This week I’ve finished a Imperial Fists Legion Tactical Squad Vexilla, the first member of a new Tactical Squad. So far the miniatures completed for my Imperial Fists project have been Heavy or Support choices, so I thought it was about time to get started on some Troops!

Modelling

I enjoy a good back banner on a space marine, but I thought the vexilla might look better if it was held in the marine’s hand to help emphasise the ‘Roman Legion’ imagery. I also drew inspiration for the animated trailer for the second edition of The Horus Heresy, where Imperial Fists are briefly seen with a hand held vexilla (pictured below).

The vexilla pole is a 1mm metal rod drilled into the bottom of the plastic vexilla from the Legion MKVI Tactical Squad kit. The slung bolter and the left arm are from both from the Melee Weapons Upgrade Set. The LED helmet effects were created using the techniques in my LED Eye Lens tutorial exactly as described, including the specific choices of LED and resistor.

Painting

This miniature was painted using my standard Imperial Fists recipes as described in this post at the start of the project, plus the two new recipes listed below (this is the first time that ‘parchment’ has appeared on any miniatures in this project). All paints are Citadel Colour – or Warhammer Colour as it’s now known – unless stated otherwise:

• Parchment
• Rakarath Flesh basecoat
• Agrax Earthshade shade
• Pallid Flesh layer
• Skull White highlight
• Watered down Rhinox Hide for the text

• Burnished Gold (vexilla laurels)
• Retributor Gold basecoat
• Aggaros Dunes contrast
• Runefang Steel dot highlight

I debated whether to top the vexilla with the Imperial Fists Legion symbol or with the Legion numerals. The quote below from Liber Astartes eventually helped me decide.

Where the warriors of other Legions sought to apply personal iconography, stylised according to their own tastes, Imperial Fists were noted to apply their own Legion numeral, simply rendered in a consistent manner. This was based on no command dictate nor regulation, and seemed to be a preference demonstrated without duress.

Liber Astartes

The black stripe on the helmet was a late addition during the painting process. According to Liber Astartes, the Imperial Fists Legion commonly use the black stripe on a yellow helmet to indicate heavy support squads or artillery crews, which is why I’ve used it on previous miniatures in this project. But the plain yellow helmet just didn’t look finished – I think the MkVI helm really benefits from a stripe to help it ‘pop’ visually. So I’ve decided to carry the black stripe through all the MkVI equipped marines in this army project, regardless of unit type. Instead, battlefield role is indicated by the icon in the corner of the left pauldron – hence the ‘tactical arrow’ on this particular marine.

That’s all for this week, but I’ll be back soon with more Imperial Fists (hopefully more of the Tactical Squad unless I get distracted). As ever, 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. If you’re feeling inspired to get started on your own LED miniatures right away, you can by my recommended tools and consumables here.