It’s easy to pick favourites, but the truth is that every Legion has a role. Some are foaming savages and unrestrained barbarians, while others hold true to their convictions with an unwavering sense of duty and complete dedication to the cause even unto agonising death. You see? The Emperor’s plan has a place for everyone.*
It’s time for the next in our series of highly unbiased assessments of each of the Legiones Astartes, and we’ve finally arrived at the main event. It’s the immovable, the indefatigable, the indomitable – the Imperial Fists. Why do they fight the way they fight, which side are they on, and what great undertakings has their Primarch achieved?
The VII Legion loves to build. Even as early as the Unification Wars, these project-oriented warriors focused on constructing citadels in the aftermath of their hard-won victories – a razed warzone is free real estate, after all. These weren’t just fancy palaces, but real fortress-cities built with a craftsman’s eye – as solid and dependable as the soul of a Space Marine should be.
The Legion’s skill at workplace safety may have been driven by the fact that their gene-seed implantation causes intense pain – imagine treading on a poorly-placed plastic brick, times a thousand. No wonder they never needed hazard stripes to remind them which end of a gun is dangerous…
Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists, agreed that simply destroying the enemy wasn’t enough. True victory was found in security – and what could be more secure than a big ol’ castle from which to plan your next move? Of course, standing atop the battlements gives you an excellent view of all that unconquered territory just out of reach – so poorly managed! So unsightly! Time to rev up recruitment and go crusading again.
On the battlefield, the Imperial Fists are all about standing immovable, refusing to bend to the enemy’s will, constructing the ultimate defence, and – psych! – now they’re in your face, smashing you with hammers and swords. A rolling stone gathers no moss, but it can still break your nose.
Like all of the Adeptus Astartes, the VII Legion have a lust for battle. No-one ever won a war by waiting for the enemy to get bored – The Best Defence is a furious offence, something the Imperial Fists know well.
This outburst of fury isn’t out of character – these very serious chaps still employ Discipline and Resolve on the battlefield, forming deadly defensive formations to spit out an obscene volume of fire.
That said, there are still those within the Legion who favour a more proactive approach to battle – namely, the Templars. The Dark Angels might cosplay as knightly orders with their secret handshakes and hushed rituals, but the Imperial Fists are true historical re-enactors – the Templar Brethren bear swords and shields alongside their bolt weapons, and have the honour of guarding the Legion’s sacred ‘to do’ list, better-known as the Temple of Oaths.
Appropriately then, the Templar Assault Rite of War lets you field your premier knights as Troops choices – with a few other neat benefits to help them hold the fort (and Objectives). These guys must hate being cooped up in Transports because when they do get out, boy, do they get mad at whatever unlucky enemy happens to be nearby.
Of course, this devout battle-lust would lead to a split in thinking between Dorn and his mightiest son, First Captain Sigismund, who exchanged his father’s blind, unquestioning fealty for blind, unquestioning faith – these are totally different things, and Dorn was very disappointed. Let’s just remember the good times while they lasted.
Like all of his brother Primarchs, Dorn was flung far from Terra through the immaterium, landing on the icy world of Inwit. Adopted by the hard-bitten, spacefaring people of his home planet, Dorn soon rose to lead a stellar empire of orbiting snowballs – even salvaging an absolutely colossal space station from ages long past, which he dubbed the Phalanx. It was a bit of a fixer-upper.
Eventually the Emperor popped along, and Dorn signed on to the Great Crusade immediately. He moved the VII Legion onto the Phalanx, which became the headquarters of the Imperial Fists, and the galaxy’s most heavily-armed clubhouse. Strongholds in the sky, castles on the ground – they would construct a fortress in their mind if they could…
Not that Dorn really needs a fortress – he is the fortress. Resolute in the face of hardship and pain, Rogal Dorn didn’t just teach his sons how to build the most robust defences known to the Imperium, but how to become part of those defences, standing in every breach, solid as a ferrocrete barricade.
The Praetorian of Terra was as tough and unyielding as a brick wall, with a sense of humour and empathy to match. He was unwaveringly dependable, unflinchingly honest, but rarely the highlight of the Great Crusade’s post-work socials. Who can say how he ended up inspiring such a grudge in Perturabo? Er, and Alpharius. And Konrad, and…
While more dramatic Primarchs pouted, complained, and threw the galaxy into bloody civil war, Dorn remained steadfast on the Throneworld – holding the line in the Siege of Terra even when his brothers were held up by the Warmaster’s treacherous plots. While the Emperor was busy waging the War in the Webway, Rogal was named Lord Commander of the Imperium, and tasked with bolstering the defences of the Sol System and the Imperial Palace itself.
Protecting the entire Sol System was a colossal challenge, and Dorn did it out of duty, not for glory – and certainly not just for the opportunity to create the ultimate and best castle ever seen. As Lord Commander, Dorn also found himself boosting around his many, immaculately-planned defensive spheres. Most famously, he gave Alpharius such a good hiding on Pluto that he killed him… or did he?**
Elsewhere, the Imperial Fists were tasked with blockading the Warmaster’s home planet of Cthonia – something they managed with all the ease you’d expect from the masters of castling, cutting off the Sons of Horus’ ability to reinforce their ranks.
During war councils with his brothers, many noted that Dorn seemed utterly exhausted – and who wouldn’t be? Keeping the Khan from haring off on his own can’t have been a walk in the (immaculately designed) park, but someone had to do it, lest their impulsiveness cause Rogal’s delicate house of cards to collapse.
Despite the immense strain, Dorn kept going. Toiling without sleep or rest for months, he continued to command the Legions and lead the fortification efforts like an overstretched project manager – albeit one with transhuman biology and genius intellect rather than the latest time-keeping app.
This endless dedication saw him fight to the last moment of the Siege of Terra, even aboard Horus’s flagship. It was Dorn’s burden to retrieve the bodies of the Emperor and Sanguinius from the bridge of the Vengeful Spirit – and to receive his father’s final instructions for the future of the Imperium, which presumably involved adding extra cushions to his favourite golden chair.
Dorn remained unbroken – a mighty stronghold to the very end – but the Heresy had well and truly shaken this Primarch’s once unassailable foundations. At least he still had his mighty Legion, in all its mustered glory – no-one would ever take that away from him. Right?
Dorn’s unwavering dedication saw him throw his Legion into the grinder more than once – duty was their middle name, and they took it in their stride, but often it ended in tragedy. Praetorian of Dorn tells the tale of one such noble sacrifice, when the immovable Knights fought the shifting, duplicitous rogues of the Alpha Legion.
Just as Dorn dismantles his father’s home to turn it into an indomitable fortress, The Lightning Tower tears down the Primarch’s own defences. This book is the best way to get a handle on Rogal Dorn’s thought process – something his allies rarely glimpsed beneath his layers of stoicism.
If you want to paint up an impressive Imperial Fists force, look no further than our How to Paint video – remember that with the proper persistence and dedication, even crisp coats of yellow are possible!***
Does duty stir within you? Are you itching to re-enact the many battles of the Horus Heresy? Find out if you’re worthy enough to join the ranks of the Imperial Fists with the Discover Your Legion quiz on the Horus Heresy website, which is packed with all the information you need about Warhammer: The Horus Heresy and the Age of Darkness boxed set, which draws closer by the day.
* Except for aliens, rebels, religious types, mutants, and people who call him ‘Big E’.
** Yes. Or did he? Maybe.
*** With the Citadel Colour team’s help, they’re a doddle.