In my last post, I presented an Iron Hands list I intended to run at the final 6th Edition monthly tourney at my FLGS. I figured it would be a fun army to push around the tables.
I played my first game against Thor from Creative Twilight. We play against one another quite a bit, as we're both regulars at the FLGS monthlies. Odds were a little longer this month, as we had 11 people show up, a nice increase from months past.
We played on a city fight board heavy in ruins (I think they're the ruins from Pegasus Hobbies). Beautiful scenery but it made for some tough deployment. Thor went first, and wisely crammed my army in the most congested quarter of the board. I probably could have overcome the congestion, but I deployed very poorly. I didn't look hard enough at his army list, and planned for anti-tank shooting that he simply didn't have!
It was a good fight as always, with some fun moments (his Raptor squad repeatedly failing charge distances was fun for me, less for him). He outplayed me for a 31-5 win.
My second game was against a new player, playing his first ever tournament games. He ran a Space Marine list using Ultramarines tactics, and largely just models he owned. Nothing optimized. It was a hard game to peg down, as I wanted to provide teaching moments, but didn't want to throw the game or steamroll over him.
Hopefully the game was enjoyable for my opponent, as despite me taking a 28-3 win, it was a close fought game. I hate giving new players list advice, especially when they've told you that they're playing with the stuff they liked the looks of and enjoyed painting. We talked about some idea for adding more contrast to his black-and-bronze Marines, like adding small additional bronze details on rivets, skulls, etc.
The final game of the day was against a Space Marine (White Scars without bikes) and IG combo. Two Thunderfire Cannons, tons of lascannons and autocannons, an ADL, Yarrick, a Vanquisher, some blobs, and a beat stick Chapter Master on Bike (Shield Eternal, powerfist, etc).
As usual with the final game of the day that isn't on a top table, I aimed for pure entertainment in my tactics. I was trying to win, but not at the expense of cinematic and crazy moments. There was the tank duel between my tri-las Predator and his Vanquisher Russ, which ended with me exploding the Russ after he repeatedly whiffed on twin-linked cannon shots. My Ironclad roasting Yarrick alive with his heavy flamer and meltagun, only to see him get back up. One Tactical Marine in one of my combat squads taking 18 armor saves by himself, and passing them all. A single enemy marine blowing up one of my Dreads with a thrown krak grenade at rear armor. Lots of craziness and lots of laughing, which made for a great game despite the 31-0 loss I took.
It was a nice send-off of 6th Edition. As for the Iron Hands chapter tactics, they're nice, but not spectacular for my play style. I don't do min-max units, so the Chapter Master on Bike with Shield and powerfist/hammer/whatever won't ever show up in an IH list for me. I only made a few successful It Will Not Die rolls all day, and entirely forgot the 6+ FNP save in the first two games. I never made a repair attempt.
What I did like was the Armor Indomitus on the Master of the Forge with his conversion beamer. I was able to move him around for better sight lines and still fire, as well as have him hop out of a transport and still fire. The beamer itself wasn't a blockbuster, as I either scattered off target or my opponents made all their saves (we play on some boards with significant cover, as the rules intended).
Seventh Edition is next week, and I broke down and put in for the rulebook and both sets of cards. While I have my reservations about the new edition, I've decided to take an "embrace the changes" stance. I realized that our little community at the FLGS might squawk a lot about spam and OP lists, but in practice, we rarely see them run by our group. I think it's highly unlikely that I'll jump into Unbound armies or anything, and will soldier on with my Ultramarines.
I thought about buying the rulebook in Kindle format, but I find it easier to learn a rule set by having pages to flip. I bought the 6th Edition rules in digital format because the rulebook was so damned HUGE. With the three-book format of 7th, that shouldn't be an issue.
Showing posts with label Iron Hands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iron Hands. Show all posts
5.19.2014
5.15.2014
Last List of Sixth
This coming Saturday is the final monthly tournament at the FLGS before 7th Edition drops. I'm able to go, so I had to decide on a list. I thought about running bikes as a goodbye to 6th, since they've been my calling card for so long. But to be honest, I've neglected that whole sector of my collection lately and not kept up with the times. My Captain is poorly armed for the modern game, and I've not added any new models on bikes in a very long time.
I decided to keep plugging forward with my little project to try out all of the Chapter tactics in succession. So, that meant I needed to build an Iron Hands list. Here's what I came up with:
HQ
Master of the Forge - conversion beamer, The Armor Indomitus
TROOPS
Tactical Squad - 5 men, sergeant with bolter and meltabombs, missile launcher, las/plas Razorback
Tactical Squad - 10 men, heavy bolter, flamer, sergeant with pistol/chainsword and meltabombs, Rhino
Tactical Squad - 10 men, lascannon, plasmagun, sergeant with pistol/chainsword and meltabombs, Rhino
FAST
Landspeeder Squadron - 2 speeders with heavy bolters and assault cannons
Attack Bike Squadron - 2 bikes with heavy bolters
ELITE
Dreadnought - plasma cannon, DCCW+storm bolter
Dreadnought - twin-linked lascannon, missile launcher
Mark V Mortis Dreadnought - two missile launchers
HEAVY
Ironclad Dreadnought - chainfist+meltagun, DCCW+heavy flamer, Ironclad Assault Launchers, 2 HK missiles, Drop Pod
Predator - twin-linked lascannon, lascannon sponsons, HK missile, storm bolter.
Thunderfire Cannon
1850 points on the nose.
I thought about taking a Chapter Master on a bike and all that garbage, but I just can't bring myself to do that stuff. I thought about a master in TDA with a hammer and the Shield Eternal, but he was almost as expensive as Marneus Calgar and would have needed either an Honour Guard or Terminator escort and a Land Raider. Simply too expensive for the modern game.
Instead, I went with a fluffy Master of the Forge who would allow me to cram a fourth Dread in the list. I thought about poaching the Techmarine model from my Thunderfire Cannon to represent him, but settled on my conversion beamer-armed model. I was going to leave him naked, but then I struck on the idea that the Armor Indomitus gives you Relentless. One of the biggest weaknesses of the MotF with a Beamer is that he can't move and shoot, meaning he tends to get closed on and eliminated or weakened. Well, in the Armor he can move and still shoot. We'll see how it works out.
I don't have any Servitors painted (but a small horde of them laying unused), so I opted for a 5-man tactical Squad as his escort. Good enough to serve as meat shields, with a missile launcher for complimentary fire. Plus they can squat on an objective and fire that beamer all day.
I sank a lot of points into the Ironclad, because he's fun as hell and I figure dropping him in the pod someplace nasty will be a nice way to baptize the pod. I've got the two "basic" Dreads, and then the Mark V Mortis with missiles for anti-air. It'll be interesting to see if I can keep him alive long enough to fire shots at flyers.
I put way too much gear on the Predator, and I may strip some of it off. But I've been running up against a lot of MCs in recent memory, and the tri-las Predator can knock down big bugs as well as armor and Terminators. The Thunderfire is another fluffy way to get more Iron Hands style models in. It doesn't hurt that it's freaking AMAZING now.
The Fast Attack choices are largely there for gunning down infantry. The speeders put out six heavy bolter and eight assault cannon shots per turn, and the attack bikes have six heavy bolter and 2-4 twin-linked bolters.
We'll see how the list works out. I need to actually remember to use the 6+ FNP saves, as well as roll for IWND on the vehicles. Should be an interesting three games at least.
Once 7th drops, I'll try a Salamanders list and then close the experiment with Raven Guard.
I decided to keep plugging forward with my little project to try out all of the Chapter tactics in succession. So, that meant I needed to build an Iron Hands list. Here's what I came up with:
HQ
Master of the Forge - conversion beamer, The Armor Indomitus
TROOPS
Tactical Squad - 5 men, sergeant with bolter and meltabombs, missile launcher, las/plas Razorback
Tactical Squad - 10 men, heavy bolter, flamer, sergeant with pistol/chainsword and meltabombs, Rhino
Tactical Squad - 10 men, lascannon, plasmagun, sergeant with pistol/chainsword and meltabombs, Rhino
FAST
Landspeeder Squadron - 2 speeders with heavy bolters and assault cannons
Attack Bike Squadron - 2 bikes with heavy bolters
ELITE
Dreadnought - plasma cannon, DCCW+storm bolter
Dreadnought - twin-linked lascannon, missile launcher
Mark V Mortis Dreadnought - two missile launchers
HEAVY
Ironclad Dreadnought - chainfist+meltagun, DCCW+heavy flamer, Ironclad Assault Launchers, 2 HK missiles, Drop Pod
Predator - twin-linked lascannon, lascannon sponsons, HK missile, storm bolter.
Thunderfire Cannon
1850 points on the nose.
I thought about taking a Chapter Master on a bike and all that garbage, but I just can't bring myself to do that stuff. I thought about a master in TDA with a hammer and the Shield Eternal, but he was almost as expensive as Marneus Calgar and would have needed either an Honour Guard or Terminator escort and a Land Raider. Simply too expensive for the modern game.
Instead, I went with a fluffy Master of the Forge who would allow me to cram a fourth Dread in the list. I thought about poaching the Techmarine model from my Thunderfire Cannon to represent him, but settled on my conversion beamer-armed model. I was going to leave him naked, but then I struck on the idea that the Armor Indomitus gives you Relentless. One of the biggest weaknesses of the MotF with a Beamer is that he can't move and shoot, meaning he tends to get closed on and eliminated or weakened. Well, in the Armor he can move and still shoot. We'll see how it works out.
I don't have any Servitors painted (but a small horde of them laying unused), so I opted for a 5-man tactical Squad as his escort. Good enough to serve as meat shields, with a missile launcher for complimentary fire. Plus they can squat on an objective and fire that beamer all day.
I sank a lot of points into the Ironclad, because he's fun as hell and I figure dropping him in the pod someplace nasty will be a nice way to baptize the pod. I've got the two "basic" Dreads, and then the Mark V Mortis with missiles for anti-air. It'll be interesting to see if I can keep him alive long enough to fire shots at flyers.
I put way too much gear on the Predator, and I may strip some of it off. But I've been running up against a lot of MCs in recent memory, and the tri-las Predator can knock down big bugs as well as armor and Terminators. The Thunderfire is another fluffy way to get more Iron Hands style models in. It doesn't hurt that it's freaking AMAZING now.
The Fast Attack choices are largely there for gunning down infantry. The speeders put out six heavy bolter and eight assault cannon shots per turn, and the attack bikes have six heavy bolter and 2-4 twin-linked bolters.
We'll see how the list works out. I need to actually remember to use the 6+ FNP saves, as well as roll for IWND on the vehicles. Should be an interesting three games at least.
Once 7th drops, I'll try a Salamanders list and then close the experiment with Raven Guard.
10.03.2013
Book Review: Wrath of Iron, by Chris Wraight
I finished this one up last night, so here's my review. WARNING: I cannot write a useful review without SPOILERS. Do not read any further unless you want plot details.
The story takes place on Shardenus, a pretty standard Imperial hive world. Shardenus has apparently turned from the light of the Emperor and the Iron Hands, a Titan detachment (2 Warlords, 2 Warhounds), and several Guard regiments show up to burn the place down. As a twist, it's revealed that the lower echelons of the world's population and military don't even realize they've turned traitor. There are Loyalist elements of Shardenus' Guard regiment who are killed by the invading Loyalists simply out of confusion and death-by-association.
The book largely focuses on a Mechanicum Magos, the Guard Supreme Commander of the Loyalist forces (Nethata), two loyalist Shardenus irregulars, a Death Cult Assassin, and an Iron Hands Sergeant, Librarian, Iron Father and Clan Captain.
When the plot begins, the Iron Hands are shown to be callous about the deaths of their "mortal assets," aka Imperial Guardsmen. Rauth, the commander of Clan Raukaan, orders thousands upon thousands of Guardsmen into futile efforts as a diversionary tactic. When the Guard's general complains or hesitates over the losses, he's threatened with execution. The recurring theme of the book is: "The Iron Hands are dicks." Seriously. The squad sergeant, Morvox, you get to learn about starts out with misgivings about such tactics, but he is berated by the Iron Father (the Iron Hands' equivalent to a chaplain) and threatened. See the theme here?
The book is superbly written, with great action scenes, vivid depictions of the scenery and setting, and interesting characters. Chris Wraight is a very talented writer, and I think I'll pick up some more of his work. What gets me is that the Iron Hands aren't really heroes in the story. With Ultramarines, Space Wolves, and even Dark Angels, you get a character you can rally behind and cheer. Uriel Ventris might be a Codex-breaking fool, but he does heroic things and you cheer his victories. Ragnar Blackmane isn't a humanitarian by any means, but he's so badass you can't help but love him. The Iron Hands as depicted in Wrath of Iron are downright despicable. You can't cheer for Rauth as he sends a million Guardsmen into the teeth of the enemy guns simply to draw a percentage of the traitor forces away from points in the wall. There's a scene about 2/3rds of the way through the book where Rauth lines up regiments upon regiments of Guard in an underground access tunnel to the hive. He commandeers both Warhound Titans into this fight as well. When the battle begins, the Iron hands push forward, leaving the Guard regiments in the dust to be butchered by mutants and daemons. You just can't cheer for that.
Much is made in the beginning of the book about how the Iron Hands slowly lose their humanity (or super-humanity, rather) as they replace their body with bionics. They lose all emotion eventually, operating purely on logic, numbers, and a sense of duty. There's a bit of a clash there, as how can you have faith in the Emperor and a commitment to duty when your emotions and sense of sympathy/compassion has been stripped away? It's a fun point to ponder.
Eventually, Nethata has had enough of the wasting of his men and materiels, and he colludes with the Princeps of the Titan group to stand up to Rauth and demand a change in tactics. Unfortunately, the stand falls through. Nethata dies. In fact, anyone in the entire book who shows one shred of humanity...dies.
The irregulars from Shardenus? One dies in a pointless charge against the enemy lines. The other is executed months after the siege is over as part of the Iron Hands' programme of eradication of all residents of Shardenus.
The Librarian who retained his mortal mind in order to be a Librarian? Throws himself into a warp rift to close it and is tortured for eternity by daemons as a result.
Nethata commits suicide after his plan falls through, because the Princeps he colluded with was executed by the Mechanicum for refusing orders (and colluding with Nethata).
The Death Cult Assassin blows himself up with an atomic bomb carried in his chest cavity in an attempt to destroy the daemon prince behind the whole invasion (he fails, by the way).
The moral of the story is that all mortal flesh is temporary, fleeting, and weak. The only thing that survives is iron, and that is all that matters. It's a fitting moral for an Iron Hands story, and the book as a whole is a neat insight into how the Iron Hands work. But you can't read it expecting any sort of final satisfaction. The characters you root for all die, and the characters that are complete dicks win the day. The book is well written, if a bit thin on character development and containing a couple plot holes, but it will leave you depressed and angry at the end.
I was actually dabbling with the idea of starting an Iron Hands allied detachment for my Ultramarines. But after reading this book, that's right out the window. Iron Hands? Those guys are dicks.
The story takes place on Shardenus, a pretty standard Imperial hive world. Shardenus has apparently turned from the light of the Emperor and the Iron Hands, a Titan detachment (2 Warlords, 2 Warhounds), and several Guard regiments show up to burn the place down. As a twist, it's revealed that the lower echelons of the world's population and military don't even realize they've turned traitor. There are Loyalist elements of Shardenus' Guard regiment who are killed by the invading Loyalists simply out of confusion and death-by-association.
The book largely focuses on a Mechanicum Magos, the Guard Supreme Commander of the Loyalist forces (Nethata), two loyalist Shardenus irregulars, a Death Cult Assassin, and an Iron Hands Sergeant, Librarian, Iron Father and Clan Captain.
When the plot begins, the Iron Hands are shown to be callous about the deaths of their "mortal assets," aka Imperial Guardsmen. Rauth, the commander of Clan Raukaan, orders thousands upon thousands of Guardsmen into futile efforts as a diversionary tactic. When the Guard's general complains or hesitates over the losses, he's threatened with execution. The recurring theme of the book is: "The Iron Hands are dicks." Seriously. The squad sergeant, Morvox, you get to learn about starts out with misgivings about such tactics, but he is berated by the Iron Father (the Iron Hands' equivalent to a chaplain) and threatened. See the theme here?
The book is superbly written, with great action scenes, vivid depictions of the scenery and setting, and interesting characters. Chris Wraight is a very talented writer, and I think I'll pick up some more of his work. What gets me is that the Iron Hands aren't really heroes in the story. With Ultramarines, Space Wolves, and even Dark Angels, you get a character you can rally behind and cheer. Uriel Ventris might be a Codex-breaking fool, but he does heroic things and you cheer his victories. Ragnar Blackmane isn't a humanitarian by any means, but he's so badass you can't help but love him. The Iron Hands as depicted in Wrath of Iron are downright despicable. You can't cheer for Rauth as he sends a million Guardsmen into the teeth of the enemy guns simply to draw a percentage of the traitor forces away from points in the wall. There's a scene about 2/3rds of the way through the book where Rauth lines up regiments upon regiments of Guard in an underground access tunnel to the hive. He commandeers both Warhound Titans into this fight as well. When the battle begins, the Iron hands push forward, leaving the Guard regiments in the dust to be butchered by mutants and daemons. You just can't cheer for that.
Much is made in the beginning of the book about how the Iron Hands slowly lose their humanity (or super-humanity, rather) as they replace their body with bionics. They lose all emotion eventually, operating purely on logic, numbers, and a sense of duty. There's a bit of a clash there, as how can you have faith in the Emperor and a commitment to duty when your emotions and sense of sympathy/compassion has been stripped away? It's a fun point to ponder.
Eventually, Nethata has had enough of the wasting of his men and materiels, and he colludes with the Princeps of the Titan group to stand up to Rauth and demand a change in tactics. Unfortunately, the stand falls through. Nethata dies. In fact, anyone in the entire book who shows one shred of humanity...dies.
The irregulars from Shardenus? One dies in a pointless charge against the enemy lines. The other is executed months after the siege is over as part of the Iron Hands' programme of eradication of all residents of Shardenus.
The Librarian who retained his mortal mind in order to be a Librarian? Throws himself into a warp rift to close it and is tortured for eternity by daemons as a result.
Nethata commits suicide after his plan falls through, because the Princeps he colluded with was executed by the Mechanicum for refusing orders (and colluding with Nethata).
The Death Cult Assassin blows himself up with an atomic bomb carried in his chest cavity in an attempt to destroy the daemon prince behind the whole invasion (he fails, by the way).
The moral of the story is that all mortal flesh is temporary, fleeting, and weak. The only thing that survives is iron, and that is all that matters. It's a fitting moral for an Iron Hands story, and the book as a whole is a neat insight into how the Iron Hands work. But you can't read it expecting any sort of final satisfaction. The characters you root for all die, and the characters that are complete dicks win the day. The book is well written, if a bit thin on character development and containing a couple plot holes, but it will leave you depressed and angry at the end.
I was actually dabbling with the idea of starting an Iron Hands allied detachment for my Ultramarines. But after reading this book, that's right out the window. Iron Hands? Those guys are dicks.
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