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Battle Sister Bulletin – Part 17: Capital Punishment… on Legs!
In this Battle Sister Bulletin, we’re checking in with everyone’s favourite execution machine of excruciating death – the Penitent Engine! This particular model features in the Adepta Sororitas: Sisters of Battle Army Set, which is on its way in November, so today we’re taking a closer look at the miniature’s incredible design. But before we do, let’s remind ourselves exactly what these horrific creations are all about…
What We Know
Life in the 41st Millennium is pretty bleak at best, but to delve into the background of the Penitent Engine is to gaze into some of the very grimmest and darkest parts of the far future. Brace yourself – this is not for the faint of heart!
The Ecclesiarchy is unflinching in its punishment of those who commit crimes against the Emperor.* Those judged guilty of the most heinous acts of treachery and betrayal are condemned to die – not by the executioner’s blade, nor even by immolation at the stake,** but as the pilot of a Penitent Engine…
Once wired into the Penitent Engine’s crucible, the convict is as good as dead, for once they are neurally bonded there’s no coming back from the physical and mental trauma inflicted upon them by the machine’s torment amplifiers.*** From that point onwards, the hapless sinner becomes little more than a pain-fuelled berserker, wildly lashing out at cruelly engineered projections of their own crimes as they seek desperate penance in an apoplectic, terminal rampage.****
For their part, the Adepta Sororitas often make use of Penitent Engines. Not only do the Battle Sisters see it as their solemn duty to witness the punishment of the condemned, but the wanton destruction that the Penitent Engines can unleash makes them highly effective – but entirely expendable – auxiliary assets.
The Model
The Penitent Engine is a lethal device – both for its unfortunate pilot and those facing it in battle. It shares the aesthetics of a crude torture machine, with wrought iron and wooden elements layered on top of its otherwise minimalist structure. Given the intentionally disposable nature of the Penitent Engine’s occupant, every expense will have been spared in its construction, the one embellishment being the Ecclesiarchy symbol at its crown.
The Penitent Engine’s hollow main alcove – referred to as a crucible – is designed to accommodate its condemned occupant in whatever torturous stress position they’re bound in.***** Judging by his curled fingers and toes, not to mention the pained expression on his face, it’s fair to say this particular prisoner looks… less than comfortable! His emaciated body and ragged clothing also imply that he’s been incarcerated for some time, waiting on death row for his appointed time of execution in battle.
A visor covers the scalp and eyes of the Penitent Engine’s occupant,****** through which he is neurally overstimulated with pain via a series of umbilical cables, while racks of stimms and combat drug injectors run the length of his spinal column. Around his neck, a heavy weight has been hung, bearing his penitent number. There is no lock and key for his neck clamp – once it’s fastened, that’s it!
Even though the Penitent Engine has a stripped-down aesthetic for massed production, the weaponry is still more advanced than the crude buzz-saws and burnas of Ork Deff Dread and Killa Kans. The circular blades, in particular, feature deep indentations to ensure that they won’t get clogged up with viscera or the torn hulls of the Penitent Engine’s victims.
You can look forward to getting your own Penitent Engine in the Adepta Sororitas: Sisters of Battle Army Set later this year. Until then, make sure you’ve got the existing plastic miniatures, Celestine and Amalia Novena, painted in readiness for the new models. We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with your next Battle Sister Bulletin.
* As the saying goes: ‘To err once is human; to err twice is treachery.’
** Those methods are so 40,000 years ago!
*** To be fair, we doubt they’d want to after what they go through!
**** We recommend staying at a safe distance at this point.
***** Being bound to a wooden beam in this manner was apparently called ‘planking’ – and no, you wouldn’t want to post a picture online if you’re planking like this…
****** We like to think he’s in his happy place… but we somehow doubt it!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Spoiler:
That's the same fella they showed off for the army box reveal and there's no mention of a separate kit, posability or other engines. Kinda lends some weight to the monopose/etb rumour.
Battle Sister Bulletin – Part 17: Capital Punishment… on Legs!
In this Battle Sister Bulletin, we’re checking in with everyone’s favourite execution machine of excruciating death – the Penitent Engine! This particular model features in the Adepta Sororitas: Sisters of Battle Army Set, which is on its way in November, so today we’re taking a closer look at the miniature’s incredible design. But before we do, let’s remind ourselves exactly what these horrific creations are all about…
What We Know
Life in the 41st Millennium is pretty bleak at best, but to delve into the background of the Penitent Engine is to gaze into some of the very grimmest and darkest parts of the far future. Brace yourself – this is not for the faint of heart!
The Ecclesiarchy is unflinching in its punishment of those who commit crimes against the Emperor.* Those judged guilty of the most heinous acts of treachery and betrayal are condemned to die – not by the executioner’s blade, nor even by immolation at the stake,** but as the pilot of a Penitent Engine…
Once wired into the Penitent Engine’s crucible, the convict is as good as dead, for once they are neurally bonded there’s no coming back from the physical and mental trauma inflicted upon them by the machine’s torment amplifiers.*** From that point onwards, the hapless sinner becomes little more than a pain-fuelled berserker, wildly lashing out at cruelly engineered projections of their own crimes as they seek desperate penance in an apoplectic, terminal rampage.****
For their part, the Adepta Sororitas often make use of Penitent Engines. Not only do the Battle Sisters see it as their solemn duty to witness the punishment of the condemned, but the wanton destruction that the Penitent Engines can unleash makes them highly effective – but entirely expendable – auxiliary assets.
The Model
The Penitent Engine is a lethal device – both for its unfortunate pilot and those facing it in battle. It shares the aesthetics of a crude torture machine, with wrought iron and wooden elements layered on top of its otherwise minimalist structure. Given the intentionally disposable nature of the Penitent Engine’s occupant, every expense will have been spared in its construction, the one embellishment being the Ecclesiarchy symbol at its crown.
The Penitent Engine’s hollow main alcove – referred to as a crucible – is designed to accommodate its condemned occupant in whatever torturous stress position they’re bound in.***** Judging by his curled fingers and toes, not to mention the pained expression on his face, it’s fair to say this particular prisoner looks… less than comfortable! His emaciated body and ragged clothing also imply that he’s been incarcerated for some time, waiting on death row for his appointed time of execution in battle.
A visor covers the scalp and eyes of the Penitent Engine’s occupant,****** through which he is neurally overstimulated with pain via a series of umbilical cables, while racks of stimms and combat drug injectors run the length of his spinal column. Around his neck, a heavy weight has been hung, bearing his penitent number. There is no lock and key for his neck clamp – once it’s fastened, that’s it!
Even though the Penitent Engine has a stripped-down aesthetic for massed production, the weaponry is still more advanced than the crude buzz-saws and burnas of Ork Deff Dread and Killa Kans. The circular blades, in particular, feature deep indentations to ensure that they won’t get clogged up with viscera or the torn hulls of the Penitent Engine’s victims.
You can look forward to getting your own Penitent Engine in the Adepta Sororitas: Sisters of Battle Army Set later this year. Until then, make sure you’ve got the existing plastic miniatures, Celestine and Amalia Novena, painted in readiness for the new models. We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with your next Battle Sister Bulletin.
* As the saying goes: ‘To err once is human; to err twice is treachery.’
** Those methods are so 40,000 years ago!
*** To be fair, we doubt they’d want to after what they go through!
**** We recommend staying at a safe distance at this point.
***** Being bound to a wooden beam in this manner was apparently called ‘planking’ – and no, you wouldn’t want to post a picture online if you’re planking like this…
****** We like to think he’s in his happy place… but we somehow doubt it!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Spoiler:
That's the same fella they showed off for the army box reveal and there's no mention of a separate kit, posability or other engines. Kinda lends some weight to the monopose/etb rumour.
That’s not a rumour. That’s some guy’s speculation that some people are taking at face value for some reason.
That’s not a rumour. That’s some guy’s speculation that some people are taking at face value for some reason.
Thats literally what "rumor" means. If it were verified instead of being speculation it wouldn't be a rumor.
Definition of rumor (Entry 1 of 2)
1: talk or opinion widely disseminated with no discernible source
2: a statement or report current without known authority for its truth
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/09/30 15:33:05
That’s not a rumour. That’s some guy’s speculation that some people are taking at face value for some reason.
Thats literally what "rumor" means. If it were verified instead of being speculation it wouldn't be a rumor.
Definition of rumor (Entry 1 of 2)
1: talk or opinion widely disseminated with no discernible source
2: a statement or report current without known authority for its truth
Yea.. but that definition is just a rumor. We have to wait and see what the real definition will be.
That was a very disappointing Bulletin... Still don't like the model, which is all due to the pose. I suppose it should display the engine being on the move, but it looks far too static for that. It just looks like it lifts up one leg, simply to stand on only one, stationary. If the model is somewhat customizable in its pose it could be great, but somehow that seems (extremely) unlikely.
Out of curiosity, why?
The machine itself isn't particularly different, the new one has saw blades that look like they might cut people rather than bludgeon them to death, and almost certainly won't be the same horror show to assemble.
Female pilot and a double-guns configuration in the background of the art picture.
Given GW's current policy regarding No Model No Rules and the fact that the background model in the art has the exact same torch placement and "cathedral roof" design for the top, I think it's extremely likely that we'll see that as a secondary build option.
"Got you, Yugi! Your Rubric Marines can't fall back because I have declared the tertiary kaptaris ka'tah stance two, after the secondary dacatarai ka'tah last turn!"
"So you think, Kaiba! I declared my Thousand Sons the cult of Duplicity, which means all my psykers have access to the Sorcerous Facade power! Furthermore I will spend 8 Cabal Points to invoke Cabbalistic Focus, causing the rubrics to appear behind your custodes! The Vengeance for the Wronged and Sorcerous Fullisade stratagems along with the Malefic Maelstrom infernal pact evoked earlier in the command phase allows me to double their firepower, letting me wound on 2s and 3s!"
"you think it is you who has gotten me, yugi, but it is I who have gotten you! I declare the ever-vigilant stratagem to attack your rubrics with my custodes' ranged weapons, which with the new codex are now DAMAGE 2!!"
"...which leads you straight into my trap, Kaiba, you see I now declare the stratagem Implacable Automata, reducing all damage from your attacks by 1 and triggering my All is Dust special rule!"
"Unimaginably ancient xenos artefact somewhere on the planet, hive fleet poised above our heads, hidden 'stealer broods making an early start....and now a bloody Chaos cult crawling out of the woodwork just in case we were bored. Welcome to my world, Ciaphas."
Inquisitor Amberley Vail, Ordo Xenos
"I will admit that some Primachs like Russ or Horus could have a chance against an unarmed 12 year old novice but, a full Battle Sister??!! One to one? In close combat? Perhaps three Primarchs fighting together... but just one Primarch?" da001
Out of curiosity, why?
The machine itself isn't particularly different, the new one has saw blades that look like they might cut people rather than bludgeon them to death, and almost certainly won't be the same horror show to assemble.
Crimson wrote: So they showed us a model we have already seen...
And artwork with different weapon options. The one in the back has guns rather than flamers, and censors rather than buzz saws.
I really don't think it would have been too much to ask that they would have previewed those options by showing the actual model.
This is it, they showed us this engine already, this literal exact engine, then an unannounced set of possible options in the back of a piece of artwork isn't much of a reveal.
Crimson wrote: So they showed us a model we have already seen...
And artwork with different weapon options. The one in the back has guns rather than flamers, and censors rather than buzz saws.
I really don't think it would have been too much to ask that they would have previewed those options by showing the actual model.
They did show the actual model. As far as we know as of this moment, there are no other options, background art or not. If they exist, they'll likely be in a future full kit.
WarCom wrote:You can look forward to getting your own Penitent Engine in the Adepta Sororitas: Sisters of Battle Army Set later this year
Note the singular. That one model is the specific one that will be appearing in the November boxed set. The only things they've shown in all these months (34 weeks!) that isn't in the box is the rhino, the indifferent hospitaler on the giant base, and the stand alone Sister Superior that already came out. In two weeks, prepare for the Mistress of Repentance that's in the video. She's probably the only thing left we haven't had a full article (or articles) about (unless they amazingly haven't done the Seraphim we've already seen).
Though thinking about it, that would work out. Mistress or seraphim on October 14th, the other the 28th and then preorder for the boxed set probably on November 2 (though last Saturday of October or November 9 also have reasonable odds for the preorder).
This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2019/09/30 23:33:42
Out of curiosity, why?
The machine itself isn't particularly different, the new one has saw blades that look like they might cut people rather than bludgeon them to death, and almost certainly won't be the same horror show to assemble.
I don't like the new pilot, there's something off but I can't exactly point what, maybe the orientation of the hands, the pants feels out of place too but it may be due to the color scheme. Also the cruxified pose of the old one seems more evocative of a religious punishment to me.
On the engine itself, I don't like the human legs which make it look like a dread, I prefer the sentinel type legs. The main body seems smaller, and the pose feels more like he's dancing "walk like a egyptian" than about to smash some heretics. And it doesn't have all the skulls, banners and purity seals that were on the old one.
Thank god at least the ankles are better. The old model had probably the worst joint possible for a topheavy metal model.
"By this point I'm convinced 100% that every single race in the 40k universe have somehow tapped into the ork ability to just have their tech work because they think it should."
Out of curiosity, why?
The machine itself isn't particularly different, the new one has saw blades that look like they might cut people rather than bludgeon them to death, and almost certainly won't be the same horror show to assemble.
Well, the old one was bigger.
I like the smaller version. A few walkers are too big, and could have been done more compactly. Redemptor dreadnought and admech ironstrider both come to mind. Glad this stayed more compact.
The new vehicles being designed for the Adepta Sororitas represent the more antiquated Deimos-pattern Rhino STC. As such, they are flanked by the archetypal circular doors, adorned with the symbolic fleur-de-lys of the Adepta Sororitas.
Mind you, it’s possible that those designs are only for the Sororitas-specific Immolator (and perhaps the Repressor?).
Gallahad wrote: The penitent's hands are freakishly large. I just can't unsee them.
I'd call that GW standard if GW was actually capable of maintaining standards. They've reined in the large hands, feet and heads over the last years on some models, but not others. Mostly on females, actually. I don't know if this guy can quite compete with the old (current) zombies for hand size, but he should at least get credit for trying.
Spreading his fingers like that certainly doesn't help either.
Nehekhara lives! Sort of!
Why is the rum always gone?
Gallahad wrote: The penitent's hands are freakishly large. I just can't unsee them.
I hope there is an option for a female penitent.
It might be an attempt to represent emancipation, highlighting how thin their arms are by retaining some size in the hands. Considering there's a lot more bone in the hands it might even be that once you reach a certain point of starvation the relative size of hands to upper and lower arms does start to increase. Plus its the sort of detail that might look fine at 1ft but not at 1 inch in a photo from the model.
