IV Legion: The Iron Warriors, sons of Perturabo

What started out as a project to give my Imperial Fists an enemy to fight has grown into one of my favorite armies.

This army is mostly modern oriented, though it can play in 2nd edition.  I am not generally a fan of the Chaos Space Marines aesthetic, so I stuck with more of a Horus Heresy kind of feel for this army.  I can also play it as a standard Space Marine army (just without the Daemon Prince!).

I've played Warhammer 40,000 in every single edition and it's only been in the last couple years of gaming that I ever felt interested in playing any Traitor Legions.  I credit the Horus Heresy books, specifically "Angel Exterminatus" by Graham MacNeil, for making the bad guys seem interesting.

It helps that the IV Legion hates the VII Legion.  The Imperial Fists are hands down my favorite Space Marine Legion and Chapter so having an army they can square off against is really cool.

Overhead shot of my current Iron Warriors army.

Lower angle shot showing the whole army.

The Rhinos have all been purchased used and rebuilt for this army.

The original Commander of this army on the left along with the Dark Apostle.  To the far right is a scratch built Apothecary (if I choose to run this as a standard Space Marine Army) who counts as an Exalted Champion.

The Contemptor counts as a Hellbrute, sadly.  He doesn't get fielded often.

Havocs standing ready with their Heavy Bolters.

A mere two weeks ago this tank was in horrible repair and painted dark blue.  I restored it and granted it immortality as part of my Iron Warriors.  Check out the process here:

https://nopeaceamongstthestars.blogspot.com/2020/01/in-which-i-recover-and-rebuild-2nd.html

1st Squad and their Rhino transport.

Cataphractii Terminators just look really good as Iron Warriors.

This Vindicator was originally in my Dark Angels army, it fits better with the Iron Warriors.

This was my army as of two weeks ago.  I added quite a bit in a short time.

My Daemon Prince along with 1st Squad and their Rhino.

I like my Apothecary/Exalted Champion.  Next to him is a Lt/Exalted Champion.

2nd Squad and their Rhino.

The rebuilt Predator looks right at home with this army.  Very happy with how well it turned out.

Squad 2 and their Rhino here.

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The Predator and Vindicator really bring a lot of firepower to the army.  I like how many tanks I was able to get into this army.

The Dark Apostle and Dark Disciples were originally meant for a Black Legion army I decided to trade away before doing any work on.  I forgot I had this kit and decided to throw it into the Iron Warriors.

The last unit I painted for this army (for now).  The Tartaros Terminators also lend themselves very well to the Iron Warriors look and I'm looking forward to getting to play them.

3rd Squad and their Rhino.

VII Legion: The Imperial Fists, sons of Rogal Dorn

My Imperial Fists army also has units from different eras.  It's designed to be playable in 2nd and 8th editions.

This is anther army I've added to recently.  At the time this photo was taken I had a significant portion of the 3rd Company painted along with some 1st Company Veterans and 10th Company Scouts.

This Dreadnought is one of the original metal Dreadnoughts produced at the very tail end of 2nd edition and into 3rd edition.  It's very solid and initially I put it in this army as an afterthought more than anything else.  I had sold stuff that worked in 7th edition and only kept parts that could be played in 2nd edition.  For all that I think that it has a lot of character.

8th edition reinvigorated my appreciation of Modern 40K and Tor Garadon's model was no exception to that. 

This Rhino was initially slated to be part of my Crimson Fists army.  I never got around to finishing it because I couldn't find the left front armor panel (which includes the headlight).  I decided that my Imperial Fists army needed at least one Rhino and here is where it ended up.

The Heavy Support section of this army was built around a 2nd/3rd edition Predator and a full Devastator Squad.

I've picked up two separate sets of 2nd Edition 40K in the past few years.  The first was complete, the second was missing models.  I used the one full Tactical Squad here so that I could play 2nd ed with style.

The original core of the army was the two Tactical Squads with Heavy Bolters.  Very iconic.  I went with the Dark Angels Tactical insignia on these marines because I felt it looked cool on the yellow shoulder pads.

I really need to go back and do some weathering on this tank to bring it in line with the Rhino.  

I have a fair few character models for this army, though the Librarian here was reassigned to my Raven Guard yesterday (1/29/20), LOL.  

Garadon in all his glory.

This army features models from all eras of play.  The Scouts here are all 1st/2nd edition models, note the Scout with Shuriken Catapult in the back there.  He "counts as" a sniper for this squad.

Veterans of the Imperial Fists, including a squad of 2nd edition Terminators, the Dreadnought, and a squad of Sternguard Veterans.  The Sternguard are equipped with old Death Watch metal boltguns to show that they're Special Issue Bolters.  I realized later that I'd painted the helmets and trim wrong on the Sternguard who now have proper white helmets with silver trim on their shoulder pads.

After adding Tor Garadon I decided to put some more Primaris marines in my Imperial Fists army.  Here are the Phobos Armor Librarian and Phobos Armor Lieutenant.  I realized only recently that I painted the Librarian incorrectly.  He's been corrected and now wears the appropriate blue armor of a Librarian with the golden yellow left shoulder pad.

Rounding out the Phobos Armored trio is this Captain.

I want to add a second unit of Eliminators to this army, which will carry the Las-Fusils.  These Sniper Bolt Rifles do work well with the Imperial Fists, though, and look striking in the golden yellow color scheme.

Possibly the best Primaris Troops choice for Imperial Fists.  Their Marksmen Bolt Guns work very well with the Imperial Fists Chapter Traits.  Rolling a 6 to hit not only automatically wounds, due to the Chapter Trait it generates a second hit!

I can't say enough about the Infiltrators.  I modified the original Helix Adept into a Comms Array so that they can operate far away from their Captain and Lieutenant.  I also grew to like the Infiltrator using the smoke grenade here, so I made him the Sergeant.

I was fortunate to be able to get a pristine, still in the shrink wrap box of Assault Marines from 2nd edition through eBay.  They add a much needed fast attack unit.

I decided to use the double Power Fist marine as a Captain and I added a Jump Pack Lieutenant to accompany the Assault Squad into battle.

I added this Techmarine, another 1st edition model, to the army so that I could legally field the Dreadnought, Predator, and Rhino in my 2nd edition games.

I bought about nine of the Space Marine Heroes models here in the US.  They were blind boxes and this guy was the super rare for the set.  I was pretty stoked to get him and since I used some of the other models as Imperial Fists I decided to use him as one as well.

I was able to make a 5 man Tactical Squad out of the rest of the Space Marine Heroes models that I had which weren't duplicates.  This squad has a lot of character to it.

I recently added the Apothecary and took this group shot.  As noted before I later reassigned the Librarian.

XIII Legion: The Ultramarines, sons of Robute Guilliman

There are a lot of models from different eras of play here.  I was not interested in the Ultramarines very much until Guilliman was brought out as a playable model.  I've grown to really enjoy this Chapter quite a bit and their colors are fun to paint.

I didn't start collecting or painting Ultramarines for myself until they released the Guilliman model.  8th edition followed shortly after that and I found myself painting up new Primaris Space Marines, starting with the contents of two sets of "Dark Millenium".  Here is the main core of the army.

Primaris Captain.  I left the cape off.

I wanted the Primaris Ancient's banner to really pop so I outlined it in the 2nd Company color of yellow.

I like the Primaris Librarian, I do wish he had more options, like a staff or axe.  The cloak is fun to paint and gives you a space to add a splash of contrasting color to the blue.  I chose red for most of the cloaks, rather than the yellow I initially used on the Gravis Captain.

Gravis Captain. I liked the checker board decals that came with Dark Millenium.

The Primaris Chaplain, like most Primaris characters, doesn't have a lot of options but he really looks imposing and his Crozius Arcanum is awesome.

Marneus Calgar has gone through many incarnations, some of which are in my collection.  I like the new sculpt quite a lot.

Suppressors from "Shadowspear".  I like their mobility and they work well in Ultramarines with their special Tactical Doctrine benefits.

I was NOT a fan of the original base for the Primaris Apothecary.  He is sold standing on the chest of a Primaris Space Marine that he has just harvested Progenoid Glands from.  To me, that's really disrespectful and doesn't fit with how the Space Marines would operate.  These are beings who will fight to recover the bodies of their dead, to have their medics, of all people, be depicted that way was really off-putting for me.  I used Green Stuff to sculpt up a rock for him to stand on instead.

I enjoyed building and painting up the Repulsor.  It's a center piece for the army as a whole and aside from Guilliman himself, it draws a lot of attention.

I was going to field ten of these guys but ended up reassigning the other five to my Raven Guard, which I started to work on in earnest once the initial build and paint for the Ultramarines was winding down.

I still struggle to find a good place in my lists for Reivers.  They just seem to be missing something to make them a harder decision when it comes to whether or not to include them.

I did not like the acrylic flight stands that came with the Inceptors so I modeled them taking off rather than in mid flight.  I did a similar thing with the Suppressors.

On the left we have the newest version of Marneus Calgar.  On the right we have the version that came out in 2nd Edition.  I have them both painted up because part of this army is compatible with 2nd edition.  This is partly scale creep and partly scale correction for Space Marines.  It's still funny to see them side by side like this.  You can see the 1st edition Rhino there on the far right.  I'll need to get a good shot of it to add later.

Eliminators are quickly becoming a favorite unit of mine.  These hail from the Shadowspear box set and work well in Ultramarines because they benefit from both the Devastator Doctrine and the Ultramarines special Tactical Doctrine rules which lets them stay mobile.

I recently reassigned this Phobos Armor Librarian to my Raven Guard. I will be adding a new one to the Ultramarines eventually, though.  The Phobos Armor Captain is also a favorite of mine.

This Lieutenant can only be purchased at conventions.  I picked him up last year at Adepticon.  I'm very happy with how he turned out.  He has a lot of character.

Rounding out the stable of Lieutenants, I have both from the Dark Millenium Box, the "Wake the Dead" Lieutenant, and the Phobos Armor Lieutenant.  That's five Lieutenants for this army.

The Victrix Honor Guard are pretty useful and were fun to paint.  They really add a lot to the look of the army when they're fielded.

I have two units of 2nd Edition Terminators for this army, both with Cyclone Missile Launchers.  I love how they turned out and they're a staple of my 2nd edition lists.

This Tactical Squad is from the 4th Edition starter box "Battle for Macragge".  They're totally compatible with both 2nd and Modern era 40K.

I love Calgar in 2nd edition because he has a Strategy Rating of 6.  This means that Orks can't just always go first against him...

...especially with this Attack Bike which is clearly upgraded for Recon!

I always loved the original bikes with their axle mounted Bolt Guns and their really sketchy side cars.

In case I don't want to use the Techmarine Trike but want to field vehicles, I also have this amazing Rogue Trader Era Techmarine on foot.

Here's the very first Marneus Calgar model in all his glory!