Exploring Sisters in Imperial Soup

[wulfgar hammerfist]

I am thinking about building a battalion of Sisters to form the bulk of my initial board presence for my competitive ITC list.  I don't have the codex yet so much of this is just theory-hammer for the moment.  The overall concept for the army is Imperial Soup using Sisters, Scions, and Space Wolves.  I am drawn to the Sisters primarily for Valorous Heart to ignore the -1ap which is then stackable with the Imagifier for another -1.  Celestine would feature in the army for the Shield of Faith bonus.  I'd like to invest ~800 points in this detachment.  I am looking for advice on how best to build this battalion to hold objectives. I haven't bought any models yet so really anything is a go.   

 

Celestine

Canoness - bolt pistol, chainsword, brazier of holy fire

Canoness - bolt pistol, chainsword, brazier of holy fire

 

5 Battle Sisters - 2 storm bolters

5 Battle Sisters - 2 storm bolters

5 Battle Sisters - 2 storm bolters

5 Battle Sisters - 2 storm bolters

5 Battle Sisters - 2 storm bolters

5 Battle Sisters - 2 storm bolters

 

Imagifier - tale of the stoic

 

605pts

 

The Space Wolves supreme command would carry the heavy melee/anti-tank duties.  The Scions bring drop plasma, grenade launchers, and a couple of dakka primes from the Lambdan Lions.

 

[bkde]

Apply more exorcists. T8, 3+/6++, 6+ FNP, ignoring AP-2 is great. Strat to reroll number of shots and valourous heart strat to ignore penalties to hit do good things.

 

Cut Celestine (because the wolves have melee and 5++ on T3 models sounds better on paper), drop three squads of BSS, toss in three exos with missiles. Sisters castle in the back, Scions drop in and wolves do wolf things.

Edited May 17, 2020 by bkde

[NKirkham24]

I quite like the idea of Sisters in soup, they are really cheap but also pretty effective. 

 

While i'm building my sisters as their own force i'm considering running them with my Knights. I don't have AdMech or Astra Militarum, so not Rusty 17 or Loyal 32, but I think the Sisters would make a good alternative battalion to join my Knights.

 

I can't remember off the top of my head, is there another unit which can help improve the shield of Faith save or is it just the Warlord Trait? 

[EmperorGTank]

Celestine improves the invulnerable save to 5++ of all infantry within 6" and Junith Eruita does that as well, though she is more useful in an Our Martyred Lady force as she acts as a kind of "Chapter Master" for that order, but instead allows rerolls of 1s to hit AND wound. The Warlord trait automatically makes it 5++ so running one of them gives the infantry that max of 4++. Just be aware all this invulnerable buff only applies to the infantry now as its currently written, your tanks are only getting their 6++.

 

Personally I agree with bkde that any battalion of Sisters being applied to soup should include at least a few exorcists, even if you don't take all 3 (I have traditionally run 2, though with how much better they've gotten now I may be trading my last metal one for a 3rd plastic kit). They add great long rang firepower to any list, and while that invulnerable currently does not get improved, a 6++ and a 6+++ with ignoring ap -2 between Valorous Heart and an Imagifier makes them incredibly hard to move! I've been running one imagifier so far and am quickly realizing I need a 2nd, just in case I end up having to spread my vehicles out for certain objective games and need that flexibility.

[NKirkham24]

I had it in my head that it was a Warlord trait and then Celestine, but then I thought it may be Celestine's WT and it couldn't stack. Having a blonde moment and the codex wasn't at hand to check. Thanks. 

 

I'm in the process of building my 1st Exorcist but intend to get another 2 eventually, from watch bat reps online and the feedback here, they seem to be a really good unit, and they look brilliant too.

 

You could definitely do worse than the Exorcists, but I suppose it depends what you are taking in your other detachments? Is the anti-tank being cover by the Astra Militarum or Space Wolves?  

[wulfgar hammerfist]

I hadn't considered using exorcists but I agree that they do look useful. I will probably have to change my approach and shift to Guard for table presence. The wolves support the list in the form of a supreme command with Ragnar and 2 smash battle leaders. If I castle up the Sisters, I'd need to find a new screen for the wolves or make the Guard contingent more AT focused. There's a lot to consider.

[EmperorGTank]

If you want to run a Valorous Heart battalion with those exorcists you can use their order stratagem blind faith to ignore hit modifiers, could be a good way to deal with heavy -1/-2 to hit, such as Eldar flyer spam, Custodes Vexillas, etc. That would give them more versatility than just AT duty!

 

Exorcists, while mostly underwhelming in some way for the last 23 years are, in my personal opinion, now one of the best units in the army!

[wulfgar hammerfist]

Given the feedback, I have made some significant modifications to the Sisters portion and the list in general.  

 

Sisters BN

 

Canoness - bolt pistol, chainsword

Canoness - bolt pistol, chainsword

 

5 Battle Sisters - 2 storm bolters

5 Battle Sisters - 2 storm bolters

5 Battle Sisters - 2 storm bolters

 

Imagifier

Imagifier

 

Exorcist - missile launcher

Exorcist - missile launcher

 

I swapped out the Scions for a more classic IG approach:

 

AM BN

 

Tank Commander - battle cannon

Company Commander

Company Commander

 

4 Infantry Squads

2 Scion Squads - 2 plasma guns, 1 plasma pistol each

 

Leman Russ Demolisher

Leman Russ Demolisher

Leman Russ Punisher - heavy bolter sponsons

 

Space Wolves Supreme Command

 

Ragnar Blackmane

 

Wolf Guard Battle Leader - jump pack, storm shield, thunder hammer

 

Wolf Guard Battle Leader - jump pack, storm shield, thunder hammer

 

1990, 14CP

[NKirkham24]

I like it, looks versatile. Are you taking any WT on the Sisters, or are you taking them on the Wolves? I think the obvious one, for one CP is the improving shield of faith inv save. 

 

You can also get an extra sister with bolter for those remaining 10 points, takes you to 2k on the nose. 

Edited May 19, 2020 by NKirkham24

[wulfgar hammerfist]

I like tool kit type lists as opposed to single focus lists. I'm not 100% sold on the scions in the list but they do bring some versatility and mobility. I haven't thought about the WTs in depth yet. I need to get that figured out. I've heard rumors of a smash canines build. Any thoughts on that build? It may be useful to protect the second line as the rest if the list is pushing across the board.

[bkde]

Seraphim with meltapistols do a similar role to the scions and have the added bonus of being mobile after they drop. Under the strat you’re getting 4 meltapistol shots at 12”, similar output to the scions at that range.

 

If you need to juggle points I would drop the second imagifier (all those girls are castling anyways), put plasma pistol/rod of command on the canoness and cut the other canoness to a missionary. Or keep the second canoness, give her blessed blade (upgrade to blade of admonition and righteous rage warlord trait and/or inferno pistol if you’re feeling really cool). Use her to backup your other punchy characters as she rerolls charges, wounds when charged/charging, etc and hits with her damage 3 sword.

[wulfgar hammerfist]

I like the seraphim idea, especially for the added mobility. For the smash canoness, I was thinking bloody rose canoness with beneficence and righteous rage. That gives her a decent number of attacks and rerolls.

[DrakeC]

Unfortunately you can not mix orders, so if you want VH you wont be able to have Bloody Rose Canoness

 

Taking a VH Canoness with Blessed blade and relic bolt pistol is a decent loadout for damage output.  If you want to play her aggressively, there are a couple warlord traits that could bump her effectiveness also. 

Edited May 20, 2020 by DrakeC

[wulfgar hammerfist]

Unfortunately you can not mix orders, so if you want VH you wont be able to have Bloody Rose Canoness

 

Taking a VH Canoness with Blessed blade and relic bolt pistol is a decent loadout for damage output. If you want to play her aggressively, there are a couple warlord traits that could bump her effectiveness also.

Sorry for the confusion. I wasn't thinking of mixing orders, I was just exploring the smash canoness build. I'll probably stick with VH because it provides greater benefits for what I want from my Sisters detachment and I can still build a decent combat oriented canoness.

[Inquisitor Xenoflay]

The exorcist is a steady pick, I'm gonna run 3 of those in my list.

 

I don't know exactly what is what in IG and Space Wolves, but are you running dedicated transports?

[wulfgar hammerfist]

The exorcist is a steady pick, I'm gonna run 3 of those in my list.

 

I don't know exactly what is what in IG and Space Wolves, but are you running dedicated transports?

The current list concept is in one of the earlier posts. Currently, I am not running any transports.