Warhammer 40k‘s Sisters of Battle aren’t short of fantastic hero miniatures since their new model range dropped in 2019 – but Games Workshop has just granted the battle nuns a brand new Celestian Sacresant Aveline mini that’s easily one of the warhammer-est Warhammer models we’ve seen in a while.
Shown off via GW’s Warhammer Community site on Monday, the new Sisters of Battle hero ticks all the boxes for a classic Warhammer 40k display model, embodying all the Imperium of Man‘s dark, religious bling – from her ornate shield; to her flamethrower sword and flamethrower pistol combo; to the two cute-yet-gruesome cyber-cherubs floating with her. She’s what we in the biz call ‘a painter’s dream’.
The Celestian Sacresant Aveline model is being released alongside Jude Reid’s new Black Library novel Daemonbreaker, and GW says both will be coming out “later this year”, with a special edition book available for the superfans.
Naturally, GW has not announced the price for Aveline or Daemonbreaker, but – based on comparable character miniatures and Black Library paperback novels – we’d predict Aveline will cost around $45 (£27.50) and the Daemonbreaker book will cost around $17.99 (£9.99).
The novel’s story follows Aveline and her sisters in everyone’s favorite nuns-with-guns Warhammer 40k faction as they battle the forces of Abaddon the Despoiler in his critical 13th Black Crusade. Spoiler, the Imperium loses this one – but its heroes do a lot of noble fighting before Cadia falls, and the Great Rift splits the galaxy in two.
Celestian Sacresants are a relatively new unit for the Adepta Sororitas, first revealed in 2021. GW calls them “elite members of the Adepta Sororitas who have departed the life of a bodyguard for their Canoness”. Instead of the usual boltgun, bolt pistol-and-sword, or flamer pistols we see the other Adepta Sororitas wielding, the Sacresants are kitted out for endurance and heavy-duty melee fighting, with blessed maces or halberds in one hand and ornate shields in the other.
As you’d expect from a tie-in model for a larger-than-life hero from the Warhammer 40k books, Aveline seems the exemplar of the order, with the floral icon of her Order of the Sacred Rose atop her backpack, and a magnificent flamer-sword held aloft, bursting with fire in the shape of the Sisters of Battle’s Fleur de Lis faction logo. Warcom’s monday article makes clear that it’s the “sacred relic sword of Saint Arabella, patron saint of the Order of the Sacred Rose”.
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