# Questions about the Iron Warriors



## Androxine Vortex (Jan 20, 2010)

I have fallen in love with the Iron Warriors but I want to know some more about them. I understand that this is a lot of questions but deal with it :laugh:

Does Purturabo still go out and fight or does he stay at Medrengard and is he a daemon-prince?

From what I understand the IW like fighting together (especially in groups of three) but what does that mean? Like three companies?

Do they form "warbands" or do they normally still wear the colors of their original Legion?

Do they use a lot of daemons? It would make sense to further enhance their obsession with technology to use tech like Defiles and such?

Can daemons posses titans? I guess it would make sense since Forge World made this 
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhamm..._BEASTS/KHORNE-BLOOD-SLAUGHTERER-IMPALER.html

I know that they are Chaos Undivided but do they sometimes favor some gods over others? (Do they sometimes take different gods sides or do they remain entirely undivided)

I am certain that they cooperate mainly with Dark Mechanicum forces so do they fight alongside the IW? if so how much authority do tehy have? (Like would a Warsmith have greater authority than a very high ranking dark mechanicum priest?)

Are the Dark Mechanicum's ranks the same as the original Mechanicum's (tech priest, fabricator general: stuff like that)

Aren't the IW supposed to be a VERY large Legion?

Thanks for the help and if there's anything else that you think is cool about tehm let me know :biggrin:


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

Androxine Vortex said:


> Does Purturabo still go out and fight or does he stay at Medrengard and is he a daemon-prince?


Perturabo is a Daemon Primarch. I don't know of any post-Heresy campaigns of his--ones that led him to leave the Eye of Terror, that is.



> From what I understand the IW like fighting together (especially in groups of three) but what does that mean? Like three companies?


I'm not familiar with this concept. In "Storm of Iron", one particular Warsmith is in command of three Grand Companies, but I don't think this was indicative of a theme.



> Do they form "warbands" or do they normally still wear the colors of their original Legion?


The two are not mutually exclusive. A Traitor Legion rarely gathers as a whole. When operating individually, its various companies are considered "warbands". Some "warbands" are bigger than others. Some more or less correspond with the same entity they were during the Great Crusade or Heresy.

For instance, in "Soul Hunter", the warband of the Exalted is, more or less, the remnants of the Night Lords' 10th Company, fighting from aboard the Strike Cruiser they used during those ancient conflicts, and led by an officer who came from their ranks. In "Storm of Iron", though, the Warsmith in question commands three different "Grand Companies" of Iron Warriors. Honsou...



... inherits that force, but later also incorporates Iron Warriors from other Grand Companies he defeats. In time, he also brings in non-Astartes pirates, mercenaries, etc.

That, too, is an example of a warband.

Do they use a lot of daemons? It would make sense to further enhance their obsession with technology to use tech like Defiles and such?



> Can daemons posses titans?...


I do believe that's the case. "Storm of Iron", at any rate, has the Dies Irae described as a "daemon machine" piloted by a "daemon princeps".



> I know that they are Chaos Undivided but do they sometimes favor some gods over others? (Do they sometimes take different gods sides or do they remain entirely undivided)


As individuals, perhaps (e.g., an Iron Warrior psyker who gives himself over to Tzeentch as he becomes a Sorcerer, or an Iron Warrior who succumbs to the path of the Berzerker and takes up the worship of Khorne), but I don't think they would be looked at with approval.



> I am certain that they cooperate mainly with Dark Mechanicum forces so do they fight alongside the IW? if so how much authority do tehy have? (Like would a Warsmith have greater authority than a very high ranking dark mechanicum priest?)


It depends on the situation. Really, though, I don't see a Warsmith relinquishing command of his warband to an outsider (aside from the most powerful of Chaos Lords).



> Are the Dark Mechanicum's ranks the same as the original Mechanicum's (tech priest, fabricator general: stuff like that)


I would imagine so. Honsou's allied Adept seems to go by the same name.



> Aren't the IW supposed to be a VERY large Legion?


I don't believe they are qualified as being an unusually sized Legion. The Ultramarines and Word Bearers were supposed to be the two biggest, and 3-4 others are stated to be smaller than the rest. The Iron Warriors probably fall under the average.

Cheers,
P.


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## Akatsuki13 (May 9, 2010)

Androxine Vortex said:


> I have fallen in love with the Iron Warriors but I want to know some more about them. I understand that this is a lot of questions but deal with it :laugh:
> 
> Does Purturabo still go out and fight or does he stay at Medrengard and is he a daemon-prince?


As with most Daemon Primarchs, they rarely take the field of battle in the material universe since their ascension. They tend to leave that for their mortal followers and Abaddon.



> From what I understand the IW like fighting together (especially in groups of three) but what does that mean? Like three companies?
> 
> Do they form "warbands" or do they normally still wear the colors of their original Legion?


The IW are one of the few truly still organized Chaos Legions but even they have splinter bands. But every major IW band whether they be a Company of a thousand men or a warband of a few dozen, seems to be lead by a champion called as a Warsmith. If you are creating you own IW army, whether for writing or gaming, you have some options. They can be a fairly typical IW force or a splinter group with their icons and colors.



> Do they use a lot of daemons? It would make sense to further enhance their obsession with technology to use tech like Defiles and such?
> 
> Can daemons posses titans? I guess it would make sense since Forge World made this
> http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhamm..._BEASTS/KHORNE-BLOOD-SLAUGHTERER-IMPALER.html


First off, it depends on the individuals leading the army. Some do make use of daemons while other scorn them. Again, just like above, it depends on what you want to create. As to the Titans, the IW do have some but most are a part of Corrupted Titan Legions. Most do seem to be possessed by daemons which are piloting them instead of the crew but it could also be possible for some that their corrupt crews are still piloting them.



> I know that they are Chaos Undivided but do they sometimes favor some gods over others? (Do they sometimes take different gods sides or do they remain entirely undivided)


Again, this is a depends on the individual. They do have some that worship Chaos Undivided while others venerate to a single God while others bow only to their Primarch.



> I am certain that they cooperate mainly with Dark Mechanicum forces so do they fight alongside the IW? if so how much authority do tehy have? (Like would a Warsmith have greater authority than a very high ranking dark mechanicum priest?)
> 
> Are the Dark Mechanicum's ranks the same as the original Mechanicum's (tech priest, fabricator general: stuff like that)


It's hard to say on the Dark Mechanicum. Like other Chaos, it's not a unified organization. But believe the IW's Daemon World is home to one of the largest groups of the DM. But even the highest ranked of their group would be underneath a Warsmith.



> Aren't the IW supposed to be a VERY large Legion?


Yes, they are a rather large Chaos Legion currently compared to most of the others and they did have until recently a means to rapidly recruit more IW with stolen geneseed. They did lose that means but they still have a significant stockpile of geneseed, so they could still do so the slower, normal way.


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

Most of what has said is true. I'll just add to a couple of your questions though.



> Does Purturabo still go out and fight or does he stay at Medrengard and is he a daemon-prince?


He stays in Medrengard. Honsou in _Iron Warrior_, responds to one of his champions when they ask that very same question. He responds that Perturabo has so much hate towards the Imperium to last so many life times that he prefers to stay sitting on his throne on Medrengard full of hate. (basically pouting)



> From what I understand the IW like fighting together (especially in groups of three) but what does that mean? Like three companies?


Yes, I think it says it in _Index Astartes_. Graham McNeill tried to incorporate that in his book probably when they had three companies in _Storm of Iron._ But other than that I don't really think they have touched upon it. Its a real rule incorporated in some military forces today. Rule of three in today's world I know due to being in the Marine Corp. Essentially having three active components with three purposes at any given time. Having 3 Active Divisions one in reserve. Fire Teams essential having a rifle man, Machine Gunner, and M203 (G-Launcher) and then ammo guy/reserve dude. 



> Do they form "warbands" or do they normally still wear the colors of their original Legion?


They do still wear their colors. But I believe they are essentially a good description of a loose dog, because it doesn't appear Perturabo calls on his legion to do anything. Some like the Steel Bretheren have changed their colors though. 



> Do they use a lot of daemons? It would make sense to further enhance their obsession with technology to use tech like Defiles and such?


They do. In the book _Dead Sky Black Sun_, they show how the Iron Warriors use daemons from anywhere from protecting their fortifications, to creating Chaos Marines.




> I know that they are Chaos Undivided but do they sometimes favor some gods over others? (Do they sometimes take different gods sides or do they remain entirely undivided)


I would say generally... no. In the book _Iron Warrior_, Kroeger is the last Iron Warrior to have worshipped a single deity in many centuries. So I would say no. Iron Warriors are cold and logical legion. They prefer to use chaos than worship it.



> I am certain that they cooperate mainly with Dark Mechanicum forces so do they fight alongside the IW? if so how much authority do tehy have? (Like would a Warsmith have greater authority than a very high ranking dark mechanicum priest?)


Probably not. Warsmiths themselves could debatably rival the Dark Mechanicum in knowledge because they both essentially look and spend their efforts trying to obtain knowledge and lost technologies. Plus Warsmiths have the means and abilities to get what Dark Mechanicum Priests want. So it'd be wrong for them to put any authority over the legion.



> Aren't the IW supposed to be a VERY large Legion?


There is some evidence to show they maybe a very large legion, comparribly to most. But obviously not as big as the Black Legion. Because the Iron Warriors for the most part are a inactive legion, there numbers don't dwindle as much, and because _for the most part_, the Iron Warriors aren't participating in Abaddon's Black Crusade after Hydra Cordatus, that may also help reconstruct and build their legion. Plus the means into which they find interesting ways to create their marines is quite interesting and probably not a means other legions use.


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## Androxine Vortex (Jan 20, 2010)

Thanks for the responses! It seems that Storm of Iron and that one other book (lol) would be a good read. I guess I'll try to get them sometime soon.


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

If you can't find it in print, Black Library's website will let you download it an e-book format (though at a cost greater than a paper copy's, and in British pounds).


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## Androxine Vortex (Jan 20, 2010)

I'm still confused about the warbands. Isn't it just like the IW broke up into smaller IW armies but still all function realativley similar?

If so then who would be in charge of all of them if Perturabo is in his fortress? (and is he in the warp or material universe?)


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

It seems though each of the Warsmiths kind of have their own agenda. So though they are pretty much seperated, they work similar to one another. Except for perhaps Honsou.


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## gothik (May 29, 2010)

you gotta love honsou, the "half breed" turned out to be not so scummy after all. He has to share Iron warriors geneseed with Imperial Fists and he just soldiers on. Storm of Iron was great in showing how he and others like him were treated by the hieracrchy of the Warsmith but in the end he got the glory.


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## Androxine Vortex (Jan 20, 2010)

Ok.

But what does Perturabo do? It seems like he dosen't do anything anymore


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

Androxine Vortex said:


> Ok.
> 
> But what does Perturabo do? It seems like he dosen't do anything anymore


Probably just pondering. Again, except for that little insight from Honsou in _Iron Warrior_, there isn't any first hand knowledge of what he is doing. Its even harder in interpret the mind of a daemon. It just doesn't work.


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## 5tonsledge (May 31, 2010)

from what i can get from text IW will use pretty much anything that seems useful. Daemonic engines being the one thing you notice the most. I dont think they use daemons being as they like to salvage stuff from battle, but once warpstorms are open from cultist they might lose a lot of the equipment they could salvage. plus daemons are a little spuratic and uncontrolable which doesnt really work with the collected well planned attacks of the siege specialist we know. 
As for gods the iron warriors will use whats affective. and so gods fall into place as one god. Think about it. worshiping one god limits you to one form of power. worshiping all gods as Chaos you get all power, but help may vary depending on the gods own agenda. but when it comes down to it the iron warriors couldnt careless about the gods. On the table this would be Chaos Glory for icons. But kroeger being a iconic warrior, he worshiped Khrone. and the sorcerer in Storm of Iron worshipped tzentch. so i guess you could dedicate a squad or HQ to a god. but a warmaster must stay neutral, to the gods. cant expect khorne to like you and want to bless you if youre HQ is slaanesh dedicated. that would piss him off, but that is my oppinion not to be supported by text.


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## Androxine Vortex (Jan 20, 2010)

5tonsledge said:


> from what i can get from text IW will use pretty much anything that seems useful. Daemonic engines being the one thing you notice the most. I dont think they use daemons being as they like to salvage stuff from battle, but once warpstorms are open from cultist they might lose a lot of the equipment they could salvage. plus daemons are a little spuratic and uncontrolable which doesnt really work with the collected well planned attacks of the siege specialist we know.
> As for gods the iron warriors will use whats affective. and so gods fall into place as one god. Think about it. worshiping one god limits you to one form of power. worshiping all gods as Chaos you get all power, but help may vary depending on the gods own agenda. but when it comes down to it the iron warriors couldnt careless about the gods. On the table this would be Chaos Glory for icons. But kroeger being a iconic warrior, he worshiped Khrone. and the sorcerer in Storm of Iron worshipped tzentch. so i guess you could dedicate a squad or HQ to a god. but a warmaster must stay neutral, to the gods. cant expect khorne to like you and want to bless you if youre HQ is slaanesh dedicated. that would piss him off, but that is my oppinion not to be supported by text.


No that makes sense to me. The way I figured was that they merely used Chaos as another power source, they (in general) dont worship Chaos.

I am thinking of starting an IW army soon and wanted to make some background fluff on them. Basically the way i will have my army is that they actually aren't mainly an Astartes army. Some very high ranking Mechanicum Lords were sent out with a couple ships at tehir command to scavange more technology (and they are acompanied by some IW)

They make a base on a volcanic moon (yes moons can have volcanos at least as I'm told lol) Basically the Mechanicum Lords and the IW go to neighboring planets and launch a devastating attack. before annhiliating the cities they demand payment of millions of slaves in promise of protection. 

So they take the captured slaves and do lots and lots of tests on them and lobotomise them to become mindless killing machines (and maybe let some daemons posses them or something) And then they continue this process: returning to the planets every so often to pick up their "tithe" and if their needs are not met they will reak havok upon that world.. This is all i came up with today at least.

What do you think? And who do you think would have authorised them to leave? Perturabo maybe? 

And when exactly did he become a DP?

Goodnight :biggrin:


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## TheAbominableDan (Sep 16, 2010)

Androxine Vortex said:


> I'm still confused about the warbands. Isn't it just like the IW broke up into smaller IW armies but still all function realativley similar?
> 
> If so then who would be in charge of all of them if Perturabo is in his fortress? (and is he in the warp or material universe?)


From what I know, which admittedly isn't nearly as much as the other folks in here. Chaos don't really unite like that, at least not often. They tend to squabble a lot and turn on eachother. Things like the Black Crusades are when they can organize.


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## Akatsuki13 (May 9, 2010)

Yeah, it's alright. Though it would most likely be under the command of a Warsmith or a Warsmith's champion, unless said Dark Magos struck a deal with Perturabo or another high ranked member of the Legion, leading him to be in overall command while a champion serves as the military commander under him.

It doesn't necessarily have to be Perturabo's command that they go on this mission. The IW are similar in organization to the SM Chapters with Perturabo at the top and the Warsmiths commanding their own Companies. Yes, he gives orders to the Companies but for the most part, the Warsmiths tend to carry out their own plans.

As to how Perturabo became a Daemon Primarch, it was at the end of the Iron Cage Incident in the aftermath of the HH. The IW constructed a mighty fortress defended by over 20 square miles of bunkers, towers, minefields, trenches, tank traps, redoubts and an underground network of tunnels, all in the shape of an eight-sided star. His hated rival, Rogal Dorn saw this fortress and vowed to dig Perturabo out of his fortress and bring him to Terra in an iron cage. Attacking without any support from the other Legions, Dorn and IF, drove into the emplacements of the IW. After days and days of brutal fighting, the IF finally breached the fortress only to discover the truth of the fortress, it was nothing more than more bunkers and emplacements. In the end, Guilliman and the UM came to their rescue but not before the IF had suffered terrible causalities. Perturabo's ascension came at the end when he sacrificed the gene-seed of over four hundred IF.


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## 5tonsledge (May 31, 2010)

youre army ideal can only work with fluff if there is a Warsmith. IW do not take orders from anyone other than high ranking IW officials. So even abaddon couldnt get a soldier to work with him. It will have to be a warsmith though to make youre ideal work. the reason being is that if they were on a crusade for greater technology the warsmith would want to be able to oversee all operations. This is because he would need to make sure the mechanicum wasnt ripping him off by giving him the shit from the loot. so include a Warsmith in youre army.
As for the Iron Cage incident everything that was said by a prior post holds true, but im pretty sure what made the incident so humiliating to rogal Dorn and the IF is that Rogal was put in the Iron Cage that he had constructed for Puterbo. I dont know maybe im worng its been a while since i read the fluff. Not to mention im primarily a Emperor's Children player. lol


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## drz196 (Feb 4, 2011)

Akatsuki13 said:


> Perturabo's ascension came at the end when he sacrificed the gene-seed of over four hundred IF.


I have a quick OT question about this.

Which chaos god granted his ascension? The IW don't worship any particular god, just use them as tools. Given that the IW are not blood crazed fanatics, walking plague factories nor pleasure hounds, and that they have sorcerers in their group, i would say Tzeentch.

I'm not questioning if he is a demon prince or not, just which god granted him this boon, or did the big 4 promote him as a whole.


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## 5tonsledge (May 31, 2010)

IW worship chaos as a whole. so he ws probably granted his ascension by all of them.


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## gothik (May 29, 2010)

from what i read Rogal Dorn was a broken man and it took him 19 years to march again after the Iron Cage incident. Apparently his arrogance and determination to bring his errant brother to justice caused him to make errors that he would not normally have made.
Perturabo i believe is a sad case for the fact his warriors were used as siege specialists then forgotten about so Horus used this to his advantage. He sits brooding on Medrengrad angry at everything around him, probably the other chaos marines and more importantly the Imperium and his warriors reflect this as they have hate for the imperium and little tolerancve towards the other brothers in darkness as it were.


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## forkmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

After reading Storm of Iron (not finished yet) it seems there are a few certain IW who fall under the completely worship of Khorne, but they are looked down upon and viewed as hot shots that wont live long.  Honsou states that he knows Chaos cant be trusted to your faith in, as it usually ends in failure, taking Angron as an example. Honsou prefers to put faith in machines and iron.

Can I add some questions? Which books can the IW be found in, particularly Honsou "the Halfbreed"? 

Edit: Also, Perturabo probably is focused on the Game, the eternal struggle between the Four Gods in the Warp like all Daemon Primarchs.


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## 5tonsledge (May 31, 2010)

Dead Sky Black Sun is the other book following Honsou, but i havent read it yet. need to order it. but as far as i know its the only other book featuring him.


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## Akatsuki13 (May 9, 2010)

Honsou appears in one other story and two short stories of Graham McNeill, 'Dead Sky Black Sun' of the Ultramarine series, and in both 'Planetkill' and 'Heroes of the Space Marines'. But I don't know of any other stories that really feature them.


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

forkmaster said:


> Can I add some questions? Which books can the IW be found in, particularly Honsou "the Halfbreed"?


1. Storm of Iron
2. Dead Sky Black Sun
3. Planet Kill (short story)
4. Heroes of the Space Marines (short story)
5. Iron Warrior (limited edition piece)
6. The Chapter's Due

There's a small bit of the Iron Warriors seen in the first novel of the Salamander's Series as well. 5 Iron Warriors hold off a company of Salamanders. Pretty cool little battle. 



forkmaster said:


> Edit: Also, Perturabo probably is focused on the Game, the eternal struggle between the Four Gods in the Warp like all Daemon Primarchs.


Its hard to say. Afterall he spends all his time on Medengrad.


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## Androxine Vortex (Jan 20, 2010)

ckcrawford said:


> 1. Storm of Iron
> 2. Dead Sky Black Sun
> 3. Planet Kill (short story)
> 4. Heroes of the Space Marines (short story)
> ...


I never understood the Daemon Primarchs. i thought that they were in the warp because they couldn't sustain themselves in the material universe (like when the World eaters had to keep erecting monuments to keep Angron in this physical world) So I suppose he can stay in his world because it is entirely dedicated to the IW (Perturabo himself as well) so there must be a lot of "worshipy stuff" (yes that is a word lol)

And yes I plan on having a Warsmith in command, I'm just not sure who will have the higher authority : the warsmith or the very high rank D. Mech Lord(s)


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## Akatsuki13 (May 9, 2010)

The Warsmith would be in command overall virtually all of the time. Even if the Dark Magos was in charge of whatever project that was their ultimate goal, he would fall under the command of the Warsmith. At the most, the Magos would hold a position of importance that put him outside the Warsmith's command, which would still place the command of the Company under the Warsmith.


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## 5tonsledge (May 31, 2010)

yeah if the mechanicus is asking for help. that is all they will recieve is help not control. understand? Iron Warrior Warsmiths do not take orders from the dark mechanicus. they only take orders from puterbo. so unless puterbo gave permission to the dark mechanicus to oversee a company of IW. that is only a slight power shift between them. and even still i doubt puterbo would give them control. he would at the most give them aide. he would want the ball in his court, and he can only do that if his Warsmith was in control of all.
But most of all the only way they would do anything for their work is if they were promised some sort of powerful object.


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