My Sisters (Order of the Vermilion Veil)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Fine works. The flames on your Exorcist's exhaust pipes are well-painted.

[tvih]

After way too much lollygagging, the HB retributors finally done:

I may have spent an excessive amount of time converting one in particular, despite still missing a bipod...

Edited September 11, 2021 by tvih

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job. There's room for improvement, especially for the Sisters' exposed faces; but improvement will only come with practice (and patience towards your critics), so keep painting.

[tvih]

Well, unfortunately faces are one area where I'll never be much good, I just don't have the fine motor skills - or cooperative enough brushes - for that level of detail. In that sense it's also unfortunate I don't like sallet helmets, which is what the Sisters have. Luckily on the tabletop it doesn't really matter much as not gonna see eye and face detail to any meaningful degree anyway.

[Dominoris]

I hear you about the faces. 30 years ago I would paint the eyes on everyoone and give the superiors fleurs on their cheek. Now it's just one pass of Guillman Flesh and put them on the table.

Edited September 12, 2021 by Dominoris

[Bonzi]

I hear you about the faces. 30 years ago I would paint the eyes on everyoone and give the superiors fleurs on their cheek. Now it's just one pass of Guillman Flesh and put them on the table.

Agreed. I live by the tabletop rule. I can't see eyes and lips and facial features on models while I'm playing a game so I don't paint them. I am all about making sure I don't get bored or frustrated while painting, a skipping faces is part of that for me.

 

This is obviously an individual preference and people are free to paint their models to whatever level of detail works for them.

[Montford]

Heavy Bolters have always been useful for me; they should serve you well!

[tvih]

Heavy Bolters have always been useful for me; they should serve you well!

I always loved Heavy Bolter and Storm Bolters visually. Nice that they actually have good rules now. Actually I don't think I've ever played a match Sisters (not that there's been that many of them) without my metal HB retri squad. Of course it's now being superceded, which while a bit sad I suppose was inevitable, given how much better the plastics look. Also my HB madness is why the conversions. In retrospect I should've put more effort into the Storm Bolters, too. In fact I'd like one like the first HB in that squad, except that aiming straight ahead with both SB and BP. In general a second SB squad would be rad, if not for Fast slots being a bit crowded. Plus of course the usual worry for the future when they're likely to be nerfed again - aside from not being much of a meta chaser to begin with it's one reason I like not to spam units much.

Edited September 15, 2021 by tvih

[tvih]

(wrong bloody thread...)

Huh... well this explains the lack of a power pack in the outline...

 

 

... but I do wonder about their use outside of KT given it's not full power armor. Decent models for sure, but an "interesting" approach to take, I'd say.

Edited September 17, 2021 by tvih

[WAR]

I love them! Maybe a scout style unit troop choice similar to infiltrators in marines. Since one is a “medic”. Repentia superior load out I’m not getting as a novitiate

[tvih]

How the hell did I even manage to post that in this thread and not the new model thread?! Go figure.

 

More on topic, two BSS squads are done except for varnishing, so only need to finish up the Seraphim squad for the 1k list. Been distracted by my marines recently...

[tvih]

And that's the 1k list done... but since it's a Vanguard list, I really ought to finish the third BSS squad for a Battalion because Vanguard at 1k reaaaally leaves you CP-starved! And there's also a 1.5k local tournament coming in about three weeks, for which I'm on the fence as to whether I'll take the Sisters or Marines for it. Were I to go with Sisters, I'd "have to" get Vahl... both for the power multiplier as well as the "easy" points for painting a single model. I'd pretty much just need Vahl, the partly-WIP third BSS squad and the second batch of five of Sacresants painted up to fill up the list.

[Dread]

Winning with sisters is an accomplishment in my eyes. Ive played against enough marine players that if you beat them youve done great. Hope you do stay with sisters but go where youre most comfortable and good luck.

[tvih]

Well, especially if I ran the melee as Bloody Rose, the list should be quite competitive if/when combined with Vahl. But I can indeed make a decent marine list too. Like up to 9 Eradicators. Yucky :P It's still uncertain if the best-painted army will be rewarded in the event. If yes, my Sisters would have more of a chance with that, even if still slim - though many of the more competitive armies here do have a speed-painted paintjob from what I saw in my last tournament, plus this tournament allows even unpainted armies to get more people involved.

[tvih]

Decided I'll give the Sisters a shot for the tournament. Not getting Vahl for it though, ran outta budget from buying basing-related stuff and magnets and such. Instead gotta paint the new Immolator along the remaining needed infantry to have the fully new model range army for the hecek of it.

 

In fact I just basecoated it and the other models with my airbrush, which I'd need to start using more. I already put it off by several days because something always seems to go wrong. Unfortunately this time it was that the also-newly bought Vallejo Premium Gunmetal color was way too dark despite having been told it'd be similar enough to Leadbelcher and Army Painter Gunmetal. Not the case - much darker! A very cool look, to be sure, but not matching the rest of my Sisters so I had to switch to AP's brush-on Gunmetal, which luckily didn't entirely clog the airbrush but likely needs a second layer due to black primer, since airbrushed layer is thinner than brushed and there's some coverage issues because of the required thinning. Or maybe for the infantry I'll just brush the rest. I have two other projects (Iron Warriors kill team and Necrons) I can use the darker Gunmetal for, but those are in the far future after Sisters, marines and Orks. A shame this was too dark though, given the nice price for this paint compared to Leadbelcher Air - over twice the stuff for almost the same price. Air paints tend to get expensive quickly for me because airbrushing always seems to just eat up paint superfast, even with light coverage on the models, so it's not like I'm drowning them in paint.

[tvih]

Tournament was on Saturday. Three battles, 1500 points. Managed to almost paint everything - mostly some heads and other small tidbits unpainted or partially painted. Also a few missing bases from the last models to be done since I'm switching the basing scheme in the near future.

My list:

Argent Shroud Battalion:
Canoness
Palatine (R:Wrath of the Emperor)
5 BSS (Combi-Melta, Melta)
5 BSS (Combi-Melta, Flamer)
5 BSS (Combi-Plasma, Storm Bolter)
5 Dominion (4 Storm Bolter)
5 Seraphim (2x Hand Flamers)
Exorcist (EML)
Retributors (4x Multi-Melta)
Retributors (4x Heavy Bolter)
Immolator (Twin Multi-Melta)

Bloody Rose Vanguard:
Canoness (Plasma Pistol, R:Beneficence)
5 Celestian Sacresants (Spear+Inferno Pistol, Halberds)
5 Celestian Sacresants (Spear+Inferno Pistol, Halberds)
8 Sisters Repentia
5 Zephyrim (Plasma Pistol, Pennant)

As always, some inaccuracies in which turns things happened are likely to be present.

---

Game 1 vs Khorne Daemons (Battle Lines):

Opponent’s list:

Bloodthirster of Fury
Bloodthirster of Rage
Daemon Prince of Chaos
10 Bloodletters
10 Bloodletters
20 Bloodletters
6 Bloodcrushers
5 Flesh Hounds
5 Furies
Skull Cannon

Turn 1:



Seraphim, Zephyrim started in reserve, as did the 20 bloodletter squad. I went first. Exorcist moved out of cover as I figured I’d try to save some CP. Shot at Skull Cannon with it and HB retributors, got some wounds in but not that much due to rolls on both sides. Infantry squads had moved up to the objectives. Some shooting happened on the left flank, which wiped out the Flesh Hound squad and… two Blood Crushers, I believe.
His forced moved up in reply. Skull Cannon took 5 wounds off the Exorcist. Not sure what else?



Turn 2:

Mainly consolidating positions. Jump units landed. Forgot to use the Descent strat with Seraphim, as usual. Instead used the max shots stratagem in the shooting phase, and wiped out the second 10 bloodletter squad. HBs and Exo shot at Skull Cannon again – still didn’t die because 5++ is the new 2+++. Remaining Blood Crushers got wiped out by my stronger left flank, though, and I think I also did some wounds to the Bloodthirster cowering behind the ruin. Zephyrim failed to charge the backfield Furies.



20 Bloodletters landed near their own deployment zone. Daemon Prince entered the fray by charging my BSS squads on the right flank. The Skull Cannon did the same… after blowing up the Exorcist, which I should’ve moved but frankly the Cannon shouldn’t have been alive at this point. Somehow some Battle Sisters managed to survive the fight phase. 10 bloodletters charged into my repentia. Repentia got wiped out, but they were quite desperate for redemption which meant the bloodletters were wiped out too. Mutually assured destruction if there ever was.



Turn 3:

Seraphim moved up into an elevated position above the 20 bloodletters. Everyone else pretty much stayed at the objectives. Some strategic fall backs left the Skull Cannon open to shooting, and it finally was sent back into the warp. The Seraphim made some extra crispy bloodletters again. The Furies were shot to bits. Might’ve shot at the Bloodthirster again, though not 100% on that.



Can’t remember exactly what happened… the Prince did some swingin’, but of little consequence. The cowardly Bloodthirster did attack into melee, but didn’t really accomplish anything either except dying.
At this point we were already slightly into overtime, me being slow & rusty and the opponent being on only his second 40k game ever, being a prior AoS player. Final score was 29-8. Had we managed to finish the 5 turns I would’ve gotten probably at least another 30 points. But alas. Overall he should’ve been aggressive with his Bloodthirsters, as now they were mainly a non-factor.


---

Game 2 vs Necrons (Overrun):

Opponent’s list:

Catacomb Command Barge
Chronomancer
C’tan Shard of the Void Dragon
10 Lychguard
20 Necron Warrior
20 Necron Warrior
4 Scarab Swarm
Lokhust Destroyers

Turn 1:

Opponent went first. One Warrior blob and the Chronomancer repositioned to the left flank – something I of course didn’t even remember they could do – in line of sight of my “hidden” HB retributors, which promptly died, and also I think at least one BSS there was killed by the Chronomancer. Oh, and of course the Warriors were raising a banner on the objective there while at it. And of course three other banners on the opposing deployment zone were raised as well. Command Barge moved after the warriors as well. Not much else, as I recall.

I started raising flags on two of my objectives. Killed some of the warriors. Exorcist killed… some Lychguards I think? Otherwise mainly just some moving up.

Turn 2:

C’tan shard started moving up and killing things. this thing spamming a million mortal wounds everywhere. Sometimes I wonder why this game even has saving throws… oh well. Warriors killed 7 of my repentia, the last then dying to morale later. Command Barge charged my Dominions that had been sneaking forward. Overwatch failed miserably, and two of them died in combat.



Remaining Dominions fell back and spent a whopping 4 CP to one-volley the Command Barge. MM teributors and Immolator killed some more Warriors. Seraphim landed to roast some Lychguard, but didn’t actually even strip any paint off them. Zephyrim also landed in an attempt to attack the Warriors, but didn’t really achieve much of anything. Between the rest of my forces I took 3 wounds off the C’tan, given the max of 3 per phase. Yay?



Turns 3-5 (some hainess about the exact turn sequence of things):

C’tan killing everything again, including Sacresants. Scarabs moved up down the right flank near the C’tan. I think this is when my Battle Sisters died from where the HB retris had also been?

Palatine was overcome with holy rage and started off towards the Warriors and the Chronomancer, killing a warrior or two. C’tan was shot at for 3 wounds, Exorcist killed the Scarabs, the Warriors were reduced to one model, and the Dominions charged a good 10” to reach the last one who was then a goner, also taking control of the objective.

Chronomancer hid behind the ruin where the HB retris and BSS had been. It was later killed by the Dominions.
My remaining three models – including BR Canoness – charged the C’tan in turn 4, as did the Exorcist.


(Great propaganda shot, looks like I’m dominating despite doing anything but!)

Little good did it do, as not a single wound got through. Go figure. Funnily enough the C’tan blew up the Exorcist which did two mortal wounds to it, though, and then the next turn my MM retris and Immolator were able to kill it off. For turn 5 immolator drove to the objective the C’tan had been at to score some last points, but it was far too late – it was 45-83 in points in the end, and he didn’t really even have to use his other Warrior blob or the Lychguard (except to kill the Seraphim) or the sole Lokhust. In the end I retained 3 MM retris, the Immolator, AS Canoness… and not sure of the Palatine. But the stupid C’tan alone killed basically all of the Sacresants, 5-10 BSS, BR Canoness, Exorcist… despite being alone on that flank save for the Scarabs who caused a bit of damage but I can’t recall which models precisely. And of course it was with mortal wounds, what else?

---

Game 3 vs Imperial Fists (Priority Target):
Opponent’s list:
Primaris Captain
5 Tactical Marines
Invictor Tactical Warsuit
Sicaran Arcus

Chaplain
Phobos Librarian
5 Incursors
Relic Contemptor Dreadnought
5 Relic Terminators (Lightning Claws)
Land Speeder
5 Devastators (HB)
3 Eliminators

A rematch of sorts against the same player that the 1k Crusade battle was against. He got to deploy first and deployed all the Phobos elements into the central objective. I had problems coming up with a good way to deploy without leaving myself too vulnerable if he got to go first.

Turn 1:

I did in fact get to go first. MM Retris were left to raise a flag again at the lower left objective, while a BSS squad did that on the upper left one. Sacresants with the BR Canoness were moving up towards the center. HB retributors and the BSS with combi-melta and melta repositioned and blew up the Invictor which he’d left somewhat visible for some reason. Immolator blew up the Land Speeder which was also in the open in the upper edge. Exorcist took 9 wounds off the Sicaran. The bottom middle BSS squad climbed a container and blasted away at some Eliminators, killing one. Sacresants charged the Incursors, but Canoness failed. The Incursors did get wiped out regardless. The melta BSS squad managed to charge the Eliminators, killing another model, leaving just their Sergeant and the Phobos Librarian alive in the middle. Suffice to say the opponent was… not very happy at this point.



In the opponent’s turn he blew up my Exorcist with the Sicaran. Immolator took a couple wounds as well. Some other casualties inflicted by at least the Dreadnought, but I can’t remember what exactly. He did position an orbital strike on the center objective as a desperate measure as well.



Turn 2:

Immolator and both retributory squads repositioned somewhat. Zephyrim landed and were killed by Auspex Scan, after which Seraphim landed and killed some of the devastators in return. Fight in the middle wrapped up partly thanks to pistol shots, but I believe still costing me a few models. Overall mainly uneventful compared to the first turn.

On his turn… well, his terminators landed in the upper left corner because me moving the Immolator to supposedly go after the Sicaran had unfortunately left it open. Orbital bombardment causes some casualties in the middle, but I held the objective still. Jump Chaplain landed near my Immolator. My Seraphim were shot to bits. Again probably a few other infantry casualties here or there. Terminators failed their charge despite attempting a reroll. Chaplain charged the BSS guarding the objective in an attempt to clear them out – a couple of them died, the rest remained.



Turn 3:

Repentia arrived near the Chaplain and Terminators. I’m not sure if it was this turn or the next where I killed 4 tacticals from the lower right objective because for some reason he moved them to be visible from behind the ruin. Repentia charged and killed two terminators, in return losing all but one model. Ah well, at least the terminators were still stuck in combat. Killed the Chaplain after falling back from it to be able to shoot at it. Remaining Repentia died.

Again some shooting here or there by the opponent, killed my last Sacresants leaving the center objective open. He killed the rest of my BSS at the upper left objective.

Turn 4:

My Canonesses joined 3 HB retributors in a rush to the middle in an effort to hold it, while the Palatine rushed towards the upper left objective to hold it against the terminators. I don’t remember what exactly happened here as to who killed what in the upper left objective… but in the end only the Palatine and one terminator remained, with the Immolator being farther off. MM retris were hidden at the lower left at this point, to try and stay alive.



Lost my HB Retributors at this point, but the Canonesses were still alive. Palatine died to a combination of grenade launcher and melee from the terminator.

Turn 5:

Well, the Immolator drove to within range of the objective and killed the terminator, while the remaining 2-3 BSS from the south – they’d just been milling about after turn 1, really – ran to the center objective to shield the Canonesses. Not much else, really. In the end the opponent didn’t really bother to shoot anything either as time was basically out and none of it would’ve affected the scoring at that point. I was left with the Canonesses, the couple of BSS, 3 MM retris and the Immolator. He had the damaged Sicaran, Captain, 1-2 devastators, 1 tactical and the intact Dread. Score was 89-84.



Though there’s a twist. A keen observer might’ve noticed a lack of mention of the Dominions… Uhh, yeah. They were in the Immolator the whole time. I normally put one model on top of transports to remind both me and the opponent they were there, but for some reason I didn’t this time. I remembered them once or twice during the match but it wasn’t during my movement, of course, and I still failed to place the reminder model. Good thing it didn’t cost me the match, though the score difference certainly would’ve been bigger had they participated.

All in all, a 2-1 record, which is better than I expected even if this was titled as a "Beerhammerfest", being a casual local-only event (we had 12 players total). I'm not sure what my total position was - probably not that good considering the low points from the first battle in particular. But I reckon I'll take a win over just more points anyways

Edited October 10, 2021 by tvih

[tvih]

Forgot to add some general notes about my list and its performance.

 

Firstly, my relics ended up mostly being wasted. BR Canoness fought in melee exactly once, and even then didn't do any damage with Beneficence. Palatine shot with the relic pistol... twice? Playing too safe perhaps, as the opponents tended to have Assassination objectives in use.

 

And speaking of characters, the dual orders are kind of a pain with that since the bodyguard rule for example only applies to the same order. Not sure if I should just stick to AS - in general I didn't do much in melee. The middle objective fight in the last battle was the only meaningful instance with the possible exception of the repentia in the first battle.

 

As expected, Zephyrim were lacking any real use in such a small squad - it really needs to be a full unit. Gotta get around to that at some point - I do have the unopened box for that. Though I suppose another Seraphim squad might be more efficient? Hard to say, as it depends a lot on the matchup too. Having at least the one squad is a given though, considering the ability to put out up to 4D6+24 flamer hits and 12 pistol shots on top per turn if spending 3 CP to do so. The second squad would come down on a different turn to make use of the stratagem, of course.

 

Dominions worked nicely for the first two battles - third battle was of course not their fault :P I kinda would want the second unit, and maybe I will at some point. I love me some storm bolters. And of course they're one of the not so many ways we have to do MWs at least somewhat reliably, so that helps even beyond my SB addiction.

 

Exorcist was tricky because I didn't really have the CP to keep using it out of LOS, and of course in the last battle the opponent had LOS-ignoring firepower to more than match it, as it turned out this time. Surprisingly Immolator survived all three battles. Maybe the newer model is luckier than the old one that blew up in the previous battle report? Hah.

 

Battle Sister squads having their upgraded guns worked out decently - especially the dual melta squad. Despite being "sacrificial pawns" it's nice to also have some teeth when need be. Especially as AS of course a multi-melta wouldn't go amiss, but I only have the four unless counting medal models, which would have another two.

 

The retributors... well, I hoped they'd perform a bit better than they did. Of course in the second battle the HB ones died before they could even do anything. For the MM ones I'm contemplating using them more as strategic reserves, so that they can't be outright killed and can outflank suitable targets with their deadly firepower and decent range.

 

As is, I'm not entirely sure on my expansion to 2k points. I suppose I have enough models for that as it is even with plastic models, when counting Arco-flagellants and such. But that includes a second Exorcist, which I'm not quite certain on. Of course for tryhard games Vahl would be an easy addition, but... fricking meta cheese and baby carriers. And of course Celestine exists - I still only have the metal one, though.

[tvih]

Never did take a pic of the Palatine before, so here's one (makes her look extra fast due to some camera shake despite tripod, so didn't bother with another one )

And here's the Immolator, a bit too direct light but whatevs:

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Palatine and the Immolator! What is the Palatine's name? Natalia? Scarlett?

[tvih]

Hadn't given her one yet, but perhaps Veralia. Veracious Veralia of the Vermilion Veil, verily.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Hadn't given her one yet, but perhaps Veralia.

From the Latin word for "true", or the Slavic word for "faith"? Sounds fair.

[tvih]

Actually not the intention, but a "happy coincidence" for sure!

 

In other "news", got the GSW rolling pins earlier this week and yesterday made the first batch of the new "temple" bases. Looking pretty good, some came out a bit thicc because I was too lazy to redo them, but no harm in that other than more material used than necessary... but cheap material is cheap. Gotta see how I'll paint 'em though. Drybrushing will be involved, but mainly not sure if I'll start working from a black or gray basecoat, and if I'll bother using non-grayscale colors for some of the details and so forth. Regardless, definitely a muuuuch cheaper approach than buying resin bases would've been.

[tvih]

What better than the second Sacresant squad to test out the new bases, since they had no decoration at all yet:

I reckon it'll work out just fine.... so long as I take the time to pin the models to the bases, which I didn't with these five. Results in them getting detached even more easily than from the cork-decorated bases. So next time that happens, pinning time for them too.

Now just a good ~50 or so more bases to go...

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Sacresant Squad looks good.

[tvih]

There'd be another local tournament in 4 weeks. This time a more competitive one, not restricted to just local folks. If I end participating, which isn't certain since competitive tournaments just tend to be a losing streak of 5 battles, I'm contemplating going with Sisters again, because the Black Templars codex kinda threw my marine plans into disarray once more - it seems it'd probably be the better competitive codex currently compared to Crimson Fists, but more than that there's the issue of getting stuff painted for a proper competitive list. Sisters would require much less of that, giving me time to actually practice with the list prior to the tournament without having to use a bunch of unfinished models (which I'm trying to avoid in order to force myself to actually paint more). Said practice would allow some gauging whether to bother with the tournament itself depending on the results.

 

To transition from my 1500pt list to 2000pt, I'm looking at going for a single battalion - it was to better use Sacresants to protect all HQs and also save CP, but looks like I'll still only have 8 unless dropping some relics. Anyway, changes to the units themselves would be:

 

Morvenn Vahl instead of second Canoness (still need to buy her)

+2 Repentia models (need to paint one, already built it)

Repentia Superior (painted but still in OML colors at the moment)

+5 Zephyrim models (currently building)

Dogmata (using Junith's "infantry" model, basecoated)

 

Possibly +4 Arco-Flagellants (one already painted, rest basecoated) to fill up the remaining points. Another option could be Hospitaller, since I have the metal one for now (I do want the plastic one 'cause it's cool). But I'm not entirely sure now that resurrecting costs CP and only Canoness/Palatine/Dogmata benefit from the regular heal. 6+ FNP isn't bad but not awesomesauce either. Still, the Arcos would be rather easily killed off with only 4 models, and multi-melta Retributors etc would be worth bringing back up where possible.

Edited October 19, 2021 by tvih