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Yes, Sisters can ally with Imperial Guard or Inquisition to get Valkyries for air support, but they can't actually ride in them: Even Battle Brothers can't embark on each other's transports, remember. Plus a Sororitas crew would shoot much better (BS:4) than those Imperial Navy scrubs, have crazy bullet-deflecting faith, and prefer a different weapons loadout. (Lasers? What are those?). And, finally, between Soulstorm's Sororitas dropship (a reskinned Valkyrie) and the fact that the Ecclesiarchy has its own aerospace assets, it's entirely fluffy that there should be a Valkyrie variant with a Sororitas crew.

[UPDATE: The final (?) versions of all these units -- and two dozen others -- are now in my Sororitas fandex/expandnex]


Thus, ladies and gentlemen (but mostly ladies, I guess), I give you the

Sororitas Valkyrie: 125 points
BS:4 Armour:12/12/10 HP:3 Sv:6++

Force Organization: Fast Attack
Unit Type: Vehicle (Flyer, Hover, Transport)
Unit Composition: 1 Sororitas Valkyrie

Wargear:
Multi-melta
Two hellstrike missiles
Extra Armour
Searchlight

Special Rules:
Grav Chute Insertion (see Codex:Inquisition)
Shield of Faith

Transport:
Transport Capacity: 12 models
Fire Points: None
Access Points: One left, one right, one rear.

Options:
May replace multi-melts with flamestorm cannon: +10 points
May replace both hellstrike missiles with two multiple rocket pods: +30 points
May take two side sponsons, each with either a heavy bolter, a heavy flamer, or a multi-melta: 10 points
May replace all transport capacity with an Exorcist Missile Launcher, firing sideways (either left or right) -- a Valkyrie with this upgrade may not take sponsons: 45 points

Design notes:


And yes, there is indeed an option to fill the entire troop bay with an Exorcist Missile Launcher firing out the side like the tank gun on an AC-130 gunship, because feth yeah.

The weapon loadout seems odd. IMHO, the base weapon should be a heavy bolter and not a multi-melta, and the multi-melta should be an upgrade for the heavy bolter for +15 points. Also, I'm not a big fan of flamer weapons on flyers. The Baledrake and the Hive Crone are OK because they are dragons so they have the flexibility to flame stuff from the air, but a normal aircraft?

And maybe making the Exorcist Missile Launcher into a Hellstrike missile upgrade option would be better. So you replace the two Hellstrikes with a single Exorcist ML (the FW version) for ~30 points to get the SoB Vendetta.

Oh, and Shield of Faith is a 5 points upgrade according to the cost of the Rhino (35 without SoF, 40 with SoF).

 AtoMaki wrote:
The weapon loadout seems odd. IMHO, the base weapon should be a heavy bolter and not a multi-melta, and the multi-melta should be an upgrade for the heavy bolter for +15 points. Also, I'm not a big fan of flamer weapons on flyers. The Baledrake and the Hive Crone are OK because they are dragons so they have the flexibility to flame stuff from the air, but a normal aircraft?

And maybe making the Exorcist Missile Launcher into a Hellstrike missile upgrade option would be better. So you replace the two Hellstrikes with a single Exorcist ML (the FW version) for ~30 points to get the SoB Vendetta.

Oh, and Shield of Faith is a 5 points upgrade according to the cost of the Rhino (35 without SoF, 40 with SoF).

Arguably more useful for a Valkyrie though.

Good point about the heavy bolter being a better default armament. And maybe it shouldn't be possible to have a forward-firing flame weapon on a vehicle moving hundreds of miles per hour....

I don't think you can fit an Exorcist Missile Launcher in the space where two regular one-shot missiles go, however: it's a huge multi-shot weapon that fires every turn (albeit the individual shots are smaller). I think you really would have to do it "puff the magic dragon" style and shoot sideways like an AC-130.

 SisterSydney wrote:

I don't think you can fit an Exorcist Missile Launcher in the space where two regular one-shot missiles go, however: it's a huge multi-shot weapon that fires every turn (albeit the individual shots are smaller). I think you really would have to do it "puff the magic dragon" style and shoot sideways like an AC-130.

The FW Exorcist has these smaller missile launcher things that are roughly the same size as the multiple rocket pod so I don't think it is a problem.

Here, have a pic for reference:

Good point -- but where's the ammo storage? Must be inside the tank.

Hmmm. I suppose you could do put the Exorcist ammo in the body of the Valkyrie and do some kind of feed mechanism down to the launchers....

 SisterSydney wrote:
Good point -- but where's the ammo storage? Must be inside the tank.

Hmmm. I suppose you could do put the Exorcist ammo in the body of the Valkyrie and do some kind of feed mechanism down to the launchers....

The missiles sit inside the tubes. A weapon like this is, normally speaking, a one-time use deal, at least until you get the vehicle back to the rear (or a convenient Ammunition Supply Point) to restock the tubes.

In the Imperium's case, it could be said that each of the rockets it fires is slightly less than 1/3 the length of the tube, and has 2 sets of reloads sitting behind it in the launcher, with a break-away blast shield separating Rocket Rack A from Rocket Rack B. When Rocket Rack A is fired, an automated system (or a hand-crank inside the vehicle) moves the next rocket forward.

Hmmm. The Exorcist missile is just so much nasty than what the multiple rocket pod fires (double the range, double the strength, way lower AP -- albeit no Blast) and the launcher can fire so many of them (1d6 per turn) that I have trouble seeing adequate reloads fitting.

Besides, I think the whole AC-47 and AC-130 gunship series are just awesome, and I like the improvised "feth physics, we're gonna put an artillery piece on this aircraft" nature of pulling a whole Exorcist Missile Launcher out of the modified Rhino hull that normally carries it and sticking it sideways in the Valkyrie's troop bay.

You could even write up rules for backblast coming out the other side of the troop bay, but since no missile weapon in game has that, I presume the Imperium uses some kind of cold-launch system where the rocket motor doesn't ignite until it's cleared the launcher....




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also: I am geeking out on military hardware in a big way right now.

Well, so long as there is not an organic creature in your back-blast area, it doesn't mean a whole lot. Even when packing a shoulder-fired launcher, your last two steps before firing are checking your back-blast area and then announcing that it's all clear... that way some idiot doesn't walk up behind you to watch you pop armor.

Stupid happens. Even to smart people. Especially under the stress of combat, when fight-flight-freeze reflexes can give you tunnel vision/target fixation. Especially in a universe that is pure 100% GRIMDARK.

But yes, it's probably a completely pointless complication of the rules more worthy of the original Rogue Trader than today's mercifully more streamlined game. ("Streamlined" being highly relative here -- 40K is still clunky as hell).

I'd also imagine that this rocket tube is roughly the width of the transport bay of a Valkyrie... the back-blast is going to fill the whole ship with smoke and hot gas, for a second or two, but should otherwise be dangerous only to someone standing outside the hull on a skid or something.

 SisterSydney wrote:
Hmmm. The Exorcist missile is just so much nasty than what the multiple rocket pod fires (double the range, double the strength, way lower AP -- albeit no Blast) and the launcher can fire so many of them (1d6 per turn) that I have trouble seeing adequate reloads fitting.

Well, it is not like the Tau missile pods can't fire 14 missiles (2 in each turn) yet the weapon has only 3 visible missiles. It is Space Magic !

Or standing inside the bay reloading and firing the thing. >>

Personally, I favour the "missile pod" option over the "troop bay" option. The Missile Pod is a multi-launch rocket - it essentially fires five or six frag missiles from each pod, creating a larger blast area because of the spread. With the exception of large, one-shot weapons, almost no weapon in 40k carries enough ammunition to see it through an entire engagement - looking at the model, the Missile Pod can only fire three or four times from each pod, and games can go on for six or seven turns, the pod firing for every one of them but the first.

The Whirlwind only has four rockets by default, similar issue.

The problem with Multi-meltas is similar to the problem with Flamers though - they project a persistent beam. If you're not careful, you'll back up the weapon as you fly into it.

My last problem with this thing is the grav-chutes. Elysians canonically use flak armour because of the weight limitations of grav chutes. Their carapace armour is incredibly high-tech (Elysia being richer than the average shrine world) to allow the same - so I have trouble seeing a standard grav chute coping with a fully armoured Sororitas.

Unfortunately for that argument, Codex:Inquisition seems to allow Acolytes in power armour to use grav chute insertion....

I've always thought of meltas as a combination of death ray and militarized welding torch -- unlike napalm, I think you can't outfly a melta beam....

Well, I'm not an expert in wave physics, so I can't really comment on that, but if the melta-beam is a particle, it can get backed up if your acceleration is greater than the beam's.

That said, a melta beam will probably be significantly closer to the speed of light than the aircraft. Valkyries aren't even supersonic.

I guess logic flies in the face of 40k again on the power armour argument. ^^;

Shouldn't shield of faith be a 5 point upgrade since our rhino cost 5 more points then normal rhinos.

 Necrosis wrote:
Shouldn't shield of faith be a 5 point upgrade since our rhino cost 5 more points then normal rhinos.

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:


Arguably more useful for a Valkyrie though.

 SisterSydney wrote:
Unfortunately for that argument, Codex:Inquisition seems to allow Acolytes in power armour to use grav chute insertion....

On this note, I think the SoB Valkyre should have a note that it can transport Seraphims. And Grav Chute Insertion should have a different name like Skies of Faith (heh) or Heavenly Arrival or something. Just to stay with the theme .

Wait, you want a 12/12/10 flyer with a 6++ and three BS4 Multi-meltas for 135 points? For real?

Um, yes, I see how that could be.... um.

Perhaps the options for things on the sponsons other than heavy bolters is bit much; that's not on the IG and Inquisition originals, I just thought it was fluffy for Sisters.

Then there's the question of whether Shield of Faith and +1 BS are undercosted. You could argue they are, and I'm absolutely willing to listen and recost if convinced.

N.b. that the BS:3 but triple-lascannon Vendetta is only 130 points. That said, it's also notoriously undercosted, so our minimum objective is to be less stupid than GW.

 SisterSydney wrote:

N.b. that the BS:3 but triple-lascannon Vendetta is only 130 points. That said, it's also notoriously undercosted, so our minimum objective is to be less stupid than GW.

Exactly, the Vendetta is stupidly undercosted, but the above build would not be far off. In fact, it might actually be better.