STARTING AN IMPERIAL FISTS ARMY IN 11TH EDITION: HOLD THE WALL, MASTER THE YELLOW
The Imperial Fists are the Imperium's siege-masters, and yellow armour is their whole difficulty: a reputation as a trap for new painters that modern paints have quietly solved. This page covers the first box, Heavy Intercessors and Tor Garadon, and the Land Raider.
Yellow over white, never over black
Start with the current Space Marine Combat Patrol. Marine starters centre on Intercessors with a supporting character, and that is what you want, because your first job is learning the yellow. Build it up over a white or pale bone undercoat rather than black, and use washes to shade the recesses instead of fighting the colour itself. Paint five marines before you buy anything else. Once the scheme clicks it becomes one of the fastest in the game, every later box gets easier, and a finished Fists force turns heads in a way no other Space Marine chapter can match.
Heavy Intercessors, Aggressors, Tor Garadon
Heavy Intercessors are the soul of a Fists collection: the biggest, most stubborn infantry in the Marine range, the fortress-in-boots look the chapter is famous for. Add Aggressors if you want the wall to walk forward with intent. Then recruit Captain Tor Garadon, the chapter's signature modern character, whose signum array and power fist say everything about how the Fists fight: methodically, with something enormous and metal. Infantry-heavy is the point for this chapter. They are patient, unglamorous and immovable, a wonderful first army for anyone whose favourite phrase is "come and try it."
Recommended: Heavy Intercessor Squad
A large expanse of yellow plate
For the sons of Dorn the honest centrepiece is armour with tracks. A Land Raider remains the classic siege-breaker and one of the most satisfying large kits GW makes, while the bigger modern grav-tanks offer a sleeker alternative if you prefer the current silhouette. Either way, a large expanse of yellow armour plate is the proof you have mastered the scheme, and it anchors every army photo you ever take.
Dorn planned around accurate reports
Points and datasheets are new for 11th edition and starter boxes rotate with each edition. Check what the box holds today, and today's points, before you draft a list.
Build the actual walls later
- A second tank before the first has a single coat of yellow on it. Grey armour holds no walls.
- Devastator-style heavy squads in quadruplicate because a list-building article got excited.
- Any allied gimmick that dilutes the yellow. The wall of colour is the whole point of the Fists.
- Fortification kits, ironically. Paint the army first; build the walls later.
The Phalanx inventory
The Fists are the Imperium's great record-keepers and siege-auditors. Enter every kit when it comes in and mark its state without flattering yourself, boxed, built or finished: a built-but-grey squad is not a painted one. An honest ledger keeps a collection moving forward instead of merely growing, and the finished column advancing box by box is the siege you are fighting. The full roll of everything the chapter fields, from Scouts to the mightiest armour, is on the Imperial Fists faction page under Data.