The Iron Hands are here! Take a look at the top 3 Space Marine Chapter army lists that went against the established 40k meta and did well at their events.

The meta is healthy and unique lists are able to take on some of the classic archetypal lists from the beginning of 8th. Check out what these three Space Marine armies brought to the tabletops and tell us if your list looks similar!

Thanks to Best Coast Pairings we can look back at the events as if we were there ourselves.

Middle of Nowhere GT: Iron Hands- Ryan Mandryk

Looking at this Iron Hands list, they brought a Smash Captain with a power axe over a normal Thunder Hammer. A Jump Chaplain was brought because he can literally be a Smash Captain 2.0 if need be, just make everybody else fight way better, or both. As for the rest of the list, it’s pretty much what we expected would be great for the Iron Hands. Three cheap Stormhawks were brought with all the dakka and missiles while three Repulsor Executioners hung around Feirros.

Stormhawks probably moved to uproot enemy units out from behind buildings, and support objective holding. Feirros, being the mechanical madman that he is was the Lynchpin of the list giving an invuln save aura as well as picking one unit to have a BS of 2+ whenever it shot.

Overall, this is a gunline list that is deceptively tanky and is capable of spewing out a ton of high-strength dakka on high-toughness bodies.

Middle of Nowhere GT: White Scars- Logan Antonation

Looking at this White Scars list, it actually didn’t use any bikes that are iconic to the Chapter. A Battalion of Intercessors was led by a White Scars Smash Captain and Librarian for the CP battery. As for the Vanguard, Kor’sarro was brought leading three Invictor Warsuits with flamers and a squad of Reivers. We all know that the Warsuits are good but we haven’t seen too many lists running three of them. And as for the Reivers, this is the first time we’ve seen them place near the top in a while!

Finally, a Chaplain led a Spearhead with the obvious choice of Eliminators (as they’re too good to pass up) and a Leviathan and two Stalkers as a firing base. Leviathans have proven themselves as more than capable damage output monsters. However, the Stalkers are another totally unique tank to make it onto the table. However, getting a T8 body for under 100 pts base isn’t too bad any day!

Voidhammer 2019: Iron Hands- Chris Irvine

Moving back to another Iron Hands list, it’s a lot more fleshy than the first and still manage to do great! As you’d expect, another Smash Captain with an axe linked arms with a Chaplain and Iron Father Feirros. (Essentially the same combo from the above Iron Hands list). Minimum squads of Troops were also taken for a cheaply-pointed CP battery.

Next, two Spearheads were taken being led by a mix of Lieutenants and a Librarian. While Feirros hung around the heavy firepower the most, the Lieutenants could spread out and cover most of the force in a reroll 1’s to wound aura. Three Eliminators were taken, because again, why not? and three Repulsors more than likely hung near Feirros all-game. Finally, a Thunderfire Cannon was brought because the Stratagem support is almost too good to pass up. Especially for under 100 pts.

Overall, great job on these lists and paving the way for competitive play in the Marine supplements. What do you think about these army compositions? Do you play more vehicles or MSU spam in your Iron Hands list?

Be sure to check out the Space Marine successor chapter lists that made the top 3 at the recent Northwest Open GT as well.

Has the Space Marine meta begun? From Chaos to loyalists check out the top three Astartes lists that dominated the Northwest Open GT.

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