This week I’m looking at the start of a new project – Imperial Fists in the Age of Darkness! I’ve had various iterations of Horus Heresy Imperial Fists armies over the years (plus Golden Demon projects), most of them heavily converted with resin and incorporating some of my early LED experiments. However, besides individual display pieces, this is a theme that I haven’t touched since around 2019, although I’ve long promised myself yet another Imperial Fists full army reboot with modern plastics.

Earlier this year, as we started to hear rumours about a third edition of the Age of Darkness rule set, interest in Horus Heresy gaming began to grow in my games group. So I decided this was the perfect time to start planning this project. Since then we’ve seen the preview of the Saturnine box, which has only stoked interest further.

The First 500 Points

A few weeks ago I planned out and purchased the first 500 points of this new force, as set out below. My favourite armour mark is MkVI (as long-time readers will know) and thankfully these were readily available. This force is based on the Age of Darkness second edition army list, since at this stage we don’t know what the new points costs will be. But I can’t imagine they will change dramatically.

• Centurion (Castellan Consul)
• 10 Tactical Marines
• 10 Tactical Marines
• 5 Heavy Support Marines (Autocannons)

This is my initial plan. After that, well, we’ll see what’s in the new Liber Astartes! But I am looking forward to getting my hands on the Saturnine Terminators…

In terms of lore, I’m picturing a force that initially remained behind with Dorn on Terra and so weren’t part of the Retribution Fleet at Phall. But after news of the Dropsite Massacre spread they were then sent out far and wide within Segmentum Solar to assist in battles like Mars, Cthonia, Beta-Garmon, and generally shoring-up the defences along the road to Terra.

Heavy Support Sergeant

I started with a Heavy Support squad on the reasoning that they were likely to be deployed at the back of the board, so this was the perfect place to get back into my stride with painting yellow. The LED effects on this miniature were created using the techniques exactly as described in my LED Eye Lens tutorial.

The pointing left hand is the open left hand from the Legion Melee Weapons Upgrade Set, but with the lower fingers bent into a closed position and the gaps re-sculpted with modelling putty. Using this hand meant that I needed to cut the sculpted hand from the upper handle on the autocannon and replace it with a short length of plastic rod.

I wanted the sergeant to be posed as though directing his squad towards their target, while the other marines in the squad will be in more traditional firing positions.

Painting Imperial Fists in the Age of Darkness

If I have a bad habit as a painter, it’s that I have to always try and apply my highest standard to every miniature I paint. This isn’t necessarily compatible with painting the 50 – 70 infantry miniatures that you might expect to see in an Age of Darkness army. The recipes below represent a compromise that I’ve settled on between a high standard, and a technique that won’t take forever.

The miniature was undercoated with Colour Forge ‘Sunset Yellow’ spray. All other paints are Citadel unless specified otherwise.

• Yellow Armour
• Yriel Yellow layer (2-3 thin coats)
• Casandora Yellow shade
• Fuegan Orange shade in deeper recesses
• Flash Gitz Yellow fine highlight
• Dorn Yellow fine highlight
• White Scar dot highlight on sharp corners

• Black Armour & Gun Casings
• Chaos Black basecoat
• Eshin Grey highlight
• Dawnstone fine highlight
• Administratum Grey dot highlight on sharp corners

• Black Under Suit
• Corvus Black basecoat
• Eshin Grey highlight

• Silver Metallics
• Leadbelcher basecoat
• Nuln Oil shade
• Runefang Silver highlight

• Gold Metallics
• Retributor Armour basecoat
• Agrax Earthshade shade
• Runefang Silver highlight

• Brown Leather
• 50:50 Rhinox Hide:Doombull Brown basecoat
• Nuln Oil shade
• Doombull Brown highlight
• Skrag Brown fine highlight
• Karak Stone fine highlight on corners

• Armour Chipping
• Rhinox Hide applied with sponge
• Flash Gitz Yellow fine highlight under chip
• Dorn Yellow fine highlight under chip

• Freehand Insignia
• Corvus Black layer
• Imperial Fists Yellow thin glaze

• Decals
• Ardcoat gloss varnish basecoat
• Coat area in Micro Set
• Apply decal and allow to dry
• Coat decal in Micro Sol, brushing outwards
• Lahmian Medium layer
• Imperial Fists Yellow thin glaze

• Martian Earth (base)
• Mournfang Brown basecoat
• Martian Ironearth technical paint
• Jokareo Orange drybrush
• Lugganath Orange drybrush
• Doombull Brown glaze on miniature’s feet and ankles
• Tuskgor Fur glaze on miniature’s feet, ankles and shins

• Rocks (base)
• Mournfang Brown basecoat
• Reikland Fleshshade shade
• Jokareo Orange drybrush
• Lugganath Orange drybrush

• Skull (base)
• Wraithbone basecoat
• Skeleton Horde contrast
• Ushabti Bone glaze on raised areas
• Screaming Skull dot highlight

• Grass (base)
• Mordian Corpsegrass Tufts
• Reikland Fleshshade in base of tuft
• Ushabti Bone drybrush to tuft
• Screaming Skull drybrush to top of tuft

That’s all for today. I do have quite a few miniatures for this project at various stages on my workbench, so hopefully it won’t be too long before my next update. Thanks very much for reading, and please remember you can also find me sharing my work on Instagram, Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon. Or if you prefer you can subscribe to my website by entering your email in the box below to receive updates whenever I post a new blog article or tutorial.