Thursday, December 5, 2013

Iron Hands - Army Building Preview

With Evan stepping up and showing what he could make with the Iron Hands and their chapter tactics, I decided to throw my hat into the ring and come up with a different take on a 1000 point Iron Hand Army.  This is how I do my armies:  Fluff and Fun for me.


Most of my Armies I make for store tournaments or against Evan and Ron are fluff based.  They are not always about winning or having enough Long Fangs for Missile Spam. This Iron Hand Army is designed for competition as well as fluff.  This is a small list for only 1000 points, but when we get to 1850, we will have an armored battalion that has never been seen before.

This army is built around one thing, Bringing The Rain. This first list is all about me getting up in the face with some Dreads that will not die, and then bringing in the calvary to help with the rest.

HQ:  200 pts.

Master of the Forge, Conversion Beamer, Ironstone** - 140 pts.
Techmarine - 50 pts.
Servitors - 10 pts.

Troops:  379 pts.

Tactical Squad (10)** - Grav-Gun, Missile Launcher, Rhino (Dozer Blade), Sergeant with Grav Pistol - 225 pts.

Scout Squad (10)* - 8 Sniper Rifles, 1 Missile Launcher, Camo Cloaks, Sergeant with Sniper - 154 pts.

Heavy Support: 420 pts.

Ironclad Dreadnought - Built in Heavy Flamer, Built in Melta Gun, Power Fist, Seismic Hammer, Drop Pod - 180 pts.

Dreadnought* - Twin Linked Autocannons (x2) - 120 pts.

Dreadnought - Plasma Cannon, Missile Launcher - 120 pts.

* = I have but not fully painted        ** = I have but haven't put together.  All others are MIA.

As you can see I have only two troop choices, but thanks to the Miracle of Combat Squads, we can actually remove two squads of 5 from each group.  This means I can have in my Rhino a Group of 5 Tactical Marines with a Techmarine and Servitor meaning I now have a rolling transport that can repair on the fly.  I can also have two 5 man squads of Snipers sitting in ruins or cover with anywhere from a 4+ to a 2+ thanks to Blessings of the Omnissiah and Camo Cloaks.  Plus this gives me a unique opportunity to have a possible 5 to 7 Scoring units if it is objectives with Big Guns Never Tire because of the Dreads being Elites or Heavy Support thanks to the Iron Hands supplement.


This does however leave me a very obvious dilemma.  My Master of the Forge will have to sit still to fire the Conversion Beamer.  He will also want to be as far as possible because at greater distances, his beamer becomes a far more effective weapon.  It drops as the weapon distance decreases.  Plus if I move, I won't be able to snap fire because of Blast rule.  Now I could drop a Techmarine and give him a bike but that doesn't really feel like an Iron Hands Master of the Forge to me.  The other dilemma is that of trying to determine how to move my Dreads.  Obviously I want them to work together because a S6 AP2 Blast with S8 AP3 or S4 AP6 Blast combined with two Twin Linked S7 AP4 weapons means I can do some damage but I have to focus fire, keep cover, and get lucky.

So what do you think, can I make this work?

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