REPENT AND PENITENT?

[Silvani]

I am a relatively new 40k player. I have started collecting witch hunters about 3 years ago, but haven't gotten to actually playing them till now. I have done some painting and conversion and mostly picked the army on the basis of looks. Esentialy i have convinced myself on bulding an all female army which i have been succesfull at making. I have noticed in many army lists that penetent engines and sisters of repentia are avoided like fire. And i want to find out why? They are gorgeous models and seem to have very special and unique rules that may add variety to the regular Sisters of Battle game. I have played only few games and used Repentia in most of them. So far i've found them very effective. Short lived, but very effective. Can't say the same about penitent engines, because i have not had a chance to use them yet. (I do have a converted version of a priest - uhm... priestess :) )

[DinoDoc]

The rules for them suck? Awesome models though and the Rule of Cool can justify alot.

[Verythrax Draconis]

The rules for them suck? Awesome models though and the Rule of Cool can justify alot.

 

Exactly.

 

I chose playing WH for the PEs, arcos e repentias. Followed the "make the army you identify the most/you like the models better" and it was love at first sight. SoBs were just a consequence, since they come with the package.

 

Too bad the coolest 40k minis ever have the worst rules ever, too.

[Sister Rosette Soulknyt]

Actually the only thing wrong with Penitant Engines is the lack of front armour and most importantly the low Initiative.

I used 3 Penitant Engines a few days ago, one got blown up, one tied up a squad of penal legion, before buring them all and ripping them to bits, following on to destroy a Sentinal.

And the other one destroyed a dreadnought before a Landraider destroyed my second one.

 

I recommend using them, they move quick and once in melee range make short work of tanks, and infantry.

 

As for Repentia, again points cost here is the main ssue, at a cost of 20 points with only a 4+ save, there over priced considering a Battle Sister in power armour is only 11 points.

But i like these girls, they make there points once in melee, witha Str 6 2d6 armour Penetration weapon. Drawback they strike at Initiative 1. So expect to lose a few.

Me i run a full squad of 20 with a Mistress and Priest here and ive had mixed responses to them.

Either they get cut down quickly or they really do lots of damage freeing up other troops to back them up.

Hint, cover and screen them with a rhino.

 

Arco flagalent...what can i say, i love these warped, nightmarish killing machines. D6 power weapon attacks witha 4+ Invulnerable save. I use 2 squads of 6 and have to say when you want to kill lots of tropps, even Nids, these guys are awesome. Ive taken out termies, command squads, whole groups of nids and lots of orcs with these maniacs.

I recommend them.

Personnally i say use them, try them and if they work for you dont listen to others, we can only hope with a new codex they will improve them and make them even more worth past the look of these great miniatures.

Try a few gams, with different tactics ok.

Hope that helps

[Eltnot]

With the addition of the run rule to fifth edition, these units have gotten a lot better. They are however still expensive and very fragile as others have pointed out.

[Canoness Starkova]

I love running Penitent Engines, I've played approximately six games with at least three of them in my list. I have yet to fail to make it into combat with at least two of them, by utilising cover/rhino cover.

 

In a few of those games my engines single handedly destroyed 3+ MEQ enemy units. and they average 2 MEQ units a game.

[GTang]

On the plus side, if you're starting an army, it's easy to get higher points with few models to paint.

[panbient]

PEs are the reason i started playing the game.

 

the rules are a little tricky and you really need to like the random nature of the unit to get the most out of them. from what i've noticed the biggest problem people have with PEs is that think they can just use them like a CC Dreadnaught. this is wrong.

 

also don't ever just field a single PE, it won't make it across the table, take advantage of the fact that you can field up to 3 as a group. don't ever expect them to survive until the end of the match either, if it's a kill points match consider yourself starting at a disadvantage.

 

i think the other reason people dislike the PEs is because you WILL feel like you're repenting for something major when you build them.

[Drahazar]

I run 9 PE now and they make it accross not all but enoguht to make people cry and I back them up with rhinos and sisters.

[Senseilord Ashahara]

Penitants? Repentia? Flagellent? Priests?

 

Why on earth wouldnt you use them?

Rules Schmalls.

These units look cool, chicks dig them and they have bags and bags of fluffy colour.

If you want an army that does what you want it to, when you want them to and that wins easily, play Space Marines.

[calypso2ts]

The reason I don't like Penitent engines is you pay a premium for each. If you field 3, then you have a priest in their cost who costs half again as much as a Penitent Engine. Running 3 costs almost 300 points, more than a Land Raider. The other huge problem is once you deploy them you have no control over them at all. You can try to herd them with Rhinos or select targets by smart shooting, but that is about it. If I could choose to move them how I wanted, then I would field both of mine all the time.

 

That said, they do wonders for your comp score at a tournament. Assembly, as noted, is worse than painful for these diabolical killing machines.

[Commander Sasha]

I looked at C:WH when I started, but defected to C:SM shortly after; my repentias are now remodelled as the gunners on my attack bikes, and rhino drivers.

Great models belong on the table, even if they are hard to play.

 

Try a PE or two leading a charge of Repentias, acting as a shield wall: PEs get Holy rage, so pretty fast, and Reps might too, run them if they don't.

 

Have you seen the original concept for Sisters Repentia? White Dwarf, ~10 yrs ago. Lone elites, acting as Ronin: stripped of symbols, and only wearing a few parts of their armour (hence a 4+ save for Ugg boots and a dressing gown!), the concept art looked like Tank Girl. A short story described a pinned guard unit, saved by a ragamuffin hurling herself at the enemy, little thought for her own safety, only concerned with proving her honour in battle. So Cool!

[Silvani]

Thank you all for the feedback.

 

It is quite intersting that they only work in numbers. I have attempted to use them in the past with only 10 repentia and only 1 penitent, but they did not perform very well. After reading through these comments i now realize that the ideal number is 20 for repentia and possibly even more then one squad. In addtion when it comes to Penitent E. it seems that a full squad of 3 should work best. I curently only have 2 models of PE and only about 15-18 Repentias. In a span of the next few months i would like to finish painting my exorcists and imolators ass soon as i am done with that i will be purchasing a baneblade wich i want to convert to look in style with my SoB army. After my next step would be to get max number of penitent and max number of repentia. I love the looks of the models. And i absolutely like randomness in the gaming style. Luck realy has to be on your side when you play the game. So in about 2 month i think i should be able to get 40 more repentias and 7 more penitents.

 

I was also discussing this with one of the GW workers and he suggested that for planet strike repentia may be the best unit to use. (as the attacker) As their 2D6 armo penetration will cut holes in the bastions and such. (i haven't given it much weight untill i actually play a game like that)

 

Ones again thanks for all the feedback. :)

 

 

Have you seen the original concept for Sisters Repentia? White Dwarf, ~10 yrs ago. Lone elites, acting as Ronin: stripped of symbols, and only wearing a few parts of their armour (hence a 4+ save for Ugg boots and a dressing gown!), the concept art looked like Tank Girl. A short story described a pinned guard unit, saved by a ragamuffin hurling herself at the enemy, little thought for her own safety, only concerned with proving her honour in battle. So Cool!

 

Do you happend to know wich White Dwarf? I would love to find out more on this topic. :)

[GodwynDi]

I looked at C:WH when I started, but defected to C:SM shortly after; my repentias are now remodelled as the gunners on my attack bikes, and rhino drivers.

Great models belong on the table, even if they are hard to play.

 

Try a PE or two leading a charge of Repentias, acting as a shield wall: PEs get Holy rage, so pretty fast, and Reps might too, run them if they don't.

 

Have you seen the original concept for Sisters Repentia? White Dwarf, ~10 yrs ago. Lone elites, acting as Ronin: stripped of symbols, and only wearing a few parts of their armour (hence a 4+ save for Ugg boots and a dressing gown!), the concept art looked like Tank Girl. A short story described a pinned guard unit, saved by a ragamuffin hurling herself at the enemy, little thought for her own safety, only concerned with proving her honour in battle. So Cool!

 

That sounds really awesome actually. Maybe there will be an option for that in the new codex? Like the SW lone wolves.

 

I rarely field my Repentia in under 2000 points, even though they are some of my favorite models :) Though I think I certainly will next game, now.

[boreas]

I've never found repentias usefull in regular games. They just seem to get shot too quickly or avoided. In apocalypse, though, I ve manged to "flank march" them into a superheavy tank... Boom!

 

Penitent engine can work when used by 6 or 9. The problem, then, is that you have a fragil 30-60% of your list playing itself. It's really a hit or miss thing and usually not very fun to play (although it can be awesome to watch!).

 

I really, really hope they do something great for those models in the future...

 

Phil

[WAR]

I'm with Boreas, in regualr games repentias usually die to quick, and when used as screen you realize they cost way to much to do that, and the unit they are screening was chepaer than them... :) In Apoc i have success with them, Killed an Eldar Titan in 1 turn of melee :D (but did lose everyone of the 12 repentias, mistress, and priest in the resultating explosion :) )

[Commander Sasha]

Have you seen the original concept for Sisters Repentia? White Dwarf, ~10 yrs ago. Lone elites, acting as Ronin: stripped of symbols, and only wearing a few parts of their armour (hence a 4+ save for Ugg boots and a dressing gown!), the concept art looked like Tank Girl. A short story described a pinned guard unit, saved by a ragamuffin hurling herself at the enemy, little thought for her own safety, only concerned with proving her honour in battle. So Cool!

Do you happend to know wich White Dwarf? I would love to find out more on this topic. ;)

Not White Dwarf, sorry, Citadel, the smaller magazine that GW did through "Fanatic Games".

Issue 49, c.2002.

Moderators, please remove if this is a problem

I'm hoping it isn't due to being a now-defunct magazine

 

Sister Repentia 40pts

4/4/3/3 2/4/2 8/4+

Bolt pistol,CCW,frag,krak

Independant Character.

 

"Only in death does duty end"

If a squad joined by the SR falls back, she stays behind, denying the sweeping advance, and ready for the next round of combat. If she wins the next round, +1 Faith Point

 

The blurb describes how this character was inspired by John Blanch's piece in the Inquisitor sketchbook, and Gav Thorpe's description of a Sister stripped of all badges, shaved head, backpack but only partial power armour(hence the 4+).

Not a mindless suicide squad, but a determined loner driven to repent and absolve herself, to earn her rank back. Awesome.