Ironwrought Huw

I really like Vulkan and Lysander. I think that Vulkan's new miniature is an excellent reimagining of the original design. I don't need to start a Salamanders army but this is making me want to. As for the Iron Hands... The design on the front of his torso is good, I like the back of his bionic leg, and the servo-skulls are a nice touch. I am then left wondering "where's the rest of him?" In comparison to all the other characters this one looks like something that could be kitbashed in an afternoon. My first reaction on seeing him was one of disappointment, and the more I look the more I feel that this was a rushed or last minute job. Either "It's Friday, it's 15:58, just call him finished, send him to production and lets go home", or "oh crap, we forgot the Iron Hands - again - quick, throw something together". We have seen GW make far more interesting non-combat poses for astartes. The size and spacing of the studs on the tetsubo reminds me of Lego I sense from my fellow Medusans (and other fraters) that I'm in the minority. Fair play to those of you that like the model. I just think that this is a bit of a wasted opportunity.

(In second edition) First they came for my Forge Lords... and actually, I did complain, because the changes from 1st Edition to 2nd Edition invalidated three different Forge Lord minis I'd made. Seeing Forge Lords get outright binned in this edition has me less than impressed. (In third edition) Then they came for my techmarines... and again, I will complain. The change from 2nd to 3rd edition means I've now got 9 techmarines with invalid wargear choices. 1x flamer, 1x volkite, 3x graviton, 1x hammer, 1x MC bolter, 1x shield, 1x melta gun. A techmarine for every occasion. I've got no issue with the new FOC changes requiring characters to open up options and units to an army, it just would have been nice if GW hadn't deleted half of the ones I have, or invalidated the others. The prospect of "don't worry, they might be back in a (paid) journal!" does not fill me with confidence because: A) We could be waiting anything from a few weeks to several years to re-gain things we used to have, and, B) The proof reading. We might get the units back but based on some of the glaring errors we've just seen there's no guarantee the units will actually be listed with the wargear they should have. Or, C) They might never return at all - which is my real fear. If the studio don't have the time or just can't be bothered to make (for example) a Mortificator, some of these units will be gone for good. I loved 30K (and older 40K) because of the choice and customisation. Sure, some wargear options were just be better than others. Some options could be a waste of points, some even an outright handicap. But at the end of the day my army is just that, mine. My praevian almost never got to use his power sword but I always paid points for it because of the narrative I created for him and how I used him. If I want to give my units the "less optimal" choice because I like that choice* I should be able to, and more to the point It's on me to find a way to make my army choices work, or just accept that my units will be facing an uphill struggle. I have an entire squadron of Malcadors for my Iron Hands because I wanted my army to look like it is resorting to pulling the absolute dregs of the legion's reserve fleet out of mothballs in order to keep fighting. I built a veteran squad with power axes and combi-weapons - not exactly the most optimised loadout in 2nd - but I've kitbashed them to look like apprentice techmarines and to act as a retinue for my Iron Father so it works for me and I like the look of it. I'm a member of three gaming groups that do 30K, one of them is exclusively 30K based. There's about 10 of us 'full time 30Kers' with a broad range of experience - I'd been there since 1st edition (and Badab!), some joined at the start of 2nd edition, 2 of them are completely new to wargaming. The mood across the groups had gone from enthusiasm last month, to cautious optimism last week, to outright disgust now. Our Night Lord player has 3/4 of his army in need of serious re-building, the White Scars player is pretty much completely wiped out. I was on the verge of starting a loyalist Thousand Sons detachment - now I don't think I'll bother. Independently, everyone has decided to stick to playing 2nd edition and I know that 4 of the players have decided to cancel pre-orders they'd made with their respective FLGS, with another significantly reducing his pre-order. I think the only positive thing I and my gaming groups can take at the moment is the knowledge that we're not alone - coming to places like The B&C (or Reddit, or the comments on GW's social media posts) and seeing similar sentiment widely shared has actually been a great comfort. *either because of lore & narrative reasons, or on a much more primal "hurr pretty gun go chooom" reasons.

I'm willing to be corrected, but it also looks like the Iron Hands praetor model isn't completely legal under the new rules either (a model released, what, 4 months ago?). Powerfist: fine. Gravitron pistol: still an IH only upgrade to plasma pistol, fine. Machinator array - I don't see how/where that can be selected... Interesting to see that the Iron Father is now a unique unit in its own right, rather than an upgrade to a Praetor. Sadly it looks to be exclusively based on the older cataphractii terminator Iron Father mini, so RIP to any kitbashes that people (and I obsessively) made. Meduson appears to have gone to college: he can now actually repair things with the servo-arm he bizarrely obtained in 2nd edition. I await the 3rd Edition Legacies PDF with interest.

Just in case anyone was interested in what he looks like unassembled, as (currently) the webstore doesn't have any unpainted images or the 360 degree view: There's also a comparison shot with a new mk3 plastic (slightly kitbashed). Due to his bolt-upright pose the Praetor is one of the taller power-armour characters. He's over a head taller than the new plastic mk3 & 6 armour, about 3/4s of a head taller than the Seige Breaker and Meduson, and he's slightly taller than the new resin apothecaries. However he's not Primaris sized. He comes in 15 parts. His torso, legs and cloak are separate pieces. Due to the decision to give him a cloak the rear of his torso is missing - so anyone planning on converting him or giving him a new backpack will have to get creative with the greenstuff. His backpack comes in two parts - the upper half (inc. Iron Halo and exhaust vents) is an individual part, the lower half is moulded into the cloak. Good points: From a technical point this has to be one of the best resin minis I've ever had from GW/FW. Really crisp, with lots of very nice and clear detail. The overlapping armour plates are a nice tie-in with the Gorgon terminators. The cyber-familiar is not completely moulded on to his shoulder / back pack... but bits of it are. You can bin it with minimal surgery. Almost completely customisable. All the 'key' components are individual meaning you can arm him however you like, you can give him whatever head/helmet you want. The bionic leg is fantastic, it has a real weighty and purposeful look to it. More of this please GW, less of the spindly "I've come dressed as a necron for Halloween" bionic limbs. The helmet and the head. The photos do not do these sculpts justice. The bionic right arm. It gives the impression that it could be a functional limb, rather than being just a lump of resin on a toy space man The bits I'm not so happy with (personal preference, YMMV, etc...): The height/bulk. I don't mind characters being slightly bigger than the rank and file, but this guy is pushing it a bit. He absolutely towers over the older resin infantry. The pose. Built as intended I think he looks too cluttered and bundled up. Not a fan of the 'pointing gun up in the air' pose either. The cyber-familiar, it very much feels like an after thought that was thrown on at the last second. The previously mentioned cloak and backpack design. I had hoped to give one of these the backpack from a MK3 techmarine - it won't be the easy swap I'd hoped for. The cloak. Personal preference, but I've always preferred my IH characters to be cloakless (or, if they have one, to have a cloak made from mechadendrites and cables) The cloak (again). The way it's not-quite-hanging-down, but not-quite-blowing-in-the-breeze just looks odd to me. The mechadendrites will break, and you will end up losing parts. Mechadendrite 1 and it's claw attachment are two different pieces, because of course they are. More of a rules issue, but the fact he has mechadendrites / a machinator array rather than a servo arm like in 1st edition. (I know, I know it's been over 2 years but it's a rules change that still annoys me. Give me back my servo arms!) I think that this is one of those models where I like it more due to the potential it provides for kitbashing, rather than the original intended design.

I like it, but I think I'll like it even more when we see an unpainted one and know how many parts he's built from. I'd like to see the back of the model, too - see if he actually has servo-arms or if it's just the mechadendrite tentacle things. A few random thoughts - The helmetless head makes the bionic eye look like a giant monocle. I love it. Love the grav pistol design. I think the cyberfamiliar squatting on his shoulder is a bit too cluttered - I'd prefer something like the Praevian model where the servo-skulls are floating around but tethered to him by wire. The powerfist is an... odd choice? That brutal bionic leg is a very nice contrast with the bionics on the Meduson model - Meduson's are far more subtle and blended in with his armour. Overall I'm a fan of it. I plan on picking up two - and already thinking of the conversions potential. Here's hoping that this is an indication of future re-sized techmarines and a new Forge Lord consul model... (I can dream!)

An interesting topic @apologist which I think opens up quite a few avenues of discussion. It's triggered a fair bit of hobby-soul-searching from me. I’ll try not to turn this into an “angry old man shouts at 10th edition” or "in my day this were all fields" type post. As has been mentioned by others before me, I think the biggest problem with GW killing off named special characters is the question of 1) whether the character gets replaced, and if they are, 2) having a suspiciously similar replacement. "Terribly sorry everyone, but Jeff didn't survive the battle. Here's his replacement, Geoff. Like his predecessor he also likes to wear fancy shorts and is armed with a plasma fist and power claw gun. I know they've got the same nose and haircut but they're not related. Honest". For me this cheapens the entire point of killing off the character. This is best demonstrated by the decision to kill Creed (and for that matter the destruction of Cadia). What was the point of killing Creed off, only to have him be replaced by his own daughter? Are there not any other successful Cadian military families? Why does she have almost identical wargear - why not make her something genuinely new? Why after destroying Cadia, did the new character have to be Cadian at all? There are countless planets producing imperial guard regiments in the Imperium, the loss of Cadia could have been an excellent way to show that. DIY Heroes - the tabletop side I started the hobby back in the days where the rule books would state that your commander model was a physical representation of you on the battlefield, and it's an idea which has firmly stayed with me. I don't have a problem with named special characters but I will fully admit I'm in the "let me make my own characters from a generic option" camp and I still firmly clutch my copy of the 4th edition Space Marine codex to my chest when I go to bed . So long as people can still use their models in games I don’t see any issue with killing off named characters. Keep the rules around, or go back to the days when players could go completely wild with customising unit options - or better yet, both. Prior to their re-release in plastic 2 years ago you couldn't buy Gaunt and his Ghosts from GW for about 12 years - but the rules were still available in at least 2 IG codicies, and the wargear options for Commissars and Commissar Lords meant you could (just about) DIY your own Gaunt should you have wanted. This is where we come crashing back to GW’s decision to utterly neuter the ability of players to pick wargear. Not just weapons, but other equipment like Iron Halos, Terminator Honours or the similar items the other armies used to have. 8th edition's chapter supplements and 9th crusade options sort of felt like a way of bringing the old wargear system back but it isn't the same. It may seem utterly trivial to some (and it is) but why can't I give my techmarine or librarian an Iron Halo or bionics, or change what pistol they carry? Was it game breaking? No, not usually. Did it mean my generic HQ felt different from my opponent's generic HQ? Yes. I do feel that more recent editions (at least from the Astartes side) have been over reliant on named special characters, and an overall feeling of restrictive army building. The lack of flexibility / options and over-reliance on named characters are some of the main reasons I've been gradually turning away from 40K proper, and have been getting pulled back into 30K, Necromunda, and (jokes aside) returning to older editions of 40K. If GW is going to make named special characters I think it's only right that they give players the chance to make something which - if not identical in power - at least has a chance to stand up in a fight. Every time I take a generic HQ choice instead of a named special character in 40K I feel like I am deliberately crippling my own army - unlike in 30K, where I have almost free-reign to make and use what I like, with the acceptance that some of the options are significantly better than others. Anyway, that's enough from me. I think there are some clouds I need to yell at...

I might be misremembering things (it was... 6 years ago?) but I recall that people were still denying the existence of Primaris even when someone leaked photos from the 8th edition painting set guide - complete with colour photos of several Primaris marines on the painting table. Done up as 3rd company Ultramarines IRRC - which in itself was fuel for the people believing them to be conversions because "why would GW ever paint Ultramarines as anything other than 2nd company?" I think my favourite leak was the 5th edition space marine codex in 2006. Not as visually exciting or flashy as a lot of these modern leaks given that it predated the PotatoCamera (TM), but it was an interesting time. For those not old enough to remember, someone over the space of about a month revealed every new unit that would be in the new 5th edition marine codex, without actually naming them. No photos, just written descriptions of everything which would eventually turn out to be largely accurate, e.g. "tank commander in old armour" = Srgt Chronus, "techmarine and weapons platform" = thunderfire cannon, "bearded old man scout leader" = Telion, etc. Highlight was when they would occasionally answer/rebuff questions in Latin, like pointing out (in Latin) that they hadn't stated or implied that the Ultramarines captain character was Sicarius, but if people wanted to think that he wouldn't stop them. It was the first (and 18 years later, so far only) time I'd used my classic Latin since being taught it in school...

Based on the recommendation of another UK-based frater I used CoolToysClub when I ordered my 2 Primaris Techmarines, and I had a good experience with them. They occasionally do discounts codes- IIRC, I had about 15% off due to both. All the import/excise duty stuff was dealt with by them too. Speaking of the Techmarines - they're my first JoyToy figures and I am hugely impressed by them, and they were well worth the wait (having pre-ordered in October). The level of articulation and range of movement in the servo-arm is incredible! Now I just need to learn how to repaint JoyToy scale figures...

This is absolutely fantastic, Custom Hero! Brilliant choice of parts, and a very effective conversion. Really looking forward to seeing him finished

Loving the conversions and paintjobs so far folks. I ended up getting two in the end. The first one has been made as-per the original design, only with the head magnetised and swapped, and the servo-harness being magnetised for transport (largely because I do actually want a game-legal / WYSIWYG version ) Now I see the photos blown up on a computer screen I can see a fair amount of tiding up to do... With original head: Back when Primaris came out and I decided to stop hiding in the Heresy era, I chose Clan Atraxxi to be my new clan. Partly due to having a boatload of their transfers spare, mostly because I knew I'd be free of GW's writing... Personal heraldry and name. Still trying to work out what to do for the second one, but there's a lot of conversion potential here.

Replacing the head isn't too difficult, although depending on the head you pick you might have to trim away at the neck to get a proper fit (otherwise it'll be too tall) I have a fair number of ideas for Feirros. Simple 'fixes' and a few more radical ideas. 'Fixes' 1)The boots - yes, I know they're standard to the Gravis design, but I just think they're too exaggerated, so I'll be trimming those down 2)The Claw - a couple of plans for this, all essentially go down to replacing it with / rebuilding it into a traditional servo arm. 3)The bolter - removing the belt-feed, and replacing it with a drum magazine from the interceptors. 4)The arms - possibly adjusting their pose and slightly lowering them. 'Radical' 1)The legs. Needs more bionics! I'm toying with the idea of carving away the rear of the legs and replacing them with something suitable from the Adeptus Titanicus range (or similar). 2)The bottom servo arm - removed. 3)The heavy bolter - also removed. 4)Signum - see above 5)Main servo arm - relocate into the centre of the back pack, replace claw with something traditional. 6) (Optional) - trim the 'hood' slightly so it's not as tall. 7) (Optional) - change the pose so he's got the axe in his right hand and is aiming a pistol with his left. The result: (Hopefully) The Primaris version of the original metal Iron Father model from 2003. I do really like the model! It's just that I also really like making an expensive mess kit-bashing models...

Now that I've had time to think about the new fluff I'm a little less thrilled than I was earlier (which isn't saying much) - there seems to be an increasing drive to push us into standard codex-compliant structure. I'll admit that the last non-Heresy era fluff I've read was the Raukaan supplement from 4 years ago so I'm a bit out of the loop - if this post is old news and comes across as "old iron father shouts at cloud", I can only apologise. Question for anyone with the old Raukaan supplement to hand. Wasn't Feirros originally listed as just Clan Raukaan's MoTF, rather than the entire chapter MoTF? I know it's a small and mind-numbingly trivial distinction, but it seems to me that with one chap essentially overseeing the entire chapter's recruitment, we've lost another bit of (again, trivial) fluff - where the clans were all insular and borderline antagonistic, all responsible for their own recruitment, equipment, etc. I mean - does this guy hop around Medusa from one Clan crawler-base to the next, jumping through the doors lopping off left-hands where he sees them? Would it really have been so bad for Feirros to have only overseen Clan Raukaan's Rite of Severance, rather than everyones? From the first time we saw it in the fluff I've been unhappy with GW's "drugs bionics are bad, kids" line, but I'm not remotely surprised we now have a MoTF pushing the line Pure cynical-driven speculation: if they just don't want to have to design models with overt bionics - why not just say that Feirros (other iron fathers are available) had developed some new form of augmetics which can conveniently look almost exactly like regular power armour? Don't get me wrong - if you'd told me back in 3rd edition that one day we would actually get a proper named character miniature from GW I would never have believed you. I am very happy that we're getting Feirros. I just can't help but feel a little bitter-sweet with the way the lore is being handled.

Sorry, that badly phrased on my part due to excited and quick typing - this is the biggest and best IH-related news I've read since 2013 . I know that the current lore doesn't have Iron Fathers as the old/original fluff (which was, in simplified terms, 'techmarine + chaplain hybrid). Going from Wrath of Iron (and the short story Flesh, which preceeded it), the Clan Raukaan supplement fluff, some of the Heresy lore, and one of the recent novels (Voice of Mars? I can't remember), the Iron Fathers mentioned all seem to have a bit of a recurring theme of 'go out, find [technology]'. What I meant was that in my eyes, this model looks a little less like a battlefield mechanic and repair expert (techmarine) and more like someone who's going hunting for technology.

I like everything apart from the claw-crane arm. Echoing Iron Father Ferrum's comments, what exactly is it meant to do / how is it meant to work? That said, I wonder if the claw-game attachment is meant to be a nod to an element of the Iron Father fluff? There seems to be a bit of a push in the recent fluff to differentiate Iron Fathers as just 'chaplain+techmarine', having them as being driven by the search for archeotech, rather than just glorified battlefield mechanics/engineers. Perhaps the little claw-crane is designed to allow the character to extract valuable and lost technology from hard to reach places? Still - very happy to see this.

Thanks! And yes, it's from the knights kit, although the knee was reposed slightly. The legs are just about the same height as a Primaris marine's legs. The arms and elbows should also provide you with ample bionic conversion potential.