Iron warriors grand company help?

[Lord Kallozar]

Hi

Just getting my head around the way that the iron warriors operate.... I know that the warbands are known as grand companies and that each grand company operates kinda like a chapter.

 

Just a few questions on this though...

 

How many grand companies are there? For example if I was to make an iron warriors force which number grand company could I have that isn’t already used?

 

Also, how many iron warriors are in a grand company or do they vary? What’s the minimum and maximum for a grand company?

 

Finally, how does the grand company operate in terms of does it operate like a chapter and each company within the grand company has a particular role for example a reserve company or specific battle company etc?

 

Thanks very much guys. :)

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

The answer to all but the last question is "as many as your story needs there to be".

[Celtic_cauldron]

In the past it was indicated in the IA series that the Iron Warriors had twelve Grand Companies which acted as Chapters so to speak, with the exception of the 1st Grand Company which used to concentrate all the heavier siege assets.

 

Since then FW updated the lore by publishing the HH series. Now we talk about Companies, Grand Battalions and still sometimes Grand Companies. In 40K you can safely assume that each Warband, still using a traditional name or not, has its own characteristics in terms of equipment, numbers, specialties...

 

To give an example:

 

My own Iron Warriors army is the XIIth Grand Company. It is composed of ca 1500 Legionaries split between four Battalions.

 

First Battalion is composed with the Warsmith and its Terminator squads (roughly equivalent to a reinforced Codex Terminator Company) plus the Dreadnoughts and dedicated Land Raiders.

Second Battalion is dedicated to assaults. Its Commander is a Chaos Lord who acts as Second-in-Command. There are around 300 Legionaries among its numbers, plus the APCs.

Third Battalion is a Tactical Support unit led by a Lord Sorcerer and featuring around 500 Legionaries plus the APCs.

Fourth Battalion is a Heavy Support unit led by my Warpsmith who's also Siege Master. It includes something like 500 Legionaries also plus all the heavy equipment like artillery, Daemon Engines, superheavies...

 

I'm sure other Frater within the Iron Warrior community will have different lay-outs to share with you, the conclusion being that the whole thing is indeed up to you and the amount of time and energy you want to invest in developing your background.

 

Celtic_Cauldron

[Lord Kallozar]

Thank you for the replies.

 

So in the 40k era there are less grand companies now and more grand battalions? What’s the difference between grand companies and grand battalions?

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

The spelling.

[Celtic_cauldron]

No. What I meant is that the background's changed for the last 20 years with Forge World enlarging the size of the original Legions, adding new names and structures.

 

Whether you call it Grand Company, Grand Battalion or simply the Warband of the Iron Lords of Ultimate Siegecraft everything depends on how you perceive your own army, notably with regards to their ties with what remains of the original structure, legacy of the Great Crusade / Heresy Era, Cult of Chaos.

 

To continue with my own example:

 

When I built my Grand Company's background some 20 years ago I decided that the Warsmith was a Veteran of the Great Crusade, still using a formal and military pattern with Companies and Squads with numerals. I forbid the use of Cult troops and Marks.

 

After some editions and the issuance of the HH series: I transformed the Companies into Battalions but added the whole range of Daemon Engines in order to represent the fact that the Siege Master was a Warpsmith using his art to create new siege assets (and because I love the aesthetics of Daemon Engines in the Iron Warriors's colours).

 

To answer your second question: the difference in name is a result of FW redefining the lore. As mentioned since Betrayal the numbers in each Legion have been multiplied by ten in the lore. In the late 1990s each Legion was supposed to have only ca 10 to 25000 Marines. The changing in the name is purely cosmetics.

 

Celtic_Cauldron

[Lord Kallozar]

Ah thank you for clarifying.

 

Just another thing, in general do most iron warriors forces follow the usual structure of a grand company then?

 

Would it be feasible in the fluff for an iron warriors army to not be split into companies and just operate as one big collective instead?

[Iron Father Ferrum]

It's absolutely feasible. None of the Legions maintain anything approaching their old Legion structure with each of them having broken into individual warbands. Regardless of what they call themselves, they will be organized however their ruling commander wants them to be organized.