Andhill's Iron Warriors--> The Last Stand vs. Orks.

[Spacefrisian]

Clean Chaos marines, never knew they could shine so bright.

[Andhil]

It's part of their ostentatious lifestyle. They spend more time working on their appearance then the average female teenager.

[d3m01iti0n]

Good looks man!  Now that Im more or less happy with my Orks for a while, Im dusting off my small team of IW.

[Andhil]

Thanks D3mo! IW are awesome after all.

Now, in this new year, exactly 100 years after a paricularly violent war ravaged what is my home country, I find myself immersed in the history behind it. Hence why I decided to pick up the Stronghold Assault book, and use that to do a complete overhaul of my IW force. So now I'm going for a WoM Defence setup, with some Vengeance Batteries on top. And again, to get that Great War feel, I'm going to spam as much heavy weapons as I can. Especially Heavy Bolters. Now, onto a WIP part!

NOTE: Serious WIP here, I still need a new Brush, and some of that Rust paint (which I expect to be able to pick up next week, when we go to pick up that new 'Nid dex.)

Trench:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032353.jpg

Now this one needs minor work, touch up the Stripes, finish the dead Cadians at the bottom, and rust up the floor of the Trench and Presto! And only now do I notice that my unfinished H-Bolter Marine snuck into this picture.

Bunker:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032357.jpg

I only did minor work on this, I shaved away the smaller aquila's, but the one on the front is too damned huge, so the plan is to get it rusted up, with the Chaos star I scratched in the skull looking bright and silver (well, that's the idea, we'll see if it actually works.) I also need to touch up the Hazard Stripes, but I really need a new brush.

I've also got a third WIP lined up, no pics as of yet, but it's got Tracks, a Big Gun and it screams IW. So yeah, a Vindie! And I've got big plans for it, which again require the aformentioned paint and brush, so stay tuned!

[Brother Ambroz]

See that's one of the reasons I can't buy any fortifications. There's just far too much little imperial crap like those aquilas and then huge ones that are nigh impossible to remove. Good luck with that though, hopefully you can erase or cover up the stain of that giant Aquila. :P

[Andhil]

Yeah, I hope it works out, but I channeled my inner CSM, and decided that defiling the Aquila would be just as efficient as removing it, especially if you expect Imperial dogs to attack you.

-The smaller aquila's were easy to cut-and-scrape away. The Trench was easier, no Aquila's to cut out as those actual Aquila-shaped-shield-things come seperately, I admit, that was a pleasant surprise, I was not looking forward to cutting all that away!

The Trench does have that pleasant Dead-Guardsmen-Everywhere scenery at the front, really adds to the overall Chaos-ness of the thing.

[d3m01iti0n]

Im sure you could gouge it up and deface it, Talos style.

[Xenith]

A big red cross through the wings, along with an "HonSou was 'ere", followed by some phallic graffiti would really set it off.

 

The experiences of the troops in WWI can definitely be used as an analogy to see downhearted the IW became due to the unrelenting siege/trench warfare.

 

I reckon a healthy dose of earthshade over the hazard-striped trench sections would tone them down a little, and make them look really gritty.

 

currently, they steal the show from your models a bit, they're too bright!

[Andhil]

Yeah, I agree that the Stripes are a bit too bright, but then again, they're still a WIP at the moment, I've got plans to pick up a new brush this saturday, so if all goes well next week should bring some progress. The idea right now is to first get everything painted, from the dead Cadians in the front, to the looted ammunition stores at the back, after that I'm going to attempt to weather it. (Which probably means a simple drybrush and some other things I might try.)

@d3mo: I did have plans to do that, actually. I have a electric mini-drill that I wanted to use, but I managed to misplace it somewhere, and I haven't found it yet, so I'm saving that idea for Bunker #2.

@Xenith: I admit, it's mildly childish, but I had a good laugh out of the phallic grafitti thing.

I've got plans for a huge WoM's defensive position (think enough to fill the whole board, and mine is pretty big.) so this means more Bunkers, which means more chances to do some crazy stuff. Although I'm a bit hesitant over grafitti. It feels to Orky to do. I feel like IW's would just grab a grinder and ruin the thing, rather than paint childish and mildly offensive grafitti. Well, my IW would. What with considering themselves royalty and such. But for now i'm gonna try the rust-thing, and hope for the best. Learn by trying, right?

Either way, thanks for the comments and ideas, those are always welcome.

[Andhil]

Ok, I managed to get to my LGS, and sadly, no Ryza Rust available..... So I ordered it, hopefully they'll get some soon.

Anyway, to cover my dissapointment, I bought some other stuff:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032361.jpg

Havocs, the first of 3 Squads. They will, respectively, be equipped with 4 Heavy Bolters, 4 Lascannons and 4 Missile Launchers.

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032359.jpg

My 2nd squad of CSM, this time with a Plasma Gun, a Heavy Bolter and a Power Sword. (There's only 8 guys because 2 were finished during the Call of Chaos challenge, so it's a 10-man squad.)

And I had some leftover legs which served this purpose:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032360.jpg

The guy on the left is an Aspiring Champion, he'll lead the 3rd squad, which I don't own yet.

The middle guy is an aformentioned ML Havoc.

And the guy on the right is a spare HB marine, he won't be joining the HB-Havoc squad.

Again, Comments are always appreciated, and I'm always happy to reveal more about certain models, so ask away!

[Xenith]

Good choices on the weapons: While 4xHB isn't always the most effective, it's super cheap and great fun to throw handfulls of dice.

 

Mine have always excelled at taking out landspeeders and light transports.

[Warsmith Aznable]

Don't forget about autocannons, man. Autocannon squads do some good stuff.

[Andhil]

Yeah, Autocannons have done some great things for my IG. I might just be a bit too lazy to convert Autocannons for Havocs. (I don't really like the Havoc kit itself.) Although come to think of it, just slapping a barrel from a Sentinel's autocannon to a Heavy bolter should do the trick...... Who knows, one day I might just do that!

The Quad-Bolter squad will be needed. As my most regular opponents will be Nids, Daemons and Orks. In that order....

[RolandTHTG]

Yeah, Autocannons have done some great things for my IG. I might just be a bit too lazy to convert Autocannons for Havocs. (I don't really like the Havoc kit itself.) Although come to think of it, just slapping a barrel from a Sentinel's autocannon to a Heavy bolter should do the trick...... Who knows, one day I might just do that!

The Quad-Bolter squad will be needed. As my most regular opponents will be Nids, Daemons and Orks. In that order....

I actually have a marine holding an IG autocannon with a couple of trophies hanging from it as one of my havoks. A little long, but not actually out of scale. If you don't want to cut up an autocannon, adding a Heavy stubber barrel to a chaos heavy bolter actually looks good too.

[Warsmith Aznable]

If you're interested, I did a tutorial for using the autocannon bits from a Defiler kit to make Autocannon Havocs.

[Andhil]

That tutorial was awesome, it gave me some ideas, so thanks for that.

Just now my Iron Warriors faced off against the Tyranids. My first "official" game with the CSM.

So, some quick conclusions:

CSM

-Vindicators rock.

-10 Termies with MoT, 2x Reaper, 2xPF, 2xCF=dead FMC.

-Dimensional Key is awesome.

-Heldrake with Autocannon isn't usefull. Definitely going for the Baleflamer next time!

-Vengeance Batteries kick major !

Tyranids

-Them Psychic powers are strong.

-Warp Blast vs. CSM=Dead CSM's.

-Venomthropes are annoying.

-Warrior Prime+Tyrant+Tyrant Guard= Really Tough Deathstar.

Quick list breakdown:

IW 3000pts

Termie Lord, MoT, Burning Brand, Sigil, PF--->Warlord

Daemon Prince, DoT, PA, Wings, Key

10x Termies, 2xReaper, 2xPF, 2xCF, MoT

5x Termies, 4x Combi-flame, Heavy Flamer, MoT

5x Termies, 5x Combi-Melta, 2x PF, MoT

10x CSM, MoT, Flame Icon, 2x Flamer

10x CSM, 2x Plasma, PF

10x CSM, Plasma, HB, PW-Sword

10x CSM, 2xMelta, PW-Spear

5x Raptors, 2xMelta, PF

5x Havocs, 4x HB, PF

5x Havocs, 4xLC, PF

Vindicator, Siege Shield

Heldrake, Autocannon

2x Battlecannon Batteries

-The idea behind my list is to bring a solid gunline to the table,
packing serious firepower, and then use my Deep Strikers to, respectively target vulnerable points in the enemies line, or take out a specific Monster or Tank. Which, in theory forces him to divert some of his front-line troops to face the new threat, leaving my front-line units free to break through to the objectives. Sadly, this isn't that effective for Purge the Alien.

Tyranids 3000pts

Warrior Prime, Bonesword, Norn Crown, frag nade equivalent.--->Warlord

Tyrant, Scything Talons

Tyrant Guard

Tyrant, Wings, Shooting weapon (can't remember)

5x Warriors, Boneswords

30xHormagaunts

20x Termagants, Devourers

10-12 Termagants

10-12 Termagants

10-12 Gargoyles

8x Genestealers

8xGenestealers

8x Genestealers

3x Raveners

Trygon Prime, Maw-fangs-Artifact.

Carnifex, 2x Twin-linked Devourer

Biovore

Venomthrope

Zoanthrope

(I hope I didn't forget a unit, I definitely left out some upgrades, such as the huge amount of Adrenal Glands and the likewise insane amount of Toxin Sacs.)

Anyway, we played Purge the Alien, so Victory points were where it's at. I'll keep this brief, with some memorable moments.

Tyranids went first....or so they thought! IW stole the Initiative!

My immense firepower meant that First Blood was bound to be mine. I didn't get it till turn 2 though, most MC's were down to low Wounds. (The Carnifex actually spent most of the game on 1 Wound, skulking behind cover to avoid death.)

My Terminator blob instantly surprised me by performing their task a lot better than expected. They're there to swat FMC's out of the air. And they did, granted, only one was present, but hey, they killed it!

My Daemon Prince has one task and one task only. Activate the Dimensional Key! He succeeded in the Third turn, allowing my Raptors and Melta Termies to Deep Strike without scattering. (The Flamer Termies arrived in T2, and also didn't scatter due to lucky roll) Sadly, both squads then went on to completely fail to wound anything with their Melta's, the Termies even missing 3 out of 5, and scoring a single wound which was saved.

A rather funny moment was when I had to choose between firing my Lascannons at one of either targets, the approaching Warriors or the Trygon, which had already breached my lines. Then the Tyranid player suddenly exclaimed: "Oh, I forgot, the Trygon has Preffered Enemy now!" (Due to that Bio-Artifact) at which point I jumped up, and instantly picked up 4 dice to eliminate the Trygon. In short, 4 hits, 4 Wounds. It had maybe 2 Wounds left.

In the end, the score stood 7-9 in favor of the Tyranids. Getting the Linebreaker point, and managing to kill my Warlord won the day for them. It was a close fought game all the way to the end, and we had great fun.

The Nids feel a lot more balanced than they were before, I haven't had a single moment where I found something broken (such as say, the T9 Iron Arm'd MC's!)

In slightly related news, I've basecoated my new models. Even the leftover legs, that have now been transformed into an Aspiring Champion with a Power Spear. Again, a good sign that progress will be coming soon!

[Xenith]

A good first game, it seemed pretty close!

 

The 10 TZ termies kicked ass, as they should. Fo more funsies, get a LVL biomancy sorcerer on there with endurance - they become incredibly hard to shift!

 

Im glad you found a use for the dimensional key. To me it looks near useless on paper. Having 1 unit in reserve means it will be useless 50% of the time, 2 units, 25% etc, and that's assuming you can get into combat T2.

[Andhil]

Yeah, I'm not going for tourny-competitive, I like playing with a fluffy army, with some crazy stuff I like, and steering clear of stuff I don't like, such as....Psychic powers. I've never liked the idea of "Magic-in-Space", so neither of my 3 armies use Psykers.

The Key is surprisingly useful because it's an important part of the strategy, else, it's pretty rubbish isn't it?

Getting the thing in combat before T2 is a challenge, but I usually face Nids, Khorne-heavy Daemons and CC-Orks, so they'll come to me anyway, which mean my DP can easily jump into combat, and kill one guy. The Daemon Prince just has a better chance of striking first, and killing something than anything else in the HQ section, so that's why he's there. Again, it's more of a fluffy list, so it's seriously ok if he dies after unlocking the Key.

[Andhil]

Update time!

As I've got my first Siege War game planned for next tuesday, I'm working on my fortifications, I hope to get them done in time. I did go to my LGS yesterday, as my order was in, so the Rust paint is mine! (and It's awesome!) but sadly, they accidentally mixed up the WoM Defence Emplacement, and ordered me a Defence Line instead. Ah, well, better luck next time! At least this gives me time enough to finish the other Fortifications!

Now, I finished the first piece of Defence Line, and I got inspired by the fluff around Iron Warriors, and added something extra! I hope you guys find it a worthy looking fortification for the IV Legion!

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032362.jpg

Next up, the Bunker, it's mainly finishing up the details. Hopefully. I might get distracted. I've still got some Troops to do too!

And, as per usual, all coments are welcome.

[Xenith]

Looking good, the barbed wire and the drybrushed dust over the hazard stripes really sets it off.

[Ammonius]

I like it! That's definitely one effective way to deal with all the Imperial Iconography on the wall of martyr stuff. Further, you could make barricades (per the obstacles section of Stronghold Assault) to go with your defense lines by matching the trapezoid shaped sections with hazard stripes.

[Andhil]

Thank you both, I appreciate it!

I do have plans to create a ridiculously large WoM's defence complex, all for the Iron Warriors, I'll probably use everything except the Aquila Macro-Cannon, that's just too Imperial, but the kit does have a HUGE Missile emplacement, so that could be useful.....

Ah, but first things first, I've still got half a Defence Line to finish, as well as a Bunker. Then the Emplacement I mentioned in my earlier post, so I can finally use all of these Fortifications in a single slot.

[Andhil]

So, Siege War missions. I've played my first game. We already agreed I'd be the defender, so I allowed him to roll for mission. It was Mission 3: Last Stand. Which meant I'd have to start the game with only 3 Infantry units deployed. Even worse, the defender(Me) gets a different reserve table, meaning my Fast attack was a little slower to arrive, my Troops, Elites and Hq's were even slower and Heavy Support was ridiculously slow!

I brought the list I used in the last game (mentioned above) except I swapped out the Drake for the Fortifications, including my WoM Defence Line, Bunker and Vengeance batteries.

I faced Orks, and he brought 85 Boys, Ghazghkull Thraka, a Mek with SAG and 2 KFF Meks, 20 Lootas, 20 Stormboys, 3 Dakkajets, a Looted Wagon, Dread and a Battlewagon (both tanks had the biggest gun possible) and 5 Deffkoptas. (I might, again, have forgotten something.)

Yet, the Ork menace was repelled. The Iron Warriors managed to seize the initiative, allowing the Last Survivors; 10 Terminators,Heavy Bolter Havocs and Lascannon Havocs, to open fire on the Orks. As expected First Blood went to the Iron Warriors on T2, when the Raptors descended behind the Orkish Looted Wagon, and blew it sky-high, which killed a small number of Orks.

Sadly, during this time, the Orks were hammering the Terminators with everything they had, and slowly but surely, one by one, the Terminators fell, until the Warsmith (Chaos Lord, not WarPsmith) faced Gazhgkull in single combat. Sadly he failed to hit the Ork. Twice. He was unceremoniously smashed.

A squad of CSM tried to come to his aid, and killed a unit on the way, sadly the Champion of that squad was rewarded with Spawnhood for his actions. They managed to get into the combat surrounding the Warsmith, but it was too late, after a short struggle, the unit fled, leaving the Spawn to fend of the Orks. When the dust settled, the Iron Warriors had narrowly secured victory.

I won with a 2pt lead, which I gained because of his 2 Dakkajets, who were in active reserve, but as units that aren't on the table at the end of the game are counted as being destroyed, I got the 2pts needed for victory. (As neither of us knew that this would happen, we both agreed that if we had known, he'd have never moved them off the table, so it's more of a tie.)

Some things I noticed again:

-The Vengeance Cannons wrecked face, again, and my opponents hate them.

-3 Dakkajets cannon be taken down by a single Icarus Lascannon. I'm bringing Flak Havocs next time!

-My Warsmith, while geared for it, seems to be unable to win a challenge against anything more powerful than a Sergeant.

-The Deep-Strike Counter attack still works, but getting the Key active before they arrive does greatly enhance the effect.

-Meks are dangerous. One of them headshotted 2 of my CSM in a row. With a pistol. I'm not kidding, he rolled a 5/6 to hit, a 4-6 to wound, and I failed to save both times. Hilarity ensued. No-one expected that Mek, who was alone, to kill another Iron Warrior with his pistol.

-My buddy rolls a ridiculous amount of 5's and 6's. He averages about 50% with his to hit Rolls. With BS2!!!!

He literally made five 5+ Invul saves.

-4 HB's in a Bunker are dangerous, and very, very happy campers, as they only lost 2 guys when a Nob rocked the bunker a bit with his Power Klaw.

-My Vindicator was seriously missed, and only turned up on T5, and killed alot of Deffkoptas, and then getting glance to death by a Dakkajet.

Anyway, the game was close all the way to the end, even though I held the lead for the most of the game. The most important thing is that it was a really fun game, and the mission was rather fun, even though that reserve table was a piece of . We've agreed to play more Siege War Missions later, which is exiting news for the IV Legion! We're always looking forward to testing our defences!

EDIT: I remember our Daemon player taking some pics of the game, I'll see if I can find them later, then I'll add them.

[RolandTHTG]

For anti-air, have you tried out the Firestorm Battery?
Sounds like a fun game otherwise.

[Andhil]

I would have, if I had the model. It's certainly risen on my 'to buy' list now!