Sisters of Battle - The Resurrection

'I tread the path of Righteousness. Though it be paved with broken glass, I tread it barefoot; though it cross rivers of fire, I will pass over them; though it wanders wide, the light of the Emperor guides my step.'
- Dolan Chirosius, Sermon on the road to Gathalamor

Some of you may be surprised to hear that towards the end of 5th edition i had a bit of success with the not so common Sisters of Battle.

It was about the time that the White Dwarf codex came out. The other guys from Death or Glory (DoG) will tell you that I'm a sucker for an underdog - but not only that, there was something about the army that made me want to use them...





Looking back, it's safe to say that the armies i choose to use at tournaments tend to rely on their HQ's in a pivotal way;

Lash Princes
Mephiston
Nob Bikers and their Warlords
Seer Councils and their Farseers

This is what drew me originally to the army - Saint Celestine and her you cannot kill me shenanigans backed up by Uriah Jacobus (Who i lovingly refer to as Jacob McJacobson).

The list relies upon its shooting in the form of mass firepower and melta spam, backed up by the exorcists for long range anti tank whilst Uriah and the Assassin unit counter any combat threat.

This army does not directly translate into 6th edition. Why?

So. I am pretty much thinking whilst i type here - I'm going to use this blog as an exercise for myself to rebuild a competitive SOB list, potentially with allies that can be competitive to a point in 6th. Have at thee.

Lets talk about what we know is good right now...

Mass firepower at 24-36 inch range. Things like Venoms, Boltguns (yes Boltguns), Annihilation Barges, First Rank Fire blob squads and so on. As the meta has moved further away from transports it doesn't take a Solar Macharius to work out that anti infantry weaponry en mass is going to be effective.

Flyers. Need i say more?

Anti Flyer weaponry. Hero mounted Quad Guns for instance.

2+ saves. The complete lack of high initiative attacks that can ignore armour saves now has put focus on shooting, especially plasma weaponry and other high shot ap 1/2 guns.

Maneuverability. With the reduction in transport effectiveness units that can move or redeploy quickly are ace right now, especially for objective grabbing (see Necron list avec 18 wraiths, 3 night scythes etc.)

OK, so the Sisters can only convincingly add mass firepower to their CV with the ability to bring a lot of Boltguns and 3+ saves to the party.  They can bring ap2 in the form of meltas but that's hardly en mass without paying a kings ransom.

Celestine alone can bring a 2+. Woopy doo.

Redeployment comes in the form of a clunky Rhino (don't even get me started on over-pointed Immolators)

But all is not lost - i want to put an idea to you...

Maybe it's not about nestling into the above meta as we know it.

What if we can work as an anti-meta army?

Let me explain, lets look at what lists are dominating the scene right now.

Necrons

2 Destroyer Lords, all the trimmings. Drop 2 wraiths for invun saves as required.

17 wraiths

3 Annihilation Barges

3 Night Scythes

3 Squads of 5 Necron Warriors

10 Immortals with gauss weaponry

Daemons

Flamers and Screamers are dominating the scene right now thanks to their recent white dwarf up date.

They tend to bring something along these lines,

Fateweaver

3 squads of 9 Screamers

3 squads of 6 Flamers

Some troops

3 squads of 6 fiends

All in all a lot of 4/5+ save multiwound models, but not that tough.

Tyranids

2 Hive Tyrants with wings and twin deverours for tonnes of shots

2 Tervigons normally with toxin glands and catalyst for spawning of gaunts

2 squads of 10 Termagaunts

3 squads of 3 Hive Guard

2 Squads of 2 Biovores to kill those pesky blob squads

Normally some Gargoyles to hide the Tyrants

So what do these lists have in common? They bring Flyers. Lots of multi wound models whether they are tough or have a good saving throw (or both). A splattering of high AV tanks but nothing to really worry about majorly. Mainly a lot of models and a lot of fast, maneuverable units. They are all able to pressure an army quickly and efficiently whilst having tough enough holding units to feel comfortable with their back line.

They are all good at the three secondary objectives - Kill the Warlord (denial with tough HQ's as well as character killing offensive ability), Linebreaker and First Blood from range.

Can the Sisters bring anything to bear to deal with these? They have some tools in their arsenal that could be useful, and after looking at these lists, i am getting pretty excited about them.

I'm going to leave you on that note whilst i take consolidate my ideas into an army I'm happy fits the mould I am gunning at here. Why don't you guys take a look too and let me know what you think.

I'll be back soon with a list and explanations on my choices.

Of course the proof is in the pudding so after that I'll be pit myself and my Sisters against members of the DoG team who are all running top competitive lists right now, stay tuned for the reports!