Iron Hands 2k list

[whargoul666]

Hey guys, I have been playing around with this list and building up this army. I'm not to far into it and paint pretty slowly, so I thought this would be a good time to ask for a little advice. I don't have a lot of practical experience here, I haven't played in a long time, but I'd still like to get the best out of this list. That said, both tactic and build advice would be great.

HQ:
Master of the Forge
-Power Axe, Grav-pistol, Digital Weapons
Librarian
-Bolt Pistol, Force Stave, Digital Weapons, 2nd lvl Psyker.

Troops:
Tactical Squad x3
-Gav-pistol, Plasma Gun, Multi-melta
Rhino x3
-Dozer Blade, Extra Armor

Elites:
Dreadnought x2
-Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod
Venerable Dreadnought
-Twin-Linked Autocannon x2, Drop Pod

Heavy:
Venerable Dreadnought
-Twin-Linked Autocannon x2
Thunderfire Cannon x2

Fast:
Stormtalon Gunship x2
-Skyhammer Missle Launcher x2


One question that comes to mind to me is do the Thunderfires and Stormtalons get the It Will Not Die rule?

[Anggul]

All characters and vehicles get It Will Not Die. The Stormtalons are vehicles, so they'll get it. The Thunderfire Cannons are neither, they're artillery, so they don't. Odd, I know, seeing as they are machines, but that's just how it is.

The Power Axe on the Master of the Forge is completely pointless as Servo-Arms are a standard weapon now and the Servo-Harness has two of them, so you would always attack with the completely superior Servo-Arms and never the Power Axe. By all means keep it on the model for sexyness, but don't bother paying the points for it as it's literally a useless option. Don't bother with the Grav Pistol either, his Servo-Harness already has a built-in TL Plasma Pistol and Flamer, you'll just be wasting them by also buying a Grav Pistol, and the TL Plasma does pretty much the same thing but more accurately. Due to the S8 of the Servo-Arms the Digital Weapons aren't much use either. They're handy on the Librarian though.

The Tactical squads should probably have Combi-Grav rather than Grav Pistol, cheaper, more range and shots and you're probably only going to get to fire once regardless of which one you take. To be honest due to Salvo I think they would be better off with Combi-Plasma to match range and type of shooting with the rest of the squad. You don't really want to be in range with either a Grav Pistol or a moving Grav Gun unless you're coming from a Drop Pod and hitting the enemy before they can hit you.

[whargoul666]

Hey thanks for the reply!

And oh man, I see what you are saying with the power axe. That's gotta go! I thought it came with the MoF, I see now that it is just on the model I got. That said, I think I'll keep the grav pistol for now. It seems to me to be a better pairing with plasma than the flamer. By all means, however I am not just discounting your suggestion, I just want to see how it will do.

Woof, the tac squad sgt is a bit of a let down. I started out with combi-plasma in them, but was concerned that it'd only get that one shot. Now I see what you are saying about the chances of a pistol getting more than one shot in in a game (low). Proly back to combi-plasma. Neither are painted yet (much).

Man, I had a cool axe with the grav pistol mounted on it! Ugh.

Ok one more question. Do the artillery crew receive IWND? Techmarines are independent characters, but in the Thunderfire Cannon entry they are referred to as Techmarine Gunners...? I am thinking no :( they don't have IC in their profile.

[Anggul]

You can always keep the axe on the model, I doubt anyone will mind, it's not like you're ever going to pretend you paid for it and use it when it's completely inferior. :P

They don't as they aren't characters, but it doesn't matter because they only have one wound, so they don't have wounds to regain anyway, once they take a wound they're dead, IWND doesn't let you stand back up after being removed, you have to still be alive.

[KAPcom]

This list looks great. I would consider chaging out the master of the forge's weapons with a conversion beamer and putting him on a bike. A pretty reliable str 10 ap 1 blas is awesome, and will give you something to deal with high armour value (which your list is slightly lacking in currently). Other than that, I really looks like an awesome list.

[Martyn Powell]

I'm surprised that at 2k you haven't double foc'd a lot of stuff.

Iron hand strengths...
More durable vehicles and characters. Your opponent will have to take out your vehicles fully to put them out of commission.
Infantry slightly more durable but FNP 6+ is rarely useful.

Personally I love seeing Iron hand tank lists. A wall of AV13 is a tough nut to crack, especially when they are vindicators which will give you the S10 AP2 Large blasts needed.
Glad to see dreads in drop pods too :) However I'm concerned that with TL-AC's that one they shouldn't be in drop pods... (I can see that you are looking to drop them in on side and rear of vehicles or on flanks) they are most effective at staying down range putting the shots on infantry and light vehicles.... they get too close they are going to get melta'd very quickly. Also why not go for double H-Flamers on the Dread?

And then we come to my absolutely favouritely useless model in existance... the Rhino. If you want to run Tactical Squads... Drop pods, Rhino's AV11/11/10... Prepare to see these get popped on turn 1/2 leaving your tactical squads walking, and quite possibly giving away first blood.

HQ's - Good, change of weapons but yeah really good... what power is the libby taking?
Troops - Versatile yet vulnerable while in the transports, I prefer drop pods...
Elites - Yeah I can see these working on the gunline armies... hard time against Broadsides and Riptides with interceptor though.
Fast Attack - I don't feel that these would work... they are thinly armoured and only have 2HP's so won't really get to use IWND rule as quad gun will rip one to bits. Go for scout bikes, infiltrate them with locator beacon... drop the pods where you want :)
Heavy Support - Why am i not seeing Vindicators? :( AV13 S10 AP2 large blast...

I like what you are going for, I do think however that you will struggle against anything that is Sv3+ or anything that has a front armour 14.... even drop podding to the side or rear with 4 shots S7... its going to be difficult... especially when you don't have the assault strength on them to follow up in turn 2, as they are S6 without CC weapons.

Here's an example of what I would run.

HQ's
Chapter Master
Terminator Armour
Chapter Master
Terminator Armour

Troops
Tactical x8 Drop Pod
Tactical x8 Drop Pod
Tactical x10 Drop Pod

Elites
Ven Dread + Drop Pod
Heavy Flamer, TL Heavy Flamer
Ven Dread + Drop Pod
Heavy Flamer, TL Heavy Flamer
Iron Clad + Drop Pod
Heavy Flamer

Fast Attack
Scout Bikes
Locator Beacon
Scout Bikes
Locator Beacon

Heavy Support
Vindicator
Vindicator
Predator
Lascannon Sponsons
Hunter
Hunter

This should come out at roughly 1972... Right up in your opponents face on turn 1, lots of wounds to take out his troops, all 3 of your dreads come down on turn 1 due to 6 drop pods in total. Chapter masters in with the tactical squads come down on turn 2, capture objectives and can then hit targets with orbital strike... The heavy flamers on the dreads also allows them to be S10 AP2 in assault... trying to mix multi-melta and HF's doesn't work, units should be specific in their role or they'll be a jack of all trades, master of none.

Sorry for the re-write, hopefully it gives you some ideas.