Monday 4 February 2013

Sisters of Battle - The Army List

'That which was will be. That which dieth will live. That which falleth will rise up. This, I say to you, is the nature of things. If you but once believe.'
- Saint Sabbat, Epistles

Salutations fellow Adeptus Sororitas fans. In my last installment you'll remember I was talking about the current 6th edition meta and where I saw Sisters fitting in to it.

Well you'll be glad to know that I have come up with an army that I believe is pretty good - and not a forge world unit in sight! Without further ado...



1850 points
Sisters of Battle Primary Detachment

Saint Celestine

Uriah Jacobson

10 Battle Sisters - Multimelta, Meltagun, Meltabombs
Rhino - Searchlight

10 Battle Sisters - Multimelta, Meltagun, Meltabombs
Rhino - Searchlight

20 Battle Sisters - Multimelta, Meltagun, Meltabombs, Simulacrum Imperialis.

Exorcists - Searchlight

Exorcists - Searchlight

Exorcists - Searchlight

Grey Knight Allied Attachment

Inquisitor Coteaz

12 Henchman - 9 Warriors w/ Boltguns, 3 Multimelta Survitors

5 Henchman - w/ Boltguns

Dread Knight - Sword, Flamer, Jump

Fortifications

Defence Line w/ Quad Gun

A quick shout about the list - I did this from memory as I've left my WD codex at a mates house and don't actually own a Grey Knight codex! By my calculations it comes just slightly shy of 1850, maybe someone would like to double check and correct me though :)

So what have I gone for here? The Saint will generally start inside the 20 man sister unit with Jacob giving them FNP and +1 attack not to mention Stubborn 10. The saint can either hide ready to jump out/act as a backline sweeper or sit at the front of the unit and take 2+ saves if there are no multiple str6+ weapons threatening to instant kill her (I'd probably still risk it if they weren't ap2 attacks considering she'll just get back up anyway)

The defence line will of course sit at the back trying to cover a couple of objectives whilst Coteaz mans the Quad gun and casts prescience (pronounciation: pressience right? or pre-science? haha) on the henchman for some threat to armour. Coteaz can grab another spell, which will most likely be from Divination with the aim of getting some sort of debuff (as he can only cast buffs on other Grey Knight units) I'd like to keep the 5 man unit in reserve in most games.

I see the Exorcists generally spreading out across the table using different lanes to potentially go for side armour of higher AV tanks. It also means that units like Necron Wraiths and Dark Eldar Beasts can't wreck all 3 in a turn of combat. They will need to hug 4+ cover.

The Dreadknight along with Saint form a solid offensive option that are both mobile and tough.

Here are a few key points I like about the army that I want to draw your attention 
  • The 2 10 man sister units are able to redeploy 12 inches with the rhino to add their weight of fire to the large squad. The general rule here is that 1 and to a certain extent 2 units won't be able to get the job done on their own. Divide, focus and conquer is the key here. (If your opponent isn't worried about that many boltgun shots then he is seriously under-estimating your output and at that point has already lost - Think Screamers/Flamers, Necron Wraiths etc all quaking in fear)
  • 3+ armour is nothing to sniff at even when you're T3. 40 of those bodies, some with FNP potentially is going to be harder than most people think to shift, especially when some are hidding in a Rhino chassis! This again adds to the shock factor of the army (who plays Sisters at tournaments nowadays right?)
  • 5 Troop choices is more than you'd normally find, however I felt it was important to have more than usual due to the fragile nature of the Henchman.
  • Saint is the Warlord here, which makes it a lot harder for the opponent to gain that extra victory point. She as well as the Dreadknight can also contest Linebreaker with relative ease.
  • Searchlights are pretty good with a 50/50 chance of playing night fight in the game at some point. Nowadays all you need to do is be in range so as long as i get a stormbolter shot off from the Rhino I can light up a unit to the rest of the army, no more 2d6x3.
  • Coteaz forms a nice back line defence against any faster/scouting opponents, with his 2+ save and daemon hammer he may even put some people off of combat with this unit, especially since they will generally be prescienced for overwatch and combat attacks. Otherwise he will be sitting snuggly at the back firing the Quad Gun all game.
  • The Dreadknight is pretty juicy nowadays, and with his jump pack and flamer he can be a potential threat to certain armies (Tyranids and Imperial Guard spring to mind). With this 2+ save and lack of any plasma around nowadays en masse I'm pretty certain this guy can get involved.
  • Faith points allow my Sister units to re-roll 1s to hit - this is more useful in the shooting phase I feel but there's no reason I can't be using this on overwatch and assault as well if I get sufficient faith points. I like how the Battle Sisters can use them to regroup to, very important when these guys are lacking ATSKNF.
  • Jacobus is cool, he has a shotgun that fires as far as a boltgun at twice the rate of fire, all whilst shouting quite loudly and holding a stick and rag (which by the way is classed as the Ecclesiarchy's most precious relic). That is all.
So, does this list fit the criteria I set out in my previous post - to be an ANTI-META© army. I think so - let me know what you think. It's important that I get the balance right there. I don't want to be really good against the Current Big Thing© and shit against everything else.

Next I'll be bringing you Battle Reports against my fellow DoG gamers. I'm going to try to get a game against  the following armies, if there are any other armies you think are worth my mettle, let me know.

Necron Air Cavalry/Wraith Spam.
Imperial Guard with Space Marine Detachment.
Tyranid flying circus of doom.
Dark Eldar with Eldrad
Ravenwing (just because i haven't played these guys yet but I've been reading good things)

I continue the sentiment that i left with on my last entry - I am excited about using this army. So much so that i had to go ahead and write post the next installment within 12 hours of the first...

Steve


3 comments:

  1. It looks like a tough list. I fielded two Exorcists in the last 40k league and caused a lot of pain if a rolled well for their shooting. I also like Celestine and Uriah as HQ choices. One thing is I don't think the act of faith that allows battle sister squads to reroll ones can be carried over into the other players turn. I don't have my white dwarf handy but I think the rules say that when you use a faith point its effect ends at the end of the phase you used it in. So if you use an act of faith in the shooting phase then the effect of the act ends at the end of that phase.

    ColKG

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  2. I agree! I'm pretty sure Battle Sister squads can use a faith point in each phase though. To rally no matter of restrictions in the movement phase, to reroll 1's to hit in the shooting phase and then again in the assault phase? Correct me if I'm wrong of course!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are correct, a squad can use an act of faith in each phase as long as you have enough faith points.

    ColKG

    ReplyDelete