Ciaphas Cain's Blog of Doom

Codex: Space Marines

Point Total: 2000 pts

-Space Marine Chapter Master - 150 pts

-Storm Shield

-Hellfire Rounds

-Master of the Forge - 150 pts

-Conversion Beamer

-Thunder Hammer

-Venerable Dreadnought - 200 pts

-Assault Cannon

-Drop Pod

-Venerable Dreadnought - 200 pts

-Assault Cannon

-Drop Pod

-Techmarine - 90 pts

-Power Weapon

-Servo Harness

-2x Servitors - 85 pts

-2x Plasma Cannons

-10x Tactical Squad - 250 pts

-Plasma Gun

-Lascannon

-Power Fist

-Rhino

-Thunderfire Cannon - 135 pts

-Drop Pod

-Thunderfire Cannon - 135 pts

-Drop Pod

-Whirlwind - 100 pts

-Extra Armour

-End List-

-Chapter Master - Some of you are probably saying "Ciaphas what the heck are you doing?! A Chapter Master that's NOT melee orientated?!" Yes. Yes he is. The basic idea behind this list is a modified Gunline list, while sticking to the eclectic, random mishmash nature of the Iron Hands. This Chapter Master will be sitting in the back of the line, dropping an Orbital Bombardment at first opportunity, and pounding approaching enemy lines with his Hellfire Bolter. I felt it was a solid choice to represent an Iron Hands Clan Master, and was originally going to choose Terminator armor, but felt it was a waste of points without an actual unit of Terminators, and since actual squads of Terminators is not IH style, I ultimately decided against it.

-Master of the Forge - I shouldn't even need to explain why this unit exists in this list, but I'll go over the benefits it provides to the list nonetheless. I know many are probably wondering why I would take a Master of the Forge without taking Dreads for Heavy Support, but not only is the unit iconic Iron Hands, but the benefits of a Techmarine are useful alone, but adding the Conversion Beamer makes this guy down right deadly. The Conversion Beamer is more powerful the farther away the enemy is, making it key in the defense in a gunline-ish list. He also adds yet another Bolster Ruins to this list, allowing for a total of four improved cover saves throughout your deployment zone, and with a Thunderhammer should the enemy get in your face, the Master of the Forge is a solid choice.

-Venerable Dreadnought - Which dreadnoughts to pick was especially tough for me, as I learned more about Iron Hands fluff. The Iron Hands actually field very few Dreadnoughts, finding the interning of a marine in a suit the ultimate honor, and as such, I believe Venerable Dreadnoughts convey the idea that only the very best of the Iron Hands are allowed to be interned in the "Ultimate fusion of man and machine". I chose Assault Cannons in order to provide a more mobile anti-infantry fire base, and to counter light vehicles should it be necessary. Drop Pods are for proper deployment purposes.

-Techmarine - The Techmarine is again, a very Iron Hands unit, and with him present reinforcing your flex-Gunline, it can be near guaranteed that most of your vehicles will survive far past their normal life-span. Add in a Servo-Harness for extra ranged fire-power, and a Power Weapon in case of invasion purposes, and the Techmarine already proves useful. I'm going to once again touch on Bolster Ruins and it's ability to add +1 to a cover save, and just how useful such an ability is for this list. With it, you can near guarantee that your marines will weather fire storms that they should normally perish in.

-Servitors - The Servitors are again, not only fluffy, but provide an added measure of security to your weapon emplacements in this list. Place a Plasma Cannon Servitor with each Thunderfire Cannon ensures that should something like Terminators come calling for your T-Fires, they can be repelled or at least delayed long enough for the rest of your list to respond to the threat.

-Tactical Squad - When I considered the Iron Hands, I imagined them to have a very large arsenal of heavy weapons, after all, the more power machinery, the better. With the plasma gun, Lascannon and Power Fist, this is a regular Tactical Squad on all kinds of steroids. These squads can respond to heavy vehicle threats, Terminator or MC attacks, pretty much anything, and though they carry a high point cost, they are distinctly Iron Hands and with the cover and speed provided by their Rhinos, this is one mean unit for anyone to face.

-Thunderfire Cannons - I'm not going to go into a lot of depth as to the benefits of a Thunderfire in general (You can see my Imperial Fist list for that), but I will cover just how they fit into this list. The idea of powerful artillery, manned by Techmarines fits the Iron Hands motif (As seen by their mobile Castle-Fortresses on Medusa), and provide absolutely necessary anti-infantry fire to this list. With these cannons, horde armies are no longer as large a threat, and your Tactical Squads can focus on more dire threats.

-Whirlwind - The Whirlwind is a large, angry piece of artillery on wheels. With the ability to fire two different kinds of artillery depending on the situation (Vengeance or Castellan), it can tear apart or delay any force you wish to prevent from reaching you so you might ready your line for attacks. Vengeance missiles take apart charging hordes, and Castellan missiles can pry enemy out of cover so you don't end up in a castling war.

-Closing Thoughts - This was by far the most challenging list to do, and I really enjoyed the challenge. Trying to fit the Iron Hands theme while remaining competitive was a large obstacle, but having done so, I feel I have become a much better list maker because of it. I think that anyone who choses to use this list will benefit tremendously in terms of gains in tactical knowledge, and it's a list everyone should try at least once.

And for the ninth time, thanks go out to Starminer and his proof-reading genius! My good friend Schweet also deserves many accolades for being my resident Iron Hands expert.