Sororitas Pattern Assault Armor MkIIb

[madtroll]

This is my attempt at making a sisters of battle terminator like armor that isnt terminator armor and feels more sister like, to me anyways.

 

What happened to MkI? lots of deaths in testing, it wasnt pretty...

 

Sororitas Pattern Assault Armor, or SPAA, was designed to give the Sisters of Battle a quick reaction force to fill the gap in between standard Power Armor and Seraphim Jump Armor.

 

SPAA takes the standard power armor design and adds greater stability and life support systems. It has a "grav balancing" system that allows the wearer enhanced mobility.

 

(There are probably people that can come up with a better description than I can B) )

 

SPAA gives the wearer a 3+ armor save. In addition, the extra bulk of the improved life support and grav balancing systems offer the increased protection. This is represented with a +1 to toughness.

 

Relentless: Because of the increased stability and mobility offered by the grav balancing system the wearers are better able to maneuver and advance while simultaneously laying down accurate suppression fire.

 

grav thrust: The SPAA is capable of short bursts of energy, propelling the wearer forward. At any time the wearer is called to make a difficult terrain test the wearer may instead opt to grav thrust instead and move through the terrain the full 6". Moving in this way through difficult terrain is dangerous though, and the unit must now take a dangerous terrain check. The unit can always move normally and take a difficult terrain test but whether or not the unit will use the grav thrust must be decided before the test is taken.

 

A grav thrust may also be made in the assault phase in which case the wearer will have a +1 initiative for the first round of combat. A grav thrust can be made in this way even if there isn't any difficult terrain and a dangerous terrain check is not required if they are not traversing difficult terrain. Note that if the squad elects to grav thrust through difficult terrain in the assault phase then they are not treated as having traveled through difficult terrain for purposes of determining initiative order.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestian Assault Squad

 

Squad size one Veteran Celestian Superior and 4 Celestians for (X) points.

 

(use standard Celestian and vet superior stats, including faithful and holy rage)

 

5 more Celestians can be added to the squad for (X) points.

 

Gear: SPAA, Bolter, sarissa, blessed ammunition, frag and krak grenades.

 

The vet may exchange her bolter w/ sarissa for a bolt pistol and close combat weapon for free. She may exchange her bolter w/ sarissa for an eviscerator for +(X) points.

 

Any celestian, including the vet, may buy a praesedium protectiva for +(X) points. (for those wondering what this is, it is a very watered down storm shield. It gives one 4+ invulnerable save per close combat round)

 

2 celestians may exchange their bolter w/ sarissa for one of the following special weapons:

 

combiflamer w/ sarissafor +(X) points

combimeltagun w/ sarissa for +(X)points

storm bolter w/ sarissa for +(X) points

 

If only one celestian has a special weapon then one celestian may exchange her bolter w/ sarissa for one of the following:

 

Heavy Flamer for +(X) points

 

One celestian not carrying a special weapon or eviscerator may be upgraded to an Imagifer for +(X) points

 

Two celestians may exchange their bolter w/ sarissa for an eviscerator for +(X) points.

 

If the squad number 10 models then two more celestians may exchange their bolter w/ sarissa for an eviscerator for +(X) points.

 

The squad may buy a rhino or repressor as a dedicated transport.

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ok.. flame away :D

 

please split your criticism into two categories: fluff and balance.

 

fluff: If you think something wouldn't fly fluff wise, the grav balancing system wouldn't exist, they would never be able to get it, and so on and on and on, then state so and why. And then help me come up with a good fluff alternative. What should the garv baalncing system be called? Maybe it's just an underpowered jump pack, help me out.

 

balance: If you think it's over/under powered or they shouldnt have certain gear/skills or maybe should have certain gear/skills then let me know and help me cost this thing out.

 

modeling wise: I am going to use standard space marines as my base. They will be bigger than sisters and I plan to add a big back to the armor like a terminator has but model some sort of thruster mechanism in it as well.

[Lady_Canoness]

Hmmm.... the Sister Terminator thread got me thinking as well, but instead of giving sisters souped up armour, I was thinking that something like a Sister version of the Space Marine Honour Guard would be more in order. Like the seven worthies they would be highly revered within the order (almost legendary status) and wear the best armour and carry the best weapons.

 

Just a rough scetch of an Sister assault unit without resorting to armour upgrades.

[Melissia]

I honestly don't see why peopel have something against Sisters getting better armor. The Ecclesiarchy (and less importantly, the Inquisiton) certainly is rich enough to afford it-- the fact that they have astartes-quality protection (yes, this is canon, it is stated in the codex that their armor provides equivalent protection even if it is not as goo in other areas) is proof enough of their wealth.

[madtroll]

I honestly don't see why peopel have something against Sisters getting better armor. The Ecclesiarchy (and less importantly, the Inquisiton) certainly is rich enough to afford it-- the fact that they have astartes-quality protection (yes, this is canon, it is stated in the codex that their armor provides equivalent protection even if it is not as goo in other areas) is proof enough of their wealth.

 

I hear ya and agree.

 

It's obvious that this is something that will probably never be resolved though, some people think it's a "neat" idea, others are dead set against it.

 

That's why I geared out the above squad with combi-weapons and eviscerators because if worst comes to worst, I can always just use the "counts as" rule and chaos termies.

 

I play about 70% of all my apoc games against the same group of 3 guys and they would let me try out anything I want. In big shop-wide apoc games I would just use counts-as.

 

In campaign games and tourneys I'm stuck with RAW anyways.

[Grand Master Tyrak]

Melissia Posted Today, 08:36 AM

I honestly don't see why peopel have something against Sisters getting better armor. The Ecclesiarchy (and less importantly, the Inquisiton) certainly is rich enough to afford it-- the fact that they have astartes-quality protection (yes, this is canon, it is stated in the codex that their armor provides equivalent protection even if it is not as goo in other areas) is proof enough of their wealth.

 

It's not just a question of money. The AdMech have to do the research, praying, rituals etc. and if they find it's not STC they aren't going to make it. You could squeeze out a dozen or so suits by leaning on individual Tech-Priests, but you won;t see them on a production line.

 

However, as with all GW new tech, lo and behold the AdMech finds there was such a possibility built into the STC. You can use this premise when doing this SPAA stuff, but remember it's not just a question of money. You need both the technology, and the will (in the AdMech) to produce it.

[ArmouredWing]

This is my attempt at making a sisters of battle terminator like armor that isnt terminator armor and feels more sister like, to me anyways.

 

What happened to MkI? lots of deaths in testing, it wasnt pretty...

 

Sororitas Pattern Assault Armor, or SPAA, was designed to give the Sisters of Battle a quick reaction force to fill the gap in between standard Power Armor and Seraphim Jump Armor.

 

SPAA takes the standard power armor design and adds greater stability and life support systems. It has a "grav balancing" system that allows the wearer enhanced mobility.

 

(There are probably people that can come up with a better description than I can :lol: )

 

SPAA gives the wearer a 3+ armor save. In addition, the extra bulk of the improved life support and grav balancing systems offer the increased protection. This is represented with a +1 to toughness.

 

Relentless: Because of the increased stability and mobility offered by the grav balancing system the wearers are better able to maneuver and advance while simultaneously laying down accurate suppression fire.

 

grav thrust: The SPAA is capable of short bursts of energy, propelling the wearer forward. At any time the wearer is called to make a difficult terrain test the wearer may instead opt to grav thrust instead and move through the terrain the full 6". Moving in this way through difficult terrain is dangerous though, and the unit must now take a dangerous terrain check. The unit can always move normally and take a difficult terrain test but whether or not the unit will use the grav thrust must be decided before the test is taken.

 

A grav thrust may also be made in the assault phase in which case the wearer will have a +1 initiative for the first round of combat. A grav thrust can be made in this way even if there isn't any difficult terrain and a dangerous terrain check is not required if they are not traversing difficult terrain. Note that if the squad elects to grav thrust through difficult terrain in the assault phase then they are not treated as having traveled through difficult terrain for purposes of determining initiative order.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestian Assault Squad

 

Squad size one Veteran Celestian Superior and 4 Celestians for (X) points.

 

(use standard Celestian and vet superior stats, including faithful and holy rage)

 

5 more Celestians can be added to the squad for (X) points.

 

Gear: SPAA, Bolter, sarissa, blessed ammunition, frag and krak grenades.

 

The vet may exchange her bolter w/ sarissa for a bolt pistol and close combat weapon for free. She may exchange her bolter w/ sarissa for an eviscerator for +(X) points.

 

Any celestian, including the vet, may buy a praesedium protectiva for +(X) points. (for those wondering what this is, it is a very watered down storm shield. It gives one 4+ invulnerable save per close combat round)

 

2 celestians may exchange their bolter w/ sarissa for one of the following special weapons:

 

combiflamer w/ sarissafor +(X) points

combimeltagun w/ sarissa for +(X)points

storm bolter w/ sarissa for +(X) points

 

If only one celestian has a special weapon then one celestian may exchange her bolter w/ sarissa for one of the following:

 

Heavy Flamer for +(X) points

 

One celestian not carrying a special weapon or eviscerator may be upgraded to an Imagifer for +(X) points

 

Two celestians may exchange their bolter w/ sarissa for an eviscerator for +(X) points.

 

If the squad number 10 models then two more celestians may exchange their bolter w/ sarissa for an eviscerator for +(X) points.

 

The squad may buy a rhino or repressor as a dedicated transport.

I actually really like what you've put together here, to me it's well within the scope of the SoB and is a clearly different from TDA which was, to me at least, the crux of the problem. I particularly like the fact that you've not gone down the route of bestowing the 2+ save and instead have made the armour give a +1T, some nice thinking.

 

There's only a couple of things I'm not so sure about;

 

The first is in relation to giving the option of Sarissas on combi weapons. It makes the decision a bit of a no brainer and goes against the description in C:WH. I'd have to say that as you're giving the option of 'support' weapons in the squad it should be at the expense of the obvious assault advantage that a sarissa gives to the wielder and takes away the 'should I go all assault or not?' question that makes putting together a roster difficult/fun.

 

The other thing I'd have to say is that giving the option of a rhino/repressor to a full squad of 10 with this heavier armour seems a bit generous. Again, for me, I'd like to have to make the decision of whether I go with a smaller fast moving squad of 5 in a transport or 10 on foot.

 

But apart from that it's looking good. Nice work.

[Krieghammer]

I dont think they should be able to ride vehicles that arent Land Raider Status..

But i do think that they should have access to meltas and Flamers (or Hvy Flamers) , perhaps maybe even make it so that evey assault celesial would be able to carry Power Weapon.

Also it would be cool if they could be deep striked or drop podded or anything alike onto the file of battle!

[Grand Master Tyrak]

Krieghammer Posted Today, 02:07 PM

I dont think they should be able to ride vehicles that arent Land Raider Status..

 

Well that's a problem since the SoB don't get Land Raiders at the moment. :D

 

Models in normal Terminator armour can ride in Chimeras though, taking up two spaces each.

[Warp Angel]

Balance/Fluff:

 

Wouldn't it make more sense for there to be a piece of wargear that could be purchased for a Celestian that provided +1T? Lots of things you could use, from sacremental wine, to amulets of faith, etc.

 

Additionally, you would just need to add Jet Pack as a wargear option to justify relentless and the problems with additional terrain. It also fits better with the Sisters "Hit and Run" style of some of their units. You could combine it with the +1T wargear item into a single piece of equipment if you wanted. Or, for cost and flexibility reasons, keep it separate so the general has more choice in equipment load-out of their army.

 

With either of the above, you don't have to invent new rules like "Grav Assist" that might create confusion with your opponents.

 

Personally, I think Sisters should have the Relentless rule ANYWAY, at least as long as they are advancing towards an opponent.

[Grand Master Tyrak]

Wouldn't it make more sense for there to be a piece of wargear that could be purchased for a Celestian that provided +1T? Lots of things you could use, from sacremental wine,

 

;) New Special Rule: "Dutch Courage: Grants +1T"

[madtroll]

ArmouredWing:

 

both good ideas, I think I'll use em.

 

No sarissa if you give up the bolter and limit of 5 in a rhino / repressor.

 

Krieghammer: No landraiders are available and I would be opening a whole new can of worms by trying to give them to them. They don't feel "sister" to me anyways.

 

Power weapons / eviscerators for the whole squad is an option. I actually thought it worked better from a balance perspective if it was limited. Maybe let the veteran swing around a bolt pistol and power weapon?

 

I don't like the idea of letting them deep strike. Even if I gave them TDA I was never going to use the deep strike option because it just didnt feel right. Drop pods are something different though. I like the idea but am I going to run into a "only marines have access to drop pods" argument?

 

Warp Angel: I don't see the difference in making a new set of armor and making up a bunch of new wargear and putting it in their armory. The end product is the same except if they are wearing new armor then there is something new to model, and thats the ultimate goal.

 

What about costing them? Anyone have some ideas on that? Same as a seraphim? more? less?

[ArmouredWing]

What about costing them? Anyone have some ideas on that? Same as a seraphim? more? less?

For what they can do I reckon it'd have to be a bit more. Might be worth adding up the value of the standard wargear to a celestian and then taking a shot at a cost for the armour.

 

In fear of making them TOO overpowered I'd also have to say that a unit like this would also really inspire other units. Perhaps a consideration for a Ld modifier (similar to angelic visage?).

[madtroll]

ok this is a fluff question for you guys in the know.

 

Whats the deal with the imperial guards grav chutes? Is it technology that I could say has been modified to work in this armor. Instead of slowing their descent from a dropship it instead is used to give quick bursts of speed to propel them forward.

[Eltnot]

Grav Chutes are anti grav chutes, designed to slow the fall of the wearer. They are usually equipped with small thrusters to allow the user to control their decent somewhat. A Jump Pack is simply the same thing, but with bigger thrusters, allowing short "flights".

 

An example of a unit getting speed out of these is harlequins, as they carry anti grav belts, allowing them to jump higher then a normal individual. They are however specially trained, naturally faster, and not wearing any armour. So for a human in armour, they would need to be proper jump packs to get any real speed increase.

[ArmouredWing]

ok this is a fluff question for you guys in the know.

 

Whats the deal with the imperial guards grav chutes? Is it technology that I could say has been modified to work in this armor. Instead of slowing their descent from a dropship it instead is used to give quick bursts of speed to propel them forward.

Have you read any Gaunts Ghosts? I think it's 'straight silver' which has quite a sizeable chunk of the book with chosen members of the ghosts being trained in the use of grav chutes to infiltrate a chaos held hive.

 

You've probably got a good angle with this idea, the grav chutes have got directional thrust which would suit the purposes of your boost concept. I think there's some technical info/spec in one of the IA books which details the elysian drop troops.

[SCC]

The grav-chute is a complex piece of equipment issued solely to Drop Troop regiments and Storm Troopers for special missions. It is worn across the shoulders, above the backpack, and because of its weight and bulk is usually discarded immediately upon landing, freeing up the Drop Trooper to fight less encumbered. Grav-chutes only operate at a set altitude, the troops are in free fall until the grav-chute activates, controlling their descent with their body shape. The grav-chute slows the final descent but the impact with the ground is still hard and upon landing troops must roll with the impact to absorb the shock.

 

From this source it sounds like grav-chutes are basically high-tech parachutes.

 

From what I remember from the GG novel the grav-chute they had was more high-tech and hade some sort of limited maneuvering capability, but I couldn't swear to that.

 

In either case they don't sound quite right to form the basis of the sort of ability you're after.

 

It has a "grav balancing" system that allows the wearer enhanced mobility.

The Imperium has some anti-grav tech, far less than the Eldar or Tau though, and it's poorly understood by the Mechanicus. The closest example of Imperial tech is probably suspensors, they used to be much more common but have been scaled back in recent editions. Suspensors were most frequently issued to Astartes and were essentially designed to counter the weight of heavy equipment, like a heavy bolter or plasma cannon, to allow the bearer to move as if no more encumbered than he would be with a bolter.

 

Giving SPAA heavier armour and some sort of suspensor system to offset the sluggishness of heavier armour makes sense to me but Imperial anti-gravs don't seem to have any real propulsive power of their own. Take the Land Speeder, it's got anti-grav plates to keep it off the deck but it's got regular engines to move around with. Perhaps that's the answer, have a combo anti-grav/jump pack that allows the Sisters to scoot around just above the ground, like the old Robotech Valkyries used to in hybrid mode.

 

Basing it on Tau tech would work if you can link it to the Sororitas through an =][= with Ordos Xenos contacts I s'pose.

[madtroll]

So I don't have to justify new tech or taking stuff from tau what if we combined grav chute technology with jump packs?

 

There could be a couple grav chute mechanisms on it to help lighten the load and give them a little extra spring in their step and underpowered jump packs to thrust them forward.

 

How would that sound?

 

Also I was thinking about ArmouredWings "Inspire" idea. I agree that a unit like this would be inspiring but I don't want to take anything away from the seraphim and I really don't want to make these girls too expensive.

 

What if their inspiring aura was more of a "Litanies of Battle" chant or prayer that these girls sung while they fought? Any SoB squad involved in a close combat that they are also involved in (including themselves) will get a +1 Ld?

 

Too much maybe? Stop me if I am going too far with this unit :D

[Phoenix Knight]

ok this is a fluff question for you guys in the know.

 

Whats the deal with the imperial guards grav chutes? Is it technology that I could say has been modified to work in this armor. Instead of slowing their descent from a dropship it instead is used to give quick bursts of speed to propel them forward.

Have you read any Gaunts Ghosts? I think it's 'straight silver' which has quite a sizeable chunk of the book with chosen members of the ghosts being trained in the use of grav chutes to infiltrate a chaos held hive.

 

You've probably got a good angle with this idea, the grav chutes have got directional thrust which would suit the purposes of your boost concept. I think there's some technical info/spec in one of the IA books which details the elysian drop troops.

 

 

 

For those of you who want to read it the Gaunts Ghost book with grav chutes is actually 'The Guns of Tanith' and it is in my humble opinion the best of a great series.

 

And to the other post on combining a grav chute with a jump pack well as described by Dan Abnett a grav chute is just an under-powered jump pack, so you'd have to have a 'over-powered' jump pack?

[Melissia]

I think the idea is a jump pack that assists with moving quickly and nimbly rather than one which gives you a huge burst of power needed to jump a large distance.

[daboarder]

i have to say i think your concept has just inspired me and at the risk of hijacking your thread i intend to create and playtest a similar style of sister unit including model construction! i think ill even open a thread on it right now