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| No one saw this coming, right? |
I've taken a minute to pivot from Necrons to my good ol' Iron Hands. The Space Marine book is a bit of a rebalance, and the rebalance will continue once we get the Forge World index. This is me looking at Iron Hands in particular, rather than taking a holistic look at the Marine book. I played these guys before Primaris marines were a thing. /olddreadrant
What Do Iron Hands Do That Other Marines Don't?
Chapter Tactics - Durability
Our chapter tactics have two parts - a flat 6+ shrug vs. damage, and our vehicles double their remaining wounds.
The 6+ shrug is not the most reliable thing in the world, but it's always going to be a factor in a game. You will always take damage. There's also the faint chance that a good 6+ vs. a two-damage weapon will let one marine soak two of these instead of one. It's more funny than anything else, but it happens. It also means our vehicles are likely to absorb a little more abuse.
Now, that "double remaining wounds" thing is something to build around. This means that most vehicles need to get shot down to ~2 wounds before they're degraded, or one wound to be on the last profile. Multi-wound vehicles really benefit from this, and the marine book definitely has some worth considering.
This also means you're probably going to watch folks play 'Bring it Down' if you use our chapter tactics to the fullest, but whatever - hose the dreadnought out, chuck another body in and go.
The Iron Father with Infantry
We still have our special character from the supplement - Iron Father Fierros. He's a beefy named tech marine that throws out a 5++ bubble for infantry, has a +1 to hit buff, and can put 3 wounds back on a vehicle. He's also no slouch in melee. However, at 140pts, he's something you have to build around.
He's a little less attractive now that the chief apothecary doesn't hand out a 5+++ bubble, but Iron Father + chief apothecary + beefy infantry is a starting point. Getting a bunch of beefy bodies on objectives and staying on them is a strategy. I feel like you really want to run a bunch of 5-man units around this guy to make sure you live through shooting, but also don't make nasty anti-tank blast weapons more efficient.
One Nasty (if expensive) Overwatch
We still have a stratagem to hit on overwatch at 4+. Granted, you're spending 2CP to do it, so it's definitely a "well, maybe" instead of a "LOL EAT IT!" move. Honestly you either need to be shooting a LOT to make it worthwhile (IE - be a Redemptor with all the guns) or shoot at something that might get killed.
Devastator Doctrine Buff
Our Devastator doctrine lets you move and shoot heavy weapons - and if you don't move, you re-roll ones. Note that we have a 1CP stratagem to let someone go back into the devastator doctrine. This comes into play for, appropriately enough, Devastator marines - drop pod devastators (probably with, y'know, multi-meltas) hit on 3+ on turn one. Foot devastators can either grab a great position and get re-rolls without a captain, or deploy conservatively and then reposition as necessary.
Note also that you can always roll back the doctrine for extra AP (for high rate-of-fire weapons) or to get re-rolls on stationary units.
Anti-Sniper Tech
Cogitated Martyrdom means that if your character is near infantry, they can hand off sniper hits. Snipers are ugly, and even though marines are beefy, well - bounce enough rounds off their heads and they die. Librarians and lieutenants in particular care because they generally don't have an invulnerable save.
Character Dreadnought Stratagem
You can only use it once, but one dread can be a character. Anyone other than a Redemptor is 9 wounds or less, which means that you can use Look Out, Sir. This has the obvious effect of making a dreadnought not die to shooting ASAP - most sniping weapons are meant for people, not walking coffins full of guns and rage. You can hide some nice guns this way.
Another perk here is that dreadnoughts have Wisdom of the Ancients - for 1CP, they're a Captain or a Lieutenant for a turn. You can either bring more detachments for more HQ slots, or bring a non-Redemptor dreadnought and let it pretend to be a Captain or Lieutenant as needed. There are build options here.
Units of Note
The Redemptor
This guy got buffed in the new book, and Iron Hands are absolutely on board with it. T7, 13 Wounds (and you don't notice any issues until you're on 3 wounds), an innate -1 damage thanks to Duty Eternal, a reasonable speed, and a lot of guns WITH a fist of 3+1d3 damage? Yes please.
I'd default to paying 185 for the heavy onslaught gatling cannon and Icarus pod - then I'd trade the heavy flamer for an onslaught gatling cannon. The storm bolters and fragstorm grenade launchers are close enough in performance as to be dealer's choice. The Icarus pod is cheap enough at 5pts that I'll take basically 1d3 autocannon shots. This loadout farts out a healthy 20 shots that wound most infantry on 3's, and in a pinch can chew up vehicles before you try to punch it to death. Also, enjoy the look on someone's face when they charge this thing and you pay 2CP to crank out like ~30 dice that hit on a 4+.
I have drooled over the plasma incenerator, mind you - I think if you're taking 3 dreadnoughts, you might as well take one. S8-9, 2-3 damage, and AP-4 (depending on whether you overcharge or not) is hard to argue with - the only letdown is the random number of shots. You trade out reliability for a little more range, and the ability to ruin the day of heavy infantry.
As far as support goes, Psychic Fortress isn't a bad pick - getting a 5++ on a dread or two can be clutch, as a 3+ armor save won't stop las, melta, or their xenos equivalents, and that's what the dreads fear. A flat -1 damage is great versus weapons with 2 damage and a good rate of fire, but once you start doing 3+ damage at a time, well, the Redemptor starts noticing. A 5++ is at least a chance to avoid some of that pain.
The dreadnoughts could also use some melee support - the fist HURTS when it hits, but at 5 swings on WS3+, it's definitely a quality over quantity thing. Hopefully you thinned out the horde with all those guns.
The Invictor
Do you like distracting people? Drop two invictors in the midfield, make the enemy kill them. I lean towards the flamer just for the hell of it, though the autocannon does give you versatility in the event that deploying forward is dumb.
You WILL lose these guys in basically every game, mind you. That's not the point. The point is that they'll generally mess up the enemy plans, because no one can afford to have these things running around the midfield or backfield.
Most of what I said about the Redemptor applies here, but you trade durability for forward deployment. These guys are only T6, and don't have Duty Eternal for the sweet -1 damage. Consider infiltrators as an option as well.
The Razorback
It's not as scary as a redemptor, but transports do a few things for you - they protect troops, and if you're on an objective, a popped transport just farts out ObSec bodies on that objective. Razorbacks get a mention here because the chapter trait means they'll put out accurate firepower until they're almost dead.
Remember also that 5 dudes in a razorback can take a combi-weapon, a special weapon, and a melee weapon. Think about the job for the loadout - if you want a backfield camper, think about twin-las, then maybe a flamer, combi-flamer, and chainsword. If you're moving up, I think you look into the assault cannon for the razorback and then consider plasma/combi-plasma/chainsword.
If you're bringing Razorbacks, make sure you're also bringing other armor - Razorbacks aren't super-easy to kill, but they're not super-hard to kill, either.
Devastator Squads
These guys have two big roles for Iron Hands. The no-brainer is four dudes with multi-meltas in a drop pod - given a signum and cherub, that's like 9 multi-melta hits on a target. They might get to weep before exploding.
The second is that dev squads have flexibility on the field - hide them in round one, or enjoy re-rolls if your enemy can't melt them on the first turn. Remember also that for one CP, you can get re-roll 1s as well. For the backfield squad, I'm torn between missile launchers and lascannons. Missile launchers trade one strength and 2 AP for versatility. Blast weapons say 'hello' to infantry - 12-24 shots from 48" away are a thing.
The other devastator options don't really call to me. Heavy bolters and grav cannons w/ amps aren't bad, per se, but we can get volume of fire elsewhere. I really want to like plasma cannons, but you really, REALLY want to re-roll 1s on guys that might blow themselves up. If I really want plasma with a side of self-immolation, I might as well look at the Inceptors with plasma exterminators.
March of the Ancients + non-Redemptor
As mentioned above, you can hide a dreadnought. If you opted to focus away from armor, or just want to hide a dreadnought, you've got options. First off, I'd consider what you wanted to achieve from this - did you want to hide heavy weapons? Did you want to bring a versatile, reliable buff bot? Did you only want to bring one dread? Also, you can always drop a warlord trait on these guys.
Venerable Dreadnoughts hit on a 2+ - if you want long-range fire, a lascannon and whatever else is a reasonable pick. It'll run you around 145, but it's pretty solid. I'd rather pay for the 2+ WS/BS than go with a regular dreadnought's 3+, if I'm going to invest CP.
Ironclad Dreadnought - Realistically you brought this as a hidden counterassault. You get T8, and you lose out on shooting. Sure, you can take a hurricane bolter, but Dreadnoughts don't get bolter discipline. It'll also run you 135-145, depending on weapon options. I think this is more lulzy than anything else.
Contemptor Dreadnought - this guy has fewer options, but has two big things that recommend him over other dreads - an 8" move (vs 6") and an innate 5++ save. You also have 9W instead of 8, which is neat. You're a flat 150, and can choose between an S7 assault cannon or multi-melta. Honestly, I think this is the best of both worlds - you have a hidden heavy weapon, you have speed, you have durability, and you can still punch pretty well.
Librarian with Psychic Fortress
Ok, anyone can take these - but these guys can probably get a 5++ on some of your vehicles. That's why you want to look at taking these guys. Play up that durability.
Chief Apothecary
Durability's a theme here - pay the points to upgrade to the guy who can revive units for free. Do it two turns, and you've turned a profit. This also dictates target priority for the enemy, as one living Eradicator or Terminator suddenly becomes two - and characters start healing 3 wounds in combat. For more fun, heal characters that have your 5+++ warlord trait.
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