Did Games Workshop go TOO FAR with this? 

#ad Thanks to Serious Lights for sponsoring this video! You can find them here: try.seriousreaders.com/pages/kirioth/

Fun fact: If you look closely at the finger placement on the keyboard of the organ on the new Exorcist tank, she's playing the opening chords of the theme tune for the movie The Exorcist.

I prefer new style, they break the silhouette enough to not just be another rhino loadout while also being distinctly sisters.

The new exorcist is the perfect vehicle for sisters in a sort of thematic meta sense. Painting it is so punishing you get to experience the life of a sister of battle by voluntarily flagellating yourself.

When most of the Imperium uses either Rhino or Chimera chassis, dialling it up to 11 is a good way to stand out.

The way I see it, the fancy cathedral vehicles are the bespoke command versions that your named leaders like Morvenn Vahl would have in her personal command unit. The older Forgeworld models are more common and among regular line units.

me seeing a repressor on the video cover: DON'T DO THIS DON'T GIVE ME HOPE (I've been wanting them in plastic for a decade)

The little circular bubble glass on the front of the 3rd Ed immolator was based on Rose windows from churches and cathedrals I think… each tank got a specific item from a church to incorporate into its design.

Sisters are currently the most 40k army in all of 40k and all their mad church stuff is why. For me, they are the most true to the blanche era aesthetic that I think should still define the setting.

The old metal pipe organ version was a nightmare. The base plates were all warped and you had to counterweight the front to stop the sisters from popping wheelies

I dunno man, The Castigator is probably my favourite tank model in the game.

I love the over the top nature of the current sister's vehicles. It's silly, it's not that functional, and very impractical; but I love it. I want to get a sound chip for my Exorcist that with a push of a small button will play Inagadadavida from Iron Butterfly.

I miss the Rhino chassis vehicles for Space Marines so much.

Keeping in mind Repressors were usually requisitioned directly from Arbites storehouses.

Over the top, Sisters are crazy, their tanks must be crazy

Lets be honest: I want to turn a baneblade into a rolling citadel with the triumph of st.katherine incorperated to it! nothing shows more the "imperial truth" than an oversized church tank steamrolling through the battlelines! (and yes, i do like the new design more, because it makes the very same tank very unique)

I would love to see the Repressor return with fleur de lis dozer blade and wing shaped secondary armor panels.

The new stuff is gorgeous, yes its ridiculous and thats why it works for me. 40K is insanity, they are crazy people with insane amounts of resources so it makes sense they'd go ham on decoration of a war machine.

The odd thing was that the Forge World versions came AFTER the GW versions. Iirc they were the more supea-cereal alternative.

War hammer is all about taking stereotypes and cranking them to 11. Its what attracted me to the game...the ridiculousness of it all. Vikings, Motorcycle Mongolians, Nuns with guns, Romans, Greeks, WW 1 Germans, the Expendables. Nothing is safe...and I'm here for it!!

Well if I'd want plain stuff painted in drab green I suppose I'd play Astra Militarum not Sisters

The window for the 3rd ed Immolator reminds me a bit of the glass from the cockpit of a bomber. Frankly, the Sisters are a symbolic army. The whole point of them, in the lore, is to be a reminder of the Ecclisarchy and of the strength of Faith. Them being all covered in bits and bobs as a mark and a reminder of their dedication to the Imperium and the Ecclisarchy, along with being some of the best gear that a normal human can fit into, is completely on brand for the setting and the faction.

Yea... it doesn't scream sisters to me... if it wasnt for the sister's emblem on it, I would mistake it for space marine or guard rhinos...

Moar fancy! They need the weird crazy gothic madness. They need to be driving shrines to the emperor and his wrath made manifest. The only thing I think they a lacking is more tortured heretics. I think instead of a main battle tank they should have got some weird light/las emitting shrine or something equally mad.

6:15 I think that was just a practical thing. British and US light armoured vehicle pintle mounts have protective guards around them with big toughened glass view ports to give a wider field of view, which will withstand small arms fire. I think it's just meant to be like that.

The one I actually think they went too far with is the immolator personally. I just think the stained glass _in front_ of the gunner is kinda dumb. Stained glass isn't very transparent, and with all of the barring, i feel like it would really hamper the ability for the gunner to see (and at that point you may as well have the gunner inside a turret if you aren't giving the gunner the benefit of better vision)

I mainly headcanon them as different patterns and iterations from different forge worlds, and I do wish we could see a Sisters Order with the aesthetics of the Forge World models. Or just give us the Repressor for the Sisters back. They had their chance in Necromunda and squandered it.

On the one hand, they represent different design philosophies not just in a less vs. more stylized way, but also the differeing design philosophies in making Imperium factions partake in a shared pool of units vs. making them more differentiated. AdMech is another example of this. On paper, AdMech SHOULD have access to rhinos and chimeras and any and all Guard vehicles, but GW probably wants to sell more bespoke models by making them more unique and differentiated. It's probably also a matter of resources: the sharing of models across factions was to a large degree dictated by the lack of funds to create unique models of each faction. Now they can invest that money upfront. HOWEVER, I think they can all co-exist, honestly. I can imagine having a few less stylized vehicles that represent more recently constructed vehicles with a less prestigious service history, and the more baroque, stylized vehicle representing a "venerable" exorcist, as it were, one that the Sisters hold to a near-legendary status because it was present at a major campaign where the Order won many great victories, or where an important martyr died. It's quite similar to how I view space Marine models where you have less decorated and more decorated models. This is the kind of stuff that can be narrativized.

The Sister's New Tanks are very much reminiscent of the (majority of) the overall aesthetic of WH40K in 2024: 7:50 CARTOON-l§H to a _remarkable _*_degree._*

It's somewhere in the middle for me. I played SoB back in 3rd edition and kitbashed forgeworlds whirlwind missile pods instead of the pipe organ on the old exorcist because I find it so incredibly stupid looking but I kept the Sister playing the organ because the idea of someone going full church music while missiles launch from behind them like some kind of MLRS is cool as hell! I think keeping the vehicle simple in siloette and shape but giving it a lot of flair on things like the doors and extra armor etc. is the happy medium. The braziers look a little too goofy and looking at the castigator I wonder how it's turrent doesn't smack into the exhaust ports. So it feels like it just shouldn't work. Yes I know crazier stuff happens in the setting but human brains understand how turrets work and it feels weird. The stained glass window on the immolator is the right call though. That being said the new ones do FEEL very 40k, especially when looking at some artwork for the game. For me take it from the 11/10 it is now to an 8/10 in terms of stuff on them and I'm happy.

The old ones look professional, like you might see used by a convent that sees a lot of hard fighting. The new ones are so distinctive that I could tell a person is playing SoB from across the street through the store window. The new ones also look like something that might be used by a convent whose major contributions to galactic stability might be putting down the odd worker rebellion here and there, rather than directly fighting the forces of chaos. I think both can work, depending on how you introduce them.

I really like the over-the-top versions they have a lot of character and are ridiculous

I naturally prefer their defined church aesthetic more, old tanks were just generic imperium vehicles with minimum upgrades since there was no proper SoB army at that time. Same deal with Mechanicus army for only received a proper range in 7th edition, it was really limited before in the lore.

I like the more grounded oldschool look. But could also see all 3 versions running right alongside.

I much prefer the understated look. The sisters repressor to me was the absolute pinnacle for the sisters range on the opposite side of things I despise the new Immolator... The gunner is 'protected' by stained glass??? The gunner also has an unhelmeted head OR can have the only helmet in the entire range without any eye protection for when that thing shatters! Its not fun stupid its just stupid stupid 😢 It was most depressing when i realised i couldn't convert the Exorcist or the Immolator convincingly... I just couldnt make up the height difference with how tall the organ/window is and i refuse to play with a piece that give me an unfair advantage. Thankfully the Castigator and the sisters infantry are amazing 😊

I'm all in favour of the new style, nothing about the SoB suggests minimalist restraint in my opinion

I think it's a good way to remix the satirical elements of the universe while not making the sculpts themselves cartoony

There's 2 kinds of Warhammer 40k, 3rd to 5th Ed of gritty semi realism grim mud blood and the laughter of thirsting gods, then there's 6th to 10th of hyper space fantasy, epic heros and villains and monsters

I like the middle set the best. A big reinforced glass window on the Immolator makes sense for a vehicle that needs good visibility so it can flush infantry out of cover, and I like the stylised vertical launch system of the Exorcist. But then the new ones take it too far, and make the vehicles look twice as big as they should be.

I think more than anything this comparison makes me miss old forgeworld in general. Not only the design of the models but also the Imperial Armour books.

I personally like the middle ones - the oldest ones felt a bit too generic, and the newest are a bit over the top, but the middle stuff is just right to me

It mirrors the marines faction. In the old days everyone got a rhino with some small details or unique weapons. All the factions get custom units. I admit the thematic idea of all the imperial factions using the same vehicles is pretty grim dark but instead we have specialized vehicles for every factions.

The metal Exorcist also has the keyboard player, that's not exclusive to the plastic one. For me, I prefer the previous plastic Immolator to the new one and I don't plan on replacing any of mine. I've got two metal Exorcists and one new one, and the new one wins out largely because it's lighter, the metal ones are a pain to transport. The old metal one is also dripping with bling, all those extra sculpted panels for the sides and front as well as a ton of purity seals, it's just slightly different bling to the new one. I miss the Repressor, and I suspect a new plastic one will eventually replace the Sisters Rhino, since the hull sprue for the Castigator, Exorcist and Immolator looks like it's ready to become their new standard hull and the old Rhino is now an outlier. A Repressor with the front Heavy Bolter and a Heavy Flamer on the cupola would be my guess.

I personally like all three styles, but I feel that if you're collecting you would need to commit. Either get all of the Cathedrals on tracks designs, or all of the rugged simple designs. Mixing them would look disjointed.

I think somewhere in the middle would be best. Less Church, but still more Church than Tank.

I would love if they brought back the repressor with the new exorcist and immolator style, the sister should be the "chaos cultist" of the imperium and i love how hard they go to show it. Also to me is so funny to mental image of sister going back to the arbites to give them back theyr repressor just for them to see that it is now covered in shrines, candles and they swapped the exaust with braziers and going like "wtf is this"

I would hate to paint the crazy new ones, but damn they look so sweet!

I've been in the hobby since Rogue Trader so I'm familiar with with all these styles. Personally, I love the most over-the-top modern versions.

I love the new style, its very gothic and 40k over the normal looking vehicles that were basically that wouldn't look out of place in a Guard or Space Marine army. Now they are instantly recognisable and iconic to the Sisters

GW seems to have the right idea on factions. Crank every genre of music to 11. People will flock to what they like.

10/10 the new style. Sisters are the most beautiful army of 40K right now. My gf is collecting them and the level of detail is just just insanely cool!

Sisters are not over the top... they went beyond that point and I love it. To me the sisters of battle are the most 40k thing ever. Brutal, fanatic, loud, unforgiving and yet with grace and compassion if it their belives call for it. I like the newer ones more. The Sisters are anything but subtle. If I had all three generations of models I would use them alongside.

I kind of like how over the top insane the sisters have become. That said, the stained glass window is too big, and it kind of bugs me that the heavy flamers don't turn anymore. A happy medium would probably be going with the turret of the second one and making it a full cupola, like on an old bomber plane, but with stained glass. On the other hand, I really love the forge world repressor. It really improved the silouette of the rhino. And I really want a couple full of arbites.

two very different design studios back then, forgeworld doing their own things. Back then, the guy who designed and made the early guard stuff, the Macharius tanks in particular, was big in the WW2 scale model scene and their painting and sculpting reflected this heavily. Probably why they had a lot of the utility vehicles and just cosmetic upgrades all around.

I really like the second version of the immolator. Though the circular window is kind of plain, you can say it calls to mind the rose windows that you get in cathedrals.

Maybe I’m alone in this, but I personally like the new sisters vehicles the most because it’s so silly and over the top. But I’m not a long time 40K fan. I didn’t grow up with the sisters. I started in 8th edition, so I saw the sister changes while they were happening. The old ones remind me of marines or imperial guard, so I like that the sisters have their own thing, as opposed to sharing the style with a new logo. The middle sisters look cool, but they also feel more like products of their time. Like they did too much with modeling techniques at the time to where it looks a bit messy. Though, maybe that’s just how it’s painted However, I really like the repressor. I wish that was still around.

I love how over the top the Sisters are now, and my goal is to do some custom work to bring the Repressor into the same style.

needs a stained glass dozer blade. faith would protect it

We need the Trinity heavy battle tank! Bolter, Melta and Holy Flamer! Akin the Rogal Dorn and Gladiator in just being bristling in weaponry

I love them both, but I definitely prefer the new style. The only real issue I have is with the Castigator. It looks great, but the placement of the exhausts fouls the traverse of the turret, which would be a nightmare in combat if it were real. Additionally, they all have the general problem of being on a Rhino chassis that is at least 1/3 to 1/2 the size it should be to carry the number of troops they do.

I think that both styles are good enough to be used. The Imperium of Man spans a MILLION worlds. There is gonna be some style-drift even across the Imperial Creed with that expanse of distance. So I can fully see one Sister's Army going full ornate decoration on their units. And another maybe be far more militaristic and have much less decoration as they don't feel that represents their devotion to the Emperor, their killing the enemy does. On the Respressor, I'd love (if I had a sisters army) to have them with the stormbolter replaced with a dual flame looking unit and the pintle flamer replaced with a pintle heavy bolter and run them as Immorlator proxies.

I always thought the dome was a tribute to the giant bombers like the B52. Like, they hadn't fully committed to the church theme, and were going towards a possible aircraft pinup/illustration style?

I absolutely adore that Sisters of Battle basically take their churches to war in the form of the tanks, I'm actually still trying to figure out if there's anything I can add to the Castigator to lean more into that. I think it matches the whole Sisters of Battle style of having overly ornate equipment. Not only all the surface details, the whole boob-plate is purely optional, there is no need to do that to accommodate an armor for a female wearer this way. It does emphasize that they are all women, which I think is part of the reason why it's done this way and why it fits, especially considering their whole existence hinges on the semantics that they are not men under arms. But to me, it also sort of turns each and every single Sister of Battle into what could be called a walking shrine to the Emperor, many of them even carrying some small relic on them. In contrast, I really hope that GW limits female Custodes to alternate heads, as I don't see why they'd feel any need to express their gender through their armor. Custodes vehicles, in the other hand, certainly need their share of ornamentation, with Sisters of Silence vehicles probably being the ones in the whole Imperium that should be the least ornamented. Get on that GW, Talons of the Emperor need some serious additions.

For a faction like the sister of battle i liked their older vehicels as they had flair and personality . As a CSM or SM with out any legion or chapter icons do not have much personality to it. The newer sister of battle vehicle have it charm being more simple but they lose out what make a sister of battle their own faction. As the new sister of battle vehicle could easily be made in to a CSM rhino with a bit of conversion for a cultist army . At the very least the new model have less details to paint witch is a shame as like for the CSM all of those bits make them , them for personality. I am sure having a more cleaner and simpler one will be a nice change for them to paint not needing to be a expert to paint all the details in .

Personally I think it's a bit too far. My ideal would be a slightly more elaborate version of the first renditions. As an example make the exorcist missile pod a tad more complex, have a pair of cherubs carrying a missile loading it from the back and a sister reading from the book of armaments whilst operating the missile controls on the outside of the tank or perhaps whilst poking out of the cupola. Add 3 or 4 sisters logos and you are good.

The newer two styles are my favourite but honestly I kind of like them all. I’ll be collecting a vast 6mm scale Sisters of Battle army to run at UK Epic tournaments at some point and I’ll probably want to include 50 odd Sisters tanks so I’ll probably 3d print some of each style for different formations. Variety is good.

If I were to make a sisters army I honestly think I would try and get my hands on the older tanks. I like the new ones and I think they have an asthetic that suits quite well overall, but as I ponder this right now the old ones would fit better with how I envision the army as I would paint it.

I personally prefer a little more of an inherent contradiction between the religious and military role of the Sisters. I did mine mostly practical so that the reliquaries and amulets on the Sisters stand out more, and the leadership and elites being a bit more over the top stand out from the rank and file as well. I even went back to stock Space Marine vehicles and did a bit of converting with third party bits to get more tank like tanks. I feel like having someone with a sword and a cassock over power armour jumping out of the back of what's basically an M113 is more impactful and illustrative of the contradictions of the Imperium than just everything being super ornamented.

I like the new kits because they're absolutely bonkers, but I also feel like that level of decoration and detail should be for relic vehicles - effectively special/named character variants like the Fortress of Arrogance. The second generation vehicles for me sit in a nice medium of gritty practicality and 40k insanity, though I think the extra panels on the Exorcist are a bit much, though to be fair in the lore they're considered holy relics by default.

Personally, I love the over the top decorated look with sisters' vehicles. It makes them feel unique in a way, as in you see them and immediately know, ah thats the sisters of battle. Their vehicles are mobile shrines too, after all, so why shouldn't they look the part?

The exorcist with the church organ isn't an update. I had that tank 18 years ago Ishmael.

IMO there's no such thing as "to silly" in 40K. Pile it on, the madder the better.

The original designs look like a fresh and interesting take on the Sororitas in comparison to the new. Gone is the bravado, flare, and beauty often seen with the Sororitas, and in its place is the brutal, industrial, and oppressive look one associates with the Iron Warriors. The version of the minis between, particularly the Excorsist, looks awkward. It seems that GW wasn't ready to commit to the glorious aesthetic of the Sororitas and so haphazardly slapped a bunch of random decorations all over the old frame, giving it a very tacked-on look instead of the chassis being built with the decorative elements in mind. Thus, they look very unnatural compared to the new models, although I very much like the subtlety of the Immolator. This is a very long way of saying that the new designs are quintessentially Sororitas, and what we had from before, while practical and neat, doesn't fit in quite as well. It would work better as a new and different theme to the army. One thing's for sure: damn do I wish we had the Repressor back.

I think it the new look makes them look much more unique and less just getting hand me down space marine stuff. The new exorcist blows the old one out the water in my opinion. would love to see a new repressor though, brilliant looking vehicle.

New sisters are by far the best. I love the new designs!

I think somewhere in between, just from a painting perspective and getting nice, complete paint jobs on the table.👍👍😉

You can have both styles work together imo. In my mind higher ranking folks have more stuff on them, and so do their tanks. Also I feel like the paintjob can really dictate the tone you're going for. You can have a bright and poppy version of the old style and a grimdark rendition of the new.

Honestly, the SoB aren't supposed to be an official "army", so their armored support being so gaudy feels appropriate. Yes, they're technically a fighting force, but depending on how much that specific order cares about appearing to conform to the edicts of Sebastian Thror and how much that specific order of Adepta Sororitas cares about pragmatism and function vs form and appearances, it makes sense to see differing levels of "this is military equipment" vs "this is a holy relic." In an order embroiled in long, violent conflicts on the fringes of the imperium they'd focus more on just having functional armored support, while those in more populated and secure areas would focus on having their equipment as gaudy, sanctified, and grand as possible to better bring glory to the Emperor. Just as you have a sliding-scale of vehicle appearance, so to can you have a sliding scale of situations and philosophies of Adepta Sororitas Orders that would want different iterations of those vehicles.

The new style fits them better however you could easily do a new middle ground from the older practical look with the new style on that. It's kinda like they did some progress on the 2nd iteration of the old and then went and watched a tutorial video on a meta build and came back with the new one that is leaps and bounds further down the line rather than an iteration or two above what they had then.

I liked the old rough and tumble military look better. The old ones looked like they had been in a fight while the newest stuff looks more like something to bring out during the victory parade.

Why is there a snake on the cross? Did we get a new savior? Crap, I gotta go back to sunday school.

The 5th ed were the best in my opinion. You could see the base shape of a rhino chassis, but the organ there, loads of little gubbins on there, the immolator looked great The new ones are just a bit too much, theres not a single flat surface

I think it comes down to the fact they wanted Sisters of Battle to look different from Space Marines. It wasn't for the sake of Sisters.

I hate glass on tanks, one artillery shell or bullet and it going to shatter like... well glass

I prefer the minimalistic/utilitarian vehicles of 40k, so that way I have far less to file down/cut off for when I put my own conversion work on them. I usually end up with just as much ridiculous detail in the end, but with my own work, I can tell a unique story/give a unique personality to each vehicle. That said, my SO loves the over-the-top design as it is out-of-the-box tells its own story and looks amazing. And we both think the other's standpoint is perfectly valid.

I agree with Shy the the forge world immolator is the best looking of the bunch. But it is the best looking Razorback, not necessarily the best Sisters of Battle vehicle which I think are aided a lot by modern stylings with all the reliquaries and idols festooned all over them.

This is a little unfair, the immolator and exorcist shown are 2 gens old where we’re have the more stylised immolator with glass cock pit and the metal church organ as the mid point. The repressor can out mid second wave for sisters as a fw only conversion kit and fw are not known for redoing their models in new designs anything like gw. Sisters at first could look like their old are due to modelling limitations at the time, the second gen tried and brought allot in a small number but the new gen is the most akin to the original sisters of battle bar their new units and characters of course.

Over the top! The new style stuff works for me as I really struggle to tell the various tanks of Warhammer apart! I can see an exorcist from a room away.

I do think the tanks can be a bit dumb but they are unique/recognisably sister as well as fun. God knows the imperium range needs variety more than anyone else.....

I run both, my Order has two paths - a "traditional" path and an AdMech influenced "special ops" path

You can't be into Warhammer and complain on it being over the top and insane. Warhammer universe is a lot of things but for sure nothing practical, subdued or realistic. Especially when we are taking about zealous space nuns :D Their older tanks are just SM with different logo. In my opinion Sisters are currently best looking and most flavorful Imperium faction

Is there anywhere someone could still get these?

Not gonna lie, I don't like the Cathedral on wheels version, but the middle ground, with *some* decoration and iconography, that is still alright

I think the late 3rd edition versions are probably the best middle ground, although I do also like the more gritty, grounded feel of the original Forge World ones (and early '00s FW in general). The 2018 ones are just visual spam to me, I've never seen the "more is more" approach to design actually make something that's easily readable or appealing to my eye.

I like and still use the older models. The new ones are nice, but I'm more of a minimalist. Bonus so much easier to paint

I definitely see where you're coming from with this, but to be honest, I'll take flavor over realism any day. Sure, the old tanks look like something that was mass produced for a war effort, which is pretty fitting for the Imperium, but it also means that the tanks look like any other tank. Like you said, you probably wouldn't know it was a Sister's Tank specifically if it wasn't for the sister on the turret or the fleur de lis on the side because it just kind of looks like any other rhino or imperial transport. Fine, if a bit boring. But the current tanks? I say this without a hint of irony - the new Exorcist convinced me to buy a sister's army. It's entirely over the top and unrealistic, and that's why I love it. Maybe it's the years of catholic guilt, but the idea of a crazed nun slamming the keys of a massive pipe organ that fires missiles and blasts out war hymns is peak 40k to me.

I prefer the church on wheels look. Otherwise, they're just Rhinos with another weapon turret.

Honestly, I'd rather buy plain rhinos and kit bash them into whatever SOB vehicle I'm building. That way, they are all unique. They would lean more towards the FW style, but with a bit more decoration.

I love the Sisters of Battle stuff. Wish I could ally them with my Black Templars.

Personally I want my 40K as over the top and ridiculous as possible