Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

Interview with a Wargamer – Woehammer Dave

Last week I interviewed Woehammer Ben from the channel, which you can read here. This week we’re moving onto Woehammer Dave, also known as our very own Chaos Dave.


When did you first get into wargaming?

My first year of senior school.

And what game was it that first drew you in?

A friend had been given the Epic Space Marine starter box for their birthday. We played a few games together and I got hooked.

But you hate Space Marines!

I don’t hate space marines, I dislike Primaris. Also, back then it was Space Marines or nothing as that was all that you got in the box.

So your first game was epic? What games do you play now?

Currently AoS, 40K and Kill Team are the ones I’m actively working on. With a bit of interest in a few others but not the time. Historically, I played Epic, Adeptus Titanicus, Necromunda, Battletech, Warhammer Fantasy and 40K.

I’d consider non-GW games but there aren’t active gaming communities I’m aware of.

You’re big chaos player, has that always been the way?

Not really. I started out in Epic with Salamanders, I painted my marines dark green because that’s the paint I had. I flitted around with armies in fantasy for a while, between orcs and goblins and high elves (good starter set) before settling on Undead for a long time. When I started 40k my first army was Orks, then I collected Space Wolves.I had a break from the hobby and when I started again I collected Dark Eldar (from the starter set) and then later Word Bearers. In Fantasy I collected Skaven and Empire and in 8th edition Beastmen and mixed chaos.

I started playing Ultramarines later on after another hobby hiatus.

No! Not the Smurfs!

That was one of the reasons I started them. They’re cool and don’t deserve the hate.

When I started Epic the poster boy armies were Ultramarines and Thousand Sons. I would have done ultramarines then if I a. Had the paint and b. My mate hadn’t got dibs

I prefer the twilight marines….. So what was your last game and against who?

Age of Sigmar against @dreadmund (Ed). Slaves to Darkness versus Lumineth.

How did that go?

My take a bit of everything list did not do too well against Ed’s tournament list.

What are you working on at the minute, and do you have any pictures?

Ossiarch Bonereapers for Age of Sigmar. I got an eBay ‘rescue’ army for cheap. I’m aiming to have them finished for end of 3rd October.

Dave’s first OBR model
Rear of the year?

This is the one I’ve finished. No pressure!

What’s happening on the 3rd?

Nothing. It’s just the deadline I’ve set myself.

Love that paint job.

Thank you. I might add some pigments to the base because it feels a little bit flat.

What’s your most memorable gaming moment?

The first Warhammer Fantasy campaign I took part in ended in a big four way battle, which was another first for me. My High Elves and my friend’s Imperial Dwarves versus a combined Wood Elf and Empire army. It was the first time I’d used Wardancers and I remember charging them into a unit of trash human infantry and just blending them. They just kept blending and blending these infantry units which kind of suited our opponents but I was having a wonderful time. It kind of defined how I tended to like to play the game from then on. Sometimes I’ll charge even if it’s a bad idea, just for the blood and glory!

So what do find you get out of the hobby?

I find the painting to be relaxing and a good stress reducer. Also enjoy the banter. Playing the game is obviously challenging to some extent at the moment but I enjoy the spectacle of the games.

Quiz time! Name five GW games that aren’t AoS or 40k.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Horus Heresy. Dark Future. Trolls in the Pantry. Gorkamorka.

Magnus did nothing wrong! Yes or No?

Everybody has ‘done things wrong’, especially in 40k. I think his initial motivations and intentions were largely good but also self-serving and hubristic.

If you were to fall to chaos which power would you devote yourself to?

The Lore Nerd answer is all Gods are Chaos Gods. So my answer would probably be Tyrion for AoS as he doesn’t seem, unusually, to be actively shit to his followers. Cegorach for 40k for similar (though less strong) reasons.

If you’re going to hold me to the ‘big four’ though…. my answer is Tzeentch. Or is it?

Ultramarines are…..?

A Legion or Chapter of loyalist Space Marines.


You can follow Dave on Twitter here.

I’ve included some shots of other models below that Dave has painted since I’ve had the pleasure of knowing him.

Alessio Cavatore – A Life in Wargames

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)

Following on from the success of my article on Jervis Johnson. I thought I would continue this into a series with another great games designer, Alessio Cavatore.


Alessio who hails from the City of Turin in Italy moved to the UK in 1995 and joined Games Workshop in the same year as a translator.

A year later and Alessio was made a games developer and was set to work writing several supplements for Warhammer Fantasy Battles before heading up the Lord of the Rings Strategy Game.

2004 was the year that saw Alessio made responsible for all the rules published for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Warhammer 40k and Lord of the Rings. Two years later and he would write the rules for the 7th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

As well as writing the rules for Mordheim alongside Rick Priestley and Tuomas Pirinen, Alessio has been involved in games for both Warlord Games and Mantic Games. With Bolt Action (Warlord Games) and Kings of War (Mantic) all receiving input from this talented writer.

In 2010 Alessio founded River Horse Games to allow him to publish his own games and work as a consultant for other publishers such as Para-Bellum, where he worked on Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings.

Out of the 73 games and add-ons that Alessio has worked on to date, that number includes;

  • Mordheim (Games Workshop)
  • Warhammer Fantasy Battles – 7th Edition (Games Workshop)
  • Kings of War (Mantic)
  • Bolt Action (Warlord Games)
  • The Lord of the Rings: Strategy Battle Game (Games Workshop)
  • Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings (Para-Bellum)
  • Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition (Games Workshop)

As a side note, Alessio, Brian Nelson and the Perry Twins all had cameo appearances in The Return of the King film as Rohirrim at the Battle of Pelennor Fields. They can be seen near the Mumakil when Pippin goes searching for Merry after the battle.

Behindtherules.com conducted an excellent interview with Alessio back in 2010, if you would like to learn more about Alessio and his rules writing you can find the 1st part of the interview here.

Like Jervis, the wargames community owes a lot to Alessio for his contribution to the industry and for what he continues to contribute.

I’m also hoping that articles like this will show that many of the rules sets you may dismiss out of hand have often been worked on by a writer you know and love that has worked for Games Workshop at one time or another.

Why don’t you let us know in the comments below which of Alessio’s games is your favourite, and why not suggest someone to focus a future article on.

Interview with a Wargamer – Woehammer Ben

Ben is one of the founding members of the Woehammer crew and also plays the character Grymar on the Curse of Strahd D&D playthrough.

I talked to him about how he got into the hobby and why he loves the Raptors so much.

Ben, top right as Grymar in Dunces & Dragons

Ok first question, when did you first get into wargaming?

I first got into wargaming when I was 12/13, so around 1998. It was after visiting the GW store on Oxford Street (London) for a friends birthday.

Did you get your parents to buy your first army while you were there then?

No, my first model was a Leman Russ tank for my birthday that year. After that it was Imperial Guard all the way.

Leman Russ tank! That’s an awesome first model! Do you still have the Guard army?

Unfortunately my older brother like Abaddon decided that Cadia must fall. He burnt all my minis and gaming board.

Wow! You never went back to them after that. Is that when you moved on to Marines? Also I hope your brother made up for that!

I had started to move away from warhammer at that point and wouldn’t return until 2019. He has since made up for destroying my minis by buying me copious amounts of paint so I’d call it even.

Good man! We all have that gap away from the hobby at some point. What brought you back?

My wife started to sell GW products in her shop around 2018. I was helping her with learning about the 40K side of things. After really getting into all the new lore I had missed I decided to start painting up a Deathwatch army so I could play again.

Ben’s Beautiful Bel’akor

And what made you interested in the raptors?

My Deathwatch army was made entirely of non primaris units. I wanted to keep the feel of the Deathwatch being an elite veteran chapter. While I was building and painting my Deathwatch army I would watch lore videos. That’s where I came across the Raptors, or as they’re also known, the Reasonable Marines.

I began to read more into the Raptors. They’re a successor chapter of the Raven Guard. The Raptors are know for being stealthy, using geurilla warfare and hit and run tactics. They are also prized marksmen. I felt this fit well into Phobos primaris units like infiltrators and Eliminators.

Some of Ben’s Raptors

What was the last game you played and against who?

The last game I played was a path to glory game of AoS against fellow Woehammerer Declan Waters. You can read his excellent write up on here.

Declan the baby faced assassin

What’s your most memorable gaming moment?

Haha, that has to be when my Chaos Lord on Karkadrak was down to his last wound and ended up killing my opponents Lord Kroak in one turn.

Was this against Orange Ben?

Yes it was. I should probably stop bringing it up…

No! You need to make the most of these memories.

Makes up for the battering I took from Declan.

The baby faced assassin!

Will be interesting to see what happens if him and orange Ben have a game.

What do you find the hobby gives you?

It’s surprised me how much I get out of the hobby. I really enjoy building and kit bashing models. I’ve found the painting to be massively therapeutic and has kept me reasonably sane through long stints of lockdown. It’s also an amazingly social hobby too. Not just the gaming element, but also chats over zoom while hobbying and meeting up for days out.

So apart from 40k what other games do you play?

During the first lockdown I started to build and paint a Slaves to Darkness army for AoS. Coming out of lockdown AoS has been the predominant game I’ve been playing.
Ive also got into playing Dungeons and Dragons recently.

Ben’s Slaves to Darkness army

And hopefully we’ll be adventuring together again in the future! Ok time for a bit of a quiz. Name five GW games that aren’t AoS or 40k.

Necromunda, killteam, warcry, blood bowl, and trolling customers.

Magnus did nothing wrong. Yes or no?

It’s all his fault…

If you were to fall to chaos which power would you devote yourself to?

Blood for the blood god!!! Khorne all the way.

And the last one…. Ultramarines are…..?

Blue

Thanks to Ben for agreeing to be my first ‘subject’ in this series.

You can find Ben on Instagram here. Next week I’ll be talking to our very own Chaos Dave…

Kill Team – Genestealers

The beginning of a journey into an unknown

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)

I am fortunate to have met many friends through wargaming and boardgaming, and sometimes these two groups even collide in a gloriously fun way! Kill Team is one of the rulesets that I can play with those more interested in boardgaming, or not interested in buying & painting a 2,000 point army.

So when one of these friends asked if I was playing Kill Team at a holiday we have soon, I immediately said yes… and started thinking about what I could take. I didn’t want to buy new toys… pile of shame is far too large anyway… so I was limited to Imperial Guard, Blood Angels, Orks and Tyranids. Looking at what others were planning on bringing (Tau, Guard or Orks; Sisters of Battle; Iron Warriors; Necrons) I decided to bring something very different – so Tyranids it was.

The Kill Team

Tyranids have a number of options for their Kill Teams consisting of 2 fire teams from: Tyranid Warriors, Genestealers, Tyranid Swarms (Hormagaunt / Termagaunt). I had loads of all these available, but Genestealers looked to be very different from the other armies being taken, so I picked two Genestealer Fire Teams with Rending Claws & Scything Talons.

The first Fire Team, with the Feeder Tendrils being the Genestealer Leader

I grabbed a few models, some new (see above), and some old (see below) to make the individual Fire Teams clearly different. To add a little variety I found a ‘Stealer with Feeder Tendrils… he was different enough to be my Leader.

Needless to say none of the extras that are on the models are included in Kill Team, so it didn’t matter that some of them have mutations on them. Perfect for adding a bit of variety.

2nd Fire Team is more old school!

The second unit was the gorgeous monopose sculpts from the Space Hulk era. I grew up with these guys, so it was great to get them painted.

Painting

I wanted a scheme I could do quickly, and I’d just picked up Talassar Blue (GW Contrast Paint), so I decided to start with this. The ‘Stealer models have lots of detail on them, and the contrast worked wonderfully, giving great coverage over a simple zenithal highlight (Chaos Black & Grey Seer spray paint). It’s such a vibrant colour and may become my favourite contrast paint!

After a quick Teclis Blue drybrush to show some highlights, I checked my colour wheel, and it suggested orange as a contrast colour… perfect! I picked out the teeth, talons and nails and I had the units finished in a little over a day.

Fortunately, I have a bunch of Sector Imperialis bases already painted, so a quick snip of the bases and reglue and the unit was finished.

Hope you like them, and I’ll let you know how I get on later this month!

The Kill Team core book is available from SCN Hobbies in Corby; or – most likely – from your FLGS!

— Declan

Jervis Johnson – A Life in Wargames

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)

Jervis Johnson officially retired from Games Workshop in July. As such I thought it was a great time to cover his career as a games designer, from his first game to his last and the impact he’s had on the hobby.

If you don’t know who Jervis Johnson is then this will introduce you to a man who has created many of the great games you know and love today.

Jervis joined Games Workshop as a trade sales assistant in 1982. During this time he started writing rules for Games Workshops’ own games in his spare time (them being the seller for dungeons and dragons in Europe.and not producing their own game of Warhammer Fantasy until 1983). What would become the first edition of Blood Bowl was produced in 1986, followed closely by Rogue Trader (the 1st edition of Warhammer 40k) in 1988.

During his time Jervis has designed or has been involved in the design of over 93 games and add-ons. Both for Games Workshop and other companies.

These include;

  • Blood Bowl (1st, 2nd & 3rd Editions) – 1986, 1988, 1994
  • Adeptus Titanicus (1st Edition) – 1988
  • Advanced HeroQuest – 1989
  • Advanced Space Crusade – 1990
  • Armies of the Imperium – 1991
  • Battle for Armageddon – 1992
  • Black Powder (2nd Edition) (Warlord Games) – 2019
  • Blood Bowl (2016 Edition) – 2016
  • Epic Armageddon – 2003
  • La Haye Saint (Warlord Games) – 2014
  • Necromunda – 1995
  • Space Hulk (2nd Edition) – 1996
  • Space Marine – 1989
  • Warhammer 40,000 (3rd Edition) – 1998
  • Warhammer 40,000 (4th Edition) – 2004
  • Warhammer Ancient battles – 1998
  • Warhammer Fantasy (8th Edition) – 2010
  • Warmaster – 1993

Many other companies have taken inspiration from some of Jervis Johnson’s games. Whether you know it or not, your favourite game has probably been worked on or has used inspiration from one of Johnson’s game.

His retirement is well deserved, but the wargaming community is losing a true giant of the industry. Goodbye Jervis, and enjoy your retirement.

Why don’t you let us know in the comments below which of Jervis’ games was your favourite?

Why not join our Facebook group to get the notifications on new posts and share your work with us for Tale of Painters.

Next Week

Alessio Cavatore

Book Review – The Solar war

by John French

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)

The Solar War is the beginning of the end in the epic Horus Heresy series from Black Library.

With the Horus Heresy reaching 54 books, countless short stories and novellas I admit to finding it difficult to keep up-to-date with the storyline – and I read a lot, and have known the story since I was 11! As such, it was a great decision to ‘restart’ the series numbering to allow readers to get back on track with the ‘Siege of Terra’ series.

Horus’ fleet has arrived at Sol and must get to the Emperor’s palace on Terra – fortified by Dorn – but first he must fight through the remaining loyal fleet of the Emperor.

The book returns to some of the characters from the start of the series – Mersadie & Logan – and is was fun to read their story of the start of the invasion.

The book includes mass space battles, many (many) deaths as the loyalists attempt to slow down Horus’ treachery.

I did struggle at times with the number and names of the ships many introduced to be destroyed and I did sometimes have to re-read a passage to work out if a destroyed ship was loyalist or traitor. Although they have restarted the numbering, it is difficult to see how anyone who is new to the lore could understand what is happening in the story. Definitely a book for those already invested in the Heresy – although fine if you’ve not read all the previous books.

The pace feels significantly quicker than the rest of the series, so don’t expect another 50 books for the Siege of Terra, but I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

A promising start to the Siege…

Rating: 3 out of 5.

We always encourage people to shop at local bricks and mortar stores, but if your friendly local book store doesn’t have this available, we have a UK Amazon affiliate link & a USA Amazon affiliate link for which Woehammer receives a small commission.

— Declan & Eeyore

Warhammer TV – Week 2

Warhammer TV released a new episode of Angels of Death this week, along with a new 40k battle report between the Blood Angels and Orks.

Still nothing for our Age of Sigmar fans I’m afraid, and this is, in my opinion a massive ball drop by Games Workshop. Hopefully we’ll see new animations for Aos next week.

This weeks Warhammer+ releases

Angels of Death – The Silent City

Title card for the Silent City

The opening scene from this weeks animation was very, very good. The three years of work that has gone into this by Richard Boylan and the rest of the team is really starting to show, even at this early stage of the series.

Without spoiling, the episode is excellent, however, my only issue (I wouldn’t call it a complaint at this point) is that the sound effects and background noise seem too quiet in some parts of the programme.

The female ship captain is by far the standout character in this series so far and I’m enjoying her strong personality against the backdrop of the Blood Angels.

The art has remained the same as the previous week’s episode, so I’m unsure whether the monochrome and red is now the state of play for the rest of the series, or if the series will follow the path of Richard Boylan’s Helsreach animation and introduce more colour as it progresses. Either way it has excellent camera angles and the story really does draw you in.

Battle Report (Blood Angels v Orks)

Blood Angels v Orks

As a Blood Angel fan with a soft spot for the Orks, I’m a big fan of this week’s battle report. This week it sees Patrick in charge of the Blood Angels and Louise at the head of the Orks in a 1,000 point grand tournament scenario game.

The format is the same as the two previous battle reports shown last week, with mostly a top down view cutting to the players occasionally. The style of the battle report reminds me a lot of PlayOn tabletops YouTube battle reports and I believe they may have taken some of those ideas and applied them here.

Although I was pleased to be watching the 40k battle report, I’m surprised that Games Workshop didn’t post an Age of Sigmar one alongside this.

Masterclass: Black Armour

Black Armour

Louise Sugden introduces us to painting black armour to a masterclass standard this week. The video is informative and the instructions that Louise gives are clear, and after all who doesn’t enjoy a good painting video.

After watching this weeks video, it has made me realise another reason why Games Workshop shut down Daniel Latham’s YouTube site (one of their miniature designers and former ‘eavy metal painter) who was doing similar tutorial videos. You can still find some of his videos on his instagram account.

Conclusion

Another week for 40k fans with Age of Sigmar having nothing released in terms of viewing.

There was also no Hammer & Bolter episode this week, so perhaps this series will release an episode every two weeks?

As Declan said last week it’s difficult to recommend the service at the moment if you’re only interested in Age of Sigmar.

Combat Patrol: Adeptus Sororitas – Beginners 1,000 Point Army

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)

Following Dave and I reviewing the Sisters of Battle Codex on our YouTube channel earlier this year, I decided that with the release of the Sisters Combat Patrol box, I thought it may be an idea to go through whats in the box and then select some units to expand the force to 1,000 points.


The combat patrol box is packed with goodies and like the other factions they’re a fantastic way to start a new army as they often give you a wide range of units.

The Sisters of Battle Combat Patrol Contents


In the Sisters Combat Patrol box you’re given;

  • Canoness
  • 10x Battle Sisters
  • 5x Seraphim
  • 4x Sisters Repentia
  • Repentia Superior
  • Penitent Engine
  • 3x Arco-flagellents
  • Rhino

All of that for £85, which is bought separately would cost roughly £170.

On top of this we’ll add the following units;

  • Palatine £21
  • Preacher £10
  • Castigator £52.50
  • Dominion Squad £35 (this will also buy you a unit of Celestians)
  • Retributor Squad £32.50

This will cost you an additional £151, alongside the cost of the Codex for £30 the entire army will set you back £266!

However! If you sign up for SCN Hobbies mailing list you’ll receive 25% off Games Workshops recommended retail price and 15% off web only miniatures. Meaning including postage the army and codex would cost £200.50! That’s a saving of £66!

To sign up to the SCN Hobbies mailing list, email Sarah on scnhobbyworld@outlook.com.

The list above brings us with upgrades to 1,000 points and the list will be as follows;

Vanguard Detachment (3CP)
Order Convictions: Order of the Bloody Rose

Canoness
1x Canoness – Blessed Blade, Bolt pistol, Relic: Wrath of The Emperor, Warlord
Warlord Trait – Righteous Rage
Blessings – Divine Deliverance

Battle Sister Squad
1x Sister Superior – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun
4x Battle Sister – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun

Battle Sister Squad
1x Sister Superior – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun
4x Battle Sister – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun

Arco-Flagellants
3x Arco Flagellant – Arco-flails

Repentia Superior
1x Repentia Superior – Neural Whips

Sisters Repentia
4x Sisters Repentia – Penitent Eviscerator

Dominion Squad
1x Dominion Superior – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun
4x Dominion – Artificer-crafted storm bolter

Seraphim Squad
1x Seraphim Superior – 2x Bolt Pistols
2x Seraphim – 2x Bolt pistols
2x Seraphim – 2x Ministorum Hand Flamers

Sororitas Rhino
Sororitas Rhino

Spearhead Detachment (3CP)
Order Convictions: Order of the Bloody Rose

Palatine
Palatine – Bolt pistol & Power Sword

Preacher
1x Preacher – Zealot’s Vindicator

Castigator
1x Castigator – Autocannons

Penitent Engines
1x Penitent Engine – 2x Penitent buzz-blades

Retributor Squad
1x Retributor Superior – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun
4x Retributor – Multi-melta

++ Total: [52 PL, 1,000pts] ++

CANONESS

Canoness

For your Canoness I would make her the Warlord and make the whole detachment part of the Order of the Bloody Rose. This allows you add 1 to the attack characteristics of models with this conviction when they Charge, are charged or make a heroic intervention. Extra attacks are always nice! So let’s lean in to this slightly and give the canoness the Blessed Blade and the Wrath of the Emperor Relic.

The Blessed Blade gives the Canoness a +2 strength, -3 AP Damage 2 close combat weapon, while the Wrath of the Emperor replaces her Bolt Pistol with an 18” range pistol able to fire 4 shots per round with strength 5, -1 AP and 2 damage. That packs quite the punch, especially considering the Canoness can now make 5 attacks instead of 4 when they’ve charged or have been charged.

Don’t forget that CORE units within 6” of the Canoness will be allowed to re-roll 1’s on their to hit rolls when making attacks as well. This means she’ll be handy next to your Arco-Flagellants when they make it into combat.

I would also give the Canoness the Warlord Trait Righteous Rage, which will allow her to re-roll hit rolls and wound rolls when in melee.

We’ll also give her Blessing as her Divine Deliverance, this negates one enemy units aura ability that is within 6” of the Canoness, however this is only done if after rolling 3D6 and the resulting roll being equal to or higher than the enemies Leadership characteristic.

PALATINE

Palatine

This lovely woman is the ying to your Canoness’s yang, allowing CORE units within 6” to re-roll wound rolls of 1. Having her with the Canoness next to a unit dishing out a lot of attacks is always a good move. Having a bubble of our Canoness, palatine and Arco-Flagellants will make an opponent think twice. Once you look to expand beyond 1,000 points my next thought would be adding more models to your Arco-Flagellants.

Take her as is.

PREACHER

Son of a Preacher Man!

Having one of these guys in your list allows nearby units to benefit from his War Hymns, which grants them another attack. Which when combined with the conviction of the Order of the Bloody Rose will allow some of your units with the CORE keyword to make two additional attacks on top of what they would normally make (looking at you Arco-Flagellants). As well as this, he also has access to the Battle Hymns. Very squishy though so make sure you keep him towards the back of you Flagellant bubble.

BATTLE SISTERS

Battle Sisters

Battle Sisters I’m inclined to leave as Bolter only and split into two units of five sisters each. These can then be used as objective cappers, they’ll have the ability to deal with the small unimportant elements of your opponent’s army but their primary use should be holding objectives or vital points of the battlefield. If the enemy shoots and focuses on these units then that frees up your heavy hitters and close combat specialists for the counter punch.

ARCO-FLAGELLANTS

Arco-Flagellants

I would leave these as standard with their Arco-Flails, and try and make sure that they’re within 6” of the Canoness when they make it into combat so that they can re-roll 1’s for there to hit rolls.

There’s only three of these so the enemies fire will need to be drawn elsewhere for them to be effective, perhaps having some mean looking Castigator on the field may do the trick?

REPENTIA SUPERIOR AND SISTERS REPENTIA

Sisters Repentia

I would also leave these as the basic set up. Again, like with the Arco-Flagellants you do not have many of these so try and entice your opponent into shooting some other more sturdy unit that can take the punishment until these lovely women make it into combat. Both these and the Arco-Flagellants are a great counter punch to enemy CC and also make great objective clearers which can be followed up by the Battle Sisters, who can lend some light fire support to these units.

SERAPHIM

Seraphim

These are your true fast attack and are great even equipped with the hand flamers. These are perfect for dealing hit and run attacks on larger horde units such as Ork Boyz, Imperial Guard Infantry and the like. Keep them in cover and make sure they get to their intended target to deal their damage. I would equip two Seraphim carrying two hand flamers each kicking out D6 shots which automatically hit their targets. That gives you on average 12 hits from flamers with on average 6 of those causing wounds on toughness 4 targets.

PENITENT ENGINE

Penitent Engines

Although classed as heavy support this unit is ideal for taking on units in close support with its twin buzz blades and double Heavy flamers. With five wounds and toughness five it’ll also take some punishment before it falls down. Plus, with the Penitent Engine, Sisters Repentia and Arco-Flagellants you have redundancy in your close combat and your opponent won’t be certain what to choose first, meaning at least one of them will reach enemy lines.

CASTIGATOR

Castigator Battle Tank

It’s a predator tank, its got good armour and packs a punch from long range for an army which severely lacks in this area. Don’t expect it to last long though, your opponent is likely to target it from the get go, and that’s okay. Because if they’re focusing on the predator they’re not focusing on your combat heavy units closing in on them.

Make sure while it is on the table that it focuses on trying to remove the high armour targets that your other units will sill struggle with.

DOMINION SQUAD

Dominions

These, alongside your Retributors can almost be considered a secret weapon for the sisters. With their Holy Vanguard rule you can pop these in your rhino and they can make a free normal move before the first turn taking them closer towards the enemy. Why do you want to do this? Because you only have five Dominions in the Rhino, means you can fill out the rest of the transport capacity with Retributors with Heavy Flamers or Multi-Meltas to take out those pesky heavy armour targets or large horde mobs.

Equipping the Dominions with Storm Bolters will mean that they’re kicking out 10 shots a turn as well and can lay down some nice fire on the enemy’s units. Hopefully your opponent will ignore the rhino long enough for them to get close and pop that particularly nasty looking tank or flame that large group of Ork boyz….. Please shoot at my Castigator.

RETRIBUTOR SQUAD

Retributor Squad

As mentioned, pop these in the Rhino and arm them with Multi-Meltas and they’ll pretty much turn anything they shoot into liquid metal once they open up. They may be a one use only unit once your opponent sees what they can do so try and hit them where it hurts on the first time of use.

RHINO

Rhino

You want this to remain alive as long as you have your Dominions and Retributors inside, otherwise it could be used to transport your battle sisters up to objectives further up the field. Use it as the workhorse of the army. Many players will use these as a transport for a single unit, but don’t forget to double back pick up others units and rush them over to other parts of the battlefield.

WHERE NEXT?

As I mentioned earlier, my next steps would be to look at expanding the Arco-Flagellants into possibly a ten strong unit. Beefing up the close combat element of the army is always a good shout, and you know a second Castigator would always be a nice distraction for your opponent.

I would also seriously consider taking some Celestian Sacresants, as with these you’ll find that they make perfect bodyguards for your characters as enemy units are unable to target them. They also come with a 4+ invulnerable save.

I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know in the comments below how you would build a 1,000 point list from the Combat Patrol Box and why not also let me know what you think to my list. There may well be aspects of the codex or units that I have not included that you think should be, so why not let us know in the comments below.

Peter