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Just wondering what competitive (IE ITC, ETC, etc... minded players) think of added Null Maidens to a list? With Demons making a giant come-back to competitive play, and Psychic Deathstars always having been an issue for some armies, I have been entertaining painting up 30 Sisters of Silence for a maxed Null Maiden formation. It is squishy, but coming in under 500pts for 30 bodies, which literally shut down Psychic powers, and having AP2 melee weapons on all those bodies feels like a fair use of points.

They're going to drop like flies at T3, but with the competitive scene often erring on high quality shooting versus volume shooting, I feel like shots wasted on them are shots not going to higher value targets as well.

Thoughts? I think i'd really like to make them work, and think they could be a fun outside the box choice, not unlike Lictor-shame.

The main issue is that the Culexus requires Michael less investment to bring in and doesn't take up a lot of space, which can be super beneficial.

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
The main issue is that the Culexus requires Michael less investment to bring in and doesn't take up a lot of space, which can be super beneficial.

I definitely see that, but likewise, there can be tactical value in piles of bodies taking up all that space, and causing large swathes of "no-Psyker" zones all over the table, no?

I mean, as investments go, the formations allows for 1-3 units of up to 10 Sisters, so even three bills for 20 bodies seems decent in the "quantity is a quality of its own" sense.

Its not a bad idea. They're expensive but not horrifically so, and 30 I5 S4 AP2 fearless infantry is far from awful even if facing nopsykers, something you cant really say for the culexus.

Remember all the squads needn't be full sized. For 85 points, a unit of five flamers who can't be invisibility blocked is a nice, cheap tool to have in your back pocket.

I mean, I love the models, so i'll be giving some permutation of this a go.

Its a gross point expenditure, but maybe in a less "hardcore" environment i'll also try running my Plasma Obliterator with one unit of Sisters + Escape hatch. That way if its a non-psychic opponent they can chill inside and shoot giant templates... but if they do need to pop out and use their anti-psy tech, they can show up across a large swathe of table, as needed.

I don't know about a max unit, but I am surprised that we don't see more of them in lists. I think lacking a transport does hurt them though. Still, I can see armies like War convocation making great use of them.

I just went to an event where a play used the old Bunker/Escape Hatch to get some extra mobility out of a couple large units of them, and in matches where it was relevant, they seemed to do their anti-psyker work commendably.

I think the big problem is that many Imperial lists rely on psykers of their own, and unlike the Culexis, there are few good ways to start the SoS outside of your own deployment zone. It's like fighting with radioactive waste; you really don't want them anywhere near you, so their lack of speed becomes a big problem.

That being said... Why are you capping out unit size? I guess you might be limited on detachments by ITC (ugh) rules, but 6 5-girl squads is much better, and 3 5-man squads gets you most of the benefit for half the cost.

You can get a bunch of mages for the points and just try to deny the powers. It's more reliable than both cullexus and sisters vs true magic deathstars that can easilly cast their stuff outside of 12" range.

How are people running their sisters? The swords seem very tempting, but you need to commit to CC to get use out of them. Hanging around close, but mobile with the bolters seems like it might be a viable idea.

Waaaghpower wrote:
I think the big problem is that many Imperial lists rely on psykers of their own, and unlike the Culexis, there are few good ways to start the SoS outside of your own deployment zone. It's like fighting with radioactive waste; you really don't want them anywhere near you, so their lack of speed becomes a big problem.

That being said... Why are you capping out unit size? I guess you might be limited on detachments by ITC (ugh) rules, but 6 5-girl squads is much better, and 3 5-man squads gets you most of the benefit for half the cost.

We only play ITC when running competitive events, so yeah, we're heavily restricted by the three detachments. As such, squeezing in weight of bodies is important.

In my particular case, I run primarily Tau, so I couldn't absolutely care less about the Sisters disrupting my own non-existent psychic phase, but I can absolutely see how the Culexus' positioning tricks can help in traditional Imperium lists.

Can you take them as a part of the new cadian Castellan's formation? Might be a fun way to insert them into the list without having to hurt the max source part.

 Cptn_Snuggles wrote:
Can you take them as a part of the new cadian Castellan's formation? Might be a fun way to insert them into the list without having to hurt the max source part.

Nope. The ONE legal way to take them in Bound 40k, is Null Maiden formation, of 1-3 units (5-10 models per). Period.