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Hello all,

I am interested in adding some Sisters of Battle as an allied force - simply because they look awesome (I'm about as far away from WAAC as you can get).

I understand that they have a White Dwarf only codex. Some research tells me that this was in White Dwarf #380 (please correct me if I am wrong).

I noticed on Games Workshop's website that there is not an option to buy the magazines that are older.

So, is there still a legit way to get the codex?

There is a FLGS around here that keeps a back-log. I'll take a look this weekend for you and see if I can't grab you a copy.

That is extremely generous of you! I don't think you have to do that though =) It sounds like you really do just have to find the issue of White Dwarf. I really appreciate the thought though, my friend.

There is not a legit way to find it unless you have access to WD back issues. There are several ways to find non-legit copies of it if you would like to see the codex.

Some of us even use both. I happen to own the issues (and keep them in my gaming bag) but have a scanned, printed copy that I use for games (with opponent permission).

Was it issue 380 and 381 or 379 and 380?

It's pretty frustrating...

[resists urge to grind axe] I want a fething cookie.

I just have the PDF on my Tablet, it's rather hard to get these things once they've sold out.

djphranq wrote:Was it issue 380 and 381 or 379 and 380?

US: 379, 380
UK: 380, 381
(gotta love the unnecessary difference in issue numbers)

OP: PM'd!

Wow. I thought it was just one issue to track down, not two that it's spread across. Do you think GW will ever do anything that's more than barely user friendly?

I wholly admit that I was given access to a scanned version, but seeing as it's to circumvent something completely back-arsewards, I don't feel bad about it. I hope GW gets around to printing what's essentially a 6e version of Chapter Approved, but I'm worried those days are long past.

Yep that army list really needs to be on their website, along with the new flier rules and the demon codex update. Not all of us are going to fork over $9 for White Dwarf.

$18 for two white dwarf issues is cheaper than $30 for a codex. The bigger problem is that a free or pay version is not currently available.

I think both of those issues together are going for around $70 on ebay if you can find them.

AegisGrimm wrote:Wow. I thought it was just one issue to track down, not two that it's spread across. Do you think GW will ever do anything that's more than barely user friendly?

I wholly admit that I was given access to a scanned version, but seeing as it's to circumvent something completely back-arsewards, I don't feel bad about it. I hope GW gets around to printing what's essentially a 6e version of Chapter Approved, but I'm worried those days are long past.

Exactly. If GW isn't going to make their rules accessible to players who are willing to pay for them, then they should have no reasonable expectation that we would go to great lengths to obtain them legally.

To the OP: don't sweat it. Stop trying to jump through hoops and just download the scans. If you end up playing the ladies you'll want to do that anyway, since it's stupid to have to carry around two magazines for 10% of the content.

It is utterly bizarre that there is no legal way of obtaining these rules. I totally understand them not wanting to give rules for free, but there should then be a some way to purchase them. What do they really expect people to do?

They don't expect you to play Sisters of Battle obviously.

I mean, they have a small selection of increasingly expensive models even by the standards of WH40K, they're pretty much entirely order-only and the codex is effectively unobtainable. You've basically got to be REALLY keen to play the nuns with guns.

Ovion wrote:They don't expect you to play Sisters of Battle obviously.

I mean, they have a small selection of increasingly expensive models even by the standards of WH40K, they're pretty much entirely order-only and the codex is effectively unobtainable. You've basically got to be REALLY keen to play the nuns with guns.

Yes, but that is just bizarre marketing. I mean if people want to buy these expensive models, why make wielding an army so difficult? Especially with the new allies rules, many people are eyeing new armies to ally with.

Because ultimately, GW would like to squat sisters but they've made it so they can't really, but they can certainly make it hard to play.

I mean, they have a small selection of increasingly expensive models even by the standards of WH40K, they're pretty much entirely order-only and the codex is effectively unobtainable. You've basically got to be REALLY keen to play the nuns with guns.

The other side of the issue are guys like me, who have 2,000pts of Sisters sitting on the shelf from when they first came out (and were affordable), and would like the 6e rules to play them in current games, but missed that they were in White Dwarf(s).

Thankfully someone PMed me a page on a filesharing site to get the codex.

Yeah when I started my girls I tried to get my hands on the actual codex but when it comes down to it I'm gonna buy troops before I buy $70+ in what comes down to a codex. It's fething insanity. I'm really starting to believe GW wants to squat the Sisters, though I have no idea why... they're pretty popular and most people turn away merely because of the cost.

I got the WD issues even though i don't' play sisters as i got most of the codexes.. but yea even though i own most of the codexes i still scanned them all into my phone and tablet and mostly just use those to game

Rumor has it that the digital version is available later this year - I think it was December, but don't quote me.

KalashnikovMarine wrote:I'm really starting to believe GW wants to squat the Sisters, though I have no idea why... they're pretty popular and most people turn away merely because of the cost.

That's the thing, though... they've never been a big seller. The studio apparently had to battle the beancounters to release both of the print codexes that Sisters have had so far.

Not gonna lie, I downloaded a PDF of it. I wanted to see their rules and see if I wanted to make an allied contingent of them for friendly games. I'm not spending $70 just to see if I "Might" like an army, and that's with zero models attached. ]

And even if I did want to get the magazine that has them in it, I'm not hunting on ebay for 3 weeks for a ruleset GW should have available from their site.

I don't like doing illegal things like this, but in this situation, you don't really have much of a choice. It's either search forever for a used copy or download a PDF. Guess which one takes 5 seconds on google to find...

insaniak wrote:

KalashnikovMarine wrote:I'm really starting to believe GW wants to squat the Sisters, though I have no idea why... they're pretty popular and most people turn away merely because of the cost.

That's the thing, though... they've never been a big seller. The studio apparently had to battle the beancounters to release both of the print codexes that Sisters have had so far.

Putting them out for $6 a model for general infantry, $12-$14 for everything else, with no battleforce and no codex other then a $70 pair of used WDs isn't exactly helping sales any though. We just had a guy who wanted to get in to 40k, thought Sisters were awesome (and rightfully so) but walked right away when he saw the options were ebay or things like swap shop if you didn't have a spare first born child to mail in to GW's main office.

That is just it, sisters don't sell because sisters are overpriced old models. Sisters are overpriced old models because sisters don't sell. Until GW puts out plastic sisters they will forever remain a niche army. I actually sent an email to GW on the very matter of when the rules would be put up on their website. (such as with all the other WD armybooks/codexs that have ever been released) and I never got a response back. Not even an "I don't know".

As for the whole "piracy" issue with getting the newest sisters codex. For me it comes down to this. I would buy it if that was an option. But if they refuse to sell it I can't give them money.

And from the current rumor mill sisters are going to be getting a "digital" codex around december. However that requires an Ipad. It is funny, because right now sisters have no codex to purchase. But in a few months time while we will finally be able to purchase it, it will require a 200$ purchase first. Making sisters the single most expensive codex and models to collect right now.

IcedAnimals wrote:That is just it, sisters don't sell because sisters are overpriced old models. Sisters are overpriced old models because sisters don't sell. Until GW puts out plastic sisters they will forever remain a niche army. I actually sent an email to GW on the very matter of when the rules would be put up on their website. (such as with all the other WD armybooks/codexs that have ever been released) and I never got a response back. Not even an "I don't know".

As for the whole "piracy" issue with getting the newest sisters codex. For me it comes down to this. I would buy it if that was an option. But if they refuse to sell it I can't give them money.

And from the current rumor mill sisters are going to be getting a "digital" codex around december. However that requires an Ipad. It is funny, because right now sisters have no codex to purchase. But in a few months time while we will finally be able to purchase it, it will require a 200$ purchase first. Making sisters the single most expensive codex and models to collect right now.

Being the proud owner of an ipad, I'm looking forward to this. That said, not even releasing a proper paperback for them is, to say the least, shafting them.

I'm running a PDF on the ipad that I got from a kindly dakkanaut, and with the sister's situation as it is, I can't even try to be ashamed of the wholesale piracy involved in that. Let me buy it and I will.

I bought those two issues of WD when they came out solely for the SoB codex, making that the only issues of WD I've ever purchased. With that said, I am saddened and disappointed that GW hasn't made the Sisters codex available through other means, either electronically or not.

Or you could wait until next Spring/Summer for the new codex.

dæl wrote:Or you could wait until next Spring/Summer for the new codex.

That's all well and good of you to say, but some people want to play SoB now instead of a year from now. Also, unless you have some better understanding of GW's release schedule, then we aren't expecting a new codex until 2014 at the earliest.

Evil Lamp 6 wrote:

dæl wrote:Or you could wait until next Spring/Summer for the new codex.

That's all well and good of you to say, but some people want to play SoB now instead of a year from now. Also, unless you have some better understanding of GW's release schedule, then we aren't expecting a new codex until 2014 at the earliest.

Well, Sisters are supposedly pencilled in between Tau and Eldar. With the fabled plastics accompanying the book, 2 new SCs (Prioress Lazarea Verata & Sister Superior Magdalenia) and dual kits for Seraphim/Patronica and Exorcist/Catafalque of Sins. Which all sounds rather interesting.

Fair point on wanting to play them now though. I wouldn't normally advocate piracy...