2nd Edition Sisters of Battle, Order of Our Martyred Lady

Armour as black as a dark thing... robes also very dark black. Yep, I really didn't notice how GW changed the colour scheme over the years for the Order of Our Martyred Lady.I do actually really like the darker look though - very nuny ... nunny(?) ... makes them look like nuns. I like the few additional red trim bits too, but I've introduced a little yellow to lift the characters and vehicles. Everyone likes hazard stripes - even nuns. 
 

It's not a big force yet - 6 sisters, a classic Rhino, Cannoness (yet to be named) and 5 Frateris Militia. The militia back then were basically similar to imperial guard conscripts with a brutal WS 2 BS 2 profile. The only good thing is you get a plus to BS with some guns at short range which isn't bad for a meat shield... I mean valuable citizen that the sisters would surely not use as a meat shield every single game...

I've had the metal sisters for a number of years and picked a bunch of them up off eBay in about 2012ish for an old army. They army had fallen out of use a long time ago, and these were crying out for for a new life. I got the cannoness more recently in an eBay bits lot for a few pound, but she was missing her raised icon, so I gave her a power maul to replace her missing hand. 

The legendary Frateris Militia came straight from my junk box. Led by the famous Peter Crotchplate ... an old 90s Goliath ganger who had been rolling around the bottom of the drawer as the butt of a number of jokes. Next to the left is Greco - legendary Wardancer with a weird gun conversion who also was in the junk pile. Further to the left... a bretonnian archer with a 90s chaos warrior head and a few milliput additions. Added to them was an ancient catachan and a 90s Orlock ganger. Many if these had been converted as Diggas for a Gorkamorka campaign that never really happened, and now they've been pressed back into service on the front lines of 2nd edition.  They were quick to paint too. My new tip is that if you thin gore grunta contrast it makes a good skin tone contrast!

Official frateris militia models do exist, but they're pretty rare and expensive. At some point I hope to get a few to scatter in the units for good measure. 

Back to the ladies firing guns on a sunny day in the grassy green fields of what was once not quite such a grim dark future. That said, a full suit of armour on a hot sunny day would probably get grim pretty quick. No wonder the battle sisters were angry! 

I did my best to copy the freehand door designs on the side of the rhino and they came out pretty good. I'm not a huge free-hand lover (well, I like looking at good freehand...) as I get inpatient if a design is complex, but these were good fun.

The original lore for Sisters of Battle puts them very much on the front line - functionally being the first line of defence for imperial worlds. There's no mention of Planetary Defence Forces and while waiting for Space Marines or Imperial Guard, they were there to save the earth from the scum of the universe. It also explains why Militia were a thing. It was also amusing to read that Militia were made up in part of ecclesiastical admin workers and other hopelessly unprepared types - which also explains the less than shining stat-lines. 

Exactly what job Peter Crotchplate had in the ecclesiarchy was a mystery. Master of re-education would be my guess...

Sisters of Battle - Squad Complete (new plastic models)

I finished my first squad of new battle sisters. These come from the army box set, and use a matching scheme with my Everchosen entry from a few months ago.

They're really nice models. I have to admit, that I was beginning to think that we would never see the mythical plastic sisters in this lifetime, but here they are! They were easy enough to build, but I painted them as a batch, and with a scheme this complex, it was a bit ambitious. It was just too many layers of paint coupled with a massive amount of detail that made it a bit of a slog to the finish in the end. I started painting them in December and made it about 3/4 of the way through, then ran out of steam and had to do some different projects for a bit to build up strength for the final push!

I'm happy with they came out, but a bit daunted to tackle the rest of the box. That said, Squaduary is coming up again soon and I have those small units of Repentia and Flagellants to work on, so that might help push through a little more of the force.

The paint scheme itself is started with an airbrushed coat of purple that is highlighted in purple and white before being given a coat of Vallejo Transparent Red. After I've set the basic blend on the armour up, it's all brush work till the end. I enjoy painting the yellow parts, but the robes are a bit of a pain. They just become very monotonous to paint given their size and the number of clean layers required. Overall, they're a nice looking squad, and a great start to the army. I also repainted my older converted Exorcist to match the scheme, so I'll do a post about that soon.

Ready to face the forces of Chaos?

Everchosen - I'm a Winner!

Just a quick update post to say that my Battle Sister made it through, and that I came first in my local competition! Next up, I'll be going on to represent the store in the online vote.

Just for fun, I also entered the open category, and snagged 2nd place with my 40k Skaven Dragoon conversion. All in all it was good fun, and I think I'll probably enjoy going into the online vote too. I'm not expecting much as I'm sure the serious golden demon guys are going to be out in force, but It's just nice to get a little bit of recognition, and it is a very big global stage, so it should be interesting.

I had a bit of a look around the internet, and I think quite a few people entered Sister Amalia into Everchosen, so I'm sure I'll be up against some very directly comparable models in the next round! (I've seen a few that made it through), so at least I can see how I do compared to them!

Winning was quite fun too, as I was presented with a mysterious golden envelope. Unfortunately, it just continued instructions on how to enter the second stage of the competition, and wasn't stuffed full of gift vouchers!

Sister Amalia Novena - Everchosen Painting Competition

I'm entering the Everchosen painting competition today, so I thought I should post my work on the blog too. It's been a while since I last posted on here, but I have been working on some miniatures, so with any luck, more posts should be coming soon.

This was a cool model to work on. I wanted to do something for the competition, but was undecided about which model to use. I've always liked sisters of battle (and have an old army of the metal ones at home too), so I knew I was going to pick up the first ever plastic one when she came out. Given the timing, I figured that she would make a good entry for the competition too. I also often end up painting female models for competitions. I think it's because I spend so much time painting burly dudes that by the time I get to picking something "just for fun" I'm in the mood to switch it up a bit.

Build-wise, I made a few changes. I took away her bolter and added a sword from a Mechanicus infiltrator. Mostly to make her look more interesting for the competition, but it is a cool part and it wasn't that hard to do. Other than that, I added the archway. After painting, I added some "broken glass" to the arch too (seen at the bottom from the back). There are a few bits scattered on the floor too, but they aren't that obvious and don't really jump out in photos. Nevertheless, I think of it as a bit of an "Easter egg" for anyone who bothers to look at her long enough. The arch is the side struts from one of the citadel building kits, just cut to shape and re-joined at the top and bottom.

As far as paint is concerned, I went full NMM. I'm honestly not the best at non-metallic metals, but that's pretty much why I did it. I always try to push myself with competition entries, so it was an obvious choice. I laid down the base colours and blends on her armour and sword with the airbrush, but after that it was all good old-fashioned brush work. I also added some fairly subtle OSL in the form of the candle and lamp. I'm quite happy with the candle, but I feel like I could've brought the effect through to the actual model better. It doesn't really matter though as I'm happy enough with it as a bit of throw-away wow-factor.

That probably just about rounds it up. Everchosen is decided by public vote, so who knows how this thing could swing. I'm sure I'm  not in with a look-in for the grand prize as the really serious painters are sure to be out in force. A local victory would be cool, so I could at least make it to the online voting stage, but I guess we'll see.