Goatboy’s First Thoughts on Clan.. Rak.. Rac… Foot.. the Iron Hands Chapter Book
Clan Raukaan; I wonder if they are part of the Wutang Clan? Anyway let’s jump right now with some initial thoughts of what we’ll see in the next few mini books and then a real review.
The Supplemental Codex “Pattern”
First of all – all mini books will be a very simple army wide rule that only happened when either taking a special character or chapter tactics. Black Legion had Chosen as troops without the big Ahole in the universe leading and Iron Hands follow in the same suit – Dreadnoughts can be heavies even without the Master of the Forge. So we’ll continue to see this throughout the books. I expect White Scars to have Scout automatically as well as all the other bits Khan gives them.
After that all books will have 6 or so Relics/Artifacts/Daemonic Nonsense/SCIENCE that are different, unique and sometimes correctly costed. You mix this with a set of Warlord traits and you got the lovely digital cocktail we all either love or hate. I am all for more rules as it helps create a better environment right now. Fantasy has somehow pulled its head out of its rump and gotten better so my hope is 40k cycles to be more balanced. If not I just have to deal with Eldar/Tau all day.
Thoughts on the Rules
Alright let’s start with the review. Will start at the top as this is a pretty short set of rules. Rule #1 – Dreads of all types are now Heavy and Elite without needing to buy a Master of the Forge. Rule #2 – You can now take 2 Tech Marines per HQ that isn’t one of those non Force Org effecting HQ (Command Squad, Honor Guard, Tech marines) and if you take a Master of the Forge you get 3 Tech Marines. Snazzy eh? That is actually it for the new “chapter tactics” for this army. It’s pretty simple and I will go over a list that uses this in the end.
I like Tech Marines and think getting more can create that army of “Terminators” leading troops. They didn’t give us Terminator Sarges but this is pretty close. The issue is walking Marines are just not nearly as good as you want them to be. If the units could get up to 20 man it might be decent. Hrm… Black Templars anyone?
After that we have an ok Warlord Table. It has 3 decent abilities with 2 not being too terrible and one being just meh. Here is a quick review of them and what they do.
1 – You become a tech marine with blessing of the Omnishasomethingblah… If you already have that ability hey you get a +1. Better then a slap to the face its just fluffy.
2 – You are fearless. It isn’t bad if you have a biker army and might get spooked off the table with nonsense spells. Still meh…
3 – Your warlord has +1 to FNP. Hey now… this is pretty good as I love me my bad ass Biker Lord oh and it stacks for later
4 – Your warlord and unit can pass or fail any morale tests. One of those abilities that never had its day in 5th edition… Still not bad
5 – 12″ Everyone has crusader! It isn’t terrible either.
6 – Warlord and unit rerolls 1’s in the shooting phase. So again not terrible either. Biker lord anyone?
So with that we have an ok Warlord trait table. Nothing is breaking the game and there are a few that are pretty good. I wish these mini books would have new special characters. I think that is the biggest missing thing from these books. But hey I just play I don’t write rules.
After this we have some Wargear that is not too shabby. One is a must of if you want to build a dreadnought army and the other is pretty dang awesome for that crazy biker lord I always like to play.
Chains of Gorgon – Depending on the amount of wounds you have taken it will have different abilities. It is costed near the shield and starts off giving you a 3++, Eternal Warrior, and +1 to FNP. From there it starts to lose one ability at a time until it just gives you a 4++. If you gain wounds back it goes back to being more awesome. This is the type of relic I like as it is fluffy, good, and just cool to model on your figure.
We have some other weapons with one being decent for Librarians and another at least giving you a reroll. A power fist will work better most of the time and the Libbie one could be decent for a combat Magc. Still the Chains and the Iron stone is the most important pieces. The Ironstone gives all walkers and tanks It Will Not Die on a 4+ as well as fixing Guns and Immobilized results if you roll a 6. If you think you want to do the Dread Army this is the first piece you will need to start with. There is an ok Helm that will help with leadership as it spreads out your leaders LD 10. It is expensive so I am not sure if it is worth it.
So thats about it for the codex. It looks cool with a lot of nicely painted models. I like the rules and think it makes an ok army. It gives you the ability to make a Dread army kind of work. Here is the initial designs I thought about.
The Sample List
Clan Raukaan/Dark Angels Combo! V.1 Dreads in yo Face! – 1850pts
HQ: Captain, Artificer Armor, Bike, Chains of Gorgon, Thunder Hammer, Ironstone
HQ: Command Squad, Bikes, Apocathery, Grav Guns X 3
HQ: Tech Marine, Bike, Lightning Claw, Auspex
HQ: Tech Marine, Bike, Lightning Claw
Elite: Iron Clad Dread
Elite: Iron Clad Dread
Elite: Iron Clad Dread
Troops: Tactical Squad X 10, Rhino
Troops: Scout Squad X 10, Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles X 10
Heavy: Dreadnought, TWL Autocannon X 2
Heavy: Dreadnought, TWL Autocannon X 2
HQ: Dark Angels Librarian, Bike, Powerfield Generator
HQ: Tech Marine, Bike, Powerfield Generator
Troops: Scout Squad X 5
The troops are extremely weak and if I saw this across the table that is what I would go after. Still the idea of a wall of steel coming at you makes this a fun to look at army. 4++ inv saves are nothing to sneeze at too.
So, who’s in for this book and will you buy it?
