Kreedos
11-08-2011, 03:11 AM
Hey everyone, I've been playing 40k about 4 years now. Necrons were my first army and Sisters were my second. I've loved the playstyle of the SoB and it continues to be my favorite army. I've been hearing a lot of chatter about the Sisters of Battle WD, and how horrible it is. While I agree that the army looks really bad on paper, the way the army plays is entirely a different story, at least in my experience and opinion. I'm hoping to write this and convince you to not shelf your Sisters army just yet, or if you're struggling to adapt to the new codex, maybe give you a few pointers. Here it goes.
First and foremost, we're going to focus on what works in the codex, instead of what doesn't work, and go from there.
Units that work
*Cannoness w/ Celestians in Rhino(expensive, but has great short range shooty and great CC potential unless going against all PW, can get int +1 and str +1 multiple times depending on amount of faith rolled and success with faith rolls. So you could effectively be int 9 or str 9 because the faith rolls do, in fact stack, like hammerhand does)
*Jacobus w/ Deathcult/Crusaders in Rhino (great counter assault unit to back up your Sisters Rhinos and provide a great threat, and mop up anything hurting your Sister squads. This is just about the best assault unit in the game. FNP gives this squad a durbility, along with it's 5+ invul, INT 6 allows you to attack first on most squads lots and lots of power weapon attacks. Can kill just about anything head on besides purifiers. Even then, the Deathcult would probably win out with their +5 invul or rather a 1/3 chance to make their save.)
*Celestine w/ or without Seraphim (Celestine with 2x flamer Seraphim gives you a total of 5 flamers with reroll to wound. The squad is cheap for a 5 man, at 120 points. You can lose them and not be too upset about it.
*Sister of Battle squad in Rhino (My favorite combo is heavy flamer, melta gun, combi melta so they can threaten just about any target. I generally take 4-5 troops kitted this same way at 2k points)
*Dominion squad w/ melta guns (Having 2x Dominion squads with 2x melta guns outflanking really helps against mech armies. When you need more target saturation aka more rhinos, you can choose to not outflank as well, clocking in at 125 pts is a steal, and they're hard to kill if just left to shoot out of rhinos, instead of getting out. Should get you at least 2 turns of shooting twin linked melta at vehicles in their back field or flank, assuming they come in on the side you want.)
*5 Celestians w/ 2x melta in Rhino (great cheap filler units for more anti tank)
*3x Exorcist or 2x Exorcist 1x Retributor squad (Exorcists are the only long range anti tank, and one of the best in the game esp when you're rolling 6's. Try and show your front armor as much as possible, it's very important to Exorcist suvivial. Once you forget, and show your side, it's usually over for your poor tank)
*Seraphim ( if you can afford 30 Seraphim to fill your FA slots, its very viable to take 3 units of 10 in different combinations)
Tips
*Do not exit your Rhinos until you are forced to, or you completely have the advantage, till then fire out 2x melta or your heavy flamer to take out squads.
*Rely on Exorcists for long range anti tank, take out their biggest threats to your Exorcists, Ignore AV 14, handle it with Melta guns later on.
*Zone your opponent (force them into an enclosed space or isolate half of their army from the other with Rhinos), and keep Rhinos together and close. If you're running Seraphim, use your Rhinos to block LOS.
*Pop smoke on all your Rhinos after your first turn, unless they're obviously in cover
*Don't be hasty to initiate, wait until you have the advantage, then storm the enemy, unless the extra bolter firepower is needed to put down a squad, stay in the Rhinos.
*Use Celestine in every game, head her to your enemies objective, or fly her at stuff with a 4+,5+ or 6+ save. Her heavy flamer makes short work of things, and then charge if there's anything left.
*Dozer blades are probably a good idea if you can afford them.
*Again, don't allow your units to be isolated, Sisters work best as a group, splitting your forces off weakens you substantially.
*Avoid footslogging combined with Mech, either stick to one or the other. Seraphim are the only exception to their due to their durability, speed, and the ability to hide behind Rhinos.
*Don't rely on faith, it either happens or it doesn't, don't count on it as a sure thing, save faith for Seraphim and dominions.
*If your opponent has a nasty CC unit, it might not be a bad idea to offer up a unit of Sisters for them to cut down, so you can get the unit in open field to be shot with heavy flamers, melta guns and exorcists. The loss of one unit can be greater than the loss of multiple units and vehicles to a rampaging CC unit not quickly handled.
*Celestine is an excellent tarpit.
*Balance the amount of flamer, and melta you have, try and get an equal mixture of flamer and melta (anti infantry and anti tank respectively)
*When a Rhino blows up, move your troops to an objective or to help strengthen your Rhino line by sitting behind your other rhinos. Don't leave them in open field too long, and get to cover if you can.
That's about all I have for now. Good luck my fellow Sisters players, and I hope this helps.
Thanks for looking!
First and foremost, we're going to focus on what works in the codex, instead of what doesn't work, and go from there.
Units that work
*Cannoness w/ Celestians in Rhino(expensive, but has great short range shooty and great CC potential unless going against all PW, can get int +1 and str +1 multiple times depending on amount of faith rolled and success with faith rolls. So you could effectively be int 9 or str 9 because the faith rolls do, in fact stack, like hammerhand does)
*Jacobus w/ Deathcult/Crusaders in Rhino (great counter assault unit to back up your Sisters Rhinos and provide a great threat, and mop up anything hurting your Sister squads. This is just about the best assault unit in the game. FNP gives this squad a durbility, along with it's 5+ invul, INT 6 allows you to attack first on most squads lots and lots of power weapon attacks. Can kill just about anything head on besides purifiers. Even then, the Deathcult would probably win out with their +5 invul or rather a 1/3 chance to make their save.)
*Celestine w/ or without Seraphim (Celestine with 2x flamer Seraphim gives you a total of 5 flamers with reroll to wound. The squad is cheap for a 5 man, at 120 points. You can lose them and not be too upset about it.
*Sister of Battle squad in Rhino (My favorite combo is heavy flamer, melta gun, combi melta so they can threaten just about any target. I generally take 4-5 troops kitted this same way at 2k points)
*Dominion squad w/ melta guns (Having 2x Dominion squads with 2x melta guns outflanking really helps against mech armies. When you need more target saturation aka more rhinos, you can choose to not outflank as well, clocking in at 125 pts is a steal, and they're hard to kill if just left to shoot out of rhinos, instead of getting out. Should get you at least 2 turns of shooting twin linked melta at vehicles in their back field or flank, assuming they come in on the side you want.)
*5 Celestians w/ 2x melta in Rhino (great cheap filler units for more anti tank)
*3x Exorcist or 2x Exorcist 1x Retributor squad (Exorcists are the only long range anti tank, and one of the best in the game esp when you're rolling 6's. Try and show your front armor as much as possible, it's very important to Exorcist suvivial. Once you forget, and show your side, it's usually over for your poor tank)
*Seraphim ( if you can afford 30 Seraphim to fill your FA slots, its very viable to take 3 units of 10 in different combinations)
Tips
*Do not exit your Rhinos until you are forced to, or you completely have the advantage, till then fire out 2x melta or your heavy flamer to take out squads.
*Rely on Exorcists for long range anti tank, take out their biggest threats to your Exorcists, Ignore AV 14, handle it with Melta guns later on.
*Zone your opponent (force them into an enclosed space or isolate half of their army from the other with Rhinos), and keep Rhinos together and close. If you're running Seraphim, use your Rhinos to block LOS.
*Pop smoke on all your Rhinos after your first turn, unless they're obviously in cover
*Don't be hasty to initiate, wait until you have the advantage, then storm the enemy, unless the extra bolter firepower is needed to put down a squad, stay in the Rhinos.
*Use Celestine in every game, head her to your enemies objective, or fly her at stuff with a 4+,5+ or 6+ save. Her heavy flamer makes short work of things, and then charge if there's anything left.
*Dozer blades are probably a good idea if you can afford them.
*Again, don't allow your units to be isolated, Sisters work best as a group, splitting your forces off weakens you substantially.
*Avoid footslogging combined with Mech, either stick to one or the other. Seraphim are the only exception to their due to their durability, speed, and the ability to hide behind Rhinos.
*Don't rely on faith, it either happens or it doesn't, don't count on it as a sure thing, save faith for Seraphim and dominions.
*If your opponent has a nasty CC unit, it might not be a bad idea to offer up a unit of Sisters for them to cut down, so you can get the unit in open field to be shot with heavy flamers, melta guns and exorcists. The loss of one unit can be greater than the loss of multiple units and vehicles to a rampaging CC unit not quickly handled.
*Celestine is an excellent tarpit.
*Balance the amount of flamer, and melta you have, try and get an equal mixture of flamer and melta (anti infantry and anti tank respectively)
*When a Rhino blows up, move your troops to an objective or to help strengthen your Rhino line by sitting behind your other rhinos. Don't leave them in open field too long, and get to cover if you can.
That's about all I have for now. Good luck my fellow Sisters players, and I hope this helps.
Thanks for looking!