New Sisters of Battle Codex Tactica

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**Farseer Anath'lan**

We had a rather hilarious game tonight, a 4 player, 2v2 100pts each.

My list comprised the following:
Saint Celestine
2x (9 Sisters, Sim, SS, CW(melta), MB, melta, melta)
2x (Priest, MB)
5 Dominions, MB, 5 SB
5 seraphim, SS, MB-90
5 Ret, 2 HF
6 Ret, Sim, 4HB, SS
Penitent engine

It seems rather schizophrenic, but that was more due to the fact that I had placed one of my foam trays somewhere unreachable, which limited my options.

We decided to leave it open as to whether Unbound and multi-CAD, so a Bound Guard list with 3 tanks and some infantry, an Unbound Tyranid list of 3 Tyrants (no wings, ML) and a Trygon, and a 30K Iron Warriors list of a Spartan Assault Tank, Tyrant Siege Terminators and Golg (something close to that).

Guard and 30K teamed up, and I got the Tyranids. I keep Celestine and the Seraphim in reserves, and he kept his Trygon off the table. They went first.

T1 the Spartan blew up the Penitent, and scattered casualties occurred among the Sisters. A few wounds came off the Tyrants.

Come our turn, it was fairly standard advance, the SB Dominions and HB Rets killed off a few Guardsmen, but nothing major.

T2 saw the loss of the HF Rets, and a few more scattered casualties, including a Tryant. A few more guardsmen died in return. Celestine and the Seraphim failed to enter, the Trygon did and glanced a Russ.

T3 the Terminator squad bailed from the Spartan, and killed most of my 9 girl squad, then failed their charge against the SB Dominions (Splitfire). Celestine+Seraphim entered, landing near the Spartan and Tyrant Siege Terminators (for fun, we wanted a quick game) and killed 2 after AOF. The SB Dominions charged the Spartan, and failed to do anything with the MB (double 1's on Penetration). The other 9 girl squad charged a Russ, and tore it apart. HB Rets killed more Guard.

T4 the Terminators destroyed the Seraphim and killed Celestine, before charging the SB Dom's (Splitfire again), wiping them. The Spartan killed the last of my 9 girl squad The last 2 Tyrants died to melt and plasma from the Guard. My other 9 girl squad charged and killed another Russ.

T5 they wiped out my 9 girl quad, and left 3 in the HB squad. The Spartan immobilised itself (ha, dozer blade didn't help that time). Celestine got back up, and jump packed over to the Russ the Trygon glanced, and tore it apart in CC.

T6 Celestine died to a melt shot (T3 sucks) and the Terminators destroyed the building my 3 Rets were standing on, causing 18 S6 wounds. Amazingly, 1 survived, before dying to a bolter shot. That being my last model, Game Over.

I was honestly surprised at how well my Sisters did. The 9 girl+priest squad is my standard troop load out, and always does well, but I was amazed I lasted that long, and scored as much as we did.

Still, we aren't keen on mixing Bound and Unbound again unless pre-agreed, but it was a blast.

**PanzerLeader**

LVO Game #1

My Opponents List

Spoiler:

The Mission

Spoiler:

Game Summary

Spoiler:

I won the roll to go first and deployed centrally, with the dominions spread about 18 inches apart at the top of my deployment zone across from my opponent’s emperor’s will objective. I spread the exorcists across the board, planning on using the 48” range to flank the knights from range. I started my BSS squad in reserves and placed the wyverns centrally where they could hit the entire board and claim some cover from a hill. Celestine went in the middle close to the center LOS blocking terrain.

My opponent placed his knights in a rough line directly across from the dominions and left his blob squad and the autocannon battery guarding his emperor’s will. His lascannon battery and command squad went on my left in a small ruin. I scouted the dominions forward and my opponent failed to seize.

Turn One: I moved the dominions forward and disembarked. The girls flanked the warlord knight, with 5 meltas and an immolator in the left flank and 5 meltas and an immolator to the front. One exorcist moved up the far side and ended up in the right flank of the warlord knight while the other two stayed in the front of multiple knights. Celestine moved up behind the LOS blocking terrain. My opponent declared his shields, with the warlord knight putting his 3++ rerollable towards the dominions in the side. My wyverns shot the CCS squad to hell for First Blood. The exorcist in the flank and the dominions to the front killed the warlord knight, who scattered into the autocannon sabers and killed two of them in the explosion along with some guardsmen from the blob squad. The remaining exorcists and dominions managed to strip some hull points off a 2nd knight with the 4++ rerollable in his front.

The adlance responded by assaulting and killing the two dominion squads with a knight each but the rest of his shooting did nothing.

Turn Two: The vendetta with the last dominion squad arrived, but stayed on the far right to avoid his intercepting lascannons and set up for a turn 3 or 4 melta strike. The immolators moved to the rear and flank of one knight with the exorcists covering the other flank and the front. Celestine moved up to within an inch of the blob squad. My shooting killed another knight (he never got to use his invulnerable as I shot the no save sides first) and in the assault, Celestine charged the blob squad and managed to kill only a single guardsmen. His three guardsmen in range to strike whiffed and he promptly failed the LD6 test and got swept down.

The adlance vendetta failed to arrive and my opponents shooting only managed to shake a single immolator. The last knight failed a long charge (~9”) against Celestine.

Turn Three: Celestine moved within assault range of the lascannon battery and the vendetta dropped to hover. With his last knight encircled and his lascannons facing imminent death from Celestine, my opponent conceded during my movement phase. He would have been left with only a single autocannon team and a vendetta at the end of the turn and didn’t have the resources left to threaten my units on his objective or even pretend to take mine.

Result 10-0 victory for the Sisters.

**pretre**

Nicely done. Ad Lance, not something that SOB are afraid of.

**NewTruthNeomaxim**

pretre wrote:
I'm not a fan of video BRs so haven't watched them. I guess it's a different strokes for different folks kind of thing. My Exorcists do solid work all the time.

Mine do well too, but I will agree with some that the IDEA of them, their range, their point-cost, etc... are almost better than the work they actually do.

In competitive gaming, many successful players try to mitigate randomness as much as possible, and maximize predictability. As such, adding a whole extra random roll to your shooting means the dice gods can render great strength and great BS, moot.

If they cost any more... even a bit more, or if the book honestly had more/more viable choices, you would see their popularity drop wayyyy off.

**pretre**

Well, to be fair, they did cost just a bit more only one iteration ago. They also used to only be AP3. The need for long ranged shooting in the list means that even with their randomness and cost, they have always (since they were added in 3rd) been the best choice for that slot.

**NewTruthNeomaxim**

pretre wrote:
Well, to be fair, they did cost just a bit more only one iteration ago. They also used to only be AP3. The need for long ranged shooting in the list means that even with their randomness and cost, they have always (since they were added in 3rd) been the best choice for that slot.

Which is 100% true. I just mean that says more to the lack of other options than how good/great they are.

**pretre**

I dunno, compare it to an auto-las pred or a dual-las pred (closest equivalent).

The AP1 with shoot and scoot is a big draw. Not to mention the high turret for the shot (vs the lowslung guns on a predator).

It's a good platform.

edit: right now, I would totally take Exorcists over preds in my Space Wolves army.

**Mavnas**

I'm not sure they're better than some Russ variants even if those are more expensive and as a vehicle killer they are easily outperformed by a relic sicaran in most situations.

**PanzerLeader**

pretre wrote:
Nicely done. Ad Lance, not something that SOB are afraid of.

Not at all. I'd be happy drawing AdLance every game.

**pretre**

Mavnas wrote:
I'm not sure they're better than some Russ variants even if those are more expensive and as a vehicle killer they are easily outperformed by a relic sicaran in most situations.

Well yeah.

Leman Russes are more expensive and in a completely different platform/army list. If you could take Leman Russes in marine or sob armies, you probably would. And of course a relic sicaran is going to be better in a lot of situations. You can also only take one without jumping through hoops.

I'm talking about close equivalents though.

**Furyou Miko**

Exorcists have been AP1 since Witch Hunters, lol, isn't it only the CA rules where they fired d6 frag or kraks where they were AP3?

**Mavnas**

Sure, they're better than some comparable units, but I'm still unclear on what targets they counter.

**PanzerLeader**

Mavnas wrote:
Sure, they're better than some comparable units, but I'm still unclear on what targets they counter.

They add desperately needed ranged anti-tank and anti-heavy infantry for cheap. Crisis suits, wraithknights, riptides, broad sides, and MCs of all types tend to not like exorcists. AP1 makes them great against all AV12 vehicles and below too.

**Mavnas**

They score an average of 2 hits. They're unimpressive vs heavy infantry, unless you catch them in the open, they have no invulnerable, or S8 is instant death to multiwound or FNP things. Crisis suits and broadsides would be prime targets if they've lost their drones, otherwise... meh?

Vs. AV12, you get a 1/9th chance at an Explodes x2? Again, nit great.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I've very much come to prefer volume of fire vs. Heavy infantry simply because it means not caring about their cover/invulnerable saves.

**PanzerLeader**

Mavnas wrote:
They score an average of 2 hits. They're unimpressive vs heavy infantry, unless you catch them in the open, they have no invulnerable, or S8 is instant death to multiwound or FNP things. Crisis suits and broadsides would be prime targets if they've lost their drones, otherwise... meh?

Vs. AV12, you get a 1/9th chance at an Explodes x2? Again, nit great.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I've very much come to prefer volume of fire vs. Heavy infantry simply because it means not caring about their cover/invulnerable saves.

Not great compared to what?

A multimelta has the exact same odds of exploding vehicles when shooting between 12.1 and 24 inches. The exorcist can shoot from 48. Nothing else in the Sisters codex is as good at shooting armor at range and for 125 points its a great value buy.

Against heavy infantry in cover, its still good. Making a TEQ roll on a cover or invulnerable save instead of armor and against S8 is huge. Looking at the next closest thing in the codex for ranged anti-infantry, you can get 4 sisters with heavy bolters for 100 points.

Against a TEQ, the HB sisters do an average of ~1 wound after saves (12 shots, 8 hits, ~7 wounds, ~1 failed save). The exorcist with 3 shots does about the same ~1 wound, but as you noted the S8 negates FNP and causes ID against a TEQ. And the HB sisters have to be within range of most TEQ units to shoot, the exorcist does not. The exorcist also has the potential to shoot 6 shots and in a dice game, potential counts during army selection.

**GoonBandito**

Yeah I'll have to echo the comments that Exorcists are amazing. Yes they can whiff, roll a 1 and only get a single shot (which then fails to hit). Or they could roll a 6, hit with all 6 and wipe out an entire unit of 2+ save Elites. The mere threat of that is sometimes enough to swing the battle in your favour. With a 48" range making it difficult to stay out of the threatzone, it's often just enough simply to make your opponent to make bad choices in where he moves his units.

All that for only 125 points, and on an AV13 chassis with a 6++. It's amazing value.

**pretre**

Furyou Miko wrote:
Exorcists have been AP1 since Witch Hunters, lol, isn't it only the CA rules where they fired d6 frag or kraks where they were AP3?

I said that. They were ap3 in codex chapter approved. And still s8. They never fired frag unless it was FW or CJ.

**Mavnas**

PanzerLeader wrote:
Mavnas wrote:
They score an average of 2 hits. They're unimpressive vs heavy infantry, unless you catch them in the open, they have no invulnerable, or S8 is instant death to multiwound or FNP things. Crisis suits and broadsides would be prime targets if they've lost their drones, otherwise... meh?

Vs. AV12, you get a 1/9th chance at an Explodes x2? Again, nit great.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I've very much come to prefer volume of fire vs. Heavy infantry simply because it means not caring about their cover/invulnerable saves.

Not great compared to what?

A multimelta has the exact same odds of exploding vehicles when shooting between 12.1 and 24 inches. The exorcist can shoot from 48. Nothing else in the Sisters codex is as good at shooting armor at range and for 125 points its a great value buy.

Against heavy infantry in cover, its still good. Making a TEQ roll on a cover or invulnerable save instead of armor and against S8 is huge. Looking at the next closest thing in the codex for ranged anti-infantry, you can get 4 sisters with heavy bolters for 100 points.

Against a TEQ, the HB sisters do an average of ~1 wound after saves (12 shots, 8 hits, ~7 wounds, ~1 failed save). The exorcist with 3 shots does about the same ~1 wound, but as you noted the S8 negates FNP and causes ID against a TEQ. And the HB sisters have to be within range of most TEQ units to shoot, the exorcist does not. The exorcist also has the potential to shoot 6 shots and in a dice game, potential counts during army selection.

Yeah, but if that TEQ has a SS, suddenly the Exorcist is useless against it. My point isn't that you can take something better out of the Sister's Codex, it's that we're exalting the virtues of a unit that's merely good because we lack an excellent choice, and the HB Sisters will be better at chewing up an enemy backfield objective camping unit in cover (which saves me having to send my short range weapons 12-24" in one direction then the same distance back into the fight).

So using the
http://www.heresy-online.net/combatcalculator/shootingvehicleresults.php

6 S8 AP1 shots vs. AV. 12 gives you an average of 2 damage, and 36% chance of an Explodes. (So, in the best case scenario, it's basically a coin flip.)

The HB squad strips an average of 1.2 HP with its Rending, which is somewhat similar to rolling a 3 on your number of shots.

My point is that we don't have an amazing long-range fire support unit and the exorcist's "best" targets are also our dom's best targets so it doesn't really fill as much a hole in our lineup as say an allied TFC or Wyverns would. The Tri-las pred is at least more reliable, though you lose the satisfaction of rolling a 6 on the attacks number and no 6++.

**pretre**

Rets can only do that twice. And they are unprotected unless you make them take a fort. Don't get me wrong; I like bastion hb rets, but the exorcist is still a better choice most of the time.

(Rets with simulacrum are what... 122? So same as exo.
Exo has better mobility, defense and survivability. Rets have better rate of fire.)

**Mavnas**

My point is that while the exo might be better, it makes your army even more one dimensional, which is kind of our problem to start with.

The HB rets are also capable of shooting down weak AV11 fliers given enough time. The exo could get lucky, but on average you're only going to get a hit every two turns, and only half of those will pen. (Though if your opponent is intimidated into jinking... that's a thing.)

I find exorcists get overestimated and HB rets get underestimated. This means HB rets generally don't need that much protection because most of the rest of your army will be higher on most people's target priority list. Exorcists are the opposite unless he's got no deep strike/long range anti-armor (in which case they are pretty amazing).

**pretre**

Except HB rets don't need dedicated anything to take out if they are in the open. Anything kills T3 infantry.

I mean, agree to disagree, I guess.

I like HB rets, but they require more points to play well than an exorcist.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I think where HB rets shine is when you have to take a fort for one reason or another (comm relay or anti-air). Then they are a great solution for manning that fort.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Is that 'buy one sister' thing still on the calendar? Showed up in Outlook for next week and confused the crap out of me until I figured out what my abbreviation meant.

**Andilus Greatsword**

Yeah, what day is that supposed to be? I just realized the other day that I'm missing a Seraphim, so I'm probably gonna order one... maybe a couple Jokaero or something as well.

**pretre**

I had march 4th.

**Furyou Miko**

Yep, March 4th, to be accompanied by an email;

To whom it may concern,

I am contacting you in regards to my recent order of an Adepta Sororitas model.

First of all, I do apologise for the high amount of administration work this has probably caused. Secondly, I do not expect a delivery of the model if the stocks have been emptied as a result, but would greatly appreciate a refund if this is the case and if it is within your means.

Lastly I would explain the reason for this purchase: I am an earnest collector of Adepta Sororitas models, and have been waiting for an update to this Faction for some time now. This purchase shows my interest in this range of models, and shows that an Update, or simply more attention to this Faction would bring me great joy.

Yours faithfully
A Sisters of Battle player.

**Farseer Anath'lan**

Ah, bugger it, I need another Sister Superior.

In regards to Exorcists, I must confess to sitting in the 'Not sure it's epic' camp.

Personally, I'd rather take a larger chunk of points and ally in Elysians or Dark Angels (mainly 'cause I have them) and taking something like DWK, Vendetta's or Predators.

But that's just me.

**sfshilo**

I take one exorcist typically. Anymore and you are sinking a lot of points into a one trick pony.

IG beat sisters in tanks anyway, ally some in already.

**SisterSydney**

PanzerLeader wrote:
pretre wrote:
Nicely done. Ad Lance, not something that SOB are afraid of.

Not at all. I'd be happy drawing AdLance every game.

Yes, I loved this batrep. "And then the knight exploded on his troops... and the other knight died... and the other knight."

Knights were the new hotness for a while, but with our proliferation of S:8 AP:1 and melta, for Sisters it was always more like

KNIGHT WARLORD: Tremble, you foolish little girls, as the earth itself shakes beneath our titanic feet!
EXPERIENCED KNIGHT: Wait, sir, did you say "little girls"? Do you mean we're fighting Sist....
SISTERS ARMY: zzzzapzzzapzzzap whooshKABOOOM whooshKABOOM zzzzapzzap
DYING KNIGHT: Ow.
SISTER KORIANDER: Hey, it's only Turn 3, we can still make it to Starbucks before they run out of croissants.
SISTER RAVEN: You're buying.
SISTER KORIANDER: Hey!
DYING KNIGHT: [dies]

**Mavnas**

Yeah, I never bought into the knights being awesome hype, though I did start adding melts bombs to my squads.

**dusara217**

Holy hellfire this thread is long

**MrFlutterPie**

dusara217 wrote:
Holy hellfire this thread is long

The best part? This is the second of such threads and was started after the WD dex can out in 2013!

We may be small in number but our faith is limitless