Awesome Iron Hands army

   This Iron Hands army from a French 7emeClan is so great, that it's impossible not to share it. Not only the perfect painting but awesome conversions.



   The Iron Hands are a Loyalist Space Marines Chapter and one of the original First Founding Space Marine Legions created from the gene-seed of their martyred PrimarchFerrus Manus. Like the other Loyalist Astartes Legions, the Iron Hands would later be divided up after the Horus Heresy into multiple different Chapters, as required by the Codex Astartes, although one Chapter of the original Legion remained known as the Iron Hands and is described below. Although unwavering in their faith in the Emperor of Mankind and His dream of human unity as embodied in the Imperium of Man, the Iron Hands also believe that human flesh is weak and easily corruptible, and strive to replace their organic bodies with more "pure" bionic substitutes, thus closely emulating the faith of the Adeptus MechanicusCult of the Machine.



   The Iron Hands were born as the Xth Legion of Space Marines, engineered by the Emperor of Mankind to bring His light to the long-lost human colony worlds scattered across the stars. Renowned for their pride, cold-hearted brutality and remorselessness in battle, the Iron Hands were among the most powerful and famed Space Marine Legions of the Great Crusade. They were the hammer that had shattered countless foes in the Emperor's quest to liberate Mankind from the darkness of Old Night. Their Primarch was Ferrus Manus, a bellicose and uncompromising warlord and peerless weapon-smith, from whom the Xth Legion took their name and whose command was to them inviolable law.




   During the Second Founding that took place early in the 31st Millennium after the Horus Heresy, the remaining Astartes of the ravaged Iron Hands Legion split into 4 separate Chapters. Three new Chapters named the Red TalonsBrazen Claws und the Emperor's Shadows departed Medusa forever and went to establish their own homeworlds and Fortress-Monasteries across the galaxy. In time, all three Successor Chapters became increasingly reclusive. One of the 4 Chapters retained the original name and heraldry of the Xth Space Marine Legion and remained on Medusa. 




   Since its inception, the Iron Hands Chapter has increasingly diverged from the standard Codex Astartes-compliant organisation of most Adeptus Astartes Chapters, changing to reflect the culture of the native nomadic clans of Medusa who provide all of the Chapter's Astartes. Contact between the Successor Chapters of the Xth Legion slowly deteriorated as they all became increasingly insular in nature, while simultaneously contact with other Chapters drawn from the other original First Founding Space Marine Legions virtually ceased entirely as the Iron Hands became ever more insular following the terrible defeat at Istvaan V.



   The disastrous Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V cost the Iron Hands many, if not most of their Dreadnoughts and suits of Terminator Armour. The limited number that remained became important relics to the Chapter, particularly the mighty Dreadnoughts who symbolize the epitome of the symbiosis of man and machine. Because of this ironic deficiency for a Chapter so dedicated to the pursuit of high technology, the Iron Hands rarely field squads of Terminators, preferring instead to equip Clan Company officers and Veteran sergeants with the precious Terminator Armour to spread its inspirational and uplifting influence to the Astartes of the entire Chapter. At one time, it was also rumoured that there may be as few as eight Dreadnoughts in the entire Chapter, but it is unknown if this was actually true or merely a myth. This no longer seems the case.



   When the Iron Hands march into battle they do so alongside a profusion of war machines and battle tanks. The Chapter boasts a great number of armoured vehicles and Dreadnoughts -- so many, in fact, that each clan maintains its own revered armoury of battle tanks and Centurion Warsuits. Iron Hand battle-brothers consider it a great honour to crew one of their Chapter's venerated war machines and interface directly with their vehicles through bionic implants, their heart beat becoming the thrum of powerful engines and their war cries the roar of heavy gunfire.



   A further departure from the doctrines of the Codex Astartes is the Iron Hands Chapter's complete lack of Chaplains. Given the atypical nature of the Iron Hands' Chapter dogma, it is not surprising that they espouse a highly divergent form of beliefs. Instead of the conventional Chaplains fielded by most Chapters, the Iron Hands maintain a special cadre of officers known as the Iron Fathers. These individuals combine the qualities of a Chaplain and a Techmarine. To the Iron Hands, the duties of both roles are intricately intertwined. The Iron Fathers oversee the Chapter's spiritual health, but they also guide the Battle-Brothers in their journey from a being of biological weakness to a warrior of rage and iron. It is the Iron Fathers who administer and oversee the Neophytes' ascension to full Initiates, and who, along with the Chapter's Apothecaries, conduct the many and escalating cybernetic augmentation surgeries a Battle-Brother undergoes throughout his service.



   In the late 41st Millennium, the hatred the Iron Hands feel towards weakness and corruption has an effect on the Chapter's doctrine and operations, a belief that even extends to their own bodies. As an organic form, even the superhuman flesh of the Astartes, can be injured, broken, or led into the temptations or corruptions of the flesh caused by Chaos, the Iron Hands seek to eliminate any perceived fault within themselves through any means possible, usually cybernetic replacement of the body part. In the minds of many Iron Hands, the machine is the ideal. 



   This hatred of all human weaknesses is harnessed and focused by the Iron Fathers for use in battle, where the Chapter will fight with renowned intensity and determination, regardless of the opponent. These bitter Astartes will advance in a machine-like and relentless fashion, throwing themselves violently at the enemy.