Warhammer 40K: Iron Hands Are OP – Thanks to the Whirlwind!

The new Iron Hands themed detachment – Hammer of Avernii is OP, thanks to an old Rogue Trader classic – the Whirlwind!

I know in my initial review I thought the new Iron Hands themed detachment – Hammer of Avernii – might not be a broken piece of tech.  Well it turns out it might be a really tough offensive bit of rules nonsense. It again is due to some “forgotten” Space Marine tech that should probably have gone legends by now, but we are left with it to deal with.  The unit in question is the old standard Whirlwind and the interactions you have with Oath and Calculated Annihilation detachment rule.

Calculated Annihilation Plus Whirlwinds

The rule – Calculated Annihilation – gives the Iron Hands themed army the ability to reroll 1’s to wound on their Oath of Moment target.  The detachment also got added to the regular Space Marine Oath of Moment rule to gain +1 to wound as well on their target.  The Hammer of Avernii detachment also gets the extra rule if they have Caanok Var in the army to get another Oath of Moment target if the initial one is destroyed.

What does this all mean?  Well Oath of Moment gives the Space Marine army the ability to pick an enemy unit and gain reroll’s to hit against that target.  If the army is pure Codex Space Marines they also get +1 to wound agains that target.  You mix this with some No Line of Sight needing shooting platforms and you start to see how this can be a whole pile of murder.

A Classic Gets New Teeth

Let’s look at the Whirlwind to get a reminder of what it does.  The really important thing is it has a gun that can be shot out of Line of Sight.  It is a 72″ range, Strength 8, AP -2, and flat 2 damage gun that has d6+3 shots with blast.  This is a lot of damage and if you add in the ability to reroll hits and get +1 to wound with its gun.  It will hit most infantry with a gun that hits on a reroll 4+ and wounding on a reroll 2+ against their Oath Target.  This is pretty dang wild.

On top of all of this you can build this detachment up with a ton of really hard to deal with units that can utilize all the Stratagems like Redemptor Dreadnoughts.  You know what is really hard to chew through?  A bunch of old Space Marines in walking coffins that are mad at you.

Putting the OP List Together

Let’s put this all together so you can see it.  I know some people have been testing lists (some of the best players in the world right now like Innes and others) so you can expect to see this most likely at the worlds in a few weeks. Heck if your friends are asking if you have any Whirlwinds you will know what they are trying to do.

Space Marine end-of-edition broke Iron Hands
Detachment: Hammer of Avernii

-HQ-

Caanok Var – 100pts
Warlord

Ancient in Terminator Armor – 90pts
Enhancement -Steel Font

Lt. w/Combi Weapon – 70pts

-Battleline-

Intercessors – 80pts

-Non Battleline-
Terminator Assault Squad X 10 – 360pts

Whirlwind – 190pts
Whirlwind – 190pts
Whirlwind – 190pts

Redemptor Dreadnought – 195pts
Redemptor Dreadnought – 195pts
Redemptor Dreadnought – 195pts

Stormspeeder Hammerstrike – 125pts

PTs: 1980

OP Iron Hands Tactics

I think the giant block of Terminators isn’t probably the best but I really want Caanok Var to run around with a pile of jerks.  The Ancient gives the ability to heal a Terminator each command phase which seems good and the stratagem to remove a Terminator unit from the battlefield and redeploy it feels like a pretty big pile of pain coming. Plus the unit will have a ton of OC to deal with and hit pretty hard.  The 3 Dreadnoughts look like monsters too as they move forward and control the table.

The Stormspeeder Hammerstrike is a fast unit that also has the ability to target something and “strip” it of cover.  This makes the Whirlwinds extremely deadly into units hiding away like those pesky Aeldari or upcoming Drukhari units we’ll be seeing on the table top.  Heck anything that drops out a bunch of bodies and tries to use terrain to get to you will hate this army.  I can expect a lot of World Eater players to go find more Rhinos in hopes to keep their Zerks alive for a bit longer.

The Flesh is Weak!

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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