Wow, that was brutal. Iron Hands were the hotness for a minute in 40k’s meta. This FAQ knocked them down a few pegs. Here’s the latest.
If you haven’t already seen, GW dropped the FAQ on Iron Hands and Raven Guard. While Raven Guard got reworked slightly, Iron Hands took a beating from the NERF bat.
Iron Hands Get Crushed With the Nerf Bat: New 40k FAQ
For anyone who didn’t know, Iron Hands succeeded the Ultramarines in competitive play as of late, simply because of a few key rules. These rules made the army as a whole harder to kill than Death Guard, thanks to invulns, ignore damage tricks, etc. GW made a hotfix and brought the Chapter back down to a reasonable level. However, it’ll take some time to see how the Chapter operates in tournament-play now that these heavy-handed changes were made.
Of the bigger changes, Feirros’ 5++ invuln bubble doesn’t affect Vehicles anymore. What people were doing was forming a gunline of Repulsor Executioners and Redemptor Dreads. They’d be huddled up getting a 5++ invuln thanks to Feirros hiding out of LOS. However, it only affects Infantry models now, making their tanks only slightly tougher with the base 6+++ FNP that Chapter gets.
As for the Ironstone. It used to be a constant 3″ bubble that affected every Vehicle within 3″. However, now you have to pick one vehicle to benefit at the start of each battle round. Essentially, if you’ve got two Redemptors standing next to each other and choose one to ignore the first point of damage, now your opponent can ignore that one and beat up on the squishier of the two. It’s the same principle as going against Knights that rotate their Ion Shields.
For stratagems, a Deny the Witch on a 4+ and an Overwatch on a 4+ strat were doubled in cost. CP in all-Marine armies are hard to amass a lot of. This might look like a small change to horde armies. However, CP is extremely limited for power armor.
And finally, for a psychic healing power, Reforge can’t target a vehicle that has already been healed this turn. All the power is now is essentially a Techmarine with a spooky ghost arm repairing as normal. BOO!
GW Comments on The Hotfix
With this announcement, GW essentially knew that Iron Hands were extremely powerful and received feedback on what to change. However, they kept the rules the way they were and decided to see how it “bore out”. Of course, once everyone chasing the meta dragon bought into the Marine hotness, an FAQ hit knocking the faction down to a reasonable level.
The rules of the faction before the FAQ might have been the main reason some people bought into the army. But now, the faction may be playing totally different from before.
If these massive rules changes completely turned you off from the army, you may want to try and talk to the GW customer service team to see what they can do. While there’s no guarantee of help or refunds, an army change as big as this one may be grounds to at least reach out at tel:1-800-394-4263
Raven Guard Tweaked Slightly
Raven Guard also got tweaked slightly, however, they pale in comparison to the Iron Hands changes. These highlights are:
The Master of Ambush warlord trait which is probably the most useful was added that both units have to be set up (if the Warlord is Infantry) anywhere 9″ away per normal restrictions. That means that you can’t have Carab Culln in a Leviathan as part of a Successor Chapter redeploy 9″ away from the enemy. RAWR!
This isn’t a change, however, it’s important to note that the Callidus and Stranglehold Stratagem do stack. That means that you get to roll a 5+ and a 4+ for both rules and for each successful roll, the enemy will have to pay an additional CP to get it to go off. That could turn a 1CP stratagem into a whopping 3CP! There might be something to this…
What do you think about the rules changes for Iron Hands and Raven Guard? Have Iron Hands been turned into a completely different army?
Will meta chasers have to peel the black paint off their Ultramarines once again?
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
