Swat team : Imperial Fists

[brother tycho]

Fellow hobbyists. A space marine is nothing without his bolter, as a project is nothing without a theme. This hobby log’s theme is the space hulk / crusade / mortalis, and the Imperial Fist marines I wish to squander in securing of it.

I invoke these aforementioned words of power (space hulk et. al.) with caution and reverence, no true tenant of this sci-fi sub theme would do so lightly. I do so to tempt my fellow enthusiasts to show their hand and free their typing fingers on the subject.

The seed for this project is a tasty christmas gift (from myself to myself as is my custom) which I here submit, this 6 x 4 zone mortalis

To this I’m planning a companion army of an Imperial Fist boarding force, with a founding unit of breachers still on the workbench. This will be my first crack at painting yellow armour, so with my usual ignorance I’ve committed to a batch of 5 rather than a prototype – there’s always detol. An updated pic of this foundation unit to the force is imminent with a few days leave on the way J

I’ve started this hobby blog with the duel intents of motivating myself along on this project and secondly canvassing the thoughts of fellow hobbyists. And with that in mind, I’m keen to hear what your favourite themed unit is for zone-mortalis? What units would you send into the hulk? Is a power fist the preeminent weapon of an imperial fist seconded into a space hulk?

Cheers

[Rangaman]

Nice start! Chainfists and heavy flamers/combi-flamers would be my go-to setup on Terminators for anything ZM, they look great and are good to use in the confines of a space hulk!

[brother tycho]

First prototype fist up, don't ask what became of the aforementioned breacher sqd, lets just say my enthusiasm exceeded my abilities.

This one followed the underpainting then glaze approach, it was scary how much more entertaining painting one model at a time felt.

Feel like I'll do a few more one offs until I'm happy with the yellow and the procedure..

[Herald of Ultramar]

Looking good! That's a really nice yellow, care to share the recipe?

[brother tycho]

Looking good! That's a really nice yellow, care to share the recipe?

 

But it could be the catalyst to more imperial fists being fielded.. by all means! 

 

So I tried this..

 

Vallejo Iraqi sand + a tip of white, undercoat

Preshade with brown ink + liquitex matt medium (Vallejo skin wash, brown, then sepia inks), just recesses

Reapply Iraqi sand + a tip of white to clean up shading

Preheighlight Iraqi sand + white

Preheighlight white just edges

Wash Vallejo Amarillo Yellow + a tip of orange

Repeat highlighting and wash again

Edited December 31, 2016 by marcusc

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I love the way Mark 3 "Iron" armor looks, and anticipate seeing more.

[Bernard The slayer]

This looks awesome - Definitely a follow from me!

[cephalopod]

Never been a fan of pre heresy fists. The painting looks good however.

[Hrolf the Cunning]

Looks great man. Looking forward to seeing more. I like fists that are more brown>yellow> bone in shade than the red>orange>yellow look. In terms of ZM units: Cataphracti, breachers, flamer and melta special weapon squads, rapiers, dreads and lastly destroyers - after listening to the Distant Echoes of Old Night audiobook - although the VIIth is on the receiving end of it in that case. 

[Chaplain Raeven]

Wow, that's a great looking yellow!

[Ryltar Thamior]

I am frankly envious of anybody with the funds to put together a full 6'x4' Zone Mortalis board :P But more power to you for so doing!

Is that one of the Iron Warrior upgrades heads on the first fist on the left in the pic from your first post? If so, good choice - the long linear nose-covering seems an adroit suggestion of Germanic warriorness for a Fist. 

[hushrong]

That yellow is great so I may try to steal that. With the extra touches the marine looks like a grizzled Imperail Fist veteran who just walked out of good scrap. 

 

Also, that is a great gift you got from yourself. Hope to move up to that level of ZM terrain and away from using Space Hulk tiles.

[brother tycho]

Nice start! Chainfists and heavy flamers/combi-flamers would be my go-to setup on Terminators for anything ZM, they look great and are good to use in the confines of a space hulk!

Thanks for your thoughts Rangaman - agreed

 

I love the way Mark 3 "Iron" armor looks, and anticipate seeing more.

Yeah me too, he's mostly MKII bar MKIII gauntlets.  Thank you for the comment

 

This looks awesome - Definitely a follow from me!

Cheers Bernard - appreciated - totally the preferred fuel this painter runs 

 

Looks great man. Looking forward to seeing more. I like fists that are more brown>yellow> bone in shade than the red>orange>yellow look. In terms of ZM units: Cataphracti, breachers, flamer and melta special weapon squads, rapiers, dreads and lastly destroyers - after listening to the Distant Echoes of Old Night audiobook - although the VIIth is on the receiving end of it in that case. 

Cheers Hrolf, that will be taken into account in steering the build list.    Gee a Fist destroyers squad is a fun concept.  I'm thinking great excuse to bring down the weathering evy

 

Wow, that's a great looking yellow!

Cheers GreyRavenC, appreciated

 

I am frankly envious of anybody with the funds to put together a full 6'x4' Zone Mortalis board But more power to you for so doing!

 

Is that one of the Iron Warrior upgrades heads on the first fist on the left in the pic from your first post? If so, good choice - the long linear nose-covering seems an adroit suggestion of Germanic warriorness for a Fist. 

Good spot Ryltar, I too am partial to the Iron warriors martial minimalist kindof feel.  Keen to see how that helmet works out in fist colours.  What do you think of the helmets from prospero box (with circular perforated vents)?  I wont forget what that zone mortalis cost any time soon   I'm hoping this time next year when this project is realised it pushes the same buttons for me as that old space crusade boxed game from the ancient past

 

That yellow is great so I may try to steal that. With the extra touches the marine looks like a grizzled Imperail Fist veteran who just walked out of good scrap. 

 

Also, that is a great gift you got from yourself. Hope to move up to that level of ZM terrain and away from using Space Hulk tiles.

Sounds good, hope to see your results hushrong.  The gift certainly hit the spot, yeah I'd support you in considering it, hope you scored something memorable this year yourself.

 

Prototype 2 is on the workbench and an update post imminent, cheers for the motivation all

Edited January 4, 2017 by marcusc

[hushrong]

Looking forward to the next marine! 

 

That yellow is great so I may try to steal that. With the extra touches the marine looks like a grizzled Imperail Fist veteran who just walked out of good scrap. 

 

Also, that is a great gift you got from yourself. Hope to move up to that level of ZM terrain and away from using Space Hulk tiles.

Sounds good, hope to see your results hushrong.  The gift certainly hit the spot, yeah I'd support you in considering it, hope you scored something memorable this year yourself.

I'd love to rebuild my IF army and that painting technique would make them look way better than my first iteration. One day it will happen but for now I need a good yellow for some hazard chevrons...for some other guys.

 

I do like the board and the price for it isn't terrible but I start to daydream about all the other things I would want for that much money instead. That is why it takes me forever to make up my mind on finalizing a FW sshopping cart. Hopefully one day I will be lucky enough to play on the actual ZM board. I am actually looking at my racecar/AR15 fund now to siphon some cash...

[brother tycho]

WIP of the second legionary...

Tried tweaking the recipe a little, this time I sprayed on a reverse zenithal shade of vg green brown, and switched over to gw lahmian medium for the brown ink pin lining. Still used yellow ink with a dash of orange, kind of egg yoke, think battery hen, hold on the free roaming option. Happier with the yellow, which is rather a premise to this hobbyists legion ambitions. Still to receive oil washes, powders and decals, but I'm going to shelve those in preference to breaking out the batch painting approach and do em all at once

[Morngrym]

Very nice, now following the thread!  I missed this when you first posted it, but enjoying it now.  We don't see enough Imperial Fists around here in my opinion, so hopefully your army will continue to expand as time goes by.

[Pearson73]

Yellow's looking good.

[Soldier of Dorn]

Only taken a once over so far, but:

++​DORN APPROVES++

Great work so far, keep it up!

Edited January 6, 2017 by The Psycho

[hushrong]

Oh ho ho! That new yellow looks good and makes the other marine look like he had been in the sun too long. I still like that earlier attempt but the new recipe definitely catches the eye more!

[brother tycho]

Had to down paintbrushes for a week to bring up more tactical stock for the next batch. When I get into the painting zone and run out of ready-to-eat-models eh. They're no conversion buffet, but here is the face of the squad to come..

On the table these are intended as fodder, a tactical unit amongst many, stock poses seemed ok. Got to use up a few fist torso's and Kromlech running legs.

[brother tycho]

What follows was heavily implicated in the retirement of two Raphael series 8404 kolinsky brushes, and required near abstinence from the Xbox for this slow painter to turn around in three weeks..

A pretty good time had painting the squad up. I had Hushrong's comment in mind when I decided to spread the weathering on a bit thicker. I'm on the fence about the lenses glow effect and possibly less orange tones for the next batch. I'm budgeting a week now to down brushes and get a fairly ambitious next batch of 20 breachers modelled up, thanks to my big mouth aka loyalty and treachery event vow.

[Magos Kasen]

Awesome looking FIsts! That's a really nice yellow and the battle damage is just right. Keen to see the finished board as well!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job.

[Brother Pheidias]

It's beautiful!

[hushrong]

Oh yeah! Those look like hard bastards that could defend the walls of Terra.