - getting back into the hobby

[Saphon]

Hi B&C'ers

After many years pause, I'm getting back into the hobby. The main motivation is a love for the lore and the awesome new Forgeworld minis. A historical interest in armoured warfare has probably also contributed.

Naturally, the army of choice is the Iron Hands, since their fluff is pretty cool, they can be painted quickly and Head of the Gorgon.

As such, I've designed to lists. Both have been made with Heinz Guderians " Nicht Kleckern, sonder Klotzen" quote in mind - which roughly means that commanders should avoid half measures and hammer the enemy, where they are the weakest with overwhelming force.

The core of both armies is a solid infantry centre supported by a Kheres Mortis Contemptor with a mobile strike force containing 10 Cataphractiis and some very durable AV14 vehicles. Both lists are designed to be effective at short range firefights to capitalize on the Iron Hands legion specific rules.

Since I haven't played in ages, I've got no clues as to what actually works.

Currently I own 2 praetors, 10 painted cataphractiis, 1 painted LR Proteus, 10 breachers and 1 Kheres which is consider the core of the army

List 1:

HQ: Praetor

Cataphractii, digi-weapons, paragorn blade, cyber familiar

Elites: Cataphractii terminators

10 legionaries, 2plasma blaster, 2 CF, 2 combi plas, 2 powerfists

Dedicated transport(Cataphractii)

Spartan,Armoured ceramite, flare shield

Elites:Mortis Contemptor

Dual Kheres

Troops: Legion Tactical squad,

15 legionaries, artificier armour, powerfist, vexilla

Troops: Legion Breacher squad,

10 legionaries, artificer armour, Thunder hammer, 2 volkites

Dedicated transport (Breachers)

Land Raider Proteus, Armoured ceramite

Heavy support: Sicaran

Heavy bolter sponsons, Armoured ceramite

Comes in at 1984

List 2
HQ:Praetor

Charnabal sabre, refractor field

Troops: Legion Tactical squad,

15 legionaries, vexilla

Troops:Legion Breacher squad,

10 legionaries, 2 volkites

Elites: Legion terminators,

Plasma blaster, CF, Combi-plasma

Dedicated Transport

(Cataphractii)

Land Raider Proteus,Armoured ceramite

Elites: Legion terminators,

Plasma blaster, CF, Combi-plasma, powerfist

Dedicated Transport

(Cataphractii)

Land Raider Proteus,Armoured ceramite

Elites: Mortis Contemptor

Dual Kheres

Lord of War: Typhon

2 heavy bolter sponsons, armoured ceramite

Comes in at 1999
Aesthetically, I love both the Sicaran and the Typhon, so rule of cool cannot decide.
I might have a slight preference for the first list, since i like the kitted HQ and the kitted squad leaders - but as stated the plan isn't really for massed infantry charges but rather mass rapid fire at close ranges..

I'd appreciate any feedback

[MindOfMetal]

First of all, want to say a really good choice on legion to go for (being an Iron Hands player I'm a bit biased).  Comments are put in Italics next to the entry.  Hopefully they are helpful.

 

HQ: Praetor

Cataphractii, digi-weapons, paragorn blade, cyber familiar 

Does your praetor have a rite of war?  I have found that unless I use a rite of war, a centurion is a good option due to the variety.  I tend to run a forgelord to go with my cataphractii in order to gain access to Rad Grenades.

 

Elites: Cataphractii terminators

10 legionaries, 2plasma blaster, 2 CF, 2 combi plas, 2 powerfists

Dedicated transport(Cataphractii)

Spartan,Armoured ceramite, flare shield

Big expensive unit.  Never used cataphractii at this size before but looks like a reasonable build that should be able to take things on easily enough. 

 

Elites:Mortis Contemptor

Dual Kheres

Pretty standard, but a good choice.

 

Troops: Legion Tactical squad,

15 legionaries, artificier armour, powerfist, vexilla

Good choice.

 

Troops: Legion Breacher squad,

10 legionaries, artificer armour, Thunder hammer, 2 volkites

Dedicated transport (Breachers)

Land Raider Proteus, Armoured ceramite

In standard tables I don't know if I rate breachers very highly.  They are a relatively short range troop.  The boarding shield is nice, but they are a lot of points.  Generally I would advise a 2nd tactical squad.

 

Heavy support: Sicaran

Heavy bolter sponsons, Armoured ceramite

See no problems here, you could think about adding Castrman Orth to the list to help not only this tank, but the Spartan and Proteus.

 

List 1.

• I see a lot of nice things in here and can see a good basis for a mech list; aside from the tactical squad and contemptor.  Most of the time I would recommend going either full mech or full footslog.  
• Personally, unless you are going for a rite of war, I wouldn't bother with a Praetor.  An idea would be a cheaper centurion and Orth as warlord for the tank bonuses.

​

List 2

HQ:Praetor

Charnabal sabre, refractor field

Again, don't see much point in this guy unless you go with Pride of the Legion (considering you have 2 normal troop choices anyway and terminators are scoring I don't think it's worth it).  Again I would say go for a centurion

 

Troops: Legion Tactical squad,

15 legionaries, vexilla

Pretty standard and non thrills.  

 

Troops:Legion Breacher squad,

10 legionaries, 2 volkites

Again, not overly keen on Breachers.  A bigger tactical squad with an apothecary would be a nice fit.

 

Elites: Legion terminators,

Plasma blaster, CF, Combi-plasma

Dedicated Transport 

(Cataphractii)

Land Raider Proteus,Armoured ceramite

Good load out in my opinion.

 

Elites: Legion terminators,

Plasma blaster, CF, Combi-plasma, powerfist

Dedicated Transport 

(Cataphractii)

Land Raider Proteus,Armoured ceramite

Good load out in my opinion.

 

Elites: Mortis Contemptor

Dual Kheres

Good choice in my opinion.

 

Lord of War: Typhon

2 heavy bolter sponsons, armoured ceramite

A good choice of lord of war for this sort of points heavy.  

 

List 2

• Again, drop the Praetor for something else.  Unless you are building an army around a rite of war they are generally a lot of points.  Use a centurion instead.
• Breachers, static breachers are probably worse than mech breachers.  If it was me, drop the breachers for another 15 man tactical squad and try and give them an apothecary each.

 

Overall, I would say that list 2 is one that fits together better.  You have your static force for local objective grabbing and you have your mech terminators for further objectives.  I hope my comments help in some way, feel free to ignore any of them.

[Saphon]

Thanks for the input, MindOfMetal.. really appreciate them.
 

Both Praetors are present to unlock Head of the Gorgon RoW - I failed to mention that properly.
I'd love to field Orth, but I can't seem to find the points for him in either list.

Currently, I'm leaning towards list 2. Since I've just  assembled the damned breachers (bought the immortals - just to damn awesome to look at), I think that i need to field test them and gather some experience with them. I get that they are not as mobile as tactical marines and are quite expensive for the first ten (which is why it is kinda silly only to include 10 in my list). The breachers just seem like a very solid that could potentially screen a flank/the tactical squad.

While i like the two terminator squads as they are, maybe reduce some of the fancy weapons to buy more bodies for the breachers? As it stands, the breachers are 30 points more than the tactical squad and has 5 fewer bodies, but shields and two volkites (chose them because ray-guns rock!)..