Prot's Iron Warriors.... are back.

[Prot]

The Iron Background:

 

I need to start with a bit of history. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want history lost on this, and we have tons of new players around the world that may find some of this interesting.

 

So a little about me; for those that don't know my first real army was Iron Warriors. Back before the Eye of Terror days (one of my favorite eras in playing 40k) I had a giant IW army that lead a few gigantic Mega battles. I'm talking gym floor kind of stuff. (Pictures of these battles from the early 2000's exist on the old "Canadian GW" website... before they combined everything.)

 

This could get very long, so I'll try really hard to compress this.... Storm of Iron (the book) and Pete Haines were a big part of my being entrenched in the army (pun intended!) Further to that Perturabo was one of the very few 'chaos' Primarch's I could respect or even mildly understand way back then.

 

Eye of Terror, Pete Haines:

 

I want to mention something in the beginning of this; when EoT came out I started something... wow this is going back... I started something we called back in the day a "Yahoo Group". This was my way of getting REAL iron warrior players in talk group where we could plan our attacks in the campaign as all results were recorded and GW did write results down, and play with fiction/cannon around the event to reflect results! 

 

Anyway, the point was spies were everywhere and this was a way to get things controlled. One day, low and behold guess who joins my Yahoo Group? None other than Pete Haines. Pete, I thought, was an amazing guy and hobbiest. He literally brought life to the legion on the table with the once famous "Chapter Approved" articles giving actual siege presence to Iron Warriors and a metal kit would follow.

 

Pete Haines was a little controversial. He had a large say in the state of the core 40K game back then. He was a champion of Chaos, and a fine one at that, but some of his changes to the core game became something that a few people took issue with. Eventually rumour has it he was let go, and his severance was a garage full of Rhinos (since they couldn't sell any due to the "Entanglement" rule.

 

The Agripinaa Sector, and other fallen Forgeworlds:

 

 

Anyway, there's so much here to talk about, but I MUST keep this brief or I risk losing the crowd here... So one more thing about the EoT and Chaos thing. We DID win Agripinaa (a forgeworld) and we did it with another private group of Deathguard. It was glorious! We had more help too, but we were the two main forces that coordinated this whole thing. 

 

And another Iron Warrior dude was quite prominent here as we combined our groups into a powerful, cohesive force. You may know him as "InsanePsychopath" or simply "IP" as I knew him, but he would change his user name to Iron-Daemon Forge.  His real name is Jamie Farquhar. He passed away far too young in 2024. He was someone I wanted to see become a Mod here at the BnC and he did in stellar fashion. Rest in peace my fellow Warsmith. Jaimie was a real warrior with these guys and stuck them out through thick and thin.

 

Modern Siegery:

 

Fast forward and I sold approximately 3 Iron Warrior armies fully painted which ranged from 3000 pts to 10000 points of models each! The army got largely ignored, no rules really existed and even the "Warsmith" model lost all identity and everyone ignored Obliterators and their deathmetal "kiss" style hair band look and rules.

 

But we've come full circle. Kravek Morne is here! A named Warsmith that seems to have got his proper hammer fitted during the 13th Black Crusade for excellence at Agripinaa itself! 

 

 

So here we are. Iron Warriors wise a new detachment has been announced,  there is an upgrade sprue (sorely lacking in vehicle doors?) and Kravek. It's not a lot, and sure the Defiler, and Mutliators are cool, but certainly not locked into IW, but I will take it! This is the first bone thrown to the IW crowd for... too many years!

 

So with this I launch into a new IW effort. All I have is my test Warpsmith to start me off.

 

My last IW army (probably my 4th or 5th full army of IW) sold in 2023. So this is all I have. And that army was a terrible mess to paint with too many weathering processes that I want to simplify and reduce the materials: IE: oils, solutions, powers, etc.

 

Trust me when I say this was super tough to keep short. But suffice to say we are back. Iron Within. Iron Without.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Welcome back to the Iron Warriors, Prot!  Looking forward to seeing your army progress - your warpsmith is fantastic.

[W.A.Rorie]

Even tho I am Fan of Dorn and Fig IW alot...and dislike them. Yours look good. 

[Prot]

Thank you both!

 

This is more than the army for me though. In fact I debated doing this at all, and it isn't the new model. It's the history I have with this game.

 

I just recently lost someone close to me, and the last 12 months have been a lot of that for me, but through all of that I've had friends and this game as an incredible distraction. 

 

I've always loved painting, and the game itself has been up and down, but it's the friends, the armies, the hobby.... that's what it's all about. 

 

For me I've been know as the "Iron Warrior guy" around here for a very long time. I never really got into loyalists until my Ultra's years ago. It just always seemed at the GW store, and all the events there was NEVER enough bad guys.

 

Another thing: A very good friend started his first ever loyalist marine army (we've been playing for about the same amount of time)! And he started Imperial Fists!!! So he's been pushing me too. This is about the journey. A VERY expensive journey, but hopefully it's fun nonetheless. I look forward to sharing it here. 

[BadgersinHills]

Warpsmith looks amazing. Excited to see more! 

 

I'm sorry for your loss. The hobby, in all facets including the community, has helped me a lot over the years. 

Edited April 2 by BadgersinHills

[Tallarn Commander]

Prot, I look forward to following your Iron Warriors. I too have found the hobby very helpful when loved ones pass away. Back in the day I was very much inspired by Insane Psychopomp's hobbying, RIP.

[Prot]

Well I'm trying to get through some stuff here in a relatively short time so I'm looking at table top + if I can and then I'll have more time for the "new" stuff! 

 

Here we have a couple of new Rhino's good to go:

 

And of course a couple of mandatory Oblits:

 

More to come.... Next up, I think some Termies. Maybe lots of termies! 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Those look great, though some thoughts on the rhinos.

 

a)  I feel the heads in the cupolas (particularly the one on the right) look a bit unfinished.  Maybe do the cabling/tubes in another colour?  A blue-grey like GW's The Fang might look nice.

 

b)  I don't know if the back hatches on the rhinos are glued down, but if not I feel that the mask symbol would look better oriented the other direction (so, looking back, rather than forward).

 

c) I like the "spaced armour" and doors on the right rhino - those 3d prints?

 

Your oblits are surprisingly colourful, but they look really nice. The yellow-brown basing is a great choice, as it provides a nice warm contrast to all that cold metal.  I assume you converted the blue one, as I remember the shoulder gun normally being on the other side and the ammo can having a different front.

 

If you want to build more and make them look different, sawing off the arms and swapping them between models can look quite effective (though that will likely require that you replace the power cords), as can head swaps with different models (the heads from the hellbrute kit work well).

Edited April 10 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Prot]

Thanks for the thoughts. The heads do need a bit more work. I'm okay with the rest. I just really am trying to get the 'boring' stuff done so I can work on the new stuff! lol

 

I have always really disliked painting vehicles. I added the face design last minute because there was damage to the hatches that just didn't sit well with me. I never really thought of the orientation being 'up' or 'down'..... If I have the time I'll just repaint the faces masks on the hatches. I think it was only about 20 minutes for each one.... again just to cover damage.

 

And the spaced doors... I wish I had more... are the old forgeworld "extra armour" kits! Remember those? Back in the day when we used to have to pay points for extra armour. Hah- that brings back memories! 

 

The Oblits- very good eye.  You are the only one to catch that subtle conversion (on line or in person)! That means that either A) no one recognizes the conversion, or B) more likely no one uses Oblits and has a clue how they should look! Nice work on yours... nice and subtle. I may have to steal some of this if I ever go above 2 Oblits. Thanks again for the thoughts.

 

 

[Tallarn Commander]

Your Iron Warriors are coming along nicely. It only took you 20 minutes per freehand face. Wow! Have fun painting up the termies!

 

Yes, Dr. Ruminahui has a good eye. He has pointed out many a helpful item on my models over the years--especially the shield on my DP.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Yeah, those faces are great, even if they took you far less time than they would for TC or myself.  While I think they might look better oriented the other direction, I don't feel whatever difference that might make warrants repainting them, as they do look very nice.

 

As for more obliterators, I suspect that if you intend to keep playing the new detachment you will want at least another squad, as they seem the best target for the detachment's uppy-downy effects.

 

Obliterators are kind of weird, conversion wise - unless one is very familiar with the models, conversions to them are very difficult to pick out.  When I posted my own converted, generally folks didn't notice the difference until I called it out and/or put them next to my unconverted models.  I guess its because they are monstrosities with ridiculous amounts of random guns, and outside of drastic conversions that's what they will look like after the changes as well - personally, its the head swap that I find the most noticeable for mine, as the bare versus helmeted head is comparatively noticeable.  I suspect that I only noticed your change because the attention I gave my own in converting them.  BTW, I look forward to seeing any more that you might do, and feel free to use (or modify) my arm/head swap conversions.

 

And I do remember that FW armour, though I was more familiar with the imperial version, as I wasn't into chaos until well later.  Never had any of either, though - just aware of it through GW photos and the FW website.  And I go remember having to pay points for it (and that it degraded stun to shaken on the vehicle damage chart) - I scratch built some of my own for one of my 3rd/4th ed. sisters rhinos/immolators.

Edited April 13 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Malakithe]

Im looking at the new IW and wondering what a good detachment would be to run them.

[jaxom]

On 4/1/2026 at 1:03 PM, Prot said:

too many weathering processes that I want to simplify and reduce the materials: IE: oils, solutions, powers, etc.

Have you had any thoughts about this? I've found that sloppily applying different brown washes/inks as "drip lines" and then faffing about those areas with a dry brush to suck up some of it works well.

 

3 hours ago, Malakithe said:

Im looking at the new IW and wondering what a good detachment would be to run them.

Iron Warriors fit a few good ones. They like spiteful retribution for all the wrongs done to them and that works well with Veterans of the Long War. Once breachs are made in a siege, they have to rush forward and take those locations; fitting for the bonuses gained from Renegade Raiders. Fellhammer Siege-Host is often seen as "the Iron Warriors detachment." Soul-Forged Warpack and Cult of the Arkifane are both good representing Iron Warriors who lean into vehicles and daemon-engines.

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

On 4/18/2026 at 3:34 PM, jaxom said:

Have you had any thoughts about this? I've found that sloppily applying different brown washes/inks as "drip lines" and then faffing about those areas with a dry brush to suck up some of it works well.

 

Iron Warriors fit a few good ones. They like spiteful retribution for all the wrongs done to them and that works well with Veterans of the Long War. Once breachs are made in a siege, they have to rush forward and take those locations; fitting for the bonuses gained from Renegade Raiders. Fellhammer Siege-Host is often seen as "the Iron Warriors detachment." Soul-Forged Warpack and Cult of the Arkifane are both good representing Iron Warriors who lean into vehicles and daemon-engines.

And if you're a big fan of the Obliterator Virus, Warpstrike Champions might be your thing.

[Prot]

So for painting, I did some more models.. bad pictures I have to retake due to poor lighting. Anyway, I moved off of all the heavy oils, etc, and I tried a few with Pigments. That works really well, but too time consuming. Finally I just got a bunch of warpaints dark tone/brown tone and went heavy into it with some darker metal mix. A nice drybrush after with some Vallejo chrome (or anything similar) and it looked great. Glad to have found this shortcut!

 

I've played 3 of my last 4 games using the Fellhammer Siege force, and key to this was Vashtor. He made it work and I used one of the defilers (old version.)

 

I won 2 out of 3 of those games.

 

This week I just played the new Warpstrike, I used Vashtor, and Kravek Morne (and 2 termie squads) and 1 of the new defilers. And I used the new Warpstrike Detachment.

 

I got my butt handed to me. Let's just say my chevrons are pretty red this morning. It was a thorough beating against the Tsons. I have to admit I just despise the mortal wound meta. Some armies that can really leverage this just melt elite armies. Any time I had a plausible save, things felt 'okay'. 

 

At some points my Defiler took 12 Mortal wounds from one shot. I know this is a worst case scenario from that Warp Beast thing, but it's all over the table. I'm cowering with expensive units because Mortal wounds don't care how much you paid for a save and toughness.... it's all the same whether the target is 250 defiler, or a 50 point cultist squad. I brought in 2 of my termie squads in his second turn (one for free) including Kravek. I lost all terminators except the respective characters. I didn't realize how incredibly defensive I should have played them. So while I admit a tactical error here, I also had no idea that half my army would melt like this. The flamer Rubrics were brutal... Putting Termies on their invulv 20+ times will get through eventually. Combined with mortals from characters, etc, I didn't stand a chance. 

 

I did take down Magnus but honestly he was careless with Magnus as he didn't need him! It's true... I, the Iron Warrior player, was severely outshot. He had Preds, and the warp beast thing, and Psychic shooting and tons of AP2 flamers/bolters. This was a horrid match up. 

 

I was okay with this, I'm  not expecting great things competitive from this army, but I was a bit disappointed in the detachment. I don't know if I really like it, but it's early. I actually felt like Fellhammer had more utility.  Also I came off a game I barely won against Drukhari which was another match up with a TON of mortals. So yea, right now I'm bitter about Mortal wounds!  I've always despised any mechanism that doesn't take into account the toughness/wound/save factor you've paid for on your dataslates.. especially the way TSons can manufacture mortal wounds on their own not to mention tank shock/grenades, etc.

 

So I may try Warpstrike one more time, but I'm not a huge fan of the strats basically revolving around the whole just coming out of deepstrike idea, or being set up on the table. 

 

I'd also like to try new Mutilators, and a second Defiler. Go hard into the heavy assault mode supported by firepower.

[Malakithe]

So your liking the good ol Fellhammer then? Do you think Warpstrike would have worked better against something other then TSons?

[Prot]

Oh very possibly. Also I think you MUST have generic characters to take advantage of the repeated deployment of units. I only had a Termie Sorc with one of the enhancements. Though I have to be honest my favourite pieces are working in Fellhammer with the vehicles surrounding Vashtorr (preserving lone op). I hate to admit it but in 2+ games Vashtorr has been the star. 

[GreaterChickenofTzeentch]

On 4/20/2026 at 12:46 PM, Prot said:

Oh very possibly. Also I think you MUST have generic characters to take advantage of the repeated deployment of units. I only had a Termie Sorc with one of the enhancements. Though I have to be honest my favourite pieces are working in Fellhammer with the vehicles surrounding Vashtorr (preserving lone op). I hate to admit it but in 2+ games Vashtorr has been the star. 

Warpstrike does seem to need commitment to three things.....lots of Oblits, Terminators and probably Mutilators, lots of Terminator Characters, and the ability to overload the opponent with shooting and charges at point blank.  Unfortunately, from what I've seen, Thousand Sons are pretty much the game's dominant force for ranged combat at 18 inches and closer (with Retaliation Cadre being a close rival), and any time they spend a CP for Overwatch, you feel like the roller coaster just hit the peak of the climb before the plunge. Super elite armies DO NOT like this, especially since Warpstrike lacks FNP, which is usually a huge help against their shenanigans. Defensive play and trying to bait them out plus lots of redeployments is a good thing to take from the loss, like you said, but the matchup was just NOT kind. 

The new Defiler will only make this more of a problem. The TSons one has murderous synergy with the rest of their army and offers a countercharge threat to boot.