Tactica: SISTERS of BATTLE!

[UreeL]

A twinlinked heavy bolters with reroll to wound kills on average 0,79 MEQ's each turn. Cover doesn't matter
A twinlinked multi melta kills on average 0.74 MEQ's, if the target is in cover this is reduced by half.

Ofcourse I know that you'll most likely will be shooting at vehicles with the MM, but the heavy bolter immolator has its uses. Also it's yet another vehicle on the table so either it will be ignored or it will draw fire away from the other vehicles.

Also a MM immolator costs extra points AND it will be much higher on the target priority list.

[SabrX]

TL-MM has versatility. TL-HB does not. There's already plenty of anti-infantry shooting if you are already fielding Retributors with Heavy Bolters. However, you are taking away a critical slot usually saved for Exorcists, which is the only long range anti-mech shooting in Sisters of Battle army. TL-Heavy Bolter Immolator is useless if you aren't able to reliably crack open AV shell transporting the MEQ infantry. Nor will it serve any purpose against other targets such Monstrous Creatures.

But if you normally play against opponents who run foot-slogging MEQ and no vehicles, monstrous creatures, or units with 2+ save, than do whatever you feel like.

[Dervos]

Edit: remembered more things

Played a decent 2k point game against Tyranids today, Dawn of War, Seize Ground 4 objectives. We ended up tying one to one, contesting one, and one not claimed at all.

My friend the Tyranid player was very smart, he deployed his two troop choices so far forward and wide that I only had a 6" deep line of space to deploy.

I was really worried I was going to get wiped out fairly early onwards since he had the first turn, but through sneaky deployment, (made a wall with my two rhinos, dumped the sister squads out of the rhinos and put saint celestine in front as bait; he didn;t know anything about sisters not having played against them before). I got good outflank rolls and was able to distract his incoming reinforcements from completely wrecking what I had on my own table edge, killing two out of his three zoanthropes and pissing off his two groups of warriors.

As I played the game I had found myself wishing I had brought more flamers instead of melta guns(he also spread out his units well to protect against flamers but I still got some decent sprays), I forgot to look over my list before playing.

There was a lot of cover so I had a hard time getting shots with my exorcists, though I did manage to make a mockery out of the Hive Tyrant/Tyrant guard wound shenanigans by completely destroying the tyrant guard screen in a single shooting round.

Saint Celestine died twice to hormogaunts and failed to completely hit/wound a squad of two for two straight combats in a row.

Uriah's Battle conclave cleaned out a squad of 30? termagaunts, a full group of genestealers(more than 12 i think?) and a mawloc(barely, I was losing one-two members a turn for every round of combat and had to roll 6's to wound it, luckily I got two wounds on it with him returning any and he died failing his fearless armor saves) by themselves.

6 out of 8 rhinos were destroyed and one exorcist, along with two full squads of battle sisters and two squads of dominions, and more than half the battle conclave.

Basically I took over completely over the west side of the map while he completely took over the east side, most of his units were on my east side and because of the table edge I had I was forced to deploy everything on the west side of the map, he ended up dropping both genestealer units on the two outlfanking dominions on the east side so I wouldn't be able to contest the objective in a bunker, my original deployment was eaten in three turns by the hormagaunts with celestine coming back to life every so often to annoy the group there, I think he would have moved west but he didnt want celestine to come back to life and contest the objective(which did eventually happen and the only way to get to the west side of the map from that objective was down a straight fire channel for two of my exorcists. After dealing with the two outflankers his genestealers were too far away to get to the west side of the map. I was really worried when the mawloc showed up because I didn't think I was going to be able to deal with the warriors and the mawloc especially when it destroyed one of my exorcists when it showed up. But luckily for me the conclave took care of the mawloc and the sisters were able to disembark but were unable to capture it due to the game length.

Heres the list I used, my advice, take more flamers when fighting tyranids, I gotta say though I've never been more thankful for +3 armor saves, I'm still not used to them being used to playing Eldar all the time and this only being my second game with sisters. Paying for power swords on all of the sister superiors has been really worth it for both games I played, not sure why I took melta boms since I was playing against tryanids but like I said I didn't check my list before playing. heavy flamers also seemed like overkill considering the tyranids abysmmal armor saves I could have taken 4 normal flamers for 1 heavy flamer.

4 BSS squads size 10
Rhino
Power weapon
melta boms
Melta Gun
Heavy Flamer

3 Dominions x5
Rhino
melta gun x2
Power Sword
melta bombs

Saint Celestine

Uriah
Rhino
7DCA
2 Crusader

3 exorcists

I dont remember the upgrades but I remember most of his units

3 Zoanthropes
Mawloc
Gargoyles
1 large group of termagaunts
2 large groups of hormagaunts
1 cc group of tyranid warriors
1 shooty group of tryanid warriors
1 hive tyrant with 2 hive guard
2 groups?? of genestealers
My next game is supposed to be against Grey Knights(O jeez), I'm definitely going all melta weapons on my loadouts.

[Dervos]

I want to try my hand at running two Battle Conclave HQ's now, I really like Saint Celestine and she makes a great decoy and is really annoying to the enemy. But she has the same problems as the eldar HQ's she's str 3 and t3, even with her power weapon that always wounds on a +4 I have a hard time accomplishing anything appreciable and I don't want to spend the points to saddle her with a inadequate bodyguard.

I flat out do not like Kyrinov and refuse to use him, Heightened Fervour is ok but I don't normally use either a laud hailer or simularcum because tend to avoid using my acts of faith because I rarely feel like I need to use them.(which is a problem, I should be using them because there really isn't a good reason not too since I only use dominions and sisters, but I either forget I have them or there isn't a situation where it could have affected something, I hope with more games under my belt I might see them in a slightly better light/ remember to use them more). I don't like having fearless on my sisters, I would rather trust to my LD8 to keep me in the fight than trying to take several armor rolls, plus the range is only 6" and I'm thinking I can make a better choice with the confessor to lead the conclave. The mace of valaan makes me laugh because again its a str 3 unit using a power weapon and it only works on one model which your opponent would probably just allocate to a minion instead of whatever is leading their own squad.

So we come to the confessor, I'm not gearing it towards shooting so I won't bother buying any guns, what I want to take is the eviscerator which will make the model hit vechicles like a monstrous creature and help out the DCA's killing models. If the DCA's can't get enough kills with STR 4, 4 attacks on the charge power weapons, then the confessor with str 6 4 attacks power weapon will definitely make up for it. I don't want to take the power sword because the confessor will just be a DCA with less strength, though he/she would get 4 normal attacks because of two 1 handed weapons and 5 on the charge I feel that the eviserator will perform much better, and the chainsword option doesn't do much for me since its only a str 3 hit and the opponent still gets armor saves.

Which leads me to the composition of my battle conclaves. I've been running x2 crusaders and x7 DCA with uriah in a rhino. After seeing for it myself the crusaders really are there just to take hits because of their ++3 and their low iniative, by the time they get to attack they'll either be killed or their few attacks will be a little bit of icing on a assault cake. Because Uriah gives his squad FnP I'm considering just making his squad all DCA, their iniative is 6 so more than likely they will either be going first or hitting at the same time against most units in assault, 9 DCA without charge is 27 str 4 attacks with no armor saves allowed, so that should be incredibly useful in completely eliminating what I'm assaulting or crippling it badly that the return attacks the squad should hopefully be able to shrug off their return blows, if they aren't power weapons or str 6 since they;ll have a 5++ and FnP to roll.

The big problem is if they have to footslog for any reason and get take a lot of shots because they will go down a lot easier especially if its ap 1 and ap 2 or str 6+ b/c they'll only have their 5++ to rely on.

Now for the confessor's squad since I don't have FNP I'm thinking more like 4-5 crusaders and the rest DCA's, I need those crusader's 3++ ups because I don't have FnP to fall back on and the confessor with the eviserator should be able to make up for the reduced number of DCA attacks but will be going dead last since it has power fist rules.

What would you do with your battle conclaves?

[SabrX]

The current problem of Sisters is lack of moral modifiers. A squad of Battle Sisters could potentially lose combat, fail initiative test, and then massacred in sweeping advance. You should consider fielding Kyrinov for his fearless bubble.

[Dervos]

The current problem of Sisters is lack of moral modifiers. A squad of Battle Sisters could potentially lose combat, fail initiative test, and then massacred in sweeping advance. You should consider fielding Kyrinov for his fearless bubble.

Jeez you were not kidding

I see only 4 units with any morale mods, Celestians Act of Faith but only for assault phase, cannoness is stubborn, Saint Celestine has fearless but loses it when joining a unit( -.- why couldn't she be inspiring like the Avatar?) and Kyrinov with his 6" bubble.

Do you happen to know if Kyrinov is inside a vehicle does his fearless bubble begin from the center of the hull of the vehicle or does it begin from where units could actually stand outside the vehicle?

I suppose taking additional armor saves would be easier to take than trying to win a initiative test after failing a leadership test.

[SabrX]

Kyrinov's fearless bubble does not need LOS and will extend outside his vehicle. Hence if you have a second conclave, just disembark them and leave Kyrinov inside the Rhino.

There are some instances where you'll want to bait enemy units into assaulting a small group of Dominons and intentionally have Dominions massacred or forced to fall back. In those scenarios, do not move Dominions near Kyrinov. Though if Dominions manage to break off and fall back to Kyrinov's fearless bubble, that's an added bonus.

However, there are some cases where you'll want to stall enemy units in assault long enough for a Conclave to save them or prevent said enemy unit from reaching an objective. That's where being fearless comes in handy.

[Dervos]

Finally got to play against my friends Grey Knights with sisters. I ended up trying a crusader-less conclave, taking 8 DCA and wow did they wreck face that first assault, annihilating an entire unit of terminators, at the cost of 2 of them since unval thawn hit me at the same time. Then after that it was kinda predictable since they had no staying power, they got shot at and lost more DCA as they slogged their way into a second assault.

The shock value I think was probably worth it, but I'll take at least two crusaders next time around, especially with grey knights.

Next game I'll try out two conclaves with Kyrinov along for the ride as well.

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...1750-sob-vs-gk

[IcedAnimals]

5 rets with hbolters in a repressor or just more rets as wound catchers? I think like 7 rets invaded in a
Sort of pill box is a great idea. The repressor just sits there as the hbolters mow things down. Anything gets to close and more weapons open up on them.

I am pretty sure the repressor has not changed yet. If it has feel free to correct me. But 5 rets in a repressor is a horrible waste. The only firepoint a heavy bolter can shoot out of is the top hatch. The rules for the 6 firepoints on a repressor say "basic" weapons. Heavy bolters aren't basic weapons. Only bolters can fire out.

[UreeL]

I also prefer the rhino over immolator for my dominions.

I'm almost done painting my battle conclave, so I'll hopefully test them in the near future.

I'll start playtesting this list:
HQ
Uriah
Battle Conclave 135
4 death cult assassin (2 PW)
5 crusader (PW & stormshield)

Rhino 50
*extra armour

FAST ATTACK
Seraphim Squad 120
4 Seraphim and 1 Seraphim Superior
*2 hand flamers

Dominion Squad 90
4 Dominions and 1 Dominion Superior
2 meltaguns

Rhino 35

Dominion Squad 90
4 Dominions and 1 Dominion Superior
2 meltaguns

Rhino 35

HEAVY SUPPORT
Exorcist 135

Exorcist 135

Retributor Squad 165
9 Retributors and 1 Retributor Superior
4 Heavy Bolters
*Simulacrum Imperialis

Immolator 80
*MM

TROOPS
Battle Sister Squad 155
9 battle sisters + 1 Sister superior
*Heavy flamer
*Meltagun

Rhino 50
*extra armour

Battle Sister Squad 155
9 battle sisters + 1 Sister superior
*Heavy flamer
*Meltagun

Rhino 50
*extra armour

Battle Sister Squad 182
13 battle sisters + 1 Sister superior
*3 stormbolters

I'm really liking the seraphim with handflamers at the moment. The 4 flame templates with rerolls to wound really put a dent in any unit.

[Dervos]

Other players probably already knew this but I thought I'd mention it for the purposes of sharing knowledge in the tactica

I see a use for celestians now in higher point games after my HQ, Fast attack, heavy support slots are full and I'm comfortable with the number of my troops(but with the cost were probably talking almost apocalypse level of game play)

5 girl squad with 2 meltas and a combi melta in a rhino or alternatively(if you have THAT many points to spend) in a immolator with a multi-melta.

(personally i can't bring myself to take a immolator for anything, I might do it for celestians if I ever played a game at a high enough point value to have enough points to justify spending on it to myself, I like the weapon choices but not the model limit, the cost or the AV, I'm fine with the lack of firepoints, wouldn't be shooting at cruising speed anyway, besides I'd be hopping out to shoot my melta at my target on the ground )

A min celestian squad would be base 10 points more than a dominion min squad would be and doesn't have the benefit of scouts or being able to take 4 special weapon choices in a squad of 10.

Their faith act (if you hadn;t already used them on your other sister squad) can make them fearless so they could tie up a squad in cc a little better buts its only a 5 girl suicide squad so the act of the faith would be very situational and not reliable and +1 str wont' be game-changeing most of the time; besides if the unit was still alive more often than not I'd want to shoot at the target again rather than stay in cc since the enemy would be the one iniating it most of the time since I want to be shooting melta).

But...taking need more melta suicide squads though even after having 3 min sized or 3 full sized dominion squads seems like too much. It almost feels like it would be better to buy upgrades for the other squads(power weapons, combi-) and rhinos (extra armor, h/k storm bolter etc)rather than to increase the amount of easy kp in the army.

I don't know maybe just taking more troops would be better than taking celestians, min maxed or not unless I only had points for a small cel squad. It's just too much of the same, if only they could actually be geared out for cc(which their ws4, their act of faith that's +1 str and fearless points to it in my opinion, the little blurb of fluff seems to suggest this too, maybe in the new codex they'll get a chainsword option for the whole squad at least. )

[MuNsTeNbRaU]

Hello again fellow sister players. After seeing recently on bell of lost ouls that there were 0 sister players at a recent tourney i think that i should take them to a up coming one in england (mayhem). This is the army that i am going to be taking.

Saint celestiene – 115

Uriah Jacobus – 90
6 death cult assassins, 3 crusaders – 135
Rhino, extra armour, dozer blades – 55

10 sister of battle, 2 flamers – 135
Rhino, dozer blades – 40
10 sisters of battle, 1 flamer, 1 heavy flamer – 150
Rhino, dozer blades – 40
10 sisters of battle, 1 flamer, 1 heavy flamer – 150
Rhino, dozer blades – 40

5 Dominion sisters, 2 melta guns – 90
Immolator, twin-linked multi-melta, dozer blades – 85
5 Dominion sisters, 2 melta guns – 90
Immolator, twin-linked multi-melta, dozer blades – 85

Exorcist, dozer blades – 140
Exorcist, dozer blades – 140
Exorcist, dozer blades – 140

I still have 30 pts left so i think that the best option would be to take combi flamers on each of the troop squad.

there are 6 different missions so i will try and post the mission pack as any advice about how to play the missions would be good as i not done them before.

Any tactics about how to play the missions or changing the list would be great. I have ordered a couple more sister with meltas as i was proxying one of the dominion squads and would rather not buy much more (its an expensive army as is).

[SuperMitch]

Overall I like this list. Looks very similar to mine with all the "standard" options.

2 recommendations - put combination meltas on your dominions every time. If you're going to alpha strike and throw away the lo it NEEDS to work, and that third melta has made the difference many times.

Also, I have had a lot of success with multimeltas on my troops, with flamer and combi flamer if points allow. MM lets them sit back if you want to, as throwing your fragile scoring options right at the enemy every game is not always ideal. I usually take pot shots with them on turns 2-3, then move up to flame whatever spilled out of the tranaports and survived.

Good luck at the tourney! Don't be afraid to sit back in midfield with your sisters, you don't need to be on the objective turn 3 only to get assaulted off it turn 5. And don't be afraid to throw celestine at whatever you want her to kill! Last game I sent her off by herself at some broadaides, she got killed, came back, and wiped a tau flank all by herself.

[Ixe]

Overall I like this list. Looks very similar to mine with all the "standard" options.

2 recommendations - put combination meltas on your dominions every time. If you're going to alpha strike and throw away the lo it NEEDS to work, and that third melta has made the difference many times.

I don't know about EVERY time. I think Super's got a great point, but it costs a lot to run that loadout. I'd rather squeeze in 3x dominion squads than run 2x dominions w/combi-melta. Combis if you have the points, but skip em if you don't. When the alpha strike NEEDS to work, just bring more melta to bear on the same target. Three meltas isn't much more of a guarantee than two meltas, so don't bend your list if you can't afford it. Of course, in this build you can afford it because you've taken overpriced heavy flamers. Nix those.

Also, I have had a lot of success with multimeltas on my troops, with flamer and combi flamer if points allow. MM lets them sit back if you want to, as throwing your fragile scoring options right at the enemy every game is not always ideal. I usually take pot shots with them on turns 2-3, then move up to flame whatever spilled out of the tranaports and survived.

24" away isn't "back." It's just within "we're all gonna die" range. Battle Sister Squads are indeed fragile scoring units, that's why you don't disembark them just so they can make a single S8 pot shot. If you're not ready to engage with them, hide them inside their tanks, maybe behind some terrain. The added firepower they can bring at 24" isn't worth it.

For my part, I would drop Celestine and a bunch of upgrades and get a third dominion squad.

[Marshal Augustine]

Drop all those dozers and you will have a few extra pts.

[SuperMitch]

24" away isn't "back." It's just within "we're all gonna die" range. Battle Sister Squads are indeed fragile scoring units, that's why you don't disembark them just so they can make a single S8 pot shot. If you're not ready to engage with them, hide them inside their tanks, maybe behind some terrain. The added firepower they can bring at 24" isn't worth it.

Why would you ever need to get out of the transport to fire the mm, just use the top hatch. I like to move 12 up on turn 1, and that's usually far enough forward for the 24 arc to be useful in midfield on turn 2 and maybe 3. I also find that 10 3+ saves are very hard to shoot down when in cover (like a destroyed rhino), and there are not a huge amount of threats with 18+ charge range that you can't stop with melta/exos or rhino blocking.

Another option for the list: drop all the dozer blades, heavy flamers, extra armor, and a death cultist, and you can buy yourself a 120 point 5 girl seraphim squad with hand flamers to act as celestine escort and counter-flame unit. I have a really hard time parting with her in any list, as she has singlehandedly cleaned out a distant objective or weak flank so many times for me.

[Ixe]

Why would you ever need to get out of the transport to fire the mm, just use the top hatch.

Oh yeah. Herp de derr! I guess it depends on your opponent, but I still think it's kind of a meh idea. You're probably not in 2d6 pen range after moving up 12", so those multi melta shots aren't going to do a whole lot of good. And what you give up is a second flame template. It seems like the gain in anti-tank is small while the cost in anti-troop is large.

Still, your loadout isn't crazy. It would be nice to be able to park SoBs on an objective and ward off enemies with a multi-melta. But worth the loss of mobility that comes with trading assault weapons for heavy? If you had a meltagun you'd actually have a longer effective range vs. tanks. My theory on having my fragile BSS's survive is safety in numbers, rather than hanging back. I almost never throw less than 20 Battle Sisters at a threat, and I'm not shy about throwing 30 or 40 if they can all fit. The idea is to put down such concentrated overwhelming force that the enemy can't effectively retaliate, and to lay such heavy odds against the target surviving that it doesn't matter how bad I roll. I try to hit fast and early with my SoB to cripple the enemy's retaliation, because with our AV11 tanks and T3, we don't like retaliation.

I like to move 12 up on turn 1, and that's usually far enough forward for the 24 arc to be useful in midfield on turn 2 and maybe 3. I also find that 10 3+ saves are very hard to shoot down when in cover (like a destroyed rhino), and there are not a huge amount of threats with 18+ charge range that you can't stop with melta/exos or rhino blocking.

Hard to shoot down compared to Imperial Guard maybe, but not hard compared to Space Marines. And the real danger to SoBs stuck in the midfield is assault, unless you're fighting something like Tau or IG.

Another option for the list: drop all the dozer blades, heavy flamers, extra armor, and a death cultist, and you can buy yourself a 120 point 5 girl seraphim squad with hand flamers to act as celestine escort and counter-flame unit. I have a really hard time parting with her in any list, as she has singlehandedly cleaned out a distant objective or weak flank so many times for me.

Not a bad plan at all. I'd still rather have that third Dominion squad even if Celestine stays though. SoB is an army that's so vulnerable to alpha-strike it's not even funny, we need those Scouts to pull off a little alpha striking of our own. Seraphim are good in the new rules, but Dominions are by far our most competitive choice. They're bargain-priced Stormtroopers on crack--never a bad idea! (unless you don't give them meltaguns).

[SabrX]

I've watched couple of games where SoB players play as a reactive force rather than being aggressive and taking the initiative. It's almost like mech gunline style. This only works if your opponent's army is on the offense and is coming at you. BSS w/ MM and Exorcist tries to take out vehicles and soften up elite units. When enemy units comes close enough, SoB units kick into action, dropping their payload of Sisters off and unleashing Bolters while Deathcults and Saint Celestine mops up or ties up surviving enemy infantry. IMO it's not a strong tactic. The underlying weakness to MM BSS is it's stationary. Sure there's Canoness + Celestian Retinue w/ stubborn MM, but no one these days fields Canoness given better alternatives. Also, SoB range output is much less compared to other 40k armies. There isn't a whole lot of volume. It works against novices who rush headlong without any strategy, but not against experienced players who'll use reserves to take out Exorcists or stop close enough where the produce more range damage output than SoB.

[edward3h]

One thing I've realized I need to work on is prioritizing my Faith points, since I keep ending turns with points left over which I could have used. For example, Light of the Emperor in Shooting/Assault doesn't seem that great, so I tend not to use it, but if I would waste the point otherwise it is worth spending it for the minor boost.

These are top priorities for units I use:
1. BBS/Light of the Emperor to regroup - allows you to do something you couldn't otherwise.
2. Repentia/Spirit of the Martyr - since they often only get once chance.

These are middling priority:
3. Seraphim - hand flamers are weedy otherwise. (And they are more likely to pass test)
4. Dominions - you really want those meltas to hit.
5. Retributors/Divine Guidance - rending boost on HBs - but they are better shooting at targets they can hurt anyway.

Leaving the low priority:
6. Celestians - can help in assault, but they probably shouldn't be there.
7. BSS/Light of the Emperor shooting/assault - fairly minor effect, and reroll to hit doesn't help flamers.

[SuperMitch]

I've watched couple of games where SoB players play as a reactive force rather than being aggressive and taking the initiative. It's almost like mech gunline style. This only works if your opponent's army is on the offense and is coming at you. BSS w/ MM and Exorcist tries to take out vehicles and soften up elite units. When enemy units comes close enough, SoB units kick into action, dropping their payload of Sisters off and unleashing Bolters while Deathcults and Saint Celestine mops up or ties up surviving enemy infantry. IMO it's not a strong tactic. The underlying weakness to MM BSS is it's stationary. Sure there's Canoness + Celestian Retinue w/ stubborn MM, but no one these days fields Canoness given better alternatives. Also, SoB range output is much less compared to other 40k armies. There isn't a whole lot of volume. It works against novices who rush headlong without any strategy, but not against experienced players who'll use reserves to take out Exorcists or stop close enough where the produce more range damage output than SoB.

I'm curious what you think the optimal build is for a BSS squad. So far I've been toying with 3 options:
1. MM, flamer, combi-famer
2. melta, melta, combi-flamer
3. MM, melta, combi-melta (classic melta bunker)

With the combi being optional for 1 and 2, but not really for 3. I think you really need 0 or 2 meltaguns - 1 is not reliable enough to risk rushing up and taking a pot shot at armor. I'm definitely going to try more games with MM/flamer/c-flamer, but I think you make a good point about it forcing you into a reactive game. My last game was against guard (got first turn), and the MMs were virtually worthless as I had to keep advancing on his refused flank the whole game.

For reference, my list is the standard celestine/jacobus/death cult/3 BSS/3 doms/2 exo/1 rets that we cant easily get away from and stay competitive with.