The results are in - and the winner is.......

The Ladies!

Yep, Sisters of Battle it is for me. I had a good rummage through all my stuff sitting in the garage and the SoBs managed to win me over, what with all the bits I've collected for them and a recent injection of fresh blood from the Silverback (cheers dude).

I think what I needed was a hook - something to differentiate them from the crowd, something to keep my interest. And I found it.

I wanted to make them something different from marines and I decided that the essential role of SoBs outside of battle was massively different. Whilst marines get shipped from warzone to warzone, wiping out the Emperor's enemies and all that, the SoBs have a much greater impact on the "normal" folk of the imperium, only being called into action when necessary. To this end I decided to make sure that the Mech army I was planning (lots of rhinos, lots of flamers, lots of meltas) would fit this role to a T. The role of the SoBs is to spread the emperor's word and also to enforce it and root out heresy, often over quite a large area where visits by the Emperor's servants are few and far between.

Therefore each of the rhinos would have to be more than just a troop transport. Some would be mobile shrines...... and on the flip side some would carry the implements of torture by which the sisters seek out heresy and ensure it is purged.

Fortunately the Exorcists I've previously put together fit this theme pretty well as they are mobile shrines, including the friezes on the converted launchers themselves. My mission therefore was to make the rhinos more the instruments of torture and compliance with the Emperor's will - as defined by the fanactical SoBs.

I wanted to give the impression that the rhino cavalcade would roll into one of the Imperiums many settlements and allow the masses to worship at the vehicles, but also that they would be there to root out, and punish, those they considered lax in their service to the Emperor. And let's face it, they'll never be short of finding people who in their eyes are lax in their service.......

So, first up is a unit of celestians with rhino and Palatine. I've stuck the celestians to their bases, so this weekend is painting and rhino building. Celestians first because they're the only unit I'm planning that is allowed less than 10 members so this will hopefully give me flexibility going forward when I need to drop a few points to get something in or have a few points spare.

Piccies to come once I'm further advanced!