In our How to Paint Everything series, we take a look at different armies of the Warhammer universe, examine their history and heraldry, and look at several different methods for painting them. Previously in the Fists of Fury, Alfredo examined the Imperial Fists and Black Templars. Today we look at the original Space Marines and staunchest defenders of humanity, the Crimson Fists.

Part 3 – The Crimson Fists

Who Are The Crimson Fists?

Like the Black Templars, the Crimson Fists are a successor chapter of the Imperial Fists. When Guilliman decreed that the legions would be split into smaller chapters, Dorn nearly rebelled but eventually consented and so the youngest of the legion became the Crimson Fists. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I hear Crimson Fists, my first thought is of this classic artwork by David Gallagher:

All right, let’s get this out of the way: the Crimson Fists get owned a lot. Whether it’s the classic Last Stand by David Gallagher, the updated Primaris Version, or even the original cover of Rogue Trader, the Crimson Fists are prone to finding themselves in a desperate struggle for survival. What makes them great is that in the face of the most desperate odds, they never lay down and die. They fight to the end and they prevail. Crimson Fists represent the epitome of tenacity in Space Marines, and in an uncaring universe that will someday destroy you, there’s something undeniably noble about the Crimson Fists’ spirit. They’re the Chumbawamba of the 40K universe.

Like the Black Templars, the Crimson Fists were first led by a great hero of the Legion, namely Alexis Polux, which is a badass name. Polux served a distinguished career in the Legion during the Heresy, where he was known as a master of void warfare and breaching actions, and then spent nearly 800 years as the first Chapter Master of the Crimson Fists. He eventually died due to Xenos trickery but not before providing detailed instructions to his chapter on how to eradicate the Xenos in question (which is why you’ve never seen a Scythian).

The Fall of Rynn’s World

One of the more famous (or infamous) accounts of the Crimson Fists in the 41st Millennium was the fall of their homeworld, Rynn’s World. Under invasion by an Ork Waaagh! led by Snagrod, the Arch-Arsonist of Charadon, the Crimson Fists mounted a heroic defense to repel the greenskins. Unfortunately, whether due to Inquisitorial sabotage (they do hate sons of Dorn after all), a failure to follow proper preventative maintenance schedules, the whims of Chaos, shoddy 41st millennium manufacturing, or just plain bad luck, an orbital defense missile fired from the Chapter’s fortress-monastery managed to misfire and blow up the Crimson Fist stronghold. In one fell swoop, most of the chapter was atomized, reducing the Crimson Fists to less than half strength. As you might expect, this led to a desperate struggle for survival, led by Chapter Master Pedro Kantor (certified bad-ass), where the Crimson Fists emerged severely bloodied (or nearly dead) but victorious.

While the survival of the chapter was definitely in question after the fall of Rynn’s World (what with all the lost geneseed, relics and what have you) and subsequent daemon invasion (because of course), Deus Ex Primaris has fortunately restored the chapter to near full strength (which also means a full Primaris Crimson Fists force is extremely fluffy). Just recently, the Crimson Fists played an important role in the defense of Vigilus.

Where To Read More

There’s a fair bit of fiction written about the Crimson Fists, and some of it is even good. The obvious choice is Rynn’s World by Steve Parker, which is unfortunately not in the good category but is readable if you like Crimson Fists enough. Corrode’s Note: I don’t agree. I LOVE Crimson Fists, and reading Rynn’s World put me off Black Library for over a decade. Avoid. Aside from that, there’s a number of short stories including some stuff by the great Aaron Dembski-Bowden.

Playing Crimson Fists

Kill Team

Space Marines are good in Kill Team! And with Elites giving you all sorts of melee options via veterans, you can definitely have a solid loadout of red power fists, which the main requirement for a Crimson Fists force. Aside from that, there’s no actual Crimson Fists rules in Kill Team so you’ll just play them as Imperial Fists.

40K

Crimson Fists have gotten a fair bit of love in 8th Edition of 40K and there should be more to come once Imperial Fists get their supplement. Originally, they just had a single relic and warlord trait with the 2017 Space Marine Codex. Vigilus introduced a pretty good Specialist Detachment for Primaris Crimson Fists armies that largely incentivized the use of Intercessors and Hellblasters. Then, Crimson Fists were featured in the first iteration of the new Index: Astartes in White Dwarf and got fleshed out further with a custom, and good, chapter tactic that exemplifies their tenacity in the face of overwhelming odds. Along with their new chapter tactic, Crimson Fists got the first relic bolt rifle, two new Warlord Traits and two new Stratagems. All of this resulted in making Crimson Fists one of the better choices for pre-nu-codex Space Marines, so much so that resident Goonhammer tryhard, and notorious meta-chaser, Liam Royle even ran them in a tournament with some success.

With the new Codex, Crimson Fists obviously benefit greatly in the same way as other Marines did and have retained their new chapter tactic, in a slightly enhanced format – the old version required you to be attacking a squad of twice or more the size of yours, whereas now it simply has to be 5 or more models. This helps to make big squads a bit more viable than they were in the old version. Presumably, the Imperial Fists supplement will provide some additional benefits but (rumors aside) it remains to be seen exactly how that will shake out. Regardless, it’s a good time to play Crimson Fists!

Apocalypse

Not much to say here that hasn’t been said before already. Space Marines are great in Apocalypse, but there’s nothing particularly unique to Crimson Fists except for looking rad.

Painting Crimson Fists

A Note on Heraldry

Crimson Fists are pretty non-compliant when it comes to heraldry. The most striking aspect of their color scheme is of course the eponymous left red fist that all Crimson Fists bear. Veterancy is indicated by a right red fist as well. Strictly this is for 1st Company Veterans, but many people like to use it to indicate any kind of senior model, such as a Sergeant. Perhaps because of their decimation, Crimson Fists don’t use company markings, leaving their shoulder trim blue. They do use typical squad markings (gothic script) and battlefield role markings.

Since the Crimson Fists use silver for the chest imperialis/aquila, white can be a good color for heraldic markings, alongside red to add color and break up the blue armor. Crimson Fists are a crusading chapter so a crusade badge on a kneepad can be a nice bit of detail to add, much like with Black Templars.