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Unit of the Week VII - Ministorum Priests/Jacobus


Aqui

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Unit of the week I - Exorcist

Unit of the week II - Imolator

Unit of the week III - Repentia

Unit of the Week IV - Battle Sister Squad (BSS)

Unit of the Week V - The Penitent Engine

Unit of the Week VI - The Canoness

This week, I thought that we'd discuss two of the units I know least about - Ministorum Priests and Jacobus. Now that I have a basic understanding of the Sisters Codex (read, I'm still feverishly reading as much as my brain can handle), I've noticed that a lot of army lists have at least one Priest or Jacobus himself. When I get around to it, I will have a suitable counts as for a regular Priest myself, but I'm still unsure what they can do in terms I can understand and the best way of getting the most out of them. So, please help this poor Sisters player out and tell me how do you use yours! happy.png

The most valuable priest is a cheap priest with your BSS units.

 

25 points for what is essentially fearless and hatred (Zealot rule) along with a ~50% war hymn success rate. The war hymns are all excellent.

 

A priest with Litanies in a blob makes it near-impossible to shift.

 

I've also seen combi-melta priests riding with Dominions (4 melta, combi melta) to make for a horrible alpha strike.

 

The Mace of Valaan is a curious relic, but it's not that bad, especially if your priest elects to start Smashing as his war hymn.

 

Got nothing on Jacobus, I never liked him modelwise so I've never run him.

I love having priests with BSSs. I don't have a ton of experience, but they seem like they could be useful even in a small objective holding squad. I had one with a BSS of 5 who jumped out to engage some scouts so that they couldn't contest the objective. Then he got cocky and tried to go fro Smash. And died horribly.

 

I like the idea of Jacobus (invulnerable saves are fun), but I've played him like 2 times since I've been trying to get away from special characters.

A stated above, 25 points for a buff model to bring your BSS units almost up to MEQ in melee. I don't really rate priests for 5 girl units considering that they're 25 points there's only 1 point of difference between 6 Tac Marines (84pts) and 5 sisters + priest (85pts), but marine unit is still better in melee than the sisters unit.

 

Three places you want priests are:

In an at least 10 model unit minimum for melee 

Or if you really just want to get an extra combi weapon somewhere. BSS with HF. F, C-F, C-F or dominions with 4 melta and 2 combi melta.

Or a unit that you want to have full control over the AoF by way of litanies.

 

They can also take plasma but you don't really want your source of fearless to burn his fingers.

They're best taken in a pair and one given Litanies so they can automatically pass their Hymns and the unit it's AoF if it has one.

They can be placed into almost any unit and that unit will instantly become better, consider an 8 girl Celestial unit with 2 priests sporting HF. F, C-F, C-F, that can disembark, :cussBBQ whatever is in front of them and then charge next turn with automatic furious charge, re-roll to hit, re-roll to wound, re-roll to save. A problematic unit that instantly becomes half way decent and if someone only has a vague idea of how sisters work, can be a really good surprise unit to spring on them.

Since they're ICs they can also work their hymns on Battle Brother allies, think guard blob with priest support. 

 

From my experience in use, i was on the verge of getting tabled by a WarCon but due to last min alterations (the guy was cutting an 1850 list down to 1500 to play a casual game, so we agreed to meet at 1560) so i had my canoness(4++, MoO) in a 5 girl BSS unit with the 2 priests with litanies supporting. I charged that squad into the closest thing and averted the tabling by staying locked in combat for the remaining 4 assault phases when the game ended. it was still a loss but at least not a complete loss.

Priests are what takes us from a low-mid tier dex to something that can compete with the 'competitive' tournament lists.  For 25 points, a priest is worth his weight in gold: in a BSS, he increases their survivability tenfold, ensures they will never run, and adds another versatile weapon platform and a great place to put meltabombs.  There's never a need to pay for a lousy superior upgrade, when a priest gives you so much more, for just 15 extra points.  Even if the unit starts to dwindle, he can just hop right into another squad and start all over again.

 

Seriously, I would be willing to pay twice the points for a priest and would still do so without a moment's pause.

 

The biggest strength of our priests is their customisability, allowing them to get the most out of their rules.  A squad of 10 sisters with a priest becomes a unit that can survive ork charges, terminator assaults and anything inbetween.  They become the ultimate pinning squad, locking an enemy unit in combat until help can arrive.

 

Jacobus is a super priest, coming stock with the best warlord trait in the dex and an awesome aura buff.  He's not too bad against weak things in assault but he makes a better tank when needed.  He's actually pretty hard to kill.  It's a shame he got nerfed so heavily, but if you run a Blob unit or Repentia, he's more then worth his points and always better value then a Canoness.  The bonus act of faith comes in useful for those units, too.

I like two priest, melta bombs and a book (for one). Stick them in a squad of 10 and your set to hold anything you want pretty much. They have the most options IMO, being IC and having access to pretty much everything you'd want. Try to keep them under 50 points and they'll make your army shine without having to be a heavy weight your scared to throw around.

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