A Theory Regarding the Fate of Sisters of Battle...

[ElectricPaladin]

What about being folded into the Imperial Guard codex?

I'm not suggesting that I would support this. It might even be enough to get me to sell out of Sisters, to be honest. However, with this new trend towards creating supplemental codices, I could see how it might be a solution to GW's Sisters problem.

Think about it:
• The Ecclesiarchy is already deeply involved the Guard, and an ecclesiarchy priest is one of the HQs you can take in a Guard army.
•*The Sisters have a statline that's a lot like the Guard's, except for a better BS and Save.
• The Acts of Faith system does a lot of the same stuff that the Orders system does, only not as well.

What I'm forseeing is Sisters of Battle as an in-codex option of what Space Marines allies provide from outside the codex, both in the fluff and on the table: small elite units supporting the main army by getting into close-ranged firefights, which they can survive thanks to their superior armor and skill.

If this were a just world, we wouldn't have to wait long to find out. Nobody - but nobody - needs an update as bad as the Sisters do right now.

So, what do you think? An interesting theory, or total nonsense?

[kire]

its actually quite a clever idea. i don't see it happening but i didnt think Templar would be folded in to codex space marines so what do i know

[daboarder]

What about being folded into the Imperial Guard codex?

I'm not suggesting that I would support this. It might even be enough to get me to sell out of Sisters, to be honest. However, with this new trend towards creating supplemental codices, I could see how it might be a solution to GW's Sisters problem.

Think about it:
• The Ecclesiarchy is already deeply involved the Guard, and an ecclesiarchy priest is one of the HQs you can take in a Guard army.
•*The Sisters have a statline that's a lot like the Guard's, except for a better BS and Save.
• The Acts of Faith system does a lot of the same stuff that the Orders system does, only not as well.

What I'm forseeing is Sisters of Battle as an in-codex option of what Space Marines allies provide from outside the codex, both in the fluff and on the table: small elite units supporting the main army by getting into close-ranged firefights, which they can survive thanks to their superior armor and skill.

If this were a just world, we wouldn't have to wait long to find out. Nobody - but nobody - needs an update as bad as the Sisters do right now.

So, what do you think? An interesting theory, or total nonsense?

An interesting theory and one that has been suggested before.

Me I just don't see it, a big part of the sisters is the political fallout from the reign of blood, and that means that baring rabble the church cannot field its own army of male soldiers as such it has the sisters of battle. and they are so fanatical they fight on their own terms, garrison ecclesiarchal shrine worlds, protect pilgrim routes and convoys. And have a deep distrust of ordinary imperial citizens (guard included)

I can see GW folding sisters (because they are stupid and don't get why the sales for them are so low) or doing the right thing and rebooting them as per DE, but I don't see them being half arsed folded into IG a codex already bloated with unit options.....which all probably means that is exactly what GW would do.

[Sainhann]

Wouldn't make GW any money.

No GW will either kill them off or will put out a overprice Codex for them.

[Gleipnir]

I think its more likely they would be folded into an inquisitor codex along with grey knights, possible deathwatch. With the supplement treatment to follow.

With unit options available being tied to which HQ option is selected and some units available across any branch of the inquisition, inquisitors, retinue, Assassins, etc.

[GrauGeist]

I have suggested that Sisters of Battle be an Imperial Guard supplement multiple times. The challenge is to resolve the Fluff issue with "men under arms", which is what probably stalls things. Expanding Sisters to a fully-fledged force with Monster / Anti-Monster; Flyers / Anti-Flyer; mobility, etc, etc. is just too much work for an army which historically does not sell. Particularly when 40k is suffering from rules & army bloat due to the CSM / Daemons split and all of the other factions getting Codices / Supplements. I suspect that rules-wise, Sisters might be somewhere between a Supplement and a Codex, perhaps a "super supplement" of sorts.

Assuming it can be resolved, then stat-wise Sisters are basically IG StormTroopers (Power Armor simply does not match the models in any way), but armed with Bolters instead of HotShot Lasguns:

WS3 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I3 A1 Sv4+ - Ld7 Stormtrooper / Ld8 Sister of Battle.

A strong argument could be made for Ld8 Stormtroopers to unify the statline. But then there are also Arbites with Combat Shotguns, for whom Ld7 makes better sense. And then there are Grenadiers (Troops). Perhaps to split them as:
- Ld7 Arbite (S4 Shotgun) / Grenadier (S5 Lasgun) vs.
- Ld8 Sister (Bolter) / Stormtrooper (AP3 Lasgun)
Note that the IG Veteran is also essentially similar with Lasgun, but only Sv5+ Flak armor.

Anyhow, as a Guard supplement, Sisters would gain a lot of battlefield advantages, namely, the ability to leverage Guard units in some useful fashion. Also, the newly-added Sv6++ is a nice distinguishing feature. Consider:

WS3 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld8 Sv4+/6++ Sister of Battle (Carapace, Bolter)

Points-wise, this is does not need to be so expensive, which solves the problem of a semi-elite that isn't nearly as elite as a Space Marine. Especially considering that CSM are 13 points with WS4 S4 T4 I4.

As an Allied Stormtrooper-equivalent with slightly different rules, there's a lot of promise. But, even needing the update, it's still more work than other Supplements, and the revised rules & fluff to make it really work is non-trivial.

[daboarder]

I have suggested that Sisters of Battle be an Imperial Guard supplement multiple times. The challenge is to resolve the Fluff issue with "men under arms", which is what probably stalls things. Expanding Sisters to a fully-fledged force with Monster / Anti-Monster; Flyers / Anti-Flyer; mobility, etc, etc. is just too much work for an army which historically does not sell. Particularly when 40k is suffering from rules & army bloat due to the CSM / Daemons split and all of the other factions getting Codices / Supplements. I suspect that rules-wise, Sisters might be somewhere between a Supplement and a Codex, perhaps a "super supplement" of sorts.

Assuming it can be resolved, then stat-wise Sisters are basically IG StormTroopers (Power Armor simply does not match the models in any way), but armed with Bolters instead of HotShot Lasguns:

WS3 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I3 A1 Sv4+ - Ld7 Stormtrooper / Ld8 Sister of Battle.

A strong argument could be made for Ld8 Stormtroopers to unify the statline. But then there are also Arbites with Combat Shotguns, for whom Ld7 makes better sense. And then there are Grenadiers (Troops). Perhaps to split them as:
- Ld7 Arbite (S4 Shotgun) / Grenadier (S5 Lasgun) vs.
- Ld8 Sister (Bolter) / Stormtrooper (AP3 Lasgun)
Note that the IG Veteran is also essentially similar with Lasgun, but only Sv5+ Flak armor.

Anyhow, as a Guard supplement, Sisters would gain a lot of battlefield advantages, namely, the ability to leverage Guard units in some useful fashion. Also, the newly-added Sv6++ is a nice distinguishing feature. Consider:

WS3 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld8 Sv4+/6++ Sister of Battle (Carapace, Bolter)

Points-wise, this is does not need to be so expensive, which solves the problem of a semi-elite that isn't nearly as elite as a Space Marine. Especially considering that CSM are 13 points with WS4 S4 T4 I4.

As an Allied Stormtrooper-equivalent with slightly different rules, there's a lot of promise. But, even needing the update, it's still more work than other Supplements, and the revised rules & fluff to make it really work is non-trivial.

yup too much work, just like dark eldar were dropped as too much work that could never possibly out sell marines.

[eldargal]

yup too much work, just like dark eldar were dropped as too much work that could never possibly out sell marines.

And Necrons and Grey Knights and Tau. This happens with every army that needs a revamp, SoB are the last and it will continue until they get one. It's really quite tedious.


SoB and Guard have very different playstyles, I can't see it working and from a lore perspective they just got retconned out of their join with the Inquisition so it doesn't seem that likely they would lump them in with someone else.

[daboarder]

And then we will have calls of CSM and dark angels being dropped or both rolled into the SM dex

[ElectricPaladin]

No GW will either kill them off or will put out a overprice Codex for them.

There's no evidence for this. The Black Templars were just folded into the Space Marines codex. I don't think that GW will kill any more armies - the bad press and customer abandonment they got by killing off the Squats was bad enough. I have heard from longer-term fans than myself that the backlash was pretty hellish. No... they will find a way to save them.

Power Armor simply does not match the models in any way...

This is just wrong. There are a lot of "human in power armor" models out there - mostly various inquisitors for the Grey Knights - and they are all decent models, and more or less scaled to the Sisters of Battle. Sister of Battle power armor looks perfectly legit./