Spectrel

I was just wondering if anyone builds the Iron Hands chapter, and can tell me what the main pro's and cons are. I am really interested in their backstory and any information would also be appretiated. What is their acutal motive? I know they are realted the Adeptus Mechanicus in some way and worship machinery but how did they become this way?

Do they crusade for lost/new technology? I also hear they almost worship the machine God on a equal level to the Emperor. I guess after it is machines that are keeping him alive.

ShadowFox

*Whoops out the Index Astartes*

Some Special Rules for the Iron Hands
- Their squad captains wear terminator armor, they don't have normal squads of terminators like other chapters.
- Bionics is cheaper for them
- They do not have Chaplains, they have "Iron-Fathers" who are more man than machine. These guys get a 4+ invulnerable save. They also have access to techmarine items, and you can purchase servitor bodyguards.
- They Can use Venerable Dreadnaughts

The Iron Hands have a special relationship with the adeptus of mars. The Iron Fathers often spend a great deal of time on mars learning from the Machine Cult. This way they learn a great deal about technology. This is frowned on by many space marine chapters who view technical knowledge as a dangerous thing.

Iron Hands replace parts of their bodies over time, making them more man than machine. Usually the older a marine is the more he will have replaced his organic parts with bionic replacements.

The Iron Hands HATE!! weakness, and they see it everywhere. It is not known if it is a defect of their geneseed or not, but many young Iron Hands have psychological problems that revolve around this. They constantly feel they are inadequate(even with their superior space marine bodies). This is the leading cause for the constant changes the Iron Hands undergo. The Iron Hands will often refuse to fight along side planetary defense forces or Imperial Guard, because they believe they will simple be held back. The Iron Hands are VERY brutal because they see any kind of cowardice or unwillingness to fight as a weakness.(even if the person isn't a space marine) They see this as a weak link in humanity and constantly strive to better themselves, not to mention kill anyone that doesn't meet their standards.

Shua_Zane

cough... more machine then man... Not to mention they are most likely to become traitors and join the Necrons when compared to other chapters .
J/K but the Adeptus Mechanus on the other hand...

Warcrier

I play the iron hands
they are simply a different kind of vanill chapter, they get cheaper bionics, and have the 2 special HQ choices...
The iron father is potentially one of the best Space Marone leaders that there is, he can get 6 attacks on the charge and can get a 7th powerfist attack that hits on a 4= as per the servo arm upgrade
The Venerable dreadnought is an awesome unit as it allows you to reroll the dice for fisrt turn as well as making opponents reroll results on the damage tables if he wants too
The only downsides to the list is the taking out of Terminator squads, but our veteran sgts can tak terminator armor as an upgrade..
The other thing is that Iron Fathers cannot take command squads, and can only choose combat servitors as a retinue, but i just pair them wiht a veteran squad for maximum killing ability..
Overall Ive hhad extreme success with the Iron hands, winning 2 tournaments and almost every game i have played, not to mention that they give you a decent converting option

The Flesh is Weak!

Damonk

They're more or less psychotic about human weakness and strive to change their bodies into metal ones.

The older and more experienced ones, like the previously mentioned Iron Fathers, are more or less wholly bionic, with small patches of skin that they ritually scar to show the last weakness left in them.

Adeptus Astartes (or whatever the name is) vol 1 has a great deal of info about them.

WarewolfIX

For fluff I love the Retaking of the Contqual Sub-sector. The area rebelled against the Imperium and turned to Chaos. The Iron Hands come in and in a few weeks they defeat the heretics and demons, close the rift to the warp, then kill a third of the population to insure obedience. After all that the region was one of the most devoted to the Emperor.

SlowFocusGuy

So the ultimate honor for a Iron Hand would to be implanted into a dreadnaught?

chocolate

Indeed. You would be the strongest of the strong, and if your venerable well, your a god...

Spectrel

so what is a venerable Dreadnaought, I know they are much older that most other dreds but do they have any special rules?