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I like the Ebon Chalice as an ally with the Templars. No cross, but the color scheme is identical. And the Chalice is the oldest Order of Sisters--and the Black Templars were there at the fight that started the Sisters of Battle as they exist today.

My army fluff ties in Marshal Arturius, and backstory with the Chalice as an analogue to the Holy Grail.

The SoB are too well represented in fluff to get squatted. Though even in fluff they get the short end of the stick. It seems to me GW has simply spread themselves too thin and are piss poor at getting gak done. I mean for a company that employs a bunch of guys to sit around and play games at varying sizes and builds all day long I am completely baffled as to how they cant balance and get a full set of codecies out in a year TOPS. I understand wanting to spread the product out to ensure year round profits but updating their entire line taking 3-4 years? Ridiculous.

Arturius wrote:And the Chalice is the oldest Order of Sisters--and the Black Templars were there at the fight that started the Sisters of Battle as they exist today.

Good catch, that thought did not even occur to me.

 d3m01iti0n wrote:
The SoB are too well represented in fluff to get squatted. Though even in fluff they get the short end of the stick. It seems to me GW has simply spread themselves too thin and are piss poor at getting gak done. I mean for a company that employs a bunch of guys to sit around and play games at varying sizes and builds all day long I am completely baffled as to how they cant balance and get a full set of codecies out in a year TOPS. I understand wanting to spread the product out to ensure year round profits but updating their entire line taking 3-4 years? Ridiculous.

How is that a good idea for GW? The current setup means that they get to periodically make an Event out of releasing a codex and a new range of minis. It gets a whole influx of cash on a regular basis as everyone rushes in to get the new codex at release. A complete 40K game at once would make less money than what we get now.

 Lynata wrote:

Arturius wrote:And the Chalice is the oldest Order of Sisters--and the Black Templars were there at the fight that started the Sisters of Battle as they exist today.

Good catch, that thought did not even occur to me.

I play Templars. Marshal Arturius and his Sword Brethren are the Chalice Brotherhood, and their backstory ties into the Siege on Vanndire's Palace. The Ebon Chalice has a name that ties into the King Arthur motif, and the same white tabard/black armor scheme.

I posted some of the backstory in the Dakka Fiction forum a while back.

Nobody read it.

Thats good that they wont be discontinued at least, for Thst would make them even more expensive :-P

Btw. Where does everyone get there fluff information from? Is it from the codexs or from the rulebooks or online?

Lunacara wrote:
Btw. Where does everyone get there fluff information from? Is it from the codexs or from the rulebooks or online?

Mostly the rulebook and codecies as far as 'definitive' information goes.

40K background is a vast and continually shifting thing, with decades of material from different writers, much of which conflicts other material either in tone or in content. Most of the information on the Sisters that's still usable comes from the 2E Codex, which was at least as much background and character pieces as it was rules. Newer information is in the 4E Witch Hunter codex, but the retconned in and apparently retconned out (or maybe not) bit about the Sisters being the Ordo Hereticus' chapter militant takes up a lot of the word count in Witch Hunters.

Part of the trouble with 40K background is that they'll almost never specifically call out a piece of fluff as "no longer a thing." So there's never been anything to contradict a RT-era writeup of the Ultramarines' half-Eldar chief Astropath. He's just been never spoken of again.

Aside from the Codices, small snippets of Sororitas background are also to be found in various issues of White Dwarf (most notably the Liber Sororitas in WD #293), as well as the old Armageddon 3 website (see backup here).

One good thing about SoB fluff is that it is probably one of the most consistent pieces of background in the whole setting, simply because they never published so much / never fealt a need to revisit the idea as it may happen with other factions. In fact, GW outright proclaimed that the fluff they wrote before the last proper Codex (3rd Edition Witch Hunters) was still valid by the time that book was released:

"With this Codex, we've aimed to remain faithful (pun intended) to the righ history of the Sisters of Battle and the Ecclesiarchy, but we've also aimed to move the story on. Not by contradicting anything previously published, but by expanding the background in directions not previously explored."
- 3E C:WH designer's notes, published in White Dwarf #292

Whether that's still the case is anyone's guess, but then again it is not like Games Workshop published much on the girls in the mean time. A single retcon I did notice was that for some reason Saint Praxedes is now confirmed dead rather than MIA. Thank you, Matt Ward, for destroying what was a pretty awesome legend in the background.

As far as the Ordo Hereticus is concerned, I do not think it qualifies as a proper retcon - the connection never existed before 3E, but at the same time it was never denied. All that happened with 3E was a shift in focus away from a purely Ecclesiarchal army towards a possibility of mixed task forces. I think a lot of players misinterpreted this focus as a sort of merger that never actually occurred within the material:

"Bearing in mind the sinister character and role of the Ordo Hereticus, the Sisters of Battle slotted right in as their Chamber Militant, though we were keen to maintain their identity as separate from the Inquisition. They are still primarily controlled by the Ecclesiarchy, but given that the Ordo Hereticus must police the Adeptus Ministorum, we decided that there should be more than a small amount of crossover."
- 3E C:WH designer's notes, published in White Dwarf #292

Of course, one could argue that GW simply failed in getting the message across if so many people began to saw them as Inquisition forces rather than Church troops, but as I did not get this impression from the Codex itself I'm willing to ascribe this to community falsification - it would not be the first time that wrong information gets spread on the internets, after all, especially as far as 40k is concerned.

Also, the Sisters are still the Ordo Hereticus' Chamber Militant as per the 6E rulebook's fluff box on the Inquisition, it's just that the focus has shifted once more away from a fixed link towards just being allies, unlike the Grey Knights or the Deathwatch.

That's just as far as GW's own fluff is concerned. I found that much information on the Sororitas published elsewhere does not actually mesh well and is most often a different take on the SoB (with varying degrees of apparent compatibility), so we've once again arrived at a "pick-and-choose" situation once you add outsourced stuff to the list.

J99Pwrangler wrote:But one thing we should not over look is the fact that sisters and the Inquistion work closely together.... something the Black Templar DOES frown upon, if i am not mistaken.

I do agree, it is kinda BS that they are not buddy buddy on that chart.

The Inquisition only works closely with the Sisters because the Ordo Hereticus were founded to do the same job as the Sororitas - IE: act as the Ecclesiarchy's Internal Affairs squad. Both organisations exist in part to act as police to ensure that there is never another Goge Vandire.

 Ma55ter_fett wrote:
The bad news is that neither is very competative atm and with the sisters you are going to pay through the nose for models all of which are metal (save the tanks).

The good news is that both armies are long since due for a new codex. So maybe in the next year or two each force will get a bit of GW love.

Nonsense. As long as Black Templars remember to take Krak Grenades, they're more than a match for even Necrons! (well, unless the 'crons spam fliers...), and my personal win:loss ratio with Sisters is standing at 11:2 using the White Dwarf list!

MrScience wrote:
There are rumours based on some leaked release list that Sisters are getting a resculpt and update.

I'm curious as to how many people will buy them though, might be a little too 'gay' to use girly miniatures, based on my local GS. They definitely deserve a proper codex though, or maybe just put it all under a Codex: Inquisition or something.

... "a little too gay"? Girly? Boy, the Sisters sculpts are manlier than Catachans in breastplates. Besides, how can collecting an army of women make someone look like they prefer men? :p

AnomanderRake wrote:I'd totally buy some Sisters if I could get a proper Inquisition book; I've got some side fluff written about an Inquisitor who fields a detachment of Stormtroopers and Sisters that was legal under the 3e Hereticus book that isn't anymore.

I'd also prefer a proper Codex for the Sisters of Battle in addition to plastic models; they haven't changed a lot from the 3e book except that they neutered Acts of Faith significantly, which makes them suck.

You have your Inquisition book. It's called Grey Knights. You can ally in Sisters under the chart. Stop trying to lump my holy warriors in with your blasted secret police!

The Acts of Faith are just fine, they need a little getting used to is all. Holy Fullisade is just insane, and Emperor's Deliverance is even killier when used right. Don't get me started on the potential of Divine Guidance with 18 point/model BS4 heavy bolters (For reference, the same thing in a Marine army would be 26 points/model)

Lynata wrote:Aside from the Codices, small snippets of Sororitas background are also to be found in various issues of White Dwarf (most notably the Liber Sororitas in WD #293), as well as the old Armageddon 3 website (see backup here).

One good thing about SoB fluff is that it is probably one of the most consistent pieces of background in the whole setting, simply because they never published so much / never fealt a need to revisit the idea as it may happen with other factions. In fact, GW outright proclaimed that the fluff they wrote before the last proper Codex (3rd Edition Witch Hunters) was still valid by the time that book was released:

"With this Codex, we've aimed to remain faithful (pun intended) to the righ history of the Sisters of Battle and the Ecclesiarchy, but we've also aimed to move the story on. Not by contradicting anything previously published, but by expanding the background in directions not previously explored."
- 3E C:WH designer's notes, published in White Dwarf #292

Whether that's still the case is anyone's guess, but then again it is not like Games Workshop published much on the girls in the mean time. A single retcon I did notice was that for some reason Saint Praxedes is now confirmed dead rather than MIA. Thank you, Matt Ward, for destroying what was a pretty awesome legend in the background.

As far as the Ordo Hereticus is concerned, I do not think it qualifies as a proper retcon - the connection never existed before 3E, but at the same time it was never denied. All that happened with 3E was a shift in focus away from a purely Ecclesiarchal army towards a possibility of mixed task forces. I think a lot of players misinterpreted this focus as a sort of merger that never actually occurred within the material:

"Bearing in mind the sinister character and role of the Ordo Hereticus, the Sisters of Battle slotted right in as their Chamber Militant, though we were keen to maintain their identity as separate from the Inquisition. They are still primarily controlled by the Ecclesiarchy, but given that the Ordo Hereticus must police the Adeptus Ministorum, we decided that there should be more than a small amount of crossover."
- 3E C:WH designer's notes, published in White Dwarf #292

Of course, one could argue that GW simply failed in getting the message across if so many people began to saw them as Inquisition forces rather than Church troops, but as I did not get this impression from the Codex itself I'm willing to ascribe this to community falsification - it would not be the first time that wrong information gets spread on the internets, after all, especially as far as 40k is concerned.

Also, the Sisters are still the Ordo Hereticus' Chamber Militant as per the 6E rulebook's fluff box on the Inquisition, it's just that the focus has shifted once more away from a fixed link towards just being allies, unlike the Grey Knights or the Deathwatch.

That's just as far as GW's own fluff is concerned. I found that much information on the Sororitas published elsewhere does not actually mesh well and is most often a different take on the SoB (with varying degrees of apparent compatibility), so we've once again arrived at a "pick-and-choose" situation once you add outsourced stuff to the list.

There were a couple of other changes - Silvana's body vanished and left a shiny cloth, instead of being replaced with a full-blown silver skeleton. Arabella was also retconned to have been killed - originally, she went on a Leman Russ style "last crusade" into the Eye. Basically, Matt Ward thinks that the only cool Sister is a dead Sister.

I'm not sure where you're getting that they're the Chamber Militant still - in the Inquisition box in the 6e rulebook, it simply says that they "Maintain a close alliance with the Adepta Sororitas of the Ecclesiarchy".

Personally, I hate the fact that everyone thinks that the Sisters are an Inquisition army. I resent the implication that we need to be put in the same book as the Grey Knights to be "cool" or "competitive", and honestly, I wish that the Inquisition would disappear into a "Codex Imperialis" designed purely for use as allies to other armies, because the Inquisition does not wage wars, and the Grey Knights were infinitely cooler when they were this strange, mysterious group that dispatched single squads to deal with problems then vanished away again once they were solved.

so far im 6/7 with sisters, i prefer to play them over new chaos SM and orks(my other armies)