Adepta Sororitas Tactics - Part 1 - HQ's

[AliciaDominica]

Greeting and welcome to part 1 of my Sisters of Battle tactica. I'm writing this because I've been playing Sisters of Battle as my main faction since the Witch Hunters codex and I have seen a lot of posts about people looking to add SoB to their armies or even start a full SoB army! I found the current tactics resources to mostly advocate tactics I do not agree with, so I felt I would put my 2 cents in!

 

SoB HQ's in a nutshell:

Our HQ's, with one (technically 2) exceptions are squishy and not great in combat...or at shooting...or at moving across the board quickly. But they are still quite good and, thanks to Imperial Agents, now SoB have one of the cheapest HQ in the game. 

 

Lets start with the classic: The Canoness.

The Canoness used to be our cheapest HQ choice. This lady is our equivalent of a Space Marine captain. She has a respectable statline for a human and has a short, but effective, list of wargear options to choose from. Unfortunately, she suffers from being far to overpriced for what she puts out. Her melee is weak, even with an Eviscerator, and her defense is equally bad. So lets breakdown what build she does have.

 

Stats

Her stats are nothing to write home about. BS5 and WS5 means shes decent in melee and at shooting, unfortunately she doesn't get much in the way of guns. Her T3, 3W, and I4 really puts her low on my list of playable models. A large portion of the game instant kills her unless you spend 25 points to give her eternal warrior. She strikes at the same speed as a tactical marine and wounds worse. The final nail in her coffin is having only 3 attacks and her 3+/6++ (can be made a 4++). 

 

Wargear

For a SoB the Canoness has a large array of wargear options. She comes stock with Power Armor, a Chainsword, a Bolt Pistol, and assault grenandes. On top of that she has 6 Melee Weapons (7 if you count the relic sword) and 8 Ranged Weapon options. You can kit her out to fit your needs but, in my opinion, she is best suited for Melee or run naked as a cheap HQ.

 

Special Rules

The Passion (Act of Faith)- Hatred for her and her unit. Not a bad AoF if we didn't have a million and one ways to get hatred already. But makes her decent on her own if she splits off to murder a small squad.

 

Stubborn - We have a base LD of 8 and no ATSKNF, so this is actually quite useful for a large blob of gals to avoid getting overrun. However, we have such easy access to Zealot that you'll never even remember you have this special rule.

 

Martyrdom - One of our universal special rules. A decent way to get army wide fearless for a round. Making it so losing your Canoness to a daemon prince isn't so bad.

 

Shield of Faith - Standard SoB 6++

 

All-in-all these rules are not great. You can tell her points cost was inflated due to these special rules but you never really get to benefit from them. It's a real shame.

 

Tactics and Loadouts

There are 3 Good Loadouts for the Canoness I have found: The first of which is no loadout. But when you really want to make her work I suggest the following:

 

Loadout 1: Mantle of Ophelia (Relic), Rosarius, Power Axe and Bolt Pistol. 

This gives you 5 Attacks on the charge at Str4 AP2. Eternal Warrior and a 4++ Save. It's 15 points cheaper than the eviscerator build but it's still expensive runnning in at 120 Points, ouch. Thats a SoB Squad with 2 Meltas in a Rhino! This build will do decent in Melee, but I still strongly advise NOT running a Canoness.

 

Loadout 2: Same as above but with an Eviscerator. Turn that Canoness into a glorified Repentia! Really only good for killing vehicles but for 135 points its hardly worth it. You could run old Celestine for that and clear out droves of infantry or even some special characters! 

 

 

OVERALL VERDICT

Skip this one. Shes a beautiful model and looks great on the field but she doesn't perform. Put her on display or on the shelf until 8th Edition.

 

 

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Lets move onto the next HQ and our first named character: Uriah Jacobus

Now thats more like it! This is the super priest. He's got a plethora of special rules and is only a 100 points to boot. This guy won't stand his own in a duel but he is a massive force multiplier! Stick him in a squad of Battle Sisters and watch as they suddenly become that much more durable. 

 

Stats

Uriah rocks a respectable WS and BS of 4 and a Leadership of 10. Running a standard human statline of S3, T3 and 3W he's not very tanky. At I4 and 3 Attacks, hes not very killy either. Lastly he's sitting on a 5+/4++, which is not very good for a T3 model. His stats don't lead him to want to be shooting or in melee, but his special rules are where he shines, buffing everyone else.

 

Wargear

Uriah comes stock with a Rosarius (4++) and his own badass shotgun "The Redeemer." Which is a S4 AP4 Assault 2 Shotgun at 24'' range! The longest range shotgun ever. Sure, it won't actually kill much but it's just a cool visual. He also comes with Assault grenades and a bolt pistol. He also rocks a banner "The Banner of Sanctity" which gives a 12'' bubble of Fearless and Counter attack. Counter attack is a nice bonus but we kind of suck in melee anyways so it doesn't help too much. Fearless is great and stops us from fleeing which is always nice. He has 0 options at all, so what you see is what you get.

 

Special Rules

Martyrdom - Same as the Canoness and all other characters for the SoB

 

Protector of the Faith - Once per game a unit he is attached to can use an act of faith for free. This is a great ability. I've seen some people try and argue this ability works once per unit he's attached to, but I don't agree with that reading. This special rule helps mitigate his 100 point cost as its effectively a Simulacrum for free.

 

Shield of Faith - Worthless on him because he has a 4++ already.

 

War Hymns - Know our Priests or the IG priests? Yeah its that but at Leadership 10! Which is great. Every fight subphase you can make a leadership test and give your unit one of the following: Reroll Wounds, Reroll Failed Saves, or he can give himself smash. This is your bread and butter as a priest. It turns your SoB squad into a tanky tarpit that can hold down most things combined with his warlord trait.

 

Warlord Trait: Indomitable Belief - Warlord and his unit get +1 to their Shield of Faith. This turns your SoB into 3+/5++ little mini-terminators. The jump from a 6++ to a 5++ is huge. The added bonus of getting to Reroll that 5++ in melee with the War Hymns is just gravy on top.

 

Zealot - You know it, you love it. No more going to ground but now you're fearless and reroll to hit in CC. Remember the Canoness' act of faith? Yeah, well now you have it always and forever.

 

Tactics

I'll be honest here, I talked him up a lot but I don't run him in less than 2,000 point games. Many people suggest putting him in a unit of Repentia but DO NOT DO THIS! My god don't do this. A 25 point priest does the job better. When I run Uriah I run him in one of two ways:

 

Build 1 - The Anime Harem Lord - Uriah attached to a unit of 20 Sisters of Battle with a Flamer and a Heavy Flamer and a Banner. This makes a 21 Strong Bolter Unit with 3+/5++ and Objective secured in a CAD. They get preferred enemy 3 times during the game, have fearless, reroll to hit in CC (and reroll saves or wounds), 2d3 Auto Overwatch hits, 36 Bolter Shots in Rapid Fire range, and they have counter attack. This will run you 365 Points Total. Very much not worth it but it can make for a decently strong mid-field force for holding down a section of the board. Its not really "worth" shooting at, but you're warlords in there so people will HAVE to try and mow it down taking fire from the rest of your gals. 

 

Build 2 - The Command Squad - Throw Uriah in a Sororitas Command Squad with 4 Gals with Pistols and Swords + a Hospitalar and another priest. Toss them in a Rhino and call it a day. This will cost you 240 points for a fairly non-intimidating melee unit. Until people actually get into combat with it. This unit puts out 26 Attacks on the charge, or not (you have counter attack). You reroll to hit and to wound thanks to your priests, plus you reroll saves. The whole unit has 3+/5++/5+++ (aside the priests). I've killed terminators and dedicated assault units with this squad. The sheer amount of rerolls saves it. This is not an optimal build, but it's why I only take him in 2,000 points or more. In anything less, you need to focus more on your strengths. MSU.

 

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Celestine, The Living Saint

 

I honestly feel I don't need to say much about her. She is a monster. She is an auto include. If you want to win you MUST TAKE CELESTINE. She will pay for herself and thensome. I'm not going to go over tactics for her but I will give you own personal use for her.

 

Stats

Celestine is basically a little mini-daemon prince. She rocks a WS, BS, and I of 7. But she only has S and T of 3, like a normal hoomie but she rocks 5(!!!) wounds. 5 attacks base, 6 on the charge is pretty solid. Plus she is Ld10, but she's fearless so you won't notice this much. Ontop of this package you get a 2+/4++ with the ability to come back to life once. So you'll never die.

 

Her Geminae have a weaker statline of WS5, BS4, S3, T3, I4, 2W, 2A, and 10 Ld. 

 

Wargear

Celestine has special 2+ armor with a 4++ save. She comes with a jump pack and a Master Crafted +2 Str, Armorbane, AP3 sword that operates as a heavy flamer. Thats all shes got but it's a lot! The heavy flamer solidifies her use as a horde clearer. Her sword makes mincemeat of marines and of light vehicles. And her armor means she won't be dead any time soon. She also has grenades, so you'll always get to use that I7.

 

Her Geminae are less fortunate. They come with a 3+/4++, which is still respectable. They come stock with a bolt pistol and a power sword, plus assault grenades. S3 Power Swords are meh, but they Geminae are really just extra wounds for Celestine.

 

Special Rules

Eternal Warrior - Thats right, she finally got it. The never dying now actually never dies to a stray autocannon shot!

 

Fearless - Pretty straight forward.

 

Healing Tears - Celestine cries and brings back one of her jump buddies each round. This is amazing. This means Celestine effectively heals 2 Wounds a turn. You get to put them anywhere within 2'' of Celestine, which stops a lot of shenanigans if they had worded it differently.

 

Hit and Run - A USR that transfers to her squad. You can NEVER lock Celestine in combat and tar-pit her. Its amazing. This is why she use to be taken in deathstars, but shes even more valuable now with her extra stats.

 

Martyrdom - Same as the Canoness. Makes the army fearless for a turn if she dies for real. But she wont, so you'll never see this happen.

 

Orbital - A 1 off Battle Canon shot with Orbital. Pretty cool. Its not heavy or Ordinance so she can move and use this. I felt this was a weird addition but hey, i'm not complaining.

 

Adamantium Will  - All SoB have this, it's one of our special rules. Deny on a 5+. Pretty solid since Celestine is a hot target for many dangerous psychic powers!

 

Wardlord Trait (Beacon of Faith) - Ah, my least favorite warlord trait ever. It always has been. Everyone in 12'' of her uses her LD for all War Hymns and Act of Faith tests. Meh. I never take Celestine as my warlord purely because this warlord trait blows chunks.

 

Tactics

I ALWAYS run her alone. Never with Seraphim. She doesn't need bodyguards and body guards just increase the value your opponent gets out of shooting at her. She does best as a distraction. She will never be dead on Turn 1 since, worst case, she comes back. Send her up field as fast as possible and focus on chewing up MEQ or worse armor. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE - She does not have the Act of Faith special rule. This means that if you join her to a squad, you CAN NOT use your act of faith. This is one of the main reasons why I never attach her to seraphim except maybe at deployment to block a few shots, I always split them in the 1st movement phase.

 

You honestly can't use this woman incorrectly. If she gets shot at, you're earning her points back. If you're capping objectives you're earning her points back. If she gets charged, you're earning her points back and won't be held in combat. If you're killing stuff your earning her points back.

 

Why is this lady so nuts?

She was already good but now you have to do 9 Wounds in 1 Round to kill her. 9 Wounds! And then she's only half dead. And if you don't kill her, 2 of those wounds come back! She has a total of 16 Wounds before she dies entirely. 16! Thats assuming worst case scenario! That is insane. 

 

But now look at her points. She is 65 points more than old Celestine. But she has bodyguards. Her bodyguards math out to 40 Points a Model (Seraphim Superior w/ Power Sword). That means she actually got a 15 point cost REDUCTION! She's effectively CHEAPER than she used to be all things considered....thats...just...wow.

 

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Saint Celestine

Thats right. She's now in our toolkit twice. But why would you ever take this Celestine? She doesn't have eternal warrior and she doesnt have armorbane, or bodyguards, or extra wounds, or a battle cannon shot, or the ability to buff your friends. 

 

Well, you wouldn't take her. But she is 65 points cheaper than Celestine and she is still a fearsome unit. Her old model is smaller and easier to hide as well. I have used her since Celestine the Living Saint release and did well. There is an added bonus of people not being able to blame Celestine, the Living Saints OP'ness on your victory if you run Saint Celestine instead. Wow this paragraph is getting confusing.

 

But I feel both variants of Celestine don't need to be talked about much. She doesn't require finesse, just point her at a 3+ target and watch it die.

 

Why you should consider this Celestine:

She has the AoF special rule. This Celestine works well with a group of Seraphim allowing her heavy flamer to gain shred. In total, this is 220 points for Saint Celestine + 5 Seraphim, 1 With two hand flamers. Only 20 points more than new Celestine and still pretty solid. Definitely the better choice for friendly matches.

 

 

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Ministorum Priest

Oh yeah, now thats what I'm talking about! Imperial Agents gave us a buff! Priests are now full fledged HQ's but you can also still take them as the 0-5 No Force Org option, meaning you could technically run 7 of them. Don't, but you could. This guy is amazing for one reason. He's a 25 point HQ. BOOM! He's the key to our 1500-1850 point lists by opening up our cheapest option to run a double CAD. 

 

Stats

A priest rocks a guardsman statline in all ways except for his 2 attacks. He even has Ld7 and a 5+ save. Luckily he has a roarius for that sweet sweet 4++. 

 

Wargear

The priest comes stock with a Rosarius, a chainsword, las pistol, and assault grenades. He has the same upgrade options as the Canoness with a few exceptions. He's the only model in the army that can take a straight up Plasma Gun. But don't. Hes BS3 and 1 wound, he will die and it almost doubles his cost. He's got the standard power weapon array for melee and can also take an eviscerator. He has access to relics but the only one worth taking is the Litanies of Faith to auto pass AoF and War Hymns. Only take this relic if you're gonna put him in a melee focused unit. Otherwise take him stock.

 

Special Rules

War Hymns - Same as Uriah but you only pass on LD7, which is a bummer. Litanies of Faith makes it so you don't need to check and just pass, which is amazing. A great investment if you need the Hymns to go off. But I like to think of them as a bonus to the model, its a 50-50 and if it does go off, its just gravy. Don't work it into your core plan without the Litanies of Faith.

 

Zealot - Best part about this guy. Zealot is, in my opinion, one of the best special rules and you get it for 25 points. 

 

Tactics and Loadout

I can only recommend 2 loadouts for this guy in good faith. 

 

Loadout 1 - No items, no upgrades. His best loadout in my opinion. 25 Point entry to a CAD or Allied Detachment is amazing. Attach him to a SoB squad and see them become SLIGHTLY better if they get assaulted.

 

Loadout 2 - Litanies of Faith. That is all. Attach him to your Command Squad with Uriah and never worry about failing that leadership check again. This is 40 points well spent. Hell, you could even just use war hymns to give him smash and have him be a 4 Attack AP2 model with rerolls. Not too shabby.

 

Overall this is my go-to HQ outside of Celestine. 1d4 Chan suggests taking 5 and putting one in every squad but a basic BSS is only 60 points, you're adding almost 50% to the cost for nothing really. Don't do it. Just take him naked and have him be around because he's mandatory.

 

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Putting It All Together (Tier List)

Here is my tier list breakdown for the HQ's for the Sororitas. Ranking from Tier 5 - 1. Tier 1 Being Godly. T5 being the worst of the worst.

 

Tier 1 - Celestine, the Living Saind

Tier 2 - Ministorium Priest (run with no upgrades), Saint Celestine

Tier 3 - Uriah Jacobus

Tier 4 - None

Tier 5 - Canoness

 

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Thats all for my quick review of the SoB HQ section! I hope this is useful. This is how I utilize these HQ's, meaning, I don't utilize them unless i'm not trying to win. Celestine is an auto include if you want to win and a priest is your second best option in any and all situations. 

 

 

Let me know if there are any critiques and 

 

 

[Servant of Dante]

I always bring a Canoness. This is mainly for fluff reasons, but I do. And I would argue that while not great, the Canoness with an Evicerator, rosarius, and MoO can hold her own pretty well. The S6 AP2 hits from the evicerator are enough to make her effective in CC, and if there is a preiest or 2 around you can get re-rollable saves and/or to-wound. And she can get Hatred (or get it from the priest). She adds a bit of punch to my 20-Sister blob with 2 priests when I run it (that blob is actually a great tar pit unit, and can pack a punch, though it's not really points efficient).

But I suppose I run her mostly because the Canoness Raedia. I build my Sisters lists around what is fun for me to play, and what fits my fluff. So, generally, no special chracters, and I like cc, so the Evicerator Canoness is fun.

Actually, I have a second Canoness (Canoness Commander to be precise), Luxia Telnayan, and she runs around with a rosarius, chainsword and plasma pistol.

Thanks for writing this. It should be a wonderful resource for newer players, and I imagine I'll learn something myself. I've only been playing since the second half of 6E, and I didn't start Sisters till a while into 7E. (I would like to point out that I know the 3E rules (core and Sisters) and have played with them, and I'l familiar with the 2E codex (since it's basically my favorite book) ). If you don't mind I'm going to keep adding my own hyper-casual input here It's not that I don't try to win, it's that what is competitive isn't necessarily fun for me (new Celestine is fun, even if she's warp tainted ).

Edit: Oh, as for Priests, I put them in BSSs of 9+ (like if they're in a rhino) and in HB Retributor Squads, and that's about it. Same with Simulacrums. Still a really fun unit though!

Edit2: Gah! I almost missed that you're new here! Welcome to the B&C! I'm always excited to see another Sisters player join, especially a veteran one! Here's your flamer and three barels of the Emperor's holy promethium. I know you probably already have a flamer, but take this one anyway. I always carry 2 with me in any case.

I do fluff and homebrew rules mostly. I'll add some links below, hopefully you don't mind If you have any fluff/rules/whatever Sisters related feel free to post it! And if you have questions, the Moderati are all very helpful. And I can probably answer questions that aren't strictly forum-rules questions

Oh, and I'd invite you to join the Witch Hunting Appreciation Society (you can click the banner in my Signature), though it's not just a Sisters thing

- on second thought, I'll PM you before I get off topic -

[AliciaDominica]

I always bring a Canoness. This is mainly for fluff reasons, but I do. And I would argue that while not great, the Canoness with an Evicerator, rosarius, and MoO can hold her own pretty well. The S6 AP2 hits from the evicerator are enough to make her effective in CC, and if there is a preiest or 2 around you can get re-rollable saves and/or to-wound. And she can get Hatred (or get it from the priest). She adds a bit of punch to my 20-Sister blob with 2 priests when I run it (that blob is actually a great tar pit unit, and can pack a punch, though it's not really points efficient).

 

 

 

 

I do the same from time to time. I love playing my Sisters of Battle fluffy, but they are so weak that I wont have a chance of winning unless I "Optimize my Fluff." Thats why I started this tactics thread. Because I've found a lot of tactics threads post "In a vacuum this works" as fact. Like the Canoness with the Eviscerator. While its not bad, its just too many points. For the cost of her, with an Eviscerator and a Rosarius, you could run a whole unit of Repentia and a Rhino. That just maths out better in the long run. But even that is sub optimal.

 

But I have mine - Canoness Valeria, leader of the Order of the Ardent Shield! A splinter order from the Order of the Fiery Heart. Unlike Katherine, Valeria took Dominica's death as a personal failure. Instead of outward rage, she developed a complex and fear of failure. Due to this, she created her own order focused on the protection of Shrine worlds. In their possession is a tattered piece of Dominica's holy cloth and prayer book and they protect the planet it's housed on against all odds. 

 

I use her against non-optimized Daemons. Against Orks, IG, or Tyranids. But if I know i'm up against Eldar or Tau or Space Marines (optimized), I can't bring her. 

[Servant of Dante]

Eh, a typical list for me runs something along the lines of

Canoness Raedia

Command Squad (heavy flamers in an immolator)

BSS (20, vet superior, simulacrum, either flamers or meltas)

2 priests

BSS (whatever I have points for, usually a transport)

Melta Dominions in a Melta Immo

Melta Dominions in a Melta Immo

Seraphim (10, hand flamers, superior w/ power sword and plasma pistol) I can't play a game without my Seraphim

Exorcist

Exorcist

Exorcist or HB Retributors with a priest

I take that kind of thing regardless. If I get to many small squads, I just don't enjoy playing. I need to have something bigger to throw around, so I bring the blob.

If I'm doing Valorous Heart rather than Glorious Reprisal, I go really fluffy/non-competitive

Canoness Commander Luxia Telnayan (plasma pistol, chainsword, rosarius)

Command Squad (4 Heavy Bolters and a Blessed Banner) I bought one of the old GW Order of the Valorous Heart banners off of eBay

And no more than 1 Exorcist, because they're relics and I can't fluffily justify it unless I'm playing at least 2000 points, then I can probably do a second one (I own 3 though).

I lose a lot but I'm playing the game the way I enjoy, so that's ok.

[AliciaDominica]

Thats funny, you're the exact opposite of me. I'm all about MSU. And its what we do best. Since our base squad if only 60 points. The core of any of my lists is as such: 

 

Celestine, The Living Saint

 

BSS w/ Flamer, Heavy Flamer (5 gals), in a Rhino.

BSS w/ Flamer, Heavy Flamer (5 gals), in a Rhino.

BSS w/ Flamer, Heavy Flamer (5 gals), in a Rhino.

BSS w/ Flamer, Heavy Flamer (5 gals), in a Rhino

 

Exorcist

Exorcist

Exorcist

 

 

This is my Skeleton list. I always have at least this. Sometimes I will change the Flamer Heavy Flamer into Meltas, but that is rare. This right here is only 1035 Points but its a very strong core. It gives good mobility and provides what I like to call, "The Gamblers Choice." Which is the philosophy I build my SoB lists around.

 

This philosophy is an Exorcist philosophy. Here is how it works. My opponent has to play a gambling game. Put firepower into Front AV 13 and maybe kill it or ignore it and run the gamble of me rolling 4+ on missiles and blowing up 1 thing per turn. They really never let me down because the mind games always bring me out ahead.

 

Then, if they ignore the Exorcists all they are doing is plinking away at a cheap SoB unit, but if they ignore that unit it will char their infantry, secure objectives, Tank shock light vehicles, and possible krak grenade light transports.

 

It's a win win. Any shooting they allocate to any unit brings me ahead because EVERYTHING is a threat but nothing is vital. 

 

 

The nice part is that this is also a very fluffy core. Its got flamers, its got Exorcists, its got Celestine, and it could easily have melta. Just add a Squad of Dominions. Need heavy bolters? Add them in the Elites section as a command squad with 5 heavy bolters for only 10 points more than a 4 Heavy Bolter retributor squad!

 

 

 

I see you commented that exorcists are relics but that is actually not true! The GW ornate organ gun exorcist is a relic. But there are two other Exorcist variants that are standard issue for Sisters of Battle. They are as common as a predator tank or a whirlwind on the battlefield.

[Servant of Dante]

Looks good! My only issue is that I still have a love for close combat (it's the black rage, I'm sure), and MSU doesn't let me charge stuff with any real effectiveness. Plus, I like having big squads of infantry and rolling big handfuls of dice to-hit :D

 

Celestine, especially new Celestine, rubs my headcanon the wrong way, but most of the Gathering Storm does. That's a topic for PMs though, if you really want to go into that :P She's a lot of fun to play (I have 2 times - I use the old model though, those wings are ugly imo, though the rest of the model is pretty great, and I love the new Gemini models), but I don't often since she bugs me. I love the character Celestine, just . . . my headcanon of her is maybe consistent with her 3.5 fluff, but nothing newer than that afaik, warpy heretic that she is now.

[AliciaDominica]

Ah, charging stuff isn't our strong suit! But, if you want to try out a fluffy as all hell and pretty decent melee unit try out this:

 

Canoness w/ Blade of Admodium, Rosarius, Bolt Pistol.

 

Sororitas Command Squad

4x Sister w/ Bolt Pistol + Chainsword

1x Hospitalar (Spelling?)

 

Uriah Jacobus

 

Priest w/ Power Maul

 

Priest w/ Litanies of Faith.

 

Attach to a Rhino. 

 

 

This unit chops through most things. It may seem like crap to have a million Str3 Ap- Attacks, but you reroll at every step here. I killed a Lord of Change in 1 round with this unit and didn't take a single casualty thanks to my reroll invulns. The blade of Admodium makes the Canoness masically a little mini Celestine and gives her the Str score to compete. But why three priests? Easy, you have Uriah for the buffs and for the +1 SoF save and the War Hymns, then you have the Litanies guy for auto passing. Now you reroll Saves and WOunds always. Then you have your backup priest who is Str 5 with 3 attacks at I3. You let him give himself smash and watch that naked dude cleave away terminators.

[Servant of Dante]

Ah, charging stuff isn't our strong suit! But, if you want to try out a fluffy as all hell and pretty decent melee unit try out this:

 

Canoness w/ Blade of Admodium, Rosarius, Bolt Pistol.

 

Sororitas Command Squad

4x Sister w/ Bolt Pistol + Chainsword

1x Hospitalar (Spelling?)

 

Uriah Jacobus

 

Priest w/ Power Maul

 

Priest w/ Litanies of Faith.

 

Attach to a Rhino. 

 

 

This unit chops through most things. It may seem like crap to have a million Str3 Ap- Attacks, but you reroll at every step here. I killed a Lord of Change in 1 round with this unit and didn't take a single casualty thanks to my reroll invulns. The blade of Admodium makes the Canoness masically a little mini Celestine and gives her the Str score to compete. But why three priests? Easy, you have Uriah for the buffs and for the +1 SoF save and the War Hymns, then you have the Litanies guy for auto passing. Now you reroll Saves and WOunds always. Then you have your backup priest who is Str 5 with 3 attacks at I3. You let him give himself smash and watch that naked dude cleave away terminators.

Sounds fun! I wouldn't run it often, because it uses a special character, and I'd probably go with my normal Canoness because I have the model already, and I love my evicerator conversion (Teeth of Vengeance). I'd have to proxy the command squad, which would make me even more hesitant to run it, but . . . I'll have to try it some time.

 

(Hospitaller - 2E codex pg 18 among other places)

[Drider]

The sad truth is that all all but 2 of our HQ choices are somewhat lack luster.

Canoness, isn't worth running because once she's tooled up she's kinda crap when you compare her to just about anything else around the same points value. She's not even worth running bare bones because if you're doing that you're clearly trying to save points for something in which case a priest is better value for money.

 

Jacobus, is a one trick pony stick him in a blob squad of sisters or repentia and he'll do his job and he'll do it well. Unfortunately that runs contrary to the only really competitively viable sisters meta which is mechanized MSU.

 

Priest, what you see is what you get, he's cheep, he's good for non psychic buffs. Nuff said really.

 

Saint Celestine, she's under powered and over pointed but can work as a half decent distraction until she gets splatted by s6.

 

Celestine the living saint, She's either under pointed or on surfing on the forefront of a wave of power creep. At this point she's an auto include.

 

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Skimming over the chat about lists I feel obligated to chime in with my two pence.

 

For as long as I can remember my go to core has always been a 4 BSS, 3 Dominion and exorcists set up. Which is a zero fat machine at around 1500, but i've always had issues with what to do between there and 1850. My club has recently started doing a league and most folk in the top couple of divisions has been pulling out some strong competitive lists.

 

This is what I put together. http://i.imgur.com/Vh6GA4u.jpg

 

My first game was Vs a Wolfstar and I was using Big C to deathstar locked for a turn so i could get set up to shoot the F out of it. She charged in, the twins die. Next assualt phase rolls round and she gets splatted, as expected when you charge her into a deathstar solo and don't 'hit and run', Time to make the res roll and I roll 2 sixes!!! That game ended in a draw but i'm adamant that if i hadn't fluffed that roll id have tabled him, at the end of the game he only had 3 marines, a thunderwolf and his warlord.