Imperial Fists - 1500

So in the future I am going to attempt a project that I have been wanting to do since I got into Warhammer. I have always liked both the look and lore of the Imperial Fists. Before I get to far ahead of myself I first want to bounce some list ideas off of the brilliant tacticians here.

HQ - Pedro Kantor (counts as Chapter Master Vladimir Pugh) - Warlord & Chapter Tactics/Hold the Line = 175

HQ - Darnath Lysander = 200

Troops - Tactical Squad x10 - Multi-Melta, Meltagun, Sergeant w/ combi-melta; Drop Pod = 220

Troops - Tactical Squad x10 - Multi-Melta, Plasma Gun = 180

Elites - Sternguard x10 - 3x Combi-Plasma; Drop Pod = 300

Elites - Sternguard x10 - 4x Combit-Melta; Drop Pod = 305

Heavy S. - Predator - Lascannon Sponsons = 120

Total = 1500

Lysander rides with the plasma sternguard squad to provide bolter drill and soak fire against them. Depending on the situation the other Sternguard squad combat squads half to a melta-assassination squad and the other half either shares the drop pod or is deployed normally. Pedro will mostly end up chilling with the Tactical Squads and possibly firing off the orbital bombardment if there is a safe spot to drop it.

Now I am not terribly sold on the Predator. I included it as the default option I might go with. The other thoughts I had were: Aegis Defence Line with Icarus Cannon for Pedro; Stormtalon; Scout Bikers w/ Locator Beacon.

Now I know I am going to collect Imperial Fists and probably quite a lot more than this, but I thought I would start with a core of a playable army. My other concern is that I am not that keen on the Sternguard models GW makes. Would people be against heavily converted "Tactical Marines"? Or should I just suck it up and attempt to make the Sternguard models to my liking (which will be a pain since it is either Finecast, or Metal, neither of which I have any experience converting).

Can you massage the points to have an ironclad arrive by drop pod?

HeIt would require a lot of massaging. Ironclad +,.pod is 170 ish.

No prob with tact with bling. Give them the vet squad decals and some purity seals. Done.

for the converting, finecast cuts almost easier than plastic most of the time. but then there's the price of buying those guys in packs of 5 costs more than a 40 man pack. take a peak at Anvil Industry and see if he has the bitz you want. a fully blinged out squad using his combo-ordering kits is cheaper than 2 sternguard boxes. he doesnt have a combi-bolter yet, but that's slated for early 2013. just note his guns are longer than GW bolters, so if you want the guns as short as theirs, buy the 'carbine' variant of whichever rifle style you choose.

Kantor makes Sternguard troops? Or am I confused?

Lore Weaver wrote:Can you massage the points to have an ironclad arrive by drop pod?

If I add another drop pod then it goes to 2 on the assault turn one and 2 in reserve. I am a little worried with leaving that many points in reserve for potentially several turns. I suppose I could removed the drop pod from the first Tactical Squad and lose the Predator and one combi-plasma for the Ironclad. I dunno if I would like it though. One dread is somewhat of an easy target. I suppose it would open my options for what I want to come down in my primary wave. Is there a reason why a Ironclad is better than a Predator? Or better than either the Stormtalon or Scout Bikers?

Well all my marines are going to have the Imperial/Crimson Fist shoulder pad and possibly the Squad Shoulder pad bits from GW. (does the Den do direct GW bitz orders?) So to redo the entire shoulder pads for either metal or resin I am not really looking forward to. I am going to do a lot of extra work on the Sternguard so that it is obvious that they are not Tactical Marines. I haven't decided if I want to convert or third party purchase my combi-weapons. Chapterhouse does a neat combi-weapon bit that magnetizes the extra weapon portion allowing for quick keeping track during the game and swapping of lists.

Kantor makes Sternguard Scoring.

I like the list as is, actually. The Ironclad is just me liking AV13 dropping in :-)

Sternguard in Drop pods are ahmazing

if you ask for them, he'll order it. i have a couple sets of CF kits here, they've been painted in CF colors, if you want them. dont have any of the molded squad marking pads though

Painting that bright yellow can be a challenge.

Lore Weaver wrote:Kantor makes Sternguard troops? Or am I confused?

Not troops, just makes them scoring.
And not just your main stern either... If you take Blood Angel allies as example, even their sternguards become scoring too...

dusktiger wrote:if you ask for them, he'll order it. i have a couple sets of CF kits here, they've been painted in CF colors, if you want them. dont have any of the molded squad marking pads though

If they are the fist with a circle I would defiantly be interested in trading cash/ bits for them. If they are the ones with the studs I would have to see them first.

Also for painting cheryl is going to let me have an airbrush area and the fixings to start for Xmas. Some BT marines are going to volunteer for learning duty, lol.

Its your army. its your hobby, as long as the models are representative, i cant see anyone calling you on it.
If your tactical squad is standing next to your vets and they are decipher ably different, i'm happy.

FYI, I believe the newer CF pad and the older tactical/vet pads are different sizes.

Roland wrote:FYI, I believe the newer CF pad and the older tactical/vet pads are different sizes.

Rats. I'll have to get a set and have a look.

they are smaller. it's...not 'terribly' noticable, but if you place the two side by side on your desk, you'll see one is a little smaller. IIRC, chapterhouse makes ones that are more to scale, and he makes them with optional squad numbers in roman numeral form indented into the tactical arrows if you want that as well. if not he has plain arrows too.

the CF kits i have are the tactical and assault squad ones. think i have 2 tactical, and 1 or 2 assault, i'd have to check. i also have most of the command set too. those all came with backpacks, and some beaky heads with fists on the foreheads. you can pm me details bout when/where you wanna get them and whatever you feel is a reasonable price for them is fine; they have been painted blue afterall for the most part. think a few backpacks are still untouched pewter.

dusktiger wrote:IIRC, chapterhouse makes ones that are more to scale, and he makes them with optional squad numbers in roman numeral form indented into the tactical arrows if you want that as well. if not he has plain arrows too.

Off topic, but based on the judgement issued the other day, it looks like GW has IP on shoulder pads, so they may not be long for the world.

Yea. If those should pads don't match up well I'm going to have a sad face. Maybe I'll try and scoop up the chapter house ones before they can them.

Blah, the shoulder pads are not the same size from the two sets. Seriously not pleased. I dunno if anyone would actually notice the fact that they are not the same size unless you look closely, but still. For them not to put that in the comments of the kits really bothers me.