Heresy-era Imperial Fists & Iron Knights

[pattison]

Hello fellow power armour addicts,

 

this thread is going to share the transformation of my army from "regular" Imperial Fists to heresy-era Imperial Fists accompanied by their not too known successors, the Iron Knights.

 

I've collected and played an Imperial Fist army in the last 2 years. They're my first and most beloved army, and we've been through a lot of battles together. :D

But the more I read about them the less I can accept their horrible close combat capability in-game.

I mean most of the citates from Rhaetoricus are odes to the sword and how rare it is to see a Fist going into battle without one... then I look at my army and see none.

Unquestionable firepower is an important part of an IF army of course, but I still needed them to have bottles.

 

So I decided to transport them back in time and return to the orthodox way of being an Imperial Fist.

I realized that the way of the Black Templars represents how I imagine the Imperial Fists much better.

Not to mention that a lot of "pre-heresy" conversions I see are pure coolness.

 

The secret child of mine is the Iron Knights. I've always wanted to build them into my force somehow, so I've painted a squad of assault marines in IK colours... almost never used them sadly, as they underperformed.

Now they have the chance to reborn as part of my new-old army.

All we basically know about them (officially) is that they're IF successors (tick!) and that they're pretty good at fighting with a sword (tick!).

In my own expansion of the story they were chosen from the best swordfighters of the Imperial Fists as an honour to continue the original traditions of the Imperial Fist way of combat.

The Black Templars were spread out in the universe on a never ending crusade but Dorn wanted a chapter elite in hand to hand combat closer to his, keeping up the headstrong attitude, while the Imperial Fists could function accordingly to the new Astartes guidelines...

The story could go on, but I think you might have an idea about my idea now. :)

 

I'll have to warn all pre-heresy specialists that not all of my figures will be of "pure pre-heresy" components for three reasons: first, I didn't want to scrap my whole army for this change, second, my goal is more like an old-school feel and smell to them, and the third is that they're not a pre-heresy army, but a "short after the heresy" army. :)

So some of the miniatures posted here are from my original army, some of them are newly built and some will be slightly modified.

 

All in all: Enjoy, and don't hesitate to comment! ;)

 

Cheers,

pattison

[pattison]

So let's start with some WIP shots of the first half of my Terminator Assault Squad!

As you can see it's basecoated white, and there are some black patches on it.

There will be boltgun painted over those (not entirely) then I'll cover them with liquid gum mask. I use this method to create battle damage for vehicles and larger infantry models.

After the masking I'll apply the yellow basecoat and everything else.

I've replaced the original hammer heads with maxmini hammers, so as the shoulder pads, while the head is from a chaos warrior, and the icon on the shield is from the old GW metal set.

Side view of the same mini.

Another member of the squad, one of my favs.

A better view of the hammer and the shoulder guard (I checked the hammer and it's not bent, it's just the background that makes it look like that).

A better view of this great type of base (it's from the internets, sorry I don't remember the sculptor). I think this "celtic ruin" type fits well with the heresy-era style.

I really dig this hammer head. :)

Rear view of my "sarge" model, bulky boy. ;)

Next is a preview of my converted Emperor's Champion, he'll be an Iron Knight.

Before basecoating:

The flipped shoulder pad idea is not mine, I've seen it here somewhere in the forums. :) The rest is my own kitbashing idea, I think it's pretty heroic. :)

On the pictures above the torso hasn't been glued to the legs yet, and somehow I'm more satisfied with the positioning of it that way compared to the glued result (you're always more restricted with the position when there is no bluetac ball between the 2 parts...).

So after the 1st basecoat (the head is not fixed yet, and I can change any angles if needed as I've only used tiny drops of superglue, so it's easy to break):

Let me know your impressions / suggestions!

Cheers,

p

[Dejay]

These are awesome.

 

On the Emperors Champion, you have two flat circle shapes above the wings, are you going to do anything with them? A chapter symbol perhaps?

[Astrum Vinco]

I am stealing that flipped shoulder pad idea, it looks so goood! B)

[pattison]

On the Emperors Champion, you have two flat circle shapes above the wings, are you going to do anything with them? A chapter symbol perhaps?

 

You bet! ;)

In my fluff for the Iron Knights they have a slavic kind of background, so even if their chapter logo is the cross crosslet (beautiful symbol IMHO), I use the so called kolovrat (an ancient slavic charm) as a secondary symbol for them.

While the cross crosslet is a christian singn, the kolovrat is pagan, and the duality of these two will represent the duality of the Iron Knights (purity and junker-like knigthood of the Imperial Fists and the feral nature of the planet's culture where the Iron Knights are recruited from).

The shield on the chest of the Champ will display the cross crosslet, while the shoulder pads will have kolovrats on them.

Glad you like the conversion! B)