Today I want to look at the new Iron Hands rules with a new detachment – the Hammer of Avernii and brand-new HQ choice Caanok Var!
Goatboy here with a quick review of the new Iron Hands character Caanok Var and their new Detachment Hammer of Avernii. I know a lot of players were worried this would be the 3rd round of Broken Iron Hands army but thankfully it isn’t. I don’t think it’s a bad army option at all. I am just glad it is not a souped up Ironstorm army or an even better Gladius. Thankfully, it is just a reskinned 1st Company Task Force which is a good thing.
As usual will do a Good, Bad, and Ugly review on this release. Will do a little dive into the Detachment and the new Character that comes along with this option.
Hammer of Avernii – The Good
I will put this in the good because it is good for the game – this isn’t a better Ironstorm or Gladius detachment. That is a good thing and while I expect Ironstorm to stay around if we see a new Marine book at some point, I feel confident that the Gladius detachment is going to have a major shift whenever the new book comes out. You do not want multiple versions of the best detachment running around the g game and I hope we don’t see Gladius upshifted whenever the new Ultramarine stuff comes out.
The big shift from the First Company Task Force is the new Calculated Annihilation for the Hammer of Avernii detachment. This gives you the ability to reroll wound rolls of 1 on your Oath Target thru out the battle. First Company would give you full wound rerolls but you could only do it once a game so having always on Reroll 1’s feels pretty good. On top of this the Special Character Caanok Var gives you a once per battle round ability to pick a new Oath Target after you destroy the one picked initially.
The new Character, Caanok Var, seems powerful, can join up with Terminators and Assaulter Terminators and grants them either Lethal Hits versus Monsters/Vehicles or Sustained Hits 1 against any other target. He also can give an infantry unit a Scout 6″ as well as allow you to redeploy one unit. He has a 5+ Feel No Pain as well as a decent Melee Attack Profile with a strike and sweep option if you like. He feels ok as a character can go as he gives you some utility that can easily lead some Terminators around the tabletop.
On the Enhancement front I really like the Steel Font option as it allows you to “regrow” a model in your command phase on the unit they are leading. It feels like something that could be really annoying to deal with when you have a pile of Terminators you want to keep running around the tabletop. Iron Laurel might also be good in that it increases your OC by 1 and once per battle you can utilize it to give all other models in their unit a +1 to their OC as well. This could be a sneaky way to “steal” and objective as you are battling over it.
The Stratagem suite seems interesting in that a lot of them give options to your Dreadnoughts as well as Veteran units. All the options are 1CP which feels like a deal for a few of these. Ruthless Butchery gives your Dreadnoughts, Bladeguard Vets, Terminators, Sternguard, or Vanguard Vets the ability to get +1 to hit and if they are below their starting strength a +1 to wound. Dominator Beacon allows your army to sticky an objective in your movement phase if a Dreadnoughts, Bladeguard Vets, Terminators, Sternguard, or Vanguard Vets is on it. Cogitated Ferocity is used during the fight phase and gives your Dreadnoughts, Bladeguard Vets, Terminators, Sternguard, or Vanguard Vets either Sustained Hits 1 or Lethal hits. Augmetic Fortitude is a 1 CP that you utilize during your opponent’s charge phase after they end a charge move to give a Dreadnoughts, Bladeguard Vets, Terminators, Sternguard, or Vanguard Vets -1 Damage. You even get a Redeploy in Dropship Extraction for a Terminator unit if they are not in engagement range at the end of your opponent’s fight phase.
Hammer of Avernii – The Bad
Where are the things that help Dreadnoughts more? Is this a detachment pushing Veteran options? Why are there not more “Veteran” based unit upgrades or other changes to help push this agenda more? Also why isn’t there a Feel No Pain stratagem for these guys?
Hammer of Avernii – The Ugly
I just wanted to make a Redemptor Dreadnought HQ choice. Why couldn’t we have one GW? We could call him King Ironpants the Tech Marine locked into a Redemptor Dreadnought who is ready to party?
The Flesh is Weak
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Thomas Reidy, aka Goatboy, the ever-evil member of BoLS. I do arts, play 40k, and even paint a lot of stuff. I have been playing Warhammer 40K since the 1990s, and have won multiple national events including Adepticon and GW GTs. I’ve been writing for BoLS for 15 years. Look at my Instagram to see what I am working on – or working on for someone. I am always doing something hobby related.
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