Sisters of Battle Unit Review: Dedicated Transports

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Hi All, Eldrad Vect here, when it comes to Dedicated Transports, Sisters of Battle don't have much different to their Space Marine allies, but still here is my review of the Sister's Dedicated Transports.
First off, the humble Rhino, nuff said...
On a serious note, unlike Space Marines, Sister of Battle rhinos are often used quite a bit, due to the fact that Sisters are a tad more fragile than Space Marines. Nothing is different though, still the same old Rhino, just with Sisters of Battle iconography.

The second option is the Immolator, whilst a little different is pretty much the same as a Space Marine Razorback, except it is only able to take Twin-Linked Heavy Flamers, Twin-Linked Multi-Meltas or Twin-Linked Heavy Bolters. However the Immolator has one little wargear buff to its Heavy Bolters, Inferno Bolts. No not those amazing AP3 things that Thousand Sons use, these Inferno Bolts simply allow re-rolls to wound, not a awesome as Thousands Sons, but still pretty good.

Now the one thing the they have going for them is that all Sisters of Battle tanks have Shield of Faith, thus they all have a 6+ Invuln. save which on a tank is quite handy. The other wargear upgrades they can take are ok, but nothing spectacular.
I personally don't use transports for my Sisters, I only ever use the Immolator and even then only to transport Dominion Squads. But thats just me, they are ok transports, but not great, but I mean Marines don't get any better, I know the new codex may change things but still, these have been serving Space Marines for years and they still win battles.

Games Workshop Oxford: Review on Space Marine Codex Release Day

Greetings from the UK where I'm visiting for a short while (hence lots of posts from Eldrad and not many from me recently!). The news of the day is not the Aussie general election despite claims to the contrary. It is the release of the new Space Marines codex. And I dutifully queued up outside the Games Workshop Oxford store on release day a few minutes before it opened.  And yes: there were a small group of people standing on the other side of the road from the store watching as they put the final touches to their displays before opening the door at 10am.

Games Workshop Oxford is just down the road (in the adjacent building in fact) from the Wesley Memorial Methodist Church (if you know Oxford at all), sharing a building with a dry cleaners and a betting shop. Its kind of tucked away, but still very accessible from the major arterial routes that snake through the old city.  The store is quite spacious in some regards (certainly bigger than the likes of Chadstone, Australia) but is by no means a battle bunker.  That said, it does possess at least 3 large gaming tables with ample room to manoeuvre around the edges without getting in the way of customers. I find the latter can be an issue in some GW stores.

I was there to purchase a copy of the new Space Marines codex. They had several nice displays laid out and an ample pile of the new codex ready to be taken from one of the displays. Allan (staff member, possibly the manager?), whom I spoke to was ace. Particularly when I mentioned my fetish for Death Guard. Had a nice chat about pre-Heresy armies and graviton guns. He's clearly done his homework, is mature, and is very involved in the hobby.

Below is one of the display armies that I snapped: an Imperial Fists force with some neat scenery. I always think yellow is a terrifically hard colour to work with, and this army has totally pulled it off. The impressive "chips" in the armour were abundant on the miniatures and it was clear this was a labour of love. In the background, you can just see the cropped lower half of some of the new boxed sets of marines. They're a bit more grim dark than the old boxes I think, and the prices are also getting expensive now: five pounds per marine in some of the boxes is creeping up to high levels. That said, there was no shortage of customers and the store was feeling nicely packed (not jam packed) after the first 30 mins from opening. All in all, a very pleasant store, well maintained, well positioned, with excellent displays and wonderful staff.  I really enjoyed the experience! Thanks Oxford GW!

Sisters of Battle Unit Review: Dominion Squad

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Hi everybody, Eldrad Vect here, with the review of yet another stand out unit in the Sisters of Battle, the Dominion Squad.
Dominions are pretty much Sisters of Battle with the Scout USR, now to most this doesn't seem tempting scout isn't really worth the extra points, but it isn't the Dominions themselves that are deadly but how they combine their wargear and special rules. Dominions can take 2 Special Weapons per 5 Sisters, the weapons up for grabs are a Storm Bolter, Meltagun or Flamer. No one ever chooses the Storm Bolter but a unit that can Outflank 4 Meltaguns and with a good BS is great, this is the same for the Flamers, its a effective way for causing panic in the back lines. Dominions are pretty much a suicide unit, Outflank then kill something before your wiped off the board, but we cannot forget these girls wear Power Armour meaning the have a chance of survival, though its slim since most of the enemies fire will be directed at them.
Special rules are pretty blank, the standard Sisters rules and Scout. Their Act of Faith is Holy Fusillade and it is amazing, making all weapons the Dominions carry Twin-Linked, making Meltaguns accurate and Flamers Re-roll to wound, this usually means when Dominions hit they hit hard.
This review was kind of small, so with that I'll give you a few ways I play Dominions. I tend to play a Flamer Dominion Squad in an Immolator, this gives me a horrid Twin-Linked Heavy Flamer from the Immolator and 3 Flamers (the Sister Superior has a Combi-Flamer) from the Dominions this usually gives me they upper hand as they Outflank and torch any unit they can. Alternatively I have played this strategy with an all Melta squad too, the thing to remember with Dominions is they suck at being take all comers, yeah you can have a Meltagun and Flamer, but neither will be as effective, Dominions have to be specialized.
My verdict on Dominions are still they same, these girls stand out as being handy and quite powerful, whilst one sided, they do their job well and like the Seraphim fill that effective aggressive role that is so desperately needs to be filled, Sure Repentia are aggressive but not reliable. They are a relatively good unit all in all, but not the best.

The New Space Marines Codex

The title might come across as a bit deceiving. Today, I wanted to mention the hype surrounding the New Space Marines Codex.  No, not the 40k space marines.  The 30k space marine.  The original legions!

I came across this video teaser / trailer earlier today and wanted to share it with you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OERW6DuG5Qg

That's Horus Heresy Book II: Massacre.

As the title suggests, its about the second major event in the Istvaan system: the massacre on Istvaan V (following the betrayal and the purging of the 4 core heretical legions on Istvaan III). The trailer looks totally compelling -- Games Workshop clearly needs to up its output quality to match Forge World on this front.

With a release date of about a month's time (UK Games Day), there are many fans (including me!) who will be anxious to get a hold of this tome.  The book will feature 4 new legions: the Iron Hands, Night Lords, Salamanders, and Word Bearers. The other legions who participated in the Massacre will feature in the 3rd (planned) volume in the series.  Given how well they treated Mortarion, Angron, Horus and Fulgrim (and their unique units like the Palatine Blade Squad), I'm pretty excited to see how they portray Ferrus Manus, the Night Haunter, Vulkan and Lorgar. In addition, the existing legions that were already detailed in book 1 are rumoured to be getting updated for the future books as things develop along.  Given Australian dollar prices for the new codex, the second book in the Horus Heresy era looks to be quite a bargain by comparison...

Sisters of Battle Unit Review: Seraphim Squad

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Hi everyone, Eldrad Vect here, its been a while but I'm back with my review of the Seraphim Squad.
I love Seraphim, I loved them in Dawn of War and even the models around now are actually my pick for best unit in the codex! Ok, maybe I'm a tad bias, but that won't affect my review in the slightest. First off, stat line, same as your average Sister of Battle and as far as wargear goes, exactly the same, minus the Bolter for a second Bolt Pistol. These girls were the original 'Gunslingers' and while other units such as Space Marine Command Squads and Vanguard Veterans have adopted the Dual Pistol Build as of 6th Edition and the introduction of the Gunslingers USR, the Seraphim are still queens of this form of combat. Seraphim can exchange their twin Bolt Pistols for either twin Hand Flamers or twin Inferno Pistol, two Sisters may take this particular upgrade no matter the squad size, while Inferno Pistols are melta and getting 4 Strength 8 AP 1 shots is so tempting as it is effect vs MCs, Heavy Infantry and Vehicles, the Hand Flamers are the way to go, the reason has something to do with their Act of Faith.
Special Rules wise, Seraphim are just awesome, They have the typical Acts of Faith and Shield of Faith special rules, however they also have Hit and Run, Seraphim Pistols (pretty much an early version of Gunslingers), Angelic Visage and their Faith power, The Emperor's Deliverance. Angelic Visage is the big one, it allows re-rolls of failed Faith tests and Shield of Faith saves, which means they almost always pass their Faith tests and have 6+ Inuvln. save that re-rolls isn't something to sniff at. Then comes the Act of Faith and reason why I take Hand Flamers, The Emperor's Deliverance allows re-rolls to wound when shooting... BY THE EMPEROR!!! this power is amazing and is one of the few that are actually aggressive.
All up, Seraphim are an awesome FA choice that can really hurt enemies if played right, their only downfall is the price tag that comes with playing them, remember they still are just Battle Sisters so if your not keen on spending a lot on a unit that can be cut down quick, even with Power Armour, then Seraphim are not for you, but they are by far one of the best units in the codex.

Sisters of Battle Unit Review: Ecclesiarchy Priests

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Hi everyone, Eldrad Vect reporting, this is quite a short review of a relatively useful Sisters of Battle unit, the Ecclesiarchy Priests.
First things first, the Ecclesiarchy Priests have pretty much the exact same Stats, Rules and Wargear as an Ecclesiarchy Confessor, although the only difference is the dreadfully low WS, BS, Attacks and Leadership and not being able to carry a Plasma Gun. They work in a similar way to Techpriests or Ministorum Priests in the Imperial Guard Codex, they count as Elites, you can have up to 5 of them and they don't take up any FoC at all. These guys are pretty damn useless, the only reason you'd dare to waste 45 points on them is to stick one in all your squads to make Faith tests easier, other than that, they are a complete waste of time and points. Harsh I know but they aren't a very good unit.