Sisters of Battle First Game Plans

 

I'm hoping to get my first game of the 9th edition of Warhammer 40,000 in soon, so I took a little time to write a list using the Sisters of Battle I have available. I've not written the list for a particular mission, as that will need agreeing with my opponent, but there's not exactly a lot of variation I can manage within the models I've got. It's only going to be a 1,000 point game.

First up, I'm taking a Patrol detachment with two five lady squads, taking advantage of the fact I have a couple of spare Veteran Sister Superiors from the limited edition models.

Lacking any tanks at the moment, mobility will have to be covered by the Seraphim squad. I'm suspecting some transport tanks may be high on the purchase list to expand out to 2,000 points!

As it's the only armour I've got, I'll also throw in the Penitent Engine to run around do violence before something smushes him.

This mob will get led by a Canoness, with a second Canoness leading up a Vanguard detachment as most of the models I own are Elite . . .

I've grabbed a Dialogus to learn what they do in the new edition. They seem to hand out buffs to units or something.

Also, the Imagifier, who also seems to have an aura of useful effects.

The rest of the list is taken up by angry people. To get two org chart free Repentia Superior, there's a squad of Repentia in both Detachments. I'm aware they could likely do with some vehicles, which I don't own, soooo...

The list is then rounded out with as many Arco Flagellants as I can afford for the points. Their job is to run forward screaming with the Repentia and see who dies most / kills most.

Getting a game in isn't really my top priority right now, as I really need to focus on getting ready for the Malifaux tournament I'll be at in November, but if I have some free time to fit in a game, I may as well...

Once I've got a game or two in, I can start thinking about how the force plays and what sort of models it would be sensible to get to expand the force. The obvious one to start off would be more Battle Sisters, so I can take more varied troop choices and get a bigger Detachment rather than two smaller ones.

Going Out Out

 

Yesterday, I made my first trip to HATE club since the pandemic started. We're having a Meatspace League to get people used to going out again a bit. The club has social distancing and mask rules in place, and everyone's being super careful. I had a great game, and I'll write it all up separately.

With the world starting to open up again, I've signed up to a tournament at the start of October run by the Fast Panda YouTube Channel. It's up north but should be relatively easy to get to. Not sure what I'm taking yet, but I'm thinking that Dahshat Company is the most likely.

I've also signed up to the Malifaux Nationals in November. I don't have a painted force yet, but it's far enough out that I should be able to get the necessary models done - it's longer than I had for the OP at home challenge, and I managed that.

All in all, the world is opening up again. I'm definitely taking it very slowly and carefully - and recommend everyone else does too. It was good to get a game played in person, and talk about nerd stuff at an actual place. Here's hoping the situation can continue to improve.

Sisters of Battle Saturday - The last of this batch

Once again, all miniatures painted by Squiggle's Studio. First up is the third of the Canonesses I sent off. In this case, it's the old metal one that I'd grabbed just before they went out of stock to give me a bit more variety in model options.

Also from the "last bits and bobs of metal" we have the Imagifier, or "Lady with a Banner". I really love the squiggles that Squiggle did . . .

Also present and pretty darned awesome is the Sister Dialogus. I've always loved this model, with her weird speaker staff and loads of scrolls. Again, excellent squiggle work.

I had one metal squad of old Sisters, and it was a unit of Repentia. Mostly because I loved the idea of angry ladies with massive chainswords charging at people screaming. A little bit because Imperial Guard are bad at combat and I wanted something that is. But mostly because I've always thought they're awesome.

The old metal models are a bit limited compared to the new plastic sculpts, but they hold up OK, I guess.

 

Squiggle did a good job with alternating basing, poses and skin tones to cope with the limited poses of the metal sculpts.

I particularly like the pillar on this base helping break things up a bit.

There is no doubt, even with the old sculpts, that these ladies can and will absolutely wreck you.

The upside of the new plastics is that they allow the sculptors to do this sort of thing.

The downside, of course, is that they're not the easiest to transport.

And with these four Repentia from the army box, that's everything from this commission batch. I'd definitely recommend Squiggle's Studio if you are looking to get an army on the table. While I definitely want to get a few more Sisters to bring the size of the force up, there's going to be a few other things getting painted before I buy anything new...

Sisters of Battle Saturday - Mostly Not Sisters

With the new Sisters of Battle Codex going up for pre-order today, I thought it would be worth putting up a few more of the models I had Squiggle's Studio paint. First up, we have the Canoness model based on the old John Blanche illustration. I've ended up with a few different Canoness models, so I have the option of swapping different ones in for different load outs if I need to.

The Sister Hospitaller is the old metal model. As the new one comes on a massive scenic base I asked for her to be put on a larger base so I wouldn't have any problems at tournaments or anything like that. Adding the street lamp was an excellent touch and I think it stops the model looking drowned on the base.

The underhive of Terra is a dangerous place, but the Word of the Emperor needs to be brought to all the dark places.

Arco-flagellants are one of the nastier bits of the 40K background. Criminals and heretics are turned into cybernetic berserkers to charge at the enemies of the faith. I'd ended up with a whole bunch of these - I had three old Finecast ones I'd picked up when the Inquisition could take them, the three monopose ones from the Sisters army box, and another box of ten I'd got in the "Supply Drop" box.

The sculpts are all all super dynamic and varied. I've got them all in KR foam now, but I am a little nervous for them . . . 

Here you can see the three older Finecast models alongside one of the new plastic models. The better material allows for much more dynamic and detailed poses, and I'm a huge fan.

I understand Arco-flagellants are pretty good in the current book, so I'll be curious how they turn out in the new one. 

I've got a nice little horde of them, so it should be fun to have them run around the table and charge into things.

Finally, I've got the Penitent Engine from the Sisters Army Box. It's basically "what if Arco-flagellant, but strap them into a big walker?" Getting a couple more is almost certainly on the cards when I expand the force a little beyond the thousand points or so I have at the moment.

Sisters by Squiggle's Studio

 

A while back I commissioned Squiggle's Studio to paint up all the Sisters of Battle I had lying around. They're now back and I'm looking forward to trying a game with them once it's safe to do so.

The core of it was the Sisters of Battle Army box that they did when they released the new plastics. I asked for them to be painted in the colours of the Ebon Chalice so my Future Narrative Plans (TM) of a force running around the underhives of Terra make sense.

I asked Mike from Squiggle's Studio to base the paint scheme on a tutorial by Secrets of the Void. It wasn't a painting technique he'd used before. He seemed to have fun with it, though.

There were a couple of limited figures GW had done that I got done as well. I need to look at the new Codex when it comes out to work out if I'll use them as squad leaders or as Palatines. I might be tempted in future to come back to these later and maybe detail up the faces a little more on some of the characters. There's nothing wrong with what Mike's done, for reference. I just have that little voice in my head saying I should tweak things ever so slightly. Bad control freak inner voice! No biscuit!

This is the canoness from the Sisters Army box - one of three canonesses I got painted. There's more models than I can fit into one blog post, so they'll go up in future weeks.

Here's the Seraphim. I don't know how good the jumpy girls are in the current edition, but I guess I'll need to get a game in to find out . . .

A Review of Codex: Imperial Agents

One of our focus group gets to work

The new Imperial Agents Codex came out at the weekend, and as a massive nerd when it comes to obscure little detachments and the weird corners of the Imperium, I was super excited. I've inhaled the entire thing through my eyes, so will now regurgitate some excellent and useful facts and opinions for my dedicated readers.

TLDR Version

This book is quite good and has plenty of cool stuff in it. Narrative gamers will have plenty of awesome ideas to plunder. More competitive gamers will find several old favourites thoroughly nerfed, and only a few 'good' options amid some really weird stuff. Some of the rules stuff is a bit unclear and needs a little clarification.

Cult Mechanicus

Broadly, this gives the Astra Militarum Tech Priest the Cult Mechanicus faction, a few more equipment options, and lets them have "Canticles of the Omnissiah" rule from the Cult Mechanicus Codex.

It doesn't help with Guard formations that have to include a Tech Priest, which is where most of them are likely to turn up in an army, but if you are not putting them in a Astra Militarum formation, use this to buy them, as you get some nice free rules.

Law of Unintended Forge World
Trojan Support Vehicles are a Dedicated Transport for Tech Priest Enginseers. If they are allowed for Cult Mechanicus Enginseers, that adds an extra unit with Canticles for cheap.

Aeronautica Imperialis

I want to like this so much, but it's really not very good at all.

So, you get a Fast Attack slot with an optional HQ, with the Aeronautica Imperialis faction. The only options available are Valkyries and an Officer of the Fleet as an Independent Character. The latter is amazing, the former is rubbish.

The problem is Death from the Skies. That supplement has a detachment for Valkyries that grants them Objective Secured in hover mode, which is spectacularly better than getting to reroll some reserve roles. Getting to hide away your Officer of the Fleet as an Independent Character rather than part of a Command Squad is great - but not at the cost of your flight wings losing Objective Secured.

Law of Unintended Forge World
This will be where this detachment could shine. If Forge World put out a PDF listing any number of it's fighters or bombers as Fast Attack options for the Aeronautica Imperialis faction, then they gain nothing from the Death from the Skies detachment and something nice from the Imperial Agents detachment, and you can take your improved Officer of the Fleet.

Adeptus Astra Telepathica

This is where good stuff happens. Primaris Psyker is more or less the same. The Astropath from the Astra Militarum Codex gets a nice tasty upgrade, getting an option of a second psychic level, and becoming an Independent Character. As cherry on the cake, the HQ option then gets bonuses if near a unit of Wyrdvane Psykers.
From a competitive standpoint, this leaves you with an excellent source of Telepathy Psykers for cheap. From a narrative gamer stand point, I really want more Astropath figures...

Adepta Sororitas

Most of the most recent Sisters of Battle Codex, with tweaks. Mostly, it has an impact on how Inquisitorial Warbands work later. The Ministorum Delegation is a fun little unit that lets you have a Priest, with a pick of optional miscreants to accompany them.
Arco-Flagellants, Crusaders and Death Cult Assassins are all now Adepta Sororitas units with tiny minimum unit sizes (the size, incidentally, of a blister from GW). You can then package them up with a Priest or Uriah Jacobus to form an Ecclesiarchy Battle Conclave, like the old unit.

Special Mention goes to the Mace of Valaan, which gains Fleshbane and Armourbane when wielded near a model with the Daemon special rule. Over in Inquisition-land, a Daemonhost can be put in a unit with a Priest, who can take said Mace... Do not take this combination when playing with people you want to stay friends with.

Deathwatch

Simple squad of Deathwatch, included as relevant for future options. Mini Kill Team detachment for the casual buyer who doesn't have the Deathwatch Codex - which has much better synergies. This stripped back approach may be worthwhile for people wanting a small Deathwatch investment though...

Grey Knights

See Deathwatch. Just a little bigger - you get a Troops or Fast Attack unit as Compulsory with an Optional Heavy Support. The key thing here is that you're not restricted to the units included in the book. They just have to have the Grey Knight faction. So, you can still have Purgation Squads, Stormravens and so on if you want (although I've not looked at which ones get good synergies with the detachment itself).

Legion of the Damned

Those whacky invulnerable saving, deep striking, cover ignoring ghostly Space Marines are back again. They don't have the Relics from the LotD book, but do get a command ability in their detachment to choose to automatically pass or fail reserve rolls. I'm not sure if that was there before or not.

They remain the Legion of the Damned. They're pretty good. They do a job. I kind of want some.

Officio Assassinorum

See Deathwatch, except it's basically every rule from the Assassins Codex. Including the formation.

The Inquisition

... what a show!

So, this is where it all gets a bit weird. There's quite a big overhaul, and this removes almost all the broken "competitive" combos people were using the Inquisition for before. Servo Skulls are gone, warbands are no longer a Codex entry, and you can get Acolytes, Jokaero and Daemonhosts.

You now get a Detachment with one Inquisitor and 3 Elites choices, and a Formation called an Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband.
And this is where it gets really weird.

Acolytes get Dedicated Transports from the Sororitas (Rhino), Aeronautica (Valkyrie) and Grey Knights (Land Raider variants). This is fine, despite people's panicking (p120, main rulebook - Dedicated Transports gain the faction of the unit they are picked with).

What is confusing is whether the non faction Dedicated Transports can use the vehicle upgrades from the Inquisition list (psybolt ammunition, etc) - current strict reading is "no", but that may not have been intent.

There's a light upgrade to Inquisitorial Rhinos as they theoretically gain Shield of Faith. I'm also not sure if it's intentional that Ordo Malleus Inquisitors can use Malefic Daemonology as well as Sanctic, as the other Inquisitors can't, and the wording for each is "Inquisitors".

The Henchmen Warband has some changes. You can't go all Death Cult Assassins in a Land Raider - but you can still have quite a lot of Death Cult Assassins in a Land Raider, with a few ablative acolyte wounds, a guy who can repair the Land Raider, and an Astropath to try for Invisibility. This is on top of the light comedy of the Priest with Mace of Valaan and a Daemonhost.

There's also a side option that you can take of a unit of Sisters, Deathwatch or Grey Knights to be a buddy for your Inquisitor. I already have some plans for this from a narrative point of view.

Final Thoughts

I really like this book - the updates clear out some old tired combos and give us new ones from a competitive standpoint. From a narrative stand point, we can achieve more or less the same thing as we could before with Inquisitors. We just have to go about it in slightly different ways.

I've actually found that I was stalling on inspiration for a lot of my Inquisition stuff because there was so much choice. With the formation structure a little more ordered, I'm finding myself thinking up an assortment of ideas I really want to try out. I'm really pleased with this, and am looking forward to using it!

Overlords Christmas Battle Report 3: Astra Militarum and Space Marines against Adepta Sororitas and Space Marines

With everything at a dead tie, we went into the final round. This was a pretty standard mission with strategy cards, and deploying in table quarters. The only complication was that it was the one where you draw mission cards equal to the number of objectives you're controlling. I was paired with a Space Marine bike list run by one of the gentlemen from HATE. We were paired against the tactical genius of Jason and Inquisitor Steve from the Overlords.

Due to some interestingly placed objectives, we ended up with the odd strange placement, like these Guardsmen holding a ruin while also running a line of guys back to claim the objective.

Jason hadn't been expecting to play, so borrowed some models from the club Imperial Fists army, and kept it super simple - Terminators, Tactical Marines and a Captain. Steve had a Battle Sister Squad in a Rhino, then a Canoness, an Inquisitor, and a bunch of henchmen in a second Rhino.

The Chimera full of Veterans raced out to the right flank to deal with the Rhino full of Sisters. It managed to get into the ruins without getting immobilised, which was a first for me!

Meanwhile, we managed to luckily immobilise the other Rhino, forcing the Henchmen and characters to walk.

The monowheel bikes allied to me get into a scrap with the Terminators, then Hit and Run out to let them hit someone else next turn.

Unfortunately, we underestimate quite how tough henchmen squads are, and we take a bit of a kicking from them!

The Chimera gets immobilised trying to get out of the ruins. I should have known! Meanwhile, my Scout Sentinel turns up somewhere useful from Outflank to shoot some people in the back.

The henchmen are causing us real problems!

The demo charge fails me, and the revenge fire blasts many of the Veterans to death.

The Hellhound thanks the Imperial Fists for getting into such a convenient straight line for him.

And the Imperial Fists kindly offer to return the generosity with as many krak grenades as they can manage.

The sole survivor of the Terminators bears down on the guardsmen in the ruins, but it's not going to be enough...

The Inquisitor and Canoness fall back to hold an objective.

Argh! Get them off, get them off! The Hellhound has definitely attracted a lot of affection for its shenanigans with Torrent.

The Sisters take out the Veterans, but with their Rhino destroyed, it's too late for them to affect another part of the battlefield.

At this point, the battle ended, with a close game - we managed to hold onto victory with a single victory point, with a Linebreaker swaying it. It turned out that the Naughty forces had managed to be victorious in the day's campaign, making things even less comfortable for the surviving Imperial inhabitants of the Pakeshi sector...