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Hi all,

So I've got over 2000 points of Orks now, and since I have a decent-sized bonus coming up from work I thought I might treat myself to a new army.

I fancied something a bit different and a bit more elite, so I thought I would go for Imperial Fists! Do you guys have any general tips on tactics/builds for this army?

Here are a few questions I thought of:

1) What's better - standard Codex Chapter Tactics or Sentinels of Terra?

2) If I want to lay it down with Lysander, what's the best bodyguard and/or transport to give him?

3) What would you say are the Fists' strengths and weaknesses?

Space Marines have been teased as the next codex to be released, so any information we have as of now might change within two weeks. I would wait and see what'll change before deciding!

In terms of painting, look up strikingscorpion82's guide on youtube - this is a very effective way to get that yellow looking good...

I think the others were right in that you should hold off until the next codex comes out in a few weeks. That being said, whether to play Sentinels of Terra or Fists is more of a playstyle question. Sentinels encourage you to get your Tacticals and Scouts up close and personal, so you can twin-link your bolters. The Fists more benefit your long-range shooting and give your Devastator squads Tank Hunters. I personally like Devastator squads, so I run Imperial Fists as my gunline. I don't have any experience with Lysander, so I can't help you there.

I'd wait until the new codex drops (as everybody else said) but I'd really recommend getting Lysander, just because of how cool of a character he actually is. He isn't the most effective but good lord is he cool. If you wanted to Transport him, I'd put him in a Land Raider with either some Terminators or some Vanguard Vets with no jump pack. While that is excessively expensive and unnecessary (clocking in at over 700 points), I'm sure it'd be worth it.

It is so close to when the new codex drops that buying either book would be rough.

However Imperial Fists Drop Pod TAC squads is my favorite way to play SM. I always run them from Sentinels of Terra as any drop pod army or scouts based army close ranged bolter drill is just outright better than bolter drill and the units still keep their Siege Masters rule (ie tank hunters of devs).

The other benefit is the libby with bones of osrak is pretty good as a value HQ. It fits in extremely well with a drop pod list.

Lysander can also be made to work well in such a list. He makes a nasty distraction carnifex to drop in with a command squad or SS/TH termies and keep the opponent's attention for a couple turns.

The best thing about Imperial Fists though is their troops. The two ways I play them are;
*6 units of 10 TAC marines in Drop Pods with half being meltagun and combi-melta and half being plasma and combi-plas and meltabombs on all the sarges. This army needs a units or two of grav centurions to back it up, either DSing from a borrowed BA/SW pod or a stormraven. Alternatively this army mixes well with a variety of imperial knights.
*6 units of 10 scouts sarge w/ combi-grav and melta bombs. This army needs a couple of dev units, a thunderfire cannon, and a fortification to keep them alive. This army needs a source to reroll seize if you want to contend with top tier builds. I recommend either coteaz or the assassin formation.

You combat squad the units in anything but a completely kill points game. I have found that I am able to take on what are widely considered the top tier army lists with this basic core to my list. I need to supplement it with almost pure damage dealers such as; DSing divination Inquisitor/libby + 3 grav cents, fire raptor, etc. The core of 60 ObjSec bodies with decent anti infantry firepower puts me on a very good footing for scoring objectives, durability, and board control so all that these lists lack are anti- MC, flyer, and vehicle damage output to varying degrees. The best part is I have found Imperial Fists can come pretty close to tabling a scatbike spam CWE list that is foolish enough to deploy all their bikes turn 1.

Cheers for the tips guys - I think I will hold fire for the new codex.

As an aside, don't Sentinels of Terra also get tank hunters for devastators and dev cents?

I think a better question is going to be are Sentinels of Terra still a valid choice once the new codex drops?

 Krusha wrote:
Cheers for the tips guys - I think I will hold fire for the new codex.

As an aside, don't Sentinels of Terra also get tank hunters for devastators and dev cents?

Yes, that is the Siege Masters rule I mentioned. Sentinels of Terra only replace the bolter drills rule with a new one.

Just a word of caution: the heraldric yellow of the Imperial Fists is one of the most difficult colors in the world to paint. It was my first pick for my first army, and after weeks and weeks of frustration, a half-dozen different types of paint, and one or two tac marines buried waist deep in my drywall, I switched to a much more user-friendly color (blue and green are both swell).

 Jimsolo wrote:
Just a word of caution: the heraldric yellow of the Imperial Fists is one of the most difficult colors in the world to paint. It was my first pick for my first army, and after weeks and weeks of frustration, a half-dozen different types of paint, and one or two tac marines buried waist deep in my drywall, I switched to a much more user-friendly color (blue and green are both swell).

Agreed, yellow (and red) are difficult colours to get a solid opaque coat with - I went through the same pain many years ago. Not GW's fault - it's a chemical limitation. I'd definitely paint a few test figures before starting a yellow or red army.

That said, today's paints are far better than they used to be, presumably due to advances in industrial chemistry. Can anyone comment on how opaque GW's Averland Sunset (the obvious choice for a base yellow) is?