Category: Age of Darkness 3e

Imperial Fists Legion Tactical Squad Vexilla

On By Chris B.In Age of Darkness 3e, Horus Heresy, Imperial Fists, LEDs, Space MarinesLeave a comment

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.

Imperial Fists Quad Heavy Bolter Rapier

On By Chris B.In Age of Darkness 3e, Horus Heresy, Imperial Fists, LEDs, Space MarinesLeave a comment

This week I’ve finished a Quad Heavy Bolter Rapier as part of my Imperial Fists in the Age of Darkness project. I haven’t managed to find much hobby time so far in 2026, so it’s satisfying to tick another Imperial Fist unit off the list. Some might argue that the Quad Heavy Bolters aren’t the best option on the tabletop, but I just love the brutal look of this unit! Ever since the plastic version of this miniature was released last year, I just knew I had to give it the LED treatment.

Modelling & Painting

My goal for these LED effects was to give the impression of the Rapier blazing away on full auto. The LED heavy bolter muzzle effects use the techniques outlined in my LED Simple Muzzle Flare tutorial, except that instead of the yellow 0805 SMD used for the muzzle flare in the tutorial, I used a larger TruOpto OSHR7331A-KL 1.8mm Yellow LEDs and 20 ohm resistors. I chose this LED to make the heavy bolter muzzle flare larger and more impressive than a bolter muzzle flare, which is what the tutorial is focused on. The four LEDs are connected in parallel in the circuit. The muzzle flares are created using acrylic gel from Green Stuff World, as detailed in the tutorial.

The switch and CR2032 coin cell battery are concealed underneath the base. The heavy bolter is attached to the carriage using IC sockets, which stack into each other to create an electrical connection (see images above). This is to allow the weapon to be swapped out for other Rapier weapon options with their own LED effects. IC sockets are often manufactured in long rows or squares, but you can easily cut into smaller groups with a craft knife. I also used IC sockets for my marines with swappable LED helmets. IC sockets are available on Amazon here or from electronic component suppliers like RS here.

The resistors are hidden in the heavy bolter rather than the base with the battery and switch (see images above). This is because the resistors are chosen based on the specification of the LEDs, so if different weapon options have different LEDs then they will need different resistors, which is why the resistors have to be removed from the circuit with their respective weapons.

The Rapier carriage was painted using my standard Imperial Fists recipes as described in this post at the start of the project. The modelling and painting of the crew was covered with in this previous post.

That’s all for today, but I’ll be back soon with more Imperial Fists, including the other weapon option for the Rapier! As always, 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.

Imperial Fists Rapier Crew

On By Chris B.In Age of Darkness 3e, Horus Heresy, Imperial Fists, LEDs, Space Marines, Warhammer 40,0001 Comment

I’m back this week with progress on my Imperial Fists in the Age of Darkness project. I’ve finished the two crew for my Gravis Heavy Bolter Rapier – the Rapier Carriage itself will follow shortly. I’ve been really busy with ‘real life’ so far in 2026, so these are my first finished miniatures of the year!

Modelling

The design of the power armour of the Rapier crew owes a lot to the influence of the classic LE2 Imperial Space Marine from the dawn of Warhammer 40K. You can particularly see the design echoes in the chest cables, knees, and greaves. However, the helmet of the standard Rapier crew is a lot closer to that of the MKIV Techmarine. So I decided to swap this out for the helmet from the ‘Imperial Space Marine (2016)’ miniature, which is also heavily based on the LE2 Marine. You can find some more thoughts on this historic mark of Space Marine armour in this post from my Flesh Eaters project.

The LED helmet effects were created using the techniques and materials described in my LED Eye Lens Tutorial. The kneeling crew member pose made my life easier there was less vertical leg to drill through.

I did consider illuminating the control panel on the armature, as I have done with other similar devices here, here, and here, but decided against it for two reasons. Firstly, this effect works best when dramatically illuminating a bare head, rather than a helmet that is itself illuminated. Secondly, the Imperial Fists are a gaming army rather than display pieces, so I have to draw the line on time consuming LED effects somewhere!

Painting

This miniature was painted as described in this post. Additionally, I used the recipe below for the passive optics like the backpack sensor and the binoculars. I made the deliberate choice to depict them as passive sensors, as I felt that illuminating them would draw the eye away from the important areas of the miniature without really adding anything.

  • Red Optics
  • Mephiston Red base coat
  • Agrax Earthshade shade around edges
  • Evil Sunz Scarlet edge highlight
  • Wild Rider Red fine edge highlight
  • Skull White dot highlight in top left
  • Mephiston Red thin glaze

Once I’d decided that the crew would be wearing an ancient and rare pattern of armour, I decided it was therefore likely that they were also veterans. This in turn made me think they deserved some unusual heraldry.

The veteran rapier carrier crew in these pict-captures are not only wearing a esoteric pattern of armour, but also adorned with a variety of personal heraldry. This is unusual for a regimented and disciplined legion like as the Imperial Fists. The Raptor Imperialis on the greaves likely to indicate Terran veterans, and the maws painted on their helmet are most probably a reference to Rogal Dorn’s famous exhortation during the Adonis Cluster campaign: ‘Let the enemy throw themselves into the teeth of our guns.’

EXTRACT FROM ‘A FINAL AND ABSOLUTELY DEFINITIVE ACCOUNT OF THE HORUS HERESY (VOL.VII)’ BY SCRIBE HOWTOPHER BUXCRAFT

That’s all for today, but I’ll be back soon with more Imperial Fists, including the Rapier itself! 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.

New Year, New(ish) Armies 2026

On By Chris B.In Age of Darkness 3e, Age of Sigmar, Grand Alliance Death, Hive Fleet Cerberus, Horus Heresy, Imperial Fists, Space Marines, Tyranids, Warhammer 40,000Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again when people are talking about ‘New Year, New Army’ and drawing up their hobby plans for the months ahead, so I thought it would be fun to share some of the ideas I’m working on for 2026. I made a similar post last year, but of my four stated goals in 2025, the only one I fully achieved was completing the Silver Stars Kill Team! So this time I’m probably going to be a little more realistic with my aims.

Imperial Fists

The Imperial Fists were my main hobby focus of the second half of last year, and will be the main focus of this year too. I’d like to complete a solid 1500 points in total by the end of the year, hopefully in time for Armies on Parade 2026. With many units already partially assembled on my workbench, this doesn’t seem too unrealistic for the next 9-10 months.

Undead

There has been a recent surge of interest in Warhammer fantasy and Age of Sigmar in my gaming group. That, combined with the fun I had recently painting The Summons, has led to me giving in to temptation and buying the Deathrattle Tomb Host Spearhead. Expect to see some more skeletons over the coming months!

Stretch Goals – Traitors, Tyranids & Tutorials!

The Imperial Fists and Undead will be my main hobby focus of the year, but I also have some ‘stretch goals’ if I get ahead of schedule and have time to spare. I’d like to make some Age of Darkness Traitors – perhaps a combination of Death Guard and Daemons of the Ruinstorm. I’d also like to paint some more Tyranids for my very slow-burn Hive Fleet Cerberus project. Finally, some of my LED miniature tutorials are several years old now and could do with an update and refresh.

So those are my hobby plans for the year! I’m sure there will also be a few one-off miniatures and other hobby tangents. I hope you all have plenty of plans in mind for fun hobby too! As ever, thanks very much for reading, and please remember you can keep up to date on my hobby progress in 2026 by following me on Instagram, Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon.

Imperial Fists Saturnine Terminator Heavy Disintergrator

On By Chris B.In Age of Darkness 3e, Horus Heresy, Imperial Fists, LEDs, Saturnine, Space Marines, Warhammer 40,000Leave a comment

Mercy? That was the mercy setting!

Veteran-Brother Alruba, 36th Company, Imperial Fists Legion

I’ve made more progress on my Imperial Fists in the Age of Darkness project this week as another marine joins my Saturnine Terminators – and this time they’re bringing the full power of their heavy disintegrator!

Modelling

My goal for this unit of Saturnine Terminators was to make them look brutal and intimidating, and the focus of this miniature is very much the energy beams coming from the twin heavy disintegrators and their unfortunate victim. Long-time readers of this website may recognise this as a riff on the themes and techniques used in my “Burn Traitor” Golden Demon diorama, although this time I wanted to execute the effect on a usable gaming miniature rather than a display piece.

The disintergration beams are made from two yellow-green filament LEDs (shown switched off and switched on in the two images above). Although the disintergration beams shown in the Horus Heresy cinematic trailer are blue, I decided I preferred the look of green beams. The filaments are 38mm 3V LEDs (available in the UK from eBay), and each connected in series with a 10 ohm resistor. The two filament-resistor pairs were then connected in parallel to each other and in series with a single CR2032 coin cell battery and switch in the base. The filament LEDs have their connections at opposite ends, so one part of the connecting circuit passes up through the gun and arm, down the torso and legs and into the base. The other part of the circuit passes through the dead marines and directly into the base. If you plan to work with this type of filament LEDs yourself it is worth noting they are very brittle and will not bend at all without snapping. This whole miniature was constructed and painted very carefully!

The helmet LED is on a separate circuit with it’s own battery and is built around a TruOpto OSHR7331A-KL 1.8mm Red LED and the techniques described in my LED Eye Lens tutorial.

The dead Sons of Horus marine is made from parts of the Legion MKVI Tactical Squad kit and various fantasy undead components. I was trying to give the impression that the disintergration beams had already destroyed all the organic components of the marine and had now begun to eat away at the tougher bones and armour. The ‘flames’ were created from Water Splash Effect Gel, available from Green Stuff World.

Painting

I’ve been working on painting this miniature for several weeks, mainly because it is essentially two miniatures. The paint scheme I used follows my Imperial Fists recipes described in this earlier post and the Saturnine heraldry described in this post. My Sons of Horus paint scheme can be found in this post.  The flames on the Sons of Horus marine were painted with a thin glaze of Hexwraith Flame.

As mentioned above, I had to be very careful with the filaments during painting, as an accidental knock from my brush could have damaged it. To keep the filaments safe during undercoating I gently wrapped them in a layer of tinfoil using tweezers (and a steady hand)!

That’s all for today, but I’ll be back soon with more Imperial Fists plus some seasonal diversions! 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.