so sisters..... what are they like?

[Marshall Bretton]

right, im an avid collector of all things imperial, i have lots of space marines including knights wolves and smurfs, as well as 2 different regiments of imperial guard and lots of other small bits lying around.

the only imperial force i don't have is sisters of battle.

 

now im probably going to get some of the models soon just to see what they are like and so i can paint something new, but what i want to know is, despite all the battering they have had at the hands of games workshop (WARD!!!!!) are they useful as a potential ally for one of my other forces? (i occasionally play appocalypse games against a friend and i have visions of all my imperial forces marching in a crusade against what must obviously be an army of traitorous marines and guardsmen)

 

the games i play are normally 1000 points but i do sometime play bigger ones, can sisters forces be good or fun at that sort of points level?

 

what units are good? what sort of holes can they plug? and where the hell can i get a copy of the damned white dwarf(s) with their rules updates in?

 

 

also has the sisters fluff been as brutalised as it appears to have been? i mean grey knights killing them to use as anti deamon paint for their armour? that is absurd

 

the most recent piece of fluff i read was blood of asaheim where they seemed pretty badass, are there any other decent books people could recommend?

 

 

i realise that is allot of different questions for one post but any help people can give would be great

 

thanks muchly

[WarriorFish]

To be honest I forgot the new fluff shortly after I read it so I don't really think about it. It didn't really change anything significant and when it did it was often somewhat "odd" from what I remember.

 

Sisters have the holy trinity of bolter, melta and flamer which by no coincidence is what they're good at. You can get quite a few Sisters for your points and for each of those power armoured models you can get a healthy number of special weapons. They can offer their numbers to elite armies and their durability to horde armies and both will benefit from their special weaponry and good ballistic skill.

 

Regarding what units to take that depends mostly on what the other army is. You can't go much wrong with Battle Sister squads as a reliable stalwart though.

[Fibonacci]

> are they useful as a potential ally for one of my other forces?

- Maybe. They would not be my first choice as an ally. They don't really bring anything another army could not do. That said, Saint Celestine is fantastic for standing up after being killed and hopping on an objective for a last turn denial.

 

 

> the games i play are normally 1000 points but i do sometime play bigger ones, can sisters forces be good or fun at that sort of points level?

- Sisters of Battle excel at low point games. You can fit outflanking melta, rending heavy bolters, S8 AP1 missiles and an HQ that burns through hordes easily (and cannot be removes from the game) all in a 1000 point list.

 

> what units are good? what sort of holes can they plug?

- Seraphim are very killy but a little squishy.

- Dominions are "must have" and the best reason to take as allies. Inexpensive outflanking melta teams are great heavy armor hunters. A couple of weeks ago I had one Dom squad in an Immolator take out two Annihilation barges on the turn they came in and then a nightscyth the next turn before being swarmed by necron warriors.

- The Battle conclave is nasty especially with Jacobus joined to them but can be difficult to get into assault position. Exorcist tank is the long range HQ killer; it also cuts through paladins with ease.

 

> and where the hell can i get a copy of the damned white dwarf(s) with their rules updates in?

- Ebay. That's it. Sorry.

 

 

> also has the sisters fluff been as brutalised as it appears to have been? i mean grey knights killing them to use as anti deamon paint for their armour? that is absurd

- Martyrdom plays a big role in Sororitas fluff. That said, the GK fluff is probably the lamest idea Ward ever came up with. It is not so much that GK had to turn against the Sisters but really, who could not have written a better story as to why? So the incorruptible could save themeselves from corruption? That's the story? Performing a daemonic ritual to save themselves from daemonic influence? I think this falls under the heading of "what, are you daf?" Most people I know just ignore that paragraph in the GK codex.

 

> the most recent piece of fluff i read was blood of asaheim where they seemed pretty badass, are there any other decent books people could recommend?

- The two books by James Swallow, "Fire and Faith" and "Hammer and Anvil," are OK. They are not nail-biting works of escapist literature but they do a wonderful job of fleshing out the Ordos Militant. My friend also told me a new book was out covering the Space Wolves but had Sisters in it as well but I don't recall the name. [edit -- Oh, duh! That's the book you just mentioned. Never mind] And if you can find it, the graphic novel series "Daemonifuge" tell the story of Ephrael Stern. It is a really cool story.

[*Furyou Miko]

The James Swallow novels are atrocious, no matter what Fibonnaci says.

The first one presents a somewhat watered down Sisterhood who lack conviction. About the only thing it does well is show the dual nature of the Sororitas as warriors and investigators without relying on Inquisitors to 'round out' the cast.

The second book is just an advert for the newcrons. There are a couple of 'moments of awesome' - the (supposed) protagonist fighting a Cryptek and the Canoness' duel with an Overlord - but not enough for the book to really shine as pro-Sisters fluff.

As for the tabletop, the Sisters codex we have at the moment is very, very strong, especially at smaller games. 1000 to 1500 is our 'sweet spot', where we can fit in the fun stuff and be a real contender in the power stakes, but the droppoff isn't as dramatic as naysayers would have you believe. Everything is viable except Celestians, although Repentia are very fragile and need careful nursing to reach their potential (which is slaughtering anything I1 or heavily armoured with S6 2d6, AP1)... the generic HQ options are sub optimal compared to the named HQs, but really I can't think of a non-FW codex where that isn't true.

[Marshall Bretton]

great thanks guys, i will definitely look into finding a copy of the dwarf dex and see what i can do with it, outflanking meltas does sound extremely nasty (there is a guy at my local group atm playing a list with 2 leman russ executioners so im tempted just so i can ruin his day with that)

 

the only issue i have is that there are so few models available for them, i never like having an army with models all looking the same, and to get a decent sized force will also be seriously expensive, but definitely an allied force and then pray fervently for a new release (just like with my bretonnians :p )

[ChaosLord Leon Enaek]

Well if you're going to pray Brettonian and Sororitais armies are the ones for you :D