Heresy Era Iron Hands - Army Pic Ahoy!

A very [insert your preferred festive greeting] to you all! Hope that as the year draws to a close, all of you lovely readers out there are warm, safe and happy!

I've had a few days off from work (or as near to a day off as I can actually get) and in between doing some last minute shopping and whatnot I pulled out all of the Iron Hands that have been painted so far, and took some time to update the painting chart.

I didn't realize quite how much infantry there was until I laid it all out! Big units seem to be the order of the day in 30k, with the weapons available, casualties come fast and furious. I avoided the lighter transport vehicles for that very reason, the two tactical squads are carried to battle in Land Raiders instead! The Sicarans are designed to take care of the massed enemy infantry, and should be able to knock out any skimmers and light vehicles. A pair of Contemptors (one Mortis with the Kheres cannons and one 'vanilla' with Lascannon and Powerfist) were thematically appropriate, as the Iron Hands are known to utilize them heavily. 

The Iron Father and the Terminators are slated to get a Caestus to transport them around, but for now will be relying on the 2-in-6 chance of the warlord trait providing them Deep Strike. Most terminators in the heresy-era ruleset do not get the Deep Strike special rule as standard, which came as a surprise. The army also includes a 20-man unit of quasi assault marines (one of the tac squad options is to replace their bolter with a close combat weapon for free), who are joined by an Apothecary to help keep 'em in the game with FnP. Ferrus will usually join that unit as well, as he's too bulky to ride in the Caestus with the terminators.

Surprisingly close to the finish line with the army! One ten-man squad of vets, the Caestus, and a pair of counts-as tarantula turrets that are still inbound and it'll be complete! ...Until I get a unit of Immortals.

...And maybe a Spartan. Hah!

Heresy Era Iron Hands - Ferrus Manus painted!

On holiday break(ish) at the moment which means I have a fair bit of hobby time. After building the bug hunt corridors, I was itching to paint some more Iron Hands but didn't fancy diving into another huge unit. Ferrus Manus it is, then!

  

I went with the same color palette as the rest of the Iron Hands, though he got a fair bit more gold trim as befitting his status. He comes on a big diorama base, and I enjoyed the opportunity to paint a couple dead Emperor's Children!

I am quite pleased with how his face turned out. As befitting his eventual fate, Ferrus' head was magnetized, which allowed me to paint it separately from the rest of the model. I think his metallic hands/forearms turned out fairly well also - several layers of boltgun metal, silver, and thinned blue washes did the trick!

  

The model comes out of the diorama base and is mounted on a 40mm base for gaming, and he definitely is a beast compared with a basic marine. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed painting this model, it was hands down the most beautiful sculpt I've ever laid hands on. I was terrified by the prospect of mucking it up, but while it's not a competition paint scheme, I think I did manage to do it justice.

Next up, some overall army shots of the boys in black!

Heresy Era Iron Hands - The rest of the infantry built!

It was a jam packed and fun holiday weekend, and I hope all the Yanks had a great thanksgiving! Finally had some free time to put together all the remaining infantry for the army - There was a surprising amount of it as well, photo barrage inbound!

First up is the unit I was most looking forward to building, the Cataphractii Terminator squad. Fairly straightforward to build, though I would say that attaching the shoulder guard to the arm before attaching the arm to the body does make things easier.

  

I went heavy on the plasma for the unit, it amuses me to think that the dangers of wielding the plasma weaponry just means the opportunity for more bionics. "Lost another arm, sir..." Two plasma blastguns and four combi-plasmas should be good for winnowing down enemy heavy infantry.

Next up is the Veteran squad, composed primarily of the new Iron Hands Legionaries kit. These models are positively dripping with cog-teeth and detail, and should contrast nicely to the 'vanilla' tac marines. This squad is armed with a pair of melta guns, a combi-melta and a thunder hammer. The Tank Hunters veteran skill is the obvious choice, then!

 

Next up are some odds and bobs to make up the command models for the various tac squads. The sergeants were built from the Legionaries kit as well, so they match up as veteran sergeants. The Voxcaster and Vexilla were then attached to some regular marines, which gives them a little extra Iron Handedness.

Then it was time to build something big! The Caestus was a breeze to assemble, though there was a fair bit of hot-water-bending required on the assault booms. One they were straightened out however, there's only about ten pieces to the whole model. The wings are attached via a pin-and-magnet arrangement to allow for easier transport - important, as this thing is quite a bit bigger than I'd anticipated!

 

Of course, if I'm doing the iron hands this was a foregone conclusion...

 

It was challenging to build, but not the nightmare that I'd feared. This is probably the most beautifully and intricately sculpted model I've ever worked on, I have to admit I'm worried about doing it justice.

 

The diorama base is a multi-piece affair to which I've attached a few magnets. The pieces lock together surprisingly well, but this definitely makes it secure. On the gaming base, he's definitely a domineering presence!

Now you know I can't leave you without a pic of the batch painting madness! At this point the basic black and iron has been applied to all of the models above (with the exception of the Caestus), which is the heavy lifting pretty much done. Can't let up on the pace though - there's just a little bit more than month left to go before the event!