Sunday, January 30, 2011

Iron within, Iron-waaitaminute…

Yes, I know that the loyal Iron Hands may superficially have apparent slight similarities with the traitorous Iron Warriors. But I assure you, there is no connection.
I have refined the Iron Hands list a bit, with the aid of the indomitable Keizer (who apparently have the ear of the deity), and have come up with a slightly more aggressive list. I will add that to the end of the post, for those interested. The reason for this is mainly that the list I had made relied on combat-squads and Codex: Space Wolves don’t allow that =/
Also, this list should be a bit more aggressive and competitive.
I have made a preliminary guess as to the cost of this army and it is a bit more steep than expected. This is because of all the conversions and 3rd party bits. Still, I am in no particular hurry. I give myself a year.
This year I hope to play my Daemons of Slaanesh at Emperor’s Chosen and perhaps next year the Iron Hands. Unless GW releases some cool new stuff. And you know they will. *cough*Grey Knights*cough*Necrons*cough*
Enough of that. Next post I expect to list some of the bits and 3rd-party retailers I plan on using.
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1600 Pts - Space Wolves Roster

HQ: Warleader Tirakhal(1#, 270 pts)
1 Bjorn the Fell-Handed (Smoke Launchers; Wolf Tail Talisman; Dreadnought CCW; Heavy Flamer; Plasma Cannon; Ward of the Primarch, Banner)

Elite: Wolf Guard Pack (5#, 255 pts) Added to various squads as “Veteran Iron Hands Marine”

Elite: Techmarine Puritus (4#, 120 pts)
1 Iron Priest @ 120 pts (Runic Armour; Servo Arm; Bolter; Thunder Hammer; 1 Servo Arm)
3 Thrall-servitors (Servo Arm x1; Plasma Cannon x2)

Troops: Tactical Squad Honour (6#, 120 pts)
5 Grey Hunters Pack @ 120 pts (Meltagun; Razorback) 1 Veteran Iron Hands Marine (Power Armour; Combi-Meltagun x1; Power Fist x1), 1 Razorback (Twin Linked Heavy Bolter)

Troops: Tactical Squad Valor (6#, 120 pts)
5 Grey Hunters Pack @ 120 pts (Meltagun; Razorback)
1 Veteran Iron Hands Marine (Combi-Plasmagun x1; Power Fist x1)  
1 Razorback (Twin Linked Heavy Bolter)

Troops: Tactical Squad Pride (9#, 165 pts)
8 Grey Hunters Pack @ 165 pts (Plasmagun; Drop Pod)
1 Veteran Iron Hands Marine (Terminator Armour; Combi-Plasmagun; Chain Fist) 1 Drop Pod (Storm Bolter)

Troops: Tactical Squad Faith (9#, 165 pts)
8 Grey Hunters Pack @ 165 pts (Flamer; Drop Pod)
1 Veteran Iron Hands Marine (Terminator Armour; Combi-Flamer; Thunder Hammer) 1 Drop Pod (Storm Bolter)

Heavy Support: Devastator Squad Hatred (6#, 140 pts)
5 Long Fangs Pack @ 140 pts (Missile Launcher x5)
1 Squad Leader, 1 Veteran Iron Hands Marine (Terminator Armour; Power Weapon; Storm Bolter; Cyclone Missile Launcher)

Heavy Support: Vindicator - Scion of Mars (1#, 125 pts)
1 Vindicator @ 125 pts (Siege Shield)

Heavy
Support: Predator - Fury of Medusa (1#, 125 pts)
1 Predator @ 125 pts (Dozer Blade; Autocannon; Lascannon (each side))

Total Roster Cost: 1600

Monday, January 24, 2011

From dark to black in 8 seconds flat

Ok, so I listened this podcast where the hosts made an Iron Hands armylist consisting of 2 Masters of the Forge with Conversion Beamers, 6 Venerable Dreadnoughts, Rifleman pattern and some stuff. I thought this sounded like a cool and fluffy and fun list, so I started researching the Iron Hands.
Unfortunately, I found out that the list was rather un-fluffy for several reasons. First off, the Iron Hands apparently have rather few Dreadnoughts and revere what few they have, even more than the other Chapters do. Most of their Dreadnoughts and Tactical Dreadnought Armors (Terminators) were lost in the early days of the Horus Heresy and I have found no sources saying that they have been restored. Additionally, the book “Iron Hands” clearly state that the left hand on an Iron Hands Dreadnought is always a close-combat weapon with a storm-bolter. This precludes the Rifleman-pattern, which is a twin-linked Auto Cannon on either side.
Just to confound me even further, I learned that the Iron Hands very rarely deploy their Terminators as a squad. Instead they prefer to have their Terminator brothers lead the Tactical squads into battle as Sergeants do in other Chapters. Further, because they so revere their Dreadnoughts and their experience, it is no uncommon for a Dreadnought to lead Iron Hands into battle. Lastly, there is a quote in Codex: Space Marines that sets a precedent for Iron Hands preferring Razorback transports.
So. I need a Codex that allows me to field Terminators as squad-upgrades, has a Dreadnought as HQ choice and can field Razorback transports.
You should already know the answer - Codex: Space Wolves.
I am going to avoid the more Wolf-like units and abilities, like Cyberwolves, Thunderwolves, etc.
This is the list as it stand at the moment:
Unit
Counts As
HQ
Bjorn the Fell-Handed
Dreadnought Warleader. Maybe even Bannus himself! With Twin-linked Lascannon like Bannus
Elite
3 Wolf Guard in Terminator Armor
Squad-leaders for Tactical Marines. No upgrades.
Venerable Dreadnought with Twin-linked Lascannon
Iron Priest
Techmarine with 4 Servitors (2 w. Plasma Cannon)
Troops
3x10 Grey Hunters
As Tactical Marine Squad. Upgrades: 1 Powerfist (modeled as a Servoarm), Flamer, Meltagun. Transport: Razorback w. Las/Plas, Dozer Blade.
Heavy
Either:
5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers
Veteran Devastators
or
1 Vindicator

The Tactical Squads will combat-squad and deploy separately. Half in Razorbacks, half on foot with Terminators. Footsloggers get the Flamer and Razorback-squad gets Melta and Powerfist. The Dreadnoughts will be deployed together-ish with the Techmarine as backup. From then on, I havent the foggiest notion what will happen. I have not played Space Marines since Rogue Trader =)

Let me know what you think!