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Grey Knights
Sisters of Battle
Custodes
Sisters of Silence
Inquisition
Assasins
Deathwatch
Astra Telepathica
Astra Militarum
Space Marines...

Either this book is huge (250 plus pages) because it is also background AND rules, or you get only a very select few units.
If you only get a very select few units from each, then is this the opening salvo of 8th Edition 40k? Has GW realized that Battle Brothers and combining of squad and IC rules from different books is causing the problem? Is this book the patch that will allow the flavor without the problems of full-on allies?
In either case, I don't think that this is the full Sisters redo that we are hoping for. :-(

 Mr Morden wrote:
MPERIAL AGENTS Loyal sons and daughters of the Imperium take heart, as whilst the Ruinous Powers may seek to be in ascendance as the year wanes, the God-Emperor's most righteous agents stalk the stars ready to enact his will.
Codex: Imperial Agents contains nine subfactions of the Imperial war-machine, from agents of the Inquisition to Wyrdvane Psykers of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica to reinforce your armies of the Imperium. After all, Deathwatch Kill Teams and Imperial Assassins are just as likely to be found working alongside regiments of the Astra MIlitarum or Space Marine strike forces as they are working by themselves, giving the Armies of the Imperium increased tactical choice and scope to conquer any foe.
Within this volume you'll find background and rules for using nine smaller factions alongside your existing armies of the Imperium, from the Grey Knight Terminator squads to the BATTLE SISTERS OF THE ADEPTA SORORITAS.

 Mr Morden wrote:
[snip]

As predicted, Sisters are going to get screwed again, no new models, copy-pasted rules with fewer units, and absolutely zero effort from GW.

 Anpu-adom wrote:

Sisters of Battle...Sisters of Silence

In either case, I don't think that this is the full Sisters redo that we are hoping for. :-(

If this isn't just a rule that allows you to combine all those different armies in the same list without getting brow beat by the troop tax. Maybe the Sisters will keep the units they have currently with a small step towards fixing the couple of lackluster units in the Dex?

If on the other hand this means they don't bother to bring AoF up on par with other 7ed rules. Or that I won't be getting to buy SoB themed tactical cards. And If they just copy paste combi drop the SoB just so the Sisters rules will finally be printed "on paper". I will be grumpy.

If all of you "I would SoB so hard if they were just plastic with a paper dex!!!" are responsible for such a travesty of a mockery of a sham. I will be grumpy. And I will waste no time in annoyingly reminding you of what comes of hoping.

All the while praying that such a transgression against the Emperor really is the beginning of 40k End Times on the road to an Age of Sigmar galaxy wide collapse where only the Tau survive.

 Melissia wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
[snip]

As predicted, Sisters are going to get screwed again, no new models, copy-pasted rules with fewer units, and absolutely zero effort from GW.

*sigh* Yeah, let's just ignore the fact that this is scheduled for a December release while the reliable rumormongers pegged the Sisters re-release for Jan-Feb.

 Melissia wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
[snip]

As predicted, Sisters are going to get screwed again, no new models, copy-pasted rules with fewer units, and absolutely zero effort from GW.

Sadly highly likely

A formation or two would be something I guess. See what happens as just ordered some Grishnark War Maidens but do want some GW ones given the recent models for other ranges.

 EnTyme wrote:

 Melissia wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
[snip]

As predicted, Sisters are going to get screwed again, no new models, copy-pasted rules with fewer units, and absolutely zero effort from GW.

*sigh* Yeah, let's just ignore the fact that this is scheduled for a December release while the reliable rumormongers pegged the Sisters re-release for Jan-Feb.

Not to mention the way it's worded, while really terrible, does imply it's saying Grey Knights and Sisters of Battle are the armies of the Imperium the Imperial Agents would be allied with. I'm not sure why people keep thinking this book is going to include strange things like astra militarium and such...

I am sorry, the wording makes it clear that they would be the allies added to the main force. Because last time I checked Grey Knight Terminator Squads is no the name of a faction…

Grey Knights ARE a faction. It's not saying those specific units are being added to the book. It would be extremely stupid to try and say "Grey Knight Terminators" are a SUB-FACTION. The book is all about sub-factions. It mentions that.

By your logic the book is going to include the terminators of Grey Knights and the standard Battle Sister Squad of Sisters of battle... That makes literally no sense.

Well, I might be wrong, but the way I am reading it, the book will indeed allow you to include a single unit of Grey Knights terminators in your army, without any other Grey Knights, like in Old Times™ before Grey Knight got Codex: Daemonhunter. Just like I expect the only forces from the Adeptus Astra Telepathica to be available will be the Wyrdwane Psykers unit.

 mmzero252 wrote:
Grey Knights ARE a faction...

Barely. We're two elite melee units from the Daemonhunters faction that someone decided needed to be stretched into a standalone Codex. It'd be fabulous to get the old Inquisition lists back

 EnTyme wrote:

 Melissia wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
[snip]

As predicted, Sisters are going to get screwed again, no new models, copy-pasted rules with fewer units, and absolutely zero effort from GW.

*sigh* Yeah, let's just ignore the fact that this is scheduled for a December release while the reliable rumormongers pegged the Sisters re-release for Jan-Feb.

Rumormongers have been wrong about Sisters releases for over a decade. Sisters of Battle predictions have been the most consistent failure in rumormongering in all of Games Workshop history, except for those who were wise enough to say "it's not gonna happen".

I imagine we'll see all the digital only dataslates for Inquisition, Assassins, and Sorroritas updated and in print.
New dataslates to cover new stuff like the Wyrdvane Psykers.
Grey Knights are a toss up. They could list Grey Knight options, and then tell you to look at Codex: Grey Knights for stats, or they include the 23 Dataslates from Codex: Grey Knights, and not bother to reprint Codex Grey Knights any further.

I still feel like a Sisters codex would be something they release alongside the plastic models. They could release the codex in with this book, but with the expensive (and in my opinion hideous) pewter models, they would be missing out on the huge push in sales. If they release a sisters codex or even a codex containing sisters models once the plastic ones come out, they will easily push those models right off the shelves.

I simply cannot imagine a business bent around pushing as many new models as possible would sabotage their own efforts just to include a sisters codex in some weird Age of Sigmar styled book. It just doesn't make sense at all. At most they may include a squad of battle sisters and a cannoness or some such thing, but it won't be the entire sisters of battle line up.

Honestly 'Agents of the Imperium' is more likely to be Inquisition, Custodes, Sisters of Silence, and Assassins with the Sisters, Deathwatch, and GK left separate.

They've apparently already mentioned specific units from GK and DW that will be in it, so I don't know why you think it's so unlikely.

As an aside, a December release is "close enough" to a Jan/Feb release for the rumormongers to be considered correct, at least insofar as the date is concerned.

Release schedules shift all the time, and there is usually at least a 30 day (if not 60 or more) delay between printing and shipping to stores/online buyers, in just about every industry that deals with these sorts of things.

The Codex looks beefy. If the SoB are contained entirely within, and not just a part of it ala the Grey Knights, I'll be disappointed. Everything else about the codex excites me.

 Melissia wrote:
They've apparently already mentioned specific units from GK and DW that will be in it, so I don't know why you think it's so unlikely.

After four editions of my Daemonhunters/Witch Hunters army getting split across five-six books I thought it'd be unlikely they'd make anything convenient for me. I haven't seen anything concrete on the inclusion of GK and DW in Imperial Agents, we may have to wait and see.

 dracpanzer wrote:
If all of you "I would SoB so hard if they were just plastic with a paper dex!!!" are responsible for such a travesty of a mockery of a sham. I will be grumpy. And I will waste no time in annoyingly reminding you of what comes of hoping.

People saying that because they think it'll be cheaper in plastic might want to remember who we're dealing with. Genestealer Cults are all plastic as far as I can see, and GW want 600 quid for an 1850pt army.

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
They've apparently already mentioned specific units from GK and DW that will be in it, so I don't know why you think it's so unlikely.

After four editions of my Daemonhunters/Witch Hunters army getting split across five-six books I thought it'd be unlikely they'd make anything convenient for me. I haven't seen anything concrete on the inclusion of GK and DW in Imperial Agents, we may have to wait and see.

I've seen it mentioned specifically, for example, that there will be Grey Knights Terminators-- that that's an actual name for a unit in the book. No idea if that's correct, but yeah.

 BBAP wrote:

 dracpanzer wrote:
If all of you "I would SoB so hard if they were just plastic with a paper dex!!!" are responsible for such a travesty of a mockery of a sham. I will be grumpy. And I will waste no time in annoyingly reminding you of what comes of hoping.

People saying that because they think it'll be cheaper in plastic might want to remember who we're dealing with. Genestealer Cults are all plastic as far as I can see, and GW want 600 quid for an 1850pt army.

You want to guess what an 1850pt Sisters army is today at 8$+/model with the $60 tank kit the only way to get the transport parts?

(The most Sisters army I could find over in the army lists section of the forum was 1,320pts of Sisters and 524pts of Deathwatch, I came out at $625 US (about 500 quid) plus the two Repressors (which are out of print and go for $100+ on Ebay). 600 quid for a complete 1850pt army would be quite a step up.)

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 BBAP wrote:

 dracpanzer wrote:
If all of you "I would SoB so hard if they were just plastic with a paper dex!!!" are responsible for such a travesty of a mockery of a sham. I will be grumpy. And I will waste no time in annoyingly reminding you of what comes of hoping.

People saying that because they think it'll be cheaper in plastic might want to remember who we're dealing with. Genestealer Cults are all plastic as far as I can see, and GW want 600 quid for an 1850pt army.

You want to guess what an 1850pt Sisters army is today at 8$+/model with the $60 tank kit the only way to get the transport parts?

(The most Sisters army I could find over in the army lists section of the forum was 1,320pts of Sisters and 524pts of Deathwatch, I came out at $625 US (about 500 quid) plus the two Repressors (which are out of print and go for $100+ on Ebay). 600 quid for a complete 1850pt army would be quite a step up.)

And that $8 per model is leaving out the $14 or more for every special weapon and every model of seraphim (to which your options are limited by single pose/weapon models), $13+ for each superior, and all the models you'd have to ebay because they keep going out of stock or are out of production.

So what we have is a combined arms codex, and no other news? No verification or official denial of SOB plastics? No proof that it's impossible to field an all-SOB army? Right, so maybe we can stop the doomsaying until we have verification.

Nah, I'll keep being bitter and cynical. Because SOMEONE has to counterbalance the hype train before it causes people more misery.

 BBAP wrote:

 dracpanzer wrote:
If all of you "I would SoB so hard if they were just plastic with a paper dex!!!" are responsible for such a travesty of a mockery of a sham. I will be grumpy. And I will waste no time in annoyingly reminding you of what comes of hoping.

People saying that because they think it'll be cheaper in plastic might want to remember who we're dealing with. Genestealer Cults are all plastic as far as I can see, and GW want 600 quid for an 1850pt army.

Now, now. Plastic GSC are $40 USD for 5 models, same $8/model as SoB. Metal Daemonettes are $40 for 10. Guess how many Daemonettes GW is expecting to sell over the next week...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Anpu-adom wrote:
Either this book is huge (250 plus pages) because it is also background AND rules, or you get only a very select few units.

Well, let's just count from the press release:

Codex: Imperial Agents contains nine subfactions of the Imperial war-machine, from agents of the Inquisition to Wyrdvane Psykers of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica to reinforce your armies of the Imperium. After all, Deathwatch Kill Teams and Imperial Assassins are just as likely to be found working alongside regiments of the Astra MIlitarum or Space Marine strike forces as they are working by themselves, giving the Armies of the Imperium increased tactical choice and scope to conquer any foe. Within this volume you'll find background and rules for using nine smaller factions alongside your existing armies of the Imperium, from the Grey Knight Terminator squads to the BATTLE SISTERS OF THE ADEPTA SORORITAS.

Codex: Imperial Agents contains
1. Agents of the Inquisition
2. Wyrdvane Psykers
3. Deathwatch Kill Teams
4. Imperial Assassins
5. Grey Knight Terminators
6. Battle Sisters

That leaves 3 more smaller factions, and the most obvious 2 are:
7. Custodes
8. Sisters of Silence

The last?
9. Stormtroopers

This is not a standalone Sisters of Battle Codex. It is, instead, the last gasp of 40k 7E before 8E releases. That means there will *not* be a standalone Sisters of Battle Codex. GW obviously lacks any faith that Sisters will sell on their own for 7E.

At this point, the best hope is that GW throws a handful of Sisters into the 8E 40k starter box, like the current 30k box. Otherwise, it's going to be a while...

 mmzero252 wrote:
You want to guess what an 1850pt Sisters army is today at 8$+/model with the $60 tank kit the only way to get the transport parts?

They'll be cheaper than metal, sure, but from what I remember of pricing up other armies the usual price point for 1850 is about 400 quid. You can get the best part of a War Convocation for 400-ish including the Knight, and a half-decent Eldar army is less than 450 all-in if you start from scratch.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
GW obviously lacks any faith that Sisters will sell on their own for 7E.

Which makes sense, if you think about it. Sisters run one of two ways - light mech or horde footslogging - and neither are working for this edition. Any new Codex is a full redesign/ reboot, and they're not lucrative enough for that to be worthwhile.

They're not lucrative because they haven't received any but the most token of support from GW for almost twenty years.

 BBAP wrote:
Which makes sense, if you think about it. Sisters run one of two ways - light mech or horde footslogging - and neither are working for this edition. Any new Codex is a full redesign/ reboot, and they're not lucrative enough for that to be worthwhile.

Nothing sells if you don't make even the slightest effort. So of course Sisters haven't been selling. That's like driving your car around every day with no signs on it and never getting it repaired and then wondering why nobody makes you an offer to buy it. Nobody knows it's for sale, nobody wants it because it's run down and old, and there's been no effort put in.

Right, but would that change even if GW pushed Sisters harder? They're not a very exciting army to play - they're solid, reliable performers who always give a good account of themselves, but their options are limited and they only really do one thing well (mid-range light mech). That's not the kind of army you can sell to new players. If you want to change that, you need a full reboot of the faction and its fluff, which costs money. You'd need to justify that expense, which you could do if all the existing players who say they'd play Sisters "if only" are serious, but I don't think they are.

So, we are where we are.