The Iron Warriors are the last of my 40K armies. Their history is rather brief, since I didn't get to field the army before I moved away from my gaming crew in Kansas and Games Workshop respun the Chaos Codex- thus eliminating them. Considering I wasn't a big fan of 40K in the first place, they essentially put the fork in this one by eliminating the one army I had resolved to build.
Having played Tyranids for several years I became frustrated playing against mechanized Space Marine armies in Kansas. Even though the Tyranids supposedly have remedies for this- any big bugs that had tank killer weapons on them were quickly singled out and destroyed by enemy tanks. My Genesteelers, which were more affective, had a tendency to get blown up when they piled onto an enemy tank or Rhino and ripped the steel off of the vehicle. My last rant was that I would find me an army with "lots of big guns and lots of tanks" so I could avenge my Tyranids and wreak havoc on those enemy tanks.
Since I was partial to the Iron Warriors paint scheme from the first time I saw it, I decided that this would be the army I fielded. However, with the rug pulled out from under my army, it now sits in boxes and on shelves waiting for the day I put it out on EBay and get rid of it. I had many additional vehicles (specifically, a Chaos Rhino for every squad and another Predator) but I was able to sell them quickly since they were still in their original boxes. The rest will go when the market generates enough interest in this army again (perhaps the next time GW respins the Chaos Codex).
Leading off this showcase is my one HQ Entry- a converted Daemon Prince. First of all, I have to give credit where it is due and say that most of this force was purchased from another EBayer over in Sweden. He gave me the starting point from which to build on my army. This Daemon Prince was his idea: a mechanical contraption that looked more like an animated robot than an actual Daemon. The model is a converted IG Walker with bits from several other models. I modified it, adding the head from my Defiler kit.
My Dreadnought is a Forge World Iron Warriors version with heavy plasma cannon.
I took a liking to the "close combat" variation of a Dreadnought; one with close combat weapons (and maybe a flamer). I also loved the big walkers from the War Machine game (I forget which clan these represent). So, I picked one up as my second Dread. The problem was that the War Machine model was about 3/4 the height of a normal GW Dreadnought. So, I used a few bits from my Defiler model and pinned the pieces together to extend the height of the torso. As you can see, I haven't quite completed the model or its base.
Here is a side-by-side comparison showing my Daemon Prince and the two Dreadnought models. As you can see, the midriff on the War Machine model made the difference to bring it up to size.
At the time I was building this army the Obliterators were an Elite choice. (Now, they bump one of my armored vehicles out of a diminished Heavy Support slot).
Appropriately, the only Fast Attack in the force was this Bike Squad. Long term plans had a unit of winged Assault Troops (or Raptors), and expanding this bike squad.
The marines are a mix of models procured with the original army and those I added after acquisition. This is the assault squad (defined because most of them had chain swords).
For the sake of photographing them I separated the Assault weapons guys (mostly Plasma Guns). The plan was to have 2 plasma guns with each tactical squad of 10. Not being a fan of keeping an entire squad stationary while the heavies fired, my tactics had the entire squad mobile with assault weapons (why waste such great Space Marine stats at a distance?)
[Above & Below]: Tactical Squads.
The heavies consist of a pair of Missile Launchers, a Lascannon and a pair of Auto Cannons. Any plans to use them revolved around a Havoc Squad where the whole team would make up a fire base to control a sector of the battlefield, rather than sprinkling them into the tactical squads.
The Predator is another vehicle that benefitted from Defiler bits (the mask on the front). Both sponson-mounted lasguns are attached with magnets so that they could be replaced with other anti-infantry weapons, like heavy bolters.
Speaking of that Defiler- this is what has become of it. I saw a conversion that looked like a Scorpion and decided to do the same thing. However, rather than a simple Close Combat machine, I wanted it to carry all of the weapons options that a Defiler carried. Therefore, the Battle Cannon was cut down and mounted in the face. A turret with other weapons mounts is in the process of being fitted to the mid-section (the challenge is to get it to fire over the nose) and the tail also has various weapons mounts on it (all inter-changable with magnets). Extra Defiler legs and an old Eldar mask were used to bring the model to its current stage of completion.
This Forge World variant of a Vindicator was one of my favorite models. By upgrading the armor and giving it a Chaos gift that prevented it from being Shaken or Stunned, it was a hard machine for enemies to break when I sent it out as the spearhead of my force.
This resin model was picked up from an independent company as a Vindicator knock-off. Originally I had plans to use it as a Combat Engineer Vehicle of sorts during the VDR (Vehicle Design Rules) phase of the 3rd Edition. But, when those were no longer applicable, it collected dust until the Apocalypse rules permitted multiples to be deployed in a single unit slot.
[Above] A scale shot showing the two models side-by-side.
Rounding out my list is the Baslisk (a weapon that Iron Warriors could use in the previous codex). Although, I was never a fan of the gun since my tactics for the army was not to stand at a distance and shoot, but to coordinate close assault units with support fire in a supported-assault role. The Basilisk wasn't a weapon of choice for this option since I wanted my big guns to advance with the troops (thus, the Vindicators, Predator and Defiler).
P.S. If anyone has an interest in purchasing this army, contact me.