Sisters of Battle

This article contains PROMOTIONS! Don't say we didn't warn you.

Space Marine Guideline 1: Thou shalt not refer to the Adepta Sororitas as "Bolter Bitches," nor shalt thou go anywhere near our sisters during the time of their "Red Rage," lest thou wishes to be the first human to enter orbit without the aid of a shuttle.

What? U MAD SPESS MAHREEN?

Sisters of Battle are essentially Warhammer 40k's female equivalent of Space Marines, and are warriors devoted to the Emprah. Although they lack the genetic modification of their beefier brethren, they also wear power armour and are armed mainly with the ubiquitous Bolter. The Sisters of Battle are also known as the "Daughters of the Emperor", and officially as the "Adepta Sororitas", though the Adepta Sororitas refers to their entire organization, while the term Sisters of Battle refers only to their militant branch. They are more colloquially known by players as "Bolter-bitches" or "Nuns with guns".

UPDATE: Sister of Battle will be getting a new codex in October! However GW said that it will be on the ultra shitty white dwarf codex update, with "new additions" to bring it into line with other codexes. The codex will also be the first ever DIGITAL ONLY codex?! WTF!?

Overview

The Sisters of Battle are part of the Ecclesiarchy, the religious arm of Imperial government, and often work closely with the Inquisition. They have somewhat of an obsession with the purifying effects of flame, and generally choose equipment that allows them to cover their enemies with as much holy promethium as possible. This philosophy is most obviously exemplified by the Immolator tank, essentially a rolling steel crate with giant flamethrowers or multi-meltas stuck on it.

They also own a giant mobile organ that sprays missiles like a garden hose, yep they do some missile spam too.

The Sisters may or may not be giant pedophiles. They also may or may not be flaming lesbians (Insert Rimshot Here).

Though they are technically a part of the Ecclesiarchy and not the Inquisition, they are more or less the chamber militant of the Ordo Hereticus, much like how the Grey Knights are technically an independent chapter but work with the Ordo Malleus so much that they are more or less its chamber militant.

When compared to the Extremely Experienced and specialized Deathwatch and the Extremely well equipped and Psychic Grey Knights, the Sisters of Battle are quite clearly inferior in virtually every way on an individual basis. However, while there are only 3-5,000 or so Grey Knights (strike that, Ward retconned 3/4ths of them out of existence fuck you we're not acknowledging Ward's stupidity who cares what Ward says, it's probably like 10,000+ at this point given everyone and their dog has a GK army) and an unknown number of Death Watch Space Marines (probably 10,000 or so), there are millions or perhaps tens of millions of Sisters of Battle.

This in addition to the numbers of inquisitorial stormtroopers keeps a firm balance of power between the three branches of the Inquisition as well as between the Departmento Munitorum, The Imperial Navy, the Inquisition, the Adeptus Arbites, the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Adeptus Astartes, the Officio Assassinorum, and the Ecclesiarchy as none of the armed orders of the Imperium are able to defeat another.

An overview of the six main Orders. Sadly brief, but characterful.

There are six main Orders. All minor Orders are desended from one of these.

• Sacred Rose: cool, calm and collected. The most tactical Sisters. Enjoy gunning their foes down in a more disciplined manner. If they were to get their own rules, their Rets would have slow and purposeful.

• Ebon Chalice: the vanilla Order. These Sisters haven't changed a whole lot since they were first created, preferring to stick to their tried and tested methods.

• Argent Shroud: the Lawful Goods. Are a rarity among Imperial factions, in that they are described as being famous for selfless heroism, as well as altruism. For this reason, /tg/ likes to fluff them as noble space Paladins and bros to the Salamanders.

• Bloody Rose: aggressive as fuck. Aim to kill off their enemies as quickly as possible, as they see no reason to let the heretic live any longer than necessary.

• Martyred Lady: the postergirl Order, depicted in most mainstream portrayals of the Sisters. This has led to many people thinking that all Sisters have white hair, when it is in fact seemingly only this Order that does it. The Order itself is reputed as being determined even for SoBs, which is saying something. Will not stop until their enemies are utterly destroyed.

• Valorous Heart: Repent! These Sisters feel the guiltiest about that whole Age of Apostasy thing, and as a result have an excess of Repentias. Likely on constant lookout for the slightest sign of weakeness in themselves or any allies serving alongside them.

Sisters Snuff

In 1997 when the Necrons were launched Games Workshop had them face the Sisters in a Battle report, which the Sisters lost. The results of this battle report then became the Sanctuary 101 fluff. Games Workshop liked the result so much that they decided the Sisters of Battle should get slaughtered all the time. Unless they are falling to Chaos, obviously. It's notable that the Sisters of Battle tend to get killed and mutilated repeatedly when Matt Ward writes fluff, leading many to ask uncomfortable questions regarding Ward's sexual deviancy that nobody really wants the answers to.

Please note that while fa/tg/uys masturbate furiously to fanfics of Sisters engaging in bdsm fetish sex with the likes of servitors, children, Schola Progenium cadets or even the likes of Nurgle, all of the below actually, canonically fucking happened.

Heroic Space Nuns + Evil Space Elves = REALLY HOT!!

Some highlights include:

• Some of a Dialogus Order turned to Chaos by one Slaaneshi Keeper of Secrets.
• A whole Order Mind Controlled by one chaos Psyker. Fucking Goto.
• Another whole Order Mind Controlled by one chaos Psyker. Why, Sandy, why? To be fair, it wasn't just them; the guy mind-controlled even commmissar cadets, entire planets of guardsmen and PDF troopers...
• A strike force of Celestians and an Inquisitor being killed, cannibalized, and sacrificed by the Sons of Malice Astartes chapter for disturbing their victory rites and falsely accusing the chapter of heresy. (Imperium does nothing... Apart from declaring the Sons of Malice to be heretics anyway.)
• A whole shrine-world of Sisters killed by Chaos Dreadnought. Said dread shrugs off meltas, meltabombs and multiple Exorcist volleys, a Living Saint even gives up her divinity to stop it, and fails. It's destroyed instantly when a Marine throws a hammer at it. We are not making this shit up.- ++Hell Brute, not a dreadnought++
• An entire Order of Sisters of the Order of the Sacred Rose dying and ultimately destroying their base and everyone in it, who were sent to the Kaurava Campaign and killed by Vance Motherfucking Stubbs after they refused to fuck off. Unlike the majority of the entries on this list, the Sisters led a valiant defense action, crippling the Imperial Guard forces for weeks and hamstringing the Imperium's campaign to reclaim the worlds of the Kaurava system. Also, unlike the others on this list, the Sisters were the aggressors. So this doesn't really count as much. Besides which, nearly destroying any hope of the Imperium reclaiming the system could be considered treason and heresy anyway. Also, some of them had to figure that, if even their Living Saint's inviolable aura (invincibility, seriously) couldn't save them from being defeated by the Guard, then maybe the Emperor is with the Guard and not the Sisters.
• An entire convent of Sisters killed by Grey Knights, their bodies violated and their blood applied to the Grey Knights' armor, so the Grey Knights can be immune to demonic corruption, even though they were already immune to all forms of demonic corruption, due to the fact that they are the Imperium's daemon killers. See also: Khornate Knights.
• Necron Phaeron Trazyn the Infinite keeps the head of Sebastian Thor mounted on his wall like a Deer Trophy. God damn it, Ward.

The Sudden Yet Inevitable Betrayal

The reaction of Sisters and SoB players everywhere to the codex update.

This article or section involves Matthew Ward, Spiritual Liege, who is universally-reviled on /tg/. Because this article or section covers Ward's copious amounts of derp and rage, fans of the 40K series are advised that if they proceed onward, they will see fluff and crunch violation of a level rarely seen.

As of August 1, 2011 it seems Games Workshop finally decided to attempt to "revamp" the Sisters of Battle, much to the aggravation of about two thirds of the Witch Hunters' remaining playerbase. It's by no means a horrible update; initial worries on /tg/ suggested it to be akin to a biblical plague in terms of disaster-level, when in truth it's simply sub-average. The Codex Update had it's fluff written by your SPIRITUAL LIEGE, which shocked and confused /tg/ as it wasn't full of misogynist bullshit. In spite of this, it's squarely in-level with another bad codex update, because the rules were clearly written by committee.

For starters, gone are the various special characters that got gobbled up by the Grey Knights codex update, like Inquisitor Valeria. The Sisters have many of their own special characters now, but a lot of the classics, like Lord Krazypantzoff, are gone now since they're now part of the Grey Knights army list. Immolators took a nasty nerf-bat to the face (they can't fire on the move and have no firepoints now, which makes them basically more-cost-effective Razorback Transports). Who would have thought that Games Workshop would update an army by nerfing the one model every player had a couple of so that they all have to go out and buy new models?

Inquisitorial Stormtroopers are gone as well, and Faith is now randomized, which means that it's much harder to manage in big games. Faith is now, functionally, a game of roulette, with randomized dice rolls deciding how much (if anything at all) you get. Sisters now all have very specific faith powers on a by-squad basis now, and whilst several are powerful, the breakdown means you actually have to vary up your units if you want more variety in them, and they share a pool so the Sisters are pretty much only viable in low-point-count games.

Heavy armor in an update? We fucking wish.

Whereas before you had a nice general army that could use faith points to adapt to different situations, in the new system you have mostly weaker powers that are unreliable. Powers that most other units for similar points get permanently.

Sadly, things were muddled by a spree of fake releases as part of an April Fool's Prank. Original reports of genuinely useful units to offset the loss of the Stormtroopers and inducted forces thus turned out to be false. As of thus far, there's been no reports of new units - so in other words, about a third of the Sisters' armory is now gone without being replaced by anything. The new special characters reportedly are nothing worth getting excited over.

The Sisters carry over a number of Grey Knight units as well, including Death-Cult Assassins, Arco-Flagellants, and Crusaders. There was talk of a new heavy transport/assault vehicle called the Repressor (see image above), but it turned out to be part of the same fucking April Fool's Prank and is still Forgeworld-only (which sucks because it would be an improvement). Sisters Repentia were originally purportedly nerfed, but in the end the Repentia now are vastly better, boasting Feel No Pain, a 6+ armor save, Fleet, and double their original number of attacks with a faith act to do more on death - meaning they stand a good chance of fucking up a lot of units they wouldn't before now... So now instead of paying ridiculous prices for a sick joke, you're just paying ridiculous prices for a suicide squad. At least they'll rape shit while they're there now. Progress! The funniest thing is that you have 5 different types of independent characters that boosts the unit they joins assault skills...And even with all the buffs added to the best assault unit in the army you would still be hard pressed to defeat a space marine tactical squad in an assault.

The biggest kick in the cunt for the Sisters, aside from the obvious loss of utility units, was the loss of ally rules and inducted unit rules. One of the biggest advantages the Sisters had was the ability to, courtesy of the Ordo Hereticus, requisition allied forces. A time-honored method of getting around the relatively weak Sisters of Battle vehicular lineup was to take some Inducted Guardsmen for a Leman Russ or two, or Space Marines for a Predator. The loss of Inquisitors also came with the loss of Land Raiders as dedicated transports, which was another stab at their vehicular capabilities.

On the plus side, the fluff was very clearly not written by the blessed one either nope it would seem he did, since the Sisters in it are portrayed as completely badass, fighting off a Daemonic incursion by themselves without ever needing the Grey Knights to butcher them and turn them into armor paint. One can only imagine how the development meeting for this codex went - because most of /tg/ argues that it had to be hilarious.

The Eternal Vigil

Come on guys, she's got sisters to feed.

While most members of /tg/ are violently, gleefully convinced the sisters are on their way to be squatted, a tiny contingent of the faithful keeps a candle burning, waiting for the day that their beloved bolter bitches will rise again (tiny bubbles and all).

• 0172008.M3: The Sisters are released as a playable faction in Dawn of War:Soulstorm. While it is poorly designed and built, it still drums up some enthusiasm for the Sisters. Many conflicted feels are had.
• 0583011.M3: The Destroyer and The Cruddace release a playable White Dwarf codex for the sisters, hinting at a similar treatment to the Blood Angels heretics.
• 0608012.M3: The sisters are retained for the 6E allies system and given a new flyer via Forge World. An unconfirmed leak shows a line up of new Sisters characters in development.
• 0569013.M3: Faithful pilgrims supplicate themselves before the great and powerful Jervis Johnson asking for news on the Sisters. They are told that all armies are being worked on and there are no plans to discontinue support for the sisters. The Kelly adds that modeling issues prevented their release previously.
• 0561113.M3: Rumors begin swirling about an official digital codex release for the Sisters. A leaked and subsequently confirmed White Dwarf advert later confirms this, and promises an updated version of the 5e codex. A later interview with The Cruddace indicates that the codex will include tweaks to Faith and points cost, and that if it sells well enough it may get a physical release. The release date for the digital codex has been set at October 19th. Later comments on the GW Digital Editions facebook page confirms that it will have a Warlord Chart, Ecclesiarchy Relics and an Altar of War, in addition to some updates, new fluff and artwork and changes to faith and points costs. It appears that the Sisters prayers have been at least partially answered.

The James Swallow books: SoBs can win too!

Sister Miriya from Hammer & Anvil, yes, Black Library artists can draw pretty sisters too.

Among Black Library, there are two books, specifically starring the Sisters, that are widely considered to be some the finest portrayals of SoBs in all of 40K fluff. Both were authored by James Swallow, who decided that Sisters needed some attention and got to work. The first, Faith and Fire, has the Sisters battling with what are basically terrorist psykers on a shrine world while trying to uncover the reasons behind the attacks. Then there's the sequel, Hammer and Anvil. Remember reading about Santuary 101 up there? This book has them going back there and trying to figure out what happened. While saying too much would be spoiling it, it can be said that shit hits the fan hard and that the final battle is very epic stuff. Also, if you're feeling extra faithful, Swallow wrote an SoB audiobook called Red and Black. A prequel to Faith and Fire, it has the Sisters being sent to a recently rediscovered planet as representatives of the Imperium, and ultimately to judge it. Needless to say, things get complicated. Also features a Scottish SoB. So, you can help the Sisters by getting the above books so that Games Workshop and Black Library may decide to change their minds and give some love to these girls. Or at least give them some additional badass portrayals.

Tactics

The Sisters of Battle employ a costly yet simple tactic whenever they're called out for battle:

1.Bring thousands of sexually deprived Sisters of Battle into the field.
2.Arm them all with Melta and flame-based weapons.
3.Tell them they can shlick to the image of the Emperor if they triumph over the foul enemies of the Imperium. HERESY. *BLAM*
4.Set them loose.
5.If they do win, all remaining Imperial troops, save for the SoBs, are ordered off the field.
6.No other accounts can be heard of, as remembrancers and all other Imperial journalists are sworn to an oath of silence on whatever events transpired.
7.????
8.Profit.

(Yes we do have a real tactica, its here.)

See Also

• Codex - Sisters of Battle: /tg/ edition - in which the glory of the Witch Hunters, fueled by the possibilities of the 6th edition rulebook come together to cleanse the battlefield in a holy trinity of prometheum, bolter shells and melta rays.
• Sisters of Cleaning - a /tg/ created order.
• Sister Hospitaler - a non-militant Sister.
• The Times and Trials of Klightus; a love story about a shy Guardsman and a Sister of Battle.
• The Steadfast Pewter Sororitas - a sad story about what happens to those metal Sisters that don't get bought.
• Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Sisters of Battle - tactica on how to play them.
• Sister of Solace - a fapfic about a less than pious order of Sisters.Heresy!
• Sisters of Battle Order Creation Tables - Create your very own Order of pyromaniac nuns.
• Sisters of Sigmar- The Warhammer Fantasy equivalent

External Links

• suptg archive about Sisters of Battle and pedophilia.
• FOR THE IMPERIUM! Hey, there's no rule saying that warrior space nuns can't be badass.

Costume Gallery

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  Sister Shoju

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  The Japanese are beating us to the punch.(this is the Chinese,goddammit)

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Gallery

Well obviously there will be some porno here.

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  They aren't actually this cute. -But they should be.-

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  The rape face you know you love.

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  Goddamn fetishists...

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  Love Can Bl-- wait.

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  There was a sister in the Lost Worlds battlebook series.

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  Can't read my, Can't read my, No he cannot read my Purging Face (She's got no one to spare)

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  There are not too many men in Adepta Sororitas so they have to improvise.

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  Incompetent Inquisitor is incompetent.

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  dum dum dum... dummmm

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  Sisters Repentia are supposed to repent.

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  Not that they are fanatical about it.

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  Cum my sisters!

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  OMNOMNOMNOM

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  Post whenever you need to make a fa/tg/uy rage that he doesn't understand the role and jurisdiction of Commissars.

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  GENESTEALERS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY. -But they should- NO THEY SHOULDN'T, YOU SICK PERV.

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  Sorry Mario, but your Heresy is in another castle

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  Sister in deep trouble.

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  Grimdark meets Hot Chicks.

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  Sisters love delicious xeno shota.

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  The lesser known loli chapter.

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  moar

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  OMNOMNOMNOM

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  Yes We Can

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  Are we this desperate for recruits?

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  Some day we too will receive an utterly broken codex update, and when we do this image will be faithfully waiting for you.

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  A sister who isn't being murdered or worshiping Slaanesh what is this I don't even.

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  You don't want to see her tsun side.

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  NO THATS STUPID NO NO NO. Let's face it, being a bunch of glorified cheerleaders isn't that far off the mark nowadays...

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  Problems heretics?

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  Just as planned.

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  Heretics gunna get burned.

• As hilarious as it is to picture a bunch of semi-nude nuns bull rushing a carnifex or a baneblade through a hail of gunfire, it's also weirdly sexy. Behold, the Sisters Repentia.

  As hilarious as it is to picture a bunch of semi-nude nuns bull rushing a carnifex or a baneblade through a hail of gunfire, it's also weirdly sexy. Behold, the Sisters Repentia.