Liber Challenge: Order of the Desert Rose

[sedibear]

My Chapter's history:

Home planet: Shrine World Aran II

Founder: Inquisitor Gisela Tyne

Notable Sisters:

 

Canoness Rylan 'The Relentless' - A veteran of the Warp Storm wars over the Romulus subsector. She led small strike teams of Dominions to victory using precision hit-and-run attacks. The eventual consumption of the subsector by Chaos saw her team escaping back to their home planet of Aran II, where she was promoted to the rank of Canoness.

History:

 

The Order of the Desert Rose began its duties as an Order Pronatus (350.M38), gathering artifacts and records of knight worlds. Inquisitor Gisela Tyne believed that there exists a Knight House that swore itself to the Ecclesiarchy, and it has been this Order's duty to locate this House and call upon their engines once more.

 

Some time during M40, the Order proved successful in finding what was left of the mentioned Knight House, Ciuri. The entire Knight World's population was decimated by an unknown event, and what was left were ancient but serviceable. Among the relics claimed by the Order were an older form of Synskin that protected much like Power Armor, Walker frames similar to Sororitas Penitent Engines (named Vengeance Engines), and a fully functional Knight Errant suit.

 

The records prior to the event that destroyed the populace were preserved well, including the House's traditions and war doctrines. The Order soon began to train and develop into an Order Militant that fought much like this Knightly House, adopting their colors in addition to their dirty-white garb. They would march into battle while singing war hymns, preferring to face the enemy in melee combat. It was expected of the highest ranking Sister to march alongside her companions wearing the robes of the Order's time as an Order Pronatus, and to be the first in combat and the last out of it.

 

Forms of vehicular transportation such as the Rhino are frowned upon by the Desert Rose in combat sorties. As is commonly said among the neophytes, "It's so difficult to get into your enemy's face when you're hiding inside a small metal box."

 

Unlike other Orders and their Penitent Engines, strapping oneself onto a Vengeance Engine is seen as a great honor, and more often than not the pilots of these engines are volunteers.

Livery:

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The fluff is okay, but I have issues with the description of the Penitent Engine. As the Sisters are honored volunteers instead of condemned heretics who were lobotomized so they may pilot the Penitent Engine like a kamikaze pilot, the Penitent Engine is not being used as a Penitent Engine, and another name should be used for the "Walker frames similar to Sororitas Penitent Engines." The names "Close Combat Sentinel," "Assault Sentinel" (as the Penitent Engine uses the Sentinel's legs), "Vengeance Engine," "Confessional Engine," may be appropriate.

[sedibear]

I like Vengeance Engine. Editing. :D

[Bjorn Firewalker]

"It's difficult to get into your enemy's face when you're hiding inside a small metal box."

 

I wonder how they feel about the Hippo?

 

HIPPO, 35 points

 

This Rhino variant has "open-topped" transport capacity for ten models, including Terminators and Thunderfire cannons; the cannon may fire from the vehicle.

 

It was developed to compensate for shortfalls in Land Raider numbers.

>

BS 4, Armor F11 S11 R10, HP 3

 

Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank, Transport).

 

Wargear: Storm bolter, searchlight, smoke launchers.

 

Transport Capacity: Ten (10) models, or one (1) Thunderfire cannon and its Techmarine gunner.

 

Special Rules: Repair, Open-topped Transport.

 

> "Open-topped Transport" special rule

 

The +1 damage modifier for "open-topped" vehicles does not apply to the vehicle itself.

[*Furyou Miko]

Yeesh, what a wishlist. Open-topped without being open-topped? Sure, that's a Power Armour thing, but the rest of that list?

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I'm fairly certain the Stormlord and Banehammer have the same qualities, according to the 6th Edition of 'Apocalypse'.

[*Furyou Miko]

Those are super-heavies, and I'm referring to things like the (painfully obvious) "venom pattern rhino" that's basically a DEldar Venom, but square and for space marines.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Hippo is a Space Marine pickup truck. The engine and crew compartments are behind armor, and protected; the passengers are NOT, and the +1 damage modifier still affects them.

[sedibear]

 

I wonder how they feel about the Hippo?

 

 

 

 

Interesting! I never knew this vehicle existed. I can imagine them using it, yeah. 

 

Thinking about it more, I can see them not minding riding bikes into combat, too. I'd say the stigma is more about trying not to expose yourself to the enemy before you get into melee. In which case the Knight Errant gets a pass because more often than not it's going to be taking the brunt of the enemy firepower.

 

This makes me want to flesh out House Ciuri :D

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I can't be the first person to think of modifying the Rhino chassis so it can carry Bulky, Very Bulky, or Extremely Bulky models, can I? (I had the idea in 2009, and posted it on this forum in 2010.)

[Anjetto]

Um... desert rose? You can follow the adventures of Palatine Kathryn and the order of the Desert rose here: 

[sedibear]

Truth be told, it is called the Desert Rose because I funded the army via my engineering stint in Dubai.

[Anjetto]

Mine are called that because I live in new mexico now. And it's all desert