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Hey DakkaDakka,

I've been slowly building up a Witchhunters army because I love the fluff and models. I'm wondering how effective they are in fifth edition, and how to build a list with them. I assume they're a middle ground of combat effectiveness and number between space marines and imperial guard that likes to shoot. I've also noticed that their only anti-tank weapons are meltaguns, so what can I do to fight anti-tank armies. What should I expect in game play coming from playing Tau for a year? What would a good starting force consist of?

Witchhunters have stood the test of time better than virtually any other Codex. They still have a number of very viable builds that can play at the top levels, although they're probably not among the absolute toughest.

I play a mechanized Sisters only list, which I find to be pretty solid. It's basicaly just Exorcists, Sisters squads in Rhinos, lots of Flamers, a little Melta. You can't go wrong with this list, although it's similar to Tau in that it can be unforgiving of getting caught in CC.

Another list that's done well, is to load up on min sized Stormtrooper squads, with Meltas, riding in Immolators. I have no direct experience with this list, but I could see it working.

Your anti-tank is actually a lot more reliable than it might appear. The Exorcist is absolute murder against anything less than AV14. If you need to kill AV14 reliably, an Immolator with Melta armed Dominions can do that job.

There's a handfull of "Freakshow" stuff in the list (Flagellants, Repentia, Penitent Engines) which are fun, but not really any good. The basic Battle Sister is one of the best Troops choices in the game. They get cheap Heavy Flamers which are murder coming out of a Rhino, and especially bad when combined with acts of faith.

Acts of Faith is where you really need to stay on top of things with Sisters. You want to use all your faith points, use them at the right time, make the most of the opportunity. There's a lot going on with Sisters, so they're not an easy list to run, but they have a lot of upside.

Phryxis is right one the money with his comments. I'll add a few more though.

The book of st lucius one of the best peices of war gear in the game giving your sisters unmodifiable LD is just fantastic and no normal squad should be without one.

Celestians in an immolator with 2 melta guns I think works better than dominators with 4 simply because of the price point.

Eviscorator armed cannoness with jumppack is a great tank buster.

With the new IG faq out sisters armies can take the new IG platoons which can add a whole new dynamic to your army as now sisters have some limited access to long range fire support in the form of ig HWS and line platoons.

Furthermore if you do choose to take IG platoons just pop a sister inside the chimeras instead of the guardsmen for virutally the same cost you get much more firepower from your mech since it has 6 firing points.

As for a good starting force
2 units of ten sisters in rhino with flamer heavy flamer and vet with the book is a great backbone to any sisters army

Yes, Book of St Lucius is mandatory, and worth mentioning to any new player, since it doesn't jump out immediately just how invaluable it is.

Celestians in an immolator with 2 melta guns I think works better than dominators with 4 simply because of the price point.

I dunno, to me this falls into the "why pay half price for nothing" category. If a squad is going to drive up to a Land Raider, a Dreadnaught, whatever, jump out and kill it, 2 Meltas simply isn't enough to assure success. And if you don't succeed in that situaiton, the squad is almost always dead. I take 3x Meltas and a Combi-Melta, and even that I've seen fail to stop a Land Raider before.

To me, you want to pay for certainty (or as close as you can get to it).

Eviscorator armed cannoness with jumppack is a great tank buster.

In general Eviscerators are a decent choice for SoB squads. Their S is so pitiful that the S6 is a total game changer. I'm not sure it's worth the points to give all your squads Eviscerators (or any of them for that matter), but I know that my one Eviscerator always does something of use for me, and I'm always glad it's there.

Normally you don't want to put a I1 weapon like an Eviscerator on a HQ, but the Cannoness can be fairly durable for fairly cheap, and her I4 is pretty sad anyway, so you're not losing much by taking one. I gave mine a Blessed Weapon, it's fairly meh.

I always like walking up to enemy librarians, etc, laughing at their force weapons with Spirit of the Martyr and the fact that force weapons don't work on sisters, then instakilling them with a Hand of the Emperor + Eviscerator S8 canoness.

Phryxis wrote:

Eviscorator armed cannoness with jumppack is a great tank buster.

In general Eviscerators are a decent choice for SoB squads. Their S is so pitiful that the S6 is a total game changer. I'm not sure it's worth the points to give all your squads Eviscerators (or any of them for that matter), but I know that my one Eviscerator always does something of use for me, and I'm always glad it's there.

Normally you don't want to put a I1 weapon like an Eviscerator on a HQ, but the Cannoness can be fairly durable for fairly cheap, and her I4 is pretty sad anyway, so you're not losing much by taking one. I gave mine a Blessed Weapon, it's fairly meh.

They key to a Evis Canoness is that you can't kill her before her initative anyways (2+ Invuln). Keep her out of a squad so she's always testing on her leadership rather than size and she easily makes her tests. Plus that Evis can be Str8 with Hand of the Emperor, which is a very special number.

Blessed always disappointed me. MasterCraft is cool, but only being Str 5 (7 with Faith) seemed to be too low. Can't underestimate the +2d6 part of the evis as well.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and Spellbound so beat me to it and I never even noticed.

Also, Sisters gain access to Al Raheem who has orders. Al raheem and the other commanders are upgrades and may be purchased.

The Book really got a huge boon in the imperial guard codex in that it can take infantry platoons , dirt cheap calvary.

Sentinels got a price reduction as well which gives the army access specifically the ability to take al raheem and have 5 outflanking squadsto some nifty cheap antitank.

It still has one of the best game mechanics with Acts of Faith.

Just a fantastic book and still a fantastic book made even better by the changes to the imperial guard codex.

Also, mass sisters and IST's in immos (spam) is a scary, and quite effective, army.

Seraphim are actually quite weak vs. most good armies because they kinda stick out like a soar thumb in most mech SoB armies. Canoness + Celestines + Eviscs + Priest in an Immo is actually probably your best CC unit.

Inducting guard is an extremely good way to go to get some bodies in there.

Seraphim are definitely not a CC unit. They are a shooting unit that likes to hide in CC and then go deal with something else.

I have had great success in my mostly mech sisters just using terrain and rhinos.

They either get away with hiding or distract from the girls.

I second the inducting guard thing. I use a pretty barebones 2 IS (AutoC), 1 PCS (LasC) with Chim. Great for holding my objectives.

It also opens up some support options in the form of being able to take large squads of conscripts for dirt cheap and being able to get the leadership bubble.


Also, they have access to Armored Sentinels which for the price are a fantastic unit.

Beyond plasmacannons, I fail to see the attraction of the Armored Sentinel. At the same price I could have a Chimera, which I would personally take over the tin chicken.
I do, however, love my scout sentinels. They are a wonderful way to get firepower where you need it.

Great! Thanks for the advice everybody. I was already looking forward to doing a sisters list with IG backup, and this sealed the deal for that.

Are veteran superiors worth the points? If so should I give them eviscerators?

Are Inquisitor squads worth the points?

Im pretty sure Inquisitors in the SoB Book are not that great when compared to the Demon hunter ones. Id leave them off.

Veteran Superiors are WORTH IT! Take them every time. It makes your sister squads give a faith point. Also it lets them take a book of St Lucius.

A pretty standard load out for a sister squad is

9x SoB's 1 w/melta and 1 with h.flamer
1x Veteran Superior with Book of St Lucius

All in a Rhino. You can move the special weps around to your liking also.

Are veteran superiors worth the points? If so should I give them eviscerators?

They're required for Faith generation and use.

Eviscerators are less so. I don't think you'll be sorry you took them, but I'd only do it if you feel like you have the points left over. Better to find a way to get another unit of Sisters than give them all Eviscerators.

Yep, Veteran Superiors (VSS) on every battle sisters unit, every time.

(Warning: opinion!)
I leave Eviscerators for my Canoness. I have not used them elsewhere and not felt them needed. Faith abilities are flexible enough for my purposes to not spend the considerable points for basic squads. The Canoness with Eviscerator, properly equipped, is quite possibly the most dangerous thing you can field. A definite top-tier unit of the whole of 40k that strikes harder than her points suggest (~120-140).

As a new SOB player you're going to loose a lot. Not because your army list is bad, or that you are a bad player, but because SOB is a tricky army to use. SOB is loaded with short range firepower, but not that good in CC. SOB can beat any other army, but it's an unforgiving list that can easily end up tabled if their player makes a couple of critical errors. Just don't let any defeats in your first few battles get you down.

schadenfreude wrote:As a new SOB player you're going to loose a lot. Not because your army list is bad, or that you are a bad player, but because SOB is a tricky army to use. SOB is loaded with short range firepower, but not that good in CC. SOB can beat any other army, but it's an unforgiving list that can easily end up tabled if their player makes a couple of critical errors. Just don't let any defeats in your first few battles get you down.

This is the truth It is hard to win with them I think. But if you mech up and have 9-12 tanks all full of infantry and tank death in them then your opponent will run out of options.

ive seen librians do good, aswell as the common tactic of rinos and rapidfiring + flamers + (Their special power i forget what they are called.)

Use a palatine w/ celestians that have 2 meltas and an immolator.

Use three squads of celestians w/ 2 meltas in immolator

two or three squads of sisters in rhinos

two squads inquisitorial storm troopers w/ 2 meltas

A big platoon of:

Platoon Command Squad w/ flamers in Chimera

two or three infantry squads w/ autocannon
one or two heavy weapon squads w/ autocannon

two heavy support immolators

The list comes around 1850 to 2000 depending on wargear and weapon choices.


let the inquisitorial stormtroopers go in the HS Immolators and the infantry platoon deal with the long range shooting.

I regularly run eviscerators in my standard squads, my reasoning being thus: You need to get close to cause any real damage, often you will be doing this by jumping out of a rhino and using Divine Guidance and Rapid Fire to wipe out your target in one phase and keep your sister's safe.

This rarely succeeds; bad dice, or your opponent placing other squads close by will leave your SoB open to an assault next turn. This is usually very bad as SoB, whilst very durable, are S3 and WS3. Having an eviscerator on the vss should give you at least a kill a turn and make your opponent think twice about throwing his troops into what could be a 3 turn meatgrinder, especially when you have the Canoness flying around able to lend support. It also gives some protection from MC's and walkers as there aren't many that can easily deal with hits from a S6 power weapon that has 2d6 armour penetration.

As ever, YMMV. You may find it best to spend those 50pts elsewhere!