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Offline Guildmage Aech

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      A guide to the units available in the White Dwarf Codex for Sisters of Battle, including allies, and advice on tactics and equipping units in sixth edition Warhammer 40,000. This thread will eventually be compiled into an article.

The Witch Hunters Handbook - Tactica, Guide and How To!
 For the White Dwarf codex, sixth Edition Warhammer 40,000

<Expect a bit of fluff introduction here>



HQ - Celestine

As much as I would like to say Celestine is a good option that would be an understatement, shes a great option, so much so that she is all but the only option. Apart from the fact that shes not that expensive, has fantastic Weapon Skill, Initiative, Attacks, saving throw, weapons, and fantastic special rules!

The only down side is that while shes good at what she does she doesn't much in the way of alternatives to slapping things with the ardent blade. But if you're not fielding her, one might ask, why not?

HQ - Cannoness

Reasonable statline but slightly on the expensive side for what you get, her Stubborn special rule and act of faith make her a useful squad support character. Many sister of battle players from the previous codex miss the options for jump packs, blessed weapons and toughness boosting wargear.

If you're interested in using one, possibly best to take an Eviscerator and accompany a large unit of Celestines if you're building mechanised, otherwise she helps out with horde sisters on foot. Or keep her cheap with a combi-weapon and spend the points elsewhere.

  • Combi-weapon - A traditional favourite for all Imperial armies, an excellent upgrade to her firepower.
  • Eviscerator - Probably the best option for close combat builds, although a powermaul may make more use of her initiative while having the strength to be effective.
  • Meltabomb - A cheap and handy option for dealing with vehicles and monsters if you didn't buy the eviscerator.
[li]Two plasma/inferno pistols - I have to put it out there, expensive but high firepower, and double the shots is double the chance for precision shots...
[/li][/list]

HQ - Sororitas Command Squad

The Sororitas Command Squad is a unit with useful special rules, the only downside is that they need a Cannoness in order to field them and when you do have a cannoness, they don't make a very good bodyguard for her due to the low squad size.

They make a good fire support unit, their act of faith and availability for multiple heavy weapons allow them to make good alternative to retributors, although its no sure thing to activate the act of faith in the first place. Depending on your availability for heavy support choices could be worth remembering, but I think its a very hard unit to use effectively as there there other units able to do the same job better regardless of what they try to do.

  • Multi-meltas - Being able to move and fire makes these highly dangerous.
  • Heavy bolters - Again to work as a fire support unit.
  • Meltaguns - Again they can carry a lot of melta weapons for their numbers which makes an effective special weapon team, a dominion squad will probably do the job better however.

HQ - Arch-Confessor Kyrinov

Kyrinov takes the theory of talking softly and carrying a big stick, ok, thats a lie - he doesn't talk softly at all! He does bring some benefits in terms of a fearless bubble of bravery with him, unlike many similar abilities its worth pointing out that this has not been FAQ'd to only apply to his own army... so you can make your allies fearless with him too.

Although the downside of having him ignored by the FAQ is that his huge mace isn't actually a power mace, its a unique power weapon... to be honest the extra strength would seem more useful but things aren't so bad. He also carries a few other useful bits and bobs and costs far less than what it would cost to make a similar build from the vanilla confessor.

HQ - Uriah Jacobus, Protector of the Faith

Uriah is a very useful support model. He makes units fight harder, die harder, and stay fighting longer. He also helps with the faith points should you roll pathetically when you really needed to not to! While he carries a reasonable shooting attack and has a decent number of attacks in combat he doesn't have anything special to fight with in hand to hand so should be kept out of challenges with anything too mean.

HQ - Ecclesiarchy Confessor

He costs how much? Unless you're desperate for wargear which Jacobus or Kyrinov won't give you then I don't see much use for the vanilla confessor... 

  • Eviscorator - adds a good bit of combat power to a unit as a confessor has a high number of basic attacks, although for best effect you need a charge.. not so useful for most sister of battle units who like shooting guns.

HQ - Battle Conclave

Battle Conclaves are a great unit and an excellent home for a confessor, the only real downside is that they aren't sisters of battle, which depending on how keen you are to make a sisters of battle list with sisters of battle in it might be worth keeping in mind.

However, the conclave is probably the only unit in the list which is able to be seriously dangerous in close combat, and can go toe to toe with just about anything you can find, they won't always walk away intact but you can expect few opponents to be walking away either. Highly suggest adding a preist of some kind to this model, Uriah is understandably popular as the attacks he adds to the unit do more damage than any one IC would manage on his own... remember that Uriah's stubborn rule works fine when he refuses challenges and sits out of the actual fighting!

  • Death Cult Assassin - Great weapon skill, strength, initiative and attacks make these high output for damage. 6th edition gave them the abilty to pick and mix power weapons for different abilities. Carrying a different one in each hand keeps options open, axe and sword, or axe and maul are both popular options.
  • Arco-Flagellent - Deals a fair amount of damage, but probably not as much as the assassin. Yes they have feel no pain, but if you add Uriah to the unit so does everyone... the flagellent is probably the weakest of the three.
  • Crusader - The cheapest stormshield you'll find anywhere. they're nothing special in their statline however but the 6th edition powerweapons helped them out some, either mauls or axes will let them chip in a bit of damage but largely they're there to repel damage... and they do that very well
  • Transport vehicle - the rhino is best as you need the numbers in this unit, useful for covering ground early on.



Elites - Ecclesiarchy Preacher

You want how much for a one wound IC? He doesn't have any particularly good stats, nothing very exciting in wargear options, nothing very exciting in special rules. I guess he would be handy in a unit likely to charge things but the only unit that can do that is the Battle Conclave and to get them you have to buy a confessor... who already does that job.

I have no idea why he costs so much.

  • A different unit - I try to find something positive to suggest about everything but I'd literally buy anything else in the list before this guy.

Elites - Celestians

Celestians are the veterans of the sisters of battle, sadly unlike veteran imperial guard or space marines they don't get additional special weapons or improved wargear to fight with. They're mildly better at fighting in hand to hand combat, and mildly better is probably a fair assessment... You're not going to want to fight many squads of Grey Hunters. They can however deal a fairly surprising amount of damage on the charge, their act of faith makes a big part of that but of course only works in your turn... Therefore Celestians are at risk of losing a combat, breaking and being cut down by a sweeping advance all too easily. If you're trying to make them work then accompanying them with a stubborn character like a cannoness or Uriah Jacobus (or the fearless Kyrinov) is a must.

Unlike a command squad you can have enough bodies in the unit to given them some staying power, very vital all things considered. All in all they then function as a slightly meaner troops unit... which doesn't claim objectives. The best use is as a bodyguard for non-Celestine HQ choices.

  • Power axe - about the meanest combat weapon available to the superior, and quite cheap.
  • For special and heavy weapon advice see troops

Elites - Repentia

<I'll come back to this>



Troops - Sisters of Battle

The basic troops, as the only troops choice. There exists two general schools of thought in using the basic sisters, either you put them in a rhino, or you boost the unit size up and go on foot. The infantry horde build can be very dangerous, they firepower they put out is pretty impressive. The downside is that they will need something to keep them around should a close combat get started with them. A sister of battle unit might shoot as hard as a space marine squad but they are much more fragile for close combat, not just in their human statline but there is no safety net for when they lose combat, which you probably will and have to take a morale check and face a sweeping advance. The infantry horde does very well with supporting priests, again Kyrinov is a a massive asset in the middle of a couple of horde units. You'll need something to get them out of combat, but hopefully you'll have a battle conclave nearby for that.

The other method is probably the more 'traditional' manner, taking a couple of special weapons and going hunting. I find that rhinos still work fine in 6th edition if you're realistic in what you expect from them. Plus the occasional shield of faith save goes a long way when its a meltagun shot that bounces off your transport vehicle! In this case the units remain cheap enough that having one caught in combat is bad but not disasterous, you probably won't get the unit back but hopefully you'll be able to bring others in to mop up whoever killed them.

They said the future is dark and grim right? Lets look at some weapon set ups.

  • Double meltaguns - meltaguns are great, two of them are about twice as good. Makes good use of the sisters high BS skill.
  • Double Flamer/Flamer & Heavy Flamer - Flamers are great too! Putting multiple templates down really does make a lot of difference to your ability to kill infantry. The new rules have done quite a favour to template weapons as you have a good range of where you can put your flamer model when disembarking, and you can premeasure all over to make sure you stand in the best place to burn things. However I'm not a fan of using the heavy flamer, its a fantastic weapon but I don't think its worth the extra cost over a normal flamer... if I'm squeezing for points its something you can squeeze.
  • Melta & Flamer - You get tactical flexibility, at the price of damage potential. A jack of all trades set up, but that flexibly isn't to be underestimated, your opponent can look at your weapon setup any time, the drawback to specialisation is he can try to match his units up to units which can't kill them.
[li]Veteran Superior - combi-weapon or power axe are her two main choices, I shy away from upgrading combat as its probably not going to go far. A meltabomb makes for a great upgrade, cheap and can turn an impossible to win combat into one you can win.[/li][/list]



Dedicated Transport - Rhino

The popular workhorse of many armies from the Imperials to the fiends of chaos. Its a sturdy vehicle, cheap to field, has armour good enough to keep out most basic weapons. Mechanised infantry are alive and well in 6th edition, it takes a different approach. A rhino isn't so likely to survive the whole game, but while its around its still very useful, and actually faster than ever thanks to Flat Out moves. Its also worth considering that shield of faith applies to sister of battle vehicles, its an infrequently useful bonus but occasionally repels a point blank meltagun shot.

Generally you have to make the call if you're going to go for the enemy at maximum speed, or if you're going to hang back and wait for them to close on you.

Actually quite useful for a bit of drive by shooting on occasion, and while you won't get many kills, there is no reason not to pop off long range bolter shots if you get an opportunity.

Dedicated Transport - Immolator

The Immolator trades carrying capacity for Firepower, it has a selection of weapon options to do this. Its also not available to the basic troops of the army so access to it is somewhat limited.

Sadly the current model lacks any kind of fire point.

  • Heavy Flamers - The traditional model and the default option. Its quite effective if short ranged, works well to support other units, if passengers hop out and blow up a transport it can set fire to passengers falling out.
  • Multi-meltas - Quite expensive upgrade, but highly worth while. When fired on the move, adds reasonably long range anti-tank firepower to your force. A highly popular choice for dominion squads as the obvious advantages of running around your oppoents back field with mobile multi-meltas is exactly as effective as it sounds.
  • Heavy Bolters - With the special ammunition its not a bad option, its just that the other two are probably more useful... a bit of bolter fire doesn't add anything special to your force, the other weapon fits do.

<Fast Attack Section is on the way>

Heavy Support - Retributors

Retributors are the traditional heavy support choice for sisters of battle, reasonably priced fire support with the usual sister of battle weapon options. As is normal for infantry fire support, their mobility is limited.

  • Heavy Bolters - The cheapest option, generally doesn't need a full size unit a couple of extra models to add durability allows for a cheap source of firepower.
  • Heavy Flamers - Used as a form of front line battle squad, ideally requires full unit size and a transport, their act of faith makes their large numbers of template weapons extremely destructive. While a dangerous unit to deploy, heavy support slots are limited, and it is a job that can be done by other units in the list.
  • Multi-meltas - Probably the least useful weapons to use in mass, can potentially be pushed forward to create an area of denial, although it makes for an expensive distraction unit to deploy.

Heavy Support - Excorcist

Heavy armour, high firepower, reasonable costs sums up the Exorcists good point, randomness is its down side. When you really need it to pull something out of the bag, it'll either do spectacularly well or completely let you down. One of the best counters to it's random behaviour is to field two (or possibly even three) so that you can play the averages a bit more.

  • Dozer Blade - Being in cover is great for vehicles, getting stuck in cover isn't so great.
  • Stormbolter/Hunter Killer - An additional weapon is quite useful for a vehicle that only comes fitted with one, as weapon destroyed is random you go to only a 50:50 chance of losing the exorcist launcher... although it can be an expensive insurance for something that never happens, stormbolters are of little actual use to an exorcist and the hunter killer must not be used in order to be useful for this tactic... in theory you can throw it out late game.


Heavy Support - Penitent Engines

To be honest, unless you actually want to punish yourself I don't see these being useful. They're somewhat reasonable at close combat, but being so very fragile and not particularly fast means that you're not likely to get them there...


<Note this is still a work in progress, I've posted it up early as there are a lot of current questions about the sisters army list, if you would like to contribute and add anything please feel free to post it and I'll see what I can incorporate. Contriubtions will of course be fully credited in the finished document.>

<I would very much like a section about Sister Repentia!>

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Offline starstrider

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Re: The Witch Hunters Handbook - Tactica, Guide and How To! (work in progress)
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2012, 05:39:13 PM »
Thanks for getting it up, was nice to look through it and I look forward to seeing the rest when it's all put together.

I finally ordered the first 1000 points or so of my army today. You know you've spent too much when your credit card company gets in touch with you checking if there's been fraudulent activity on your account >.<. So I look forward to spending the next few months rationalizing how I could possibly be so wasteful.... but I also look forward to priming them up and maybe getting in a game or two!

Always love reading about how people use their lists, and what they thing of the units. So thanks.

Offline Locarno

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Re: The Witch Hunters Handbook - Tactica, Guide and How To! (work in progress)
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2012, 02:16:51 AM »
Nice summary, Hymirl.

Repentia

Hmmph. The frothing nutter's frothing nutter, repentia have always had a reputation as a fairly awful unit. Has anything changed? Well....actually, yes.
Are they great? Not really. Are they useful? Yes, they actually are useful now.

The key changes are the rules changes for Feel No Pain, Rage and Fearless, in addition to their points drop and attack increase relative to Codex:Witch Hunters. No longer constrained to running forward like a bunch of loonies, they actually make a half-decent unit, and whilst they may lose combat, they'll stay in it until the last one drops, without your opponent doubling up his kills through No Retreat! wounds.

For the price of a tactical squad, you have a unit which drops 4 chainfist attacks per model - meaning they hit harder than assault terminators - and has not far short of a 4+ invulnerable save against anything other than S6. In an army where virtually no models have the option of a power fist, the ability to buy a multi-attack model with a chainfist for less than the price of equipping your characters with said weapon option is at least worth a second glance.

I can't overstate that if you try to hoof it across the board to the enemy, they will get picked on, and they will get shot to crud. Consider keeping the mistress out front to give you a few 3+ armour saves (you won't miss her), and don't forget that Fleet now lets you reroll lousy run rolls (so you're about 1" per turn faster), but generally accept that if even 1/3 of the squad reaches the enemy, you've done well, and that size force is not going to beat many units in a fair fight.

Where they shine is in counter-assault duty. Keep them safely ensconced somewhere - there's no need for them to have line of sight to the enemy, after all - behind terrain or rhino hulls or whatever, and wait for some cocky sod to come charging into your lines. Then smack him silly with eviscerators. Fleet helps them reach where they're needed - you don't really need the rerolls to hit for a preacher or confessor, and the loss of the Fleet safety net doesn't really justify the added overkill (although it's sometimes pleasant to see).

The obvious counterargument to repentia is the battle conclave, which is cheaper by a couple of points a model and has the edge of the cultist/crusader duality. On the charge, a 50/50 mix unit will cause about the same number of casualties but take less in return. However:
  • You don't need a confessor to field repentia. Not that confessors are bad, but you can take a couple of medium-sized units rather than one big one, making it easier to cover your whole battle line
  • A not insignificant proportion of the deathcultist's superiority is that they strike first - if forced to charge into cover (no grenades), or if faced with terminator-armoured opponents, much of that disappears.
  • Even striking last with S5 axes or S6 mauls, there is a non-trivial list of threats that cultists literally cannot hurt. AV13 walkers like the ironclad are the obvious one but frankly even engaging armour 12 is an act of desparation. Repentia can can-opener such targets with ease, and can also make a reasonable stab at the classic "surround the land raider's exits then cut it to pieces" ploy.


Options:
Don't bother with meltabombs on the mistress - if twenty-odd armourbane attacks won't do the job, one lousy meltabomb isn't going to help.
Stories to read....
Songs of Earth
The Will to Survive Series

Tervigon Army List:
Games Played: 35
Termagants expended for the Hive Mind: ~2685

Offline Guildmage Aech

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Re: The Witch Hunters Handbook - Tactica, Guide and How To! (work in progress)
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2012, 12:59:19 PM »
Awesome Locarno, I will probably drop that right in. If you're keen to write fast attack too that would be great, I won't have time for a while...
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Offline starstrider

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Re: The Witch Hunters Handbook - Tactica, Guide and How To! (work in progress)
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2012, 01:44:41 PM »
Thoughts on Repressors, or is FW stuff a bit too extraneous for this thread?

I got my bunch of stuff the other night, and am excited to start putting it all together (though all the exorcist and repressor bits from fw are commingled... will be fun sorting that mess out. Anyways, I got the repressors because I liked the little extras on the model, so I figured that I'd either use them as either repressors or as rhinos, so the models wouldn't go to waste no matter what the case. Is using them as repressors a good call though?

To be fair, the point difference is small enough it might hardly matter (although it does add up, eventually). But I hear a lot of things about how light vehicles in 6th are fairly weak (i have yet to play a game of 6th, so I can't comment on how much of a sterotype that is vs how truthful it is, or on how "light" a repressor is). I assume the rhinos themselves are certainly worth including no matter how fragile they are in sixth (even just one turn of good mobility is important for a short range fire power list like ours, and the rhinos aren't pricey or anything either).

Offline Guildmage Aech

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Re: The Witch Hunters Handbook - Tactica, Guide and How To! (work in progress)
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2012, 08:15:27 PM »
Repressors are great, I don't own any though. They follow the same theory as a rhino in use, but with added firepower, and I've found shooting from fire points to actually be quite useful, while its true that its easier than it used to be to glance vehicles to death the flip side is that it's often safer for passengers when it happens.

As a suggestion repressors suit dominons very well, you can outflank a Sizable unit. Which reminds me I need to write about dominons and seraphim in the guide; they're both arguably 'the best' unit in the list so they need to be detailed entries and I've not yet had time for it!
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Offline Halollet

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Thank you very much for this overview of the sisters!

I recently made a trade and I've accidentally started to collect sisters now. 

I hope that you finish the Fast Attack entries as I'm really interested in the Dominion Squads and what they can do! :)

One sure mark of a fool is to dismiss anything that falls outside of his experience as being impossible.

 


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