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Hi there,
I have been in the game for some years now, but not my brother. Even if he always was in the universe, and played all of the Dawn of War, he has never really been in the game.
So, he just started a SoB army, the most expensive and unheeded faction of 40k.
It doesn't look like a good first army, but I acknowledge it is a very charismatic army (I wanted to do a small SoB force myself, but the fact they are metal models stopped me).

Do you have any advice to make his journey into 40k better with the witch hunters ?
Thanks !

Convert plastic Dark Eldar.

The female torsos with the kabalite armor fit perfectly as SoBs in armor once the spikes are trimmed down. Then just get a bolter in their hands and a backpack on their backs.

Also have him abuse the fact that he can ally in cheap Inquisitors with the old-costed Vendetta and Valkyries. And he needs to learn exactly when to use the Acts of Faith. They can be devastating but from what I can tell there's no cookie-cutter moment to activate them; you'll just have to use your judgement as to the optimum moment to use them.

There was a thread about new 3rd party sisters models earlier. You're brother might find the links in here useful.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/699271.page

Good luck to him, choosing sisters as a first army is a brave and expensive move.

 godardc wrote:
Hi there,
I have been in the game for some years now, but not my brother. Even if he always was in the universe, and played all of the Dawn of War, he has never really been in the game.
So, he just started a SoB army, the most expensive and unheeded faction of 40k.
It doesn't look like a good first army, but I acknowledge it is a very charismatic army (I wanted to do a small SoB force myself, but the fact they are metal models stopped me).

Do you have any advice to make his journey into 40k better with the witch hunters ?
Thanks !

Sisters of Battle are actually a solid mid-tier army, only really let down by the lack of fancy formations and detachments that everyone else has and the limited model range of their units. The weird consensus that the army is bad is not actually founded in any table-top performance, rather by the rareness of the army imo. Like most armies it has its good and bad units, with the limited range of units meaning you'll be taking multiples of the same unit type.

Good Units:
HQ:
Saint Celestine - She murders anything without a 2+ or a good invulnerable save in combat. T3 and a lack of AP2 lets her down a bit, but her Act of Faith means she gets back up after 'dying' the first time.
Uriah Jacobus - great at supporting big units of Battle Sisters, as his fixed Warlord Trait gives the unit a 5++ Shield of Faith save. Plus he counts as a Ministorum Priest which...
Ministorum Priests - fantastic force multipliers for close combat. The War Hymns supercharge any unit's close combat abilities, and since Adepta Sororitas get them as Independent Characters you can plug them in anywhere in an Army of the Imperium ally.
Cannoness - The only non-unique, proper HQ you can get. Point for Point she's worse than a Captain or Chaos Lord, but you can make a somewhat resilient combat character with the Mantle of Ophelia (Eternal Warrior), a Rosarius (4++) and War Hymns from a Ministorum Priest. Biggest problem will be getting her into combat since she has no Jump, Bike or Assault Transport options.
Ecclesiarchy Battle Conclave - Load up with Crusaders (Storm Shield/Power Sword) and Death Cult Assassins (dual power swords with a very good stat line), add a couple of Ministorum Priests and you have a fairly nasty close combat unit. Like the Cannoness though, the problem will be getting them into Close Combat. Maybe look into the Inquisition Codex which can take the same unit, but gets Land Raiders as Dedicated Transports.

Troops:
Battle Sister Squad - Your only choice, but luckily they're not too bad being able to take double Special Weapons in a 5 woman squad. More flexible than Tactical Marines which is amusing, and can take Immolators (ie Razorbacks with Twin-Linked Multimelta) as a DT. You're either doing a big 20 woman blob with Uriah as the Warlord for a sweet 5++ or you're mechanising them in Rhinos/Immolators.

Fast Attack:
Dominions - Probably the best unit in the codex. Give them 4 Meltaguns and either Outflank or Scout them up the board in Immolators (or Repressors if you're using Forgeworld). Their Act of Faith is Ignores Cover, which synergies amazingly well with Meltaguns.
Seraphim - Solid Jump Unit which can put out a surprising amount of pain from their dual Hand Flamers - their Act of Faith is Shred which really ups the damage from them. Don't bother with Inferno Pistols since they are stupidly expensive. Natural bodyguard unit for St. Celestine.

Heavy Support:
Exorcists - The only real long range firepower, and its unreliable as hell (they fire D6 shots a turn). However since its S8 AP1, when they get a good a salvo off they rip things up. Decent amount of survivability on a Predator chassis too (AV13/11/10).
Retributors - Can take 4 Heavy Flamers, Heavy Bolters or Multimeltas. Don't bother with Multimelta's, but since their Act of Faith gives them Rending they can make good use of Heavy Flamers or Heavy Bolters for a turn. Either drive them up in a transport to Flame On with Rending Heavy Flamers or sit in the back taking pot shots with Rending Heavy Bolters.

Forgeworld:
Repressor - AV13/11/10 Dedicated Transport with 8 Fire points (3 each side, and 2 from the top hatch)! Has a Storm Bolter, Heavy Flamer and Dozerblade as standard wargear! Double the price of a Rhino, but definitely worth it. Might have to convert your own models, though supposedly the kit is coming back.
Avenger Strike Fighter - the only Flyer Sisters get, but its not too bad. AP3 minigun and two Lascannons put out decent firepower, but its fairly fragile with only 2 HPs at AV12/10/10. Model looks pretty cool though

'Bad' Units:
Cannoness, Celestians, Repentia, Penitent Engines. You can make them work, but you're starting from bad place though Repentia and the Cannoness really only suffer from a lack of assault delivery options.

*salute* sisters were my starting army and been playing them for the past 10 years. Your brother has fine taste- damn fine taste. The sisters of battle are a sexy army and a delight to see on the table. They are as you know, expebsive- eBay will be your brothers friend (insider tip: I will be off loading almost all of my sisters onto eBay some day soon, so keep an eye on there )

Playing tips would be to play the mission. Sisters can deal out some hurt but always always always, play the mission.

Must take units are dominions- their mobility and ability to ruin the day of any opponents armour is utterly dependable.
Exircists- long range, high strength and low ap. I've had nothing but awesome luck with these things and they are gorgeous with the pipe organ look.
Seraphim, deep strike in nice and close and unleash hell.

Personally I've avoided the special characters as I've had no luck with them. The saint gets one shot a lot and she's never gotten back up for me. I've always just stuck with a Cannoness with mantle and eviscerator, she can do a good job of holding her own.

People will play sisters differently. I know a guy who plays blobs of sisters; me I've usually gone MSU and played balls out risk a lot and it's worked for me.

Just one universal rule. Stay the heck out of combat.

Have a look at Dreamforge Games plastic kits as well.

It's actually, ruleswise, a great starting army. Their tactics are very straight forward and they don't feel punishing to play. Starting with something like GK can feel horrible, because if you lose one model in a group, their tactic becomes considerably weakened. Sisters can lose a handful and it doesn't really effect them as much, so it doesn't feel like your world is falling apart in the enemy phase.

People mistakingly call it a mid tier army because it most certainly has mid tier + basic troops. They're a great foundation. The problem is that beyond the foundation they have nothing, and that kind of lack of choice puts them bottom tier for me. However, allying in things and modelling them with som sisters iconography can easily fill up that weakness in a thematic way.

So with allies, they are certainly a mid tier army, and played by a top tier player, I'm certain they could be top tier.

If he can live with the price of collecting, and having an army that gw cares very little about, I commend his choice. You go, sisters player.

As already stated, SoB are surprisingly solid. You often outnumber "quality" armies by quite a lot - something like Tau or SM seldom bring more than half the number of models I do. And true horde armies risk getting so chewed up by the SoB fascination with flamers that they crumble before wiping you out.

There are a few angles to look at for possible reinforcements and the Inquisitors were already mentioned. The Avenger Strike Fighter is Forgeworld and perhaps not worth the money when you can take an Inquisitor and plastic Valkyrie kits. And ofc you have no AA i the Codex - an Aegis Defense Line works well as both AA and cover for those Heavy Bolter Retributors.

Thanks !
He already converted a sister using DE parts, such an heresy !^^
I'll give him all your advices guys.

You should post a picture.

I'm a fan of the old SIster Sin look myself, but I worry people would think I'm just really cheap if I converted everything using sufficiently feminine looking heads on space marine bodies.

He just used the legless sister from the exorcist, and glued her some DE legs, nothing exceptional.
However, I didn't notice it before it tell me, so it must fit together pretty well, as some pointed it me out before in this thread.

I've been looking at using Eisenkern Panzerjagers as a starting point. They're female models that look properly armoured, have an eagle on the chestplate, are about the right scale, and fit spare bolters quite handily.

http://dreamforge-games.com/collections/everything/products/eisenkern-panzerjagers-10-female-tank-hunters