Some nobody starts a thing... help

[Brother Chaplain Tyranus]

Hey there folks.  I'm coming over here from the Necron forum for some help and advice.  I have seen the light of the emperor and realized my heretical sins and want to be absolved of them (although some would argue playing necrons is penitence enough).  I have officially started and completed my first Sisters of Battle model and have some more on the way.

 

So as someone who is starting with the army of course my first question is what sort of staples are necessary?  I have been doing some other reading and apparently people really aren't happy with the flamer part of the holy trifecta.  I don't play competitive ITC but my friends are degenerates so I like flavour but if I focus only on fluff and not enough on surviving then the game is over real fast. 

 

Things I think I will like

-Love the cheap characters and weapon options on troops.  I've never really had access to this so is wanting a dual battallion a little too aggressive?  Seems like a LOT of these stratagems will be useful throughout most of the game so the more the better.

-Giant tanks with organs on it (not human organs) is apparently something I never new I needed in my life.  As a musician I can appreciate this immensely.  What chord does she strike to launch those huge cannons?  Is it the same one David played to please the Lord?

- I've always liked angels in fantasy settings so celestine is something I am very interested in

- Army wide (almost) Invuln seems like a lot of fun for the aforementioned degenerates

- What a great relic list! 

- Model line looks fantastic

- Cheat dice!  No more needing to roll dice on terrain so you can claim all the ones and twos are cocked! *you know who you are*

 

 

Things I'm not sure I will like

-1d6 Psychic deny?  Maybe I am understanding this wrong but how am I supposed to deny anything with this?  Most powers Ive seen are 6 or higher.  I know that there are ways to buff it (missionary? i believe) but is there a way that its supposed to work without that?

-I am a little worried that it, as with many other armies, there is only a certain way to play it.  IE I love the look of penitent engines but they seem a bit of out place in an army that SEEMS to be focused on melta and bolters.  Is making a close combat option even viable?  Is it viable with still including the "core" models?

- Managing cheat dice.  Can someone like crochet me a dice mat for all these because I will most definitely forget which dice are there for the first while. 

 

 

Things I am sure I won't like

- T3....  Come on girls pick it up

- Remembering what I can get more cheat dice with

 

Looks like Martyred Lady will at least be a place for me to start. I have the Celestine model already and Judith came in the mail today.

 

anyway the TLDR is I'm new to Sisters of Battle and I'm afraid.  Please help a Brother out.  I hear you guys are nice here

 

Started this project about a month ago

[EmperorGTank]

Hey man welcome to the Order! May the Emperor protect you and grant you His light in many a game to come! In the Emperor's and, in your case, Katherine's name! There will be plenty of others in here who will be able to give you better advice overall but I will try to get you started at least!

 

To start, a double battatlion seems to be the way to go with most lists now, had only played a few games with the new book myself before the wonderful lockdown came into effect, but at anything between 1500 and 2k the double Battalion plus a possible third small detachment seemed the way to go if you wanted to be competitive enough in most settings. Our stratagems are overall pretty great, and even not so great ones that seem good (looking at you holy trinity), got buffed slightly in the new codex. Units to always consider in your lists (or are forced to bring because our options, while expanded, are still limited in certain areas) are as follows:

 

Canoness, Battle Sisters, Exorcists, Imagifiers, Retributors, Seraphim, Dominions, Repentia and by necessity a Repentia Superior, Mortifiers and Zephyrim.

 

To a lesser extent Celestine, Immolators, Missionaries, Rhinos, Penitent Engines and Hospitallers all can have a solid place in the army, though are not usually AS versatile or useful in every list unless you have clear roles for them. I haven't listed everything here, anything not on the list is good for niche things, but are not the "staples" you had asked for.

 

Personally, I like using Immolators and Celestine more than others but that's me. Various nerfs and buffs from everything since the index has made the big angel more of a buff character that CAN smash heads, but she needs to be supported, and the immolator is now a little pricy for what is essentially a glorified transport because of the heavy bolter tax, I love they added guns but I almost wish we could choose a heavy flamer on it to synergize with its overally best weapon option, its immolation flamers.

 

Since you are planning on playing Order of Our Martyred Lady Junith is fine to include, and since you are not going Bloody Rose most likely you will want to focus more on the shooty elements of the army. Bloody Rose is the dedicated CC order and while our close combat is effective without it, such as buffed Repentia or even Zephyrim, these are not the units you want to invest in heavily unless you are going pure melee, and without Bloody Rose even our best CC units fall a little flat. This means you are looking at Battle Sisters, Retributors, Seraphim, Dominions, Exorcists, Immolators, and then Imagifiers and Canonesses because they are just overall useful. Feel free to check out the other orders too, personally I enjoy a combo of Valorous Heart for the staying power (6+++ and ignore AP -1, and AP -2 under an Imagifier) and then a small detachment of Ebon Chalice for the cool WT that gives d3 CP and a free "6" on your first "cheat dice." Plus fluff wise my custom order fights like both of those orders anyway. Good news is the Imagifier can give you an ignore AP-1 buff regardless for whatever order you play!

 

Making a CC dedicated force is definitely more viable now than it has ever been before. Bringing blobs of 9 Repentia with Repentia Superiors in rhinos with a Missionary HQ and Preacher elites along with big squads of 10 Zephyrim that either deep strike or start on the table, or both, along with Mortifier gun boats with 15 attacks a model and Penitent Engine distraction carnifexes can be a very potent force.  A Bloody Rose Vanguard or Battalion of this including Battle Sisters and another battalion of Our Martyred Lady for MD generation and more CP definitely has a palce right now. Though if you check the 1d4chan tactics page there is a pretty thorough list of armies this can usually trounce and others where it just cannot dish out enough damage before getting wiped out. The thing to remember is that most of our most powerful CC is very fragile and so you need to play incredibly smart with it for it to be effective. Playing smart is necessary in general with Sisters, but even more so with our melee units!

 

As far as weapons for the shooty units you are correct that the flamers and heavy flamers in the army are a bit underwhelming as of this moment, and sticking to bolter equivalents and meltas are usually the way to go. This could mean Retributors with Heavy Bolters or Multi Meltas, Dominions with Meltaguns or Storm Bolters, Battle Sisters with two storm bolters or two meltaguns, etc. You can also have Seraphim with inferno pistols that can drop down, pop 1CP and get to shoot those mini meltas at 12" range. If you are looking for flamers in the army the most efficient way to go seems to be the Immolator with those Immolation flamers. Meltaguns and Exorcists are your main anti tank weapons, and both can utilize those miracle or "cheat" dice very well, most save them for to wound and damage rolls since our anti tank is mostly variable d6 damage weaponry. The Simulacrum Imperialis, Armorium Cherubs, and other unit buffs all have a place as well, especially for performing multiple Acts of Faith (using multiple cheat dice) each phase. Just have to find out what style you like as you play!

 

The last part to remember are the sacred rites if you are playing a pure Sisters/Ministorum force. These are like combat doctrines or other (nearly) army wide buffs that Sisters get. You can either choose one or roll for 2 random ones, I usually choose to do the latter because for 1 CP later in the game you can reroll one of them into soemthing new, rerolling that die if you get the same one. When it comes to the denial we have, one of these bonuses gives all deny the witch tests a +3, so its like you are rolling 2d6 and one is automatically a 3 while the other is the 1d6 deny that Sisters get. This along with the various relics and wargear we have to decrease psychic tests by -1 or -2 means that against psyker heavy forces we can usually hold our own. In addition we also have a "roll a die, on a 4+ a power doesnt go off" stratagem that says it can be used AFTER you attempt to deny a power, so we have a good amount of tools in that department. Certain characters like the Imagifier and Dialogus can help that too, though personally I dont invest usually in anti psyker THAT much. Mostly because if you aren't facing psyker heavy armies, there are other sacred rites that I have found are overall better, including additional ap -1 on wound rolls of 6 with ranged weapons, and one where (almost) everything in the army excluding most ministorum units can either shoot or fight on a 5+ when they die, so the whole army is under the effect of a primaris banner at all times.

 

Our biggest weaknesses are that other than vehicles and Junith we have always been a T3 army, and most of our weapons are 12-24" range excluding heavy bolters, exorcists, and a strat that gives multi meltas +12" on retributors. We definitely have some scary combos, but we don't really have any units right now that are immensely powerful or overbearing. The closest things are units like Exorcists, Mortifiers, and Celestine and even at that our best stuff I would consider good to great and not truly gamechanging. BUT our combos, stacking buffs, auras, etc. can be devastating when used correctly and at the correct time. Again, I haven't really played the new codex enough yet to get into every one I have found or have yet to find, but suffice it to say we have some real gems in this book, and your opponent won't know what hit them if you pull the best tricks off at the right moments!

 

I know this got much more TL:DR than I planned, but I hope it helped you start to think about what to aim for with the army. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask! Many in here are more than happy to help a new Acolyte out!

Edited April 14, 2020 by EmperorGTank

[Dread]

Welcome to the sisters. I was about to reply when I read what EmperorGTANK wrote and he's spot on. I experienced the same thing as well due to the virus thing. The thing about necrons is we have straight forward units, all same weapons. Sisters do get to add special weapons into the units and the exorcist is way better then any vehicle we have in our armies. The fact that sisters have a 6++ is a help and they have a better chance of stopping psychic abilities than necrons is nice. Sisters is another flavor in the GW ice cream scheme and can be fun as well as competitive, same as necrons, really hard to OP them. Hope to see your army soon.

[Brother Chaplain Tyranus]

hey thanks a lot for the information!  That gives me a lot to start with.  Here is the first model I did.  Not too sure about paint schemes but I decided I like red.

 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Great job on the model. Will you use her as a Canoness, a Sister Superior, or...?

[Brother Chaplain Tyranus]

So the plan was to use her as a cannoness but I have not been able to test anything out yet.  I got my box of sisters in the mail and I have started putting them all together.  I have a love-hate relationship with models that have so much detail that I can't just slap them together and put a few coats of paint on.  I'm looking at the sister superior and there are too many details that I would mess up if I don't paint it in pieces.  Do you have a suggestion Bjorn?

 

With that being said, the models look so good.

[MithrilForge]

So the plan was to use her as a cannoness but I have not been able to test anything out yet.  I got my box of sisters in the mail and I have started putting them all together.  I have a love-hate relationship with models that have so much detail that I can't just slap them together and put a few coats of paint on.  I'm looking at the sister superior and there are too many details that I would mess up if I don't paint it in pieces.  Do you have a suggestion Bjorn?

 

With that being said, the models look so good.

I will advise that if you find faces hard to do (properly that is) then issue all your sisters with helmets   I had trouble with the eyes on that new limited sister model so I will opt for helmets on my squads... 

 

good luck with your army, I look forward to seeing it appear here 

 

cheers, Mithril

 

P.S. nice canoness but may I suggest doing her hair not the same colour as her robes... 

Edited April 20, 2020 by mithrilforge