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With the unsubstiantated rumor of plastic Sisters some time next year, I'm considering getting back into the hobby. I'm wondering, however, if an all-Sisters army is a viable take all comers "main" army for regular play in leagues and tournaments.

What are the thoughts here?

Do as GW's designers do and roll on this handy D6 table:

1. The codex will be competitive as long as you only play three specific units.
2. The codex will be viable with many nice units to choose from.
3. The codex isn't Imperial Guard and you'll feel it.
4. The codex is a supplement to Codex Imperial Guard and Celestine has synergies with Guard instead of Sororitas units.
5. Sisters won't get a codex but will be an upgrade kit for Grey Knights. Grey Knights, however, become competitive through this.
6. The Emperor did not will it.

Sisters are strong codex if piloted competently, though the beta 'rule of three' limits us severely since we have so few units.

Just like the Ynnari, Sisters get extra phases during the game. You get 1 off the bat, and Celestine (a MUST) give you another. Immigifiers give you an additional on a 4+, so 1-2 is usually a must in any list.
Dominions are great... Serephim are really good (need melta pistols).
The FAQ basically forces us to take a lot of BSS.
I'd run sisters as an armored MSU, with relatively few exceptions. But you can run pure or mostly sisters with good results.

If they get a plastic range, inevitably they'll get a codex too. At that point, I see no reason why not!

Now - err...not especially:

1) They lack an [Order] rule in the fashion of [Chapter] or [Craftworld], meaning they're down a free special rule compared to other newer armies

2) Their unique special character is very good, but she is unique and you lack any other real big stick options

3) Celestine aside, it's an expensive metal range.

4) The Acts of faith rule doesn't scale well with an entire faithful army unless you invest in a lot of imagifers, which costs slots, points and £.

Nevertheless - are they good? Yes. They suck - as they have always sucked - in one-on-one melee (specialists aside), but pistols as a standard sidearm now give them a fighting chance in an extended brawl, and you essentially get the firefighting power of space marines at a significantly reduced price. The canoness giving you a captain-esque reroll to hit and a BS2+ storm bolter for chump change in points is a good example.

Yes, we're good enough and viable as a standalone army.

The new FAQ is annoying though, since, well, we don't exactly have a lot of unit options in the first place, and even less of them are good, but such are the drawbacks of not being the Space Marines.

For specific advice, Mechanized Dominions are strong because they overcome our army's main weakness: short range. Seraphim do too, but only 1 squad, because they're dependent upon Acts of Faith to do so and Acts of Faith don't scale well to game size. Retributors are the other desirable choice, specifically Heavy Bolter Rets, because they have range to fire across the no-man's land.

Because all our weapon options have really short range, we pretty much abide by all the considerations of a close-quarters focused army, without actually being good in melee. We generally rely on destroying or tying up things on turn 1, otherwise we're going to get obliterated because we're easily within move-charge range and can't fight in melee. Basically, you will get exactly one opportunity to shoot with each of your units if you can't destroy enough of the enemy off the bat.

Yes they are indeed very viable and have been placing very well in tournaments despite veing an index army in a scene full of codexes with bells and whistles.
Despite having power armour and boltguns, they DO NOT play like space marines. Being T3, they still fear anything stronger than a wet paper bag pointed in their general direction.
They are a very "shotgun" force. Close range hard hitting and reward aggressive play.
Their only real long rage heavy hitter (Exorcists) have not translated well into 8th (compare Kratos to an oompa-loompa or a more appropriate musical comparison "Deus Irae" or "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" to "Chopsticks").

phydaux wrote:
I'm wondering, however, if an all-Sisters army is a viable take all comers "main" army for regular play in leagues and tournaments.

Currently - league and local tournaments yes, major tournaments not so much.

Your average sister of battle isn't much to look at - your assault veterans are strength 3 and armed with just their fists. But you can stack up on small arms to shoot hordes, stack up on meltas to shoot everything else, and your opponents elites are wasted on you (a 5 model T3 squad with a couple of stormbolters is not the ideal target for a primarch or storm shadow).

There is rumoured to be a 'beta' sisters ruleset coming prior to the plastic release, possibly this year. We'll have a better idea where GW is going with them at that point.

I think they call into “yes but” category. They can do fine on their own, but like most other imperial armies they benefit from allies. For example I find space marine scouts to be almost a necessity for making dominions better.

I think they do well standalone with the priesty units added in. Pure Sisters might be a struggle.

Didn't we get a confirmed announcement on warhammer community on plastic sisters?

Yes, but it was an "eventually", and "we're working on it".

In theory they'll be giving updates as they make progress, but it's only been about a month.

Act of Faith are a god-tier ability, so in my view it would be pretty difficult to ruin a Sisters of Battle codex.

Without their codex, are they currently viable for tournament play? Absolutely. They won't top tables but they aren't at the bottom of the index pile either. The biggest problem you'll run into is acquiring the models you'll want.

Even if monobuild each edition they can compete. The issues they're stupid expensive so nobody sees them on the tabletop. I firmly blame price for the poor toppings.

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
Even if monobuild each edition they can compete. The issues they're stupid expensive so nobody sees them on the tabletop. I firmly blame price for the poor toppings.

that and the majority of the range being all metal didn't help either.

phydaux wrote:
With the unsubstiantated rumor of plastic Sisters some time next year, I'm considering getting back into the hobby. I'm wondering, however, if an all-Sisters army is a viable take all comers "main" army for regular play in leagues and tournaments.

What are the thoughts here?

2019 is a ways off, and SoB next year is kind of a guarantee not a rumor. It's way to early to tell what state they will be in when they get their book and models. I think they won't be too different from how they are now, with the benefit of updated models and maybe 1 or two new things. If you're really interested in starting them it's best to just sit back and wait it out. They might show us a glimpse of the design process at warhammer fest, but it'll likely be just concept art/renders, nothing rules related until the next chapter approved book.

Yeah-they're-good-but.

I'll just chime in and say that SOB are a hard army to play effectively. AoF is very difficult to play optimally, I find you have to plan at least a turn ahead. It is one of the most reliable "spells" in the game but it's only good if you're a good player.