STARTING AN IMPERIAL FISTS ARMY IN 11TH EDITION: HOLD THE WALL, MASTER THE YELLOW
The Imperial Fists never retreat, and 11th edition is a fitting moment to raise an army in the most defiant colour in the hobby. Yellow armour has an undeserved reputation as a trap for new painters; modern paints have quietly solved it, and a finished Fists force turns heads in a way no other Space Marine chapter can match. On the table they are the Imperium's siege-masters and wall-builders — patient, stubborn, unglamorous and utterly immovable — which makes them a wonderful first army for anyone whose favourite phrase is "come and try it."
The first box
Start with the current Combat Patrol-style set. Space Marine starters reliably centre on Intercessors with a supporting character, and that's exactly what you want: your first job is learning the yellow. The trick is the undercoat — build yellow up over white or a pale bone, never over black — and use washes to shade the recesses rather than fighting the colour itself. Paint five marines before you buy anything else. Once the scheme clicks, it becomes one of the fastest in the game, and every subsequent box gets easier.
The second rampart
Heavy Intercessors are the soul of a Fists collection — the biggest, most stubborn infantry in the Marine range, and exactly the fortress-in-boots aesthetic the chapter is famous for. Add Aggressors if you want the wall to walk forward with intent. Then recruit Captain Tor Garadon, the chapter's signature modern character, whose signum array and power fist say everything about how the Fists fight: methodically, and with something enormous and metal. Infantry-heavy is not a compromise for this chapter; it is the point.
Recommended: Heavy Intercessor Squad
Choosing your centrepiece
For the sons of Dorn, the honest centrepiece is armour — the kind with tracks. A Land Raider remains the classic siege-breaker and one of the most satisfying large kits GW makes, while the bigger modern grav-tanks offer a sleeker alternative if you prefer the current silhouette. Either way, a large expanse of yellow armour plate is the ultimate proof you've mastered the scheme, and it will anchor every army photo you ever take.
Siegecraft in a new edition
The shift to 11th edition refreshed points and datasheets across the game, and starter boxes rotate with each edition, so check the current contents and current points before drafting a list. Dorn planned fortifications around accurate reports; do the same.
Purchases to defer
- A second tank before the first has a single coat of yellow on it — grey armour holds no walls.
- Devastator-style heavy squads in quadruplicate because a list-building article got excited.
- Any allied gimmick that dilutes the yellow; the whole point of the Fists is the wall of colour.
- Fortification kits, ironically. Paint the army first; build the actual walls later.
The ledger of the Phalanx
The Fists are the Imperium's great record-keepers and siege-auditors, and your collection deserves the same treatment as one of Dorn's fortress inventories. Enter every kit when it arrives and mark it plainly: boxed, built, or finished. No flattering yourself — a built-but-grey squad is not a painted one, and the honest ledger is what keeps a collection moving forward instead of merely growing. Watching the finished column advance, box by box, is the siege you're actually fighting. For the full roll of everything the chapter can field, from Scouts to the mightiest armour, see the Imperial Fists faction page under Data. The wall builds itself one painted marine at a time.