1K Iron Hands Tournament Prep -- Lessons Learned

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I have a 1k point tourney this weekend (Feb. 4th 2023) and I needed to get some practice games in since I'm breaking my army back in for the first time since 8th Edition.  This is what I settled on:

 

Gravis Captain with power sword, All Flesh is Weakness, Aegis Ferrum

Terminator Librarian with force axe, Psysteel, Reforge

 

5x HINTs with hellstorm bolters

5x HINTs with executor bolters & heavy bolter

5x HINTs with executor bolters & heavy bolter

 

5x Aggressors with bolts & frag launchers

Ironclad Dreadnought with hurricane bolter, chainfist, assault launchers, 2x HKMs

 

Gladiator Valiant with ironhail and icarus pod

 

I ran the same secondaries each game: Codex Warfare, Cold Fury, and Engage on all Fronts.

 

My first match was Reconnaissance Mission against a Tyranid big-bug list with hive tyrant, 2x pyrovores, 2x carnifexes, and 2x of the big ones with the 6+d6 shot flamers.

 

My dice this match were extremely cold most of the time while he rolled decently on saves -- he made a LOT of 6+ armor saves -- which led to me being tabled in Round 4.  However, I did outscore him so technically the victory was mine, 64-35.  Against a "large target" spam list like this, most of my shooting was pretty ineffective especially since my dice were angry with me.  I completely forgot about Hellfire Shells for the first two turns which would have helped tremendously if I'd used them earlier.  The guy I was playing is comparatively new to the game and had some of his stat lines wrong too, but I was able to correct him once I started catching the errors.

 

Reforge and Psysteel both put in excellent utility work, keeping my units and fighting for far longer than they should have.  My plan to advance the Hellstorm HINTs to "sticky" a midfield objective worked great, and the ability to sticky a backfield objective with the Executor HINTs allowed them to maneuver around terrain to play with fire lanes and put those big guns to work.  The Ironclad proved to be an absolute beatstick, and while only 8 wounds the combination of T8, -1D, and 6+ FNP made it deceptively tough.  While I did get tabled, I put that down to bad dice rather than any particular failings on my part or that of the army.  A few examples: I landed a long charge on the Hive Tyrant with all five Aggressors.  I popped Gorgon's Rage to hit on 3+ and applied 18 hits out of 21 dice.  I then promptly only rolled 5 wounds out of those 18 hits.  So yeah.

 

 

 

The second match was against Necrons, fielding the Void Dragon, a foot Lord, a Destroyer Lord, two (three?  I forget) units of three Scorpekh Destroyers, and two units of the floaty Destroyers with one each of the really big gun-toting fellows.  This was a complete reversal of the first game, with my tabling him in Turn Four -- but I won handily on points too, 68-21.  This time my dice were behaving, and the lesson here revolved around utilizing the amazing punch of the Gladiator to its most devastating effect.  Eight combined shots of lastalon and melta was wiping out Lokhust Destroyers like it was going out of style, and the Executor weapons under Calculated Fury and Wisdom of the Ancients made for an extremely deadly combination to the Scorpekhs.  I used Smite much more often this game to help bring down the Void Dragon so I didn't quite get the utility out of the other spells that I'm used to, but punching MWs off the C'tan with Hellfire Shells made me a happy camper.  The VIP here was definitely the Gladiator -- it alone accounted for seven Lokhust Destroyers, the Destroyer Lord, and the foot Lord.  The Aggressors didn't really do much as they and the Ironclad were my opponent's primary targets from the beginning, but my Captain got the kill on the Void Dragon with his power fist.

 

 

All in all, I came out of the gate swinging and I think I have some good chances so long as I can protect the Gladiator and maintain parity in primary objectives through the first few turns.  There is one guy bringing an absolute massive tide of orks though -- he played two games tonight as well, so I got to the see them just sprint across the table with stormboyz and the newer squig-riders -- that I think will pose a problem.  In that match up, it's really going to come down to the Aggressors I think to clear out some of the horde, and I'm going to need both reroll sets available to do it.  One good shooting phase or at least a solid Optimal Repulsion Doctrines use to clear the chaff will be necessary to keep me in the numbers game in that match up.

 

We'll see, I suppose.  More to come this weekend!

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

How well did you score on Engage on All Fronts? I’m surprised you didn’t take the Ironstone.

 

Good luck versus Orks… hopefully the mission isn’t table quarters deployment.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Engage was my least scored objective. I'm looking at replacing it.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Banners is typically easy to score a decent amount of points.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

My concern with any secondary that requires an action is that it takes away from my shooting.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Well the current mission format favors army lists that can fulfill multiple roles. Phobos units are great for Banners and I’ve found one is enough.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

*laughs in Gravis*

[9x19 Parabellum]

I'm going to be running 1k pts. Iron Hands in a "team list" coming up in April. My teammate will be Imperial Fists. These will not be AoO detachments, fyi. I intend to run:

 

Jump Pack Librarian (Chief Librarian, Psysteel Armor, Objuration Mechanicum, Tome of Malcador (Might of Heroes), Pyschic Mastery Warlord Trait

Primaris Techmarine (MoF, maybe with Iron stone for -1 CP)

 

5 Tacs with C-Plas, P-Axe, Lascannon

 

10 Terminators, 2x Assault Cannons, 9x Chainfists

Ironclad Dread, March of Ancients (-1 CP)

 

Sicaran Battle Tank with Lascannon Sponsoons (-1 CP)

 

The plan is for the Termies to character screen the Dread and the Libby; Psysteel goes on Termies for 0+ armor save (in cover), Might of Heroes goes on Dread for T9 and 7 Attacks on charge). RtF,EtM in dire situations on the termies (shooting or melee).

Techmarine hangs out in the back, healing and buffing the Sicaran

 

My buddy is bringing a crapload of bolter fire and the means to buff it up. I'll stay in Dev doctrine, he'll stay in Tac doctrine.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Your Librarian setup is illegal. It was clarified at one point that you can't use the Tome to take a power from a different discipline as the rest of that psyker's powers.  I forget if it was FAQd or not but BattleScribe for instance won't let you do it.

 

As for the actual list itself, I'm pretty okay with it; the Terminator durability is certainly there even if you're not benefitting that much from Calculated Fury.

[9x19 Parabellum]

Wow, thanks IFF. I didn't know that.   That's.....really weird to me.  It seems to me that is the entire purpose for this relic.  I just figured battlescribe had a bug and the relic's permissions logic was messed up.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I had a stand-up fight with @Acebaur about it sometime last year.  If you want to get the concrete ruling, I'm sure he can point you to it.

[9x19 Parabellum]

On 4/2/2023 at 11:53 AM, Iron Father Ferrum said:

I had a stand-up fight with @Acebaur about it sometime last year.  If you want to get the concrete ruling, I'm sure he can point you to it.

 

Were you on the pro-expansive side of the argument, or pro-restrictive side of the argument? :-)

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I was for taking the bonus power from any discipline you have access to.

[9x19 Parabellum]

10 hours ago, Iron Father Ferrum said:

I was for taking the bonus power from any discipline you have access to.

 

I'd agree with you.  Unless the text has been errata'd, I'd be hard-pressed to be convinced of any natural interpretation to the contrary.

[Jolemai]

It was clarified in the BRB FAQ under the heading Has Access To (Psychic Disciplines).