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Hey all,

So I have discovered through game play that my Blood Angels force needs to evolve a bit, and I'm really interested in building an Imperial Fists force of 1000 pts just to have a vanilla starter aprmy for friends to play against me as I try to recruit new players to the hobby.

I already have

1 combat squad
1 5 man Terminator Squad w/ HF
1 Scout Sniper Squad.

I'm wondering if theres any reason not to pick up a SM battle force before the new codex hits.... do you guys think they'll make a better one or will it be more costly and very similar in content??

I'm pretty happy with the way the SM look now.

So basically I would take the 5 Assault marines and paint them to add to my Blood Angels, but my Imperial Fists army would be

2 10 man Tac w/ 1 ML and Flamer.
1 Rhino
1 Scout Squad
1 Scout Sniper squad
1 Terminator Squad w/ HF

I don't have my codex handy but this added to around 850 or 870 points if I recall correctly...

Obviously I would need an HQ,

What would ya'll recommend as far as a basic, started army for an absolute beginner to get the hang of playing with without having to spend any time or money on models or painting?

Obviously as the new codex rolls out I'll be adding to make this a more bad ass siege force but for now I just want a straight forward competitive list that someone can have fun with.

On the topic of the battle force: I've not heard that they are changing the contents, but they are re cutting the tac squad. Not that the old one is bad, but there will be different options on the new one.

For the starter army: How basic are you looking to go? Do you want to have all the basic rules represented in the list? Or just a very bare-bones army using as few rules as you can? My off the cuff math puts you at 755.

If you want to keep it simple, go with a captain. Librarians are good HQs, but open up all the psychic rules. Which is good if you want to teach all aspects of the game.

A Dev squad is good, basic, firepower, requiring no extra rules to use. A Vindicator tank or a TML/HB speeder would help teach the vehicle rules better then the single rhino.

A small bike squad or those assault marines you want to poach for your BAs would teach that there is more then basic infantry. The assault marines would show there is more to the game then moving and shooting.

I'd second adding a dev squad, very useful just for the extra options for your other guys. That list looks ok, has a bit of everything, but I would add another rhino if you can, as one will just get killed fast. A Drop Pod could also be a cool idea to get more rules involved. Maybe a dread to bring in the walker rules.

Good feedback. I want to have something that uses most of the basic fundamental rules for this army. I like the idea of using a Captain for HQ and eventually having a librarian to baby step up into more advanced rules.


I guess I left out the theme- I plan on having like 0 heavy support for my blood angels except for maybe a vindicator because I'm going to ally them with guard acting as a heavy support ally role, so thie fist army wont have any fast attack.

I would def add at least 5 devastators and like the idea of drop pod dreadnaught. That'll show them deep strike..

They'll get the picture on fast attack from playing my blood angels you know?I'll probably have 1k of fists, 1500 of blood angels and 1500 or more of guard.

So basically I should just invest in a battle force cuz I can get it 20% off at this store where I play on Thursday nights.

I want the fists army to have the ability to be a sort of space marines version of my guard army. They're a siege based army as it is no? And I refuse to put flyers in my guard army they're all old school, so maybe I would build a gun ship barrage on the marines side. Depends on what new stuff comes out.

OK so I bought a battle force off ebay for like 20% off. I figure I can't go wrong with such a basic core of troops..

Will def add Devestators and a captain w/ SB to round out this 1k force.

I feel like that will be a very generic list for someone to get comfortable playing with. My concern is now on the new stuff coming out, which is speculative at best...

But I noticed you can't get Imperial Fists shoulder pads anymore by themselves... THIS SUCKS!

The Crimson fists pads are really ugly IMO..

Does anybody have any clue whats going on? Should I buy em off ebay or do you think they'll come out with actual IF models and I'll just end up with a bunch of nasty looking decals on my old school marines? I'm kind of nervous now...

good choices