Frgsinwntr's Tactica: Sisters of Battle

Mind you, there are many schools of thought with sisters, this is just mine.

I think I will break the army down by strengths and weaknesses first then go to units after. This will be a work in progress...

Lets start with weaknesses

Weaknesses

• Weak in close combat.
• Very little in ranged anti-tank.
• Horde Orks are tough to deal with!

Strengths

• Faith.
• Tons of Bolter fire.
• The ability to cram in ton's of Heavy Bolters.

Gaming styles

Borrowing this from a Bolter and Chainsword article (http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?showtopic=101214 ), we can break players into a four distinct styles of play.... and I would think you can extend these to unit choices as well. They also break down by match up between aggro and control (borrowing this from magic). I will summarize this fantastic piece of internet work.

1. Fire - These players plan on winning decisively. They want to be up in your face and race to you and play "smashy smashy" with your nose. These armies tend to be assault based, but can be shooting also.
2. Air - Extremely fast. These armies try to win by outmanoeuvring your opponent with speed and striking in key spots under their terms. Eldar/Tau Empire are very much air armies and win by out manoeuvring more then outshooting now that they are out shot by many other codices.
3. Earth - This style is made to outlast you. They do this either by shear volume of bodies, or by some other method of "your going to focus everything on one of my units to win." These armies usually shoot and are slow... but recent tournaments and the new Ork Codex have changed this.
4. Water - This style comes with no plan. They look at what their opponent has and adapts. They Need to have units in their list that can adapt. These games are chess matches when two water players come to the table. Every army CAN be played as a water army, but most aren't. Please read the B&C article for more on these.

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1. What my style is... I try to be water. I like the idea of adapting and I am not over aggressive. Sisters of battle are not super fast so they can't really be an air army. They Can be very aggressive and charge forward with Immolators and Meltaguns (St. John's Style) but I am not a fan of this. They CAN be an earth army if you want to build that way and have a huge horde of power armored sisters (Stelek's style of Sisters).

Unit Choices

HQ

Cannoness I feel this is one of the most dynamic units in the game. You can arm her in various ways to support your list. I like to use two Cannoness with Jump Packs. They give you two Faith each and a very mobile unit. Since the rest of my list really lacks in CC ability I build them with CC weapons. These two have won me many games. Cannoness one has a MC Eviscerator, Jump Pack, Cloak, Mantle, Bolt Pistol, and Book. This one is a Monstrous Creature-killer/tank-hunter. Her Mantle lets her take a hit that would otherwise kill her, and this is def worth the 15pts. The other is a Blessed Weapon, Jump Pack, Book, and Inferno Pistol. This second Cannoness is made to go after troops since she is only str 5. The Inferno Pistol is good to kill one model before going in (usually the target is 15pts anyway) or to get a lucky shot on a tank if needed. She usually ties up units and I found her to be invaluable at the GT this year.

Palatine Best choice if you don't want to use Faith. I personally feel that part of the Sisters army is the Faith and it can be very useful if budgeted well. For 10 more points you get an extra wound, better leadership, an extra Faith, and better BS in a Cannoness. There is no reason not to take the Cannoness unless you just absolutely need those 10pts.

Inquisitor Lords Fun units, if you want more HB fire-power take them with servitors... otherwise leave them at home

Priests Absolute crap IMHO. First off they are an independent character that MUST be attached to one of your units. And... they can't be attached to units that could benefit from them except Sisters Repentia. I will get to these later as they are awful as well. Second they are a WS 3, 2 wound character that has no save, makes it so your Bolters are only 12 inch range and only give you a benefit on the turn you charge... lets look at each unit you can join one at a time here. Battle Sisters: you shorten your bolter range and yea you don't want to be in close combat. Storm Troopers: see above. Dominions:see above. Celestians: see above, and the Celestian is cheaper and has a better stat line minus the extra wound... but then you could just get 3 Celestians instead. Zealots: if they were legal.. this would be good. Repentia: :( ok it helps this squad become mediocre.

Elites

Inquisitors Good units. They let you take HB servitors for cheap and they tend to be low on the target list for your opponent. In a big enough game, 3 of these with 3 HB Servitors is a must. I would take one of the 3 from the Daemonhunters list as an ally. You can then add a Psycannon, Sage, and two Mystics to the Inquisitor on top of the 3 HB Servitors and do some serious damage while keeping some DSing units at bay. Mind you, you only measure the Mystics ability from the Inquisitor himself. In High point games you may want to consider a LR transport for some more dakka with some heavy armor.

Celestians If you are using Immolator spam, these are great... I don't. Another option is to run these girls in a Rhino with your Cannoness. Since retinues now count as the same "unit" in close combat as the Cannoness you can keep the Cannoness a little safer than usual. This also gives you the ability to re-roll misses in close combat with your Cannonness, eliminating the need for Master-Crafting while the squad lives. If you do take this squad though, you would need to get a Litanies of Faith for those amazing invulnerable saves

Assasins

Callidus - Good all around option, not amazing in 5th ed with the pile in move from the defender, but still very useful for the "A Word in Your Ear" power.

Eversor - Very fun, the template can hit A LOT of models if they pack in just right.

Cullexus - Mix in with laud hailers for a fun "tank shock" army.

Vindicare - Hard to use effectively but a lot of fun... not very good.

(edit by woodbok: Use the vindicare fro the 5ed grey knight codex, it is so much better, as with all the assassins)

Death-Cult Assassins - If these cost 20pts each they would be GREAT... but they don't so they are over-costed...

Troops

Battle Sisters Many of the unit types can help get rid of the weakness aspect or increase the strengths. I would tend to eliminate the weakness aspect before focusing on increasing the strengths in my style of gaming. TO BE CONTINUED

Categories: Witch Hunters Tactica