Suffer not the soulless in thy ministry, for they make doors for dangerous forces.

Commandments to the Ecclesiarchy

 

 

 

 

   I have been struggling of late with my own personal mental health issues. Nothing major, but enough to bring me down to a lot. I have not picked up a brush or model to work on in months, and I used the Holidays as an excuse, even if that is partial true. I have tried to get back into the hobby with @Grotsmasha's 12 Months of Hobby and I just have not had the motivation to start my vows, I promised.  My Wife started a new work from home job in early November, Mid November we brought home a new foster baby, so we were adjusting to the new life style. One of my step son's came home from a Residential Care Behavioral Home that he was supposed to be at for 2-3 months after almost 10 months, released Unsuccessfully from the Program mid December and with in weeks disrupted the Household, to end up back in a different Behavioral Care since his 12th birthday almost 4 weeks ago and is terrorizing that location. Mother in Law moved here from Out of State along with her Husband and we finally got them in their new place 90 seconds drive time away. It has been a lot. 

 

 

  As I try to get out of this funk, and with the local Horus Heresy league coming to an end, Thank the Emperor, I need to focus on my Group, Metal Head Armory, 40k Crusade coming up in a few months. Originally I was going to play Grey Knights, I am supposed to be true scaling them with Tortuga Bay bodies, and I found a Redemptor to Mk IV Dreadnought upgrade kit I am waiting for.  Then Iron Warriors previews were released, and I know one best friends and regular opponents @The_Oni_of_Hindsight would be jumping for joy, as he is huge IW fan and will plan to build them for the Crusade, and in turn motivate me to build my Grey Knights to fight them...nope. This actually pushed me in the other direction. Not towards Chaos or Xenos armies, but back to the Forces of the Ecclesiachy. Adepta Sororitas is my Favorite Army and I should be playing them. I should be painting them. I should have more models done then I do now. The fact that this army is not done or painted to a table top standard is disturbing. I have a large painted Grey Knights Army, a good amount of my HH Raven Guard painted. 

 

 

   I know I have a ton of unbuilt, unpainted, and just primed models. I have enough models to field multiple armies using the different detachment rules. The idea for my Forces is the Reconsecrate a Temple or Convent that has been lost. I want to use the Sanctifiers, eventually, along with some Novitiates and other units I do not normally take. But I want to stay true to my style of play for Adepta Sororitas, shooting point blank to the Face.  I am torn which Order to paint. Currently I have models in the Order of the Valorous Heart, but I do like the Original Paint Scheme for the Order of Our Martyred Lady (Pre Armageddon), and the Order of the Argent Shroud has my attention too. 

 

 

The Order of the Valorous Heart:  

 

Order Combat Doctrine

The example set by Lucia in her life, as well as through her martyrdom, has led to the Order of the Valorous Heart employing methods of warfare that are unique among the Adepta Sororitas. At the outset of battle the sisters pray to the Emperor and their Matriarch for the strength to endure the horrors to come. They then launch offensives to cut off their foe's supply routes and lines of retreat.

 

With the enemy locked in place, the order begins sabotaging any infrastructure in the area -- water supplies are drained, fuel reserves destroyed and pipelines transporting noxious substances are vented into the atmosphere. On Feral Worlds, anything that could provide the enemy with the least sustenance is incinerated.

 

In short order, the battlefield is transformed into a harrowing desert, with a grinding war of attrition remaining as the only path to victory for either side.

 

It is in these conditions that the sisters of the Valorous Heart excel. No hardship is too great to shake their resolve, no pain so severe that they waver in their duty. They press the attack with one measured advance after another, inexorably driving their way into hostile territory and paving a path before them with the corpses of their foes.

 

The glacial press of power-armoured warriors moving forwards is enough to erode the morale of even the most dauntless enemies -- as is the sight of Sororitas who continue to stand and fight after enduring multiple grievous wounds.

 

When the sisters find themselves on the defensive, their unmatched grit allows them to withstand punishment that would scatter a less faithful force.

Their hymns ring loud as barrages are levelled against them, and should the frustrated foe resort to an all-out assault, the sisters sally forth with unfailing vigour.

 

Due to the methods of combat they employ, the preceptories of the Valorous Heart typically boast greater numbers of Exorcists and Retributor Squads than those of other orders. They use their heavy weaponry to establish solid bases of long-range fire, raining death upon the enemy's position and punishing anyone foolish enough to advance towards them.

 

Many amongst the order say that they can feel the beating of Lucia's noble heart in the lightning-fast thud of bolt shells. Others hear her cries of defiance resounding within the sky-tearing crack of Exorcist missiles.

 

It is little wonder that they see miracles manifesting in the fires of their bombardments, and are so eager to charge into the infernos they have wrought.

 

Pros:

• Current Order so would not need to change paint style
• have matching dice and dice tray

Cons:

• Painted with GW and other paints and don't use GW paints anymore. 
• Lots of black 
• Paint scheme is time consuming to get metallic armor

 

 

The Order of Our Martyred Lady: 

 

Order Combat Doctrine

The Sisters of Our Martyred Lady continue to embody Katherine's burning passion and unflagging determination. On the battlefield they employ tactics that see their formations spread like an unstoppable fire, advancing inexorably as they reduce all who stand before them to ash.

 

Yet their approach to warfare is far from undisciplined. Katherine was a devoted student of military doctrine, and combined the formidable fighting techniques developed by the Daughters of the Emperor with those practised by other branches of the Imperium.

 

Her teachings have been upheld by the Order of Our Martyred Lady, and its sisters are able to switch from one strategy to another with frightening speed and efficacy.

 

Pros:

• Have matching dice and dice tray 

Cons:

• I like the older scheme whish is a tad harder with white piping
• The Poster Girls for Adepta Sororitas
• Lots of Black- Robes, armor, hair

 

The Order of the Argent Shroud:

 

Order Combat Doctrine

Without fear or doubt, the sisters of the Argent Shroud throw themselves into the deadliest conflicts, marching boldly against overwhelming enemy numbers and into hellish battlefield conditions. They avoid formulating grand stratagems and rarely communicate intended tactics to their allies, to the ire of many Imperial generals.

 

Simply put, the order places its trust in the divine guidance of the Emperor more than in the carefully orchestrated plans of His fallible servants. The results achieved by the Argent Shroud soon put paid to any misgivings. Spearheads of silver-clad warriors race towards teeming xenos throngs, and invasion cathedrums hurtle onto worlds writhing with Chaos energy.

 

With swift surges the Sororitas smash through the defensive formations of far-larger armies, destroying monstrous artillery batteries stationed behind the front lines, and permanently silencing the demagoguery of heretical enemy commanders. Lightning-fast assaults are followed by rapid withdrawals, and as the foe reels in confusion, the Sisters of the Argent Shroud reform and strike again.

 

By committing themselves so boldly to these offensives, the warriors of the Argent Shroud often leave themselves cut off from support, surrounded and outgunned. But it is in such dire circumstances that their faith shines brightest. The sisters cry out to Saint Silvana for protection, knowing that their fallen saint watches over them in battle -- incoming salvoes ricochet off their gleaming armour, brutal enemy blades fail to find their mark, and blasts of malefic energy veer miraculously off course.

 

Filled with divine conviction, the Sororitas fight on against impossible odds, standing strong amidst the carnage as they drop their foes one by one. Those sisters who fall often save their entire squad from annihilation with their dying action, throwing themselves into the line of fire just as their Matriarch would have done.

 

There are countless legends in which the sisters of the Argent Shroud emerged from battles that Imperial logisticians had calculated to be unsurvivable.

 

The most famous of these was the opening assault of the Gyre Crusade, in which the order was first deployed to war. It is said that a commandery fought a raging war across the magma flats of Dvost Prime that lasted a whole Terran year, emerging with only a handful of losses and the skulls of three Iron Warriors Warpsmiths.

 

Due to their propensity for hit-and run assaults, the Sisters of the Argent Shroud have some of the deadliest and most experienced shock troops of all the Adepta Sororitas. Many of the order's commanderies boast large contingents of Dominion Squads, who are deployed en masse to break through the defensive lines of unsuspecting enemies, or are sent in small numbers to infiltrate fortresses, macro-bunkers and command centres in hostile territory.

 

These Dominions are also leaders in many of the Order’s rites of worship, their prayers on the battlefield often being the first intoned before being echoed by the other Sisters.

 

Pros:

• Not black except Bodice and gloves 
• Will Stand out on tables
• Probably faster to paint the Black armor
• Fought Iron Warriors....

Cons:

• Same Paint Scheme as my Grey knights. 
• Another Silver army 

 

Decisions Decisions.