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"The Order Hospitaller aid the poor and under-privileged, founding hostels and shelters for the needy. By instilling their own spiritual faith and rigid discipline on other, they save many souls from the darkness and turn potential malcontents and criminals into hard-working Imperial citizen." -pg 35 from Sisters of Battle 2ed

This came up in another topic, and I wanted to explore this more; I always wanted to make a Sister-of-Battle army based on the Order Hospitaller, but they are labeled as a Non-militant order, and well, I don't know what that means, or how the non-militant order interacts with the militant orders. They do seem to wear power armor, but don't have guns, is it even feasible to try to make an army based on them? I was thinking of forming an army with the purpose of breaking through warzones to give Imperial Guard/citizen aid. I was toying with the idea of making the 'priests' in the book into more Hospitallers, though I was hoping for a more expansive codex, but it's what I got.

I did found this: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Orders_Hospitaller

I always felts that to be in the Order Hospitaller one would be a battle-sister first, and after years of fighting, can opt to join the ranks of the non-military, but it sounds like they too are separated out when they are novices in the schola. Which leads to me a another question, what do the battle-sisters do when they do get old? I know the vast majority of them will die in combat, but they're not Space Marines, and at some point they will be too feeble to fight.

It's not impossible for a Sister to switch from militant to non-militant order, after getting to old. They can also become, among other things, Inquisitors, for instance. They do have a lot of options, contrarily to space marines. Hospitaller are usually not trained for combat. They do, however, accompany many Imperial Guard regiments. The BL book Faith and Fire portrays a Sister Hospitaller, if you want to have an idea of what they do, and how they do it.

The army lists are designed exclusively for the Orders Millitant. While all sisters are part of the Adepta Soriatas, only those of the Orders Millitant are referred to as Sisters of Battle.

The non-militant orders are exactly what it says on the tin. They don't fight. They have other, non-combative duties outside of of warzones, from studying relics of religious significance to ensuring the religious purity and faith of the countless lines of nobility across the Imperium. The Orders Hospitallar are no exception.

Making an army of nurses is not a good idea. Sorry.

Sisters Hospitaller would be like Mother Teresa while the Battle Sisters would be like Joan of Arc.

Least that's the way I always thought about it.

 Kroothawk wrote:
Making an army of nurses is not a good idea. Sorry.

This is absolutely terrible.




There was one fellow who had made a sister hospitaller army and army list, but it is hell of antiquated now and even at the time it was pretty unsophisticated. It did assume that they would have power armor and stuff, and I can't see why they would bother, since they are surgeons, internists and nurses who run hospitals, so while they probably have some combat gear, they would never bother. In fact, the actual miltant orders probably have their own field medics, since they are separate institutions and the orders hospitaller are busy furnishing entire facilities.

Sisters hospitaller all come from the scholam though, so they would probably be as skilled as professional soldiers like guardsmen or veterans on the table. The challenge would be to figure out why they have things like meltaguns, which would not be very numerous in a hospital armory. I guess if you want to build an army of lasgun-only guard veterans with medevac valkyries, they would look fairly plausible.

They do seem to wear power armor, but don't have guns, is it even feasible to try to make an army based on them?

Not a stand-alone, self-contained army, no, because, as noted, the Sisters Hospitaller are a non-Militant Order. This means that, beyond the "basic training" that all Sisters get, combat is not their focus. As an ally detachment to another army as the counts-as units or SCs that provide FNP or some other "buff"? Sure, makes sense.

At least, if you are trying to make a fluff-compliant army. If not... well, it's your money.

I always felts that to be in the Order Hospitaller one would be a battle-sister first, and after years of fighting, can opt to join the ranks of the non-military, but it sounds like they too are separated out when they are novices in the schola. Which leads to me a another question, what do the battle-sisters do when they do get old? I know the vast majority of them will die in combat, but they're not Space Marines, and at some point they will be too feeble to fight.

Sisters move between various Orders, depending on their age, their abilities, their capabilities and the needs of the Ecclesiarchy.

Hmm...I never viewed them as nurses, but more akin to combat-medics. In that case, maybe design a Militant-Order of Sisters whose role it is to escort sister’s hospitallers into/out-of combat zones, or escort missions. I will try out Psienesis's idea of having an ally detachment.

Less combat medics, more like a M*A*S*H unit. They also fill the role of Red Cross/Doctors Without Borders/Amnesty International relief team and such for civilians.

On that note, I always wondered just how exactly they would guard their facilities. Would the various Orders just "exchange" specialists (Hospitallers post one of theirs at a Militant convent, Militants send two Battle Sisters to the Hospitallers in exchange), or rather attempt to train their own personnel to fill in as a sort of hybrid profession?

The background about their isolation mentioned that, in the pursuit of their day-to-day activities, they even shut themselves off from Sisters of other Orders (in spite of the frequent transfers between them), but aside from obviously applying at least to any visitors, would this be an argument against a sort of exchange program between the convents, or is it just saying they don't mingle even when they work under the same roof?

Questions, questions ...

Probably depends on the theater of operations. In an active war-zone, I imagine they are protected by a garrison unit of Guardsmen, or a detachment from an Order Militant.

In the case of disaster relief, I would guess that they probably cycle their own Novitiates through periods of guard duty, in between times at the various medical tasks. They could also use Arbites for guards, if they are operating in a Hive City or something.

Or you could base it on the historical precedent of a knightly ordered designed to protect and help cure the sick... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Hospitaller

Mainly because they don't translate well into 40K, unless the Orders Hospitaller are going to become Rogue Traders and Pirates. There's also the fact that we know the Orders Hospitaller to be a non-Militant Order (otherwise they would be an Order Militant), so them going around in power armor with flamers and bolters doesn't really fit.

Yeah, the name is a bit misleading if one knows of the historical Hospitallers I guess.

But I like the idea of it depending on the area. Thanks for the inspiration.