Siege-Captain Lord Leng's 6th Cohort - A 2nd Edition Take on the Iron Warriors

[Gen.Steiner]

Recently I have been getting back into 2nd Edition 40K for a number of reasons that can best be summarised as:

1) Cost - armies are smaller, and thus cheaper to collect, and I already have every Codex and all the rules from when I started playing in 1996,
2) Nostalgia - I've played 2nd Edition on and off for almost 20 years now, but I've played more games of 4th and 5th Edition than any others... but I have a fondness for 2nd Edition that outweighs anything else.
3) Tactics - 2nd Edition rewards tactical play, use of cover, and objectives much more so than any of the 3rd Edition based sets that I have played. I mean - armour save modifiers!

Also, I have finally got a regular opponent who enjoys 2nd Edition. Together we've begun to build up 1,500 point forces to fight a campaign whereby the Dark Angels, on the trail of Cypher, fight the Iron Warriors for information regarding Cypher's possible whereabouts.

I managed to put together a 1,500 point Iron Warrior army from the contents of various bits boxes. Which was a bit of a shock. And here they are, so far:





Siege-Captain the Lord Kuhl Leng, commander of the 6th Cohort of the Iron Warriors' 12th Grand Company. He wears terminator armour and is armed with a power mace and combi-bolter. Driven, violent, and cruel. Pays lip service to all the Dark Powers equally.





Qorl Vayne of the Nine Tongues, Sorceror-Librarian of the 6th Cohort. Adept of Tzeentch, walking the path of the Changer of the Ways.



Barabas, Equerry to Lord Leng, bearer of the Warp Banner. The flayed skin that he wears across his chestplate was a gift from the Skintaker after Barabas assisted him in becoming leader of Anvil Squad. Some whisper about the undue influence that this link may give the Skintaker with Lord Leng.

Next... the Squads!

[Gen.Steiner]

Squads:


Lord Leng's Sworn Men, his personal retinue. These hardened veterans of the Long War are all utterly, completely, loyal to their master. They enforce his will on the 6th Cohort without question, and are the main barrier to any change in leadership.


Anvil Squad, led by the Skintaker. Anvil Squad's leader is an Aspiring Champion who is walking the path of the Princess of Pleasure. His influence is bolstered by his skill at arms, and some other members of Anvil Squad worship the Dark Prince more than the other gods.


The Sisters of Sin, the Delighted Ones, Daemonettes of Slaanesh, who follow the 6th Cohort and frequently appear alongside them. It is not known if Lord Leng cares, but their presence is taken by some as a sign of the power wielded by the Skintaker and his ally, Chulain the Smiling.


Chulain's Cacophony. Led by the Aspiring Champion Chulain the Smiling, these Iron Warriors have succumbed entirely to the lure of Slaanesh, and form a small cult band. They delight in the frantic chaos of war, and are most often found exulting in the hideous destruction wrought by their sonic weapons. Chulain the Smiling alone among them retains his higher cognitive faculties, and treats his squad like favoured pets.


The Techmarine, Mazuran Khedai. Khedai is responsible for keeping the 6th Cohort's weapons, armour and vehicles in working order. A taciturn and cold warrior, he is not interested in the petty politics of his peers, instead concerning himself with looking after the machines and advising his Lord on matters of warfare.

[Red Skullz]

Those termies will dominate 2nd unless you meet fire dragons and a farseer! I played second and one of my opponents had CSM termies and a sorcerer at his core. He dominated until he met my fire dragons and farseer

You rock quite a large army for 2nd. Got loads of time for your games cause as far as I remember for casual weekday games ->750 was more than enough.

[Ramius4]

Glad to see someone rocking 2nd edition I like that you've got some fluff and a campaign going!

You rock quite a large army for 2nd. Got loads of time for your games cause as far as I remember for casual weekday games ->750 was more than enough.

Depends how familiar you are with the rules. My group regularly (still) play 2000 point games in about 3 hours from set up to finish.

Terminators are good, but there are plenty of things in 2nd that will deal with them alright. I'm surprised you never tried Wraithguard (which were much better at it than Fire Dragons, although they do alright too).

[Gen.Steiner]

Those termies will dominate 2nd unless you meet fire dragons and a farseer! I played second and one of my opponents had CSM termies and a sorcerer at his core. He dominated until he met my fire dragons and farseer

You rock quite a large army for 2nd. Got loads of time for your games cause as far as I remember for casual weekday games ->750 was more than enough.

Haha, yes, that's the plan - those feeble Dark Angels haven't got a clue what's coming! Mwahahahahaaaaa! As for 1,500 points, that's what we'll be playing with mostly, but some scenarios will have more or less points. I'm going to add to the initial force with more cult marines (of all the gods) and various other basic Iron Warriors so I have choice during the campaign.

Glad to see someone rocking 2nd edition I like that you've got some fluff and a campaign going!



Depends how familiar you are with the rules. My group regularly (still) play 2000 point games in about 3 hours from set up to finish.

Terminators are good, but there are plenty of things in 2nd that will deal with them alright. I'm surprised you never tried Wraithguard (which were much better at it than Fire Dragons, although they do alright too).

We're not quite that fast yet, but we'll get there. Yes, Terminators aren't invincible... but they're certainly a tough nut to crack.

[Gen.Steiner]

Oh gosh, it's been a while. Seven years! Thread necromancy go!

In that time my Iron Warriors force has expanded a bit. So in keeping with the 2nd Edition vibe, I have been building the army around warbands - each warband is part of the 6th Cohort, swearing fealty to Lord Leng. Leng's warband is Undivided, and the general plan is that each warband is in essence a self-contained army, looking something like this:

Character
10 Marines
[2x X] cultists (where X is the sacred number of a god)
Special Unit
Fast unit
Support unit
Daemonic unit
Vehicle

In practice, this looks a bit like this - the Slaaneshi component of the army is:

Aspiring Champion - the Skintaker
10 Chaos Space Marines (Mark of Slaanesh), with two plasma guns, Icon of Slaanesh
12 Cultists (Mark of Slaanesh), with heavy stubber and autoguns
6 Noise Marines
6 Daemonettes
Dreadnought

and the Nurgle component looks like this:

Aspiring Champion - Apothecary
10 Chaos Space Marines (Mark of Nurgle)
14 Cultists (Mark of Nurgle), heavy stubber, autoguns
7 Plague Marines
7 Plaguebearers
3 bases of Nurglings
5 Havocs

In terms of what I actually have painted up for the Nurgle warband...

[Chartist Captain]

I like the greens on the plaguebearers! You got some painting to do but your force org is a reasonable goal.

[Ragsta]

Fond memories of 2nd edition here too, and I am a fan of Iron Warriors as well! Good stuff so far, always satisfying putting the bits boxes to good use.

[Gen.Steiner]

I like the greens on the plaguebearers! You got some painting to do but your force org is a reasonable goal.

Thank you! As I recall the Plaguebearers were done with different base coats of green, followed by a good dose of Biel-Tan Green wash. The Force Org has, um, grown a bit since the original plan. I'll get into that in a bit.

Fond memories of 2nd edition here too, and I am a fan of Iron Warriors as well! Good stuff so far, always satisfying putting the bits boxes to good use.

Thank you! It's been great fun rummaging around in my Space Marine and Chaos bits boxes shoving pieces together. I'm looking forwards to showing you the cultists (once I've taken photos).

Right - I had hoped to pop some more photos in with this post, but that will have to wait a bit as I haven't had time to take them off my phone, edit them, and get them ready for posting. So in the meantime, a new State Of The Cohort Address...

Although I will still be using the army to play 2nd Edition, it is now much more designed for 4th Edition, using the fantastic 3.5 edition Codex and several different armies. These are as follows:

2,000 point Iron Warriors list using the bit at the back of the Codex - this is Siege Captain the Lord Leng's Retinue and is the 'traditional' core of the 6th Cohort;
1,000 point Slaaneshi Chaos Marine list - this is the Circle of Delicious Agonies led by the Skintaker;
1,000 point Nurgle Chaos Marine list - this is a cult known as the Smiling Grandchildren led by the Cohort's Apothecary, Koczan;
1,000 point Khornate Chaos Marine list - these are the Sacred Slaughterers, led by the Cohort Champion, Darkhan Uzekh;
1,000 point Tzeentchian Chaos Marine list - the Nine Tongues of God, an esoteric warband led by the Cohort Librarian, Qorl Vayne.

Each of the 1,000 point lists have a character and five units (basically one Elite, two Troops, a Fast Attack, and a Heavy Support choice - some have three Troops and no Elites; the Nurgle band has four Troops and one Heavy Support!). The 2,000 point 'big' list has a character with bodyguard, three Elites choices, two Troops choices, and three Heavy Support choices (including a Basilisk and Vindicator).

From tomorrow I aim to post photos of what I already have painted up, and then start showing you my work in progress as and when I paint them up.

[Captain Brown]

Welcome back Gen.Steiner.

Cheers,

CB

[Gen.Steiner]

As promised, photos!

Here is Eidecaran the Vengeful, Dreadnought, and slave-warrior of the Circle of Delicious Agonies:






And here is the sinister secret hand behind Lord Leng's actions (or so they think, anyway): Qorl Vayne, Librarian and dark magister, with his familiar, Aevanaeth.




Sorry for wibbly images, I'm still getting used to taking photos of them for a forum again.

[Codsticker]

Great to have you back GS- I look forward to following this project.

[Colonel Jacka]

Hersey! Hersey! Look at this Hersey. Heretics in the Imperium thread. By Pius a sad day. Welcome back Steiner. Good looking Army mate.

[Gen.Steiner]

Thanks! I'm going to try and work out a method of having photos on here that aren't five miles high. Any tips? I'm sure I knew once but it's been so long, and Facebook and Twitter have spoilt me...

[Codsticker]

Thanks! I'm going to try and work out a method of having photos on here that aren't five miles high. Any tips? I'm sure I knew once but it's been so long, and Facebook and Twitter have spoilt me...

I usually resize them in the photo editor on my desktop: I click resize from the dropdown menu; choose Define Custom; set the width at 1000 and the second automatically defaults to 750 then save as a copy.

[Ragsta]

What I do is open my photos using Paint and resize them from there.

[Lost Egg]

Cracking minis. I really like your plan for building an a Chaos army by warbands, very flavourful.

[Captain Brown]

Gen.Steiner,

I literally only use Microsoft Office 2010 to crop and size my photos now.

Cheers,

CB