++THE ART OF WAR++

[Obliterator]

Pure Sisters of Battle

Basically this is a list where you limit yourselves to units from the Witchhunters codex with the Adepta Sororitas special rule. While this means you'll have to pass on the more juicier stuff, you'll have a fun and fluffy army that can also take (and give) quite a punch.

 

HQ

 

Adepta Sororitas Heroine

Well, we should only be looking at the Canoness option, right? For a mere ten points more than a Palatine, you get 1 more wound, 1 more attack, a higher Leadership and 1 more Faith point. No point in saving points here IMHO.

 

Mobile pain in the bottom

My personal favourite: give her a Jump Pack, a Cloak of St. Aspira and a Blessed Weapon, and she'll keep most units at bay. The Cloak, combined with Spirit of the Martyr, gives you a whoppin' 2+ Inv save. Nothing to sneeze at. Combined with the 4-5 S5 Power weapon attacks she gets, this makes for one mean dame... Did I say 4 attacks? Well, you did give her a decent pistol to show off that high BS, didn't ya?

You could let her fly with your Seraphim, but I prefer not to as she doesn't have the Hit And Run ability.

 

Faith booster

Well, she does give you the double amount of Faith a normal Sister unit does... So why not take her as a second HQ if you're in dire need of Faith? Just provide her with the necessary firepower (like a plasma pistol), and she'll take out 2 enemies each turn. Add her to a squad of melta-toting Sisters, and watch those highly-powered foes fall!

 

Elites

 

Celestian Squad

These are about the only 'normal' Sisters that can handle themselves a bit in CC, mainly because of the Holy Hatred special rule. Very nice to have against those high WS-troops, they will still hit you dead easy, but at least you've got a decent chance to hit them back.

I usually don't field a VSS, as the unit is already Faithful, but it sometimes is handy to have an Eviscarator in there. That said, they still aren't assault troops. People expecting them to perform like a Space Marine Assault Squad will see their Celestians whiped out in no time.

Basically, they should do what they're good at: load up on flamers and pray for Divine Guidance. Since you've got to bring the flamers rather close to the enemy, and you WILL be assaulted if the enemy survives, the Holy Hatred and high(er) WS of the Celestians sure help to increase their survivability.

I also find that they are best mounted in a Rhino to really make an impact.

 

Troops

 

Battle Sister Squad

Mobile infantry

Stick to a squad of 9 Girls and a VSS, give them some special weapons (or a heavy flamer) and stick 'em in a Rhino. You can use the Rhino to quickly deliver them to key positions across the battlefield, or to perform a drive-by. A plus is the higher mobility they have over a footslogging team, the downside is their somewhat limited squad size, which will make those much needed rolls for Divine Guidance a bit harder. You could invest in an Imagifier, but I personally think that this piece of wargear will hardly make its points back.

 

Footsloggers

These teams are slow. No point in denying this. This combined with the fact that they are most effective within rapid-fire range looks like a bad combo. Fortunately, they can take more bodies to make up for this. Expect the first couple of turns to be very boring indeed, trying to make the most out of the available cover, but once you get your entire army within firing range, the next couple of turns should be lethal. The challenge is to take squads big enough to have a decent chance of surviving, while not take them too big to manouvre around. 20-girl squads are very hard to get rid of, but good luck finding cover for 20 bodies!

 

Veteren Sister Superior

Much needed to make their squads Faithful, it is also easy to go overboard on wargear for these girls, especially if you're used to fielding marines. Never forget that they only have human stats, and that they are not meant for CC. Personally I keep them cheap, giving them only a bolter or a stormbolter and a Book of St. Lucius. A lot of people give them a pistol and CC-weapon for the extra attack, but i'd rather see her shoot once more up to 24" instead of taking it up close and personal. Also, a lot of people give their VSS an Eviscarator. While this is a way to give that extra punch to your squads, they're also rather expensive. Again, keep in mind they're 'only' human, you're not playing marines here!

 

Fast Attack

 

Seraphim Squad

Now these girls are flexible! Most of their pistols are twin-linked, making it highly probable you hit something even if the dice Gods hate your guts, and their Hit And Run ability can pin enemy units in place during the enemies turn, only to be left in the field of fire of your regular Sisters squads when the Seraphim soar off into the skies. If you ever wanted to give a power weapon or Eviscarator to a VSS, these are the squads you'll want to give it to.

Nice units to field are 2-3 Seraphim, about 6-8 strong, with a VSS, a Sister with a pair of Inferno pistols, and a Sister with a set of hand flamers. These can be fielded agains both infantry and armor, and their jump packs make sure they get in and out their destination in time.

However, do not make the mistake of keeping these girls in combat against assault troops for multiple turns. They're likely to be your most expensive units, but they still only have the S and T characteristics of a guardman.

 

Dominion Squad

Well, the good news is you can now field up to four special weapons in one squad, but the downside is you'll pay more for them than your regular Sisters do, and you also must provide these ladies with a proper transport. Personally, I find them overkill and utterly expensive, and I would advice against fielding such a unit, but if you're up against a Tyranid army that has lots of large gaunt broods, feel free to take a unit with four flamers, and mount them in an Immolator with another flamer. Watch your opponent's face carefully when you deploy them...

 

Heavy Support

 

Retributor Squad

Again a unit I feel is worth their weight in gold. I find 8-strong units to be more then plenty. Take less bodies and your casualties will get expensive in no time, take more bodies and you risk of adding 'useless' Sisters to the unit.

Personally I prefer a configuration with four heavy bolters. The great weakness of Witchhunters is their relative short range, and with a 36" range and 3 shots each, this unit nicely compensates. The heavy bolters are also relatively cheap, so you get a more than decent unit for a decent price. Works well in a crowded area...

I personally haven't used the multi-melta variant, as I think it will almost never make back the points. It's too bloody expensive for just increasing 4 melta shots in range while you have to stand still. if it's four meltaguns you're after, take a Dominion Squad. At least they can mov and shoot.

 

Immolator

Basically a 20" heavy flamethrower. You can move this vehicle the full 12", and still fire his flamthrower. This will catch a lot of opponents off-guard. The Holy Promethium is also a nice thing to have aboard. I wouldn't take the multi-melta upgrade though, as the Immolator is basically a Rhino with some nifty weapons mounted on it. I basically use it as a one-shot instant-cover vehicle: move it full speed to the enemy, pop those heavy flamers, and watch the fireworks as the tank is blown into oblivion by thereturn fire, providing your Sisters with a nice piece of cover to advance behind.

 

Exorcist

A nice disruptive element, and also about your only option to field something that can fire further than your VSS can spit... I find the Exorcist fun to use as you don't know in advance how many shots it will fire, but it's also a very fragile tank. if you're serious about fielding Exorcists as a competitive element, make sure you field at least 2 as they are really fire magnets.

 

 

Painting and modelling Sisters of Battle

 

Painting

i tried picking a color scheme that can be applied quickly and that looks slightly above tabletop quality as well. I went for black armour as this is rather easy to highlight, and tunes in perfectly with the dark image of these fanatical females. It's also dead easy to find a robe color to match with it, as about every color looks well combined with black :unsure: .

 

Here's how I paint my regular Sisters (all primed black):

 

Robes

I start with the robes, as this is the most 'messy' job. First I apply a few thin layers of Warlock Purple so I get an even base color. I then add more and more Tentacle Pink for further highlights, until I reach pure Tentacle Pink (about 6 layers usually does the trick). I finish by painting on a thin Skull White trim across some of the edges, and clean up the parts where I painted pink on the black undercoat. This is usually a fair bit of touching up, as I'm not too careful with the pink.

 

Gold

Next I tackle the gold parts, like the Chaplet Ecclesiasticus, the armour edges and some of the fleur-de-lis emblems. I paint these Shining Gold, and -once dry- I wash all the gold parts with Brown Ink. If you need to, now is also a good time to touch up the parts you painted over the black armour...

 

Metal

Same procedure as with the gold, but I use Boltgun Metal instead, washing this with thinned-down Black Ink. Some parts, like the tubes around their neck, I drybrush instead of paint them, so the structure comes out better.

 

Pouches and grenades

Typically all my pouches get the same treatment: undercoat in Scorched Brown, First highlight Bestial Brown, second highlight Snakebite Leather, final highlight Bubonic Brown.

The grenades are basecoated Catachan Green, first highlight is Camo Green, and final highlight is Rotting Flesh.

 

Faces and Hair

The faces are basecoated Tanned Flesh, and a first layer is painted on using Dwarf Flesh, only leaving the Tanned Flesh in the deepest recesses. First highlight is an equal parts mix of Dwarf Flesh and Elf Flesh, and the final highlight is pure Elf Flesh. I then paint the eyes and mouths with Brown ink, and once this is dry, I use Skull White to draw the eyes and teeth. Dot the eyes with Chaos Black and you're done.

For the hair I use different colors, it's best to experiment which you like most. I tend to not paint my girls' hair white as in the codex.

 

Armour

Pant thin lines of pure Codex Grey to the edges of the Chaos Black armour, and you're done!

 

Finished example:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/Obliterator/Inquisition/DSC01393kopie.jpg

[DragonmasterPeter]

Great post my good sir! Not only are the writeup very informational, that painting guide is clutch too :P. That sister is very nice looking indeed.

 

Do you plan on adding to this? Such as general tactics, unit combos, and maybe more unit choices? Or are Sisters Repentia not considered SoBs (or perhaps you don't like them much, they surely are a little bit ineffective)?

 

Last, what do you think of pure sisters in CoD? I think they'd be great but haven't had an opportunity to find out yet (with or against)