Warhammer 40,000 - Adepta Sororita Combat Patrol
I’ve been toying with starting a Sisters of Battle army for a while now, and a few years ago I picked up their Combat Patrol. The one based on the initial Army Set for the launch of the plastic Sisters of Battle from around the end of 2019 or maybe early 2020. The one that gave you a little bit of everything. And yes, I know I said in my End of Year article that I wanted to focus more on single miniatures but this is pretty much the last big box (aside from boardgames) that I need to do.
So with that in mind I set about assembly. As the models are push-fit the assembly didn’t take too long. Being mono-pose the only choices I had were basically whether or not to give them a helmet. For the poses that were duplicated, I would give one a helmet and leave the other bare.
As with the other big projects, I broke this one down into smaller chunks to make things more manageable. I separated them into the Power Armoured Sisters, the half-naked crazies, the Penitent Engine and the Rhino.
Battle Sisters
The largest group were the Sisters in Power Armour, comprising the ten Battle Sisters, five Seraphim, Repentia Superior and the Cannoness. This made them the obvious place to start. To make painting easier, particularly with all the robes, I left the models off the bases and the power packs and bare heads separate. To kick things off proper I primed them all with Colour Forge Standard Grey. I had hoped that someone might do a Vallejo Night Blue equivalent in a rattle can but no such luck (Colour Forge hit me up for a collab please). Alternatively I toyed with the idea of using a different blue that does some in a spray can, like Colour Forge’s Tempest Blue. In the end I decided to see if I could airbrush Night Blue. It wasn’t the worst colour I’ve ever tried to airbrush but it certainly took some work. However, once I did get the ratio of paint to thinner right it was pretty simple and I breezed through basecoating all the armour.
Moving on I remembered having a heap of issues painting the robes on the Novitiates with Mephiston Red. Serendipitously, I was nearly out of Mephiston Red having used it to paint a bucket load of Driller Xenos for Zombicide Invader. So I turned to Archive-X Caboose Red, which gave me a nice solid layer in a mere two thin coats.
For the finer details I started by painting the weapon cases with a couple thin coats of Vallejo Scarlet Red. The corsets and other leather details like straps and pouches I painted with Rhinox Hide. Any parchment details like the purity seals I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. The wax seals for said purity seals I painted with Screamer Pink.
Moving onto the metallics, I painted the weapons and blades with Scale75 Thrash Metal, and any trim and embellishments with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. I also painted some of the rosettes with gold, particularly if they were on a dark colour like the gloves or armour, to help them stand out a little better. For the rosettes that were in front of robes, I painted them in Two Thin Coats Death Reaper instead.
The last thing to do before all the washes was to paint all the areas that need to be white, like the fleur-des-lis on the shoulder pads and the face plates on the helmets. Painting Ulthuan Grey over Night Blue would take so many layers I’d rather tear my eyes out. To alleviate this, and keep my sight, I first painted these areas with Two Thin Coats Carcharodon Grey. I could then go back over it with Ulthuan Grey and get a solid coat in one or sometimes two passes.
The plan for the washes was to give the robes a coat of Army Painter Dark Tone. However from experience it has a habit of turning out a little shiny, and as I had a bunch of models to do all in one go I didn’t want to have to come back later with a matt varnish. So to get a head of things I mixed some AK Interactive Ultra Matt varnish in with the Dark Tone and used that to wash the robes. This turned out really well, the thinned wash had less pooling issues and Caboose Red has a slight satin finish to it so the Ultra Matt varnish took care of that as well. Any silver details then got a wash with Army Painter Dark Tone, as these areas were smaller than the robes I had no qualms about giving them a coat of full strength Dark Tone. The gold and parchment areas I gave a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone. The last “wash” I needed to do was then to give all the white areas a coat of Apothecary White contrast paint. This is a very light grey that can bring out the texture of the white areas without darkening them too much.
By way of some quick highlights, I highlighted the edges and raised areas of the robes with Evil Sunz Scarlet. I did the same for the parchment, albeit with Army Painter Skeleton Bone.
For the final details, I dabbed some Army Painter Dark Tone into the exhausts of the Seraphim jump packs. Next I painted the coils of the Canoness’ plasma pistol with Army Painter Matt White before giving it a coat of Talassar Blue. The helmet lenses I painted with Blood Angel Red, the contrast paint easily flowing into the recesses. Lastly, I went through the tedious process of painting all the buttons on the robes with a dot of Scale75 Thrash Metal. Seems all that time spent dotting the boils on Nurgle models has paid off.
Faces & Hair
As mentioned above I kept the bare heads separate, I figured it would be easier to paint them from primer rather than first having to tidy up any overspill of night blue. A couple of the heads would have a darker skin tone, I set these aside and painted them in the same way that I did for the Acro-Flagellant with dark skin. That is to say, I basecoated them with Vallejo Dark Fleshtone and gave them a wash of Army Painter Purple Tone. The head with the respirator I also set aside, painting it with Two Thin Coats Death Reaper and the filters with Scale75 Thrash Metal. The skin that was visible, pretty much just the eyes, I painted with a couple thin coats of Vallejo Dwarf Skin, which was then given a wash of Reikland Fleshshade.
For the remainder, I painted the skin with Screamer Pink before carefully giving them a zenithal highlight with Army Painter Air Nomad Flesh. This turned out alright, my airbrush currently has a rather fat needle in it so it almost turned out more a basecoat than a highlight. Regardless I finished the faces by giving them a wash of Reikland Fleshshade.
For the hair, I knew I didn’t want to do the usual white hair. Supposedly that stems from Alicia Dominica’s visit to the Golden Throne, standing in the presence of the God-Emperor turning her hair white, which Sisters of Battle to this day pay homage to by dyeing their hair white. The Order of the Divine Storm evidently do not ascribe to such things, as I painted their hair in one of Vallejo Khaki, Citadel Rhinox Hide, or Two Thin Coats Death Reaper. The first two were then given a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone and the latter a wash with Army Painter Dark Tone.
To finish the heads off I painted the gorgets with Scale75 Thrash metal and gave them a wash of Dark Tone. It was then a case of flicking through the instructions to pair the head with its body and glue them in place with a small amount of superglue.
Arco-Flagellants & Repentia
Being mostly exposed flesh and loose scraps of clothing, the half-naked crazies were ideal to paint in my slapchop-adjacent style. To start with they were primed with Colour Forge Standard Grey and the skin was basecoated with Army Painter Air Nomad Flesh. Ordinarily I would then tidy up the non-skin areas with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone Grey but for the sake of expediency I skipped this step. Instead I jumped straight to giving each model a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink.
I wanted to continue practicing with darker skin tones so I gave one of the Arco-Flagellants' skin a coat of Wyldwood. Even though I had thinned it with airbrush thinner (a trick I picked up from Pete the Wargamer) it still turned out awful looking. So I rebasecoated the skin with Vallejo Dark Fleshtone and gave it a wash with Army Painter Purple Tone. For the remaining two Arco-Flagellants and all the Repentia I gave their skin a wash with Reikland Fleshshade. For the clothing, I did Black Templar on one, Two Thin Coats Death Reaper on the other, and Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone on the one with Dark Fleshtone skin. For the remaining details I painted the electro-flails with Army Painter Speedpaint Broadsword Silver, the smaller metallic details like the shackles and wires meanwhile I painted with Scale75 Thrash Metal. To finish the Arco-Flagellants off I painted the tags with Black Templar.
Moving onto the Repentia I painted their clothing, what little of it there is, with Flesh Tearers Red if nothing else to differentiate them from the Arco-Flagellants. The shoes and any other leather straps I painted with Gore-Grunta Fur. Building off the black “clothing” of the Arco-Flagellants I decided that black would be the colour of penance, so I painted the weapons with Two Thin Coats Death Reaper. The parchment I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone and any wax seals with Screamer Pink. For the metallic details I painted any wires, plugs and weapon handles with Scale75 Thrash Metal. For the weapon decorations and embellishments meanwhile, I painted them with Scale75 Dwarven Gold.
Although I had done these with a mostly slapchop approach, there were still a few areas that needed some washes. Namely, the grey and black robes that I gave a coat of Army Painter Dark Tone. And the parchment and gold, like the power armoured Sisters, were washed with Army Painter Strong Tone. Again like the non-penitent Sisters, the parchment was highlighted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. Unlike the Sisters, some of these parchments were quite broad so I used some squiggles of Cygor Brown to simulate writing.
For their final details, I painted a ring of Guilliman Flesh around the plug sockets to make them look sore, and carefully painted the scars with Screamer Pink to make them stand out a little more.
Penitent Engine
For ease of painting I left the arms and legs separate from the rest of the model, making sure to put a small amount of blu-tac on the contact points so that I can glue them together later.
To start the painting off, I primed the whole model with Colour Forge Matt Black and then basecoated the whole model with Vallejo Metal Colours Magnesium. The wood panelling I painted with a couple thin layers of Vallejo Khaki to preserve the wood grain texture. For the penitent himself I painted his skin with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin. As mentioned in the section above I had designated black to be the colour of penitence so I painted the trousers with Two Thin Coats Death Reaper. The wax seals on the purity seals I painted with Screamer Pink, whilst the parchment I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. In preparation for later contrast paints I basecoats the flames with a couple thin coats of Army Painter Matt White. The tubes connecting to the helmet I painted with the last of my pot of Mephiston Red. For the metallic base coats the flamer muzzles I painted with Scale75 Old Copper, the saw blade with Scale75 Thrash Metal and any golden trim with Scale75 Dwarven Gold.
Moving onto the washes, I started by giving the wood areas a coat of Wyldwood. The fuel tanks I painted with Blood Angels Red to break up all the grey on the model. Likewise, to make them stand out a little more I painted the locks with Gore Grunta Fur. The skin was given a wash of Reikland Fleshshade and the parchment a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone. Lastly, similar to the robes of the power armoured Sisters I gave the metallic areas a wash with a mix of Army Painter Dark Tone and Winsor & Newton Matt Medium.
For the final details, I layered the skin of the penitent with Two Thin Coats Dwarven Skin as the wash had darkened it down more than I would have liked. The flames I painted with a coat of Imperial Fist contrast paint, wet blending a bit of Gryph-Hound Orange in at the tips. Lastly, I carefully painted the braziers with Scale75 Black Metal.
Bases
At this point, everything that needed to be assembled from their sub-assemblies was done so and attached to their bases. As a lot of the models have debris around their feet to increase the contact area with the bases I had a bit more painting to do. Thankfully, all I had to do was to paint the bricks with Vallejo Terracotta and any rocks with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone. From there I covered the rest of the bases with Stirland Mud texture paint, and once that was dry I gave it a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone to help bring out the texture. From there I dabbed some on some PVA glue and sprinkled on some Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Patchy Plains. To complete the tundra look I then added some Valhallan Blizzard texture paint in select patches. Lastly, I painted the rims of the bases with Steel Legion Drab to match the rest of my Imperial forces.
Rhino
Last, but by no means least, was the Rhino. I’ve built quite a few in my day so despite the extra Adepta Sororita parts I got it assembled in no time. I also didn’t go too crazy with the embellishments. Once I was happy with how it looked I primed the model with Colour Forge Standard Grey.
With that done I basecoated the whole model with the same Night Blue I used for the power armoured models. Unlike the power armoured models the Rhino wasn’t covered in robes and pouches so there were a lot of flat blue panels. Not feeling like edge highlighting the entire model I instead decided to use a piece of sponge to add chipping along the edges. Not too much, but enough to break up the edges.
For the details I started with the gold details, as they are the most numerous, painting them with a couple thin coats of Scale75 Dwarven Gold. The blade of the sword on the roof I painted with Scale75 Thrash Metal. I wanted to include some Archive-X Caboose Red as it was such a prominent colour on the infantry, so I painted the inner circle of the design of the side doors with Caboose Red. The parchment I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone, picking out any wax seals with Screamer Pink. I then painted the Fleur-de-lis on the top hatch and skulls on the side hatches with Two Thin Coats Cacharadon Grey in preparation for painting them white. Which I do with a few layers of Ulthuan Grey.
I had initially planned to paint the designs on the side hatches white as well but by this point I was running out of steam and I just wanted the project done with. So with that in mind I painted the designs and any remaining silver details with Vallejo Metal Colours Magnesium, which honestly had better coverage than I had initially anticipated. I finished things off by dropping some Blood Angels Red into the textured areas in the Adepta symbols. The gold and parchment details I washed with Army Painter Strong Tone. The silver details, except the tracks, I washed with Army Painter Dark Tone.
Part of the reason I didn’t add too many decorations is that I wanted some space for transfers. I had the Sisters of Battle transfer sheet but I had also picked up a transfer sheet from the Mighty Brush which had more scripture on it than the Sisters one. I picked out a couple of spots on the sides and front, as well as the parchment, which I gave a coat of gloss varnish in preparation. I cut out the transfers I wanted and soaked them in clean water. Once the glue had softened I could slide them from the backing paper and onto the model. I then dabbed a bit of Micro Set onto the transfers, this mild solvent softens the transfer itself and helps it to conform to the contours of the model. I gave it a minute or two to work its magic then firmly pressed the transfer into the model with a damp paper towel. Once I was happy with it I sealed the transfer in place with matt varnish.
Final Thoughts
This was a big project, not my biggest, but it was certainly a challenge. Splitting things down into smaller chunks definitely helped. I am pleased with how they turned out, maybe one day I’ll come back to the Rhino for some final touches however. For now I’m happy for them to be the starting point for an army, although I can’t say that I have much of a desire to paint power armour again anytime soon. But I always say that after painting a bunch of power armour. I’m sure I’ll have a box of Retributors on the shelf in no time at all. For now I think I’ll probably stick to some lower model count projects.