Imperial Fists 5th Company - Log and Retrospective

[Tybalt Andrus]

After a quick little browse of the P&M logs recently, I was inspired to not only sign up to Warseer, but I thought I might pitch in with my own Imperial Fists, seeing as there seem to be several other offerings on the board to keep them company.

Before I show a few pictures, I should explain a few points:

(i) The majority of these models, and certainly the ones you'll see pictures of in the near future, were painted a good number of years ago now. Most of my limited painting time is taken up with Inquisitor modelling, and that's pushed 40K onto the back foot. However, the imminent release of the new Marine codex, and seeing nice stuff on here, has made me want to occasionally do a little bit more 40K.

(ii) When I set off to start this army originally, I was looking for a way to get effective looking yellow marines done relatively quickly, without having to worry about twenty layers of paint! I managed this to my satisfaction, and I still like the look of them en masse. However, were I to be painting the same models purely for display, this is not how they would look!

Anyway, without further ado, here's a couple of tactical squads to start with:

Tactical Squad I (Lascannon, Plasma Gun)


Tactical Squad II (Heavy Bolter, Flamer)

These are both pretty standard 10-man Tactical Squads, with accompanying heavy and special weapons. You'll notice that the Marines are pretty "clean", but these were all assembled before the days when tactical sprues came with a million-and-one goodies built-in!

Here's a shot of the Captain, though I'm not a fan of how he looks in the photo. Of course, these days you could get a plastic Iron Halo for him, but not four years ago!

Any comments are welcome! I'll pop back in a day or so with some more pictures of another few squads, or a tank or two!

D.

[swifty2]

Nice work mate, they look really cool, its always good to see more fist players on the boards (we're defnitely growing). Are you planning on adding to the army?

[Marshal Caligula]

Really love fists. And I don't care what you think I really love your captain. If the fist logos on the banner are free hand then there just simply amazing. If not then excellent job the transfers look amazing Either way great job and can't wait to see more.

[tcraigen]

cool, nice clean paint jobs, beautiful eyes too A+

[Tybalt Andrus]

Are you planning on adding to the army?

Yeah, I plan on trying to alternate between these guys and my Inquisitor modelling for the foreseeable future. At the moment, I'm working on finishing off the second Assault Squad, and am going to be working on another Dreadnought. After that, I think I'll go back to the 54mm stuff for a while, then I'll come back to the Fists once again.

Next instalment, my third Tactical Squad - a six-man affair with meltagun. I put them together with legs from the assault sprue, and tend to use them as tank hunters and close support for one of my Assault Squads.

Tactical Squad III - Meltagun

You can see a detail shot here. As a transport, they tend to ride around in this Razorback, equipped with extra armour from Forge World:

Razorback transport - twin-linked Heavy Bolters and Extra Armour

You can see a detail shot of the driver here. I decided, purely for colour contrast reasons, that the crew of my tanks would wear armour coloured as though they spent at least part of their time in the Chapter Armouries, alongside the Techmarines. Yellow marines poppoing out of yellow tanks is just a bit to much!

However, saying that...

Next update in few days from now...

[swifty2]

Nice work mate, the squad look really cool and you've done a fantastic job on the rhino. I really like what you've dont with the tank commander aswell, I toyed with the idea for awile but I was never sure, but I always thought that the commander should stand out from his vehicle.

[Tybalt Andrus]

Nice work mate, the squad look really cool and you've done a fantastic job on the rhino. I really like what you've dont with the tank commander aswell, I toyed with the idea for awile but I was never sure, but I always thought that the commander should stand out from his vehicle.

I agree - the contrast looks good in my eyes.

The tanks are a bit of a nightmare, sometimes. Getting a passable yellow when the whole thing has a white undercoat is a problem, thanks to the large surfaces. I'm going to experiment with an Iyanden Darksun over Chaos Black approach the next time I do a tank. That worked nicely on my 54mm Fist, though the end colour is slightly different.

Will try to get some more photos up soon!

D.

[Ell]

Nicely painted models you got there! The Razorback looks brilliant! Looking forward for the next update.

~Ell~

[CaptainSenioris]

Everything is looking great Derek, marines don't necessarily need all the gubbinz that the sets come with currently.

I love that old captain model, I still have mine from years ago in Crimson fist colours, it's a great model and a great conversion.

I have to ask though, I can tell your razorback has transfers but are the fist symbols on the banners freehand or transfers?

[konrad]

Loving the fists Derek. Especially the Captain. The banner hand painted?

[Catferret]

It's been a while since I saw these guys. It's about time they got some new additions.

I'm also still waiting to see those new Inquisitor models you promised about a year back.

[Tybalt Andrus]

The banner hand painted?

Seeing as there have been a few questions about my banners, it's worth pointing out that they use Imperial Fist transfers where available, and I supplement that with painted details. Exitus Acta Probat, as the Vindicare Temple would say...

As for the Inquisitor models, they're coming after I do a bit more 28mm painting. Maybe...

[Marshal Caligula]

Ok fine we'll wait patiently for the Inquistor models

[Praexes]

Juicy yellow starburst?


Absolutely love the razorback. Nice job!

[Tybalt Andrus]

So, time for another picture update! This time around, I though you might like to the (so far only) Dreadnought supporting the 5th company...

Dreadnought with Assault Cannon and Heavy Flamer

There is a rear view here, showing all of the shiny metalwork. Another Dreadnought is near the top of the list of additions -trialling my alternative yellow technique - and then a third will be added, most likely a Venerable or an Ironclad, depending what the new Codex yields...

As an added extra, here's a small Scout Squad:

Scout Squad with Heavy Bolter, Bolt Pistols and Close Combat Weapons

Not a great picture - I promise that they all have eyes painted in in reality! Again, more Scouts may very well end up on the list, what with all of the shiny new Scout options coming out, but I expect them not to appear for quite a while yet.

Fire away!

[swifty2]

Nice dread mate, it looks really cool. The scouts look really cool too, they are really good in the new codex too.

[Catferret]

I see undrilled barrels there mister!

Looking good D. Are you sticking with metal Scouts or will you be buying some of the plastics? Aside from the heads they are pretty nice kits.

[konrad]

Ooh very nice Dread. Very smooth yellow. How many coats did you use?

[CaptainSenioris]

Whilst they look lovely I think the scouts are a bit too clean for my liking. If I ever do scouts again for my fists I'm probably going to dirty the armour and add camcream etc.

That's just my personal preference talking they do look excellent, as does the dreadnought.

[Tybalt Andrus]

I see undrilled barrels there mister!

Yes, I'm afraid that all of the barrels in this army are undrilled. It's a new craze, and I'm not down with the kids anymore...

As for the Scouts, if I were to buy more then I guess I'd go for the plastics, as I don't have very many metal ones left lying in the Bitz box. I'm not a fan of the heads either, but the rest of the options are pretty groovy. I fancied sniper rifles, but without the hitting on a 2+, and the upcoming BS decrease, I might think more about bolters. Maybe two squads are needed?

The yellow on the Dreadnought is, I believe, 2-3 nice thin coats of Golden Yellow over a Skull White undercoat. On the Scouts, maybe a bit of weathering would be an improvement, and one I might consider were I to go back and do them again. We shall see, if another squad ever materialises!