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So I've been playing around with Sisters of Battle since chapter approved and there's one thing that worries me...

Do Sisters play almost the exact same as SM?

I honestly really dislike the playstyle of SM, but the aesthetic and lore of the Sisters keeps drawing me in.
In the past, Sisters used to feel really niche due to its focus on close-ranged shooting with a large amount of special weapons.
Now, they just feel like weaker SM.

What do you think? Are there certain army compositions that feel like a true Sisters crusade or do they just feel like another chapter of SM?

Aside from their psychic phase/faith rules & the saint I've always found they played a lot like some of my marines.
Power armor, jump packs, bolters/storm bolters, lots of melta weapons, rhinos & a couple of tanks in the long range AT role - yep, already things I use quiet often.

I suppose had I ever invested in any of the non-SoB stuff beyond rhino chassis that were in previous codices - militia, Inquisition stuff, penitent engines etc - I might've gotten a different feel. But why buy models I'm not interested in using?

Sisters havent changed as far as i know. Theyve always been an upp close in tour face army with an Effective weapon range of 6-12". Outlier weapons being heavy bolters and a single 48" range tank.

Marines now from what i read can be in your face or standoffish with an effective ramge now due to the bolter beta rule of 24". A large selection of ranged weaponry.

Comparing sisters and marines imo is like comparing a punching dagger (sisters) to a longsword (marines).

What i do feel, is that GW dont really know what to do with Sisters (too many years wasted on marines and now more marine white dwarf spank) and are slipping into thinking theyre just marines with worse stats.

Fir me, i do favour the old witch hunter organisation for the army. Inquisitors, flaggellants, penitent engines, sisters, exorcists. That combined on the table makes an awesome looking army that plays very enjoyably.

Fir me, i do favour the old witch hunter organisation for the army. Inquisitors, flaggellants, penitent engines, sisters, exorcists. That combined on the table makes an awesome looking army that plays very enjoyably.

This.

WaywardxUmbra wrote:
Do Sisters play almost the exact same as SM?

More like 3rd edition marines.

If you set aside the ecclesiarchal elements most of the sisters other unique stuff has either been whittled away by time, given to the marines (one of these two armies can take the sisters iconic eviscerator weapon - and it's not the sisters), or made part of the generic game rules. The repentia pretty much stand alone as half assed electro priests the one distinct unit they have.


That having been said it's mostly a result of not being expanded on since 3rd combined with their core mechanic (faith) being a total wash in the beta rules. The new model range should alleviate some of their current wargear restrictions giving a broader range of playstyles and hopefully a combination of new faith and stratagems (and some unWarded ecclesiarchy units) will get them back on track.

My nephew plays SoB (although he hasn't had chance to play the new beta rules) and I've tried them just before the beta rules came out. Simply put I find their biggest issue is that they need an expanded armoury, whether that be some new units, vehicles or weapon options. They are at present a very dull mono army I think that needs something else to give them a bit of a push.

Short answer, yes.

This is one of the Sisters players biggest gripes with the Beta Codex. We should have a interesting, dynamic play style but the beta Codex is 'best' played as 'Sororitas Castle'.

The best I can suggest is: Embrace the beta. Build lists you wouldn't consider normally and try all the Convictions (Even the Faith point ones)

We're a little more mech-infantry rush sort of thing. Since we have really short effective range, with the exception of the Exorcist, I rely on Immolators and Rhinos to close the distance, especially using the Dominions Vanguard gimmick.

We've got higher special weapon density, but inferior special weapon options, though we do get Storm Bolters in our basic units.

The range is the big difference, while Space Marines, now more than ever with the new bolter rule, are a mid-long range army, we play more like a melee army, that are fragile and don't actually have melee units. I've found Bloody Rose to be the best order, because it makes us passable in CQC so that we can follow up our shooting with melee to finish off enemies or tie them up [that said, it's not a high bar, the Order traits are crap].


The Beta doesn't make me happy, but it doesn't really make us weaker. The massive nerf to the Faith system seems like it'd hurt, but they didn't touch the one good unit [Dominions], which doesn't rely on faith, and they buffed the Exorcist to be a second good unit, which also doesn't rely on faith. The Order Convictions are by and large terrible, especially Argent Shroud and Martyred Lady. The brazier relic is good, but only because Shield of Faith is defunct otherwise, and the Admonition Blade is good. For Warlord Traits, Righteous Rage is decent on a Admonition Blade canoness, but she's really just too damn slow to do much meaningfully.

As for Strategems, Holy Trinity is the best, because it compensates for the generally poor strength across the army's weapon selections, and goes very well with Dominions. Blessed Bolts sounds good, but is somewhat limited in application, though against the right targets [Rubrics, Primaris] that we otherwise have no answer to it's a lifesaver. I wouldn't give up a Meltagun squad for a SB one, but giving some BSS 3 Storm Bolters is good enough to leverage it. There's a Deny the Witch one, and that pretty much covers the pool of useful strategems.

There's a ton of morale fixing for a army that's MSU as all hell and has no incentive to be anything otherwise.

 Inquisitor Lord Katherine wrote:
As for Strategems, Holy Trinity is the best

I go so far as to call it the worst, as it's counterpart (VoTL) would help so many of the sisters problems with taking non BR repentia, ranged fire against knights, etc. Instead it forces you to jump through hoops that are downright detrimental to the army.

First of all, I'm not trying to be sexist, so please don't think so. I don't know what might be in the new codex, but Sisters cannot be Adeptus Astartes as the Primarch's gene seed is only compatible with males (from what I've gathered from the lore I've listened to). So, they aren't Adeptus Astartes. They may be Space Marines, but they are not on the same level as Adeptus Astartes if the lore I listened to is correct.

Also, one other thing I find out them that is incredibly cool is that they are one of the three chambers militant of the Inquisition. They are the Ordo Hereticus or Witch Hunters. I think a lot of fluffy narrative could be built for them that would make people want to play them based solely on that.

SG

We don't need genetic augmentation, because we don't have a stunted half-sized chromosome to make up for.

Sisters have got the equipment and training, but not the augments to improve S and T.

A.T. wrote:

 Inquisitor Lord Katherine wrote:
As for Strategems, Holy Trinity is the best

I go so far as to call it the worst, as it's counterpart (VoTL) would help so many of the sisters problems with taking non BR repentia, ranged fire against knights, etc. Instead it forces you to jump through hoops that are downright detrimental to the army.

It gives +1 to wound, which we really need. We don't have S9 weapons.

It can't be the worst, though, because there's Sacred Rites, which is counterproductive: CP are more valuable than Faith Points since they're harder to generate and have more outlets.