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Hey fellas,

So I have been bored playing and painting Tau so I decided to make a Imperial Fists Detachment. To start I already picked up some Sternguard Veterans but I am looking to have these guys start as an ally for tau until I build them up to be a full sized army. However I do not know Space Marines that well and can seriously use some input on what I had in mind.

So I was thinking:

HQ:
Librarian, Master level 2

Troops:
Tactical Squad

• Veteran Sgt
  
• Combi Plasma
  
• Heavy Bolter
  
• Rhino (barebones)

Tactical Squad

• Veteran Sgt
  
• Combi Plasma
  
• Heavy Bolter
  
• Rhino (barebones)

Scout Squad

• Veteran Sgt
  
• Teleport Homer
  
• Heavy Bolter

Elites
Sternguard Veterans

• 3x Combi Plasmas
  
• Plasma Gun
  
• Heavy Bolter
  
• Power Fist

Terminators (bare bones)

Fast Attack
Storm Talon with Twinlinked Lascanon

Heavy Support
Vindicator with Siege Shield

So what do you guys think? Am I going in the right direction? What can I use here?

Get rid of all Vet Sgt upgrades. Complete waste of points (I don't know why people always go with vet sgts .. +1 attack and +1 LD is not worth it on a tac or scout squad).

Your tac squads - What's their role? Are they 5 man or 10? Combi-Plasma for the sgt is an odd choice imo when you're not taking a plasmagun/cannon.

Sternguard - Keep them with bolters and combi weapons. Don't fall into the heavy bolter/plasma trap (you lose your special ammo on those guys for no real gain) and drop the power fist (you do not want them in close combat!)

Stormtalon : use the skyhammer missiles instead of TL Las. Cheaper and more versatile.

Vindicators are great, but they're best taken in pairs (they will be focused on quickly and removed before you can use them if they're alone).

Scouts - Drop the homer and heavy bolter and give them camo cloaks and sniper rifles, drop the vet sgt upgrade... if you keep them at all.

Standard shooty terminators are .. well .. meh. Better to go with assault terminators in a landraider if possible. Or none at all and go with more heavy choices (Devastator squads are great for Imperial Fists).

Not sure I'd go with the libby (esp with ML2) for Imperial Fists either. I'd rather use a captain or chapter master myself.

Scouts + land speeder storm = fun and annoying. Also great for last minute objective grabbing or heavy flaming those weak backfield shooters.

Thanks for the responses, I think I need to do more reading and research

Generally you are going to want to have your sarge’s combi weapon match the squad’s special. HB/Plasma gun with a combi-plasma on the sarge is not a bad choice for a squad going after infantry. I’m still on the fence for if vet sarges are worth it. leaning towards “no” but the jury is still out. Not for shooty squads anyway.

I tend to run scout squads with a normal sarge, sniper rifles and camo cloaks. I take the HB w/ the special ammo.

c-plasma are probably my least favorite choice for sternguard. I think they work well with just special ammo. If you want to upgrade, a few c-meltas would not be bad in case you need to pop a tank, and heavy flamers are the only weapon I’d give up the bolter for. I used to run a fist on the sarge, but have gone bare bones lately. But I’m not going to tell a Son of Dorn not to take one. The big thing for them is they need a delivery system. Drop pods are good, but at least a rhino. They want to spend as much of the game in rapid fire range as possible. Also beef this squad up as much as you can. Special ammo works best en mass.

I run tac terminators with an assault cannon and one chainfist. Give them at least a little love.

I’m a skyhammer guy, but there are sometimes I think the LCs would be nice to have. Not my first choice, but not a bad one.

Vindis with siege shields scream Imperial Fist to me. I do think the shield is overpriced and unnecessary, but it does look cool and keeps you from getting hung up on shrubs. As your only armor unit of note, I suspect it’s going to eat some long range AV fire first turn. I might try to get some more armor into your list to help with saturation and ensuring some survives to reach the second turn.