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I like the look of them but paying for a decent sized army is ridiculously expensive for a teenager - that and I can't face painting all those metal models...
Any ideas for a counts as army?

Counts as miniatures or counts as rules? Are you looking to use the minis, or use the rules?

Sorry should have made that clearer - i want to use the rules and substitute the models

Battle-nuns in armor with guns is pretty rare, actually...

Were you looking for GW minis or non-GW minis?

Well, you could proxy another army to give a a go first. If you like it, hmm, some kind of armoured infantry with guns. Have you considered coverting some historical minis? Perry miniatures do a good range of plastics.

GW

I'll take a quick look at the perry minatures


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What about the Adeptus Mechanicus - they have slightly better stats than a guardsman, better weapons and acts of faith could represent extra abilities of the robots (forgive me if thats a load of squiggoth poo - I havent read much fluff on them)

Colonel Dakura wrote:GW

I'll take a quick look at the perry minatures

If it's gotta be GW, then your best bet for plastic SoBs is to wait until the plastic Sisters come out. When that'll be... probably not for a few years.

I suppose you could get some vanilla Space Marine minis and do a bit of conversion work to make them more feminine - when I did mine, I filed down her leg armor significantly, and a little bit on the shoulders and a teensy bit on the arms. Use armored helmets for simplicity's sake, or get your hands on some Wood Elf heads - or High Elf heads, or Eldar, or some other female miniature heads - that look female and use those. Adding breasts doesn't really look right on Astartes armor - it's bulky enough that the most you'd need would maybe be a tiny bulge, and something like that would look better if it ran across the entirety of the armor. I liked the insignia mine had on her chest plate, so I left that area alone, not wanting to damage it. The whole process took about an hour. That assumes you want them to be female.

You could add fleur-de-lis symbols on if you're good enough, or maybe just paint them on if you're more comfortable with that. Greenstuffing the flowing robes of the Sisters would be a nice touch.

Come up with some sort of fluffy reason for them to be using modified Astartes armor - like maybe they're a new minor Order, or a detachment of a major Order, and their shipment was destroyed or their stockpiles were destroyed and the long-range communications are wonky, but luckily their homeworld has a manufactorum which whomps out Astartes armor - but is not tuned for Sororitas armor.

I feel you on the prices, man. I'm looking at getting 4 Heavy Bolters and 4 Meltaguns, and it's gonna cost me over 130 dollars just for those.


Edit: And I dunno about the Adeptus Mechanicus. They don't really have any plastic models, aside from Astartes vehicle crewmen. Techpriests are metal, as are Techmarines - unless either went to Finecast, at which point they'd be some sort of resin. You could use them as your commanders though - the Techpriest especially, as his massive axe could easily be considered an Eviscerator. And he comes in power armor to boot.

I like the idea of converted vanilla marines - that would be really quite simple...
As for the Adeptus Mechanicus, if i do do them, then I'll just find some tutorial on the internet and follow that or something (I really enjoy conversions )

Colonel Dakura wrote:I like the idea of converted vanilla marines - that would be really quite simple...
As for the Adeptus Mechanicus, if i do do them, then I'll just find some tutorial on the internet and follow that or something (I really enjoy conversions )

:: nods :: Glad I could help! : D

You may be able to find Mechanicus shoulder pads for Astartes on bitz sites. Typically under Land Raider bitz. They've got a cog symbol on them, with a skull in the center of the cog.

And if you wanted to go more on the Chaos side of things - which it doesn't sound like you do, but I'll put it out there anyways - you could have your "Sisters" be well-trained and skilled Chaos Cultists who've managed to procure power armor and appropriate weaponry, perhaps from a dark forgeworld. Their allegiance to the Chaos Gods may have been rewarded with super-freaky powers, perhaps for some sort of appropriate snackrifice. Perhaps it's "normal" Chaos power armor, or perhaps the armor was made more to loyalist designs, so they might infiltrate and cause havoc at an opportune moment.

Oh, and the plastic Immolator kit which makes a vehicle which can be used as either an Immolator or Rhino - just don't glue the turret on - costs the same as a Space Marine Razorback kit. So if you go with the "Sisters in Astartes armor" idea, it'd be a good idea to use that kit. Hell, it might be a good idea anyways, just to show your opponents that yes, it is a Sisters of Battle army.

lol - The Chaos thing sounds awsome too! - I might have to do that at some point.
From what I gather you've tried the converted Astartes? Do you have a picture?

Colonel Dakura wrote:lol - The Chaos thing sounds awsome too! - I might have to do that at some point.
From what I gather you've tried the converted Astartes? Do you have a picture?

My conversion was of an Astartes model to a female Astartes model - cause I found this very nice picture of a female Blood Angel with a plasma pistol while I was on vacation that got me inspired. I didn't greenstuff robes onto her or paint fleur-de-lis or anything. But I can try to take a pic anyways, if you'd like to see how the wood elf head looks on a slimmer Astartes. ^_^

Please do! could you post some directions on what you did too?

In spoilers: larger version. MUCH larger version. Like, screen-filling and a little more.



I used a Space Wolf as the base for this miniature, as it was convenient and I intended to use her as a notable character - the Chapter Champion, though she'll also double as a Captain in a pinch.

Basically, I built the miniature first and left the head off.

A note on WHFB elf heads - they do not possess the large neck that Space Marine miniatures often require, so greenstuff may be required to get the neck to sit right. This miniature had a Space Wolf head on already when I decided to change it to a female, so I clipped off the head and left the elf head off because I wanted to get to work right away and not worry about my hemming and hawing with the file and my grip knocking the head off. You can also get Sisters of Battle plastic heads from the Immolator or Exorcist kits from bitz sites, including one without a helmet. You can probably leave the arms off if you're worried about your pose interfering with the slimming of the legs, but I didn't find it was an issue.

First, I filed the sides of the lower leg armor. This is the portion that will require the most work, as it's very wide. I used GW's flat file to get a wider area done, and hence a smoother finish due to the evenness. Work the file on a curve - your goal is to get the legs a little thinner from front to back, and much thinner from side to side. Try to maintain a smooth curve on the leg - I didn't, and although it doesn't show at tabletop distance, I noticed an edge after priming. It's definitely worth the extra effort. Take small breaks from filing these parts to work on the upper legs, the shoulderpads, and the arms, but your main focus is the lower leg armor, specifically the sides. You can file the back down a little too, as well as the front, but it's mainly the sides of the lower legs that need the most attention. I hope I'm emphasizing what parts need the filing most.

Work on the model proportionately. Keep the goal of a vaguely female form in mind, and you should notice that one part or another doesn't look quite right, and work on that part next.

Once the body looks right, if you haven't attached the arms yet, do so and repeat the process. If it still looks right without any further modifications, then it's good and ready for the head. Getting the head on right can be difficult, as it's smaller than a Space Marine head and lacks the proper neck to sit comfortably - remember to use greenstuff, or the severed neck of a Space Marine head - it may be better this way, as you won't notice the size difference between the SM neck and elf head once the model's complete - - but work at it and it'll eventually get into place.

I liked using the elf head, as its smaller size gave off the impression that the armor is quite bulky.

Edit: Also, when the codpiece is visible on the model, you should file it down to a much smoother piece with a gentle curve, until it's more apt to call it a crotch plate than a codpiece. ^_^

Edit number 4: My process was more based on gut feelings and the model, "looking right," than any objectiveness.

Looks great - thanks

Marines would probably the easiest. Back in the days of Rogue Trader, there even was a female mini in Astartes-style armour.

Alternatively, if you want to try out other companies, you could scour the web for something that looks sufficiently scifi and can easy be converted (ideally by simply swapping out the guns). That way at least the army will still look different and you may even be able to replicate the SoB-style somewhat, depending on the miniatures in question.

I tried finding something suitable but I think it takes a bit more time. Maybe one of the other dakkanauts will be able to assist.

I did however find something I just have to post here:

Shock Sisters from megaminis.com - look familiar?

Colonel Dakura wrote:Looks great - thanks

Thanks yourself, and you're welcome. ^_^

@ Lynata - thanks for the suggestion, although I'm not sold on those shock sisters

If you don't like the current Crusader and Death-Cult Assassin minis and want a Battle Conclave, Reaper Minis makes some nice ones that could be used. They're also cheaper than GW's ones.

For the Death-Cult Assassins, look into their Battle Nuns. They've got a search function on their site: http://www.reapermini.com/

The search function is almost mandatory given the truly massive number of miniatures they make. I once did a search on their site for female minis when I was thinking of my Chaos Daemons, and went through the pages, opening every item in its own window. The lag was truly horrific before I was done, and it got worse once the pages actually started to load and I started bookmarking the ones that looked decent. I think it took me over an hour from that point, to go through them all.

They also make some kickin minis which could be used as Crusaders. Here's the four I chose and have already ordered. ^_^ I found them by doing a search for female sword shield, but you could drop the sword part and/or add in armor. They had plenty more suitable models - I think I had to choose between 8 or so.

http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Crusaders/latest/14093#detail/14093_G
http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/shield%20sword%20female/latest/03006#detail/03006_w_1
http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/shield%20sword%20female/latest/03364#detail/03364_w_1
http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/shield%20sword%20female/latest/02551#detail/02551_w_1

I chose them because they had nice tabards and robes or capes.

And here's one I'm going to use as Jacobus. ^_^

http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/shotgun/sku-down/50003#detail/50003

Reaper Minis is mainly fantasy, so there weren't too many minis with shotguns. I think they're also a fairly reputable company, due to my FLGS having several rotating racks dedicated exclusively to their miniatures, presumably with the possibility to order more on request. I ordered from their site yesterday, and apparently my order shipped today, but it could easily take 2-3 weeks to arrive - and they said so up front, before any payment was made. The good news? If you order more than 25 dollars worth of stuff from their site, basic USPS international shipping to the USA and Canada is free. I don't know about to the UK though, but they'll tell you before you make payment - of course.

I have enough original Death-Cult Assassins and Crusaders to make a 9-person unit already, and Jacobus should arrive at some point today, because I wanted to leave the possibility open to play at my local GW with my Sisters should I desire to. Same reason I went with GW minis for my Chaos Daemons, but that's neither here nor there.

Nice... certainly better than the GW ones. I don't think I'll be using these but I will almost definitely convert some.

Colonel Dakura wrote:Nice... certainly better than the GW ones. I don't think I'll be using these but I will almost definitely convert some.

:: noddles :: Of course. ^_^

Colonel Dakura wrote:I like the look of them but paying for a decent sized army is ridiculously expensive for a teenager - that and I can't face painting all those metal models...
Any ideas for a counts as army?

If you like the look and not so much the rules, it is a bad idea to take the rules and not the miniatures.
There are no model substitutes for Sororitas, only the hope for cheaper (?) plastics.
Deal with it: Wanting a new Ferrari for 10 bucks just doesn't work.

I didn't check that before posting (sorry) - i meant i like the rules but the miniatures would be very expensive/difficult to paint/chip easily and so on.

Colonel Dakura wrote:I didn't check that before posting (sorry) - i meant i like the rules but the miniatures would be very expensive/difficult to paint/chip easily and so on.

My Sisters of Battle don't chip any more then any other model.

I'll give you the same advice I give to people that wan't to start a SOB or DKoK army after seeing mine. You can do these armies on the cheap, but you won't really be satisifed with their looks. Better to build up an army slowly then settle for something else just because its cheaper.

^ have to second that, in spite of my previous post...

And yes, they are expensive, but in a way they're really worth it. The weight of metal in your hand has a quality of its own, and the designs of the miniatures are (imho) truly awesome.

If your decision is firm and established, go on and good luck, but otherwise maybe give it another night of thinking.

hmmm... Will do. Thanks guys