Imperial Fists for Iannick

Defenders of the cabin! VII Legion Veteran Tactical Squad

There are some fantastic people out there in this hobby, and Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has afforded me the opportunity to connect with a number of them over the years.  Iannick M is one such person. During this most recent edition of the Painting Challenge he provided me with a great deal of information, guidance and some figures for a project I have simmering in my vast "pending pile" - an Oldhammer project I hope to get started on more fulsomely in the fall.

Iannick was kind enough to send along a number of figures to help this project along, and agreed that we would figure out the payment later. Figures now, with consequences later - the wargamer's dream! To thank Iannick, I offered to paint him some figures if he liked.  He thought it over, and we settled on a squad of 28mm Horus Heresy-era Marines in Mark IV armour.  He gave me a choice between four different loyalist legions - the Blood Angels, the White Scars, the Salamanders and the Imperial Fists.  He asked that I make a choice, but he wanted to be surprised - sounded like fun to me!

Veteran Sergeant ready for battle

I used the new "urban" bases from GW as an experiment - they were kind of neat, I might try this out with some of my own figures.

So here are the figures that I painted for Iannick. As you can see, they are from the VII Legion, the Imperial Fists.

There were a few reasons I chose this Legion from the options Iannick requested.  The Imperial Fists are one of the coolest Legions (you know, for loyalists). Where the Ultramarines run around getting trapped and ambushed and dreaming up committees and flat tax proposals, the Imperial Fists do real fighting, get real results, and don't need daily affirmation. Story-wise, they were present for the Siege of Terra, which to my mind is THE penultimate setting for 30k.

Love the custom helmets Forge World did for the VII Legion

Holstered bolt pistols on the right hips, backup weapons for close action.

Plus, that yellow looks really cool! I have painted many Imperial Fists for my Epic 30k forces, but the few 28mm test models I have attempted over the years were less-than-inspiring. As such, I went elsewhere to try some loyalists, opting for Raven Guard.  But Iannick's little challenge got me wondering if just one more attempt might find success, so I went for the Imperial Fists to see if I could pull off the yellow without using witchcraft (i.e. white base coats or airbrushes). The VII Legion it would be...

The "shark fin" missile launcher - a brilliant touch from GW

A useful and flexible weapon, particularly in the 8th edition of the rules

This is a 10-man Veteran Tactical Squad with a missile launcher and melta gun.  The Sergeant has a plasma pistol and lightning claws.  The figures are plastic multi part plastic from GW Mark IV Space Marine kits, but the squad has some enhancements from Forge World, namely custom shoulder pauldrons and heads, and a fancy torso for the officer. I also tried out some new bases from GW - these are the "urban" bases.  I'm generally skeptical of "terrained" bases, but these look pretty sharp.  I might look to try these on some of my own figures. 

Melta gun to assist with "home cooking"...

A couple more of the regular veteran grunts.

I finished these fellows at our cabin near Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, and shipped them off last week. I was pleased with the results, but more importantly, Iannick likes them, which is what matters, so I'm glad it all worked out! 

VII Legion units mustering near Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior before boarding a drop pod that would take them further east...

Part of the fun of this for me is spreading the passion for Horus Heresy gaming to new folks (Byron might call this "corrupting" but I like to take a more optimistic angle).  Hopefully Iannick will tilt ever further down the slippery slope of 28mm Heresy gaming...right now he's at the "just a small force stage"...let's see how long that holds...