Brazen Lilies (Crusade & WIP)

[Bonzi]

I started a Sisters army when the new dex dropped because my gaming group was going to do small escalation Crusade and I wanted to work with something fresh. This thread is to serve as a WIP & Crusade journal for my force, the Brazen Lilies. As I finish units or have updates from battles I will try to add pictures and posts. Some will be works in progress because I tend to bounce around a lot with my painting and basing.

We started at 500pt games (we convert to points and matched play rules because power level sucks). We each played three to four games at 500pts and then this week we jumped to 750pts. In three weeks we will probably bump to 1000pts. We have also included provisions for rolling the earned Exp from an existing army to a new army if a new dex drops that a person wants to play. At current we have Sisters, Custodes, Ad Mech, Deathwatch, Orks, Death Guard, and Space Marines in the Crusade.

I am using Argent Shroud as my base order, but my Order name and paint scheme are home brew. My colors are bronze (Gore Grunta contrast over Lead Belcher primer), brass trim (a couple gold's with nulin oil on top) ivory detail (pallid witch flesh with skeleton horde contrast on top) forest green cloth (temple guard blue with Warpstone contrast on top) and black leather (xv88 tan with black templar contrast on top). Weapons are lead belcher and silver with and without nulin oil. Barrel heat effects are done with Drakenhof Nightshade, Carabo Crimson, and Sepia washes.

So I'll start off with my Cannoness who is my armies Saint Potentia. She is armed with a blessed blade, an inferno pistol, and the quicksilver shroud. She has completed her trials of faith and purity at this point. She has also leveled up once, gaining +1 leadership which she shares with all friendly units within 6" and 6" heroic intervention.

She had personally killed a Skittari Marshal, a Deathwatch Captain, a Gravis Captain, a Primaris Tech marine, and an Ironclad that the Deathwatch Captain was interred in after she chopped him up the first time. Her preferred method of killing is a summary execution with her inferno pistol. She has chopped up a number of regular units as well, but whose going to bother counting the scrubs?

I'm moderately pleased with how she turned out. I may upgrade her base a bit if she makes it to living sainthood.

Edited August 1, 2021 by Bonzi

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Beautiful work on the Canoness.

[Joukernaut]

Your canoness looks good, I intent to follow the progression of your order and hope to see some painted additions and great stories in this thread.

[Bonzi]

This is the Seraphim squad that's been used in every game since the start of the crusade. Two pair of strength 4 handflamers is so good, especially with the max shots stratagem and the surprise factor of Argent Shroud letting them advance and shoot. 12" move + d6 advance +1" from Hand of the Emperor along with 12" on the flamers themselves means you really can't hide from these ladies and my opponents have learned the hard way to try killing this unit early. On top of all of that I often run a hospitaler in my list so a few times my opponents have killed the unit down to the Superior only to see her fly over to the healer to get 1 to 3 of the squad brought back.

This is the most veteran unit in my force at the moment, having reached rank 2 after fighting and surviving four engagements. The unit has gained Veteran of the Covent, giving the superior +1 ld, attack, and wound, and Armored With Contempt, granting the unit a 4+ invulnerable save (we roll for upgrades randomly in the Crusade).

They only have three credited ranged kills to their tally, but that doesn't tell the true story of how many models have fallen to their cleansing flames. The have killer swaths of Skittari Rangers, Vanguard, and Sterylizors as well as Deathwatch Veterans and Heavy Intercessors. Their most notable achievement was completing the agenda Burn the Wytch by hunting down and cleansing a Deathwatch Librarian.

This unit shows off the armies color scheme a bit better than the Cannoness since they are not completely wrapped in robes.

[9x19 Parabellum]

I didn't really care for your Canoness (too Dark Angel looking...and I hate Dark Angels), but these Seraphim, are VERY cool. I love that bronze look with gold trim. Well done!

[Bonzi]

I didn't really care for your Canoness (too Dark Angel looking...and I hate Dark Angels), but these Seraphim, are VERY cool. I love that bronze look with gold trim. Well done!

I don't disagree. That Cannoness model almost has too much robe and too little armor showing. She's very green in my paint scheme. It balances nicer on the models that are just sleeves and tabards.

[Montford]

Good name for the Order! And I approve of the basing as its almost exactly like mine!

 

Best of luck in the Crusade!

Edited August 2, 2021 by Montford

[Joukernaut]

I too very much like the acheme on the seraphim and prefer them to the canoness. If it bithers you you could pick out some of the cloth in a neutral different colour like white, grey or black. Having said that, she looks perfectly fine as she is.

[Bonzi]

Here is a peak at some of the in progress units I'm working on. Above is a Sister Superior with chainsword and combiflamer, one of two Crusaders, and a Sister Superior in a Paragon Warsuit. All of these models are part of in progress units that are in the Crusade.

This is the crusade Immolator that is around 75% done. The cupola, shrine, and one side of the model is still in progress.

[Joukernaut]

I love your scheme on the paragon warsuit. On the immolator the paint looks a bit blodgy, which, unfortunately, is one of the problems of contrast paint on flat surfaces. This made me decide to do the vehicles without contrast (I paint my sisters mostly with contrast too). If ypu happen to own an airbrush you can lay down a transparent layer of contrast over a base of leadbelcher. Or you can just ignore the blodgyness and continue tour progress!

[Bonzi]

I love your scheme on the paragon warsuit. On the immolator the paint looks a bit blodgy, which, unfortunately, is one of the problems of contrast paint on flat surfaces. This made me decide to do the vehicles without contrast (I paint my sisters mostly with contrast too). If ypu happen to own an airbrush you can lay down a transparent layer of contrast over a base of leadbelcher. Or you can just ignore the blodgyness and continue tour progress!

It is a sad side effect of contrast that it doesn't love flat surfaces. Due to an insane backlog of painting for multiple armies I have adopted a set of rules when I paint an army:

 

#1'The Bob Ross Rule', which states there are no mistakes, only happy accidents. Basically meaning I never go back a redo something once I've started painting it.

 

#2. Keep it simple. Complicated paint jobs have fantastic results but the quicker and easier a paint job is the more likely I am to keep doing it and not get bored or want to change it. This usually means for me any effect or color on a model needs to ideally be achieved in two steps/technique maximum.

 

#3. Beer goggles. Does it look ok from a distance while playing a game? Every error is obvious when your nose is two inches from the model, but most of them are irrelevant in an actual game.

 

 

I've got a blotchy paint job on the Immolator but it does look decent on the table top as long as you don't stick your face too close so I've decided to roll with it. I may try to airbrush the contrast on the next one to see if it works better but I am wildly lazy and I really hate cleaning my airbrush. I do agree it's much more successful on the Paragons but I would say that's about the biggest flat surfaces you can do without running into trouble with contrast.

[9x19 Parabellum]

You, sir, Bonzi....have wisdom and judgment worthy of a Canoness.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the models.

[Bonzi]

We got in a few more rounds of Crusade at the 750pt level today. I got one game in versus a Death Company army. He had:

 

Lord Virulent

 

X10 pox

 

X5 Terminators

 

X2 Plaugeburst Crawlers

 

Vs

 

Cannoness: blessed blade, inferno pistol

 

X5 BSS: multimelta

X5 BSS: multimelta

 

X5 Paragon Warsuits

 

X5 Retributors: heavy bolters

 

Immolator: multimelta

 

We played an odd Crusade mission where points were scored for running your units off of the opponents board edge. On a small table this predictably turned into 'run to the middle and murder everything and whoever lives can then run off the board and score'. I had big mobility advantages but I would need to blow a hole in his lines to get through.

 

He rolled to play first and I figured the game was pretty much over with his Plaugeburst lining up a tone of shots on my Paragon and Immolator. Thanks to absolutely insane save rolling and poping smoke on the Immolator I walked through his shooting will all of my Paragons alive and my Immolator suffering 9 wounds which I counted as a win. I expected my counter stroke to gut his army with a lot of half ranged melta shots and melee from the Cannoness and Paragons but then he saved like beast as well and I was the one in trouble as my units were all hanging out to dry. In his turn my Cannoness and Suits were charged by his Terminators and Lord Virulent. After another round of impossible saves (and a lot of miracle dice) I still had my Saint and one Suit left alive. At this point the saint had had enough and shot the lord with her inferno pistol dealing 8 wounds, killing him outright. Killing the lord was the turning point as he lost valuable rerolls and by the end of the next round I had tabled him and walked my units off his board edge.

 

My Saint and the Paragon were both down to their last wound. My Immolator had 3 left. Both my Sister's squads were down to one model and my Retributors were unharmed.

 

The game swings in advantage in the early game were absolutely crazy. I've never seen such strong defensive rolling in a game before. Ultimately I was on the ropes until the bottom of the third when the Cannoness killed his lord. After that is army fell apart fast.

 

Highlights were crazy saves by everyone. The Retributors killing all but one pox walker in a single round of shooting. The Cannoness executing the Lord of Virulence. A Plaugeburst who had rolled spider legs on a upgrade table, allowing it to climb ruins, crawling to the top of a rock tower and then getting bracketed so it didn't have enough movement to get back down.

 

Cannoness now has hit rank two and along with a free honors earned in mission is now:

 

X5 attacks at St7, -3, 3Dam rerolling hits and wounds in combat. She gives LD 11 to all units in 6". And her inferno pistol is St9.

 

She's getting a bit nutty at this point.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Congratulations on your victory! May many more follow.

 

Will you customize an Imagifier with an image of a Sister of Battle cleaving a green skull in half with her sword, or impaling a spider upon her blade, to commemorate this victory?

[9x19 Parabellum]

Saint Becky will teach dirty disciples of Nurgle not to mess with her.  Btw, you fought death guard, not death company.  Saint Becky would no doubt be honored to fight alongside death company, I imagine.

 

How are you finding all those heavy guns (multimeltas on the BSS and heavy bolters on the Rets) with Argent Shroud?   Doing some pretty good work I imagine. Also, what Sacred Rite did you use against the Death Guard?  I imagine either Divine Guidance given all the shooting, or the Passion for your Paragon Warsuits?

[Bonzi]

Saint Becky will teach dirty disciples of Nurgle not to mess with her. Btw, you fought death guard, not death company. Saint Becky would no doubt be honored to fight alongside death company, I imagine.

 

How are you finding all those heavy guns (multimeltas on the BSS and heavy bolters on the Rets) with Argent Shroud? Doing some pretty good work I imagine. Also, what Sacred Rite did you use against the Death Guard? I imagine either Divine Guidance given all the shooting, or the Passion for your Paragon Warsuits?

You are correct, I played against Death Guard. As a BA player Death Guard and Deathwatch all become Death Company in my mind.

 

I find Argent Shrouds abilities with heavy weapons to be fantastic. I almost always run +1 to advance and charge for sacred rights with Argent Shroud because I find it has the most consistent payout for how I run the army. The Paragons have the relic of Sebastian Tor giving them a second sacred right which I usually pick the passion for.

[Bonzi]

In the next couple of weeks the crusade is increasing our game size to 1000pts and our roster size to 1500pts. Luckily last Saturday my preorders came in which included a Castigator and a Combat Patrol box so I can add and hopefully paint a few of my new units. This escalation I am adding:

 

Missionary: mace, servo stubber, pistol (almost finished painting)

 

X3 Arcoflagellants (should be a quick paint)

 

Castigator: battle cannon (I will start once the Immolator and Paragons wrap)

 

Currently in progress and hopefully finished soon is the Immolator, x5 Battle Sisters: flamer & combiflamer, X1 Crusader, and X2 Paragon.

[Joukernaut]

Looking forward to the new models.

[Bonzi]

Sisters with heavy weapons are ready and waiting for the rest of their squads get painted up.

The finished Missionary ready for next week's escalation.

[Bonzi]

The Crusader squad gets finished off. Picking off a lot of small units to feel some progress.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the models.

[Joukernaut]

Good job!

[Bonzi]

My first complete troop choice and they are probably the least accomplished unit in my entire Crusade. Somehow these ladies always catch a hail of gunfire or get mauled in close combat even though their role is little more than holding an objective. The more dangerous and aggressive multimelta squads always seem to survive one way or another, but this squad always gets obliterated. Their most recent exploit was being turned to red goo by a rampaging Deff Dred, but they were promptly avenged by melta toting Dominions.

Edited August 25, 2021 by Bonzi

[Joukernaut]

catching bullets for the emperor and getting martyred is an accomplishment on its own! Nice work, it looks like the army is getting along quite nicely.