I believe if your looking for a darker Iron Hands path, you could check out the book Riven by John French. I for one always found them interesting just not enough to build my own army with. (Personally I play a Carcharodons army or Grey Knights)
I find it amusing that I'm one of the few people that have a strict love/hate stance when it comes to the Iron hands. For starters, they were one of the first chapters I found out about when I was introduced to 40k and relished the backstory for them. However, they are one of only 2 other legions I can think of that have somewhat of a rift between primarch and sons, granted not nearly as noticeable as is the case with Night Lords and Curze. But its there, I mean their own primarch seems to belie the chapters own edicts of declaring the flesh as weak and remaining stoic and logical with his rush to face the traitors just on a bout and sense of cathartic loyalty! Not to mention unlike other primarchs he isn't really heralded for much in the way of exploits in military power or cunning but more or less just a supplier boy for other primarchs in making them great weapons that ironically comes back to bite him in the end. Never liked the fact that his sons seemed more poised and kept their heads on their shoulders which is more than we can say for their dearly decapitated father
Not exactly. He was actually held in high esteem by most other primarchs with Know No Fear, Vulkan Lives and Vengeful Spirit all showing that Guilliman, Vulkan and Horus regarded him highly. The latter book even mentions (while attacking an extremely heavily defended Knight World, so heavily that it requires the bulk of the Death Guard and Sons of Horus Legions to conquer it) that Ferrus was the one of them who truly understood war in all its sheer ferocity. Also that if Fulgrim had managed to somehow convince him to join them then they would have been halfway to a true victory by that point. I'm afraid I cannot give you the exact quote (it's a handful of sentences in a five-hundred-and-forty-two page book) but I can provide an example of why this reputation was so well deserved. From The Horus Heresy Book Two - Massacre, Pages eighty-eight to ninety-one. To quote Lexicanum: "The invasion itself was focused on the human world of Gardinaal, whose rulers were trying to ready themselves for an inevitable Imperial attack by stalling with protracted negotiations. When the Thousand Sons detachment with Imperial emissaries senses that the Gardinaal diplomats are attempting to use psychic abilities to influence talks, the Astartes massacre them and give the Imperium the reason it finally needs for war. It fell to the 413rd Expeditionary Fleet under Ulan Cicerus of the XVth Chapter of the Ultramarines Space Marine Legion to conduct the campaign to subdue Gardinaal. The fleet included Marnean Armsmen and Serranic Peltasts of the Imperial Army as well as the Legio Atarus Titan Legion. After swiftly breaking the Gardinaal orbital defenses, Imperial forces began to land on the surface of the planet. However the Imperial Army troops were pushed back due to Gardinaal's formidable aerial fleet and air defense artillery. The Gardinaal forces then used STC based Rhinos and Predators armed with Particle weaponry to besiege whatever bridgeheads the Imperial Army was able to establish. Cicerus responded by deploying his Ultramarines and Titans directly onto the Gardinaal flanks, but this too was met with defeat when the Gardinaal forces responded with nuclear weapons. After the atomic bombardment that decimated both sides, Gardinaal scout-titan sized quadrupedal heavy walkers appeared and pushed the Marines and Imperial Titans back. Half of the Firebrand Legions demi-legio, significant numbers of Ultramarines, and 500,000 Imperial Army troops were lost in the failed attack. With its invading forces bled, the 413rd Expeditionary Fleet could only maintain a blockade of the Gardinaal system. It was then that Ferrus Manus leading a force of Iron Hands and Emperor's Children arrived from the Warp as reinforcements. Taking command of the operation from Cicerus, Manus began by launching a deadly retribution against Gardinaal. The worlds primary cities were wiped out in brutal orbital bombardments. Meanwhile, the Emperor's Children contingent with the Iron Hands sowed panic and death with lightning-fast raids. Shortly thereafter, the Iron Hands began their own landing operation. After rapidly capturing their initial objectives, the Iron Hands dug in and established a defensive network of automated defenses (such as the Tarantula) and Gun Servitors. This freed up the Iron Hands themselves for the next phase of Ferrus' plan, using their Land Raiders to brutally advance on Gardinaal positions and wither them down with unrelenting firepower in conjunction with Emperor's Children swift raids. Seeing defeat near, the Lords of Gardinaal at last caved in. Desperately, they tried to sue for peace but their pleas were ignored. Anarchy broke out among Gardinaal's forces as soldiers and civilians alike attempted to flee the Imperial onslaught. However the Iron Hands and accompanying Imperial titans cut them down with a vengeful wrath. After refusing Gardinaal's unconditional surrender, Ferrus Manus devastated the planets capital city with artillery and Titans. The Emperor's Children soon landed on the cities bastions to destroy whatever defenses remained. The Ultramarines were given the honor of being the first into the breach, having been the first Astartes to set foot on the planet. The Ultramarines faced a desperate and spirited counter-attack by surviving Gardinaal forces which proved to inflict surprisingly high casualties on the Astartes. Soon the Lords of Gardinaal themselves rode into battle on their great walking tanks, particle cannons blazing. Beneath these vehicles advanced waves of Rhinos and Predators modified with explosives to become suicide vehicles. Behind them came the last of the Lords remaining forces, carapace armored retainers pumped full of combat drugs and enforcement walkers rigged with flechette cannons and hydraulic claws. Cicerus himself was cut down before this final desperate attack. The Lords of Gardinaal declared triumph at this turn of events, but before them now strode Ferrus Manus himself leading a contingent of Iron Hands Terminators. Unleashing a wave of precise Lascannon fire, the Lords and their walkers were cut down. Emperor's Children aircraft meanwhile circled above, making sport of cutting down Gardinaal defenders. Manus himself then leaped into the fray, breaking the last Lords of Gardinaal. The few enemies who remained fled to wherever they could, but to the surprise of all involved Ferrus did not order to exterminate the survivors. Instead he simply uttered "It is done" and left the planet to Imperial authorities."
Although I am appreciating all the commentary and lore that this thread is providing (story time!); I just wanted to let Galil☆ACE know that (in relation to the title of this thread)-->*IUnterstoodThatReference.gif*
Hehe, yeah. I'm quite amazed how well it turned up to be, I was reading the commentary just now. Love lurking these forums.
I think one of the reasons for the Hate against the Iron hands is that because of there Flesh is Weak motto/ideal, they come off as completely unlikable. they openly repress there emotions using machinery, meaning that they cant relate to normal humans or even other astartes in the novels/fluff and as such other Astates/ Imperial Guard don't like them, as of this result most pepole reading about them cant relate to them or there ideas either so they don't like them. I mean take how the Iron Hands Blame the Salamanders and Raven guard for the Death of Ferrus Manus. when in reality if you all the fluff around the Dropsite Massacre, Corax and Vulkan Warned Manus about overreaching and he Ignored them, so as such his legion were surrounded and cut off more easily than The raven guard and Salamanders who had a chance to break away from the battle. Then even 10,000 years later they still blame the Salamanders and Raven Guard, things like that don't make the chapter seem any more likable to people.
