Ok here's an idea for a list (a total wild ass attempt to go a different direction). It's in no way good but a place to start yelling about it and in general making fun of me related to list construction
. In general the presence and focus of dreads in the formations is something relatively fluffy and somewhat unique for a list AFAIK. Spent a long time trying to put myself, as much as would be possible, into the psychology of the IH, especially in light of the Drop Site Massacre and the Heresy. Warning: This list is so experimental that attempts to play it might actually cause a warp rift
Here's the Designer Notes section from the attached document repeated to give some insight into some of the thought processes that went into this the last few days.
TL;DR
Larger more inflexible formations with combined arms approach. Dreads and Supreme commander enable a once per turn special rule turning a formation into Fearless for an assault. Drop pods over Air Assault. Ground sloggers. Speeders and Jump packs restricted. Limited Land Raiders. Vanilla marine equipment only.
Here's the notes!->
This list is an attempt to provide a unique flavorful list, inspired by but not limited to the Iron Hands Space Marine Chapter while still being competitive. The Iron Hands suffer from minimal fluff, most of which does not lend itself to translation in Epic nor 40k gameplay directly. Therefore much of what is presented is extrapolated from what we know in what is, hopefully
, a balanced entertaining list (or at least one that is at least logically derived).• Iron Hands, and presumably their successors, are a completely non codex chapter. Instead of being based on the teachings of Guilliman, they are formed around the Clan Company which mirrors the independent autonomous nomadic tribes of their homeworld, Medusa. Each Clan is a completely self contained and autonomous unit containing a relatively even proportion of each marine equipment and force asset in the Chapter as a whole. was taken from the Space Wolves list with their Great Company formation taking center stage, with minimal changes.
• The Iron Hands are known for their close, some say too close, ties to the Mechanicum and complete reverence for machines. In addition as dreadnoughts are somewhat second tier units in many other list (or at least perceived as less desirable) a goal was to make them a core theme running through this one. Due to their reverence and central-ness to the list, Venerable Dreadnoughts (found in several existing stable lists) have been added and were given the Inspiring ability and are an enabler of the Flesh is Weak special rule. In order to balance this powerful ability, restrictions on air assault (keeping with the theme) and keeping transport options to vanilla codex where possible were made. In addition, units with dreadnoughts gain extra BM when a dreadnought (or Titan) falls making them risky propositions. It is believed that this coupled with the slow movement should keep this under check and beardiness to a minimum.
• Assault marines and fast attack elements from the codex marines are allowed but limited in scope. Current, albeit limited, fluff connotes the Iron Hands as presenting a strong wall of marines that force through any resistance no matter the cost. Formations therefore favor ground slogger marines over Land Speeders and Assault marines. This feature is somewhat similar to the Salamanders list.
• The fluff also connotes the Iron Hands favoring a mixed arms force and less relying on specialist formations and will willingly roll units into each other as more men are needed to overcome a foe through brute strength or as casualties are incurred. This is represented by the ability to field larger though fewer formations. This is generally balanced as the army will have fewer activations than most opponents and if overdone, will be hopelessly out activated in practice. The extra resiliency of the larger formations plays to the fluff that the Iron Hands through sheer tenacity will fight through any pain and fire to bring their foes to battle. Failure therefore is not due to inflexible tactics but due to weakness.
• After the Heresy, the Iron Hands have become notoriously insular and isolationist to the point that they have little contact with their successors, shun other Chapters, hate other 1st founding chapters for allowing them to be slaughtered at Isstvan, in general have nothing but contempt for the other Imperial military organizations and in general are unpleasant gits to be around. Therefore this list explicitly disallows navy allies. Use of the various Storm* formations for airpower are made instead.
• More specialized units like Scouts (renamed Aspirant Squads as one bit of fluff referred to them that way, an admitted conceit on my part) are rolled into main formations per the Clan structure. Somewhat similar to BT neophyte, it is extrapolated that they are more coupled and less independent than most Chapters and are directly commanded by regular battle brothers. Scouts are generally fielded as upgrades to formations, downplaying the traditional role of Scout Recon in favor of Pickett skirmishers used to force engagement or retreat of enemies. Again, this fits in with the intractable advance fluff depictions of the Chapter.
• Chaplains do not exist in the Iron Hands. Instead a unique unit, the Iron Father, exists combining the role of TechMarine and Chaplain in one person. As Tech Marines have no direct game play effect in practice this is a Chaplain by another name
• A lasting effect of the drop site massacre has been a materials shortage throughout the 10,000 year history of the Iron Hands. Therefore some codex formations are not present, others in restricted form due to tactics or fluff
o Iron Hands do not field Terminator formations in general due to shortage of Tact Dreadnought Armour and also the lack of a specialist veterans company which is rolled into their core formation as officers. The equivalent unit, Veteran Officers, is only found as an upgrade option. The supreme commander character is instead a terminator based unit representing the Clan leader and his retinue.
o Extrapolated from the lack of more specialized equipment, only "standard" pattern vehicles from the codex list are available. This means specialized Land Raider and Predator variants are not featured. In addition, due to the more advanced and costly construction of Land Raiders and fitting with the combined arms approach of the list, Land Raiders are taken only as heavy support upgrade for formations unlike other chapters and the Codex Astartes which outlines their use as an armoured spear-tip. As the Rhino chassis is said to be so easy to build and reliable it is the sole use of independent armoured force in the list.
• A core theme of the design of this list would be to imagine the effects of trauma from drop site massacre and emasculation of this once legion. Extrapolating from the fluff, an almost pathological need for strength and self-reliance and a "never again" attitude would be evident. Never again would they be caught without the men, armour, aircraft, and space craft to prosecute war. Never again would they be forced to rely on weak allies which will fail them. This desire for resiliency as a Chapter would then spill over into how the Clans operate and even down to individual formation make up. We should see less specialized units, more generalist and well rounded. Less tectical flexibility and mobility but countered with an ability to push through most withering fire to punish enemies. These larger formations would tend to have balance of AP and AT fire as to never be unable to counter to any threat is more important than efficiency.
• While Mechanicum allies can be taken (probably the only group they get along with), no Warhounds are included in the list first as they play differently to previously described intractable advance vs fast strike style of attack I want the list to feel like. Also the Warhound+Air Assault A-Go-Go is for another list, take it somewhere else
.• Ideas around an independent Dreadnought formation similar to the one seen in the Iron Warriors list were considered but ultimately not incorporated due to fluff issues (while venerated, dreads are rumored to be rarer in the IH) and I felt I had pushed this far enough. That coupled with the presence of the Flesh is Weak rule would lead to beardiness I felt.
• There is going to be some limitation added about using Thunderhawks and Stormeagles to prevent this getting twisted into Marine Air Cav. Playtesting Storm Talon and Storm Eagles needs to occur before we tackle it here in this list so I kicked the can down the road.
THE LIST ITSELF
(v.4 10/6/12)
DEPRECIATED-See Official Thread
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