Yesterday I finished adding the transfers to a batch of figures. The figures in this case were the last of my “Legacy” Iron Warriors – those being the set I converted over 10 years ago because I thought the IW looked good, and because I thought that basically weathered silver armour would be a fast army to paint. Little did I know…

Every one of the initial set of models was converted – using the parts available at the time. This meant bits from the plastic MK7 Space Marines kit circa 3rd edition, stuff from the (still current) Chaos Space Marines kit and the (even more sadly still current) Khorne Berserkers kit. I added in additional bits from the Metal shoulderpads that were available around 2nd-3rd edition and metal parts from what are now the Iron Warriors and Iron Hands Squad boxed sets, both of which are still sort-of available now as upgrade packs. But without the shoulder pads for the IW.

The circular saw arm comes from the same (Not-Orks) “Org” from that game I still can’t recall the name of, while the right shoulder is a metal one. His head is an Iron Warriors head with lots of cybernetic implants. The rest of him comes from the plastic kits of the day. As with many of the other models, I kept a link to the Legion with the IV added to his left shoulderpad.

His partner also features a mixture of parts. Torso and Head are from the metal Iron Warriors parts, though with the horns removed. I’m not huge on the whole “Iron Warriors as Space Vikings” thing.

Both arms and weapons are from the Khorne Berserker sprue, though the bolt pistol was added to the right hand and the angle was chained on the chainsword hand for a more open pose.

Once again, we’ve got one metal shoulderpad (got to be economical!) which is the Chaos star one. I could paint that central point in as a gem, though I’m not entirely sure if I should do so or just leave it. Red? Brass? Or just leave it as a large (iron) stud?

The left leg is from the Iron Hands kit, and the right is from an Assault Marine. I cut the IH leg pair in half so as to get two unique bionic leg sets from the one piece. I said economy, didn’t I? Finally, it’s backed up by a 2nd Edition-era plastic SM Backpack.

That’s it for now. See you in a couple of days for the next pair!

This past week I finally finished off another three Iron Warriors. Both rebasing them on the new Sector Imperialis 32mm bases from their old 25mm ones and actually completing their paint – started well over a decade ago. Yes, I paint slow, but they’ve also spent a goodly time put away in boxes before I decided to revive the project last year.

Two of these models feature arm replacements. The “champion” has a Necromunda Pit Slave chainsaw arm, along with a 90’s-era metal Iron Warriors Shoulderpad. The central warrior has a Melta Gun arm that’s taken from a manufacturer of not-40k miniatures, again from the 1990s. It came from one of their Not-Orks, later renamed “Org” and changed to a not-at-all-Ork-based organised crime kind of faction after GW sent them one of their nasty lawyer letters. Because GW owns the concept of Orcs in space. Apparently. They had a game which from memory actually had decent rules. If I ever remember their name, I’ll edit it in. Anyway, the Melta Gun arm looked great, and it found its way onto one of my Iron Warriors, a squad with a large number of obvious cybernetic implants and limb replacements. Once again, I’ve added “IV” decals to the models, to represent their still-present pride in being members of the IV Legion.

Again, aside from mechanical parts from Necromunda models and the Org arm, the models are built with a mixture of parts from modern loyalist marines, modern chaos marines, metal 2nd & 3rd edition-era chaos shoulder pads, Iron Warriors metal parts and Iron Hands metal parts. The central model’s head and torso come from the ’90s metal chaos marine biker conversion parts.

The third Iron Warrior comes with a not-so-subtle message for any who he may encounter. The chainsword’s hazard stripes look terrible when blown up to this size, but at their actual size they look completely fine.

I’ve got another five of this squad on my paint desk at present to complete, along with another four including a Warsmith in the cabinet waiting to be moved out. Following that I have an old Forge World Castraferrum Dreadnought and Vindicator to find and fix up – both purchased many years ago before the FW kit was replaced with the Citadel kit. Then I can move onto newer purchases, newer models and newer plans for my Iron Warriors.

Iron Within! Iron Without!