Ironclad

I thought I’d start the ball rolling with a few WIP shots of some things I’m working on at the moment. But I thought I should also give you an idea of how the army ended up where it is today. 

I started my Iron Warriors back in 2008/09 when the Tempus Fugitives held their first Age of the Emperor event down at Warhammer World,  prior to that I’d been into Pre-Heresy  since the Index Astartes articles in WD but hadn’t put together a full army, I’d done a few characters of different legions and a squad here and there but nothing cohesive.

Good times. 

With the Age of the Emperor pack we had our first real Heresy era list and what was the Great Crusade forum had decided we were going down, so then I had to pick a legion.  My first choice had been Death Guard,  I’d always liked the way the IA article portrayed them and the legions character in general appealed to me,  the problem was that this was around the time Galaxy in Flames/Flight of the Eisenstien were released and there were a LOT of people doing Death Guard, along with Sons of Horus, Emperors Children and World Eaters.  So I wanted to be different, I didn’t want to be “another Death Guard player”, so a different legion then,  I boiled it down to the IV, X or XVII Legions since they seemed to be the under represented legions.  I wanted, really, to play a loyalist contingent of a traitor legion, something I think which had drawn me to the Death Guard in the first place being the story of Garro’s defection from his legion, so I settled on the Iron Warriors.

Once I read a bit more into them I realised they weren’t so far from the traits that had first drawn me to the Death Guard, with one major difference, they never got the same recognition the XIV did,  in effect they were the forgotten legion, always there being thrown at the worst warzones the Great Crusade had but never getting any of the glory.  That suited me just fine.  And so the 6^th Grand Company under Warsmith Arsen Thaddea was born.

 

My painting wasn't great back then... 

The first incarnation of the army was, as all Heresy Era armies were then, almost completely converted.  I used the old metal upgrade kits, FW red scorpions & plastic SM/CSM boxes to build an army in entirely Heresy era gear, not an easy task, but satisfying once done. It was a rush to get everything finished and I remember sitting in the hotel room on the Friday night furiously painting the last members of a Devastator squad ready for morning.  My painting work back then was a bit shoddy, but we all have to start somewhere.

 

Then it happened, Forgeworld answered so many of our prayers with the first releases of the Mk II, III, IV, V & VI kits and I began the laborious task of converting my old army to the new armours.  As much as I liked what I’d done with the army it wasn’t quite the look I wanted, but time had constrained me to work with what I had.  With the armour kits I could do what I really wanted, an army entirely in MkIII armour with individual marines looking completely faceless and only distinguishable by the equipment they carry.  

An improvement over his predecessor! 

The Horus Heresy rulebooks quickly followed so the list got rewritten a few times until I was happy with it and now, here we are.

 

Needs paint but you get the idea.

 

And here’s the army as it currently stands:

 

I really need to finish that warhound...

 

And that, sortof, brings me nicely into the new additions to the army, still WIP but I’ll start with:

 

 

This is my entry for the current painting competition over at The First Expedition, still a WIP but nearly ready (good thing too since we’ve only got a week left).  I never understood why the Contemptor Chassis didn’t have the assault drill option that the MkIV Ironclad/Siege Dreadnought does,  then I saw this in Massacre.

 

Why are Contemptor drill hands not a thing?

 So I set about making my own.  In game terms he’s nothing special, with 2 Chainfists with Graviton Guns, Extra Armour and a Havoc Launcher, he’ll ruin most vehicles days if he gets into combat but other than that he’s more a fluff piece than anything.  Speaking of fluff I started writing some for it.

 

 

Created as a joint effort between the IVth and Xth Legions the Shatterer pattern Dreadnought used the more powerful Contemptor chassis to enable it to close rapidly on enemy fortifications.   Typically the chassis would be up armoured by the addition of layers of ceramite and plasteel sheets with additional armour also fitted to the leg and shoulder units, finally the installation of a Flare Shield generator on the dreadnoughts chassis further increases its ability to soak up the punishment usually dealt out to forward units in a siege engagement.

 Offensively the dreadnoughts power fists/claws are replaced with siege assault drills allowing it to tear through most fortifications with relative ease.  The drills are capable of mounting any of the usual internal weapon systems available to the Contemptor, however, due to its specialised role Graviton and Melta weapons are usually favoured.  The Shatterer also mounts a Havoc Assault Launcher on a specialised servo arm which extends above the dreadnoughts shoulder on a swivel mount allowing it to engage periphery targets whilst the dreadnought focuses on enemy fortifications.  The dreadnought also mounts Frag Assault Launchers on its shoulder units for point defence, able to clear a rampart or force defenders to keep their heads down while the dreadnought closes on its target.

 

 

Hopefully I can get it finished this week before the competition closes!  Next up I’m working on a unit of Cataphract Terminators inspired by this artwork:

 

Honestly, this is just cool.

 One of my favourite pieces from Visons of Heresy.  I’ve got one guy nearly finished and the rest of the squad is basecoated:

 

He just needs final detail and weathering

 

They need more.

I like the power axes much more than the chainaxes Cataphracts normally come with.  I’m not sure why, I just kinda do!  Finally I’ve got a new addition for my Taghmata force, a very early WIP of a, as yet unnamed, Magos Malagra:

 

Is four overcompensating?

 

 

 

I think I must have been channelling a bit of General Grievous when I made her but hey, rule of cool, and if your going to be assassinating enemy characters what’s better than a power sword, four power swords!

 

That’s me for today, I picked up Cthulhu Wars while out for lunch so I’ll be doing a mini unboxing/review  either later tonight or tomorrow!

 

Until next time!