The Order of the Glorious Reprisal (Display Name Change)

[Servant of Dante]

Random thought (so I'll post it here): I was reading through my copy of Dungeon Master's Option: High Level Campaigns for AD&D 2nd edition, and I came across a table for technology levels of planes. The high end includes "faster than light travel," and there are 15 levels. It says technology brought from a higher rated plane to a lower one stops working, unless the difference is 5 levels or more, in which case it works "just like

Magic." I immediately thought of a Fighter with a plasma rifle. Then I thought, I could build a fighter, and role play him as a ministorum priest! It would make perfect sense, once you figgued out how he got there from the grimdark. Anyway, there's obviously a temptation to drop a battle sister in there, but wth all the "witchcraft, mutation and heresy" going on there (an elf cleric being a trifecta) it might be a little mean. Whatever. I guess this is a little insight into the part of my mind that wants to make everything be about 40k.

 

I really want to play Dark Heresy. BURN THE HERETIC!

[*Furyou Miko]

Well, we have a subforum for that.

[Servant of Dante]

Well, we have a subforum for that.

Eh, maybe. I'm much more interested in playing with a group in person.

 

Edit: Yeah mostly it's just the slow pace and lack of personal interaction that would bother me if I was playing by post.

 

Edit 2: Eew! I'm disinclined to play an RPG where the GM rolls all of my dice for me. Not that I would suspect dishonesty, it's just part of the experience to me.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Servant of Dante

[Servant of Dante]

Well, after much procrastination, I've finished the leadbealcher parts on my BSS. I've noticed that there are plenty of bits I missed on the previous colors. I'll post pictures at some point. Next comes the brown for the pouches.

[Drider]

Any progress is good progress. I've just finised doing leadbealcher on my dominions as well, so that's the cloth parts, hair and melta guns done now. Just gotta do the gold bits, leather bits, faces and clean up the armour and do a few highlights. The armour always ends up more red and white than it is black by the time i'm finished dry brushing.

[Servant of Dante]

Any progress is good progress. I've just finised doing leadbealcher on my dominions as well, so that's the cloth parts, hair and melta guns done now. Just gotta do the gold bits, leather bits, faces and clean up the armour and do a few highlights. The armour always ends up more red and white than it is black by the time i'm finished dry brushing.

Thanks for the comment!

The squad I'm doing is 20models, so it can be a little demoralizing. And painting is tedious.

 

Are you going to do a thread for your sisters?

Edited June 10, 2016 by Servant of Dante

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Your Sisters look GREAT in black armor with golden highlights.

[Servant of Dante]

Your Sisters look GREAT in black armor with golden highlights.

Thanks! Sometimes I wish I had chosen a more interesting color, but I really like the simplicity.

 

Also, I have a rule for this army: no red (I play BA). I MIGHT make an exception for Canoness Raedia's bionic eye, but we'll see.

 

I can't decide if the vehicles should have black or white (or gold) as their main color

 

Oh, and I have a bit of a question/thought about my order:

 

I've decided that my order (and the general populace of Delmarus) is extremely puritanical, to the point of killing off anyone who shows any psykic potential. That would mean that they really don't like people like navigators and astropaths. However, not only is the order isolated (and therefore frequently has to travel in response to enemy threats), they maintain a small fleet of voidships!

 

I would imagine that the irreplaceable psykers on the ships just stay out of the way of the rank and file sisters, but what about the Sister-Captains? They probably have to talk to these people on a daily basis. I imagine this just means that the Sister-Captains are the "oddballs" of the order. They don't really have a problem with the navigators, I could even see them being some sort of friend (or not).

 

Thoughts?

Edited June 10, 2016 by Servant of Dante

[Servant of Dante]

I started this story well over a month ago, then set it aside. I'm writing a bit right now, and thought I'd post the first bit of this story to see what people thought. Everything here is subject to change in the final draft (obviously), but I would love to here any thoughts you might have.

 

This is my first story featuring the sisters (or, frankly, any female character at all) and it's also the beginning of the longest narrative piece I've ever worked on (not saying much, actually).

 

So, anyway, Comments Appreciated!!!

 

516.M38

 

Sister-Captain Victinia stood in council with Canoness Alexius, the head Seraphim Superior, the three remaining Sister-Captains, and a few other venerable figures of the order. All wore full battle armour; nobody looked like they had slept in a week. Victinia felt as is she had been staring at the thrice-accursed holo display that Sister-Captain Illumen was updating them on since her first day as an initiate.

“As you can see,” the scarred Sister-Captain intoned wearily, “the foul heretics have outmaneuvered us every day for the past month. Their ships seem to come out of nowhere. Here was our most recent engagement,” she jabbed the controls with her finger. The projection sputtered before finally zooming into the system Illumen had indicated. A lifeless brown planet orbiting a fiery red star jerked into focus, along with a dozen or so ship icons. The distribution was familiar to Victinia. See had seen it from the bridge of the Resolute Shield eighteen hours ago. The whole experience felt rather surreal in her memory, even as Sister-Captain Illumen recounted the battle, “We scored a few solid hits on this cruiser, but the frackers sent Sister-Captain Jentais to the Emperor, along with the rest of her crew and the broadside batteries of the Holy Vendetta. I expect them to enter the Talmion system within the hour.”

The Chaos warband had been picked up by one of the order’s ships on routine patrol barely a week ago. Since then the five ships of the Talmion Battlegroup had engaged the heretics three times, but they where outnumbered and outgunned. After their last engagement with the traitor fleet the Battlegroup had returned to Delmarus, and the four surviving Sister-Captains had gone immediately into council with Canoness Alexius, who sighed heavily as she asked, “Was there nothing to be done for the Emperor’s planet Unteika?”

“No. We dared not engage again after such heavy casualties. Why the servants of the dark gods would stop to destroy an uninhabited planet is beyond me.” There was a long silence filled with the barely audible murmur of mumbled prayers.

Victinia finally spoke, “We must engage them before they land on Delmarus, even if it means the death of every woman and man on our ships.”

“And fight we shall. If, Emperor forbid, the heretics set foot on the Emperors holy soil here on Delmarus, we shall fight them here too,” spoke the Canoness, “There can be no retreat from the convent. Is there still no word from Battlefleet Tempestus?”

“No. The navigators say the warp currents have grown even more treacherous.”

“Then we have no choice. The Battlegroup will launch immediately. Engage the enemy. Have faith in the Emperor and He may yet deliver us to victory.”

As the women slowly filed out of the chapel, Victinia locked eyes with Sister Illumen. Neither said a word, but they both knew they needed more than a miracle if their order was to survive the week.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

 

Your Sisters look GREAT in black armor with golden highlights.

Thanks! Sometimes I wish I had chosen a more interesting color, but I really like the simplicity.

 

Also, I have a rule for this army: no red (I play BA). I MIGHT make an exception for Canoness Raedia's bionic eye, but we'll see.

 

I can't decide if the vehicles should have black or white (or gold) as their main color

 

Oh, and I have a bit of a question/thought about my order:

 

I've decided that my order (and the general populace of Delmarus) is extremely puritanical, to the point of killing off anyone who shows any psykic potential. That would mean that they really don't like people like navigators and astropaths. However, not only is the order isolated (and therefore frequently has to travel in response to enemy threats), they maintain a small fleet of voidships!

Adeptus Astra Telepathica will NOT be happy the Sisters are purging psykers who are supposed to be sacrificed to sustain the Emperor on His Golden Throne. Such activities- an outright violation of the Sisters' orders, which include guarding the Inquisition's Black Ships so they can deliver these psykers to Terra- will be grounds for having the Sisters themselves purged.

 

You best tone down the Sisters' anti-psyker stance in the fluff, to the minimum necessary to prevent such disruptive behavior. It's okay for them to hate psykers, but if they kill psykers when they were specifically ordered to SPARE specific psykers- worse, try to kill an INQUISITOR with psychic powers- they'll get into a lot of trouble, and be killed in turn.

[Servant of Dante]

 

 

Your Sisters look GREAT in black armor with golden highlights.

Thanks! Sometimes I wish I had chosen a more interesting color, but I really like the simplicity.

 

Also, I have a rule for this army: no red (I play BA). I MIGHT make an exception for Canoness Raedia's bionic eye, but we'll see.

 

I can't decide if the vehicles should have black or white (or gold) as their main color

 

Oh, and I have a bit of a question/thought about my order:

 

I've decided that my order (and the general populace of Delmarus) is extremely puritanical, to the point of killing off anyone who shows any psykic potential. That would mean that they really don't like people like navigators and astropaths. However, not only is the order isolated (and therefore frequently has to travel in response to enemy threats), they maintain a small fleet of voidships!

Adeptus Astra Telepathica will NOT be happy the Sisters are purging psykers who are supposed to be sacrificed to sustain the Emperor on His Golden Throne. Such activities- an outright violation of the Sisters' orders, which include guarding the Inquisition's Black Ships so they can deliver these psykers to Terra- will be grounds for having the Sisters themselves purged.

 

You best tone down the Sisters' anti-psyker stance in the fluff, to the minimum necessary to prevent such disruptive behavior. It's okay for them to hate psykers, but if they kill psykers when they were specifically ordered to SPARE specific psykers- worse, try to kill an INQUISITOR with psychic powers- they'll get into a lot of trouble, and be killed in turn.

 

Are the sisters specifically tasked with collecting psykers? They're part of the Adeptus Ministorum, not the Adeptus Telepathica. I get your point, but don't templars purge psykers as a matter of course as well?

 

I don't want to tone it down, but if I must . . .

 

They wouldn't shoot an inquisitor for being a mutant abomination. Probably.

 

Besides, the Administratum has probably forgotten Delmarus even exists. It's so far out there. And if an Inqusitor starts asking questions (for some reason) the sisters certainly aren't going to lie to them. They have no reason to be ashamed for purging the mutants. Something could be arranged to keep the psykers locked up, but it would have to be contingent on the Telepathica getting a black ship to Delmarus within, say, a month of the psyker being discovered (which would be difficult to say the least).

Edited June 10, 2016 by Servant of Dante

[Aqui]

The Sisters collectively would tolerate (barely) Imperium Sanctioned psykers, but they won't/don't have to like it Renegade ones however, would be a different matter. My DIY Canoness has to physically restrain herself from pulling the trigger on every psyker she has met (including Inquisitor psyker triplets ) Edited June 10, 2016 by Aquilanus

[Servant of Dante]

Another random thought: The song Between the Hammer and the Anvil (by Judas Priest on the album Painkiller) is almost a perfect theme song for the sisters (IMO) as far as I can tell. Also, it's a pretty awesome song.

[Servant of Dante]

I was just thinking about things I haven't used from our dex, and the ecclesiarchy battle conclave came to mind. Of course, I can't just throw them in with the order of the glorious reprisal (incidentally, my ministorum priests probably need a collective name), and so I decided that they should have their own order. I like the idea of an unmarked, black rhino (I'll have to add some color, of course), so maybe something like the order of the endless void (off the top of my head). It fits thematically with being at the edge of the Galaxy, and could encompass both death cult assassins and crusaders. Not everyone wants to be a battle sister or a priest!

 

The name is a working title.

 

Speaking of working, I've done a little more painting. I have some pictures I'll upload at some point. And I've done a little work on the story of Saint Victinia (the patron saint of my order, if you haven't read the fluff I've written).

[Servant of Dante]

UPDATE TIME! I had more at the time of my first post, but didn't want to reveal it yet. Here's some more. I'd say the story is about half done. It's a REAL cliffhanger as is, but I don't have to worry about that, 'cause I already know how it ends . Anyway, I'd love to hear any comments/questions you might have about this.

 

Edit: yeah, I can't be bothered to indent all of those paragraphs by hand.

 

Ave Imperator! Faith, fire and death!

 

A little background:

The Adepta Sororitas Order Minoris known as The Order of the Glorious Reprisal is based on the planet Delmarus in the Talmion system on the northern fringes of the Garon nebula in the galactic south of the Segmentum Tempestus.

 

A few excerpts from Imperium archives relating to a some peculiarities of this order:

The isolation of the Talmion system makes it necessary for the order to maintain a small battlegroup for transport and defense. These ships are usually salvaged from Imperial Navy scrap yards. The majority of the crews of ships in the Talmion Battlegroup are native Delmarians, and a sister of the order captains each of them.

 

Past a minor offence, which is still reason for major penance, there is no room for compassion. Repentance is only accepted in extraordinary circumstances. Therefore, when a sister of the order commits a serious offence against the Emperor and their order they are not cast out as a Sister Repentia; rather, these former sisters are pressed into service in the furthest depths of one of the ships of the Talmion Battlegroup. They traditionally load the torpedoes or preform other dangerous tasks related to the ships weapons. If their ship is boarded, the sisters in exile on the ship will be the first to respond to the enemy assault, fighting with tools and autopistols. It is traditional to reinstate sisters in exile who preform extreme acts of heroism or self-sacrifice and survive.

 

516.M38

 

Sister-Captain Victinia stood in council with Canoness Alexius, the head Seraphim Superior, the three remaining Sister-Captains, and a few other venerable figures of the order. All wore full battle armour; nobody looked like they had slept in a week. Victinia felt as is she had been staring at the thrice-accursed holo display that Sister-Captain Illumen was updating them on since her first day as an initiate.

“As you can see,” the scarred Sister-Captain intoned wearily, “the foul heretics have outmaneuvered us every day for the past month. Their ships seem to come out of nowhere. Here was our most recent engagement,” she jabbed the controls with her finger. The projection sputtered before finally zooming into the system Illumen had indicated. A lifeless brown planet orbiting a fiery red star jerked into focus, along with a dozen or so ship icons. The distribution was familiar to Victinia. See had seen it from the bridge of the Resolute Shield eighteen hours ago. The whole experience felt rather surreal in her memory, even as Sister-Captain Illumen recounted the battle, “We scored a few solid hits on this cruiser, but the frackers sent Sister-Captain Jentais to the Emperor, along with the rest of her crew and the broadside batteries of the Holy Vendetta. I expect them to enter the Talmion system within the hour.”

The Chaos warband had been picked up by one of the order’s ships on routine patrol barely a week ago. Since then the five ships of the Talmion Battlegroup had engaged the heretics three times, but they where outnumbered and outgunned. After their last engagement with the traitor fleet the Battlegroup had returned to Delmarus, and the four surviving Sister-Captains had gone immediately into council with Canoness Alexius, who sighed heavily as she asked, “Was there nothing to be done for the Emperor’s planet Unteika?”

“No. We dared not engage again after such heavy casualties. Why the servants of the dark gods would stop to destroy an uninhabited planet is beyond me.” There was a long silence filled with the barely audible murmur of mumbled prayers.

Victinia finally spoke, “We must engage them before they land on Delmarus, even if it means the death of every woman and man on our ships.”

“And fight we shall. If, Emperor forbid, the heretics set foot on the Emperors holy soil here on Delmarus, we shall fight them here too,” spoke the Canoness, “There can be no retreat from the convent. Is there still no word from Battlefleet Tempestus?”

“No. The navigators say the warp currents have grown even more treacherous.”

“Then we have no choice. The Battlegroup will launch immediately. Engage the enemy. Have faith in the Emperor and He may yet deliver us to victory.”

As the women slowly filed out of the chapel, Victinia locked eyes with Sister Illumen. Neither said a word, but they both knew they needed more than a miracle if their order was to survive the week.

 

As Victinia strode through the familiar halls of the convent, she noted those she passed, recalling their names, and finding comfort in their familiarity. Some walked erect, their heads held high, while others barely gazed past the toes of their feet; some wore their white robes, others where arraigned in power armour. Victinia nodded to Sister Niteelan, who sat outside the infirmary with a blood-splattered sling tied around her right arm and hung with an array of holy symbols. The wounded sister looked up briefly with clouded eyes, a spark of determination still glowing within them.

The corridors became more crowded as Victinia neared the shuttle pads. Afternoon sunlight poured in through the stained glass windows. She glanced at one of them as she passed. It had always been her favorite - a beautiful depiction of Saint Alicia Dominica kneeling before the Golden Throne, but there was no time to waste looking at it now. The bright sun caused her to squint as she passed out of the convent onto the open landing pad. Four Aquila Landers where parked on the rockcrete surface, a fifth position lay empty where Sister-Captain Jentais’s shuttle should have sat. A wave of sadness and indignation washed over Victinia at the sight.

Victinia glanced around, looking for her adjunct, as the shuttles boarding ramp slowly hissed downward, but recalled that she had just passed Sister Niteelan at the infirmary. The Sister-Captain barely heard the voice over the roar of idling engines as she claimed the gilded ramp, “Sister-Captain! Wait! Victinia!” Vivtinia turned to see Sister Niteelan running toward her, her right arm still tied within the sling.

“It’s good to see you up Sister,” said Victinia, a half smile on her lips, “but where is your armour?”

Niteelan glanced down at her white robe, the same one every sister wore when not training or on active duty. “The Sister Hospitaller wouldn’t let me take it,” she answered weakly.

“And I suppose she sent you off without your weapons too. Fortunately for you, Sister Elianan doesn’t have your armour. It’s on board the shuttle, as are your weapons. Let’s get moving.” Sister Niteelan hurried to follow Victinia into the lander and the Sister-Captain signaled the pilot to take off. The shuttle’s engines roared as they rose off the ground to begin the transition into the void.

As she sat down in the Aquila’s passenger compartment, Victinia realized that it had now been six years since Niteelan had began her training under her. She would be the next Sister-Captain of the Resolute Shield, an unusual role for a member of the Adepta Sororitas. Demarus’s isolated position on the northern edge of the Garon Nebula necessitated the existence of the Talmion Battlegroup, although the small band of ships that the order had managed to salvage from Imperial Navy scrapyards barely deserved its name. It had been decided that each ship should be under the direct control of a member of the order to avoid dealing with troublesome Imperial captains and other eccentric voidsmen. Each Sister-Captain took on an adjunct as soon as they took full command of their ship. In this way knowledge such as the workings of the ship, basic void tactics, how to deal with necessary mutants like navigators and astropaths, and so on, was passed on from one Sister-Captain to the next.

Niteelan would serve as adjunct aboard the Resolute Shield until the day Victinia passed into the Emperor’s light. If all went well, the Sister-Captain was sure that that day was still far in the future, even as she entered her hundredth year. Thanks to the gene therapy the members of the orders of the Adepta Sororitas received, Victinia looked and felt like a woman the age of her adjunct, who was in turn more than fifty years her junior. Of course, no one outside the order would guess that Niteelan was a woman in her forties.

 

Victinia eyes snapped open as the lander touch down in the shuttle bay of the Resolute Shield. She didn’t remember closing them. Niteelan was watching quietly from her seat on the opposite side of the shuttle; Emperor knows how she had gotten into her power armour with one good arm. Both sisters where armed as they descended the ramp to the deck of the ship. They carried the bolt pistols that they had been given by the Canoness on the day that their respective novitiates had ended, and Victinia rested her right hand on the skull shaped pommel of her powersword, while Niteelan struggled to belt on her chainsword without aggravating her fractured right humerus.

The bay was awash with lifters and trolleys of all sizes and descriptions as munitions and other supplies where frantically offloaded from atmospheric transport shuttles and whisked down into the bowels of the ship. Food and other supplies where also being replenished, although Victinia hardly expected that they would have time to use many of them. Some of the nearby workers glanced up as the power-armoured sisters strode across the bay, but mostly they kept to their work. Victinia led Niteelan to a lift, and coded in the bridge access key. As they rose through the Righteous Shield, Victinia updated her adjunct on the tactical situation, “the Canoness has determined that we intercept the heretics before they reach Delmarus. We will have to move at full speed in order to engage them before their lance batteries are in range of the planet.”

Niteelan nodded solemnly. They both knew there was little chance either of them would see the convent again, but the younger sister simply replied, “every one of them we cast into the void is one less for our sisters to fight on the Emperor’s sacred soil.”

Victinia began to smile in spite of herself, “let us place our trust in the Emperor,” she intoned as the lift doors ground open to admit them onto the bridge, where the crew was already at their posts. She acknowledged the on duty officer with a small nod before replacing him at the center of the room. The hunched form of the ship’s Navigator tugged at the edge of her vision, but she had long since learned to accept the witch’s presence as unavoidable. He was almost as much a part of the ship as the warp engine or the broadside batteries. A few seconds later the hologram before her lit up, as the attendant techpriest methodically prodded its arcane mechanisms, and began to display the Resolute Shield, orbiting Delmarus alongside the Dawnhammer, the Shroud of Faith, and Sister-Captain Illumen’s flagship, the Emperor’s Grace.

While the sight caused a swell of pride in her heart, it also intensified her unease. The Emperor’s Grace was a Dauntless-class light cruiser, but the other ships where frigates, or, in the case of the Resolute Shield, a destroyer. The battlegroup had lost its heaviest batteries when the Holy Vendetta, an Endeavour-class light cruiser, had been destroyed.

Victinia linked her com-bead into the command frequency, which allowed the Sister-Captains and their Adjuncts to converse without outside interference. On the signal from Sister-Captain Illumen, she ordered the Resolute Shield into motion, and as the four ships moved away from Delmarus, someone, she wasn’t sure who, breathed, “may the Emperor be with us, for soon we shall be with Him.”

The holo switched to the battlegroup’s main tactical display, centering on the Emperor’s Grace. Victinia watched anxiously as Delmarus crept slowly toward the bottom of the display, and a red curve inched toward the ships from the other side. That line traced a circle around Delmarus at the estimated maximum range of the enemy’s lance batteries. If they crossed it they would be in range to strike at Delmarus directly. The Navigator’s blind, unwavering gaze drew her attention. When she finally turned toward the old man he said, “I can feel their presence already. The ripples they are causing in the warp, even from realspace . . . most unsettling.”

Victinia grimaced, never pleased to be reminded of the witch’s nature, but did not doubt that he was correct. She turned her attention back to the holo, watching the progress of the red line ever more intently. Then the first of the heretic’s ships appeared on the display. “Contact, one hundred million kilometers. Their exact locations are still tenuous,” reported the ship’s auspex operator excitedly.

“Very well, upload the telemetry to the cogitators on the Emperor’s Grace,” said Victinia, her pulse quickening as the battle drew near. She knew the response was largely irrational, as she was not going to be doing any physical fighting, but the familiar sensation was comforting nonetheless.

The field of view of the main holo display shrunk as the two fleets closed, keeping the enemy contacts just on the edge of the field of view. As the detail of the display increased Victinia let out a sigh of relief. They where going to make it. Barely.

“Status report,” called Niteelan as the Resolute Shield entered full combat alert.

Various crewmen across the bridge responded in perfect order, “Broadsides and point defense batteries charged. Loading forward torpedoes now.”

“Void shields functioning within tolerances.”

“Engines running hot, but within tolerances.”

“Integral secondary systems functioning normally.”

Victinia nodded as the status report came in. The void shields and engines where showing the strain of the past days, but the ship was holding together. Both fleets where tens of millions of kilometers from the red arc displayed on the holo, but Victinia knew they where already in range of the massive lance weapons of the enemy capital ships. She checked the range readout on her main weapon display: seventy million kilometers. At this range it would be next to impossible for the traitors to target anything as small as one of the Imperial ships, but not impossible. Regardless, there was nothing in range to shield one ship from another. This would not be a tactical engagement, but a brutal brawl amongst the stars. The traitors had them outnumbered, outranged, and outgunned, so their only chance was to close as quickly as possible. If they where lucky they would be able to line up a shot on of the cruisers’ engines.

A searing green-white beam cut through space from the traitor ships, screaming past the Shroud of Faith, barely a kilometer off its starboard side.

Fifty-five million kilometers.

The heretics fired a second time, again targeting the Shroud of Faith. Its void shields flared gently as the primal energy of a sun grazed past.

Forty million kilometers.

Target acquisition icons flashed to life on a dozen consoles. Victinia relayed Sister-Captain Illumen’s engagement orders to the bridge crew, “Target the cruiser.”

She wondered briefly which cruiser the Sister-Captain intended them to target - there had been two at Unteika, but there was only one ship of that size in the enemy formation now. Where had the other gone? She cut into the command frequency as the Resolute Shield swung imperceptible to port to acquire its target, “Illu-

The lance fired again. For a moment the massive beam dissipated against the Shroud of Faith’s tortured void shields, but they gave out almost instantaneously. The vessel was pierced from bow to stern, knocking it off course and darkening its lights. The cascading energies of its plasma engines exploded outward, ripping it into tank sized shrapnel in seconds. Victinia was stunned. That level of accuracy with a lance weapon would be next to impossible, even at a full stop, and at these speeds? Impossible. None of them had expected this to be an easy fight, but not one of the Sister-Captains would have expected to lose a ship in a single blow.

“Holy Emperor preserve us!” yelled Niteelan making the sign of the Aquila and snapping Vivtinia from her reverie.

“Return fire! Torpedoes!” she commanded. A stunned bridge crew moved sluggishly to enact order.

“Now!” bellowed the Sister-Captain, slamming her armoured fist against the console before her, and four golden points of light raced away from the bow of the Resolute Shield. She tracked them on the holo as the massive projectiles traced a path toward the enemy cruiser. One flew wide to its starboard, another grazing along its ventral void shields. The third and fourth torpedoes found their mark, blossoming against the leading voids of the traitor ship. Their detonations where joined by others from the ordinance of the Emperor’s Grace and the Dawnhammer, but the heretic scum remained unharmed.

Thirty million kilometers.

The traitor ships where coming to a stop now, rotating to take full advantage of their superior broadside batteries. Victinia didn’t have to hear Sister-Captain Illumen’s command to give her next order, “Move into Katherine formation, position gamma!” Responding to the frantic commands of its pilots, the Resolute Shield slid gracefully into position, five kilometers ventral of the Emperor’s Grace and ten kilometers to the flagship’s starboard. The Dawmnammer mirrored the Resolute Shield, completing the tight triangular formation.

“Keep heading for the cruiser, and fire till you run out of torpedoes,” Victinia heard Sister-Captain Illumen finish giving her order over the sounds of the bridge. Even as she relayed the order to her crew, she knew it was going to be a rough ride.

Twenty million kilometers.

Another volley of torpedoes impacted against the enemy cruiser’s port void shields. A wall of energy beams reached out from the traitor ships’ broadsides in response. The resolute Shield shook with the violence of the barrage, but its void shields continued to hold. Soon they would be too close for the heretic ships to track them with their main weapons, and the battlegroup would have its chance to cripple their advance.

Thirteen million kilometers.

The traitor ships stopped fireing, leaving Victinia’s ears ringining in the absence of the constant pounding of energy against the ship’s collapsing void shields.

“Why did they stop,” wondered Niteelan, “Their voids don’t seem to be weakening, and ours are on the verge of collapse.”

“There’s something coming,” whispered the Navigator, his sightless eyes wide.

PLEASE leave your thoughts!

[Servant of Dante]

Update from the ELT thread

Here's that update I keep putting off. It probably should have been several updates, but whatever:

As I've said before, I'm not going to finish my vow. I might if I painted 4 hours every day, but that's not happening. However, I am determined to finish this squad of 20 sisters before the ETL ends. Even though it's difficult not to think of this as a failure, I would like to think of this as a success. This will be my first complete painted squad. I just underestimated the time it would take.

I can't tell you how much I enjoy reading your comments on my painting, but as the following shows, I know how much work I have to do, and the pace at which I will be able to do it.

As of last night, it was the 41st day since I began my vow. When I went to sleep I had put in over 58 hours of work on my models over those days. I'm surprised. I hadn't tallied up all the time till just now.

Also, THESE MODELS ARE BY NO MEANS COMPLETE. Those without helmets need their heads painted, and everyone needs washes and basing. And a clear coat.

+++ SQUAD DOMINUS UPDATE +++

Veteran Superior Margrettia

This is the first attempt on the power sword. I was happy with it, except that there was too much paint. It took like an hour, but I was enjoying myself, so I scraped it all of and started over (just on the blade). You can see that I hadn't finished cleaning the detail on the rest of the model. And you get a lovely close-up of my hand.

I'm still not sure about the blade, but it's OK. Next time I do a power sword I'll try something different, and then consider redoing this one.

This is a really cool sculpt. I've stayed up past midnight painting a few times now, but I may have overdone it on this one. I just HAD to finish the model that day, and I started at 8:15 I think. I already had an hour or so of cleaning done at the time, but I didn't finish till 6 hours later at like 2:30 in the morning. I was completely burnt out, but it was worth it. For the record, I painted for 7 and a half hours that day.

This was also very satisfying to paint. And it took 6 hours of work since my previous update. Once again, worth it.

I'm going to try to paint "Dominus" across the wood slat on the front, and a name down the parchment on the back. I'm thinking that these are the bones of Canoness Alexius (the first Canoness of my order).

And here are the 4 other models I've worked on since the last update.

Last is a group shot of all the detailed models, along with my test model, Sister Laurial, who is not part of my vow, but is a member of Squad Dominus.

Thanks for bearing with me! Comments appreciated!

[Servant of Dante]

Does anyone read the stuff I put in this thread? I know the 2 of you following this topic get emails whenever I put up a post . . .

 

Anyhow, I'm looking for advice. Sometime soon I will be making a GW order in the $65-$90 range, and it will (of course) be all sisters. Basically I know I want more boltgun sisters, and probably one or two more superiors as well. Beyond that, I'm really not sure. Below is an inventory of all my SoB models, including some I don't actually have yet, but will be getting within a month regardless (It has to do with my birthday ). Hopefully I haven't missed anything

 

THE ORDER OF THE GLORIOUS REPRISAL

 

Canoness Raedia (Evicerator and Bolt Pistol. I have the Inferno Pistol arm as well)

 

Sister Hospitaller (Obviously, she's not actually a member of the Order of the Glorious Reprisal)

Celestian with Blessed Banner

 

Ministorum Priest x3 (The generic one with a chainsword, a laspistol, and what looks like an autogun to me. Again, not actually members of the Order)

 

Sister Superior (Power Sword and Boltgun) x1

Sister Superior (Boltgun and Bolt Pistol) x3

 

Battle Sister with:

     Boltgun x24

     Simulacrum Imperialis x2

     Storm Bolter x2

     Flamer x2

     Meltagun x4

     Heavy Bolter x5

     Heavy Flamer x5

     Multi-Melta x1

 

Seraphim Superior Katelien (Power Sword and Plasma Pistol. Only sisters model I own that I didn't buy new from GW, although I did get it unopened)

Seraphim (Bolt Pistols) x7

Seraphim (Hand Flamers) x2

 

Immolator (Heavy Flamer)/Rhino x1

SM Rhino for conversion to a MM Immolator/sisters rhino x1

 

Exorcist x2

 

MODELS THAT DON'T FIT INTO THE ORDER'S FLUFF

 

Celestine, the Living Saint

Uriah Jacobus

Penitent Engine x2

Mistress of Repentance

Sister Repentia x9

 

What do you think? What do I need most?

[Aqui]

Depending on how you arrange the Sisters, and depending on whether or not you intend on footslogging, a couple of Rhinos won't hurt. As Naminé said to me once, if nothing else, the Rhinos can be used as a mobile wall for the Sisters to fire from. Edited July 8, 2016 by Aquilanus

[Servant of Dante]

Depending on how you arrange the Sisters, and depending on whether or not you intend on footslogging, a couple of Rhinos won't hurt. As Naminé said to me once, if nothing else, the Rhinos can be used as a mobile wall for the Sisters to fire from.

Since I have 2 exorcists, I have enough pieces to convert a second rhino into a makeshift sisters vehicle. That might be a good idea. Thanks!

[KiwiBen]

I think @Aquilanus' suggestion re Rhinos is a good one...

 

As far as actual Sisters go... I'd maybe suggest more meltaguns? To make a second unit of Dominions? Keep in mind that the "bad-a$$ pulling the pin of the grenade out with my teeth" sister with a bolter is in the ideal pose for a weapon swap, if you want to add some variation to your melta sisters' poses.

 

And you really can't go wrong with more basic bolter sisters, as you've said. I find that I always run out of those when I'm building lists before I run out of specials/heavies/superiors. Although that might have something to do with my penchant for blob squads...

[Aqui]

Now that I have a basic frame work of 1K for my army, I'm now working up towards adding more Sisters to make each squad twenty strong. If I don't use them at maximum strength, I can use them as ten Sister squads by themselves

[Servant of Dante]

Now that I have a basic frame work of 1K for my army, I'm now working up towards adding more Sisters to make each squad twenty strong. If I don't use them at maximum strength, I can use them as ten Sister squads by themselves

I do love those blob BSSs, as you can see in my ETL vow!

 

I already have the pieces to have 2 transports, but I will probably get a third. Fortunately, I already have the turrets thanks to my two exorcists (you can also thank that model for me playing sisters at all. That, and the book Yarrick: Imperial Creed).

 

I've done a bit of pricing (that other army doesn't look quite so expensive now, does it?):

 

Space Marine Rhino: $37.25

Battle Sisters (3): $17.25

Heavy Weapon Sister: $14

Special Weapon Sister: $9.90

 

I need 36 bolter sisters to do 2 squads of 20 that each have 2 special/heavy weapons and a simulacrum. I'd like to have more, but that's not really an option like now. I can't actually afford 12 more bolter sisters as it is.

 

The meltaguns are a good idea, but again, I can't afford 4 more right now . . . and I'd like a couple more flamers. The heavy flamers are for a command squad. Mmmmmm. Toasty.

 

So this is what I WANT:

 

Space Marine Rhino $37.25

Superior w/ boltgun x1 $12.25

Bolter sisters (12) $69.00

Meltagun x4 $39.60

Flamer x2 $19.80

 

Total: $177.9

 

And I have $90. So I'm not getting all of that. The first thing to go will be the flamers, putting me at $158.1. Hum. I'm going to have to think about this.

[Aqui]

Ebay. Seriously, at least a third of my Sisters are second hand. You might have to wait a while to get an auction that's worth bothering with, but I've had a lot of luck getting what I have using that site

[Servant of Dante]

Ebay. Seriously, at least a third of my Sisters are second hand. You might have to wait a while to get an auction that's worth bothering with, but I've had a lot of luck getting what I have using that site

You see, I'd have to REALLY want something there (and you usually can't save that much, at least on the buy it now stuff).

 

I can't really do auctions, because I can't but things off ebay myself, at least at the moment. Hopefully that will change. I have to bother a friend to do it for me, and I don't want to ask someone to watch an auction for me.

 

Besides, this way I get to show GW that I care in the only way they understand (depending on who you ask)!

Edited July 8, 2016 by Servant of Dante

[Servant of Dante]

If you have anything else to say about the eBay thing, I'd be happy to listen!

 

But back to GW's prices. What do you think of the following:

SM Rhino

Superior with Bolter

Flamer x2

Battle Sisters (3)

 

$86.55

 

I decided I'd rather have some more flamers for my BSSs than 2 extra meltaguns (I think).