Goatboy’s 40K: Revenge of the Yellow Fists
Goatboy here with the review of the new Marine Supplemental Codex releases. Let’s dig deep into the Imperial Fists.
Last supplemental codex is Imperial Fists and while I think it is the weaker than Salamanders I do think it might end up being good in the current Iron Meta we have coming. Their rule automatically starts off as it benefits off of the Devastator doctrine. This means their powers always work from turn 1 and on – just like the Iron Hands. The ability to add 1 damage to heavy weapons when shooting against Vehicles and Buildings might seem meh – but when you see all the flyers, tanks, and dreadnoughts you start to see this army might not be too bad.
Crimson Fists
The book does have the Crimson Fists in there as well – so it is a 3 Character, 2 sets of Warlord traits and relics love fest. I was hoping we would see Black Templars but will just have to wait and see if the rumors are true and we get an update soon for those angry marines. We’ll start with the Warlord traits as they are ok. One gives you an orbital bombardment which is ok – but gets interesting when you say mix in some Impulsors? There could be a lot of points picked on the battlefield and mortal wounds getting given out like candy. From there we got a few protection traits like talk half damage but can’t leave combat and another ignore all wound rolls of 1-3. There is one that gives you d3 more Command Points as well. The Crimson Fists have 3 warlord traits that match the ones from the White Dwarf as well.
Relics
On the relic front there isn’t an actual Imperial Fists – well power fist. They do have one for the Crimson fists that is not -1 to hit – but you don’t get anything for the Fists themselves. It’s really odd as it feels like we are missing some things that the other books have – but they did get a neat pistol that can target characters with flat 2 damage and 2 shots at 18″. Now the Successor chapter did get a power fist that grants an extra attack without any negative to hit so that is good. Beyond the stock ones we do see a 5+ FNP versus mortal wounds in the psychic phase and a Cuirass that grants an extra wound. The Fist is the best option out of these beyond the basics we get in every Successor chapter.
Psychics
The Psychics are kinda weird too as they are all anti building as per the Fluff. There is an Aspect of Stone that gives the caster themselves a +2 to strength and toughness. If you didn’t drop all your regular Space Marine spells for this one you could create a nice beat stick of a librarian. There is a spell that makes all charges from within 12″ of the caster a -2 to the range – but it just doesn’t feel very good. I think if you take Imperial Fists with Librarians just expect to see the regular book powers as these ones are just not all that interesting.
Stratagems
Now let’s go into the Stratagems. Now they are not all bad – they are just not nearly as interesting as the Salamander ones. You have a 1 CP 6+ FNP option for a unit if you would like. This doesn’t go on Vehicles so it is kind of annoying while a lot of the other armies get everything for their units. They still have Bolter Drill as well as a Tank Hunters option that gives the unit a +1 to wound a targeted vehicle. They also get the ability to have a unit throw up to 10 grenades. I don’t know what Marine unit has a ton of Grenades – but these guys can throw a bunch if they want too.
Characters
I am disappointed we didn’t see Lysander become Primaris. I think it would have been awesome to see a super old man ready to punch guys off his lawn. The new Character seems pretty good with a pretty rough close combat weapon. His rules are not bad I just wish his Array gave the option to do more then just a 2+ – maybe let them do more damage to vehicles?
Overall I am just not that excited with the yellow marines. I think they look cool but they just don’t make me want to paint a yellow army. It isn’t nearly as excited as say the Raven Guard or the Salamanders. I do think they might be a good spoiler if we start seeing too many Iron Hands winning events. Players just prepare for a world of Marine on Marine violence.
~ “Primarch-Progenitor, to your glory and the glory of him on earth!”
