Ah, the Sisters of Battle. Most recently renamed the Adepta Sororitas by Games Workshop since they could not trademark the name ‘Sisters of Battle’; the nuns with guns have a long an storied history in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. First released by GW in 1998, the Sisters of Battle are the military wing of the Ecclesiarchy, which is the predominant religion of humankind in the 40k universe. Religious fanatics in the extreme the Battle Sisters are best known for burning heretics and chewing bubble gum, of which in the 41st millennium there is none. Despite having a kick ass back story and a large following within the gaming community, the Sisters of Battle have the distinction of having the only range of models from Games Workshop to have not been updated or converted to plastic for 17 years. They are also the only faction within 40k that are still rocking the cool White Dwarf codex, not to mention the very sexy bob haircut.
It’s become a running joke within the 40k community that the Sisters will be getting an update in the near future. Every year a new article comes out on BOLS or Faeit212 stating that they have heard from a reliable source that the release of a new codex and plastic Sisters models is imminent. The community gets itself whipped into a sweaty fervor. Internet loud mouths flood comment sections with ‘these rumors are crap and you’re fat’ comments followed by ‘I’m not as fat as your mom and my friend’s brother’s cousin said he saw the plastic models’ replies, all culminating into a collective self loathing as the chatter slows down and we all forget what the hell we were talking about anyways. The reasons as to why we have not seen any updates since the early 00’s are speculated to be numerous and varied. The prevailing rumor is that the metal sculpt has been difficult translating to a plastic multi-part mold and that the perceived interest in the product line did not justify the cost of making them. Many people had thought the line was due to be Squatted out of existence until GW gave us the half-assed White Dwarf updated codex which not only did not see new units or models released but took away a lot of what made the Sisters competitive on the table top. My personal belief is that GW is waiting to sell through the metal kits they have before releasing any new plastic models. I only say this since the product line available through GW’s site has been slowly diminishing for years. Where there used to be multiple sculpts of each special and heavy weapon, you now can only purchase only one of them from the site. Regardless of the ifs and whens regarding the release of an updated Adepta Sororitas (might as well call them by their proper name) there are some things I would like to see when it eventually does happen.
Very cool cosplay from Jna. Check it out!
Bring Back the Ecclesiarchy! – Instead of keeping the faction strictly confined to the Battle Sisters line, why not expand it and re-brand as The Ecclesiarchy? This would open up the faction to additional units such as preachers and militia. We could have HQ units that are high ranking preachers of some sort. Break it up!
New Vehicles – While having fast moving multi-melta toting Rhinos are cool, the Sororitas definitely suffer from not having more heavy vehicle options. Why not give them a Predator varient? They could also do with having a dedicated flyer unit, so perhaps a varient of a Valkyrie? These are existing kits that could easily be upgraded with Adepta Sororitas weapon varients. I think a Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer would be a perfect fit for the faction. There are a lot of Sororitas units that are geared towards assault, so it would make sense that the faction would have access to assault vehicles, right? RIGHT?!
Give me Dat Faith, Gurl! – Remember when basic Battle Sisters were able to get rending attacks? Me too! Let’s go back to a list of 4 or 5 Acts of Faith that all Battle Sisters have access to, not just the 1 per unit. The Acts of Faith should be tied to a Leadership test , with the success of the act dependent on the amount of models in the squad.
Ramp up the Fervor – Let’s really push the point that the faction is made up of religious fanatics. Give the models Rage and Adamantium Will. I wouldn’t say they should have the Fearless special rule, but I don’t think Stubborn would be too much of a stretch. I remember reading a short story where an Imperial Guard unit was witnessing the Battle Sisters in a fight with Orks. The Sisters were crying, laughing, and singing hymns while battling the greenskins. I want to see that madness translated into their rules.
Psychic Powers – I’m not saying that the Battle Sister units should have access to psychic powers, but at least the Ecclesiarchal units could have something resembling them. I’m not sure how I would implement them but it would be cool to have a psychic discipline based of off healing and boosting the toughness of their units, king of like the Lore of Life in Warhammer Fantasy. That might be too much, though.
So what are your thoughts on the most recent batch of Adepta Sororitas rumors? What would you like to see in a new release?
SOB don’t have a WD codex anymore…
Doh I mean digi codex
Heh. I was hoping it was just terminology and we weren’t still talking about the 2011 WD dex. 🙂
Also, SOB already have Adamantium Will.
Bring Back the Ecclesiarchy! – I disagree with this. The new rubric of 7th edition allows for easy allying. Outside of some Frateris Militia and the preachers/missionaries (who are already in the list), I see no value in adding things on that aren’t just basic Sisters.
New Vehicles – Again, goes to the Allying ability to bring in things like the Crusader. it’s not hard to do when comboed with the Inquisitor Mini Dex and the new Battle Bros rules allowing them to ride in it. Also, they have a pred variant, a damn good one: The Exorcist! They just need to make the Retributor part of the army and not just forgeworld and then give them a flyer. Done and done.
Give me Dat Faith, Gurl! – I like the current faith points system better, honestly. I like a one-time buff from faith as opposed to something that happens every turn. It’s also less book keeping and rolling.
Ramp up the Fervor – They already have a 6+ invul (comes in handy more than you’d imagine) and faith point mechanic. Stubborn would make sense honestly though. Adamantium Will would also make sense.
Psychic Powers – Honestly, I don’t think they need it, they just need faith powers that work and that’s it. I’d like to see them have more DEFENSE against psychic stuff, maybe a bubble effect like Shadow in the Warp to make it harder to get powers off?
I largely agree with fluger.
Yeah, bring back militia. We already have preachers, etc.
Vehicles – We don’t want to be SM lite. Make it unique, not just copied from SM.
Faith – Unique faith is fine. I liked shared acts better (Chapter Approved was the best), but am fine with the current way.
Stubborn would be nice and we had it before (Book of St Lucius).
No Psychics. Buff bubbles, sure. But we already have those with several characters. I wouldn’t mind more though.
I agree with large fluger.
Could add something like Astra Militarum orders Adeptus Astartes chapter tactics, call them Doctrines of the Faith. Like IG orders you have to make a leadership test to pass them and there are several to pick from, and like SM CTs they’re army wide and you can only have one at a time. That way each unit could have its own special Act of Faith and certain units could activate a Doctrine for the army.
Mix up the vehicles so it’s not just Space Marine gear, add in some IG vehicles. Oooh use the HH IG Dracosan for their Land Raider equivalent!
Fluger said a lot of good points.
We already have a predator varient, one or two more vehicles would be nice so our options aren’t just exorcist or whatever. I do say we need access to more flyers, cause our only real option is the avenger, which is only all right. The only reason I really ally in other armies is to get better AA options.
On faith, really I have like all three systems (shared faith and have a number of points to spend based of number or superiors, generate faith points per turn and each unit has own faith power, or each unit has once per game faith power), so not really worried that they will mess up faith powers
Things that would fit with the fluff/be better:
-Make the flamer on the Immolator torrent OR make Immolators fast vehicles.
-An upgrade to give Exorcist sky fire (I would take.this over a dedicated flier)
-An assault vehicle WOULD be useful…sure, you can get in Inquisition land raider, hurricane they are all DT, you can’t deploy in them.
-No.psychic powers -_- But a 12″ Adamantium Will bubble (that you could use on ANY power) would be lovely.
-Bring back the act of faith that lets my troops regroup 🙁
Maybe a Valkyrie with a nose mounted melta cannon. Quad Lascannon array and a torrent flamer
Special Sororitas Characters beyond Celestine are a must. Torrent or Fast Immolators, seconded. Either that or give them back a fire point. Holy Promethium was cool as hell (automatic morale test from a single Immolator flamer casualty). More interesting wargear options for Canoness would be fantastic-they’re supposed to be among the best equipped warriors in the Imperium after all. Allowing Eviscerators back in normal squads would be amazing. So would dropping them a few points. Add one or two to the Initiative of Seraphim so they can Hit and Run semi-reliably without Celestine. Make Angelic Visage a 5+ rather than a reroll. Psybolt storm bolters.
I agree with the above as well. Whilst I agree with the notion of solidifying the codex this edition is all about allies and formations so trying to replicate the wheel is probably unnecessary.
My personal favorite units that captured the ‘zeal’ of the sorroritas were the penitent engines and repentia. If they could bring back a mechanic similar to the old black Templars that give big squads made of ‘disciplined’ (battle sisters and celestians) and ‘zealots’ (repentia and militia) to give them a more horde and zealot like feel that would be awesome. And piss of black Templar players ;p
Also I would love to make penitent engines worth taking somehow… Because I love their models.
Could give Repentia a counter-charge move like the Beast of Nurgle perhaps. I kind of hate the models, I’m kind of holding out for the Sisters of Eternal Mercy or whatever they’re called from Toughest Girls. I actually like the codex quite a bit now and have had a lot of very good games with them. They require only a little tweaking to make amazing. Penitent Engines are really cool, agreed. At 80 points each though they are pretty hard to justify. I have four of the bloody things painted and never run them. Probably great in a cluttered Cityfight board though. I would like to see Faith revised a bit too. As it stands there’s no good reason to take most of the Sororitas units. Celestians, Command Squads, Retributors, Dominions and the Canoness have Acts that are either very situational, replicate abilities that are just not necessary if you have a Priest, or are entirely too dependent on weaponry.