Here is one of the new MkVI Space Marines from the Horus Heresy Age of Darkness box set, speedpainted as an Imperial Fist in under 50 minutes with loads of weathering and battle damage. In this post, I share a few more shots and explain the painting process.
I learned so much from painting this model (and the Sons of Horus test model I painted at the same time). Usually, my painting style is pretty clean, but for this model, I went proper grimdark with lots of weathering and battle damage (at least by my standards). I really love the faded hue of yellow, Imp Yellow from The Army Painter’s Warpaints Air range is such a nice colour (read my review of the Warpaints Air range here).
How to paint Imperial Fists
When painting this model, I followed the exact same process as explained in my Sons of Horus painting tutorial:
All I changed was the colour of the armour and the lenses, which makes this tutorial easily adaptable to any Legion or Space Marines chapter. Just pick an appropriate dark, mid, and highlight colour. Here is what I did:
Imperial Fists armour
Basecoat (airbrush): Warpaints Air Husk Brown [similar to Doombull Brown]
Zenithal highlight low angle: Warpaints Air Daemonic Yellow [similar to Yriel Yellow]
Zenithal highlight high angle: Warpaints Air Imp Yellow [similar to Dorn Yellow, but more muted]
Gloss coat: AK Interactive Semi-gloss spray
Oil wash: Abteilung 502 Dark Rust thinned with AK Interactive Odorless Thinner
Drybrush & sponge weathering: Warpaints Air Imp Yellow [similar to Dorn Yellow, but more muted]
Sponge weathering: Doombull Brown
Sponge weathering: Vallejo Model Air Steel [or Stormhost Silver]
Purple lenses
Basecoat: Screamer Pink
Recess wash: Basilicanum Grey
Highlight: Vallejo Game Color Warlord Purple [or Screamer Pink / Emperor’s Children mix]
Highlight: Emperor’s Children
Dot highlight: Vallejo Model Color White [or White Scar]
That’s it, everything else follows my Sons of Horus tutorial to the letter. If you don’t have an airbrush, you could also use Vallejo Hobby Spray Monster Brown as a basecoat [similar to Mournfang Brown], with a zenithal spray of Vallejo Hobby Spray Sunblaze Yellow [basically Yriel Yellow in a can], followed by a drybrush of Dorn Yellow, before you gloss coat and oil wash. This would produce a quite similar result without an airbrush.
If you prefer a more detailed guide, head over to my Patreon where you can download a 10 pages PDF tutorial with step-by-step photography and more detailed explanations.
I’m really fond of this Imperial Fists scheme, but in the end, I decided to pledge my fealty to the Warmaster and start a Sons of Horus army. When you read this, I’m working on the Kratos Heavy Assault tank, join me over on Patreon to follow my progress.
Which legion did you choose for conquering the 30th century? Have you been able to secure one of the Age of Darkness launch sets yet? Let me know in the comments section or over on the Tale of Painters Discord, and leave a reaction if you enjoyed my take on the VII Legion.