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What is you local meta like Pretre? Or rather what are you expecting to play against in the tournament?

I ask only because that is a LOT of anti-armor/melta, and it made me curious.

In the Sisters army, Melta isn't so much anti-armour as anti-everything-that-isn't-an-ork-or-GEq.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
In the Sisters army, Melta isn't so much anti-armour as anti-everything-that-isn't-an-ork-or-GEq.

Exactly this. Also keep in mind I have potent anti-horde in the form of the Rets and the Repressors. There's a lot of Heavy Flamers in the list.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
What is you local meta like Pretre? Or rather what are you expecting to play against in the tournament?

I ask only because that is a LOT of anti-armor/melta, and it made me curious.

 pretre wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
In the Sisters army, Melta isn't so much anti-armour as anti-everything-that-isn't-an-ork-or-GEq.

Exactly this. Also keep in mind I have potent anti-horde in the form of the Rets and the Repressors. There's a lot of Heavy Flamers in the list.

Yeah that's usually how you play Sisters: Enough flamers to deal with Hordes, and then just pack Melta on everything else that can....

Even Tactical squads like 1-2 melta shots to the face. It's all we can do to make up for the T3 against their bolters...

Nids are typically my worst match up. We lack the rate of fire of low AP weapons to deal with all the monstrous creatures before we get eaten.

Anyway, speaking of Nids. Sister Kathryn leads a relief column after the fall of the Governess palace.

I finally found a use for repentia!!!!! The following explosion took everything out, but totally worth it

Heh. Repentia.

"For though I have sinned, I have a Eviscerator; and together there is nothing in this world that we cannot destroy!"

If you can get them there, they'll kill anything you point them at shy of a horde or possibly flayed ones. If you can get them there.

Exactly that. No one ever said that they wouldn't do nasty things. Just that there are cheaper/more survivable/better ways of doing it then Repentia.

The funny thing about it is that the only thing that I can think of that would do a better job at the Stompa stomping would be terminators with chain fists (S4 base). On the charge, the Repentia have more attacks! and the strength D kills terminators about as fast as repentia.

Course, getting them into combat is a bit of a trick.

So I posted a report on the Sisters of battle over on the 'Rate my codex' thread. I did a review of the codex back at the beginning of 6th so it's based on that. Still, I thought I post it here to see if you guys agree with my assessment


Adepta Sororitas/Sisters of battle

Before I start this review I must say what 'Acts of Faith' are. ALL battle Sister squads have 2 special rules built in. A 6++ (Including ALL Vehicles) and a Special rule that can be used once per game.
During the proper phase (shooting, move, assault ect) roll a leadership test. If it's passed the squad gains that special rule until the beginning of that next phase. I will list their powers next to them.

I'm also not going to include the 2 options we have from forge world right now either

HQ:
Saint Celestine: Must take Act of Faith: Resurrection She's arguably one of the best HQ choices in the game. The codexes only 2+ armour. Only HQ with a jump pack. a S:5 AP:3 sword that also works as a heavy flamer all the time. No eternal warrior but can come back to life with full woulds if she passes a leadership test (At LD 10) and can work as normal. She has hit and run with a stupidly good I of 7. A huge number of base attacks, fearless and a master crafted weapon and Frag and Krak grenades. She WILL chew threw anything up to Mega Armour Nobs, Terminators and Nid Monstrous creatures.

Jacobus: Useful 3 wounds, 4+ Invul. High leadership but absolutely terrible in melee AND shooting. His main features are the fact that he's cheap (100 pts) His warlord trait is amazing (Gives the battle sister squad he is with a 5++ shield of faith) and counter attack. Plus, he gives the squad he's in a second use of their act of faith. He's also a priest, so Zealot and warhymns. (Pass a leadership test get either, reroll failed to wounds, or failed saves in melee. Or smash, if you want it too.) If youre running a large foot mob he's key to keeping them alive.

Cannoness: Useless Our ONLY non-named HQ choice. She's got the stats that you would think she would have. No access to any decent melee weapons. No access to bikes or jump packs and an act of faith that is absolutely useless. (Hatred - once per game. Not useful, especially in a shooting army and one where priests are available) She has access to Relics, and some of the relics are pretty cool. It's just on a terrible delivery system

Command squad: Useless Act of Faith: Fleet, crusader and move through cover Think of a space marine command squad where the only upgrades are special or heavy weapons or melee weapons. No bikes or jumppacks. No Champion. The're okay on their own but can only be taken if you take a Cannoness and, hahahahaa, that's not going to happen. Plus, even then aren't that great. Kitted out for melee with a priest and a Cannoness they could even be good. But we have no way of getting them to combat as the Sisters have no assault vehicles.

Priest: Must take They do not take up a HQ slot and you can have several of them. They're 25 points. One wound with a 4++. But are amazing in what they give the army. Zealot. Plus war hymns. I state what warhymns do under Jacobs but in the Sisters codex they are independent characters so can be put in ANY FRIENDLY SQUAD. Makes Sisters amazing as an ally for other Imperial forces and gives BSS squads the staying power they need.

Battle conclave: Situational They're like an Inquisition squad but with only the Arcos, Death Cult and Crusaders as options. They're not bad on their own and can be kinda killy. But Sisters don't have assault vehicles and the Inquisitor squads are far and away better options. Still, not a bad counter assault force for a pure Sisters army.

TROOPS:
Battle Sister Squads: Must take Act of Faith: Preferred enemy shooting/melee Think of a cross between Imperial guard vets and Space marines, BS 4, LD 8, SV 3+, S, T, I and WS 3. They're must take for the simple fact that they are THE ONLY troop choice in a Sisters of battle army so must be taken for a legal list. They fill basically the same niche as that of Space marine. Semi durable, Obsec, troop choices that can put out decent fire power. They have few key advantages of their more famous, male counter parts. They have a 6++ (ALL THE TIME), they're cheaper but put out the same damage (11 points) and can take both a Heavy AND A Special in a 5 Girl squad. Which is cannot be overstated. The squad size ranges from 5-20. Also useful. Being only T, WS, and I 3 though they get swept pretty easily as they lack 'They shall know no rules' and can be shot off an objective in 5 girl squad. Still 20 girls with a priest can AND WILL tarpit ANY combat unit in the game. (Fearless Re-rollable 3+/6++ saves are hilarious sometimes)

ELITES:
Celestines: Useless Act of Faith:+1 Strength, melee Veteran versions of Battle Sister squads. They have an extra attack, an extra WS and an AOF that gives them S:4. They also have NO access to special melee weapons of any kind. They have the same upgrades as the, useful but not great, battle sister squads but they lose Obsec. Never take unless you run out of troop choices and want more bolters for some reason

Repentia: Situational generously Act of Faith:3+ Feel no pain, assault phase Okay, so, interesting choice. Fearless. Fleet. 2 Attacks. Rage. Armed with a CHAINFIST. All for 14 POINTS. 14! Right. Sound great right? Well... eh. No armour saves. (Just the 6++) no feel no pain normally. So they can AND will get shot off the table before they run to you. When they do get to you they will strike last. There's some cool combos you can do with them. (Jacobus for the 5++ and some priests) but unless they're a counter assault force or coming out of a land raider (which we can't get) they're not great. Still, more close combat hitting power than Terminators for 35% of the cost isn't bad.

FAST ATTACK:
Seraphim: Situational Act of Faith: Shred, shooting phase So they're veterans but only have 1 attack.... they do have hit and run, but at I 3.... Their main ability is the fact that they can take 2 SETS of either hand Flamers or Melta pistols. That's 4 Hand flamers or 4 melta pistols. The Superior (Sgt) can take ONE plasma pistol or a H. Flamer or Melta pistol to add to it. People want to use them as an assault squad but that's not the point. They shoot something really hard (typically an out of the way support unit like a long fang squad or a massive, compacted foot horde like gaunts or orks) then fly away if they attack you. Their 6++ is also reroll able. They would be more useful if Sisters had HQ choices with jump packs but only have one. Here's the thing, if you take Saint Celestine, you MUST take Seraphim. They give her shred on her heavy flamer attack and she gives them a 2+ armour save, heavy hitting close combat power and I7 on their hit and run. They function as a great Saint Celstine delivery system and a good harassment unit and not much else. Still, 5 Infernus pistols at BS4 isn't that bad.

Dominons: Must take Act of Faith: Ignore cover, shooting Okay, they're Battle Sisters in every way except one key difference. The squad itself has Scout. Which means it can get in on a target turn one. The other part of this is that they can take FOUR special weapons in a 5 girl squad. (Plus a combi on the Superior) That's 5 Melta guns with Scout at BS 4. 5 Melta guns with Scout at BS 4 with IGNORES COVER. Best used to kill Wave Serpents or other Important armoured targets. They have other weapon options, 4 Flamers or 4 Storm bolters. These other two options are useful as storm bolters are laughable and getting ignores cover on flamers is a waste. Set them up close to the enemy. Scout 12''. Get first turn. Move 6, get out 6 shoot. 36' inch move with melta guns on turn one. How far away can most people be on deployment? Expect them to fail in clutch situations and when they don't, they WILL be killed afterwards. Keeping them alive isn't a big concern. The biggest cost of this squad are the 50 points youre spending on meltas/combi meltas. Get them there, use those meltas. If they live to turn two. All the better for more melta.

HEAVY SUPPORT:
Exorcist: Situational Armour 13. 3 Hull points. BS 4. 6++ save. S8 AP 1 missiles with a huge range. They have the longest range in the army by a HUGE margin and a powerful main weapon. These are your fire support units. They're good and only 125 points. Still the only thing that stops them from being a must take (and I've taken 2 in every Sisters game I've EVER played with one exception so believe me on this one) is the fact that they get a random number of shots. Heavy: D6. They WILL fail you at an important moment. Nothing worse than rolling a one on the number of shots you get. Still, with decent rolling they can murder most light to mid vehicle or kill a few terminators from time to time. I wouldn't have them be your lynch pin unit as they are too random but if everything comes together, they kill things. This also makes them a huge fire magnet. Anyone who gets a squad wiped by one of these will make them a prime target. That can be useful too as it pulls fire from your more delicate units.

Penitent Engine: Useless Okay, maybe Situational but probably not. Cheaper than a dreadnought but also more delicate than one. We all know the trouble Dreds have in the current rule set. BS2 but that's okay, they have 2! Heavy Flamers. Functions like a mini Furioso as it ignores the effects of crew shaken/stunned and has Rage. Not bad for 80 points but. Ugh. Front armour 11 and a 6++ don't do well on a melee only foot unit that also looks like a massive, massive target. Take in a squad of three (yeah, squads) and run them at someone to either draw fire or kill a few things. Used that way it might be good but they're too delicate to really count on. Their main issue is the fact that they compete for a slot against the Avenger strike fighter (not reviewed), the Exorcist and the Retributors (Below) and my 3 HS slots are always filled up with a combination of those things

Retributor Squad: Situational Act of Faith: Rending, shooting More Battle sisters. Same stats. Same everything. But like Dominons there's one key difference. They can take FOUR heavy weapons in a squad. They're limited - like all battle sisters - to bigger versions of the holy trinity. (Bolter, melta, flamer) but 4 Rending H. Bolters isn't bad. 4 Rending H. Flamers hopping out against a clustered enemy will kill most things. (I once wiped out an 11 man blood angel assault squad - WITH feel no pain - when they deep struck right next to me using just these 5 girls) I don't think I've ever seen anyone ever take the Melta guns as rending meltas are useless and, if you're only going to get one use of your act of faith, you may as well not waste it.

SQUAD UPGRADES:
Simulacrum Imperialis: Situational ALL battle sisters can take this (with the exception of Seraphim and Repentia) it allows the squad to use their act of faith Twice a game. (3 times with Jacobus) Really good for some squads. (Large Battle Sister squads or Retributors) but wasted on others (Smalls squads, Dominons - who WILL die before turn two) so sprinkle where you see fit.

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS:
Rhino: Situational Whats to say about a Rhino? It's 5 points more expensive but gains a 6++ invulnerable save. Still, not amazing and I think Sisters have better choices.

Immolators: Must take A razor back. A 60 point razor back with a 6++ save. WITH Twin-linked Multi Meltas. (Or Heavy flamers - Or heavy bolters but don't take them) Sisters of battle do MSU arguably better than ANY army in the game. Most squads will be run at 5 women strong. So you can take nothing but Immolators with BSS, Rets, Doms and throw in a priest for good fun. If you run full armoured - like I do - you'll run between 3-6 of these with Exorcists backing them up. Maybe a bit of an armoured coffin but it works well with the Sisters and is the best choice for transport.

I think its important to mention that the BSS can also take double special weapons, which is something that every Marine army ever except Wolves complains about not being able to do.

war wrote:
The funny thing about it is that the only thing that I can think of that would do a better job at the Stompa stomping would be terminators with chain fists (S4 base). On the charge, the Repentia have more attacks! and the strength D kills terminators about as fast as repentia.

Course, getting them into combat is a bit of a trick.

Ork Tankbustas are probably the other notable unit. Every model is equipped with melta-bombs and a Rokkit. Obviously Repentia have more attacks, but Tankbustas get S8 AP1 Melta vs S6 AP2 Armourbane in close combat, a S8 AP3 shooting attack and most critically Fast, Open-Topped transports to get them where they need to be.

I don't think exo's are situational. I think they are mandatory

Yes they have random shots but they are better then the rest of the stuff in our HS slot and once your FA slots are filled you are going to need dump your points into something else.

Yeah, Doms and Exos are mandatory. Uriah/Celestine are mandatory. BSS are mandatory.

Everything else is situational to useless.

 pretre wrote:
Yeah, Doms and Exos are mandatory. Uriah/Celestine are mandatory. BSS are mandatory.

Everything else is situational to useless.

Depending on your allies I don't at all think Celestine and Uriah are mandatory.

Celestine is decent but at t3 she's pretty squishy. In a pure MSU list I would rather take a Canoness with a combi melta and take my chances rolling on command.

Uriah has his uses but in a pure MSU list (which sisters do very well) I'd rather take another BSS squad than a 100 point hq.

Shout out to PanzerLeader for being 4-0 going into Round 5 at LVO with his Sisters/Militarum list!!! Go Sisters!

https://www.frontlinegaming.org/2015/02/21/lvo-round-5-update/

Rynner wrote:

 pretre wrote:
Yeah, Doms and Exos are mandatory. Uriah/Celestine are mandatory. BSS are mandatory.

Everything else is situational to useless.

Depending on your allies I don't at all think Celestine and Uriah are mandatory.

Celestine is decent but at t3 she's pretty squishy. In a pure MSU list I would rather take a Canoness with a combi melta and take my chances rolling on command.

Uriah has his uses but in a pure MSU list (which sisters do very well) I'd rather take another BSS squad than a 100 point hq.

He's 25 more than your canoness with combi. That's not another bss.

Sisters FTW !

Finished 5-1 and 20th overall. I'll post the game summaries next week when I'm back in Boston.

Never mind I misread your post.

Yes, but if you don't take Jacobus, you have to take the Canoness, and the Canoness as you describe her is 75... so you're only saving 25 points, not 100.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Yes, but if you don't take Jacobus, you have to take the Canoness, and the Canoness as you describe her is 75... so you're only saving 25 points, not 100.

In a pure sister's list I don't think Uriah is awful, I just don't think he is a must take. Being able to roll for a warlord trait is under rarted.

A 5++ invol. for one squad isn't great in msu. You can run a 20 woman squad but why bother? The 12" fearless bubble is nice but if you get charged you want your squad to die so you can shoot at what charged you.

I've pretty much accepted the fact that when I'm playing sisters I'm going to give up warlord and try to time her death to make the most out of martyrdom.

I agree with you really, your maths was just off. I almost always use a Canoness. Two, in larger games. One to be the Warlord and one to fight... and yeah, Strategic warlord traits. The Sororitas ones are only okay. Better than the 6e rulebook traits, but nothing on the 7th ones.

Incidentally, it looks like we haven't done too badly at LVO, although how many of those are only AS-primary for the comp points is anyone's guess...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jCcVilaW2pvunF-UlbM67ah0tDDBIc2u4PeT1klO6dk/htmlview?usp=sharing&sle=true

PanzerLeader wrote:
Finished 5-1 and 20th overall. I'll post the game summaries next week when I'm back in Boston.

Awesome! Great job. Also, list please.

Finally got my first game with Sisters in (aside from a small part in a big Apoc battle). It was a pretty casual 2000pt game, Sisters vs Vostroyan Guard, playing the Scouring on Hammer & Anvil deployment. I had Celestine, Jacobus, 2 Priests, 10 Repentia (I had to see just how bad they were for myself), 3x 5 Sisters in Rhinos, 5x Flamer Seraphim, 2x Melta Doms in Rhinos and 2x Exorcists. I also had some Space Wolves, but they were just a minimal amount in order to buy a Land Raider for the Repentia. The Guard player had 3 Russes (with Pask in an Executioner), 2 Basilisks and a Manticore, plus a Vendetta, 2 Armoured Sentinels, a CCS and 2 Vet Squads.

Cons: The Guard player's dice were on fire, he must have missed maybe 5 scatter rolls all game (and 3 of those were in one volley from Pask), so I was getting blown to bits. The Repentia were basically in their ideal setup (in a Land Raider, with Jacobus and a Rune Priest for support), but they still ended up being almost useless due to their excessive fragility - they just killed a Chimera and then died horribly over the next couple turns. I'm just gonna run them as Death Cult Assassins from here on out. :(

Pros: Dominions though were AWESOME, as expected. I outflanked them, but didn't end up on the board edge I needed to (still killed a ton of stuff though). A comms relay seems like it could be useful, but odds are that you'll get the side you want most of the time so I probably will just make due without it. I also LOVE shield of faith ( THE EMPEROR PROTECTS )!!! I saved so many vehicles with it and it helped my infantry every once in a while as well. Celestine was a monster, although T3 is a massive achilles heel. MSU also worked extremely well for me - I was getting annihilated for most of the game, but had so many troops with Objective Secured that I managed to win 12-2 (4/3/3VPs for objectives, 1VP for killing the Sentinels and 1VP for Linebreaker, vs 1VP for First Blood and 1VP for Warlord; I contested the other 2 objectives because, again, MSU is awesome).

The rest: The Seraphim were okay, but they felt like overkill vs Guard. They did almost survive a whole round of AP2 shooting from Pask, though, which would have been impressive. Also, I know Exorcists are quite good, but mine were rolling kind of poorly, didn't have any good targets (too much AV14 front armour) and one of them got immobilized on Turn 1 behind a ruin. Next time I'll be sure to triple-up.

Anyway, all-in-all, I'm really liking the army and enjoyed this bit of practice. Pretty much all of this analysis is probably obvious to all you seasoned Sisters players, but to a novitiate like me it was good to get out on the field and put your advice to the test.

Exorcists are great for side shots since they can maneuver. Thanks for the report!

 pretre wrote:
Exorcists are great for side shots since they can maneuver. Thanks for the report!

No prob, and yeah, being able to maneuver was a nice perk but the Hammer & Anvil deployment type and the enemy's gunline style gameplay kind of screwed that up for me. I'd kill for a detachment that allows Sisters to outflank units though.

 Andilus Greatsword wrote:

 pretre wrote:
Exorcists are great for side shots since they can maneuver. Thanks for the report!

No prob, and yeah, being able to maneuver was a nice perk but the Hammer & Anvil deployment type and the enemy's gunline style gameplay kind of screwed that up for me. I'd kill for a detachment that allows Sisters to outflank units though.

This is why I make a BSS sergeant my warlord. The strategic table is too good to pass on in most match ups.

Rynner wrote:

 pretre wrote:
Yeah, Doms and Exos are mandatory. Uriah/Celestine are mandatory. BSS are mandatory.

Everything else is situational to useless.

Depending on your allies I don't at all think Celestine and Uriah are mandatory.

Celestine is decent but at t3 she's pretty squishy. In a pure MSU list I would rather take a Canoness with a combi melta and take my chances rolling on command.

Uriah has his uses but in a pure MSU list (which sisters do very well) I'd rather take another BSS squad than a 100 point hq.

Exos are only mandatory because of the other things in the HS slot. Only one of which is good (Rets) and one which is bad - okay (Penetance engine) If I could take 3 avenger strike fighters, I would. Probably. Exos really only work in the way Vindicators do; bullet magnets because they could do something 'in theory.' It's a weapon of fear, not a weapon of war.

Jacobus is a surprisingly solid warlord with a squad of Repentia. He's also okay in a 20 girl squad but I'm not really sure what you do with that. Other than really, really, hold one objective.

Whats stopping you from taking 3x Strike fighters?

Unless I missed it you can take 3.