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Hey! One of my best buddies and I did a game today and it was his 30k Marines versus my 40k marines. I really did not know what to expect so I brought a middle road list of a CAD + first company formation. We had a pretty good game, but halfway through he got noticeably upset with the game because he was frustrated with the balancing. Now I think my list was pretty tame minus of course Chapter Master Smash Fether and command squad friends on bikes. Now we did continue to play and his turned around hard core and it resulted in a very close game, but I still remember how unhappy he was at the mid point. Now we ended in laughter and handshaking, but I dont want to be the cause of his frustration.

So to get around this I was thinking of trying to do some 30k. Now my space marines are painted (mostly. Like 75%) as Imperial Fists so that is who I would like to play as. My models are all for 40k, but he and I are pretty relaxed on proxies so he would not mind me using just about anything form 40k and using it as "counts as" for 30k equivalents. I hear 30k v 30k is a different ball game from 40k so I would love to try it from that perspective. I was hoping you guys could point me in the right direction and give me some tactical pointers on how 30k plays and on the Imperial Fist legion.

Heres a list of main questions.

1. Rule book for 30k. What is it that I need?
2. Do I need the specific 30k rulebook? It does not seem all that different from 40k and I like saving money where I can.
3. Which book can I find the rules for Imperial Fists in?
4. How are Imperial Fists? What are their strengths? Weakness? What are their bonuses?

Thank you guys in advance!

1 The same one
2 No

The faction specifics I'll leave to someone else as I'm not well acquainted enough with the Fists.

But, essentially book wise you have two options "the red books" which are paired down, no fluff, budget options with just the rules, one for all the shared units and one with most of the Legion specific stuff to date, or go for the big, black, leather bound tomes, where you might need multiples, I'm unfamiliar on the distribution of Fists stuff to date.

Though I have yet to start my Imperial Fists army, I think I have done enough reading to get the jist of it.

3. You will need the new red book that should currently be on pre-order status. It will contain the rules for all the legions specific units.
4. Imperial Fists are awesome~ I am 100% bias, but anyway...

Depending on the Rite of War, Imperial Fists can either by a very slow but tough army or have a terrifying deepstriking force.
Stone Gauntlet: Basically if you have a unit armed with shields you get +1 toughness, but you lose any form of deepstrike.
Hammerfell Strike Force: Any infantry unit can buy teleport transponders, and when they deepstrike they make everyone around them take a blind test due to their shiny-ness.

General bonuses you get as Imperial Fists
+1 BS with all bolters (including all variants such as heavy bolters)
Must issue challenges but get to reroll to hit
Heavy support squads get tank hunter
Access to stormshields! Sweet sweet 3+ invul saves

I will let you read more at https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Space_Marine_Legion_List_(30k)#VII_Legion:_Imperial_Fists

Well, I can answer the first two questions.
Basically you play with the 40k rules but use the units in the FW books.
In view of HH, I have the books 1 and 2. Here you basically find the general units and models which you can use in every chapter and units specific to some chapters like Sons of Horus, WE, DG, and EC.

So, some pointers

- the basic rules are the same. The differences are in the army lists, the missions, the equipment and the FoC.

- you need the Crusade Army List Red Book (which is the 'codex' for space marines in 30k) and the Legions Red Book (to give you the specific Imperial Fists stuff)

- 40k models are pretty much fine - you'll probably need to do some reorganising of your squads though, and maybe swap some weapons around.

1) 30k is a 40k expansion.
2) there's 2 books you need if you're only playing a legion: the legions red book (has all the rules for all the legions) and then the crusade list red book (the actual army list for all the non-specific things)
3) both the red books
4) Imperial fists, like all forces in 30k, are effective. 30k is a non-competative, more fluff based game. Any who, https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Space_Marine_Legion_List_%2830k%29#VII_Legion:_Imperial_Fists is a good summary of the Imperial fists specifically, but the full page is filled with great information. Beyond that, IF are fun because 1) 1 of 2 legions with Storm shields and Assault cannons. 2) 1 of 2 legions that can deep strike terminators without RoWs. 3) if you build and play right, you're entire army can be at LEAST T:5, BS:5

With IF especially: MK VII armor (regular 40k mark) was basically just being distributed at the tail end of the heresy, so IF would have some MK VII mixed in without issue. beyond that, using ONLY MK VII would only bother 'top-tier' fluff bunnies and TFG. All vehicles that are shared in both 30k and 40k can be played in either without issue since it's simply a different form from a different forge world.

gameplay wise: I think 30k shines when you get out of the current 40k/ITC mind set of MSU. 10-man squads of power armor tend to drop like flies, and trying to min-max with your troops so you can spam more of the big stuff fails since that big stuff can't score like it can in 40k. 30k is a bit closer to the 6th edition days of death stars, but it's also more risky to build a death star. another huge difference is at what point level you'll probably be playing. If 40k is 1850, then 30k is 2500, simple as that.