Adepta Sororitas Convocation (LU1)

[Brother Tyler]

ADEPTA SORORITAS CONVOCATION

Legendary Unit

 

POINTS: 275 + MODELS

 

Normally, the Orders of the Adepta Sororitas operate independently, the Orders Militant taking the fight to the enemy and the other Orders supporting Imperial forces in accordance with their specialties. When conflicts reach truly epic proportions and major concentrations of force are necessary, however, multiple Orders Militant and non-Militant Orders will combine their efforts. In order to successfully accomplish this joining of forces, the leaders of the various Orders involved will put their Orders under the temporary command of the senior Canoness of a Militant Order present, utilizing their forces in accordance with her tactical experience and acumen. Such a force is able to capitalize on the different skills of the different types of Order, bringing capabilities to bear that the Orders Militant don’t have access to on their own and enhancing the effectiveness of the Orders Militant.

 

FORMATION:

Canoness Superior

Prioress Militant

Prioress Famulous

Prioress Dialogus

Prioress Hospitaller

(The Canoness Superior uses the rules for a Canoness and each of the Prioresses uses the rules for an Adepta Sororitas Heroine, and may be either a Canoness or Palatine.)

1 Retinue (one model must be upgraded to a Banner Bearer)

 

SPECIAL RULES:

 

MISTRESS OF THE FAITH: A veteran of hundreds of battles and a Canoness within her Order Militant, the Canoness Superior serves as an example for her Sisters to emulate. All Sisters of Battle units within 12” of the Canoness Superior benefit from the Supreme Headquarters strategic asset (see the Apocalypse Rulebook).

 

BLESSINGS OF THE FAITHFUL: In battle, the Adepta Sororitas Convocation coordinates the actions of the various Adepta Sororitas Orders. The player’s army gains access to certain strategic assets and special rules as detailed below. Each individual Prioress provides a specific strategic asset or special rule which can be used as detailed below, provided the Canoness Superior and the Prioress are on the table. If the Canoness Superior or the Prioress are dead (or they have been left in strategic reserve), the strategic asset or special rule is not available.

 

Prioress Militant: Highly skilled in the martial virtues, the Sisters of the Orders Militant pursue war against heretics and enemies of the Imperium with fiery zeal. During any turn in which the Prioress Militant is in No-Man’s Land or the enemy’s deployment zone, Adepta Sororitas units in the army benefit from the Holy War strategic asset (found in the Apocalypse Reload rulebook).

 

Prioress Famulous: Though normally employed in the service of the Imperium’s noble families, the Sisters of the Orders Famulous are also able to coordinate the efforts of multiple Orders and other Imperial organizations upon the battlefield. Once per game the army may use the Careful Planning strategic asset.

 

Prioress Dialogus: Expert at communicating with local forces and overcoming any language barriers with ease, the Sisters of the Orders Dialogus are able to focus the efforts of disparate units on priority targets. Once per game the army may use the Precision Strike strategic asset.

 

Prioress Hospitaller: The Orders Hospitaller provide surgeons, physicians and nurses to all arms of the Imperial military (with the exception of the Adeptus Astartes), performing acts of great compassion in the execution of their duties. If the Prioress Hospitaller has joined a unit and is not in base contact with any enemy models, all models in the unit benefit from the Feel No Pain universal special rule.

 

DESIGNER’S NOTES: This datasheet grew out of a desire to fill a glaring gap in the collection of official datasheets – the Adepta Sororitas are under-represented. I used the Space Marine Masters of the Chapter and Chaos Space Marine Lords of the Black Crusade as my model, though I aimed to make this version a bit different.

 

Where the Space Marines have different roles assigned to the Captains of the different companies and the Chaos Space Marines have the same along both Legion and Chaos power lines, I looked to the different Orders of the Adepta Sororitas as the source of my variation. While I considered some of the other types of Orders (notably the Order Pronatus), I ultimately decided to go with the better known of the types of Orders. This was facilitated by the existence of models that suitably represent two (though whether or not these are “blingy” enough to represent Canonesses/Palatines is debatable).

 

The datasheet was also inspired by several particular mentions of Adepta Sororitas participation in the Eye of Terror campaign. The first is a mention in White Dwarf at the conclusion of the campaign, identifying the role of Canoness Astra in the Belis Corona sector and coordinated assaults of a number of Adepta Sororitas Orders. The second is a mention in the Black Library campaign book on the 13th Black Crusade in which it is identified that Canoness Astra is in the Greater (Militant?) Order of the Silver Lily. So the campaign itself provided the rationale to craft a formation built around multiple Orders.

 

I did things a little bit differently compared to the Space Marine and Chaos Space Marine counterparts. Both of those allow each power conferred by one of the subordinate independent characters to be used once per game (I think – it’s been awhile). While I’ve allowed that for two of the characters, I’ve allowed the other two to use their powers multiple times. To compensate for this, I’ve put some limitations on when/how those powers can be used, and also applied a slight points increase. One of the powers (that of the Prioress Hospitaller) is slightly less potent to the overall army, but can achieve some very good things in the unit the Prioress has joined. The other power is pretty powerful, though I envision the Prioress Militant dying at some point since she has to be in the thick of things in order for the power to work. The Lords of the Black Crusade have the potent The Eye Opens power, which is pretty good, so the cost increase I applied to the Sisters variant wasn’t too much above the cost of the Chaos counterpart. Large formations of Sisters of Battle can capitalize on their high number of Faith Points to very good effect, so it doesn’t do well to underestimate their potency.

 

The formation itself is lifted from the other two formations I named. This makes it immediately recognizable, as well as satisfies conservatism to make it a bit more acceptable by other players.

 

As for the choice of the word “Prioress”, I conducted a lot of research in order to find something suitable. I’m still not sure that it works, but it was the only title I could find that didn’t have a strong application elsewhere and seemed appropriate, both in the context of the implied authority a “Prioress” has and with regard to being a title used within the Adepta Sororitas. The other title I considered was “Preceptor” (or “Canoness Preceptor”) as found in the 13th Black Crusade book available from Black Library. I thought Prioress was more evocative of the Sisters of Battle, though, so I went with that.

 

The main weaknesses of the datasheet have been identified above – powers working a bit differently than the Chaos Space Marine/Space Marine counterparts. The other weakness is the requirement for a Standard Bearer in the Celestian retinue – players will either have to buy the model (which doesn’t come in a boxed set) or convert one. That’s minor, but an issue I’m facing now (presumptuous of me, I know). And of course, players will either have to buy the Hospitaller and Dialogus minis that come in the other Inquisitor boxed sets or separately, or convert those models. I’m using a standard Sisters of Battle Sister Superior model to represent the Prioress Famulous, though I’ll have to paint her to be a bit more fancy than the other rank and file Sisters.

 

As far as the second stage of the contest goes, players will only have to paint up ten models – the Canoness Superior, the four Prioresses, and then a five-model Celestian squad.

 

Please discuss this datasheet by replying in this topic.

 

If you have any questions about the process, please refer to this discussion.

[Grey Mage]

I like it... the multiple uses isnt a big thing for me due to the fact that 1) Soritas just arent as "tough" as marines are with their T 3. 2)This is an Expensive formation- 15 models and upwards of 1200pts.

 

I think its well thought out, and a good addition to a sisters force. If you wanted to use it in smaller apocalypse battles *say 3-4k* you could easily go light on the wargear options and keep this fairly inexpensive too.