Toms Sisters of Battle: Introduction

The Old World Army Challenge VI

Wow. Whodathunkit, after 4 years of painting armies in this challenge, I continue into the 6th edition with my fifth attempt (and fourth army). I forget what I used to do before the OWAC! Previous armies have been Imperial Dwarfs, Chaos Dwarfs, Orks, Orks again, and now as opposition to the Orks: the guiding light of the Imperial Creed in the form of.... the Sisters of Battle! Ain't nothing more terrifying than the unshakable faith of righteousness.

This edition of the OWAC is super special, as an Army need not be the focus of the challenge this time round- just the minimum 10 models a month, with a unifying theme of Oldhammerness. I have been sooo tempted to crack out the ol' Heroquest set, or the knackard box of Space Hulk or indeed Space Crusade which are lurking in the loft. But I saw the Emperor's Light and my course is set!

The models I will aim to be painting are modern Drew Day Williams sculpts, which I procured from his store Satyr Art Studio, but they are sadly no longer produced. From a swift online search I'm guessing that they're based off a few of the old RT601 Adventurers from waaaaaay back when.

These pics are from the awesome resource that is Solegends - link

You can see the likeness in that there top right model

And there again bottom center.

 

And here's Drew's models:

I never was into 40k as a kid, but when these came up in early 2022 I immediately brought two sets with the aim of creating an army to oppose the tide of greenskins that I have previously painted. I like the current range of Sisters from GW, and maybe some of the new tanks and engines from them will fit right in - the scale of the new Sisters seems OK with the GW Sisters. 

I'll cost up a force using the points in this hallowed tome. It's waaay too pricy for me to have a hard copy at the moment, but then there's always the Internet for the digital file.

It's an iconic piece of artwork by John Blanche (reproduced here without permission)

And, whilst I remember liking John's artwork back in those early years, I never really rated it over some of the other artists such as those immersive front pieces from Geoff Taylor such as this:

Or indeed, one of my all time favorites, Adrian Smith (again reproduced here without permission)

I did however, instantly love any of John Blanche's actual models, and whenever a piece appeared in White Dwarf, I'd avidly pour over them and the alternate world they represented. I loved the dark and dirty look of them, so different to the crisp clean lines of the 'Eavy Metal style. 

It was/is my aim to try and at least replicate a little bit of that style with this army, but having painted a couple of testers, I find that I lack a certain kind of gumption to fully commit to the grimdark. It's super hard to paint something grimy, dejected, dank and hopeless, without it looking, well....terrible. And as for converting - ahem, let's just say it's not for me.

Aaaanyhow. My first model is Cannoness Veridyan - a faithful representation of the figure in John's artwork. How could I not include her! I'm undecided whether to follow the paintscheme in the artwork or not.

The muscle. A heavy dreadnaught from the game Space Crusade. I thought this behemoth would fit right in! Along side is Sister Leeta with electric guitar. No doubt cueing up some Metallica....

A command module with Confessor Kyrinov, a 'spare' Cannoness, an Inquisitor, a battle servitor and an Officer of the Fleet.

This could be some kind of Seraphim unit - a bodyguard for the Cannoness Veridyan.  👇

Some special models which I like and fit :)

Astropath, Sanctioned Psyker, Missionary, Preacher, Imagifier  - or they could stand in for standards or leaders and whatnot.👇

Units of Sisters. I'm undecided whether to paint them all the same colour, or merge squads up. I think I might denote differing squads with an alternate colouring on the right shoulder pad or alternate motifs. Maybe.👇

Some Warhammer Fantasy flagellants to act as a Frateris Mititia Band. I'm a little gutted that there's so many duplicate sculpts here, but ho well! 👇

 

...

So, here's a few tester models for the paint scheme/basing scheme. I think my main aim for this army will be to have more 'extreme' highlights - just those spots of white that shine through... This guys a sanctioned psyker, with a pop at some non-metallic metal

And here's two differing schemes for the Sisters. One a cold metallic grime with a warm fleshtone, and the other a warm classic red, with a cold skintone. After much deliberation and a quick 'ask the audience' I think I'm going to go with the red, as it'll enable me to easily (lazily) add some freehand. I went back in after making the choice and added the symbol and cheques, and to me it looks good!

I think I'll also make the skin warm too, but maybe use a colder blue or purple to shade the red armour. And switch that blue spot colour on the gun cannister for green. I'm not fixed on the hair (let alone the skin) being the same colour for everyone, so there's still some choices to be made!

I have in the past, usually gone over the minimum amout of models required to complete the Challenge. So here is a small pile of minis which may, or may not, see some paint depending on how the motivations go. I hate painting bikes, so if these see some paint I'll be absolutely chuffed to bits!

As a side note, I have a tank in the post so maybe include that as well. Naturally, pics when it arrives!

The Overlord Offering:

As my entry tribute to the Benevolent Overlord Iannick, who chose Horror as the theme of this years tributes, I painted this nurgle Chaos Champion (in my Sisters colours), and also this still-in-production Deep One by North Star Military Figures.

And now, for the completionist, here's a Sisters of Battle 2nd ed Codex points value breakdown.

(Remember, here in the OWAC, there are no points allowed for special characters - they're just basic bodies :) 

To make it super easy, I'm going with the absolute basic points cost for the figures, not weapons or armour upgrades.

85..... Cannoness 

70..... Banner Bearer

150..... Bodyguard of 5 Seraphim

54..... Confessor

23..... Missionary Champion

10..... Preacher

140..... Battle Sisters Squad of five

140..... Battle Sisters Squad of five

140..... Battle Sisters Squad of five

140..... Battle Sisters Squad of five

140..... Battle Sisters Squad of five

40.....Frateris Militia Squad of 10

TOTAL:1132

Which leaves some models left over which don't fit in the army list, but do look good such as the Astropath or Dreadnaught...They'll also count towards my monthly paint total of 10 figures and if I manage to paint everything my total model count should be 54 excluding anything from that pile of extras.

All that remains now is to wish my fellow Challengers, especially those bright young things venturing forth on their first OWAC, all the very best of luck. May your brush bristles never split, and your paint never clump.

Also, a bucket full of thanks go to Iannick for founding and running this challenge, and also to Byron for assisting and moderating. Legends.

See you end of January for the start proper!