Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Space Marines (section)

=====Iron Hands=====
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'Ardier than the usual Marines.
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*'''Requirements:''' No unique characters outside of Forgeworld!
*'''Chapter Tactics:''' All non-vehicle models have Feel No Pain (6+), or +1 to Feel No Pain if they already had access to it. In addition, all Independent Characters and all Vehicles have the IWND special rule. Also, all Techmarines have +1 to their Blessing of the Omnissiah rolls. Finally, they can take Dreadnoughts as Heavy Support options, allowing for a possible 18-tin can Dreadnought party.


*'''Gifts of the Gorgon:'''
For Iron Hands only. Can be mixed with the generic relics if you want.
**'''The Mindforge Stave''': 15 points, Librarian only, replaces force weapon. Basically a force thunder hammer, but not a Specialist Weapon.
**'''Axe of Medusa''': 25 points. Master-crafted Power Axe with +2S, A to-hit roll of 6 makes it +4S, usually making you hit at S8.  Essentially a wanna-be power fist. Not a specialist weapon, so you can get an extra attack more easily.
**'''Betrayers Bane''': 25 points. Master-crafted combi-melta with ''unlimited'' melta shots, i.e. a master-crafted bolter and a master-crafted meltagun in one buy, just in case you REALLY wanna wreck that tank.
**'''Iron Stone''': 30 points. Friendly IH Tanks and Walkers within six 6" pass IWND on 4+ and a 6 will repair Immobilized or Weapon Destroyed (controlling player's pick). Put on your Techmarine and park him near your Armored Task Force. Laugh all the way to the bank and dodge hurled models.
**'''The Tempered Helm''': 35 points. Morale tests within 24" use the wearer's leadership. In addition, you can pick a friendly unit within 12" at the start of any Shooting phase and give them the ability to re-roll 1s for that phase. Best value on high LD models that already brought an Invulnerable save with them (Chaplains, Captains) leading units packing direct fire, non-Twin-Linked, maybe Gets Hot!, so long as that Gets Hot! is not a Plasma Cannon, or the like, weaponry. Wasted supporting non-Attack Bike-centric Bikestars. 
**'''Gorgon's Chain''': 45 points. The bonuses are based on how many wounds the user has suffered: no wounds suffered gets 3++, +1 to FNP, EW; 1 wound suffered gets 3++, EW; 2 wounds suffered 3++; 3 wounds suffered gets 4++; IWND can restore lost bonuses, so regenerating wounds makes it stronger again. Unlike Shield Eternal, this does not sacrifice your ability to get the two-weapon bonus (!!!). Add in an Apothecary, psyker support, the Fist of Medusa Strike Force bonuses, and/or a lucky roll on the Iron Hands Warlord Traits Table for greatest effect - absent the D, your HQ can shrug off nearly any attack. This is the lynchpin of [[Chapter Master Smashfucker]] - in general, only use it when you're going full hog for an unkillable beatstick. Only source of 3++ for your Librarian, so a good choice if you have the points and don't want to buy the Mindforge Stave or rely on Jinking or luck of the draw on your Librarius.


*'''Tactical Objectives'''
Also released with Angels of Death.

;11 - Methodical Destruction
: Label 3 enemy units 1, 2, and 3. You win 1 VP for killing Unit 1, d3 VP for killing 1 and 2, and d3+3 VP for killing them all. Just make sure you got them in position to die.
;12 - Advance and Secure
: 1 VP if you own the Objective closest to the center of the board. If there's two or more equidistant from the center, then your enemy can screw it up for you.
;13 - March of the Machines
: Win 1 VP if your Walker (meaning only Dreads) charges someone.
;14 - Destroy the Weak
: Win d3 VP if you killed an enemy unit in both shooting and assault.
;15 - The Strength of Metal
: Win 1 VP if you get a Techie to fix a tank or a tank/IC passes their IWND. Not too bad to grab.
;16 - Cold Fury
: If you have a vehicle kill an enemy, get 1 VP. If you kill more than 3, then you win d3 VP.


*'''Fists of Medusa Strike Force:'''
An Iron Hands flavored Decurion. Contains copy-pasta from the Gladius, plus some new units. The command benefits are a 12" bubble around any independent character that grants +1 to Feel No Pain rolls (because Smashfucker needed that...), with all vehicles in the bubble gaining Power of the Machine Spirit, and a bonus Warlord Trait, with the 2nd one only coming from either Strategic or Tactical rulebook traits.
**'''Core:''' Your 3 choices are the Battle Demi-Company, Armoured Task Force, and the Stormlance Demi-Company.
**'''Command:''' Librarius Conclave, Strike Force Command, and the Reclusiam Command Squad.
**''"Auxiliary:'' Your many choices are; the 1st Company Task Force, 10th Company Task Force, Storm Wing, Anti-Air Defence Force, Suppression Force, Centurion Siege Breaker Cohort, Land Raider Spearhead, Strike Force Ultra, the Skyhammer Orbital Strike Force, the Skyhammer Annihilation Force, Raptor Wing, Honoured Ancients, and the Iron Guardians (1 Tactical Squad and 1 Dreadnought of any kind)


*'''Iron HandsTactics:'''
The Stormlance Demi-Company can gain real traction in this detachment due to its formation bonuses overlapping really well with this detachment's bonuses. An optimal scenario has a Las-plas Razorback carrying a team of Tactical Marines. The Razorback moves 6", and the Marines disembark 3" away. They open fire at a choice target, before boarding their transport again. In turn, the Razorback fire both guns at full BS with the potential to engage two targets thanks to POTMS before it moves another D6 in turn. Multiply this by 3 and you have a solid army core to work with. When the Razorbacks do die, the Marines inside will still remain a threat due to the improved FNP from the detachment, as well as the ability to keep moving after firing; obsec is nice and all and losing it hurts, but actually getting to the objective and surviving to hold it also matters too. The real advantage to this over the Gladius/Battle-Company is you have a lower buy-in to take full advantage of this army, should you wish to play around with an allied CAD or go heavier on auxiliaries, plus you have the potential to get really cheeky with other units in your army. POTMS is cute on Land Speeder Storms and Stormtalons in terms of threatening enemy MSU, and it lets Ironclad Dreadnoughts do pseudo-Knight shenanigans where they shoot one unit before assaulting another. On the non-vehicle side, 10th Company Scouts become annoyingly difficult to kill for their points, and a Command Squad with Apothecary starts with FNP 3+(!). Round off with your Warlord getting a second Strategic Trait, and this detachment has a lot of small force multipliers that let it snowball into something more than the sum of its parts.

Alternately, this formation can also appeal to tank players. If you take any kind of a tank in an Armored Task Force that is a part of this formation, and give the Techmarine a servo-harness and a bike, you can have up to 5 units of [[Awesome|5+ IWND, Power of the Machine Spirit]] [[Predator|Predators]], [[Whirlwind|Whirlwinds]] or [[Vindicator|Vindicators]], that are repaired on 2+ by a character with T5, 2+ armor, 5+ FnP and very good mobility, and are completely immune to Crew Shaken and Crew Stunned. Meaning these Vindicators can now move 12", still fire their [[Demolisher_Cannon|DEMOLISHER CANNONS]] at full BS, and not give a fuck. If said Techmarine also has an Ironstone, that IWND increases to 4+ and also repairs a Weapon Destroyed or Immobilised result on a 6 if the Techie is within 6". Moreover, all you need to round up the bigger Decurion is a Dreadnought which gets almost all of the same bonuses, thus you can have the most resilient armored fire support formation EVER [[Cheese|for under 750 points]]. Now go ahead and include [[Smashfucker]] [[RAGE|as a Command choice]].
* Plonk this formation on top of a shielded Landing Pad and duck.
* Sadly, Thunderfire Gunners are not considered characters at all, so they don't get the FnP/PotMS bubble nor IWND from chapter tactics.
**In fact, this formation has astonishingly little access to Techmarines; the ''only'' way to field them is via the Armoured Task Force detachment.  It's a sharp contrast with an Anvil Strike Force or the Space Wolves, either of whom can spam an incredible number of Techmarines.
**RAW, units that don't take up a Force Organisation slot can be included in any Detachment if they obey its restrictions. Up to 3 Techmarines per non-Techmarine Iron Hand HQ in a Detachment can be taken this way. Formations are Detachments. So, nothing prevents you from taking up to 3 Techies per Battle Company as an entourage for its Captain or Chaplain.
* Also of note is the ability to effectively split a squadron's fire while keeping the bonuses. So, for example, you can take 3 Tri-Las Predators in a squadron, with Tank/Monster Hunters as a bonus, and then use PotMS on each tank to fire 6 Lascannons at one target and 3 twin-linked Lascannons at three other different targets. Unfortunately, it's not as great for Whirlwinds; Multiple Barrage forces you to lay down your blast templates in a specific pattern regardless of the targets of the non-primary firer, so choosing different targets (or the same target twice, but declared to be different) does not let you re-roll scatter independently.  However, Whirlwinds DO still get the standard trick of firing after moving at Cruising Speed.
*As Independent Characters are critical to the benefits of this Formation, here are your ways to field them, gathered together:
**Command (0-3)
***'''Strike Force Command''' can get you a Terminator Captain, Captain, or Chaplain.
***'''Reclusiam Command Squad''' bans the Chaplain from leaving the unit but ''does not'' remove the IC rule from him, so this gets you one that will emit the bubble.
***'''Librarius Conclave''' gets you 3-5 Librarians, definitely the easiest way to get your hands on some ICs.
**Core (1-2)
***'''Stormlance Battle Demi-Company''' and '''Battle Demi-Company''' will both net you a single Captain, Terminator Captain, or Chaplain.
***'''Armoured Task Force''' will net you a Techmarine, the only way to get one in this formation.  As noted above, remember that the Thunderfire Gunners are ''not'' ICs.
**Auxiliary (1+)
***'''Strike Force Ultra''' will get you a Captain or Terminator Captain.


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