Sisters of Battle Army - Part One

This Warhammer 40K army blog post is the first in (probably) a short series  that I intend to record as part of my personal hobby diary. I'll try and cover assembly hints/issues, paints & scheme choices and later some army builds for those who might be interested in such things, and flesh all that out with a few progress photos to please (or displease) the masses.
Sisters of Battle Army in yellow
My Sisters army so far...

Who are the Sisters of Battle?

Well, apart from being set in the year 40,000 after mankind has made it's mark across the known galaxy under the rule of a the Emperor of mankind sat on the Golden Throne of Terra the Sisters of Battle can easily be described as a bunch of nuns with guns with massive Tim Burton gothic imagery... but a more nerdy description can be found on this 40K fan site.

Games Workshop Sisters of Battle Art Image
Grim & Dark... Borrowed from From GW site: https://warhammer40000.com/

The new Sisters models capture the essence of a very grim & dark future, focussing on their faith and devotion to the God Emperor... from cathedral-inspired tanks complete with organs and flying cherub-automatons to large exoskeleton constructs that are designed to torture the human pilot in their penance. Similarly to Space Marines, they come equipped with power armour and bolt weapons, but that is where the similarity ends, especially as they are not genetically engineered like the Adeptus Astartes. Check out this awesome GW short video for an idea of their thematic.

Army Box

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a new army box when Games Workshop released them back in late 2019 as a redesigned plastic army (moving away from smaller metal miniatures), and since then GW have become aware of their marketing potential, and are pushing ahead with new miniatures. After having an Eldar army with miniatures that are so old (and showing it!) it's great for me to actually be on the cutting edge with the latest army. Also, I think their background story and fluff fits quite nicely with the Grey Knight army I painted recently.

Paint Scheme

I looked at the schemes for the existing Sisters Orders, but I didn't really want to paint any of those schemes, so I devised my own. After the all gun metal of Grey Knights I wanted some vibrant colours, so I went with a predominantly yellow armour scheme.

Sisters of Battle paint scheme - yellow/red
Template from http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/sisterp.php

The main paints used in the scheme were;

  • Armour - Averland Sunset base with Yriel Yellow layer
  • Cloth (outside) - Khorne Red base with Evil Sunz Scarlett layer
  • Cloth (inner) - Barak-Nar Burgundy base with Phoenician Purple
  • Weapons &Backpacks - Contrast Black Templar with Dark Reaper Grey highlights
  • Hair & Motifs - Celestra Grey base with Ulthuan Grey highlights
  • Skin - Bugmans Glow base, Cadian Fleshtone and Kislev Flesh with Reikland Fleshshade
  • Helmet eyes - Teclis Blue with Lothern Blue highlight
  • Leather belts etc - Dryad Bark with Gorthor Brown
  • Golds - Either Retributor Gold or Balthasar Gold base with Golden Griffon or Auric highlights
  • Statues/Skulls/Purity Seals - Ushabti Bone and Screaming skull highlight with Agrax wash

Sisters of Battle squad

The army box was filled with unique models that wouldn't be released again as separate boxes (although they are being made available as part of a 40K magazine series. I started with these first and went about choosing both a test model and a paint scheme. 

I decided from this point to have both the hair and iconography such as the fleur de lies to be grey/white. Furthermore, I decided that anyone not touting a standard bolter weapon would be wearing a helmet, to help further distinguish them from a standard Battle Sister.

Sisters of Battle Squad
Sisters of Battle - squad one... "by the Power of Greyskull!"
Sisters of Battle Squad
Sisters of Battle - squad two - with smoking Demon corpse

Canoness

I go this character done early in the army as frankly I knew I would be taking her with whatever I chose. Like all the models in this army I spent 'enough' time on them to get them ready for the table top but could easily spend longer. When putting it together I should have squeezed the two halves of the body together more when gluing because it left a large gap... and after seeing this model around on the internet it looks like I wasn't the only one to fall foul of that.

Priest, Canoness & Missionary
Canoness (centre)

Preacher

At the time of writing there was only an old metal Games Workshop miniature for the Preacher. As an Elite model, he will be accompanying the Repentia to inspire them to attack more furiously.

Sisters of Battle - Priest
Work in progress of Preacher

Missionary

Like the Preacher, this miniature is also a very old metal miniature from GW. I'm sure there will be new ones with all the new Sisters models being launched of late. He takes up a HQ slot, but also inspires more attacking gusto.

Sisters of Battle - Missionary
Work in progress of Missionary

Imagifier

Imagifiers bear a banner mounted with an image of a revered martyr inscribed with holy text that when held aloft serves as a locus of faith to the Sisters of Battle. The Imagifier recounts the martyr's righteous deeds over the roar of gunfire, inspiring nearby Sisters to new heights of violence.

Sisters of Battle - Imagifier
Work in progress of Imagifier

Sisters Repentia & Repentia Superior

For those Sisters that have fallen short in their service to the Emperor, they can repent through self-flagellation and find a glorious death in battle. Martialled by a Repentia Superior with her neural whip keeping the Repentia in line.

Sisters Repentia & Repentia Superior
Fear their massive Eviscerator Chainswords and the Neural Whip that drives them...

Rhino

This troop-carrying armoured track vehicle has formed the backbone of the Space Marines for... well... whenever records began. Well, I guess with the Primaris marines coming onto the scene and ousting the other Marines, there must be a surplus of Rhinos in the Imperium. 

Now, I don't own (or intend to own) an Airbrush... and I didn't have the foresight to purchase any rattle cans of Averland Sunset, so I had to hand brush it over the primer... but I didn't use Zandri Dust, but instead I tried using Army Painters Daemonic Yellow, but it just didn't work for me... 

Army Painter Daemonic Yellow primer
I think we can all agree, it's too bright...

I did (wait for it...) a couple of thin coats of Averland Sunset and bought a dropper bottle of Daemonic Yellow which really worked nicely as a one-coat edge highlighter. I did this because Yriel Yellow layer paint needed too many layers to stand out and edge highlighting is bad enough just once!

Sisters of Battle Rhino
Work in progress Rhino... line edging... lots...

Seraphim Squad

Elite close quarters pistol-touting Sisters... with jump packs. What's not to love.

Sisters of Battle - Seraphim Squad
swoooosh... pew pew!, pew pew!

Exorcist

I was wise to have tried the Rhino first from a painting point of view. However, from the point of view of modelling, the Rhino and Exorcist kits are very very different. Maybe it was just me, but I was expecting a standard Rhino kit with extra Exorcist bits... I couldn't have been more wrong!

Sisters of Battle - ExorcistSisters of Battle - Exorcist

Sisters of Battle - Exorcist
There is a LOT of detail on the Exorcist!
The driver / organist...
Sisters of Battle - Exorcist organistSisters of Battle - Exorcist organist

To come...

I've did get the Sisters half of the Piety & Pain boxed set, so I have the heavy-weapon Retributor squad and Immolator tank to build and paint as well as the new Palatine model. Also I have a few characters primed and ready for some paint.

Sister Tariana Palos, Canoness Veridyan & Inquisitor Greyfax
Sister Tariana Palos, Canoness Veridyan & Inquisitor Greyfax

What's more, as I alluded to above, Games Workshop are really pushing Sisters of Battle at the moment (announced just tonight!), with new shield & pike-wielding Celestian Sacresants squad, a Castigator tank, a Reliquant at Arms banner carrier and some Paragon Warsuits too spearheading a new Codex.

It's going to get expensive soon!... 

Sisters of Battle - Paragon WarsuitsSisters of Battle - Castigator Tank
Sisters of Battle - Morvenn Vahl
Sisters of Battle - Celestian Sacresants
Aestred Thurga & Agathae Dolan
...and I've not even looked at units like Mortifiers, Celestians, Dominions or Zephrim. However, despite all that I will probably begin a Celestine Living Saint model next... or maybe some Retributors... sooooo much choice!

Well, that's it for now... Lots to be getting on with. As mentioned I will look at some army list for 1000, 1500 and 2000 point armies and see what I need to get to fill the army out a bit. Hope you enjoyed the pictures at least! Subscribe (above) and come back for future instalments!!

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