New to Sisters

[Hyuzanriu]

Hello fellow 40k enthusiast! I am fairly new to the game and friend of mine kind of directed me toward space marines (big surprise right?). Well after a few games of C:SM I decided that I like assaulting things, so I was once again directed toward moar Speez Mahreens, but Blood Angels this time. After doing some stabby stuff and absolutely trucking all the other new players in my group (playing eldar/CSM cultist spam/other squishy stuff), but still losing to players with actual skill, I realized stabby wasn't really me. So my BA army went back toward shooty. This whole time (like even before I bought my first Space Marines) I have been enthralled with the SoB, but decided not to play them because of model cost and not wanted to blow tons of money on a game I might not like.

 

So here I am, about 5 months and 3,000 points of BA later (only about 1500 of which I even still want lol) and decided that this is my game for the next two years while I live in Germany, and hopefully when I get back to the states as well. SoB fascinate me so I bought some. A lot of them. Like 500 dollars of them. Anyway, the whole point of this is to introduce myself to all the SoB players and to ask, "How hard are the sisters to play?" and, "Is it harder than spamming the heck out of las/plas razorbacks with angry superhumans in them?"

 

What tips do you veteran sisters players have for a noobie? What units should I refuse to touch with someone else's hands? What else will I need  besides this (list of stuff that I bought in one big auction below), not counting rhinos and crap, those will be bought after I have my army sorted out?

 

44 Battle Sister w/boltgun

4 Battle Sister w/meltagun

8 Battle Sister w/storm bolter

3 Battle Sister w/heavy flamer

3 Battle Sister w/multi-melta

6 Battle Sister w/heavy bolter

8 Seraphim

3 Seraphim w/hand flamer

1 Seraphim w/inferno pistol (converted)

1 Seraphim Superior w/power sword & plasma pistol

1 Sister Superior w/boltgun

1 Sister Superior w/power sword

1 Sister Superior w/chainsword & combi-melta (converted)

1 Sister Superior w/chainsword & bolt pistol

3 Sister Superior w/chainsword & plasma pistol

11 Repentia Sister

2 Mistress of Repentance

1 Canoness w/inferno pistol & book

1 Canoness (missing arm options)

1 Exorcist (missing driver, piano keyboard, and a couple small driver plates)

2 Penitent Engine

1 Aegis Defence Line w/quad gun (customized with Sisters bitz)

 

[Fibonacci]

Units to avoid: Celstians.

Units that are not all that great: Command Squad

Units that are not reliable but fun as hell when they work: Penitent Engines, Repentia

 

What you might consider adding: Saint Celestine, Uriah Jacobus, 6 to 10 Death Cult Assassins and 2 to 3 Crusaders, 1 or 2 Immolators, 2 Rhinos (you probably have some you could steal from the marines), another Exorcist.

 

At the least, Saint Celestine and a couple of rhinos would help a lot. Without any form of assault vehicle it is hard to get a Battle Conclave or a Repentia squad into position. The change in the transport rules plus the emphasis on shooting over assaulting in the new edition have taken the conclave from "must have" to situational. However I still love to use the battle conclave for the obsene number of power weapon hits they can generate.

 

The (very) basic strat is to have 2 Exorcists and carry lots of melta to take out your opponent's HQ, terminators and MC with S8 AP1 death. Rapid fire the rest into submission.

 

[ETA]

Let me add a few more comments to that.  First off, Celestians are not a bad unit; they are just not optimal for anything.  No matter what job you want them to do, there are other units that do it better for fewer points.  There are not many options in the codex so I hate to just dismiss a unit and decrease our options even more but the only time they ever saw a game was in large point battles where they could add some MSU support but with double FOC at 2000 there is no reason to ever take them over more Dominions or Retributors.  Thinks about it.  Celestians get 2 base attaks with no way to capitolize on that (no ccw + pistol) and their act of faith lets them go from S 3 to S 4 but still at I 3 means they will usually swing last.  A base squad of 5 with 2 flamers and a Rhino costs 125 points.  The same set up with Dominions is 115 points with twin-linked weapons.  5 Retributors with 2 flamers and a rhino are 110 points and they get Rending; they can take FOUR flamers with Rending and be a serious threat to TDA and still be cheaper than a Celestian squad.  So other than fluff, you don't need them.

 

The Command Squad is sort of the same way.  They have a few good tricks but limited in size plus taking a simulacrum means one of the heavy weapons can't fire thanks to the FAQ.  Still, you can have 2 multi-melts in a rhino and make them relentless so that it is at least a mobile tank hunter group.  Just like 5 Dominions in an melta equipped Immolator only not as versital and for more points.  But if you liked James Swallow's books and want to field a "nurse-maid" this is your only option for a Sister Hospitaler.

 

So yeah, Dominions are nastey killers.  Keep them light, cheap and mobile.  They can easily take out double thier point cost but they will be way forward and unsupported when they do so they don't last long afterwards.

 

Seriphim are fun.  They can re-roll their faith test which lets them wound more often and re-roll any failed invulnerable save with lets them survive just a little more punishment.  Flamers work best for this unit.  Use their mobility to go after your opponent's troops.  With Saint Celestine attached they can Hit & Run on her initiative of 7 and they both get a little more protection for crossing the board.  I give my Seraphim Superior an Eviscerator but it is only because it is one of my favorite models.  She seldom makes back the high point cost of the weapon.  Melta bombs would probably be a better choice.

 

The key to winning with Sisters of Battle -- at least for me -- is to stay mobile while removing the enemy's mobility and taking out their high point cost targets at range.  Use melta on AV 13 and 14.  The Exorcists should be shooting at light vehicles, terminators and characters.  Especially any multi-wound characters with T4.  Paladins!  Nobz!  I eats them!

 

There's tons more, but I need to get back to work.  I'm sure several other people have replied since I started the long version ...

[IK Viper]

I would keep the BA close at hand.  SoB are a pretty good army that point-for-point, out perform their SM brothers in shooting both due to their reduced cost, Acts of Faith, and access to more special weapons in their squads vs. tactical sqauds.  They are even cheaper then Grey Hunters but the GH's have alot of other things going for them that Battle Sisters can't match. That being said, I play a mixture of BA, GK, and SoB.  When writting my lists I often rely on the BA or GK to bring in Air Support to a SoB list.  Exorcists and a Quad gun alone are not going to get it done in most cases. 

 

Sisters are great at the whole Rhino cavalry list, supported by Retributor and Exorcist fire.  Saint Celestine is a game winner/changer in alot of cases, specially if you go 2nd in objective games.  But you need some CC support and some air cover to effectively operate.  These is where the BA can be of great use. 

[Greylocke]

As someone who plays against SoBs often I rank the gamers who play pure SoB armies and consistently win to be among the most skilled. Big thugs in power armor can cover many tactical and strategic mistakes that SoB players can't afford to make. What I like about watching a skilled SoB player is the way they combine the elegance of DE and the power of SM paying a bit in the extremity of both. Those who win a lot with this army seem to be masters of maneuver and covering fires. I know many will say I'm wrong but I think they are an awesome mid field army. Watching their game is like watching a choreographed dance as the units move to support one another. They move around you blasting you while staying out of your range then strike at your chewed up units with flame and assault weapons. Good SoB tabletop Generals are like artists, they seem to have you beat as soon as they see your deployment.

[*Furyou Miko]

Yeah, BA... not necessary.

 

With Sisters, the more dreck you ally in, the weaker your main Sisters list gets because you're not really using their advantages properly. The Avenger is one of the best non-vendetta fliers in the game, its main weakness is that it's Heavy Support.

[Naminé]

Some good advice in this thread (as always), and fibonacci has covered the same sentiments that I would want to say.  My advice when building sisters lists is to really look into the type of role you want each unit to do, and then build them up as best you can for that role before moving onto the next.

 

We have great troops (which is good considering we only have one choice), who can shoot like crazy and take some powerful options.

We have amazing fast attack, in that there is no bad choice.

We have strong Heavy Support, With 3 very viable choices of very different roles.

We also have (in my opinion) the best HQ choice in the game.

 

I would advise to concentrate on these areas when building your army.

 

 

Allies are not needed by any army in 40k, but with Guard as battle brothers you do have the option of covering up any weaknesses (if that is what you want); namely long-range firepower, plasma and anti-flyer.

[mince on toast]

if you have the chance stay away from buying storm bolter SoB

its not that they suck its just pts and $ are better spent on the other weapon options we have in this codex

 

repentia and pen engines are hard to master so dont feel ripped off if they dont do much besides blowing up

 

you prety much have the standard template for SoB the rest is personal taste

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hyuzanriu]

Thank you guys. It's rare to find a hobby where so many people are willing to help out the new guy. I appreciate all the advice but I do have one more question. I see just about every list run two squads of 5 dominions with two meltaguns in a MM Immolator. Even though it doesn't cost much more to run 10 dominions with 4 meltaguns in a rhino. Are 10 dominion squads bad or is that MM on the Immolator just too good to pass up?

[Naminé]

Thank you guys. It's rare to find a hobby where so many people are willing to help out the new guy. I appreciate all the advice but I do have one more question. I see just about every list run two squads of 5 dominions with two meltaguns in a MM Immolator. Even though it doesn't cost much more to run 10 dominions with 4 meltaguns in a rhino. Are 10 dominion squads bad or is that MM on the Immolator just too good to pass up?

 

It's more like this:

 

4 meltaguns in a Rhino can outflank or scout forward first turn, allowing you to fire 4x (potentially twin-linked) meltaguns into an enemy tank, hopefully within 6" for that melta rule to take effect.

 

-PROS:

is pretty much guaranteed to destroy any tank it shoots at.

with extra sisters in the unit, it is much harder to kill and neutralise the dominion threat.

Have the option of hiding in the rhino and shooting out of the hatch.

 

-CONS:

slightly more expensive, and can be overkill.

The Rhino is not really a threat, so all the enemy return fire will pour into the Doms.

Less threat range with the melta rule.

 

 

2 Meltaguns in a MM immolator can do the same thing as the rhino, but they can also disembark and as 2 seperate units fire at 2 different targets.

 

-PROS:

Larger threat range with the Multi-melta.

Can target 2 enemy tanks in one turn of shooting.

2 serious threats for your opponant to target instead of one.

 

-CONS:

The unit is more fragile, with less sisters to take wounds and so acts more as a suicide squad.

The immolator is more expensive yet no more survivable then the Rhino, so you have more to lose.

If your luck sucks, 2 meltaguns might not be enough to do the job (I solve this with the addition of a combi-melta).

[Hyuzanriu]

Ahh ok, I can totally understand why people run 5 instead of 10 now. I'll probably run two squads of 5 in a MM Immolator then and keep 5 more (two of them with meltaguns) in my back pocket and just add them to one of the fivers in case I have to face a lot of TEQs. Thanks for the explanation.

 

 

edit: punctuation

[Fibonacci]

Either way is fine.  Whatever feels best to you.  I run the Immolater version for the advanced tactical reason that I don't have enough models.  :)

I like the longer range of the Immolator's multi-melta, too.

 

Here's a fun tid-bit.  A single, twin-linked melta shot has about a 10% chance of taking down a flyer with a snap shot.  Double that if it is in half range.  So a 10 Sister Dominion squad has about an 80% chance of taking out a flyer in one turn not counting HP loss from glances.  Granted it is short range but get close and "boom goes the dynamite."    You can use this as a sort of denial to a limited section of the board.  But that's not the fun part ....

 

If you take a defense line and a quad-gun, it is the the anti-air gun of choice and may as well have a big sign saying "shoot me first."  If it is on the table when an enemy flyer comes on, they will usually try to avoid it's arch of fire and thus stay out of Interceptor shooting.  So .. place your quad gun to one side of center leaving an nice safe zone on the other table edge.  Set the trap in a relative safe place around 16" in on that side of the board.  With a 6" move in the rhino and 6" disembark you have a good chance at getting where you need to be to snap shot twin-linked melta at the flyer on your turn.

 

There are a ton of things that could go wrong and timing is #1 -- every turn spent waiting for the flyer to come on is another turn of wasted potential of 4 melta guns -- so don't fixate on it.  Be ready to move out and slag any taget of oppertunity that comes up.

[*Furyou Miko]

Its personal taste. :) I always run two ten-strong squads of dominions. Usually one melta and one flamer. With the new Repressor rules that may change, though. The dominions form the backbone of my assault force, backed up by battle sisters for objective grabbing... I don't usually bother with home field objectives except in Big Guns - taking enemy objectives gets me points AND denies them to the enemy. :)

[Naminé]

Either way is fine. Whatever feels best to you. I run the Immolater version for the advanced tactical reason that I don't have enough models.

I like the longer range of the Immolator's multi-melta, too.

Here's a fun tid-bit. A single, twin-linked melta shot has about a 10% chance of taking down a flyer with a snap shot. Double that if it is in half range. So a 10 Sister Dominion squad has about an 80% chance of taking out a flyer in one turn not counting HP loss from glances. Granted it is short range but get close and "boom goes the dynamite." You can use this as a sort of denial to a limited section of the board. But that's not the fun part ....

If you take a defense line and a quad-gun, it is the the anti-air gun of choice and may as well have a big sign saying "shoot me first." If it is on the table when an enemy flyer comes on, they will usually try to avoid it's arch of fire and thus stay out of Interceptor shooting. So .. place your quad gun to one side of center leaving an nice safe zone on the other table edge. Set the trap in a relative safe place around 16" in on that side of the board. With a 6" move in the rhino and 6" disembark you have a good chance at getting where you need to be to snap shot twin-linked melta at the flyer on your turn.

There are a ton of things that could go wrong and timing is #1 -- every turn spent waiting for the flyer to come on is another turn of wasted potential of 4 melta guns -- so don't fixate on it. Be ready to move out and slag any taget of oppertunity that comes up.

Haha nice; reminds me of the ONLY time I managed to get some double-melta battle sisters onto a skyfire nexus aiming at a zooming Vendetta.

Despite the act of faith, 1 shot missed entirely whilst the other was saved by jink >:(

The really funny part was the krak grenade that managed to glance it :p

[RookBartly]

My view on dominions are a 'must field'  I have two setups depending on what I am facing.  I like the double Melta-guns with the MM Immy but if I am facing Nid's or Orks, I go with the 10 gal's with flamers and a combi-flamer.  Some times I like Miko run two squads, one Melta/MM Immy and the other flamers.  There is something that is just scary about poping on on the side of the table and laying out 5 flame templets on a single target followed up by 5 bolters.

 

P.S.  I very often field Repentia.  I love them.  They tend to die alot but when they get in close.  BOOOOMMMMMM  stuff dies.  A few days ago, I played Tau.  I was droping shot after shot into some 'Missile-Sides' and only succeded in killing off a few drones.  I assulted with Celestine and the Repentia,  Cel tanked all the snap fires (about 30 shots) and died, then the repentia wiped the whole squad, drones, and put hurt on the commander as well.

[Hyuzanriu]

Thanks for all the input guys. I only have one more question. Is the avenger strike fighter worth a heavy support slot?

[Fibonacci]

Ay ya ya.  You don't mind asking the hard questions ....

 

I am probably in the minority but for me, no.  I don't care much for the model and there is no big compelling reason for me to field on over another HS unit.  However I do like the Dark Angels' flying cathedral look and will probably convert one for my Sisters but even then it will be used in double FOC games or share the very limited game time my Penitent Engines use. 

[RookBartly]

I use one often.  Being one of the only few flyer that can still deepstrike makes it very good.  It has AWESOME firepower.  While I dislike the use of a heavy slot, I perfer to take one when facing people with other flyers.  It has a rear facing defence weapon that can take down other flyers if need be (if your lucky).  It is an awesome flyer and worth the points BUTTTTTTTT it does have its flaws.  The lower armor on the sides/rear make it a little fragle.  Bolters CAN glance it to death but it can kill large numbers of troops really easy as well has vehicles.  Starting out I don't suggest it but its worth expanding into later on.  I have a 'counts-as' model I use that I kit-bashed from an A-10, a Corsaire, and a Storm Tallon.  I want to get the real model because I really like the model and want to 'Sister' it up a bit!

[derpasaurus]

Love repentia, the few times I've tested some penitent engines, they are really risky but super fun.

Put me down for a hybrid of small/large dominion squads.
I am almost done building my MM squad, it's 5 strong with 2 melta, combi melta, in a MM immolator. 
However, I love the idea of 10 girlies with 5 flamer templates (combi flamer). However.... I'm not sure now if I want a Repressor anymore or not, with the wonked out rules they have now. May just end up taking a Rhino for the flamer squad.

I've never had a chance to use the strike fighter, but I'm curious, and may proxy one soon just for kicks. My initial thought tho is no, it's not worth giving up 2 exorcists and HB retributors or some pen engines or something. 

[*Furyou Miko]

I've yet to field one either, lol. ^^; My conversion project stalled out for being somewhat more ambitious than I could actually manage in the end.

[Hyuzanriu]

Hmm, sounds like I will try it out then decide if I like it or not. Thank you for all the help everyone, you have given me a lot of good information to look at and hopefully I end up a successful sisters player (or make my money back if I don't lol).