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Hello all,

I started playing 40k in my youth, but have not been able to play in my adult life. I always had a dream of having a fully painted army and I want to finally meet that goal. I am starting this blog to help me stay motivated. Per the subject line I will be painting an Imperial Fist Space Marine army. At the moment I have the following units:

- 10 man Tactical squad
- 5 man Sternguard squad
- Drop Pod
- Razorback

I started playing during 2nd edition, but have not actually played the game since 5th edition. I would love suggestions on newer units and my goal is to have a Gladius Strike Force with 2 Battle Demi company.

I selected Imperial Fists because of the awesome how to video by Striking Scorpion 82. If you don't know about it already his youtube channel is awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFOdtzPf7C0

Disclaimers:

- I don't paint well
- All models will start with just base colors and washes

Photos of test models attached.

Those fists are actually pretty well done, better than my first Ultramarines at any rate.....

Thank you much War Kitten. Frankly, I am intimidated by highlights so I am hoping painting 30 plus tactical marines (minimum needed for double Demi-Company) with just base colors/washes will up my confidence and skills.

I can attest that you just need to start painting. It's terrifying at first, but once you actually get a few done you'll find that it tends to go a little faster. I'm doing a full battle company (so 60 Tacs, 10 Devs, 20 Assault Marines plus support) so I can confirm that confidence is key

That is awesome. Which Chapter?

That's a nice crisp yellow.

Looking good, nice yellow.

Subbed.

EDC

Thanks Warboss_Waaazag and evildrcheese.

So my goal is to paint the four Tactical Marines show below by the end of this week. When I add one of the two test models I will have my first fully painted squad.

I also, based coated the squad's Razorback and started applying the wash Seraphim Sepia in a few places. Now I love how the wash looks when, applied correctly, in the middle picture. However, I think the wash looks horrible where I applied it incorrectly like in the last photo. Any advice on the best places to apply the washes on the Razorback?

I'm a big fan of SS82's vids, he does excellent battle reports.

That's a nice yellow you've got there, can't wait to see more.

The shading of tanks can be tricky. You've got the right idea with finding the recesses where less light would get and where dirt would accumulate.

Looking good so far!

EDC

I hope everybody had a great weekend and just an update on the Fists. I managed to complete the 4 marines I built earlier in the week.

The next project will be a six man tactical squad, including a special weapon, Heavy weapon trooper and sergeant. The 2 missile launcher marines I have already painted will be rolled into a forthcoming Devastator squad. I would love feedback on how to kit out the Sarge and which special weapon to go with. I was thinking Plasma gun or a Grav gun for the special weapon trooper. However, I have not played the game since they added Grav, so I am not sure how effective it is. The Heavy weapon trooper will have a heavy bolter just to maximize their chapter traits and in envision this tac squad being purely anti infantry.

Photos below. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Looking good so far. The yellow armour looks really cool.

I feel like a few more details would really complete them though, some edge highlighting on the black, lens for guns and stuff, more depth on the skulls and purity seals for instance.

EDC

Sorry I'm a bit late with my answer to your question, but I play Ultramarines, and well done on the Tac Marines, they look great!

 irishoneall wrote:
I hope everybody had a great weekend and just an update on the Fists. I managed to complete the 4 marines I built earlier in the week.

The next project will be a six man tactical squad, including a special weapon, Heavy weapon trooper and sergeant. The 2 missile launcher marines I have already painted will be rolled into a forthcoming Devastator squad. I would love feedback on how to kit out the Sarge and which special weapon to go with. I was thinking Plasma gun or a Grav gun for the special weapon trooper. However, I have not played the game since they added Grav, so I am not sure how effective it is. The Heavy weapon trooper will have a heavy bolter just to maximize their chapter traits and in envision this tac squad being purely anti infantry.

Photos below. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

The guys are looking great! Nice progress.

To help with your tactical question:
General rule of thumb is the sarge should have a combi weapon to match the squad’s special. That way, you pop out of your transport and get two shots of what you need to do. I.E. a single melta gun is not going to reliably pop a tank. Two shots give you much better odds.

Grav is almost interchangeable with plasma. There are pros and cons to both. If you are standing still, the extra grav shot is nice, on the move plasma has better range. Plasma still works against guys in t-shirts, grav doesn’t care if you are T8. Overall, grav is a bit better IMHO. Generally the things plasma has the edge on are going to fold under massed bolter fire anyway. On relentless platforms like bikes, grav takes a major lead. Grav cannons are a slightly different story. As salvo weapons, they can be fired on the move, so work well in mobile squads. They are expensive though. I’ve not had a chance to field mine yet, so just theory crafting.

Another note: Unless you are a full 10 man squad, it’s the special or the heavy, not both. So a 6 man squad has limited options. You probably want to run with the special, as they work better aggressively on the move. If you end up building to a full 100 man company, then by al means, get the squads together. I like HBs paired with flamers in some of my tac squads. Their job is to thin hordes.

Great work so far man, your paintjobs are really good, very solid tabletop standard, and an army of them will look fantastic on the tabletop. Yellow really catches the eye and is very striking, especially if you're playing on a more muted/greyscale board.

Nevelon hit the nail on the head. Your tactical squads are limited to one special, or one heavy weapon per squad if it numbers smaller than 10 men. If it's a full 10 man squad, you can then throw one special weapon and one heavy weapon in there. I'll also agree that, especially considering your chapter's tactics, you will want to run a combi-weapon on your sergeant, and match it to whatever your special weapon is, so meltagun in the squad, a combi-meltagun on the sergeant, etc. etc.

Works very well. I will also only recommend Grav on a squad that's going to be fairly static so they can make the most use out of the max shots they can get with Salvo (six shots if stationary out to 18", versus 2 while moving at half range). Grav really needs to be on a relentless platform to shine, such as Bikes/Terminators/Centurions.

That's all I've got to add for the moment. Keep painting and I hope you have some great games once you get your army ready to start playing.

Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

Excellent work so far, just realized but are they 5th Company?

I particularly love the purity seals on the marine with the studded shoulder pad.