New SoB player seeking advice how to advance

[Principalis Yasha]

Hello Boys and Girls of the Inquisition.

 

While I am new to owning and playing an army all by myself I have some experience from watching my boy play, playing a single phase here and there as well as reading two of the best Sisters tactica / unit analysis I have found (if you have one besides the one by Melissia "Way of the Flame Warrior" (by the way, what happened to her?) and the unit analysis from warseer.com please link me; I need to learn as much as I can).

 

My boy has dropped his Sisters in favor of his Grey Knights after he jumped the bandwagon of getting excited about stuff that might never actually happen. I found the Sisters of Battle always interesting but I never had the patience nor the money to build up my own force. Now that I have a good number of points "for free" I plan to go big.

 

Before I go into details about what I have to work with and where I should take them I would like to get some advice from you on my color scheme. I have yet to decide if I want to let my Order come from an ice tundra planet or a volcanic desert planet. Clearly it is a Do-It-Yourself Order and the name will come into play as soon as I have chosen a color scheme.

 

Snow Planet Color Scheme

 

Volcanic Planet Color Scheme

 

Those are the two color schemes I have come up with. I am not sure i am truly happy with them but i can't find anything I could improve. (if i will be able to paint decently will be seen in the coming weeks and months)

 

Now to what I already have to work with (i made the list with an eye on my boy's lists and what I have learned in the past weeks)

 

HQ

Inquisitor Lady: 2x Energy Weapon, Mastercrafted, Rosarius, Digital Weapon, Inquisitoral Mandate

 

Retinue: 1 Familiar

2 Medics

3 Crusader

3 Acolyths (Energy Weapon, Carapace Armor)

 

Transport: Land Raider Promethues: Ex Armor

 

Points: 589

 

Canoness: Blessed Weapon, Plasmapistol, Cloak of St. Aspira, Mantle of Ophelia, BoSL

 

Retinue: 5 Celestias

1 Sister Superior: Eviscerator, Plasmapistol

1 Flamer, 1 Heavy Flamer

 

Transport: Immolator: Dozerblade, Ex. Armor, Smoke, Holy Promethium

 

Points: 351

 

Troops

Battle Sister: 10 Sisters

1 Sister Superior: Kombi-Melta, BoSL

1 Flamer, 1 Heavy Flamer

 

Transport: Rhino: Dozerblade, Ex. Armor, Smoke

 

Points: 225

 

Battle Sister: 10 Sisters

1 Sister Superior: Kombi-Melta, BoSL

1 Flamer, 1 Heavy Flamer

 

Transport: Rhino: Dozerblade, Ex. Armor, Smoke

 

Points: 225

 

Battle Sister: 10 Sisters

1 Sister Superior: Kombi-Melta, BoSL

1 Flamer, 1 Heavy Flamer

 

Transport: Rhino: Dozerblade, Ex. Armor, Smoke

 

Points: 225

 

Battle Sister: 10 Sisters

1 Sister Superior: Kombi-Melta, BoSL

1 Flamer, 1 Heavy Flamer

 

Transport: Rhino: Dozerblade, Ex. Armor, Smoke

 

Points: 225

 

Battle Sister: 10 Sisters

1 Sister Superior: Kombi-Melta, BoSL

1 Flamer, 1 Heavy Flamer

 

Transport: Rhino: Dozerblade, Ex. Armor, Smoke

 

Points: 225

 

Battle Sister: 10 Sisters

1 Sister Superior: Kombi-Melta, BoSL

1 Flamer, 1 Heavy Flamer

 

Transport: Rhino: Dozerblade, Ex. Armor, Smoke

 

Points: 225

 

Fast Attack

Seraphim 7 Seraphim

Sister Superior: Eviscerator, Plasmapistol, BoSL

2x Twin Hand Flamer

 

Points: 223

 

Heavy Support

Exorcist Ex. Armor, Dozerblade

 

Points: 145

 

Exorcist Ex. Armor, Dozerblade

 

Points: 145

 

Exorcist Ex. Armor, Dozerblade

 

Points: 145

 

To right now address a few things that I know will come up: the Inquisitor Lady and her retinue are more of a fun unit instead of "win this s***" unit. I find them an interesting idea and want to see if they can earn their points even halfway back.

 

I am not too sure about the Canoness as i have only seen my boy run the "Flying Nun of Doom" but from what i read she can be too fragile in 5rd Edition even if flying with a group of Seraphim.

 

I am also unsure what to do with the Elite slots. I could get myself some assassins but from what i heard they earn their points back even less than a close combat Inquisitor. Celestias I do not know what to do with; their rules seem to make them close combat capable but their equipment suggests that they are smaller Battle Sister squads.

 

I plan to get myself way more Seraphim to toy around with, at least two full squads or three squads with seven each. I thought about using Dominions but they seem to rank up points very quickly compared to Seraphim.

 

Not sure if Retributors would be a viable alternative to the Exorcist for some ranged shooting (not necessarily tank hunting though).

 

I terms of how I want to expand my list goes mostly for City Fight, Planetstrike and Apocalypse; with my main focus right now being Apocalypse (i am also going to pick up my boy's Sister Baneblade idea later tonight that he seems to have dropped for some reason).

 

With this i part from you now, hoping to be blessed by your knowledge and experience.

 

In the name of the Ordo Hereticus,

 

Principalis Yasha

[Panzerkopf]

Welcome to the forum and to that proud few, the Sisterhood!

 

There are a few issues with your Inquisitor. Firstly, you only need one power weapon to gain the benefit of that rule; drop the second one and buy him a pistol. Also, you can only take a standard Land Raider as a transport choice in normal games so be advised.

The build for your squads is fine but you may want to consider taking at least one melta gun in there at least sometimes. I'm pretty sure the combi-melta is only one shot. Or give the Superior a combi-flamer for some Divine Guidance fire spam.

Retributors with heavy bolters come in handy when you're facing hordes of bad guys, plus you can take an Immolator as transport for them, which is very cool. I haven't tried this, but giving them multi-meltas could be useful against things like enemy Land Raiders full of douchebag assault terminators that will wreck you if they get too close.

Your Seraphim are fine but may benefit from Inferno pistols in certain situations, and giving them all melta bombs is a fun way to murder the flower of your enemy's armored crews.

As for a Canoness with a jump pack, I like her personally since she can help your units that are engaged in close combat and moves nice and fast. In fact, you should get a second canoness since she's cheap and will give you more faith points. Put your Inquisitor in the elites slot if you insist on keeping him. Be warned that Inquisitors tend to be disappointing.

Finally, there's the Celestians. I find them not to be as cool as they are on paper. Re-rolling isn't that great since they lack the strength to wound many things very easily. However, I take them as retinues since that essentially makes them a better Sister squad that doesn't take up any slots.

 

Happy hunting.

 

{QUICK EDIT} Didn't notice the part that said "Inquisitor Lady". My bust.

[Inquisitor Fox]

I've found most people are okay with the IA stuff but it's true, you should ask before each game just in case :jaw: Playing a melee WH Inquisitor Lady myself I advise two things with that. I'd recommend a psychic hood (doesn't really cost you anything other than points) and the psychic power "His Will Be Done." This adds a layer of anti-psychic defense for your whole army, and also gives double-effect for any Inquisitor kills in melee in terms of combat resolution.

[Eltnot]

As other have mentioned, You're force could benefit quite a bit from a few meltaguns. Exorcsts whilst good, will have problems cracking AV14 and even AV13 at times. In this situation, often getting up close and personal with a meltagun will help you deal with that enemy armour.

 

As for tactica, I found stjohn's guide to be very good when I was first starting out with sisters.

 

I remember when Melissia's tactica was under construction. Whilst a lot of the info in there is good, she tended to be very single minded about how she wanted it written. It's far from all encompassing.

 

When starting out, I'd pay particular attention to the acts of faith. Read them thoroughly and note how they work, when they can be used and how they might help you. Faith points is the key to doing well with sisters. You can get by without them but their additional boosts make the list so much stronger when used wisely, so it's important to know how they work.

 

If you're new to the game, then I'd recommend starting off with small games. The combat patrol format is a good way to start off and learn the basics. Then move up to larger games (1000 points is ideal as it's quick to play, but with enough points to give you options) to increase your abilities and tactics.

 

Sisters are a harder army to master so don't be disheartened to lose a game. Learn from your experiences and try to move forward. I don't think I won a single game for the first 10 or so.

[amuro_ray]

wow, welcome to the Inquisition

 

i'd throw in some melta, replacing the small flamers, and drop the dozerblades on everthing...it's expensive and won't help you if you're mobile infantry-ing, with out current codex it only works if we travel up to 6 inch, while most of the time we'll travel on 12 inch

 

and I agree on Eltnot's idea, play small 1st, combat patrol (400 pts) will help you familiarize with them, test out different acts of faits, knowing when and where to use them.

 

Then a solid 1000 Pts game will be on daily menu, and if you're comfortable with your 1000pts and playstyle, then you can step up to the bigger 1500-2000 pts game, playing a 1500-2000 pts game without a solid tactic and strategy is a suicide :tu:

 

anyway welcome and have fun with the ordo hereticus's Sisters of Battle

[number6]

Welcome aboard! ;) I just wanted to add an additional vote for melta guns over flamers for your basic sisters units. I personally would take 2x meltas all the time and maybe a combi-flamer on the Sister superior (although that's pricey and not truly necessary), but meltas are much more useful for most games. Because you're all mech'd up, you can prevent any hordes from assaulting you for almost as long as you like and can just whittle them down with repeated swathes of bolter fire. But with meltas you'll be able to de-mech opponents and put down monstrous creatures and heavy infantry with ease and reliability ... something you just can't accomplish with flamers of any type.

 

As noted, you may not always be able to use a land raider prometheum, but making it count as a normal land raider in such cases shouldn't cause issues with any good sporting opponent, so don't worry too much about it.

[ArmouredWing]

Eltnot is spot on with his comments on knowing how to use Acts of Faith. Knowing what the optimum time for a specific AoF can be the difference between winning and losing a game. DG is probably the best and widest used but each of the other 4 AoF have their benefits in the game and can turn the tables with often dramatic results.

 

I use a pretty simple set of principles for when and where I use AoF and these tend to be.

 

Divine Guidance - Best used by big squads of sisters, especially those who are equipped with flamers/hvy flamers. The thing with DG is that it's easier and most effective when you've got a lot of bodies in the squad that generate a lot of shots/wounds and (perhaps the most important thing to remember) you can elect to use it after you've rolled to hit but before you roll to wound. So if, for example, 10 sisters rapid firing on a unit score 14 hits you could then go DG with those hits and any 6's become AP1. If you get only 2 AP1 wounds that's still 2 wounds that cannot be prevented using an armour save.

Flamers/hvy flamers benefit especially from this as your opponent can not benefit from a cover save either.

 

This is an especially handy AoF against most opponents but in particular anything with a high T or 2+ Sv (so MC's, termies, MEQ's) can really suffer from a DG volley of fire. Also very useful against light armoured vehicles (anything AV10) as the AP1 will increase the damage dealt from a glancing hits as it will only be a -1 (glancing= -2, AP1= +1) and will mean you can destroy target vehicles.

 

Hand of the Emperor - The other one for large units. Sisters are notorious for their general lack of CC ability. Their relatively low I will usually mean that they are going second apart from the odd power fist hitting on I1 and when they do hit it's only on S3.

The thing to remember here is that when sisters are in CC you're looking to stall your opponent with a win in CC being an outside target. With that being the case your best bet is to weaken the assaulting unit as much as possible in the first round of CC and the best way of doing that is through the +2 to Strength given by HotE. The down side is you'll hit at I1, the same as a power fist but the up side is that it'll dramatically increase your chances of inflicting wounds on your opponent's unit and hopefully wear them down. Combine this AoF with an eviscerator and you're inflicting S8 power weapon hits that'll often mean instant death on most enemies out there.

 

The other thing to remember is that this is a good option for attacking vehicles and gives the whole unit the ability to cause damage without having to euip them with grenades. Again, if you combine this with an eviscerator you've got a S8 + 2d6 for your penetration rolls... a Land Raider killer!

 

Spirit of the Martyr - I'd say that this is probably the second most popular AoF used by sisters players. SotM is best used on small-medium sized squads when they're likely to be hit by low AP weapons and power weapons/fists, however the key here is that you've got to decide to use it at the start of you opponents shooting phase or either players assualt phase. This can be tricky as it'll often mean that your opponent will decide against targetting the SotM unit with those weapons that negate the armour save but it can also mean you can place a unit in direct LoS of the bigs guns/assaulters knowing that they'll soak up the damage...and they will.

 

The best place to use this has to be Seraphim that has a Vet Superior in the squad. The picking the best 2 of 3 dice means you'll have a fair chance of getting it even with a larger squad (of say 8).

 

The other place for this is in units that have been in a couple of rounds of CC and have had their numbers reduced. The principle here is that the squad is destined to die but will hold up the attacking unit (usually with a PW/PF/LC's) for another couple of rounds and even weaken it further.

 

The Passion - This is a less used AoF but none the less can have provide much needed punch in CC, especially when it looks like you may have a chance of coming out on top in a CC. The +2 bonus to I will give you an edge in the final rounds of CC where there are even numbers of assaulters. Being able to whittle the enemy down further before they have the chance to strike will potentially mean taking less hits and wounds in a round of CC and will up your chances of victory. The only downside is that you can't combine this with Hand of the Emperor but this would only be possible anyway in mid sized units, roughly 8.

 

Light of the Emperor - Probably the least used AoF because most of us pack a Book of St Lucius as a matter of course. However this can be handy for rallying troops that are falling back below 50% as if they pass the AoF roll they'll auto regroup. Again this is one for smaller squads as the smaller the squad the better the chance of getting LotE.

 

So there you go, a very brief run down of how I use the AoF. It's by no means a comprehensive list and there will be times where you'll find an unusual use for some of the lesser used AoF but for all of them the better you know when to use them the better the results.

[Inquisitor Fox]

Not trying to toot my own horn, but I did a thread with some advice on using Inquisitors, particularly in designing an effective close combat retinue (which you're already most of the way towards) which might have some useful ideas: Inquisitor Tactica: Advice on effective Inquisitors

 

This is by no means a complete authority on all possibilities, just things I've learned using my own Inquisitor Retinue for several years.

 

Additionally I'd like to add one tidbit on The Passion to ArmouredWing's very thourough advice. If you win the close combat while The Passion is active, and the opponent breaks, you will gain the boost to Initiative for the flee/catch them dice roll as well, because it's still the Combat Phase. This happened to me when I ran down some Kroot that tried charging me the turn before, failed to kill me (power armor rocks), then the following phased suffered from my passionate attacks and ran like scaredy bird things :whistling:

 

I'd also add that against opponents that are going before you anyway (like Space Marines), the negatives from Hand of the Emperor really aren't that bad. I mean, you're already going After your opponent, you might as well get a boost to Strength to squish them that much better!

[HsojVvad]

I prefer the snow planet colour scheme better. When you said volcanic colour scheme I was thinking, black, red, and orange. I did't like it too much, prefer the snow planet better. I don't see so much white in there, so not shure why this is called snow planet, but I do like the colour scheme.

[Eltnot]

Also very useful against light armoured vehicles (anything AV10) as the AP1 will increase the damage dealt from a glancing hits as it will only be a -1 (glancing= -2, AP1= +1) and will mean you can destroy target vehicles.

Actually Divine Guidance doesn't affect vehicles as there is no roll to wound. Although it is almost exactly the same as the current version of rending, it still does not give any benefits versus vehicles.

 

You also can't use it to hurt Wraithlords with bolters, as rolling a 6 to wound with divine guidance doesn't automatically wound like rending does.

[templargdt]

Welcome to the Inquisition! +1 for the snow scheme. I don't have much experience with Sisters, but I recommend some flamers besides meltaguns. Divine Guidance + Flamers is really nasty.

[Principalis Yasha]

First I want to thank you all for your swift and high quality input. You really made my day when I saw this at work just a bit ago. I have a lot to respond to so let's keep it snappy and take them in order.

 

There are a few issues with your Inquisitor. Firstly, you only need one power weapon to gain the benefit of that rule; drop the second one and buy him a pistol. Also, you can only take a standard Land Raider as a transport choice in normal games so be advised.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but with 5th edition rules I thought you no longer got and extra powerweapon attack when you used a pistol as second hand weapon? I don't have the Core Rule Book with me right now but i am pretty sure there was somethign along these lines in there somewhere.

Seeing as general house rules where i could play say that Imperial Armor is fair game all the time there shouldn't be a problem using the LR Promethues.

 

The build for your squads is fine but you may want to consider taking at least one melta gun in there at least

sometimes. I'm pretty sure the combi-melta is only one shot. Or give the Superior a combi-flamer for some Divine Guidance fire spam.

 

Yes, the Combi-Melta is a one shot but the rather large lack of Melta weapons in my list comes from two things: 1) I do not have the right modles for Melta Sisters and i am a rather zealot advocate of the WYSIWYG rule and 2) with the current people who would play me the highest AV I am facing is a 13 on a Leman Russ front. The mayority is AV 11-12 on transport vehicles. The COmbi-Melta is more of a small insurace in case a Dread comes stomping their way.

 

Retributors with heavy bolters come in handy when you're facing hordes of bad guys, plus you can take an Immolator as transport for them, which is very cool. I haven't tried this, but giving them multi-meltas could be useful against things like enemy Land Raiders full of douchebag assault terminators that will wreck you if they get too close.

 

I don't think Multimelta Retributors would be a good idea. the range is too short on a non-vehicle/non-terminator armor platform. Not to mention that an eight women squad with 4 Multimeltas would cost nearly twice as much as a standart Sisters squad.

 

Your Seraphim are fine but may benefit from Inferno pistols in certain situations, and giving them all melta bombs is a fun way to murder the flower of your enemy's armored crews.

 

Same siuation as with the Melta Sisters: right now little use for much anti-tank weapons and no models for it. I want to do some conversions after I see if I can really use Seraphim as they should be used: effectively.

 

Put your Inquisitor in the elites slot if you insist on keeping him. Be warned that Inquisitors tend to be disappointing.

 

Problwm with this is that an Elite Iquisitor can only have 6 henchmen and for a close combat Inquisitor that seems kind of low. Also there is a background reason why I want to run an Inqusitor Lady and not normal Inquisitor.

 

Finally, there's the Celestians. I find them not to be as cool as they are on paper. Re-rolling isn't that great since they lack the strength to wound many things very easily. However, I take them as retinues since that essentially makes them a better Sister squad that doesn't take up any slots.

 

I would have never used them as Close Combat units as they lack the option to take the fitting weapons (unless as a retinue for a walking Close Combat Canoness). I thought of them as small tank hunting squads of six, with two Meltaguns, a Combi-Melta and mounted in an Immolator with the TL Heavy Flamer. Not sure how many points that would be as I don't have the Codex on me right now but I have heard that some people make them work.

 

I've found most people are okay with the IA stuff but it's true, you should ask before each game just in case smile.gif Playing a melee WH Inquisitor Lady myself I advise two things with that. I'd recommend a psychic hood (doesn't really cost you anything other than points) and the psychic power "His Will Be Done." This adds a layer of anti-psychic defense for your whole army, and also gives double-effect for any Inquisitor kills in melee in terms of combat resolution.

 

Imperial Armor, as stated before is no problem with the people I would play against. For the Inquisitor Lady i have to say that I never really saw the point in the Psychic Hood and "His Will Be Done" seems a bit questionable if it would be that useful against MEQ armies. Maybe some experiences could change my mind.

 

As for tactica, I found stjohn's guide to be very good when I was first starting out with sisters.

 

Thanks for reminding me of this one. It seemed familiar and I actually read it when my boy printed it out.

 

I remember when Melissia's tactica was under construction. Whilst a lot of the info in there is good, she tended to be very single minded about how she wanted it written. It's far from all encompassing.

 

Yes, I remember her as a rather.... narrowminded person but she has raised many a valid points in her posts and I still find that many hold true in 5ed Edition.

 

When starting out, I'd pay particular attention to the acts of faith. Read them thoroughly and note how they work, when they can be used and how they might help you. Faith points is the key to doing well with sisters. You can get by without them but their additional boosts make the list so much stronger when used wisely, so it's important to know how they work.

 

Quoted for truth. Indeed I have already spent a good while getting familiar with the Acts of Faith. I still mix them up at times but I think they are a "learning by using" case. I just need to play and use them and learn when NOT to use a specific Act.

 

...and drop the dozerblades on everthing...it's expensive and won't help you if you're mobile infantry-ing, with out current codex it only works if we travel up to 6 inch, while most of the time we'll travel on 12 inch

 

Thank you for pointing this out to me. I never read the old rules on the dozerblade and just assumed that old and new ones work the same way. I'll keep that in mind for my next list.

 

and I agree on Eltnot's idea, play small 1st, combat patrol (400 pts) will help you familiarize with them, test out different acts of faits, knowing when and where to use them.

 

Then a solid 1000 Pts game will be on daily menu....

 

While trying to play small first would be a good idea I will not find any game below 1500 points besides my boy playing his Sparkle Knights (he just sprayed them with chrome paint....). The only option for small games would be in the local GW store and I will NOT go there. Due to them our old gaiming store went out of business.

 

As noted, you may not always be able to use a land raider prometheum, but making it count as a normal land raider in such cases shouldn't cause issues with any good sporting opponent, so don't worry too much about it.

 

I checked with the Forge Wolrd website and they say it is supposed to be Promethues as proven Here

 

Eltnot is spot on with his comments on knowing how to use Acts of Faith. Knowing what the optimum time for a specific AoF can be the difference between winning and losing a game. DG is probably the best and widest used but each of the other 4 AoF have their benefits in the game and can turn the tables with often dramatic results.

 

I use a pretty simple set of principles for when and where I use AoF and these tend to be.....

 

Thanks a lot for the real indepth analysis of the Acts of Faith. i'll probably print them out and keep reading them on the way to work.

 

Not trying to toot my own horn, but I did a thread with some advice on using Inquisitors, particularly in designing an effective close combat retinue (which you're already most of the way towards) which might have some useful ideas: Inquisitor Tactica: Advice on effective Inquisitors

 

This is by no means a complete authority on all possibilities, just things I've learned using my own Inquisitor Retinue for several years.

 

Thanks a lot for this link! I will probably spent all night trying to fine tune my own Inquisitor Lady.

 

 

You all have been really helpfull and patient with the new girl. I will probably spent a few days mulling this over as well as try to figure out where to take the girls towards Apocalypse sized games (simply to have a squad/vehicle for each slot in the army plan). Maybe I will pick up my boy's old Sisters of Battle Super Heavy tank that he started a good while back during the weekend.

 

In the name of the Ordo Hereticus,

 

Principalis Yasha

[Inquisitor Fox]

First I want to thank you all for your swift and high quality input. You really made my day when I saw this at work just a bit ago. I have a lot to respond to so let's keep it snappy and take them in order.

That's why the OI rocks ;) We're all mad here...

 

Correct me if I am wrong but with 5th edition rules I thought you no longer got and extra powerweapon attack when you used a pistol as second hand weapon? I don't have the Core Rule Book with me right now but i am pretty sure there was somethign along these lines in there somewhere.

Seeing as general house rules where i could play say that Imperial Armor is fair game all the time there shouldn't be a problem using the LR Promethues.

The rule you're thinking of is for really wonky weapons or lightning claws/power fists/thunder hammers. Power weapons still get the bonus for the pistol.

 

Problwm with this is that an Elite Iquisitor can only have 6 henchmen and for a close combat Inquisitor that seems kind of low. Also there is a background reason why I want to run an Inqusitor Lady and not normal Inquisitor.

Two thumbs up here, I agree with you (and like your retinue design overall). You're going to find most people tend to heckle the Inquisitors and Retinues a lot, and while there are definate points and downsides if you wanna play with it, go for it. I tend to be one of the most vocal supporters of an WH Close Combat HQ Retinue, so welcome to the Dark Side, we have cookies :P

 

Imperial Armor, as stated before is no problem with the people I would play against. For the Inquisitor Lady i have to say that I never really saw the point in the Psychic Hood and "His Will Be Done" seems a bit questionable if it would be that useful against MEQ armies. Maybe some experiences could change my mind.

What "His Will Be Done" really does is double the effectiveness of the Inquisitor for Combat Resolution purposes. Geared up as she is with the buffs to WS, I, and the extra attacks from two weapons and digital weapons, your Inquisitor gets six attacks on the charge, five of which ignore armor. With her WS and I she goes before MEQ (Space Marine equivalent), most likely hits on 3s, meaning she has 4 hits, then wounds on 5s, meaning she has one or two wounds/deaths on Marines. Now, since you are not using her psychic abilities in a shooting or force weapon attack, if you are utilizing "His Will Be Done" these are doubled to two to four for combat resolution. This means for the Marines to beat you, regardless of what the rest of your retinue does, they will have to score three to five kills to force you to chose to stay and become fearless, taking fearless armor saves against your forces to prevent extra deaths. This is without even counting what your crusaders and acolytes can accomplish with power weapon spam.

 

In short, your Inquisitor is a whirling center of death that cannot be picked out as long as her retinue is alive, and "His Will Be Done" while not adding additional kills on its own, doubles the kills you do get for resolution purposes from your most effective model in the squad (and pretty close to as effective as a Canoness to be honest).

 

The psychic hood is tablewide for us, not 2 feet. It does not cost you any psychic power attempts to use, and carries no penalties for failure. It gives you (since your Inquisitor Lady is Ld 10) at least a 50-50 shot of nullifying any psychic power used by the opposition anywhere on the table, even Apocalypse sized tables (shuts down Tyranid anti-armor right quick lemme tell ya). It also acts before the Sister's "Shield of Faith" meaning that you first get an attempt to simply nullify the power from ever happening, then if it's an offensive power against your units they still get their 5+ save. It also allows you to nullify powers such as "Warptime" that you otherwise have no defense against.

 

Thanks a lot for this link! I will probably spent all night trying to fine tune my own Inquisitor Lady.

Honestly you're pretty close the way you have it.. maybe a few more frag grenades to give them first strike capabilities if they're charging into cover, a couple small things, but you're in the ballpark as is.

[ValourousHeart]

Power weapons can be combined with close combat weapons and pistols for plus one attack. The rule you are thinking about is for special close combat weapons, like power fists, thunder hammers and lightning claws, which can only benefit from plus one attack if armed with 2 fists, 2 hammers or 2 claws.

--------------------------

 

WYSIWYG is really good, and we wouldn't want to advise you against that. I think the point was that you should look to purchasing or converting some melta sisters for your squads. I understand that currently your local group doesn't have much in the way of armor... but that could change... someone might get lucky for their birthday (haha). At which point you will want the option of shooting those melta guns more than once.

 

My preferred load out for my sisters is with 1 HF, 1 Melta and a Brazier. I find the one shot flamer to be much more beneficial than the one shot melta.

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Your seraphim squad has a good load out, although I am not a fan of plasma because of the “gets hot” rule. I would only advise taking 2 units of them… when you get the models of course. The squad doesn’t need Melta Bombs as someone suggested… and I am finding that they don’t even really need the Evisorator (but with the brazier instead)… with a melta gun in each troop slot and exorcists you are pretty well covered on the anti armor front, leaving your seraphim with 3 divine guidance flame templates to lay waste to flank units.

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Problem with this is that an Elite Inquisitor can only have 6 henchmen and for a close combat Inquisitor that seems kind of low. Also there is a background reason why I want to run an Inquisitor Lady and not normal Inquisitor.

 

Good show… Always stick with your back story. Inquisitors are a fun unit that adds uniqueness to the army. Sure they might not be the best option… but if you are having fun who cares, right.

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If you are able to use Imperial Armor units… you might want to look at this link. It is the updated FAQ for the IA2 book, which covers forces of the Inquisition. It allows for a few items that I find useful (and you might too). First off updated Rhinos to match the ones in the current space marine codex (cheaper, with smoke and search lights included, and have the repair rule). All of the other tanks from the codex are the same cost but have the most recent upgrade rules and prices.

 

This means that while extra armor tripled in price, the reduced cost of the rhino means that the unit is now 5 points less. Not a huge change but they add up.

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As for your elite slots I really like Arco-Flagellants. Yes I know what the tactica say about them… but I still really like them. The way I get them into the combats that I want them in is by having my Rhinos escort them in.

 

I am running all of my Rhinos at the enemy anyway, so I can get to DG rapid fire range so why no. I run the Rhinos in a Phalanx formation (fancy way of saying inverted V) with the Arcos in the middle gap.

 

This means that the enemy has to get behind me or blow up a couple of rhinos to get my arcos to go astray. And even if he does get behind me it is unlikely to be a throw away unit which means that I probably want my arcos to go there. And even then it is not likely that they will be able to survive the 10 arcos that are about to bring the pain.

 

The tactica tell you that you will kill your arcos if you activate them to early. I disagree. I normally run mine with the implants active from the start of the game… and rarely do I lose more than 3 of the 10 before they hit CC. They only die in the movement phase if you role a 6… and then it is only 1 model from the unit. If there are no units in range to charge, you run with them. Since the rhinos are moving 12”, 6 +2d6 means that they are going to stay in the front of the phalanx. On the turn they charge they move 12 +1d6.

 

I honestly have more of them die in the CC phase because each model in the unit has a chance to stim themselves to death… but they still get to attack 6 or 7 times before they die.

 

This unit requires a priest to field, and honestly the best place for that guy is along side your canoness. Arm him with an Evisorator, and put the unit in a Rhino. That is 2 Ev models and a BW that all get to re-role any failed roles to hit. Plus since you have most of them armed with pistols or assault weapons, the fury rule doesn’t really affect you.

[number6]

As noted, you may not always be able to use a land raider prometheum

I checked with the Forge Wolrd website and they say it is supposed to be Promethues

Took me a minute to figure out why you checked on that. Didn't realize that I had mistyped the name of the tank! ;) Good catch!

 

And sorry about that. I didn't italicize to try and correct you on the name of the tank! :) I was just trying to emphasize the difference between that raider variant and a normal raider.

 

Again, welcome aboard, and good luck with your holy "promethium"-based fire! :D

[Toogeloo]

I like the Snow planet girls personally. I like simple color schemes. My Sisters are Black Armor and Yellow Cloaks and Helms myself. I have been playing Sisters myself for 2 years, and my Troop choice has been the same for 18 months.

 

10 girls

Vet with Combi-Flamer and Book

Girl with Heavy Flamer

Girl with Meltagun

Rhino with Extra Armor and Smoke.

7 Girls with Bolters

 

I don't do any tricks for Close Combat, my play style doesn't reflect me getting into Close Combat much. To assist with that, I typically run my Seraphim in tandem so that they can assault left overs that I didn't Divine Guidance down. Sisters are a <12" Shooty army, and making sure you get that sweet spot without getting assaulted the next turn is tricky, but very possible. I use my top hatches on my Rhinos a lot too, from 6" Melta pot shot at a vehicle, to a 12 inch scoot and hope to be assualted so I can Heavy Flamer next turn, it all works.

[Verythrax Draconis]

I just took a quick look at your list, and please bear with me as I don't play with my SoBs in years.

 

In my experience, I would get rid of those dozer blade, unless you local table setups usually involve a fair number of difficult terrains. Since we almost never use it here, for me they are lost points, and even the few times we used, we never had enough of it to justify. I prefer the combo of extra armour, smoke launchers and pintle mounted storm bolter.

 

I always make my sister superiors veterans and add a imagifer on each squad to maximize faith points/use - but I'm sure I'm minority as far as imagifers are concerned.

 

I particularly don't fancy inquisitors, not because a "pure sob" fan, it's only because they don't fit my gameplay, and seems to be a bit tricky to make them pay off.

 

I prefer a "flying nun" canoness myself. Usually when I go the celestian way, it gets expensive and don't pay off nicely.

 

I like to put holy promethium in the immos.

 

About meltas, I would put them only in one or 2 of those squads, and go tank hunting. The others I would keep the flamers (rules for templates changed guys, remember?) and do the nasty "tank shock barbecue" tactic <_<

 

Oh, and KEEP THE ACTS OF FAITH IN MIND - keep control on which powers to use in your turn, or the opponent's turn, and which powers to use with less or with more sisters in the squad. They are what "saves" the SoBs from being just power-armoured weaker female marines. And good part of the fun when you declare an AoF out of nowhere and your opponent go like " :lol: , I forgot about those AoF!" :teehee:

 

Stjohn is the man, go with it, and you'll be happy. Just keep in mind that he wrote it for an older edition, and now that the actual game edition is more objective-focused, a little care is necessary.