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Hey guys, I recently finished modelling a new flyer for my Sisters army.

Pics here http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/413553.page

This is the background I’ve knocked up, it’s pretty simple stuff a bit like the type you’d see in an Imperial Armour book. So let me know what you think all CC welcome.

Sisters of Battle, Virtue-class Gunship.

The Virtue-class Gunship came into the Sister’s service after the battles on Freefall in the Arcaidus sector. The combined might of three Orders had launched a massive raid on a powerful secessionist stronghold and after a gruelling start to the action where many sisters perished in a brutal ambush, a daring assault by several elite Dominion squads blasted through the outer curtain wall allowing the loyalists to flood through. After the final battle the Sisters secured a priceless STC blueprint from the ancient datastacks, hidden deep beneath the now liberated stronghold.

The Sisterhood presented the STC to the Mars Priesthood in return for a binding pact that they would be the only force to be supplied with the new design. The STC design showed a multi-engine variant of the Stormraven that sacrificed firepower for drop-pod like performance. The new aircraft was designed to be launched from orbit and dive at high supersonic speeds towards the drop zone and then engage its thrust reversers whilst blasting the landing area clear with rocket and bolter fire. Designed with two extra engines mounted above the fuselage to protect them from ground fire the arrangement provided several benefits over the Stormraven. The Virtue uses the engines for increased velocity during re-entry drops and for the return boosts out of atmosphere. The extra bank of engines also allowed a measure of redundancy and thus increased survivability on the battlefield, whereby if a wing mounted engine was knocked out then a dorsal engine would engage and keep the aircraft airborne. The extra engines, though requiring the removal of the Servitor operated dorsal turret, extended the Stormraven’s relatively cramped hull allowing for a large number of Sisters to be carried. Finally the tail fins had been redesigned to act as a simple thrust vectoring system that during high speed drops allowed more accurate and reactive insertions onto the battlefield.

The weapon fit consists of a Fireburst Missile Array used to blast enemy infantry out of cover with great gouts of burning Promethium. A set of Phoenix Bolters allow them to pin the battered enemy in place for the now deployed Sisters to finish off. A bank of rare Melta missiles complete the weapons fit. These are Krak missiles with a replacement payload consisting of a heavy Melta charge for use against heavy infantry and transports. Though this decreases the missile’s range the extra armour penetration is much valued by the Sisterhood, reducing the reliance on the priceless Exorcist tanks.

Following the approval of the purity of the design by the Mechanicus, the Virtue-class design has rapidly spread through the Orders. It is now their mainstay flyer providing rapid flexible transport to and from orbit and a light gunship role on the battlefield. This has provoked a measure of disquiet from the some ranks of the Navy and Inquisition, who were used to a measure of control over the Sister’s air support. The sheer success of the design and the discipline of the Orders not to push the Virtue too far into traditional naval roles, has so far kept the Sister’s and Navy’s relationship amicable. In reality the Sisterhood cares little for keeping these two groups happy if it means they are more self-sufficient and better able to execute their missions. They reason it allows the Navy to better concentrate their own resources elsewhere. Away from the eyes and ears of the fleet Commissars some Navy pilots whisper that they are relieved not to have to fly into some of the worst hell holes in the galaxy to evacuate yet another over extended Sister’s battle group. Some of the more competitive Navy pilots have nick named the new transport “hunchback” in reference to its dorsal mounted engines. However those in the Guard who’ve been saved by last ditch Virtue flights soon object to hearing such a derogatory term for their angelic saviours. More than one officers’ mess has been demolished in the ensuing bar fight after someone has besmirched the honour of the Virtue’s pilots.

Virtue pilots are generally drawn from the ranks of the Seraphim and thus represent some of the finest and most daring Sisters that an Order can muster. Used to rapid deployments and death defying combat drops some Seraphim view selection to pilot training as great an honour as promotion to Sister Superior. Many Sisters relish the opportunity to execute pinpoint deliveries of her fellow Sisters onto the battlefield so they can maximise deliverance on the heretic and alien alike.

The new design has increased the tactical flexibility of Sister’s formations allowing rapid redeployments and outflanking insertions to rival that of any Space Marine chapter. This was most effectively demonstrated during the Order of the Bloody Rose’s counter attack on Agripinaa during the 13th Black crusade. 200 sisters were dropped along a 20 km stretch of the enemy’s supply lines where they ambushed several columns of reinforcements. They destroyed dozens of transports, gunning down the embarked squads of traitors and renegades wholesale. When the inevitable counter attack began to form up, the Sisters called in air strikes from the gunships waiting on station to blast the formations arraying against them. The Sisters withdrew in good order before being airlifted out as the now disorganised counter attack began to sweep the area. This delay and reduction in the Enemy’s reinforcements allowed several factory complexes to be retaken and then held by Imperial Guard and Skitarii regiments.

How the Sisterhood became so proficient so quickly in the use of the new design is the subject of dark rumours. The Sisterhood maintain it is down to the expertise and devotion of their most experienced Seraphim and vehemently refute any other explanation. However whispers of an ancient debt owed to the Sisterhood by a Space Marine chapter with a tainted bloodline persist in some circles. The sighting of a Blood Drinkers strike cruiser near a Sister’s training world in the Argolis sector further exacerbated the rumours that the first wing of Virtue pilots, many now instructors themselves, received “specialised” training. That the Sisterhood would enlist the aid of any Space marine chapter in training its recruits let alone one with such a suspicion of genetic deviancy as the Blood Drinkers is a grave insult to the honour of the Sisterhood. Though some quietly note the importance of the Virtue to the Sister’s and that some of their new tactics bear a striking similarity to battlefield reports of several Marine actions in recent years...