“Emperor grant me enough bolter rounds to shoot the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can and a targeting system that knows the difference”

OK so we have several, good but somewhat dated SOB tactica, particularly Sister Mels (for those of you that don’t know her, she used to be a moderator around here in the good old days before Codex Witch Hunters). Now codex WH has introduced some changes that do rather change things, coupled with the more ready availability of minis such as Exorcists and immolators without having to do a “Brinks-matt” job to pay Forgeworld. So below is a new tactica for SoB.

Fistly let me apologise, this is a very polarised view, I am not covering non-sisters units. There are several reasons for this, firstly I started playing Sisters well before the days of codex WH and so am far more interested in a pure sisters army. Secondly, WH inquisitors are not the uber-killers that DH are. Thirdly, because I believe a pure sisters army offers the best choice for a WH army.

General tactics:
Tanking it
The introduction of codex WH provided veteran SOB players with a much missed option – a transport for the troop squad. Generally it is unadvisable to have one or two vehicles in an army, they present too easy targets for your opponents anti tank weapons, and accordingly conventional wisdom says all or nothing. Personally, the weapons available to sisters and how faith effects play makes me mechanised through and through, with the exception of seraphim, every sisters unit used in non-combat patrol games has a transport of some shape, size or description, this means in 1500 points, 2 rhinos, 2 exorcists and 2 immolators, I believe a mechanised sisters force to be far superior to the alternative but will detail options for the foot slogging armies, because some players do like them and a large army of the faith is quite fluffy.

Unbelievable
The use of faith can transform an SOB army, don’t be afraid to do it, learn when to use those precious points. Without faith SOB are a weak marine equivalent (MEQ) but with the power to make weapons AP1, or make their saves invulnerable, they become an unpredictable nightmare for an opponent. Other acts of faith have their uses, but those 2 abilities alone are the ones most consistently used.

How do they play?
SoB, for the uninitiated, live in the world of short to medium range weaponry, they have some options to do other stuff (long range and assault), but it is there that they win or lose. Accordingly you need to control the range to your opponent, this is why I prefer the mechanised units. Whilst somewhat resilient thanks to powered armour, without faith, they can not compete toe to toe with MEQ in assaults. The plan for most SOB players is to get up close and then let loose with a hail of fire.

UNITS
SOB Heroine
(That is the female version of Hero, not the white powder)
Wherever possible take the Canoness not the Palatine – the points difference is more than justified.
The heroine is unusual for a HQ, with the right wargear they can tear through light infantry, but will struggle against MEQ. On the other hand they can be turned into lethal HQ killers. Convention says equip the Canoness in one of 2 roles, either on her own with a jump pack, zoom around and hunt HQs, -less risky than you may think, or with a body guard and transport, the latter is my favourite as it gives me more tanks!
Either way, a blessed weapon is pretty much a must, a bolt pistol or inferno pistol is needed too, the latter is considerably more expensive but gives her some good anti tank options. Cloak of St Asprila is very common and a must if you go down the jump pack route, don’t forget faith can turn her save invulnerable.
Littanies of faith are a good option, particularly if you want to be certain of having an inv save. The rosarius presents an inv save option that does not require faith, personally I don’t bother because my Canoness has a bodyguard. DO NOT FORGET – frag grenades. Mantle of St Ophelia is a good option if you are worried about insta kill, particularly from sniping las cannons if you go down the jump pack route. The only other item commonly used is the book of St Lucious, personally again there is no point because she already is with a squad, however some people do take her to bolster moral.
Your Canoness should now be capable of killing anything smaller than a C’Tan. Use faith to stop her dieing (however bad your luck is, failing3 2+ inv saves is pretty difficult) and hit your opponents HQ like mad, use more faith to supplement your damage if you need to.

Repentia
OK I know people love these, and they are not bad assault troops, but generally they do not fit with a mechanised force and in a foot slogger force against a decent commander they are likely to draw ordinance and get flattened before they get there

Celestians and SoB squads
These two squads are used very similarly, for a mechanised force, equip them with at least 2 flamers or a flamer or heavy flamer, take and imagifier and the VSS upgrade and either give the VS a brazier of holy fire or tool her for combat (power weapon or more commonly eviscerator). Zoom the squad up in a rhino (with extra armour or smoke) or an immolator or the celestians, leap out, really close to your opponent, use faith to make your guns AP1 and shoot, this will wipe out a full MEQ squad, you can then either hold your position, wander around looking for other targets or get back in the rhino and do it all over again.
For foot slogging armies, take squads as large as possible, with even numbers, the imagifier is less important. You are gonna walk up the field, your chances of stopping, with your enemy stood still in flamer range is low, I much prefer storm bolters or melta guns for these squads

Dominions
Many SoB players (including, regrettably, myself) neglect these for the much loved Serephim, Dominions can be used very like SoB squads and Celestians, wuith 4 flamers to play with, the genuinely can burn the heretic. An alternative is to take 4 meltas and go tank hunting. Since dominions can not be taken without a transport, they really have no place in a foot slogging army

Seraphim
Much beloved by most sisters players, Seraphim present all sorts of interesting possibilities, there are numerous ways of using them it is possible to take a small squad tank hunting and make a decent fist of it, but personally I feel this is a waste of their talents.
Many players make the mistake of assuming they are an assault squad- they are not – hit and run is for use in emergencies, people point out seraphim can shoot, charge, use faith for 2 rounds of combat to get inv saves, then pull back and shoot again, but this takes a prolific amount of faith and is rather pointless against true assault troops, the best use of seraphim is to get up close and once more deliver AP1 bolter death, don’t forget they are twin linked, throw in as many flamers as you can (2) and you should, once again, blow away a MEQ squad in one round, then by all means charge one or two survivors. To do this you need a large squad, numbers below 8 mean the act of faith is risky and even 8 is a bit iffy. A VSS is a must for her imagifier abilities. Equiping her is a matter of taste, generally, either a brazier of holy fire, a power weapon or an eviscerator are preferred.
Some people like to mix the odd twin linked inferno pistol into the squad, and this does make it more versatile, but at the expense of some of its ability to do its basic role. It is a valid choice, it depends on the rest of your army and your style of play. Personally having played Eldar for about 20 years I am more than used to specialist units so I don’t bother.

Retributors
These are a common sight in a sisters army, conventional wisdom says get 4 heavy bolters, nothing else is gonna get the range unless you stick in a transport, in which case you may as well have taken dominions. For a foot slogger force, try and pad the squad out with sisters to get you chances of AP1 and to give you some resilience. For a mechanised force, take a squad of 6 and take an immolator, the tank can wander off and reek havoc without the retributors ever getting inside

Immolators
I have rarely seen anyone take an immolator on its own since codex WH came out, take them as transports for your squads, save you HS slots for other stuff. Immolators are quite fragile and should always have extra armour and probably smoke launchers
Heavy flamers are good for immolators actually used as transports as you end up close to your opponent anyway, multi meltas can be used to provide very good anti tank, but should only really be used for immolators which do not carry troops (usually the one for the retributors) and generally will result in the tank drawing a lo of fire which it can not withstand.
Heavy bolters are really only of use vs light infantry or light armour, unless you know you are facing these stick with the flamers

Exorcists
This is the anti tank option for SoB, accordingly unless I am playing combat patrol, both my immolators will be featuring in the army. This presents a problem for foot sloggers, do you put a couple of tanks on anyway for their anti tank ability and hope their armour holds out? Not a problem us tread headed SoB players worry about. I do not intend to put much more on Exorcists as there is already and excellent tactica on their use on the US GW site.

So there you go, against MEQs get your sisters in their tanks, zoom up the field, leap out, get AP1 though faith and shoot., do this under covering fire from a couple of exorcists and a retributor squad and you should be there.

Sisters of Battle tactica for beginners10.0101