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Do they have landing ships like the Guard? Do they use Thunderhawks? What about the Arvus or Valkyrie?

"Drop Cathedrals" have been mentioned in the fluff, but there's no details. Thunderhawk-like transports have also been mentioned.

They have their own void fleet - its mentioned a number of times and in a few orders of battle it talks about all classes of warship up to and including battleships.

They have Drop Cathedrals as mentioned and utlaise other standard imperial caraft such as Arvus.

Worth keeping in mind Combat Drops are more the preserve of the Astartes.

And whilst the Sisters do have fleet assets, many convents are planet bound, being fairly static.

When on crusade, they likely use the same sort of mass conveyors as the Imperial Guard. Drop some distance from the active front, and deploy from there.

Just for some visual aid:

Those Drop Cathedrals need a model - FW?

Those ones look like they are on tracks. Capitol Imperialis equivalents?

So they are static? No maneuverability?

Well, the ones in the image seem to have tracks so some movement is likely possible.
But this is a mobile fortress, it's not going to be quick but it will pack a punch.

I suppose they mostly go about it the IG way - can't imagine sisters surviving drop pod assault landing.

Interesting this because I guess the old lore was that they more or less always hung about their Parishes and didn't go far astarfield. That's now changed so they've had to give them some level of conveyance.

Those cathedrals in that art are tracked vehicles rather than landers. Their are drop chapels, which are different, which might be the confusion here.

I suspect there is something in the newer lore that says they just muck about in their own ships.

The Ordo Hereticus Strikeforce list gave them access to drop pods.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
The Ordo Hereticus Strikeforce list gave them access to drop pods.

What is that? Is that a list? Where can I find the rules? Or is it like a book?

 Olthannon wrote:
Interesting this because I guess the old lore was that they more or less always hung about their Parishes and didn't go far astarfield. That's now changed so they've had to give them some level of conveyance.

Those cathedrals in that art are tracked vehicles rather than landers. Their are drop chapels, which are different, which might be the confusion here.

I suspect there is something in the newer lore that says they just muck about in their own ships.

Well original lore was they had ships, then it was not mentioned and now its back to them having fleets.

I think Valkryies or Thunderhawks would work well as they have elite jump troops.

usmcmidn wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
The Ordo Hereticus Strikeforce list gave them access to drop pods.

What is that? Is that a list? Where can I find the rules? Or is it like a book?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://warhammergames.ru/_ld/1/122_OrdoHeredicusSF.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiN2LXNi-eBAxUnV6QEHYP2D4EQFnoECBkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1fiDv99jjaow0-_C5VyRYL

There you go

Sisters of Battle definitely work with the Imperial Navy as they are noted as having a preference for support from Avenger wings. That means Valkyries are definitely on the table as an option.

As mentioned though, larger forces probably have their own vehicles.

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:

usmcmidn wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
The Ordo Hereticus Strikeforce list gave them access to drop pods.

What is that? Is that a list? Where can I find the rules? Or is it like a book?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://warhammergames.ru/_ld/1/122_OrdoHeredicusSF.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiN2LXNi-eBAxUnV6QEHYP2D4EQFnoECBkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1fiDv99jjaow0-_C5VyRYL

There you go

I'm not sure that that isn't a fan-made update?

The original was in Citadel Journal.

It was a variant list of mostly Celestians and Dominions who deployed by drop pod to eliminate high-value targets. Such a force was described as striking at the Sons of Malice as they turned traitor in White Dwarf.

Are we sure that the tracked cathedrals and the drop cathedrals aren't the same thing? Maybe the idea is to drop the cathedral where it's needed, but the actual crew/passengers climb into it after it drops. That way, you can deploy an armored asset near a battle without making it drive all the way there from a rear base.

That would make a certain amount of sense given that unaugmented humans are repeatedly said to be unable to survive (or at least stay conscious through) something like a droppod deployment.

Also, the book Mark of Faith shows us what an ecclesiarchal crusade force looks like. The ecclesiarchs (including the canoness) on board the fleet of ships seem to have a lot of authority, but I believe there are multiple references to voidsmen/naval officers suggesting that the fleet is still ultimately a part of the imperial navy. Additionally, the main characters make planetfall using a transport flyer (an Arvus iirc), although the fleet was severely beaten up by that point and you could maybe argue that they might not have had a working alternative at the time.

We also have lore of giant drop pods deploying an entire Guard regiment. I think drop pod is a broad term for a variety of different orbital insertion vehicles in Imperial service. Having drop pods configured for unaugmented humans in power armour with a somewhat softer landing seems entirely plausible (and is supported by the list Lord Damocles is referencing).

For a start, Dreadclaws can fly around as VTOL vehicles after insertion, so they can probably provide a softer landing if desired.

 Wyldhunt wrote:
Are we sure that the tracked cathedrals and the drop cathedrals aren't the same thing?

Chapels and cathedrals are different things yes. The mistake in this thread is getting the two confused.

One is the Sisters drop "pod" but seemingly more like a landing craft type dealie.

The mobile cathedral engines are massive mobile fortresses with guns. They've been in it since the start.



Classic bit of Karl Kopinski depicting those from the old Sisters codex.

I think the big picture here everybody seems to be missing is who the sisters are.

They are the chamber militant of the ordo hereticus of the god emperors most holy inquisition.
Meaning they get whatever the heck the inquisition darn well pleases.

They get their own variants of the various vehicle and space forces the admech makes for every other force in the imperium. or the inquisitor of note just requisitions whatever they may need at the time.

As an example take the ubiquitous rhino chassi most well known for use by the astartes. they get their own custom versions of the design like transports (repressors), tanks (immolators etc...) and so on.

 Lord Damocles wrote:

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:

usmcmidn wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
The Ordo Hereticus Strikeforce list gave them access to drop pods.

What is that? Is that a list? Where can I find the rules? Or is it like a book?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://warhammergames.ru/_ld/1/122_OrdoHeredicusSF.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiN2LXNi-eBAxUnV6QEHYP2D4EQFnoECBkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1fiDv99jjaow0-_C5VyRYL

There you go

I'm not sure that that isn't a fan-made update?

The original was in Citadel Journal.

It was a variant list of mostly Celestians and Dominions who deployed by drop pod to eliminate high-value targets. Such a force was described as striking at the Sons of Malice as they turned traitor in White Dwarf.

It is, but based on the original. For the matter at hand, good enough. Plus the part about drop pods for SoB, surprising as it is to me, is directly quoted from WD

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:

usmcmidn wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
The Ordo Hereticus Strikeforce list gave them access to drop pods.

What is that? Is that a list? Where can I find the rules? Or is it like a book?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://warhammergames.ru/_ld/1/122_OrdoHeredicusSF.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiN2LXNi-eBAxUnV6QEHYP2D4EQFnoECBkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1fiDv99jjaow0-_C5VyRYL

There you go

I'm not sure that that isn't a fan-made update?

The original was in Citadel Journal.

It was a variant list of mostly Celestians and Dominions who deployed by drop pod to eliminate high-value targets. Such a force was described as striking at the Sons of Malice as they turned traitor in White Dwarf.

It is, but based on the original. For the matter at hand, good enough. Plus the part about drop pods for SoB, surprising as it is to me, is directly quoted from WD

Having just read the original Citadel Journal list, can confirm that Maréchal's link does contain a complete quote about Sororitas strikeforce lore. The rest is a fan update.

So Sororitas having a small number of drop pods with very similar function to Astartes pods is confirmed. Asfar as I am aware, this has not been retconned, although it hasn't been mentioned since.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 aphyon wrote:
I think the big picture here everybody seems to be missing is who the sisters are.

They are the chamber militant of the ordo hereticus of the god emperors most holy inquisition.
Meaning they get whatever the heck the inquisition darn well pleases.

They get their own variants of the various vehicle and space forces the admech makes for every other force in the imperium. or the inquisitor of note just requisitions whatever they may need at the time.

As an example take the ubiquitous rhino chassi most well known for use by the astartes. they get their own custom versions of the design like transports (repressors), tanks (immolators etc...) and so on.

Sisters of Battle (and the other Chambers Militant for that matter) are not the same as the Inquisition and do not always operate alongside them. Most Sororitas forces are operating at the behest of the Ecclesiarchy using church resources. Although the Ecclesiarchy is fabulously wealthy so can get some pretty tasty gear.

You see this in the fact that Inquisitors will have vehicles such as Land Raiders or Chimeras, but Sisters of Battle have never routinely used such vehicles except for any attached Inquisitors. An individual Inquisitor with a lot of clout could equip their attached force with equipment not normally available to Sororitas, but this would be unusual and would happen on a case-by-case basis.

Hey Haighus, would you happen to have a pdf of the original at hand? I'd be happy to download it if so!

Oh, the SoB drop pods are also noted as Dominica pattern. So they are probably configured for a softer landing. Exterior is identical to the Marine pods of the era (the list advised using the FW pods in SoB colours).