Hello All,

I have started this blog in solidarity with Brother Kal (a newbie to the forum).

A bit about me: I have 5k or so of Tau, some of which you can see in my gallery, or here-
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/464486.page#4561587

I love them dearly but getting spanked in 5th ed. CC got tiresome after a few years. Plus I need a new project as I love painting and converting 40k models.

*sept 2012 edit*
As an aside, I've been thinking about diffent approaches to modelling and converting recently. I am very much a doer rather than a planner - my conversions arise in the spur of the moment, or from the kernel of an idea (or a stolen idea in the case of my counts as vespids!). I also tend to use the bits that I have or can acquire via warhammer buddies. I don't ever purchase sprues just to get the right weapons - I'd rather scratch build or kitbash. The flipside is that I tend to be a bit slapdash - my conversions are not about accuracy, scale or anything like that. They are about spur of the moment, recession economics, and fun! If this appeals to you, read on!

ALSO - I'm currently looking for a P&M blogger buddy to tag team with. I'm the sort of person that needs deadlines to get anything done.. I found I did much better when blog tag teaming with Bro Kal, sadly not around much. If anyone fancies being my tag team-mate send me a PM (if it doesn't sound to homo-erotic/ space marine-ish)!

*end edit*

Sisters are thus the new project for 2011. The criteria for my sisters were as follows:


- no metal sisters aside from seraphim (cost constraint)

- lots of seraphim, as the models are beautiful, and I want a beautiful army

- all vehicles will be scratch build (cost constraint)

- approx 1k (to start with...)


I decided wood elf glade guard and dark eldar could give me a good source of plastic sisters to convert. This involved begging my friends for SM bolters and backpacks, which were kindly supplied!

The first pics I will post are of the first converted glade guard I have done. I wanted to have some interesting poses and the glade guard kit was actually excellent from this viewpoint.

C&C welcome, especially from Brother Kal!

This chick looks great, and im loving the sound of whats to come

any definite army that your going for apart form the seraphim or just take them as they come?

Looking forward to see the progress

Thanks guys,

TM I have purchased 20 seraphim as I really wanted an assaulty army. Having said that, the exorcist is one of the best things in the codex. I plan to scratch build 3.

Sounds good, Who are you running as HQ? Celestine?

Keep us updated.

I always like watching what other people do with their sister army.

I plan to run Celestine eventually due to her beauty, however in the meantime I am using the female inquisitor model as a cannoness.

And so the moto blogs take shape...

TT - I shall be following this with great interest, great start so far too.

Now if I can just put the xbox360 controller and Bad Company 2 down for an hour I shall get some pics up for my side of the deal eh?

BK

Keep posting. I had not considered doing this for sisters.

What a cool idea. I love the sisters but they don't make enough models and definitely not enough variation in the ones they do make. Your idea is brilliant. Consider me subscribed I hope you keep up the good work.

Thanks for the words of encouragement folks. The plastics make conversions such a joy.

Funilly enough I had considered using chaos raptors and converting them as seraphim (crazy idea i hear you say).

Well it was crazy. Metal is a rather unforgiving conversion medium!

Now as soon as BK puts up his next blog post....

OK as BK has given us an update with his very interesting nova marines (i like this paint scheme alot - please do more!) its time for more sisters stuff.

The following pics are of models that will eventually be used as Celestians (but for the moment i need another sisters unit!).

These are dark eldar wtyches.. converted using glade guard heads and cloaks. The meltaguns are made from Tau fusion blaster, rogue trader bolter and plastic rod.

What I like about these is their dynamic poses. I wasn't sure about the cloaks at first but I think it works ok. Plus celestians should have cloaks

Anyway C&C welcome.. BK what do you think? When will we see more Nova Marines?

These look promising... verrry promising

and fair enough about the canoness, and you should definitly get Celestine ASAP shes a gorgeous model

Hmm.. its an interesting idea, and I'm sure you'll get some great poses, but they certainly don't look like they're wearing power armour

Fair comment Flinty, however in this context looking feminine is more important than looking armoured. I mean seriously I'd pick a wytch over a space marine any day

isnt Codex WitchHunters coming next month? Which could mean plastic Sisters, right?

I know! Still I doubt I will get 16 in a box for £18 like I did with the glade guard. Plus most of the fun for me is converting. Converting sisters, converting vehicles....

The conversion seems decent but they really don't scream Sisters of Battle to me at all. They look like female guardsmen.

Heh, in TT conversion world 'decent' is good enough! Thanks for the feedback though.

*subscribed*

I like your work so far!

As previously stated chap good work man, each to their own taste eh?

Update is up friend I wait with anticipation while the ball sits in your half of the field

BK

OK BK has returned with a cracking cross shot to the base line, time for me to return!

The celestian rules state that one of the unit carries an imagifer containing a simulacrum imperialis - a fragment of a martyred saint.

I had thought of various ways of representing this, such as skeletal hands and so on. But I settled on a less explicit physical manifestation of simulacrum - that is bolter prayer.

Next up will be Exorcists and Seraphim..

Lovely conversion work mate can't wait to see some paint on these honeys.

Thanks - and you will.. hopefully holiday prep and work won't slow me down too much.

That there is a very gd prayer conversion. I'm impressed with what you have shown. I think my hand will have to start dabbling in the conversion world now that I have my 2 test mini near completed

Again chap gd effort.

BK

Thx BK, looking forward to your next update. I'm heading to Exeter at the weekend but might take some painting with me..

As always loving the work, do you mind uploading a few more pics of the Prayerbabe? Different angles etc?

Yep will do that after BKs next update.

OK BK - apologies but I've decided to update now because I'm not taking my 40k stuff to Exeter, and I'm leaving tomorrow (I only have a week there!).

OK so this is a marathon update by scottish sisters standards.

First, Tyranic Marta was kind enough to ask to see bolter prayer from a few angles, so I have attached several of these.

Next, bolter and flamer sisters converted from wood elf glade guard.

Last, some shots of the process of scratch building an exorcist. I also want to use them as chimeras sometimes to thats why they look a little chimera-esque.

The various bits were

Launcher - random attachments from a folding workbench
Structure - 3mm plasticard (the acrylic type is better for doing joints) and foam board
tracks - milk bottle tops and tank treads from envisioncraft


C&C more than welcome, though after this evening I will be offline for a week or so. BK its over to you!

Absolutely loving the tanks

And thanks for the extra pics of Bolterprayer

Loving your work as usual although i must say, those bolters look over sized

Subscribed to this, can't wait for more!

Agreed on the bolters, comprimises must be made though due to my acute cost constraints.

Will be back a week on Tuesday so maybe more then.. also looking fwd to BKs nova marine update!

Understandable about the bolters/costs.

Keep up the excellent work!!!

Hey TT,

this is all looking fab so far. I promise an update is heading Dakka's way very very soon. Hopefully it's a good one!? Just got to get people interested haha!

Carry on with the good work chap and enjoy the break in Exeter. Looking forward to your next update buddy.

BK

Hi folks I've got just a couple of pics to post up..

Here is an exorcist painted up, though not a final configuration though.

Guys its been a while, here are some pics, will explain later:

Hey, those Sisters look like they are coming along quite nicely - except in the fourth photo (not including the vehicle) on the right - who looks like she may be better suited to a disco

Looking forward to seeing them in person sometime now that I'm in Scotland most of the time

How do they like Orks again

Arakasi wrote:How do they like Orks again

With a burning passion! (Buh-dum-pish!)


Automatically Appended Next Post:
These conversions are great btw. Sisters really benefit from the variety and you're giving them plenty of it.

Thanks Arakasi! I just came back from a disco in the disco capital of the world (Inverkip marina). So your disco comments are much appreciated

Thanks whigwam for your kind words also.

I've been working on them in spare minutes as I've been incredibly busy with RL. I'm considering kitbashing a sentinel next, though alot depends on the new FoC.

Those are some awesome models troy_tempest. I'd like to see them in the flesh sometime. Really smooth purple on the cloth, as well as a nice shine on the weapons.

If you were looking to save some money on the Seraphims I could give you 5 pairs of wings from the Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard set which I'm never going to use.

Liking the look of the sisters, very very much so. Especially Saint C.

looking great big guy

It's been a long wait but well worth it. You sisters are coming along really nicely. Keep up the good work TT.

Thanks for the feeback guys. Hopefully more frequent updates from now.. well until seasonal work kicks in again!

gatheringstorm - I have 20 seraphim plucked from ebay. However I would like to convert a canoness with jump pack....

OMG... Your like a british version off me! I play Taus (as my name sugests) and im thinking off sisters and avoiding metal... Nice work!

Good to know you got the Seraphim at a good price. I could still gift you a pair of wings for your Canonesss then, perhaps even a full jump-pack. Also, I have some spare Storm Bolters and some unused Angelus weapons laying around...

I'll need to have a game against your Sisters at some point, so I can give you the bitz.

sounds gr8! we can do a bitz swap when we play!

@ Mr Tau, are you still predominantly a Tau? I find after winning assaults with sisters, going back is difficult...

Hello all.

Lots has happened since my last post. The new WD dex is out and most folk I think agree that a couple of sisters builds are now pretty competitive.

My list is a standard vehicle-heavy one, except I've gone for seraphim over dominions.

I'm going along to a couple of 1.75k tourneys in the next few weeks and have been catching time here and there to get my girls up to scratch (esp. vehicles).

So below are:

Exorcists: Poplar, Blackthorn and Willow

Sisters Rhinos: Annie & Clarabel

Dominion Rhino: Christabelle

Conclave Rhino: Emmalina

Generally I'm fairly pleased with my scratch builds. They were fun to make and look ok. Because they have plain, flat features they need to be painted in an interesting way otherwise they look like cardboard boxes. I have tried to do this by theming the exorcists and having "gilded gate" artwork on the rear of the rhino to represent the access point. I also plan to add some artwork in the style of byzantine frescoes as the gold and stylised artwork I think will fit well.

Tell me what you think! Would you guys consider scratch builds for vehicle heavy armies?

hello troy...thought i ahve a look at your thread here... now i see those treads and remeber i wanted to give that curogated cardboard a try when starting tankmaking...how on earth did you come up with that rusty feel to the treads? very good work there...what did you use?

as for the tans themselves i think i would love to see a more layered style on them as i think they lacka certain amount of detail...which is sad as i think you love your army and i think they would be truly tremendous if you added some cardboard to them...

oh and your sisters conversions... what base for conversions did you use? they look very good...i think doing your own models out of bits is a very clever idea and something we should all be doing more as the metal ones are just too expensive in my opinion...

cheers, vik

Hi Vik, I agree they are a bit featureless.. I need to see about making cardoard rivets or turning them into a big canvass. When I have time I shall peruse your thread in more detail for tips.

Tank treads I used black poster paint as UC, then boltgun metal over that, then glued sand on using PVA, brown poster paint over that. So the rust is a fluke!

well i am all in for cheap solutions to otherwise expensive ones^^ so the sand and pva mix is quite good and if cheaper paint fits the bill i am more than satisified^^

before glueing your next tank the treads on i would suggest you at least wrap small strips of paper or thin cardboard on the main body...this can create great looking texture...and if i had a sisters army i would at least get me a cutter for that fleur de lil...there are some around to be bought...and you could go wil with details... and even raised ornaments!!!

Yep you are right texture is important. Hmm bit of work still to do..

recent tourney run-outs for the sisters:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/401245.page

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/407772.page#3518278

Hi guys, again its been a long time since my last, equally sporadic update.

I decided to stick with the plan of keeping the vehicles simple but turning them into a paint canvass. This has worked out pretty well, once I decided on my themes (trees, orthodox style gold, and simple motifs).

Some recent results below for your perusal.

Well! Time to get back on the sisters kitbash horse after a very busy year.

Priest with eviscerator - this guy is based on some empire legs/tosro, battle wizard arms/ head, & random chainsword counting as evisceror.

Coteaz - body and torso I think is a pegasus rider. head is from battle wizards kit. I kitbashed his hammer from an axe I got with chaos footknights - this is also where the cloak came from. I know Coteaz is bald but.. well in his youth he had quite the head of hair! How on earth do I do his eagle though?!

Retributors - old cabalite warriors, heads are mostly wytches, heavy bolters kitbashed from a fusion blaster, cloaks are glade guard.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Forgot to mention - the scratch build vehicles are being phased out and replaced with real ones. Meaning no more triple exorcist, at least for now

hmmm... the cabalite warriors gone retributers look a bit frail verging on the unrealistic...

cortatez is looking a bit weird too... when you use riders legs on a standing mini it looks weird as the pose looks a bit like his pants are full of angst also the handle... i think pinning would help you here to rid of the crooked effect...

the priest i like as is... nice mix... and the hand with the book is in the wizard kit? i need to have a look if i own that one... i need to nick that idea for my own minis^^

and... welcome back mate... hope my ideas and thoughst werent too hurtful ?

cheers, vik

Not at all Vic, On the contrary I'mk very pleased to have your comments. But fback from you and others did make me think a bit about what sort of modeller I am. I'm into ideas and action, afraid accuracy will always be a distant second for me (pure personality trait - my wife is a polar opposite perfectionist).

I'm never going to be at the level of a lot of dakkanaughts conversions as I have a full life and this is my hobby, but I like sharing my minis and giving them online fame/infamy! I've put a disclaimer at the start of both my blogs to that effect.

In summary - bring it on!

lol... of course soul is the essence of hobby! perfectionism will ruin it eventually...^^

Hahaha! Either that or the slapdash modellers end up with armies of amorphous blobs instead of minis!

if the latter... blame it on nurgle and you are good^^

Dude your army is awesome, the whole concept is cool. I give these guys 2 thumbs up. One foe original thinking and a second for be brave enough to do it. Keep it up

thanks balders, i always thought you were the clever one

vik you mentioned fler de lys cutters ages ago.. any ideas how to source one? for my aegis.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FLEUR-DE-LIS-DECOUPAGE-PUNCH-DOVECRAFT-/230596627681?pt=UK_Crafts_Cardmaking_Scrapbooking_DieCutting_Punches_EH&hash=item35b0a14ce1


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/McGill-Dimensional-Lever-Punch-Fleur-De-Lis-New-Free-Delivery-/370640172612?pt=UK_Crafts_Cardmaking_Scrapbooking_DieCutting_Punches_EH&hash=item564be03644


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAKEME-SQUARE-ART-1-CRAFT-PUNCH-FLEUR-DE-LIS-2775-/140508430198?pt=UK_Crafts_Cardmaking_Scrapbooking_DieCutting_Punches_EH&hash=item20b6f47f76


found these via ebay... and if you search for fleur de lis on google pictures you will come up with some even better looking designs... not that much excess cuts...

like this:

http://www.crafting.co.uk/product.php/1236/69/fleur_de_lis_small_punch

NICE

and the search was not in vain as i´ve found a 25mm holepunch for my own needs as well^^

I love them so far man, hopefully sisters get a new codex soon

I actually quite like the WD dex Seth. Its obv. quite limited, but exorcists are still amazing, we can stil run sisters in blobs, and both Celestine and Jacobus are very good. Retributors also look awesome for small PV games.

The main problem with the dex, a common problem - too many units you wouldnt touch with a bargepole - celestians, command squad, arco flagellents, the HQ slot aside from Saint and Jacobus, the entire elites slot ... and hull points in 6th has seriously nerfed penitent engines.

Still a very fun army though!

Troy, I do agree on some of what you say, but personally, I run a team of celestians in an immo with that many more melta. In this edition you cannot have enough. Two squads of seraphs, one Dual flame the other dual inferno. And deep strike to my heart's contentment. And of course our ever favorite exorcist (3) if points allow. On your conversion, IMHO, not feelin it. Your exorcist looks too large, dark lances, las cannons, and etc. need only so much hull to penetrate it. Personally, I do believe in saving money, but not at the cost of my in game enjoyment. I have the metal organ (something old,) the FW (something new,) and a whirlwind (something borrowed (painted blue.))

Heh, thanks for that spaz. My exorcists are indeed a bit oversize (they are more chimera size than rhino). I just got my hands on a real exorcist so I will be running only that one from now on (as soons as its assembled and painted). This is what prompoted the retributor kitbash as I now have 2 heavy slots free.

I found your comments on melta interesting. My experience of 6th so far is that flyers rather than regular vehicles dominate. Melta has limited impact in this regard due to range.. and I do think the emphasis of 6th on range hurts us a bit.

I do agree that if facing say guard armour, melta is priceless as you will probably get close. But for flyer spam which will probably be dominating tourneys soon, we need range for that. Also if we do face multiple vehicles, killing them with krak granades,eviscerators & meltabombs is now much easier due to the new CC to hit chart.

My other question is - why not just run another unit of sisters in an immolator vs. celestians? They are scoring, & can have the same weapons. Do you find the celestians +1 A and +1 str act of faith is worth the trade for another scoring unit? I'm interested to hear your thoughts on that, as I never considered celestians since the new dex dropped.

Retributors almost complete.. just purity seals to go.

the fleur de lis came out quite good looking! and now that i have a closer look again... very daring hairdo´s for sisters of battle^^

Interesting, so it's the current or old DE bits? The heads look current at least.

old bodies new heads

thats how i feel sometimes too

Wonder how the newer ones would fare. Have my interest in this anyway. While there's nothing that wrong with the metal ones it doesn't take long for them to cost too much and have noticeable clones about.

n0t_u The newer ones are better, look more medieval.

Vik - I could do with a new body as well, if my recent performances at fives are anything to go by!

LOL... who couldn´t do with a new one^^

OK - as much as I've loved making these retributors, its time to move on.

To an exorcist. Thank you so much to fellow dakkanaught stuart_kinnaird for this wonderful gift. Selfless as well, as it will be annihilating his tanks before christmas hopefully

To be honest I find the beauty of this kit quite astounding. Also I've realised its the first vehicle I will be making from the kit as all my other vehicles were ebay purchases.

Anyhoo... a quick look through the box:

looked at the pics in your gallery for the kit... well... have fun! i never got me yet an unbuilt kit... i bet that´s a lot f fun

There are no instructions in the box! Thank you dakka!:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Assembling_an_Exorcist

*gets pin vice and files ready*

yes... dakka is that amazing!!! a think tank... and a helper in tight corners^^

Welcome back! Nice to see things moving along once again.

Ah working on an actual Exorcist. I'd suggest greenstuff and maybe some plasticard. Beautiful model, but there's a reason after 6 months I still haven't even primed mine.

 troy_tempest wrote:
There are no instructions in the box! Thank you dakka!:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Assembling_an_Exorcist

*gets pin vice and files ready*

Thanks for the link, I've also just picked up an Exorcist and was a bit miffed that they didn't send me any instructions.

@ vic - quite!

@ arakasi - thanks man it's been too long. i need to hook you up with dakkanaught embrace_your_inner_geek who has been running mini touneys not a million miles away from your patch.

@ n0t_u - I see the warped metal as part of its eccentricity and beauty though i wasn't saying that when trying to milliput/ glue the organ!

@ giraffeX - I honestly would not have known how to put it together without the link. What a wonderful selection of beautiful metal parts though. Takes me back...

A quick sisters update -

1) New penintent engine assembled, painted, and now battle damaged as I didn't pin its arms on!

2) Purchased a WHFB empire volley gun kit - mainly to use the gunners as priests with eviscerators. But also...

3) May use the rocket parts to convert a second exorcist

Watch this space...

welcome back troy!

and the empire volley gun kit is very cool...for some archaic looking tanks probably one of the awesomnest things to use

thanks vik. The volley gun kit is awesome. I'm going to do some heavy conversion on the volley gun to run it as a tfc. The priests are now UC and are weilding their eviscerators! and the rockets fit onto my repressor nicely. Great purchase for £15. Now if only I could find my camera...

yes... I can only advice you in the strongest tones to find said camera... those announcements need to be verified with pics...or as they say... no pics...it hasn´t happened^^

Welcome back - but yeah - need pics!

Hi Guys - bit of a haitus but I'm hopefully back for a while (have acquired a daughter since my last post - a bit distracted these past 8 months).

So previously I'd spoken about running a single exoricst and not using my scratch build vehicles anymore. This is my current direction of travel.

I'm attending ToS March in Nottingham and was looking to field some new units. I've got a conclave that's coming together nicely in time for throne.

But the object which has prompted me to start blogging again are... sisters repentia.

Now, as every sisters player knows, sisters repentia are rubbish. They got a major nerf in the new dex, and other choices are much better (eg triple exorcist).

However I cant help but love these women. They are looking for repentance, and have decided that wielding a gigantic chainsword and running across a battlefield to certain death is the best way of attaining it. That is cool - so much cooler than 3 exorcists!

So in short - I will return soon. Throne is 22nd March so I have a lot of work to do.

Peace out!

And while I'm on a roll- attached are some pics of converted priests. I will leave you to figure out where the bits came from.

In retrospect, they are quite naff - except from the converted battle wizard. He is awesome, and the only one I actually use!

Update: undercoating and eviscerator hilts done.

Basic flesh done today finally!

 troy_tempest wrote:
OK BK has returned with a cracking cross shot to the base line, time for me to return!

The celestian rules state that one of the unit carries an imagifer containing a simulacrum imperialis - a fragment of a martyred saint.

I had thought of various ways of representing this, such as skeletal hands and so on. But I settled on a less explicit physical manifestation of simulacrum - that is bolter prayer.

Next up will be Exorcists and Seraphim..

Dat bolter. I used one on my Corien Sumatris build.

Interesting models, interesting take on the background and rules as well.

Good to see some progress here again, love those converted sob fighters (forgotten the name )

Thanks guys. It's been really difficult to keep things going since my daughter came along!

However I am painting a bit more- purity seals and eviscerator s done!

Well the sisters repentia had their first outing at ToS this weekend.. will put a set of batreps up once I have the pics (taken using my mates phone).

Throne of Skulls March 2014 - A Sororitas Battle Report Series

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/586769.page#6666944