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Ferrus Manus

2018-01-21T10:14:37Z

2A00:23C0:BB05:FA00:291A:4202:B95A:6D13: /* The flesh is... strong? */

[[File:Ferrus Manus Pre-Haircut.jpg|500px|thumb|right|Ferrus Manus, The Gorgon, Wyrmslayer, The Great Iron-Father. It took over twenty five years to get a decent image of him, and he ended up looking like [[/co/|the Punisher]].]]
{{Topquote|Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.|William Butler Yeats}}
{{Topquote|By turns our purity inspires and our impurity casts us down.|Henry David Thoreau}}
{{Topquote|Steel isn't strong, boy. Flesh is stronger. What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?|Thulsa-Doom to [[Emperor|Conan the Barbarian]]. }}
'''Ferrus Manus''', '''"The Gorgon of Medusa"''', was the [[Primarch]] of the [[Iron Hands]] [[Chapter]] of [[Space Marines]]. His hands are made of iron. His name is also Latin for "Iron Hand". Real subtle, GW. He got said hands after wrestling with a silver dragon on the planet he crashed on and dripped the lizard into magma and then the metallic skin of the dragon fused into the skin on his hands. Wait, living metal? [[Necron|That sounds oddly familiar for some reason...]] Anyway, his arms became so fucking hardcore that he did not even *need* a weapon to tear through dudes: his iron hands were more than enough.

[[meme|So in summary, Iron Hands, who had iron hands, was the leader of the Iron Hands, who give themselves iron hands in honour of the iron hands of Iron Hands of the Iron Hands.]]

He also got really pissed off if you called him [[Meme|THE HANDS OF FATE]] after that incident.

Ferrus, using his shiny metal hands, could make epic weapons that absolutely kick ass but he only used like one or two of them. It's not clear as to whether he or [[Vulkan]] was the best smith. Vulkan had better aesthetics, in that he could create things that actually looked pretty instead of just [[Leman Russ Battle Tank|ugly blocks of metal with guns haphazardly glued on]], but Ferrus certainly had the better way of making weapons, by punching them into shape with his bare fists. Vulkan also had a respect for geology, where Ferrus thought that details of a metal ended at its usefulness.

==History==
[[File:Ferrus Manus by John Blanche.JPG|150px|thumb|left|For a very long time this was one of only two officially produced images of Ferrus Manus, drawn by [[John Blanche]]. The other image showed only his backside. Ever get the feeling you're the unfavorite? Ferrus understands you.]]
Back in the days of the Great Crusade (before the good ol' [[Horus]] [[Heresy]]), Ferrus met [[Fulgrim]] of the [[Emperor's Children]] beneath Mount Narodnya, and challenged him to forge the best weapon that he could. After three months, Fulgrim forged an ornate warhammer, while Ferrus made a big blingy sword. After praising each other for their craftsmanship, the two exchanged weapons and became best friends.

Cuddly and friendly, however, Ferrus was not. To the people of Medusa he was a grim figure who took warriors into the crypts of the forbidden polar zone to fight archeotech nasties, and otherwise offered them weaponry and told them to fight to ensure they remained strong. Once he met his Legion, he performed a dramatic ''volte-face'' on interfering in Medusan politics. Which is to say he went from non-intervention to "Legionaries, take over their Clans. Btw they'll only understand if you do it really violently." Nonetheless there was [[Autek Mor|that one guy]] who took that a little far, wiping out a Clan that had gone rogue and claiming their crawler for himself.

As far as military doctrine went, Ferrus wasn't crazy like Angron or cruel like Curze, but he was pitiless, perhaps even more so than Russ or Horus. On the battlefield itself he was the kind of guy who could smash straight through the legs of a Reaver-sized Titan-analogue (a barely disguised AT-AT homage). And Angron thought he was tough holding up a Warhound. Bless.

Like Vulkan, he made a point of forging gear for most of his brothers. Although Vulkan was a bit uncomfortable with Ferrus' way of punching metal into shape and didn't use his dragon-headed flamer until the Heresy broke out. Examples of his work include Horus' sword (which Horus favoured until the Emperor gave him ''Worldbreaker''), ''Fireblade'' (the aforementioned sword made for Fulgrim), and Lorgar's mace ''Illuminarum''.

It all went well until Fulgrim found a new [[Slaanesh|boyfriend/girlfriend/hermaphroditic freak]], and then decided to make Ferrus [[heresy|join the dark Side]]. [[Fulgrim]] totally outmatched Ferrus with his [[heresy|HAWTNEZZ]] but Ferrus wasn't interested and he jacked the sword he made for his now ex-boyfriend back. Some time later after some epic planning that would [[FAIL|EPICALLY FAIL]], Ferrus goes with other [[Space Marine|Primarchs]] to attempt to kick Fulgrim's and [[Horus|Horus's]] ass. And it started well: Ferrus brought his army down right at the edge of the enemy's shields, and forced Horus' troops into retreat despite all the shenanigans the Traitors pulled. But then they got totally fucked up by a bunch of reinforcements while Ferrus challenged Fulgrim. The prancing ninny was on the verge of getting his ass handed to him... until he became Slaanesh's boyfriend for real and proceeded to cut Ferrus Manus's head off. [[Awesome|Ferrus' death was said to include great flashes of light,]] but the Inquisition isn't helping with research. Horus was pretty fucking pissed at this.

Ironically, Ferrus' death was caused by the same self-flagellating urge that drives his sons to turn themselves into cyborgs. Fulgrim came to convert him to Horus' side; to Ferrus this meant there was some flaw inside him that needed to be expunged by killing Fulgrim. This was why the Iron Hands stayed in the field when everyone else disengaged, and got screwed over harder than everyone else.

Despite his anger at Fulgrim, or perhaps because of it, Horus kept Ferrus's head, removing the remaining flesh and leaving it a bleached skull for his throne. Sometimes he would talk to it, lamenting that he had nothing but [[Magnus|dishonored]] and [[Konrad Curze|broken]] [[Angron|psychopaths]] on his side instead of [[Sanguinius|angels]] and [[Roboute Guilliman|strategists]] as his generals. Waging a galaxy wide heresy is a tough job.

==Ferrus Lives?==
There is speculation ''(in-universe and out)'' that Ferrus Manus somehow lives, and is hidden away on Mars by the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]], though mentioning this to the Iron Hands gets them impressively angry, to the point that they might demonstrate how they think otherwise by using the speaker's own head. The marines who survived the Dropsite Massacre were in no doubt, having seen the visual evidence from multiple angles, but apparently the Iron Hands found the files too depressing and set about wiping their hard drive with a bolter. A projection of his soul was summoned by the Emperor during the final battle in the Webway, where it proceeded to wreck greater demon shit.

That being said, the [[Horus Heresy]] book series might currently be sowing multiple seeds of some sort of truth to the rumour...

'''Firstly,''' [[Fulgrim]] regretted not being able to convince Ferrus Manus into joining the side of the traitors, and so had [[Fabius Bile]] attempt to clone his brother with all of his memories intact so that Fulgrim might try again at turning Ferrus to [[Chaos]]. This [[FAIL|did not work]] as the cloned Ferrus would become hostile at the suggestion of turning traitor and would have to be killed by daemon-Fulgrim.

That didn't stop Fulgrim from trying again and again, believing that Fabius' cloning methods resulted in "imperfect" clones and so ordered him to try harder and create more, though fortunately, each one would get angry at the attempt to turn him away from the Emperor and end up getting beaten to death by his now-ascended brother. Guess even Daemon Primarchs can stay [[butthurt]] for millennia on end.

Another thing to note is that the Ferrus Manus clones ''did not'' have the metallic arms of the original, which is obvious since the original was not "born" with them either and only acquired them later in life. This fact was hidden from the clones by making them wear gauntlets, which the clones found confusing (the original Ferrus never needed gauntlets for protection since the metal skin was protective enough) but ended up rolling with, since their lives tended to be measured in hours.

'''Secondly,''' the Iron Hands did manage to salvage one of the broken hands of Ferrus Manus from the battlefield of Isstvan V. The Iron Fathers of the Legion built a cult around it like it was some sort of relic and used it as the starting point for them constructing a mechanical golem creature that would act as a facsimile for the Gorgon that would issue orders by gesturing with its hand like some sort of paralytic invalid. Other than the hand, this new creature was unrecognisable as the Primarch that the arm had come from; [[Vulkan]] considered it an insult to the Emperor and his brother's memory and promptly destroyed it with his hammer.

It is strongly hinted that the Mechanicum may have had something to do with the personality cult of the Gorgon-Golem as the Iron Fathers of the Legion seemed to come back "changed" after receiving their mechanical upgrades from the tech adepts during the Horus Heresy. This hints that the Mechanicum might have been trying to subvert the Xth Legion to their own causes even while galactic civil war was going on around them. Even though Vulkan destroyed the creature, whatever influence the Mechanicum had on the legion likely remained, as the Iron Fathers abandoned their terran-born warleader '''Shadrak Meduson''' not long afterwards and went their own way.

What happened to the ''other'' metallic arm remains a mystery but a number of interested parties somehow cut shavings off them (finger bones) to use in the edges of ritual blades.

'''Thirdly,''' the head of Ferrus Manus was later returned to the Iron Hands just prior to the [[Second Founding]] as part of a pact between the fractious Shattered Legion and Guilliman and Dorn to ensure their compliance with the [[Codex Astartes]]. How the two Primarchs got their brother's head when it was in the possession of [[Horus]] is yet unknown.

Sufficed to say there is enough evidence of Ferrus Manus's physical remains surviving in various states of cloned reanimation or ghoulish undeath that it is definitely feasible for outside observers to get the wrong end of the stick and believe that he survived much longer than he actually did. The [[Original character, do not steal|original]] Ferrus Manus was hacked to pieces by traitor marines after being decapitated, with many taking away parts as trophies and Fulgrim likely taking 'some part to remember him by'.

==The flesh is... strong?==
[[File:Ferrus_Manus.jpg|thumb|right|[[Drawfag|Artist's]] rendition of Ferrus Manus. Has the chin of TEN MEN!]]
Being the hardass flesh-haters that the Iron Hands are, one would suspect that Ferrus Manus might as well have been called Ferrus Clunis when it comes to the weakness of the flesh. In reality this is about as far from the reality as possible. The following is taken from the preface to a novel where the Iron Hands are portrayed as emotionless, flesh-hating, misanthropes:

''"They are not my hands. This fact is forgotten by my brothers - inexplicably, it has always seemed to me. The hands are strong, to be sure, and have created great things for us all, but they are not mine. And that counts for something. They forget that the silver on my arms comes from a beast that I vanquished. It is the mark of a great evil that I ended, and yet it persists within me... I would struggle to remove it now... I will not remove the silver from my flesh because I have learned to depend on it. The fault is with my mind. I rely on the augmentation given to me by my metal gauntlets, so much so that the flesh beneath them is now little more than a distant memory... A day will come when I will strip it from me, lest I lose the power to master myself forever. Already my Legion's warriors replace their shield hands with metal in my honour, and so they too are learning to doubt the natural strength of their bodies. They must be weaned off this practice before it becomes a mania for them. Hatred of what is natural, of what is human, is the first and greatest of the corruptions. So I record it here: when the time comes, I will strip my hands of their unnatural silver. I will instruct my Legion to recant their distrust of the flesh. I will turn them away from the gifts of the machine and bid them relearn the mysteries of flesh, bone and blood. When my father's Crusade is over, this shall be my sacred task. When the fighting is done, I shall cure my Legion and myself. For if fighting is all there is, if we may never pause to reflect on what such devotion to strength is doing to us, then our compulsion will only grow. Already I see the madness that path leads to, and so I shall excise the silver from my hands. In doing so I shall weaken myself and my sons, but nonetheless it must be done. The hands are strong, and have created great things, but they are not mine."''

With what the Iron Hands now do by turning themselves into cyborgs, with only part of their brains being flesh, is as big of a [[Rage|FUCK YOU]] to the Primarch as possible. If anything, they took his receiving a [[viking]] crewcut courtesy of his once best friend as a byproduct of his own emotional reactions, which only made them hate human weakness even more. In any case, it puts the Iron Hands in an [[Ultramarines|interesting]] [[Codex Astartes|light.]]

==On The Tabletop==
[[File:Ferrus-manus1.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Praise be to [[Forge World]] for the making of this! The head even comes as a seperate part...]]

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Ferrus Mannus:''' || 455 || 7 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 10 || 2+/3++
|}<br><br><br><br>
Ferrus Manus is essentially God-King of Mars, functioning like a Tech-Priest Dominus on steroids. In addition to all the fun godly powers given to all Primarchs, he also has Relentless and Smash, and straight up all ranged weapons fire at him at -1 strength value. At T7, that means boltguns, sluggas, and all manner of S4 shooty guns as are prevalent throughout all of 40k no longer have the chance of hurting him. Bringing him also makes your Legiones Astartes Iron Hands army function a lot like the 40k Chapter Tactics, in that all models gain Feel No Pain (6+) unless it already had one better.

He has Battlesmith and passes all repair rolls on a 3+ (That becomes a lovely 2+ thanks to his servo-arm). He also makes any of your vehicles with at least 1 AV of 13 or higher gain It Will Not Die. You are going to field tanks and Contemptor Dreadnoughts with this guy. He is good to them. His crazy 2+/3++ armor includes a Nuncio-Vox so Ferrus can help direct your heaping gobs of indirect tank fire, and it gives him a servo arm. It also lets him shoot two of his guns in the shooting phase, making him the shootiest primarch we currently have rules for, which include a Plasma Blaster, Graviton Gun, Grenade Harness or Heavy Flamer.

Lastly, his hammer Forgebreaker (that one forged by [[Fulgrim| Fulgrim]]) is "typical" Primarch stuff in that it's Sx2 Ap1 Concussive Strikedown. Not bad, Fulgrim, you pretty boy fuckhead. [[Dwarf Fortress|You make a pretty decent hammer]].

Considering his bonus Primarch powers are a force multiplier for a large tank army, and Legiones Astartes Iron Hands already gain several bonuses for tanks, you're bringing him with as many as you can field. Roll him alongside your tank columns so he can repair as you roll onward, knowing full well he can capably handle most any hand to hand unit thrown his way and is an excellent shot with powerful weapons in his own right.

He's very well designed for the simple reason that he makes the Iron Hands better at what they already excel at (not dying). The 6+ FNP has great synergy with Inviolate Armor, and if you're taking Head of the Gorgon (which you should), Predators and Vindicators can [[Awesome|Outflank and possibly regain 2HP a turn.]] That said, if he gets assaulted by a tarpit or if his transport is destroyed, he can have trouble making his points back. He's ultimately an average Primarch.

And yes, the model's head is detachable. (THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!!)

==Ferrus Manus VS other Primarchs:==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Primarch fighting, while fun to see, isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying (Especially with someone like Ferrus, with T 7 and 2+/3++ as saves). With that in mind this section is how Ferrus Manus fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities are taken into accounts when possible and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses. In essence, the fights are supposed to be in a "Vacuum" for simplicity, but notes are added to make things clearer in particular instances. Also all of the Primarch use their most powerful weapons (because why have a contest if you don't do your best?) so naturally Ferrus is equipped with Forgebreaker. Also, don't ever forget that he comes with Servo Arm for that ever useful +1 attack at S8 Ap 2, even if Unwieldy.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

* Ferrus Manus VS Horus
**Horus hits 4.667 times (Worldbreaker), wounds 3.333 times, 1.111 after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.0833 times, 0.694 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.361.
**As always, the Warmaster can't be put down. Although Ferrus can put up a decent fight thanks to his resilience.

* Ferrus Manus VS Angron
**Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.185 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.852.
**Angron Round 2: hits 4 times, wounds 2.666 times, 0.889 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.556 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.868 times after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.535 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Again, thanks to his tankiness Ferrus can stalemate Angron (who does a lot of damage) to the point that he will kill him just one round before the Red Angel can actually kill him back. Also Strikedown make this easier since Ferrus will hit first from round 2 and thereafter.

* Ferrus vs Mortarion
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.416 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.083.
**Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2 times, 1 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.444 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Even though Mortarion is tough in the end Ferrus wins pretty easily thanks to his superior save and to his hammer

* Ferrus vs Fulgrim
**Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Fulgrim Round 1: hits 5.629 (Master-crafted) times, wounds 3.284 times (Child of Terra), 1.094 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.761 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Fulgrim Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.611 times, wounds 2.107 times, 0.702 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.369 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**The infamous match! And also one of the closest, with the same outcome as the lore unless Fulgrim either has the Laer Blade or he doesn't have Child of Terra, in which case he doesn't really stand a chance. With the Hammer, Ferrus is like Fulgrim's worst nightmare, 'cause strikedown will go off even if the strike doesn't wound him, reducing his initiative to 4 and stripping him of all his advantages. In the end, Fulgrim will win on the 11th round, while Ferrus needs 12 rounds to come on top, so Fulgrim did really well to take the hammer away. Also, a really epic fight!
***'''Its worth noting that in the fluff during this duel Ferrus was fighting with Fireblade and Fulgrim with Forgebreaker. Here's how well that goes: against a primarch Fireblade is only a little better than just using his bare hands, though against most Primarchs Ferrus still wounds on a 2+ so it's all right for him. For Fulgrim though Forgebreaker is a HUGE upgrade. He goes from wounding of 4+ to 2+ thanks to strength 10. Most importantly Ferrus will no longer have Concussive to mitigate Fulgrim's sublime swordsman rules so he still gets more attacks. Even worse is that since Fulgrim can concuss Ferrus down to initiative 1, sublime swordsman will generate SEVEN additional attacks whenever concuss hits and hitting so much means it should be every turn. And even worse is that since Ferrus is down to initiative 1 a lot of the time, Blind is much much more likely to hit. It doesn't even matter if we make Forgebreaker unwieldy in Fulgrim's hands because unwieldy doesn't actually reduce initiative, it just makes you fight at that initiative step, and putting out so much more damage means striking at the same time simply doesn't matter. In the first turn Fulgrim should get that first unsaved wound to concuss and after that it gets disgusting. Once Fulgrim concusses Ferrus he gets 12(!) attacks (since sublime swordsman doesn't limit the bonus attacks it can give) hitting on 3+ (8 hits) wounding on 2+ (5.3 wounds) which is a frankly disgusting 3.5 wounds after saves. IWND will take that down to 3.177 but holy shit is Ferrus screwed. He dies after 3 rounds of combat and quite frankly he gets wrecked like a bitch. With Forgebreaker there's a reasonable chance that Fulgrim could take on Horus simply because the combination of sublime swordsman and concussive is just so powerful.'' '''Turns out Fulgrim WAS the better smith, after all.'''

* Ferrus VS Konrad Curze
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.741 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 1.042 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.709 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus win.
**Note: if Konrad use Hit and Run he can almost completely close the gap, doing 1.018 wounds on the turn he charges (counting his knives and HoW though). but when counting in Ferrus' overwatch he wins anyway. Just not so easily, making this fight akin to that of Ferrus vs Fulgrim, but a lot faster.

* Ferrus VS Vulkan
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.556 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2 times, 0.667 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**The fight between the two big tanks end in an almost surprising victory for Vulkan, 'cause even though Ferrus does marginally more damage, Vulkan is a bit tougher.

* Ferrus VS Lorgar
**Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.556 after saves and IWND will take that to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.0778 times, 1.389 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.056 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus win.
**Note: as always, psychic powers not included. You know how it would end anyway...

*Ferrus VS Perturabo
**Perturabo hits 2.667 times, wounds 2.222, 0.74 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**The mirror match! (yes, I used Forgebreaker for both of them. Yeah, I know it is stupid...) In the end Perturabo win thanks to his WS, since even with one more attack Ferrus hit marginally less times.
**Note: without the hammer(s) Ferrus would defeat Perturabo, 'cause he would wound Perturabo on a 3+ (2+ with the Servo Harm) wounding 1.75 times, with Perturabo wounding him on 4+ and so wounding him 1.333. Guess old Perty could use Fulgrim's hammer better, in the end.

* Ferrus VS Alpharius
**Alpharius hits 2.92 times and wounds 1.136 times, 0.379 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.045 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 1.042 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.709 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus easily win.

* Ferrus VS Rogal Dorn
**Dorn hits 2.667 times, wounds 1.481 times, 0.494 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.16 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus win.

* Ferrus VS Corvus Corax
**Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 2.222 times (Scourge)/1.667 times (Shadow-walk), 0.741 wounds (Scourge)/0.556 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.408/0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus hits 2.5/1.667 times, wounds 2.083/1.389 times, 1.389/0.926 wounds after saves and 1.056/0.592 wounds after IWND.
**Ferrus win.
**Note: if Corax can pull off his tactics of Hit & Run he can close the gap, doing a lot more damage on the charge, but Ferrus' Hammer has Concussive AND Strikedown, and even if Corax use Shadowalk there is a 93% chance he will receive at least one wound, making it almost impossible to rely on this tactics and assuring Ferrus victory.

* Ferrus VS Roboute Guilliman
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times (Hand), 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.593 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.542 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.208 at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus lose this fight.

* Ferrus VS Leman Russ
** Ferrus Round 1: Hits 1.33 times, wounds 1.11 times, saves take that down to 0.555 and IWND brings it down to 0.366.
** Ferrus Round 2: Hits 0.666 times, wounds 0.555 times, saves bring it down to 0.2777 wounds and IWND brings it down to 0.1833.
** Leman: Hits 4.667 times, wounds 2.068, saves bring it down to 0.6827 and IWND brings it down to 0.45604
** A long as hell fight, since Ferrus' high saves make him very hard for Leman to damage, but at the end of the day, his complete inability to damage Leman (after round 2, every wound takes upwards of 5 rounds due to his needing 6s to hit) means that Leman will eventually win. This isn't including Sever Life however, but while Ferrus' is more resistant to it than most (due to T7), it will add on to the damage which means he'll go down faster.

* TLDR version: Ferrus is a really tough Primarch that, thanks to his sheer resilience and high strength attack can put up a good fight against any other Primarch, being even capable of taking down the big melee monster that is Angron.
</div></div>

{{Primarchs}}

[[Category:Imperial]]

Iron Hands

2018-01-21T10:11:24Z

2A00:23C0:BB05:FA00:291A:4202:B95A:6D13: /* Organisation */

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Iron Hands
|Heraldry = [[Image:Iron_Hands_Livery.jpg|center|140px]]
|Battle Cry = The Flesh Is Weak!
|Number = X
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Successors of = N/A
|Successor Chapters = [[Brazen Claws]], [[Iron Lords]], [[Red Talons]], [[Sons of Medusa]], [[Steel Confessors]]
|Chapter Master = [[Kardan Stronos]]/The Great Clan Council
|Primarch = [[Ferrus Manus]]
|Homeworld = [[Medusa]]
|Specialty = Bionics and mechanized warfare
|Strength = 1000 Marines
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Black and White
}}

{{Topquote|With steel we are stronger, but without a soul we are nothing.|Kardan Stronos}}

The '''Iron Hands''' were the X Legion of the [[Space Marines]] during the [[Great Crusade]] and the [[Horus Heresy]]. Their [[Primarch]] was [[Ferrus Manus]]. It's subtler than [[Space Wolves|GW's]] [[White Scars|usual]], but they have a strong resemblance to the Scottish, what with their Clans, gruff demeanor, undeniable backbone, and tendency to lose despite their badassery. Also, the Iron Hands are masters of mechanised warfare, boasting a great deal of tanks, aircraft and Dreadnoughts. They're basically the best armourmasters amongst the Space Marines, and are adept at both out-manuvering and out-playing their foes when it comes to land warfare. If you want really good vehicles as LSM, Iron Hands are really the way to go.
==History==
[[File:Iron Hands Space Marine.jpeg|thumb|left|An Iron Hands Space Marine. Notice the iron hands of this Iron Hands.]]
===Past and Present===
The '''Iron Hands''' are, like most of their fellow chapters who originated from the first founding, completely bat shit crazy. The chapter worships their ancient Father who got a bad case of worms and ended up with silver metal-coated hands (sounds a bit like the 18th century method of using mercury to cure Syphilis) and subsequently now believe that flesh is weak and as a result the marines try to copy their Primarch and replace their body parts with machinery and cybernetic implants (right down to emotion inhibitors post-Heresy), which Ferrus himself was actually against, believing that they should trust in the strength of their flesh rather than attempting to improve upon the Emperor's work. This is all part of an undoubtedly Freudian complex brought about by the loss of their primarch during the Drop Site Massacre on Isstvan V. Of course, the chapter decided to blame everyone, '''especially''' the [[Emperor's Children|legion]] whose [[Fulgrim|primarch]] shortened [[Ferrus Manus]] by a head at neck level. Incidentally, this also includes '''Ferrus himself''', as they came to the conclusion that it was their Primarch's own failure to control his emotions that led to the series of tactical blunders which culminated in his death.

In spite of all this weirdness and being part of the [[First Founding]], the Iron Hands remain one of the most forgettable Chapters among [[Games Workshop]] and the fandom at large. Seriously, [[Feral World Religion|even /tg/ forgets about them half the time.]] The only chapter who has it worse are the [[Raven Guard]], barring Kyvvan Shrike. To add self mutilation and cybernetic enhancement (insult) to injury, those who do remember them often get confused with the [[Iron Warriors]], and these people are worse than heretics because at least a Heretic knows the difference between "corn" and "Khorne", but the term Iron seems to confuse many. Leading to much fuck'tardery comments like "Iron Within, Iron Without", these people are total bell-ends and deserve to be scorned (Or would that be, sKhorned?). With the publication of the ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' books the powers that be have finally begun to remember that the Iron Hands were one of the original Space Marine Legions, but aside from their Primarch in resin courtesy of [[Forge World]] they're still years away from getting a named character. But Iron Hands don't care they are too busy kicking arse, taking names and getting shit done. That said, they really are the Emperor's Tin Men in every sense of the word. Now they've got their own codex supplement (providing the world at large with a [[Chapter Master Smashfucker|certain slightly competitive character]]), looks like the Sons of the Gorgon are finally getting some attention.

Also, they're totally crazy post-apocalyptic Texan British Italians in space. Yes, this is canon.

===The Moirae Scism===
After the Emperor's death, there was a bit of debate as to whether He was the Omnisiah or not and, if he was, in what capacity. Rather than debate it amoung themselves, the Iron Hands chose to glare angrily at one another until the Admech were done fighting and debating it out. The group of Hands in the minority became the [[Sons of Medusa]] and formed their own chapter. Despite the extreme levels of [[heresy]], everyone kept a level head and remained civil. Which is a bit unnatural for 40k, honestly, and just shows how few fucks these guys have to give.

===The Gaudinian Heresy and its results (aka: Character Development)===

This needs some serious editing.
This event appeared in the Clan Raukaan supplement and it was meant as a form of character development for the whole chapter. To understand it further one should look at one of the people that was part of it.

Iron Father Kristos of the Iron Hands was a individual that would be described as questionable in many ways. An individual that was adherent to the extreme to the Tempering (the way of thinking that the chapter followed after the death of Ferrus Manus and the Horus Heresy), Kristos was known as a legendary leader of the Iron Hands, and was in charge of Clan Raukaan after the company suffered greatly after the Skarvus Ambush and lead it to victory. Under his command the clan managed to even retreat against the Eldar on the Garden World of Dawnbreak going directly for the main force around an excavation site the Eldar occupied and taking it, while ignoring the [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|Catachans]] and civilians the Eldar were butchering (not to mention telling the General to fight on and prove his worth while he was running away like a bitch).

*'''Further details''': The Tempering doctrine was actually a product of the Mechanicus to manipulate the Iron Hand's grief after Ferrus Manus' death. Had Shadrak Meduson, leader of the Shattered Legions, not died by the betrayal of a few Iron Fathers, the chapter could had become the complete opposite from today.

The questionable part with him was about the controversy around the battle for the Forge World of Columnus against the [[Orks|Weirdwaaagh!]] where the Iron Council accused him of deliberately sacrificing a company's worth of [[Raven Guard]] marines to achieve victory, which in all fairness, he did do. It was all done in such a way that many in the council accused him of not doing it out of standard cold logic and pragmatism, but personal feelings and a hidden agenda. The Kristosian Conclave however couldn't find anything on the Iron Father and found him and his supporters (the Kristosians) unapologetic despite protests from Captain Verox, Iron Father Marrus and the then young [[Kardan Stronos]]. That would result in the chapter being divided over their philosophy as the whole investigation ended into a revision of the Tempering. That would prove a load of horrible problems later on, only to reach its conclusion during the Gaudinian Heresy.

The Sapphire King, a Slaaneshi daemon [[FAIL|formed out of Ferrus' rage and frustration at the time of his death]] and which fed on the repressed emotions of the soul-scarred Iron Hands, saw them ripe for corruption and set a trap on the planet of Gaudinia Prime in the Gaudinia system, [[Soul Drinkers|because that always works so well.]] The Iron Hands sniffed out the daemon at the beginning of the 41st Millennium (presumably the Ordo Malleus was on vacation) and Iron Father Kristos (still stinking after the Kristosian Conclave) led 8/10th of the Chapter to fight on the planet while exterminating mutants and heretics on the other planets. The Emperor's Children were only on Gaudinia Prime, and to the Iron Hands' surprise, there was absolutely nobody on the planet (and even the Chaos Marines were not around). However, scans showed that large amount of bio-signatures were concentrated in the planet's southern hemisphere in the factoria complexes. Kristos took with himself both Clans Raukaan and Sorgoll and waltzed into the area despite the Iron Fathers Stronos and Verrox, yet he didn't want to hear out anything. The force found out what really was down there...

One billion of Imperial citizens fused into some scary techno-organic construct with the machineries, the marines moved on while Kristos was bewitched by the whole thing. And at that moment Kristos rammed one of his mechadendrites into the fleshy thing (because why not) and transformed into a cybernetic version into [[Chaos Spawn|that whose name shouldn't be called out-loud]] along with the rest of the Kristosians, and those who didn't were torn apart (among them Kristos's closest ally, Captain Graevaar). Tears into reality were opening and Slaaneshi daemons were appearing en-masses and the Sapphire King himself appeared through a rift along with his Emperor's Children retinue. What later happened was a battle mixed with madness as Iron Hands had to fight against their corrupt brethren, the daemons, and chaos marines.

While the battle raged like insane, more and more Iron Hands were succumbing to the warping effects that turned the Kristosians into what they became, while others didn't succumb. Through the power of lazy writing Stronos quickly realized what was happening. He activated his vox and barked orders to the marines to deactivate their emotion inhibitors. In that moment the Iron Hands exploded with emotions that they repressed for ten thousand years. It was so powerful even [[Khorne]] felt it at the back of his skull, and was a really stupid move as daemons are supposed to be powered by raw emotion, and this should have made them a lot harder to kill (or maybe not, since repressed emotions tend to grow more powerful even as they fade into the subconscious, there is such a thing as an emotion you can't feel. So ESPECIALLY considering they were using inhibitors, it would make sense for repressed emotions to feed a daemon). Filled with sheer rage and true determination, the Iron Hands [[RIP AND TEAR|RIPPED AND TORE]] their way through their corrupted brethren, the daemons and Emperor's Children towards the Sapphire King. Stronos slew the thing that was once Kristos while the [[Librarian]] Epistolary Lydriik beheaded the Sapphire King himself with the Mindforge Stave so hard that, [[derp|combined with being deprived of the repressed emotions that were now free]], the daemon was permanently killed for good. After wiping out the chaos forces, the remaining Iron Hands, disgusted and horrified with what they experienced, skedaddled back to their fleet and blew the factoria to [[Exterminatus|kingdom come]] in order to wipe out any survivors left.

After the whole thing it was discovered that 1/3rd of the council was either dead or corrupted. If the Inquisition knew what happened to them, then the consequences would've been fatal for the sons of Manus. The Kristosians took the whole thing with the Tempering literally (as in completely cutting off their emotions and replacing them with cold logic), and this obsession with purging themselves of their emotions, a core tenet of theirs, was what would be the chapter's undoing. In a emergency session the council blabbled and argued about how the chapter should function. At this point Stronos unplugged himself while rising from his throne and, in his natural voice, spoke that the chapter was given a gift: [[AWESOME|''"With steel we are stronger, but without a soul we are nothing."'']] Words that would be eternally immortalized all over the chapter's Ironglass plaques on Medusa and beyond. It was also the first time in ten millennia that the sound of applauses would be heard on Medusa. And that's something...

On that day Kardan Stronos became [[Chapter Master Smashfucker]] (and would be re-elected at every single opportunity by the council) despite the disquiet of the few remaining Kristosians that somehow survived the situation and the Voice of Mars, yet even with what he said it wouldn't reverse ten millenia of indoctrination. It would be a long and difficult period for the sons of the Gorgon, but it was indeed a new beginning for the chapter.

The Gaudinian Heresy wasn't an immediate character development. The Iron Hands are still angry cyborgs operating on cold calculation, but they are slowly changing to become less emotionless and don't look at emotions as a weakness, and under Kardan Stronos the Iron Hands went on a heroic streak to bolster the military efforts in key warzones. Yet the council saw the Imperium plunging into darkness and their former allies falling to madness and corruption. Thus the Grand Calculation set forth to determine where they would serve best, and their successor chapters would also be included into the equation.

As the Iron Council debates, Stronos leads the chapter from one battle to another on its road to redemption...

==Organisation==
The chapter itself is ruled by the Great Clan Council, composed up of 10 seats, each representing one of the ten clans (the Iron Hand equivalent of a company). The clans themselves are all highly autonomous and are nomadic, travelling across Medusa in mobile fortresses. Each clan nominates a warrior to represent them at the Great Clan Council and together, the ten warriors get into all sorts of [[A Game of Pretend|debates and political shenanigans]]. The logic behind this is that with no central leadership role, the chapter cannot be lead astray like so many others have. This immediately makes the Iron Hands smarter then the rest of the fucking [[Warhammer 40,000]] universe because they're smart enough to realise that having everyone led by a de facto dictator was a pretty retarded idea. Then again, they also believe that replacing their dicks with drills is the best fucking idea in the world, so I suppose your mileage may vary. (And the fact that /tg/ considers this sort of setup as fucking ridiculous based on [[Codex Astartes|where the suggestion comes from]], so again, your mileage may vary.)

That said, they do have a kinda chapter master. When something major happens that affects the whole chapter, the council elects one of their members best suited for their current state. For example, if they're fighting orks the one who has the most experience fighting them will lead the chapter, and once done he will sit down. Making him more of a Chapter President really with checks and balances, the chapter master checks the council from getting caught up in red tape and the council makes sure he doesn't lead the chapter astray.

Organisation and doctrine wise, the chapter follows the basic idea of the [[Codex Astartes]], while changing all the bits they don't like or cannot follow due to the heavy losses/destruction of equipment at Isstvan V (yup 10,000 years later and the Departmento Mmunitorum has not yet resupplied them, fucking REMF's). Each company is called a "Clan" and there isn't a specific company for Scouts; instead each Clan recruits their own Neophytes. Once the recruit is indoctrinated, his left hand is replaced with a cybernetic replacement. As an Iron Hand serves his Chapter he gets more and more augmented: appendages, limbs, organs; the whole shebang until the Marine is little more than a brain in a shell. There are also rumours that dead warriors are instead replaced with automatons rather then new Neophytes. Because of their extensive augmentation the Iron Hands are amongst the strongest Space Marines: strong enough to dual-wield weapons that regular Space Marines would need both hands for like the [[Melta|Multi-Melta]]. Due to the destruction of equipment at the Drop Site Massacre, the chapter lacks in Terminator armour. However veterans are often given suits of Terminator armour and placed in charge of leading squads, called "Klaven", of Tactical Marines, who see the suits [[Pauldrons|giant pauldrons]] as inspirational. Additionally, Dreadnought chassis are highly revered and sought after pieces of equipment, and being entombed within a Dreadnought is the considered the best fate possible for an Iron Hands Marine. Finally, due to their shared love of machines the Iron Hands and [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] are pretty much bros 4 lyfe, with much Bromance and fist bumping. ''10011001010111001001110011001000000011010001101100011110010110011001100101001000000011110000110011- Mhu Rho 6''
[[File:Iron_Dakka.jpg|300px|thumb|left|The Iron Hands are the most gritty of the First Founders. You could even call it... True Grit.]]
In combat they are utterly unforgiving and relentless, hate [[Daemon|Daemons]] and the [[warp]] with a [[Angry Marines|rare and intense hatred]] and utterly despise [[heresy]] and [[blam|cowardice]]. During one particular campaign involving the rebellion of an entire sub-sector, the Iron Hands got in and [[Rip and Tear|fucked shit up so bad]] that they executed a third of the sub-sector's entire population. That is not killed. [[Commissar|Executed]]. As in the ones they did not kill in battle, and those who surrendered and begged for mercy. Despite this they are seen as a wholesome and pious chapter, unlike [[Flesh Tearers|some others that murder everything within sight regardless of whose side they're on]] [[Marines Malevolent|or level refugee camps because there are hostiles within the perimeter.]] Either way, don't piss them off lest you fuel their murderboner; and whilst on the subject of boners, it is believed they hate [[Slaanesh]] with the [[Rage|intense hatred]] of a billion [[Æonic Orb|Æonic Orbs]] because she's the Prince of Excess and the Iron Hands believe THE FLESH IS WEAK (the previously-mentioned one-third-of-a-subsector-getting-[[blam|blammed]] was because of Slaaneshi orgies and daemons). This could mean they are more apt at fighting the minions of She Who Thirsts, but there is, as all things Iron Hands related, not much to elaborate on this except they are getting shit done. (It could also be due to their particularly strong hatred of the [[Emperor's Children|Emperor's Children]], for a long list of reasons that include [[Fulgrim|a certain Primarch]] decapitating [[Ferrus Manus|a certain other Primarch]].)

In the Book "The Eye of Medusa" by David Guymer there is a description for "Helfathers", the Honorguard of the Ironfathers and [[Mary Sue|the best of the best]]. They're clad in black, bulky and heavily augmented suites of Terminator Armour. They have neither Clan nor Klaven-Ensignia on their armour and even their bionics are darkened and ancient. There is the superstition that the attention of an Helfather is bad luck, [[Awesome|even among Iron Hands]]. [[Kardan Stronos]], at the time squadleader told his accompanying tech adept:"[[Grimdark|The Helfathers aren't even human in the the way I am human]]. I don't know how many of them exist. I never heard any of them speak. As far as I know, they don't even have names. And believe me, Melitan Yolanis, [[Grimdark|I don't wish to know any more]]".
It's also said that they rarely, if ever, leave Medusa, so we won't see any rules for them anytime soon.

Unless we already did... in two Heresy short stories by John French, an Iron Hands warband starts using the "Keys of Hel". This was Meduson tech that Ferrus himself had forbidden and sealed away, including the means of "true mechanical resurrection". The narrator in the second refers to his multiple deaths. So this suggests that the Helfathers may be renowned warriors who who haven't just been wounded unto death, but outright killed and brought back.

==Tabletop==
Good news is they got a much needed bone in 6th edition. Robin Cruddace realized how stupid it was for a chapter with close ties to the Ad-mech to not have a lot of gear; they're now loaded with tanks, aircraft, and dreadnoughts. Their variation of Chapter Tactics gives all marines 6+ FNP (which is a great bonus that will save a few marines here and there, but is not something to be built around), all of their characters and vehicles get It Will Not Die, and [[Techmarine|Techmarines/Masters of the Forge]] get +1 to Blessings of the Omnissiah. The strength in this particular set of Chapter Tactics is that basically every single model benefits from it, allowing you to play a wider selection of builds while still playing to its strengths.

...and then they get their own supplement. Interesting, it would seem GW is dealing with not knowing what to do with them by portraying the Chapter as full of contradictions, such as despite the clans being autonomous they do act like Codex companies. Apparently the Codex Astartes was simply "more logical" than the admittedly terrible idea of telling Guilliman and Dorn to go fuck themselves.

Also, [[Derp|they almost completely forgot about the Contqual purging]]. Codex: Marines skips most of the campaign right to the final battle on the Shardenus hub, and Supplement: Raukaan skips it entirely in favor of the suspiciously similar "Gaudinian Heresy". There's also a story in there about a certain Iron Father deciding that machines are better than men and then [[Heresy|getting brainwashed and mutated by a Keeper of Secrets]]. It's also deeply suspicious that for a Chapter which must absolutely revere their Apothecaries, potentially folding them into their Techmarines like Space Wolves and Blood Angels do with their Chaplains, since they'd be the ones in charge of installing new cybernetics, their fluff consistently yammers on about their Techmarines and just doesn't discuss their Apothecaries at any great length.

Crunch-wise in 8th edition, it doesn't seem so crap. They've kept their 6+ FNP from 7th edition although as of the rulings on Disgusting Resilience they have to roll it for each point of damage, not wound now. That said, ignoring 16.6% of all incoming damage is helpful. Like all chapter tactics however the rule [[Fail|doesn't effect vehicles and the Iron Hands no longer gain a benefit to fixing tanks either.]]

==Daily Rituals==
[[File:You're_Terminated.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A rare Iron Hands [[Terminator]] showing why metal is superior and why THE FLESH IS WEAK.]]
While each Clan Company has its own rituals and traditions, the following should be considered an outline of the Iron Hands daily routines:

04:00-Morning Prayer: The Iron Hands of the Clan Company are awoken from their power stations and reconfigure their Power Options for best performance, ready for the Iron Father to lead them in sermon which is completely told in Binary.<br>
05:00-Morning Firing Rites: The Iron Hands engage in [[Dakka|fire practice]].<br>
07:00-Battle Practice: The Iron Hands gather for practice in the cages. Often the Iron Hands end up repairing the damage they inflicted on the practice servitor themselves. On more than a few occasions Chapter serfs have been unable to tell the difference between a battle-brother and a [[servitor]].<br>
11:00-Morning Maintenance Rituals: The Iron Hands polish and repair their wargear and augmetics.<br>
13:00-Midday Meal: A light meal is prepared by the Chapter serfs and occasionally accidentally given to a Servitor - lol oops.<br>
13:30-Tactical Indoctrination: The Clan-Commander gathers the Iron Hands for a tactical sermon on potential enemies, pointing out the vulnerable weak flesh to fire [[Bolter|bolters]] at.<br>
14:30-Land-Behemoth Maintenance: The Clan Company assists in repairs to the Land-Behemoth which serves as the Clan's mobile fortress-monastery. Mostly because by this point the vessel has taken on too much ash and soot from Medusa's volcanoes to continue moving. Raising questions about whether this means machines are weaker than flesh earns a battle-brother one hundred days of penitential duties.<br>
16:00-Evening Firing Rites: Having gotten the Land Engine working again, the Clan Company assembles for evening firing practice. Again, they will often repair any damage they inflict on the practice servitor.<br>
18:00-Evening Prayer: The Iron Hands gather for the Iron Father to preach to them. Areas frequently covered include the sinfulness of still having your own kidneys, why washing machines are superior to many humans and mortification of pathetic, weak flesh by poking yourself repeatedly in the eye.<br>
20:00-Evening Meal: A feast is prepared by the Chapter serfs. Overcooking or undercooking the food will result in the serf being banished to the Enginerarium decks (trust us, for people born on a half-frozen planet, nothing is worse than the heat of the Enginerarium decks of a Land-Behemoth). Cooking the food just right will see the serf rewarded with being made a cooking servitor.<br>
21:00-Evening Maintenance Rituals: The Iron Hands spend the rest of their day overseeing maintenance of their wargear and augmetics with adjustable Spanners, Watchmakers and ratchet Screwdrivers. Many magnetic heads are lost on the Marines Armour in very hard to reach places, Rare Earth Magnets are banned.<br>
00:00-Rest Period: The Iron Hands retire to their power stations for the evening where they configure themselves to low power mode

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[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Space Marines]]