Iron Warriors Iron is only as strong as the flesh that wields it - The Arkifane

[Relic]

Thanks! - Re the main topic at hand (the adventures of TrawlingCleaner Iron Warriors!), I think Oliterators potentially have a place in Iron Warriors lists.

 

Either as:

 

1. MSU one Obliterator to drop into the enemy backfield and score behind enemy lines whilst requiring effort to shift off by opponets.

 

2. Or you invest into them with a MoP to support and perhaps the Daemonsmith Warlord Trait. You can't discount that having 3 profiles is useful as they can clear screens or vehicles/monsters in any given turn. They aren't cheap, but you're paying for versatility and some combat power as well. 

Edited November 26, 2022 by Relic

[TrawlingCleaner]

Oblits are a unit I'm going to be trying out properly, I've got another 3 that I kitbashed to paint but may just start with the 2 I've painted for now.

Another unit I'm looking to try out is Chosen, which I'm finally getting back to painting. They've been sat on desk for nearly a year now

 

 

They're not totally finished yet but I'm eager to get these guys done. My idea for the shields is that I'd be giving them the Black Rune as the shields "count-as" the -1 to be wounded.

Although in saying that, giving them the Cursed Crozius and the MoK might be a good idea

[Prot]

Very classic Horus Heresy chosen models. Have you tried them in game yet since the new codex dropped?

[TrawlingCleaner]

18 hours ago, Prot said:

Very classic Horus Heresy chosen models. Have you tried them in game yet since the new codex dropped?

 

Thanks Prot!

I've not yet tried them out and I've not honestly seen many people use them in battle reports and the like. Whilst not as tough as Terminators, I think they are a tad more flexible and mobile because of transport options. Even just the 1" extra move can be the difference.

I think the two main ways of delivery I'll be trying are a Rhino (the cheap option) and a Landraider (over 500 points between the two units). At 1K points, I think Rhinos will likely have to be the go to, whilst 500 points in just Chosen and a Landraider does sound hilarious, its too many eggs in one basket.

My planned loadout (as is WYSIWYG) is:

10 in the squad, 1 with Powerfist, 1 with 2 Accursed weapons, Icon and Mark of Khorne or Mark of Slaanesh.

 

I'm unsure on whether to pick MoK or MoS currently. MoS means that they fight first which is great and the Icon means that they get +1 to hit in combat. Murderous Perfection doesn't have many applications here as they have fixed damage, potentially getting an additonal hit with the Powerfist is a nice trick?

 

MoK means they get +1S and the Icon means they get an additonal AP. The Khorne strat means 6s to hit, auto wound which is actually very good into most targets. If Votann have anything to learn from, it's that skipping phases is very good! I also have the Tank Hunters strat which lets me do the same thing in a phase but only Vs vehicles, if I need to I can use the MoK strat on the Chosen and the Tank hunters strat on another unit.

 

I've got a lot of testing to do to figure out what works for me!

 

Number 3 is almost done, just some tidy ups:

 

[TrawlingCleaner]

Another joins the ranks:

 

And another is currently WIP

 

So that's nearly the first 5 of the squad done, they'll need muddying up when I get to basing too

[Relic]

Those Chosen are very, very nice! Love the bases as well.

[TrawlingCleaner]

31 minutes ago, Relic said:

Those Chosen are very, very nice! Love the bases as well.

 

Thanks Relic!

The bases only have a basecoat on at the moment, they're still due sand, washing and drybrushing yet. They should look a good deal dirtier

[TrawlingCleaner]

Whilst I've been off with Mega Cold/Flu/Maybe Covid for the 3rd time, I got another 3 chosen completed:

 

Another 3 to go

[TrawlingCleaner]

Number 8 is currently WIP:

 

 

 

And the 7 completed so far:

 

We're getting there!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Nice.  Where is the open visored helm from?

[TrawlingCleaner]

Thank you Dr!

The open visor is either from the Bladeguard vet squad or the Bladeguard Lieutenant. It's been so long since I built the squad, I can't remember!

 

I have a productive evening last night and got Number 8 and Number 9 completed:

 

 

 

Part of the basing process will be to finish off the Imperial Fist being used as a shield stand too!

 

All 9 so far:

 

And currently WIP Number 10:

 

They all need to have their basing done, part of that process will be to make them all dusty and gritty including their shields as well as finish off the dying Imperial Fist on the base of the leader. Nearly there now!

[TrawlingCleaner]

Chosen number 10 is completed and ready for transfers (my lightbox has gone a bit funky so the lighting is quite different at the moment):

 

I finished off the Chosen Leader's Imperial Fist Chum:

 

The squad and their ride:

 

 

So the Chosen are done, which has me at 4.5k points painted, what's next?

Well I picked up 10 of the MK3 V.2 bodies from Tortuga bay to make into Chosen. My plan is to make them into Possessed but with more of a IW twist. In the lore IW try to cut off mutations and replace them with cybernetics, I could also say that they're early stage Obliterators, have lots of tendrils and metal flesh. We'll see, I've only got the bodies so far and my bits box

 

 

I've also got a couple of Vindicators, another Predator, Heldrake and a penchant for converting daemon engines. I'd love to add more Defilers and maybe some Decimators too. For the next little while, I'll be working on some other projects that have taken a back seat (MESBG, AoS and a potential Phobos Marine army) but I'll be dropping in here and there with smaller projects and battle reports

[Khornestar]

Shield into the imperial fist is such a nice touch. :D

[TrawlingCleaner]

What kind of Iron Warrior collector would I be if I didn't have some dead/dying Imperial Fists on my bases?

Although I have plenty of yellow on the models from the hazard stripes, a dead IF here and there really helps give slightly more visual interest as IWs tend to be pretty drab

[madlibrarian]

Dude, I love your style and the conversion heavy forces - a man after my own heart! Great stuff!

[TrawlingCleaner]

On 12/19/2022 at 2:59 PM, madlibrarian said:

Dude, I love your style and the conversion heavy forces - a man after my own heart! Great stuff!

 

Thank you librarian! Converting is the best bit about this hobby for me, even just small things help models feel more like my guys! 

 

So I forgot to post this here but my sister got me Abaddon for Christmas and I decided to join in with Grotsmasher's Boxing Day event. Build, Paint and base one model in 24hrs. As my boxing day was clear, I burnt through painting the big boss pretty quickly:

 

Warsmith Barzok has been eating his cornflakes since his first incarnation!

Edited December 30, 2022 by TrawlingCleaner

[TrawlingCleaner]

Year in Review:

As this year draws to an end, I thought I would do a quick year of hobbying in review. This has honestly been a very productive year for me, hobby wise and I've definitely pushed my painting skills in a number of ways. The list of Iron Warrior units are:

 

Dark Apostle Malock and Disciples Quol and Gug

 

Venerable Brother Grobak

 

A Maulerfiend

 

The Lord Discordant that I've yet to name

 

A Master of Executions that I've yet to name

 

Golgorn Soulrender, the Master of Possession:

 

Yet unnamed Exalted Champion

 

The Turtle Warrior Defiler

 

Yet unnamed Warpsmith

 

Flail Lord

 

Ectoplasma Forgefiend

 

20 Cultists

 

Darmuk Gatebreaker, Prince of Obliteration

 

Ancient Brother Gormund:

 

The WH+ Terminator Lord

 

Bayard the Profane

 

10 Breacher Chosen

 

And Lastly, Warsmith Barzok/Abaddon

 

Which is just over 2.5k points total 

 

I think I'm most proud of getting first place with my Armies on Parade board at my local GW, this really was a highlight of my hobby year 

 

So what's next for the Iron Warriors? As I mentioned before, Possessed, Vindicators and maybe some Decimators. I'd love to try out some other units for IW too, like Bikes and Raptors as I think they could fill some weaknesses the army tends to have. We'll see where my conversion brain takes me! 

[Lord Abaia]

What an amazing year of hobbying! Not just the quality of your conversions and painting, but the quantity of the projects you completed is inspiring. Thanks for the recap (and the reminder of how cool your Master of Possession turned out).

[TrawlingCleaner]

On 12/31/2022 at 1:47 PM, Magpie Knight said:

What an amazing year of hobbying! Not just the quality of your conversions and painting, but the quantity of the projects you completed is inspiring. Thanks for the recap (and the reminder of how cool your Master of Possession turned out).

 

Thank you Magpie! 

I've also been working on Red Corsairs, GSC, Eldar, a couple of AoS projects, MESBG and Bolt action. Not as prolific as the Iron Warriors per project but I've been blitzing painting projects which is very cool to see 

In comparison, I think next year is likely to be more subdued, painting wise, for my Iron Warriors but I'll still be working on bits and bobs 

[TrawlingCleaner]

I've booked myself in for a big boy tournament in February, the full 2k points and Mission Packs deal.

As it stands, I've not played 2K points in quite a while and a Mission Pack game in even longer. So I need to get some reps in and I need to get some lists going and tested.

 

As a rough first draft using the Arks of Omen Detatchment (3x HS Mandatory option), I have:

 

Lord Disco, Balefalmer, Flames of Spite, Gorget of Eternal Hate

Master of Possession

Warpsmith, Techno-venomous tendrils

 

5 Legionnaires

5 Legionnaires

 

5 Terminators

10 Chosen, 1 Powerfist, Icon, MoS

 

VenomCrawler

 

Landraider

Defiler, Scourge + twin HB

Defiler, Scourge + twin HB

Forgefiend, 3x Ecto

Maulerfiend, Lashertendrils

 

 

Perks of this list:

• Low Model count gives me turn speed and less to think about
• The majority of the list is helped by the MoP. Cursed Earth will come in clutch here
• Anti-Horde weapons out the wazzoo. Terminators, Chosen, lashertendrils, even Legionnaires will shred hordes
• DMG 3 weapons out the wazzoo
• Decent Mortal Wounds output between the Warpsmith and the Lord Disco.
• It's a reasonably tough list. The T9 Landraider brick in particular is likely to be ignored and allow me to deliver the Chosen.

 

Cons of this list:

• My board presence is lacking. The 5 man marine squads are good for objective grabbing in my own deployment or the midfield as my opponent will have bigger things to worry about. Terminators can just sit on the midfield with no issue. However, any larger ObSec units are going to have an easy time taking them.
• The new Bring it Down Secondary gives away 13 pts if all vehicles in my list die.
• Uunits can get tied down quite easily. 30 guants surrounding the Landraider means it's going to spend the rest of the game there. Same for the Forgefiend. Most other units should reliably cut their way out but again, they'll be there for a turn or two. I need the units I have to hit hard and get out.
• It remains to be seen fully as AoO is out soon but my secondary game isn't amazing currently

This list above would require me to build another Defiler which isn't a problem as I've had ideas for one for a good while now. I have a couple more drafts of the list, which included dropping a Defiler for a Decimator which may be something I look at. Another list involved dropping the Landraider and the Terminators and instead taking a Rhino for the Chosen, a Decimator and 5 Possessed.

 

Now to see if I can get some games in

[TrawlingCleaner]

Seeing this rad guy in the back of the Arks of Omen artwork got the Kitbash juices flowing:

 

I've had some ideas floating around in my head for conversions for some more Daemon Engines, specifically using the Death Guard Plague furnaces that have been sat in my terrain box unpainted. With some removal of particularly Nurgle-y bits, they work really well as the base shapes and forms for "Forge Engines". I'd like to imagine they're the result of a Warpsmith not chanting the right words for a Daemon to possess the Engine bits he has in a Forge, so the Daemon possesses the Forge itself instead.

 

First up is the "Venomcrawler", I'm happy with most of it, I think he needs more legs:

 

My missus has nicknamed him Onionboy. He's equal parts cute and creepy and a good dashing of derpy. The little legs and big body, to me, give it a spite or fiend vibe. Kind of joval but in a 40k Daemons way

 

The other engine that's also still WIP is the Defiler:

 

I still need to remove some of the Nurgle bits and also create the top hatch gun (Autocannon, HB, las) and figure out how to do a Scourge. As I was building him, I had the idea that it writhes, wriggles and flails about like the Elden Ring Tree Spirits do. It's not really a fully formed idea of flesh and metal as the other Daemon Engines are, it's just a spiteful daemon that's taken over a Forge. A half baked amalgamation of metal and flesh

[Tallarn Commander]

Those conversions are brilliant!

[Prot]

Wow. I'm not sure what the heck that is but I'm pretty sure I saw one crawling on my bathroom floor one day. I had to call Abaddon to get rid of it, and I'm pretty sure he was creeped out by it too. 

 

Great job!

[TrawlingCleaner]

Thank you both! I definitely got a bit weird with the conversions, as it should be with Chaos in my opinion!

 

I got the big guy finished up, I added the top hatch gun, flail and some ancilary bits to help tie it together a bit more

 

When sprayed it definitely helps make the model look way less ad-hoc and coherent:

 

I built it to be a Defiler and the model has it's weapons represented; the Battle Cannon, Twin Linked weapon on top, Melta in the mouth, front left leg is the Defiler Claw and the dangling flail is the Defiler Scourge. As with the first Defiler, the Twin Linked weapons are non-descript enough that I can use whichever of the 3 options I want.

 

The Onion boy is mostly done, I just need to finish of the vials on his back and then the base. I added 2 more smaller arms underneath, one of which helps keep him sturdy too!

 

So I'll be running this as a VenomCrawler, similar to the Defiler, it has all it's weapons as it should; Excruciator Cannons and Tendrils and Claws

 

I'm full steam ahead on these two as I wind up for some practice games!

[Prot]

That is some wild stuff! Great job on the conversion... I bet it was expensive. (Bile called, he wants his assistant back!)