2500 Head of the Gorgon

[Harrowmaster]

I've done up my first 30k Iron hands list and thought I'd throw it up here for some adivce (I play an infantry based AL army mainly so this is quite a change) any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

HQ: 

 

Praetor: Jetbike, cyber familiar, thunder hammer, Iron halo (210)

 

Command squad: Jetbikes, combat shields, 2 power fists, 2 power swords (340)

 

Elites:

 

2 Contemptors: Multimeltas, chainfists (370)

 

Gorgon terminators: Cyber familiar, land raider phobos: armoured ceramite (455)

 

Rapier battery: 3 laser destroyers (165)

 

Troops:

 

Tactical squad: Rhino (160)

 

Tactical squad: Rhino (160)

 

Support squad: Graviton guns, rhino (190)

 

Support squad: Graviton guns, rhino (190)

 

Heavy support:

 

Vindicator: Armoured ceramite, extra armour (145)

 

Whirlwind scorpius (115)

[The Native]

I won't re-write your list for you but I'll give you some of my thoughts and you can go from there. 

 

A Praetor and Command Squad on Jetbikes are wasted if they're tooled up for close combat. Jetbikes are gun platforms and you'll want the Praetor in combat as much as possible. If you want speed put them on bikes. I'd suggest the Command Squad is actually quite expensive for what they do. You could drop them, get a Spartan for the Gorgons and have your Praetor run with them.

 

Graviton Guns are crap. They're Heavy so you can't move and fire. They've got a short range at 18". They're AP4 so MEQ will still have a save. You hop out of the Rhino and will be subjected to a turn of shooting before you get a turn. And a smart player will make sure all vulnerable targets are out of range. 

 

I would drop the Contemptors for more tanks to take advantage of the special rules inherent to Head of the Gorgon.

 

Whirlwind Scorpius, good - can sit behind cover and rain death upon the enemy at a very cheap points cost.

 

Vindicator, bad - powerful but very short ranged gun means you have to be close to the enemy and it's fragile so you'll probably get off one shot then die. With the points saved from dropping the Contemptors you could get a Sicaran Venator or Arcus. You could even look at a Caetus Assault Ram - it counts as a tank so benefits from the RoW. 

[Harrowmaster]

Okay, so here's the revised army list:

 

HQ:

 

Praetor: Tartaros armour, cyber familiar, iron halo, paragon blade (195)

 

Command squad: Tartaros armour, pair of claws, plasma balster, 3 chainfists, land raider phobos: Armoured ceramite, auxiliary drive (500)

 

Elites:

 

Gorgon terminators: Cyber familiar, land raider phobos: armoured ceramite (455)

 

Rapier battery: 3 laser destroyers (165)

 

Troops:

 

Tactical squad: Rhino (160)

 

Tactical squad: Rhino (160)

 

Tactical squad: Rhino (160)

 

Tactical support squad: Volkite chargers, rhino (210)

 

Heavy support:

 

Predator squadron: Two tanks, autocannons, lascannons (230)

 

Vindicator: Armoured ceramite (140)

 

Whirlwind scorpius (115)

 

Total 2500

 

I know it's been suggested to drop the vindicator as it's not very efficient but I think it's probably the most iron hands tank ever (ironic) given it's brutal firepower, plus it's my favourite sm tank.   

[Caillum]

If you take a Demolisher Vindicator, you want to be able to move with with! A dozer blade and Machine Spirit are much more useful than armoured ceramite.

 

And you don’t really need 3 Tactical Squads. I would drop one and use the points for the following upgrades:

- dozer blades on all your Tanks (except the Scorpius). A measly 5 points that allows you to safely get through terrain 97% of the time!

- multi-meltas on the Rhinos. With only a combi-bolter, they are completely unthreatening. But put a S8 anti-Tank weapon on it and your opponent will need to deal with it!

- add artificer armour on all your Sergeants, and if there is any points left, maybe chainswords on the volkite charger Support Squad. Iron Hands need a buff in combat.

 

Apart from that, looks pretty good! :)

[Harrowmaster]

So I've added dozer blades to the vindicator, preds and rhinos. Lost a tactical squad, added meltas to the rhinos. Added combat weapons to the troops, artificer armour and power weapon to the volkite sergeant and meltabombs to a tac squad.

[Spiritual Liege]

So I've added dozer blades to the vindicator, preds and rhinos. Lost a tactical squad, added meltas to the rhinos. Added combat weapons to the troops, artificer armour and power weapon to the volkite sergeant and meltabombs to a tac squad.

Drop the combat weapons and power weapons. Tacticals or Tactical supports are useless in melee and should be used to capture some objectives and just be. 

 

I also feel that Gorgons AND a Command Squad are a bit overkill. Either drop the Command and get a Spartan for Gorgons and Praetor to ride in or drop the Gorgons and their Raider and get some more firepower in, like more Vindicators or Predators.

 

I also suggest a Sicaran Arcus. You would have to drop something (Vindicator I'd say) but it looks absolutely great and is super fitting for Iron Hands and is just generally good on the tabletop. Bonus if you have an extra 80 points for Orth to ride in it.

[Harrowmaster]

Third revision:

 

HQ:

 

Praetor: Cataphractii armour, cyber familiar, paragon blade (170)

 

Forge lord: Cataphractii armour, chainfist, rad grenades, cyber familiar (155)

 

Castrmen orth (80)

 

Elites:

 

Gorgon terminators: 1 chainfist, spartan: armoured ceramite, flare shield (580)

 

Veteran tactical squad: 2 volkite chargers, land raider proteus (360)

 

Troops:

 

Tactical squad, rhino: dozer blade, multimelta (180)

 

Tactical squad, rhino: dozer blade, multimelta (180)

 

Tactical support squad: Volkite chargers, rhino: dozer balde, multimelta (230)

 

Heavy support:

 

Sicaran: Lascannons, armoured ceramite (225)

 

Sicaran: Lascannons, armoured ceramite (225)

 

Scorpius (115)

Edited March 12, 2018 by Harrowmaster

[Dhar'Neth]

Praetor cannot take melta bomb when in Tactical Dreadnought Armour, while forge lord can (and propably should) take Cyber-Familiar.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Dhar'Neth

[Harrowmaster]

Switched the cvber familiar from the hammer bearer to the forge lord and removed melta bombs from the praetor

[Spiritual Liege]

Looking good. Some small adjustments can be made though, like dropping ceramite for Sicarans. Melta will punch through them anyway so its redundant.

 

Your Veteran squad also looks a bit useless and I'd drop it and with the points maybe upgrade one of the Sicarans to an Arcus or Venator and get some more men into the Tactical Support. Volkite works best with a lot of gunners.

 

Then if you have any spare points, artificer armour for Sergeants (nothing else, maybe melta bombs if you got the points) and I also like digital lasers for Praetor to increase his choppiness a little more.

[Harrowmaster]

That tactical support squad is at full strength. I'll look and see what I can do if I get rid of ceramite on the Sicarans.

[Harrowmaster]

So the list has been revised again:

 

HQ:

 

Forge lord: Cataphractii armour, cyber familiar, rad grenades, chainfist (155)

 

Praetor: Cataphractii armour, cyber familiar, paragon blade (170)

 

Castrmen Orth

 

Elites:

 

Gorgon terminators: Chainfist, spartan: armoured ceramite, flare shield

 

Troops:

 

Tactical squad, Rhino: Dozer blade, multimelta (180)

 

Tactical squad, Rhino: Dozer blade, multimelta (180)

 

Tactical support squad: Plasma guns, Rhino: Dozer blade, multimelta (380)

 

Tactical support squad: Volkite chargers, melta bombs, Rhino: Dozer blade, multimelta (235)

 

Heavy support:

 

Sicaran arcus: Skyspear warheads (220)

 

Sicaran battle tank: Lascannons (205)

 

Whirlwind scorpius (115)

 

[The Native]

I'd even argue about getting rid of the Flare Shield on the Spartan. I know a lot of people like them but if you're sending the Spartan up field then it'll be easy for a decent player to hit the side arcs. And it'll save you 45 points that can be used elsewhere, like upgrading the Volkite Chargers on the second support squad to Calivers.

[Cadmus Tyro]

Hi harrowmaster,

 

I’ll share a few of my thoughts on the list, I’ve used Xth a fair number of times with “head of the Gorgon”, but I’m by no means an expert.

 

You have some solid elements, the scorpius is brutal against an infantry heavy force, the rhino tactical squads work as great outflanking and objective grabbing units. Sicaran plus Orth is a great tank hunting unit and works well when outflanked.

 

The first thing I would ask about are your other HQ choices. What role is the Forge lord playing in the list? I can’t help but think you would be served better by using Autek Morr, he gives you everything your praetor does and can repair your spartan. He will will also give your plasma gun support squad and the Gorgon terminator squad (if he rides in the spartan) preferred enemy infantry. Which is really going to improve your plasma support squad survival to “gets hot rolls” and their damage output.

 

You will probably find volkite chargers a little underwhelming. Volkite calivers are a little better and will put some hits on low AV vehicles. Against infantry, they never achieve much for me. They are also a heavy weapon, so putting them in a transport limits their capability and leaving them outside a transport increases their vulnerability, as they would be the only unit in your list not hiding in a metal box. I would drop probably drop them.

 

I like the Arcus, never used one, but they look great on paper. However, I think the tank suffers from duplicity of roles, and you pay excessive points for that.

 

Finally, which units will be outflanking from reserve and which will start on the board? Presumably the spartan will be starting on the board with the Arcus, in a 2500pts game they will be taking a lot of focused fire. Therefore I would keep the flare shield. It might be worth taking a few more AV14 vehicles to provide a bit of target saturation. Perhaps a couple of landraider proteus’ with additional twin lascannons, you can take them as dedicated transports instead of rhinos.

 

Alternatively, for a more anti-infantry focus, keep the rhinos, drop the Arcus and the volkite support squad and consider a typhon siege tank.

 

Sorry for the text wall, hope that’s helpful?

 

Cadmus

Edited March 13, 2018 by Cadmus Tyro

[Harrowmaster]

Revised list:

 

HQ: 

 

Autek Mor (225)

 

Castrmen Orth (80)

 

Elites:

 

Gorgon terminators: Chainfist, Spartan: Armoured ceramite, flare shield (580)

 

Tactical squad: Melta bombs, Rhino: Dozer blade, multimelta (185)

 

Tactical squad: Metla bombs, Rhino: Dozer blade, multimelta (185)

 

Tactical support squad: Plasma guns, Land raider proteus: Multimelta (520)

 

Heavy support:

 

Sicaran arcus: Skyspear warheads (220)

 

Sicran battle tank: Lascannons (205)

 

Whirlwind scorpius (115)

 

Total 2500