Stuck and lost

[WAR]

Late to the party Sisters are a great army and always have been a fun army like everyone have said the learning curve is so hard on them do to the codexes age. I am one of the few that perfer running an all infantry Sisters of Battle army which is a pain for my friends due to the fact at 1850 I have around 106 models running around the board. Repentias are usually in my army for the tank busting but they are killed as fast as possible after I used them in apocalypse and they killed a Titan the turn they charged die in the resulting explosion but hey they killed it.

 

The FW stuff is great I personally own 2 repressors and 2 exorcists from them. I like ordering the upgrades so when I buy a rhino chasis for it I can get the Sister of Battle Rhino/ Immolator kit and save myself from ordering the forge world doors.

 

Also if you are looking for helmets for your Sisters you can always try to make molds out of green stuff or two part resin from the plastic helmet included in the rhino/ immolator kit.....but it is harder than it looks.

 

Faith is one of the most powerful weapons at a SoB disposal. The right combos produce horrifying results on your opponents and the most complained about thing in my gaming group. It's weird they like that I have no real long range, that I have no melée abilites but my one special ability they dislike because it levels the playing field.

 

The mech list everyone isP stating as the go to list is very devastating and creates a mechnized force that becomes very in your face very quickly.

 

Hopefully by this time next year we will have a new codex and have new shiny toys.

[calypso2ts]

I ran into the same problems when I started playing SoB. I did not win a game for almost a year and a half (was my first army) and the learning curve on 40k is tough enough, with SoB it is even steeper. The problem is they do not forgive mistakes the same way a SM army might.

 

The big challenge with SoB is you are most effective in the 6"-12" range, but you are bad at assault. That means you need to obliterate anything you shoot at that means abusing flame templates with Divine Guidance. You can literally erase marine squads. However, to do so you need to get them out of their transports this is where Exorcists come in.

 

Exorcist priority 1 is to remove your opponents transports to open them up to flamers. Let sisters with Meltas or your Canoness take down heavy armor. Each turn you need to plan where you are going to spend Faith. Against marines most your Faith is spent on Divine Guidance. Against Guard it will be on Spirit of the Martyr.

 

This brings up another important note - you need Rhinos for all your SoB squads or Immolators. I prefer Immolators for Celestians and Dominions who I equip with Melta guns. Further, this means your weapon loadouts should either be Meltas or H Flamer/flamer. Leave the multimeltas, storm bolters and Heavy bolters (except in squads of retributors) at home for now.

 

You have also included a large number of WH units in your army. The stormtroopers are solid and I prefer to put them with 2 Meltas into an Immolator taken as a Heavy Support choice. They can zoom around shooting tanks and then try to Heavy Flamer anything that pops out. The other WH units you need to field one at a time. They are just not strong enough otherwise. These include

 

Inquisitor (and one assasin)

Penitent Engines (with their priest) - I would field 2x at most for now they are expensive money wise and they tend to get killed

Arco Flagellants

Repentia

 

For each of these they fulfill a specific purpose, screen them with Rhinos to keep them alive and if you field any of them I would cut the Seraphim and Celestine so the rest of your army is composed of 'strong' choices to keep it competitive.

 

If you want to take the penitent the best place to include a priest is in a Rhino/Immolator with a Celestian squad. I prefer an Immolator and I equip him with Power Armor, Eviscerator in a squad with a Veteran Superior with another Eviscerator.

 

Finally, the best piece of wargear in the WH book is the 'Book of St. Lucius' it took me a while to realize but reread the entry a few times. Units within 6" can choose to test on the unmodified leadership. This means a nearby Canoness makes your squads leadership 10 and they IGNORE COMBAT RESOLUTION, that is right they are effectively stubborn whenever you want them to be. If you want to try to fail a test, you can also choose not to test on it. This makes SoB squads really strong tarpits, especially when they get to 6 models and can start making their save invulnerable. This is why I would include early on an Evicerator in each squad because it is likely you will get stuck in combat and the Eviscerator will enable you to take down models, walkers or even assault vehicles. You may choose to switch out of it later on. Here is a sample list that I have run before including some elements in you listed and should be available to you.

 

Canoness - Jump Pack, Eviscerator, Cloak of St. Aspira, Books of St. Lucius (BoSL), Inferno Pistol, Mantle of Ophelia

Inquisitor Lord - Psychic Hood, Psi Tracker, 2x Heavy Bolter Servitor, 1x Plasma Cannon, 2x Sage, 2x Acolyte

 

Celestians - 2x Melta, Veteran Superior w/ Eviscerator and BoSL in an Immolator w/ smoke, Extra Armor attached Priest w/ Eviscerator, Power Armor

Callidus Assassin

 

10x SoB squad w/ Flamer, H. Flamer, Veteran Superior w/ Brazier of Holy Fire, BoSL) in a Rhino w/ Smoke, Extra Armor

10x SoB squad w/ Flamer, H. Flamer, Veteran Superior w/ Brazier of Holy Fire, BoSL) in a Rhino w/ Smoke, Extra Armor

10x SoB squad w/ Meltagun, H. Flamer, Veteran Superior w/ Brazier of Holy Fire, BoSL) in a Rhino w/ Smoke, Extra Armor

 

2x Exorcist w/ Smoke and Extra Armor

2x Penitent Engine

 

I ran this in a tournament and went 1-1-1 (lost to the person who finished first) and really enjoyed having some variety. The only change I would have made would be to drop the Penitent Engines and Priest for another Celestians squad with Melta's in an Immolator and maybe a heavy support Immolator for some Storm Troopers.

[Wolfeather]

My husband and I have been talking about trying to make a mold for the sisters of battle helmets just so that I can have them all be like that heh..

 

I am also looking forward to the new book. I am hoping that it will explain somethings to me and make life a little easier...

 

Thank you Calypso. I think I am going to give that lay out a shot on Wednesday and see how it flies, might make my life easier!

 

Does Holy Promethium still work the way its suppose to?

 

So with Divine Guidence its all about rolling that magical 6 to wound than, I am still new to the faith points idea, I normally don't like to spend the points (I know it sounds funny, but my husband could contest to the thought that I don't like letting go of money either).. Is there any way to bust the number of points? Or have them regenerate.. I know that you get so many for units, and that you get some when some units die, but other than that is there anything?

[Inquisitor Fox]

It's just by units dying I'm afraid. As an example, my lists usually have between 3 and 5 Faith points, which I can only recover as units die (usually my Seraphim and troops slot Battle Sisters it seems). I try to never have points left at the end of the game, as much as I can with Martyrdom anyway. The way I use them is to have an overall battle plan, then to forget about them. When I'm playing the game I'll run into a situation where I really need this unit to not die, or I need to annihilate something with shooting.. and in those moments I'll use Faith points to help tip the balance in my favor. You can't depend on them, but they're a nice little helpful thing to have periodically.

 

Personally, I just try to remember that I don't get anything by having Faith points at the end of the game.. it's like a coupon with an expiration date, use it or lose it! :tu: I've also found that having a visible 'counter(s)' on the table (glass drops, extra bases with fluers on them or something) helps me remember how many points I have left at my disposal.

[Inquisitor Fox]

Always forget something I meant to do!

 

Ahem, if I can toot my own horn for a moment, try having a read at this: Inquisitor Tactica: advice on effective Inquisitors

 

I've used a WH Lord (close combat) with Retinue since always, and absolutely love it. I find it more effective than most people give it credit for, and a lot of fun to field on the tabletop. It also gets me a Land Raider and a lot of praise for neat looking models! I've tried to put a lot of the tricks and experience I've gained into that post, and others in the community here have also added their thoughts. While it is not the most popular option, it can be effective if used properly. Don't give up on a unit if you're trying to have fun simply because other people don't like it. Use what works for you, regardless of popular opinion.

[Timberhawk]

I'll try to motivate her to spend her faith points even if it means my marines die a horrible, flaming death. lol

[calypso2ts]

I tend to field army's with a large Faith pool. The list above has 6 points, but I typically run them with around 10 points each. In general Faith points accentuate what you already want to be doing. If you have 10 tacticals in front of you, then your 3x flamers are going to be pretty good. With Faith they are just that much better, I try to DG when I have between 15-18 Flamer hits (if you have more even better) and throw in the rapid fire bolters as well. I have easily demolished squads of plague marines, normal marines, Blood Angels with Sanguinary Priests and other assorted swarms (and entire 30 man Ork mob once as well). The thing I have noticed with Faith is the only time I tend to have too much of it is when I am winning big or losing big. Just spend along as needed otherwise.

 

The only army I really have trouble with is guard, they just have so much long range shooting it is hard to weather it and in CC they are not 'that' much worse than your Sisters. Against SM they need to come to you so sit back and shoot, no need to close the gap to them at the start. The Exorcists will wreck armor much faster than a standard Codex list unless they are doing something special.

[panbient]

the most important thing i learned about playing WH was actually quite simple - go big or go home, there is no such thing as overkill.

 

whatever WH angle you ultimately decide to follow with, remember more is always better. in some cases it's just nice, 1 exorcist is nice, 3 is awesome, in other cases it's absolute necessity, 1 penitent engine will never make it into the enemy lines, 3 penitent engines means at least 1 will shred troops.

 

also, don't ever rely on Faith Points being a game winner / secret victory weapon - they don't work that way and will disappoint. do remember to capitalize on any situation where Faith could tip the scales of battle to your benefit but they're not going to pull a victory out of a tactical mess. if you still have Faith left at the end of a battle you're probably not playing Sisters right.

[Wolfeather]

Well that explains a lot seeing as I had all my points left in the last few times I played heh..

 

Alright, now I know that sometimes I completely suck at reading, don't ask why I am not really sure, but I didn't really see anything that said that faith points can only be used once per turn.. Am I just reading over it and not remembering or can I just throw the points on more than one turn to kill something really quick if I needed to?

[calypso2ts]

You can only attempt each AoF once per phase. So you can use SotM in shooting and then again in Assault. What you cannot do is attempt SotM, fail and immediately try again. Be sure to read the Faith rules carefully, there are specific times you are allowed to use each act. For example you cannot wait til a battlecannon decides to shoot your ladies and then give them a 3+ invulnerable save.

 

Also, I agree that you should not use faith as a crutch, but without it SoB are really just slightly cheaper SM. Faith is what makes the army work at all.

 

P.S. - 3x Exorcists is generally overkill you run out of targets in most games, I like to run 2 ;)

[Inquisitor Fox]

I've found that a single Exorcist pairs well with a Land Raider transport as well. :D It keeps the Inquisitor and Retinue alive to counter-charge things, you can use a psychic hood from within a transport, and it is anti-armor (and AV14!) that could transport other squads if need be and split it's fire to multiple targets with twin-linked lascannons. It's helped a lot with my long range firepower issues of the Witch Hunters. That and Chimeras (with autocannons from IA2) as transports for my ISTs.

 

Also keep in mind that sometimes units can use multiple Acts of Faith in the same phase! There is no rule that says you cannot give your Canoness both an invulnerable armor save as well as boosting her initiative.

[Wolfeather]

As It stands my husband and I are planning on playing 40k tomorrow.. I'll have to post up here how everything turned out and see if I can manage to pull things together.. Thanks again for the input!

 

Does anyone use the named characters in the Sister's book, I really want to use Celestine for the first time soon, see what kind of damage she can unleash, besides that, I spent a little to much time painting her until I felt she was worthy to be put on the table..

[WAR]

I have used her but besides her being able to hit and run with the seraphim I felt she was kinda a points sink. I will occasionally field a canoness with a jump pack, blessed weapon, bolt pistol, frag, BoSL, meltabombs, and cloak of St. aspiration for just under 80pts less than Celeste and I have killed alot more with her then saint Celeste.... But the flying nun load out eats faith so quickly mainly on her 2+ invulnerable save buy she can tarpit large scary units for turns on end.

 

Good luck in your game.

[Wolfeather]

Alrighty, another question.. Use psyker powers or not to? That's something that I never really used or thought about, it seemed harder to get the hang on and I just, honestly, forgot about it when I was asking my other questions..

[panbient]

Alrighty, another question.. Use psyker powers or not to?

 

psyker powers need an Inquisitor (elite or Lord), unless you're fielding one to unlock assassins, land raider, or orbital bombardment the points are better spent elsewhere.

[calypso2ts]

Celestine is interesting and fun to play, but not as strong as she should be. I have used both Celestine and Karamazov before. Karamazov is slightly better now with TLoS, but he is still pretty bad (being able to be instant killed by S 10 weapons hurts). Celestine is fun and can be good at taking down small units of infantry. T3 hurts, but she can go 2++ pretty easily and has some cool powers. She is fast as all get out (especially with run) being able to move 12" + d6 +6" in the assault phase.

 

The key to her is to select the right targets. Do not throw her into a squad of Genestealers or a squad with a Power Fist if you can help it. Do run her into Devastators, Missile Launcher tacticals and troop choices like that. She adds some additional punch as well to a Seraphim Squad with Inferno Pistols. I spent a ton of time on my Celestine as well and I am hoping for some updated rules someday.

 

For a Canoness I would never take the Blessed Weapon variety, I think and Eviscerator is better in almost every single case.

 

Edit: I have wanted to like Inquisition psykers, but I just cannot find a really good use for them. I have tried most the powers, Scouring is probably the best but it is only 'okay' as well.

[Inquisitor Fox]

I'm fond of His Will Be Done, and Hammer of the Witches. They work well for my close combat oriented retinue and layered with the psychic hood, and the Shield of Faith special rule provide a nice layer of defense against any army reliant on psykers.