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I'm starting a new army and decieded to do sisters. I have yet to see themplaying in my area, so I was looking for imput on tactics, style of play and what units to get and what to avoid.

So far I have

40 sisters

repentia box

imolator

10 seraphim

various assualt and heavy weapons

I wanted to do 2-3 squads of 20, 2 squads in imolators w/ meltas or flamers, maybe the  a Arco Flagellants squad, "firebase =I= squad" and heavy bolter dev squad  and 2 exorcist tanks.

 

Any help?

Most SOB players will tell you to play pure sisters, meaning no non-faithful units.

Repentias, Arcos, and =I= can be fun, and thematic, but most consider the "freakshow" units to be unneccessary.

 

A must have for any SOB list will be Exorcists. 2 or 3, never 1. I have 2 Exorcists and a full-sized HB Retributor squad for Divinely Guided Dakka Goodness (TM).

An =I= firebase unit can work, but I think you always get a better value with more basic sisters instead.

An independent jump-pack Cannoness is a must! Give her a 2+ save, a blessed weapon, and maybe an Inferno pistol.

For your Seraphim, go either 2 flamers per squad or 2 infernos. I think specializing them this way is the best idea.

 

I'm not sure what weapons the Seraphim boxes come with these days. If you want to convert some Flamer Seras to Inferno Seras, I wrote up an article on how to do it here -> Rebuilding Angmar

Also, these guys provide a lot of good "Sisterly" advice ->  http://groups.yahoo.com/group<WBR>/battle-sisters/

There are many ways to configure a Witch Hunter army, however, the most effective armies that I've seen follows these rules:

1. Build around a core of faithful, mechanized Battle Sisters (most effective with HF/MG combo,HF/F, or MG/MG)

2. Maximize Faith (Only Exorcists are worth giving up faith to get)

3. Use as many Exorcists as you think you can get away with (I use two, three can work well too)

4. Decide whether you want an anti-tank or anti-infantry Canoness (Anti-Infantry has Blessed Weapon, Anti-Tank an Eviscerator. The Anti-Tank Canoness can take out Infantry as well and is more effective against High Toughness enemies when she uses faith. She can insta-kill T4 characters).

5. Spend whatever remaining points you have on Seraphim (Seraphim keep your other Sisters out of close combat and give them opportunities to get in close to use Divine Guidance. They also take out enemy Heavy Weapons)

6. If you have ?leftover? points the Book Of St. Lucius is a good purchase.

Other somewhat competitive options are:

-Footslogging Sisters
-Mechanized Sisters with Guard Allies
-Guard with Witch Hunter allies (IMHO, this is the best way to use an Inquisitor)
-Dominions
-A ?naked? Canoness
-Celestines
-Retributors

Some Mediocre (but not horrible) Choices are:

-Elite Inquisitors
-Callidus Assassins (with an Elite Inquisitor)
-Eversor Assassin (with an Elite Inquisitor)
-Death Cult Assassins (with an Elite Inquisitor)
-Arco-Flagellents
-Six person Seraphim Squads with Meltabombs
-Immolators
-Zealots

Some poor choices are:

-Sisters Repentia
-Penitent Engines
-Priests (unless you have Zealots)
-Inquisitor Lords
-Orbital Strikes
-Vindicare Assassin
-Cullex Assassin (unless you know you are facing a Psycher heavy army)
-Inquisitor Lords (I prefer the Elite Inquisitor myself)


Despite my obvious Mechanized Sisters bias, I'm currently playing around with some other configurations. I certainly cannot say that I think Mech Sisters are the *only* way to play Sisters. That being said, Mechanized Sisters are the only Sisters army that I've seen win a serious tournament and I'm not convinced that any other Sisters list could compete at the GT level.

I hope this helps.

faithful, mechanized Battle Sisters

In rhinos? If so, that take away from fast attack choices. I didnt think squads of 10 sisters had a high chance to surviving.

What to do with them?

Are you using the current rules?
Sisters can be troops choices with Rhinos now.
The current rules are in the Witch Hunters codex.

get your reciept, return the repentia, buy more sisters

I have pretty much the same opinions, but I have yet to play with a sisters army. . .

Faith Points are great, Litanies of Faith could be quite nice if you have a Canonness in the seraphim squad, the excorcist is so far my favorite heavy support weapon out of any codex I have seen, d6 stength 8 ap1 shots!!!, I really need to get some to use against a couple local Deathwing. . .

I would also say to focus your sister squads to use a particular Act of Faith, because some of them will be hard to use correctly if you have the wrong sized squad. . .

Also Seraphim just look awesome, flying around blazing away with 2 pistols, whats not to love?

I will warn you about Inferno Pistols their great except for the 6 inch range which makes them alot harder to use, you really should think about giving a Seraphim squad Veteran Superior an Inferno Pistol and a Power sword every time. . .

It gives the squad some anti-vehicle punch if you give them flamers, and if you give them Inferno pistols its simply more of a good thing, now you might try to use a Cannoness attached to the squad if she has a jet pack simply so you can use a Litanies of Faith for the whole squad instead of just her. . .

I have to agree with almost everything The Preacher said.  However, for a Canoness I would discourage an 'anti-infantry' role.  Her A value is too low, especially with a two-handed weapon for her to be effective except as a tarpit.  That being said tarpitting a Devastator-type squad is a great idea with a Canoness especially as she should eventually kill them all.  While taking on any squad that is competent at CC will get her killed eventually.  The Canoness is more likely to reap her value back by taking out a vehicle, and as such I consider an Inferno pistol and melta-bombs a must.

I've played alot with my Seraphim squads equipped with one TL inferno pistol and one TL hand flamer per squad (like the standard sisters squad of heavy flamer & meltagun), and found them to be more effective than the original equipment of two of the same weapon in each squad.

I will consider a  Retributor squad (with the only sane armament of four heavy bolters) a high priority unit to include.  Combined with Divine Guidance the unit is enormously powerful and still flexible enough to be useful against any type of army (save Armored Company).

The only use for Repentia models is as the Fanatics in  your Zealots squad (unfortunately).

This is what I ran up so far, its 2000 points

 

Cannones X1 IP, EV, MB, JP

Battle sisters (squad of 10) X4

1 MG, 1 HF, VS W/ BP, PW In Rhinos W/ EA, SM, PMSB

Celestians X1 W/ 4 MG, VS W/ EV In Imolator W/ HF, EA

Seraphim X10 (2 IP, VS W/ EV)

Retributor Squad 4X HB, VS BP/PW

Exorcists X2 EA

Use fewer acronyms and don't invent your own.

Celestians can't have four special weapons, though Dominions can.

Every. Transport vehicle. Gets. Smoke.

Why do you have so many power weapons in squads that shouldn't use them?  Especially the Retributors.

How many Celestian/Dominions are there and how many Retributors.

Personally I suspect (but haven't crunched the numbers) that less than full sized squads of Seraphim are preferable as they do draw fire and need to be able to get Spirit of the Martyr off.

I meant Dominions not Celestians, just one squad of them.

I brought some power weapnons just in case, should only the mounted sisters get them? 

Posted By citadel97501 on 03/04/2006 7:26 AM
I will warn you about Inferno Pistols their great except for the 6 inch range which makes them alot harder to use, you really should think about giving a Seraphim squad Veteran Superior an Inferno Pistol and a Power sword every time. . .

That would be lovely, but I don't think its legal. Aren't Inferno's an HQ-purchaseable weapon only? I seem to remember that from when I was working on some conversions. I could be wrong though, I haven't cracked open my WH book in about a year.

Posted By SaimAlendryelII on 03/05/2006 10:42 PM
Personally I suspect (but haven't crunched the numbers) that less than full sized squads of Seraphim are preferable as they do draw fire and need to be able to get Spirit of the Martyr off.

I think 6-8 is the way to go, at least on paper. Plus, they are frakkin' expensive.

I'm thinking of starting sisters too.

I like the idea of footsloggers but everyone seems to think mechanised is better - what's the benefit of putting them in puny rhinos - is it just to get into bolter range quicker or do you want to be assaulting with them?

Also, what's the benefit of putting meltaguns in basic sisters squads - surely it's better to have dedicated anti-armour units rather than putting melta's in with bolters and flamers.

Mechanized means you can probably out maneuver your opponent most of the time. This allows you to concentrate the majority of your force against a part of your opponent's force and overwhelm it.

Posted By cerebaton on 03/06/2006 12:30 PM
I like the idea of footsloggers but everyone seems to think mechanised is better - what's the benefit of putting them in puny rhinos - is it just to get into bolter range quicker or do you want to be assaulting with them?

I happen to think that a mix is better. A few Rhino squads mixed with one or two 20 sister mobs. This gives you a mix of mobility and staying power.

You don't want to be assaulting with your basic sisters, you want to get into rapid fire range and lay waste.

Also, what's the benefit of putting meltaguns in basic sisters squads - surely it's better to have dedicated anti-armour units rather than putting melta's in with bolters and flamers.

Well, first off, its fluffy! You know, the whole holy trinity dealy-o, melta+flamer+bolter. It helps you roll better.

But, you are right, many times specialization will work better. Having the odd melta thrown in does help against drop-podding Dreadnoughts and Terminators, but so can massed bolter Divine Guidance.

I have been playing mostly sisters for several years.   They are a fairly flexible army and there is not necessarily a right or wrong way.

The strength of sisters is faith points, low cost, good BS and power armor.  They are an excellent short range shooting army.  They are fairly weak in assault (WS and S are 3) but are usually difficult to kill quickly.   Your use of faith points will most likely determine how successful you are with this army.

You need the exorcists for counter your opponents heavy support and to give you some long range weaponry.  I use retributors with 4 heavy bolters to thteaten infantry at longer range.

Seraphim and jump pack canoness are excellent counterattackers, with inferno pistols they can take out any armor.  The hit and run of the seraphim can make them deadly.  I usually take a flamer and an inferno pistol on my seraphim for more flexibility, but that is debatable.

Flamers with divine guidance are a deadly combination.

Book of St. Lucius is extremely helpful.  I always have several. 

I have not has much success with repentia, orbital strike or pentient engines.  Assassins, arcoflaggellant, inquistors and zealots can be helpful sometimes, but every one you take means less sisters and less faith.

Mobile, mixed and footslogging all can work.  Mobile and mixed are probably the best.  Rhinos can move your troops up for devastating rapid fire or be used as mobile terrain. 

Clearly we do not want the majority of our Sisters in combat as they are terrible in HtH.  However, bolters are best at short range.

I do not think that specialization works well for sisters.

Inititally, that is exactly what I did with my sisters and as I honed my force and have done better with them I have reduced the specialization.

My reasons for thinking that this works well with Sisters even though specialization works well with some armies (Marines and Eldar for example), is that the Sisters are quite limited in range and mobility.  There fastest units move 12" and there weapons are only 12".  So any given squad can only attack a relatively small part of the battlefield with efficiency.  This is more so for the Rhino mounted squads as they will likely not have Rhino movement for the entire game.

Specialiazation works for the Eldar because they have fast units (24" move transports mostly).   And hideously high capability to specialize (like squads where every model has an AT weapon).  Marines on the other hand have the range on there powerful weapons to guarantee targets within range (frequently 24-36" or more).

As Sisters of Battle have neither of these advantages to make specialization work I do not think it works well.

I agree with the rest .... more faith points the better, pure sisters list, and exorcist, exorcist, exorcist.  You can not have enough exorcists!  I run with 3 in my army and they scare the crap out of people I face and that fear causes them to make mistakes that I can take advantage of.  For some advice ... I really like the Imagifer (being able to use 3d6 for a faith test once per Imagifer per turn is very nice).  Also the Litanies of Fiath is nice ... while I do not like to spend 25 pts for a one use item .... being able to get off any power for free is nice (like letting a large unit all get 3(I)+ saves).

Now above I just said pure sisters .... I do not acutally run a pure sister list.  I mix them with a grey knight attachment.  I often look at the Witch Hunter codex and think all the other stuff is really cool looking and could do well, but they take away from the strength of the sisters (now if you have a large list say 2500+, then sure put some in for fun).  But I found that the most devistating addition was grey knights.  I have looked at doing a pure sister list ... and I am looking at 10+ faith points.  Faith rocks!  Having tons of ap1 shots (mixed with a couple flamers) .... having 3(I)+ when your unit get killed down is great also.  And the power armor will give your sister staying power against a lot of fire and hand to hand.

For my 2000 pt list I run:
<tt>HQ: </tt>
<tt>Canoness with power weapon & bolt pistol</tt>
<tt>   5 Celestial Guard with 2 melta guns </tt>
<tt>   Immolator - armor, smoke, twin multi-meltas
</tt><tt>Grey Knight Termi Lord with Sacred Incense
  5 Termi guard</tt>

<tt>Elites: </tt>
<tt>6 Celestial Guard with 2 melta guns </tt>
<tt>   Immolator - armor, smoke, twin multi-meltas </tt>

<tt>Troops: </tt>
<tt>11 sisters, vet, power weapon, flamer, heavy flamer</tt>
<tt>11 sisters, vet, power weapon, flamer, heavy flamer</tt>
<tt>8 grey knights </tt>
<tt>8 grey knights</tt>

<tt>Heavies: </tt>
<tt>Exorcist Tank</tt>
<tt>Exorcist Tank</tt>
<tt>Exorcist Tank

</tt>

Let me jump in here.

First, I'd like to say that Preacher pretty much summed up my personal beliefs in how Sisters should be run.  I'm a mechanized, "pure" Sisters kind of guy - what can I say?

Having said that, let me address one thing very quickly - never mix mech & foot.  Ever.  Commit yourself to go one way or the other, do not try both, as it fails miserably in a SoB list.  The whole reason that mechanized works is forcing your opponent to make target prioritization a mass confusion... not the actual game mechanic - just which target does he take out?  You will lose rhinos - but there will be 3-4 more to still keep going.  If you mix mech & foot, the rhinos you lose may well be the only rhinos in your list... and then you're hosed.

A long time ago, in a Dakka version far, far away - I wrote up a relatively long tactica on Sisters - but limited it to my personal viewpoints and did not try to break the units into new molds.  Unfortunately, that Dakka is gone - but if you care to read it (or at least the juicy bits), I redid it on Warseer some time ago.

Check it out for yourselves.

Nice tactica St John!

Make sure you guys read through to pg 51, there he discusses the actual SOB-Mech tactics, as opposed to just the unit breakdowns.

Good stuff.

Ha, "Factory Default Rhinos"! Cracks me up, but its true.

First, I'd like to say that Preacher pretty much summed up my personal beliefs in how Sisters should be run.

That's good because my beliefs were heavily influenced by your Sisters tactica on old Dakka. Before trying your ideas, I went almost 100% mechanized (no Seraphim) and did not have as much sucess as I do now. I would definitely recommend St. John's Tactica to any player considering the Sisters of Battle.