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I'd like to hear peoples comments on this list.  It's meant for RTT's in specific, so comments about it's general viability as well as theme are appreciated.

As for background story, it's a Order of the Bloody Rose mission, being attacked on an Ice world.  The local guard are inducted to help defend the monestary, and the poor Ordo Maleus Inquisitor just happened to have been there searching their Tombs for clues to recent demonic infestation.  Of course the Cannoness, representing the Inquisition, does not believe in hiding, so she hangs red =I= banners all over their tanks and makes them wear bright red armor over their spiffy ice cammo fatigues.  Of course who's going to argue with an angry Cannoness....  Pictures are here.

Here's the list

* Exorcist - Extra Armor, searchlight, smoke launchers

* Leman Russ - Extra Armor, searchlight, smoke launchers, Hull Heavy Bolter, Improved Comms

* 11 Battle Sisters, 2 Storm Bolters, Veteran Superior BP&CCW  Book of St. Lucias,

* 9 Battle Sisters, Storm Bolter, MeltaGun, Veteran BP &CCW, Book of St. Lucias

* Armored Fist - Lascannon, Grenade Launcher, Chimera, Hull Heavy Bolter, Turret Multi-laser, Extra Armor, Smoke,Searchlight

* Armored Fist - Lascannon, Grenade Launcher,Chimera, Hull Heavy Bolter, Turret Multi-laser, Extra Armor, Smoke, Searchlight

* 5 Arco Flagellants

* OM Inquisitor - Emperors Tarot, Power Armor, Psycannon, targeter

* Calidus Assassin

* Canoness - Book of St Lucias, Cloak of St Aspira, Litanies of Faith, Purity Seals, Blessed Weapon

* 5 Celestian Retinue - Heavy Flamer, Flamer Priest - Power Armor, Evicerator, Brazier of Holy Fire

* Sentinel - Lascannon

For some reason I just got logged out of Dakka and lost my post. Here's a summary:

1). The following units are not cost effective:

-Arco Flagellants: They are expensive and vulnerable to enemy shooting. They aren't really effective in tournament games.

-Priest: He's a horrible choice when paired with Sisters because he takes away their ability to Rapid Fire (see the WH FAQ). Sisters (including Celestines) are more effective Rapid Firing with divine guidance, even when they have the Priest. As a result, he is simply not cost effective. Additionally, there isn't really a reason to give him power armor. Just use the Celestine's majority save.

-Sentinel: The Sentinel is expensive and dies easily. I'd depend on other units for anti-tank and spend these points elsewhere.

-Celestine Retinue: Even with a priest and their favored enemy ability, Celestines are more cost effective when using Rapid Fire with Divine Guidance. I would either make this unit a shooty squad that has the ability to counter assault if absolutely necessary, or drop the Retinue entirely, giving the Canoness a jump pack so she can easily assault enemy heavy weapons or slow enemy assaults. Because your list lacks mobility, my preference would be the latter choice.

2). I would highly recommend a second Exorcist. This will help equalize the random nature of the Exorcist's weapon and be a better anti-tank option than the Sentinal.

3). Your list is pretty static so you'll have a hard time with Objectives. I'd either Mechanize your Sisters, or take Seraphim (the Seraphim can also help keep your other units out of close combat).

4). If you do not Mechanize your Sisters, I'd increase the size of their squads and give them Meltaguns. This way they will have enough bodies to use Divine Guidance once they get into Rapid Fire range and be a threat to enemy vehicles. Sisters are best when Rapid Firing, so Storm Bolters don't really help much.

5). If you are going to take an Inquisitor and Assassin, this is probably the most cost effective way to do it. I'd consider taking Terminator Armor for the Inquisitor so that you can fire your Psycannon on the move from range.

6). I prefer taking all Sisters so I can maximize faith, but if I'm not going to maximize faith, I like the AF/Russ combo. I'd drop the grenade launchers on the fists though. I'm not sure about the Improved Comms and smoke on the Russ either. I like my Russ and Exorcists to be firing.

7). I'd prefer more Sisters over things like searchlights and targeters.

I think you are on the right track with this list (for an Inquisitorial list anyway). It won't be as competitive as the Mechanized Sisters list, but with a few changes I think you could have a somewhat competitive (and different) list.

Yea! A response!

First of all, thanks for responding. Secondly, your response was exactly what I was looking for, so, if it seems I'm arguing after asking for opinions, please, read on. Mostly I want to make sure that I'm not playing a "cheesy" or "over powerful" army.

-Arco Flagellants: They are expensive and vulnerable to enemy shooting. They aren't really effective in tournament games.

I've been told this over and over again, and yet in my games they have consistantly made a huge difference. I think this is because I've got a relatively static shooty list. I've found it bad news for an enemy to try to out-shoot me thus far, and as a counter-assault, the Arcos are without measure.

-Priest: He's a horrible choice when paired with Sisters because he takes away their ability to Rapid Fire

Of course to have the Arcos, I have to have the priest. The celestians only have 3 bolters, so those extra 3 shots are not really important. They provide a faith point, wounds to protect my Cannoness from shooting, and an Evicerator. That being said, I think that the Arcos are probably the first to go. However, I've not lost a combat with this unit out of the 7 games that I've played them.

2). I would highly recommend a second Exorcist

I've got one in the makings already, and I agree. However, that makes it closer to the "formula" of 3 exorcists and a bunch of rhinos that we see over and over again. Strangely enough, while I was originally unsure about even including the Russ, it's been an worthwhile inclusion because of it's 72" range and AV 14. It also takes some of the heat off my excorcist.

I'd either Mechanize your Sisters, or take Seraphim

Unfortunately, back to the formula. Not that I disagree, I've got 10 seraphim (eventually to be joined with another 6) waiting to be painted. The funny thing though is that I've not had problems with getting troops to the objectives as the sisters are not static, they are just walking.

4). If you do not Mechanize your Sisters, I'd increase the size of their squads and give them Meltaguns.

The problem I have with Meltaguns, is their extreme short range. Getting within that 6" is really tough. I've got enough anti-armor for anything other than AV14. That means that LandRaiders and Monoliths give me problems, but I've got enough mobile fire-power to take on Russ variants and get side armor. LandRaiders and Monoliths however, are not good targets for Meltaguns with non-mechanized sisters. Monoliths are obvious, but consider that a LandRaider is generally moving 12" dumping it's cargo, which is then assaulting you before you get your shot off. The game I tied last weekend, was due exactly to that. I relied on my Meltagun and Sentinel to stop a LandRaider, and well, it didn't. Lost them both to the command squad within.

Sisters are best when Rapid Firing, so Storm Bolters don't really help much.

Actually, I'm seriously considering dropping my meltagun for another storm bolter! They made a huge difference, and with all the other hard/dangerous targets onthe board, the sisters seldomly got concentrated fire.

I'd consider taking Terminator Armor for the Inquisitor so that you can fire your Psycannon on the move from range.

ooooo, now that's an idea I hadn't considered! I like it. Particularly because I'm considering giving him a retinue of 2 mystics and a sage in larger games. Great suggestions!

6). I prefer taking all Sisters so I can maximize faith, but if I'm not going to maximize faith,

You and everone else I've ever met or talked to. This is why I want to do something very different. I've found that I've got faith left over after every game, which tells me I'm not being agressive enough with Divine Guidance, yet at the same time, I've got 5 plus the book for only 3 faithful units, so I'm never short.

I'd drop the grenade launchers on the fists though

Yep, by dropping the searchlights on the 4 vehicles, I'll get the extra points I need for plasma guns.

I'm not sure about the Improved Comms and smoke on the Russ either. I like my Russ and Exorcists to be firing.

With reserves so common in RTT's, I found the Improved Comms to be quite helpful. I used the smoke launchers on both of them in the last tournament, once due to being shaken, and once to get the exorcist into range and LOS. I think that the Improved Comms would be the first to go.

I think you are on the right track with this list (for an Inquisitorial list anyway). It won't be as competitive as the Mechanized Sisters list, but with a few changes I think you could have a somewhat competitive (and different) list.

Thanks again for your comments. There were some good ideas, and it also gave me the information that I needed, which is that it's not a brokenly powerful list. I also think (by the lack of comments from other) that most people don't know what to make of it, which gives me even more reason to keep with it!

I actually like the list. It's different, but I think it will still have a chance at winning games. I just don't think it will be competitive enough to take on the power lists out there. I've been toying around with a similar list for "fun" games and have had some success with it. I just haven't felt comfortable enough to use it in a tournament environment. I'd love to hear a battle report when you are done to see how you did.

The army looks great by the way. I love the strong sense of theme that unifies your units together.

Those are good words to hear. I don't like playing "the power lists", though have come up with them on my own.

Last weekend I actually came within 2 points of a 4-way tie for 1st place at a 57 player RTT. I won 2, tied one.

The first game was against a kid playing Demon Hunter army, with a calidus, special character Inquisitor, GK termies, 2x 10 man GK units, Orbital Lance strike, and a LR Crusader. He didn't play it well, and barely knew the rules, but still I don't think the army as a whole could have stood up to mine. It was pretty sad to see his GK hero go down to my unit of Arcos. "ok, that's 19 invulnerable saves...." :lol:

The second game was against a very good Ultra player, which was mostly mobile. 3 Rhinos, 2 Tornados, a Whirlwind, 2x 5 man squads and 2x predators. The calidus was the star in this game. Moving the WW on before the game mucked up his deployment, and kept it from shooting the entire game. The S6 from the Chimeras, and lascannons made short work of his vehicles. The sisters Melta actually did pop one of the predators too.

The third game was the tie and was against a Deathwing army which hid the entire time. We both played it entirely too cagey, and ended up not scoring enough for a win. He played 2 units of termies, 1 command squad of termies in a regular Land Raider, and 2 dreads. The highlight was after missing the LR with the melta, the remanants of a 5 girl squad held up his command squad for 2 turns!

I also played a LatD army with 2 Russ, a Basilisk, sentinel, big mutants, a nasty (for IG) HtH unit and some traitor guard. Again, the Calidus kept the Basilisk and sentinel busy all game until he remembered that he had extra armor and drove away. By then it was too late. Having first turn, I kept his 2 Russ's busy until they were destroyed by my Exorcist and my own Russ.

I don't have any 4th edition experience playing with or against WHs, so my advice is severly limited.

I was wondering, can you really change your army having already painted it all up and made a custom display board? I'd think you'd be fairly locked in.

If you can, I definitely think another Exorcist is a must, even if it does put you closer to the cookie-cutter design. . .that's about it for Sister's expertise. 

I do know quite a bit about Guard, and I think dropping the extra armor on the Chimeras is an easy way to find another ten points if you need it.

This is because I'm sure you start most games with the unit outside of the vehicle (at least I hope you do), and the Chimera should mainly stay static or move 6" a turn and fire. It generally doesn't move troops anywhere, and if you do its not the kind of thing that MUST get done. The point is, you don't really need to make sure a Chimera keeps moving. If it gets stunned in a bad spot, you can always pop smoke and move it again the next turn.

In short, unlike Rhinos, the primary role of Chimera should be fire support so the ability to move when stunned isn't of much importance.


Also, I do not think your army is "cheesy" in any way.

Being a runner of a maxed out mechanized sisters list, I have the following to say...

Yes, take a second Exorcist. Not because they're cheesy/beardy/OTT, but because 1 Exorcist is a bit of a gamble - 2 brings you back into the realm of what I'd like to call "predictable performance". In other words, you generally know what you can expect out of 2 Exorcists each turn: it's a lot harder with just 1.

As to the whole stormbolter/meltagun thing. If your Sisters are static or move to counter the enemy (instead of going at the enemy), then by all means keep stormbolters. If you move towards the enemy, then swap those out for meltas!
Since you have so much other anti-tank in your list, the meltas wouldn't be about having to get inside the 6" range. They would be about providing a consistent threat to your opponent - with or without Divine Guidance. You can reliably wound Monstrous Creatures, insta-kill Independent Characters, and easily stop transports and light vehicles. At really close ranges you can even take down the bigger stuff quite easily.
My thoughts on the matter really go towards the latter, but that's because I have never seen a Sisters list that could successfully make the enemy come to them, rather than having to go to the enemy.

Waahoo, even more replies! Thanks guys!

About the display board, there are definitely a lot of things I can do. For instance, in a month or so I'll be playing 1850, with the simple addition of one Arco and another Sentinel. Not the best places to be spending points I know, but for the short term, the arco is painted, and the Sentinel, well.... they look so cool that it's worth it, and I already have the model ready to paint.

The one melta gun has definitely earned it's place, more might definitely be worth it. I'm seriously considering swapping out the flamers in the Celestian squad for meltas. They will generally be attacking the biggest baddest stuff around, so meltas might be appropriate. I'm frequenly advancing to range with my two sisters squads, so those storm bolters are a big help. I'm beginning to see that flamers probably should be placed in rhinos, as anything that can assault through my shooting, probably will assault me before I'm in the flamers range. But, I have used them in 2 games with Divine Guidance before a charge, and wow!

Second Exorcist, already in the works... I've got the bitz for an extreme conversion on order, and I'll be fielding it regardless of any cries of cheese I may encounter. Perhaps I'll even blog it or something, because if it turns out half as cool as I'm hoping, it'll be something special.

Dropping the extra armor on the Chimera... Yeah, I see the point. An extra 10 points could make a big difference, as I'm constantly wanting just a couple more. The problem is that I've been counting the banners as extra armor (cheap I know, but classy at the same time). That means that I should probably model something on the Russ for Extra Armor, and I'm hesitant. Gack, back to modeling again... I just can't seperate the list from the models ya know?

Whoa! You have extra armor on the Russ. . .I didn't notice that.

No, don't model extra armor on the Russ. Take that armor off. Same with the Exorcist.

Extra armor is an upgrade you only want to put on a vehicle that you need to keep moving all the time, either a skimmer (for the bonus), a Dreadnought (to try to get him into CC) or a transport with troops you're trying desperately to get someplace.

All other vehicles don't really benefit from extra armor enough to pay the points for it. Certainly not a Russ. Not an Exorcist either.

So, that's 20 extra points you'd have. Although the banner=extra armor is a cool concept (I like it), but if none of the vehicles have extra armor, then we don't have an issue with consistency and all your vehicles just have cool banners.

Ok, so assuming I take off the Extra Armor and the Search Lights from all 4 vehicles, that will give me 24 points more. 4 points would put Plasma Guns on the Armored Fist crews. 10 Points would upgrade the Inquisitors Power Armor to Terminator Armor letting him shoot 36" on the move, and the last 10 points would upgrade the Heavy Bolter on the Leman Russ to a Lascannon.

Does all this sound like a good idea?

I'm not personally a big fan of a Lascannon on a Leman Russ. . .but if you can't think of a better place to put those points, then they're certainly better off being a Lascannon than extra armor!

Besides that, the other changes sound good to me.

I'm certainly up for suggestions on where to put those 24 points? 2 more sisters? Power weapons on the superiors? Another copy of Littanies of Faith?