So, enough time has gone by that I can make an article about how the much Maligned Sisters of battle are doing in 6th. I'm going to list their relative strengths and uses and then give a grade of how good the unit is now Vs how good it was in 5th.
And, if I'm feeling plucky, notes on how to improve them.
So, lets start with their army special rules:
Faith Points:
The main problem with mechanic isn't that it's hard to remember. Well, not if you play Sisters, it's your number one surprise weapon against the uninitiated, it's that the mechanic doesn't scale well. If you're playing combat patrol you get 1D6 Faith points a turn. If you're playing a massive 2500 point double force org game you get... 1D6 Faith points per turn. It's not a great way of doing it.
Acts of faith themselves however are very useful for the most part and add a much needed element of character to the army that it otherwise lacks. They've stayed pretty much the same for the most part and remain non-game changing. Which is good for balance but less good for power gamers.
Grade: C+ (Unchanged - except for a few key places)
Notes: It would be fun if the shooting acts of Faith remained in use until the beginning of your next turn. Rending Overwatch Heavy bolters anyone?
Also, the ability to generate 1D3 Faith points per amount of points you're playing so that it scales properly. Maybe 1D3 per 500 points played?
Shield of faith:
EVERYTHING Sisters related in this list has a 6+ Invulnerable, even vehicles. With the changes to cover in 6th a 6++ actual has marginally increased use across the board.
With how hull points work now having ANY save at all for vehicles is great.
Now that everyone has 'Deny the witch' rolls it gives Sisters a modicum of defense against the dark arts, coupled with a 6++ against Witchfire attacks and you have semi- decent stopping power against Witches.
Grade: A (Overall increase for vehicles and against Witch powers)
Notes: I don't see how you could increase these without making it over powered.
HEADQUARTERS!!!
Canoness:
Ah, the much overlooked Canoness, she's overlooked for good reason. She just doesn't bring enough game to the table to make it worth buying her. The only thing she has is her Act of Faith: The Passion +1 Initiative and Preferred enemy. Which is great for all of the Sisters noted assault units... Oh wait, yeah, we don't have any, not any that would benefit from her powers anyway. Sure, for only 65 points she's dirt cheap but she doesn't come with an invulnerable save. She only has 9!!!! 9 wargear options most of which are useless. Badly done Cruddace, badly done.
Sure, if you're looking to Ally IN Sisters she's a good choice but just spring the extra few and buy the AMAZING living Saint or the very useful Jacobus.
Grade: D (Unchanged)
Notes: If she came with the ability to take unique wargear or mod the way your army works (Scoring Celestian squads?) she'd be useful. If she had that PLUS a SHOOTING based Act of Faith she'd actually be worth taking.
Sororitas Command squad
So, a fairly typical command squad, as far as the Imperium goes. The only squad in the army capable of gaining the more useful in 6th 'Feel no pain.' They're able to take a limited variety of shooting weapons and an Act of Faith that gives them 'Relentless' and 'Move through cover,' they just lack anything special. Where in Marines you can equip them to the gills with guns or close combat weapons, the Sisters WS and I 4 are completely wasted on a Multimelta. They have no way of increasing their Invulnerable save and they can only take 3 special weapons since you're REQUIRED to take a Sister Dialogus. Sure, she has a 16.5% chance of allowing the army to regain a Faith point (For that turn only and within a limited range) I'd rather take more guns. In the Imperial guard a command squad is an amazing force multiplier with their Orders system, this command squad does none of that.
Sure you can take a few guns but you can take other, more useful guns in other parts of the army.
PLUS, in order to take one you have to take a Canoness and that's a double whammy of bad choices.
Grade: D- (Unchanged)
Notes: If the Sister Dialogus had another ability such as allowing a squad within a certain distance of re-rolling a failed act of faith or something to do with 'Deny the Witch' rolls or 'Overwatch' SOMETHING the squad would be better. If there was a way to take advantage of the squads increased WS and I with close combat weapons like whips and Power swords on it's own the squad would be alright, if they coupled those changes with the suggested changes to the Canoness then this squad has the potential to roll through most troops in the game. This had the potential to become the Sister's 'go-to' close combat squad they just missed a perfect opportunity here.
Ecclesiarchy Priests/Confessors:
So, a priest.... He's basically a mini Chaplain with 'Righteous rage' except he lacks the aforementioned Chaplains key ability, making the squad 'Fearless.' Hell, I would've settled for Stubborn. Something, they're supposed to be fiery orators and that's not really present here. So the Confessor has 3 wounds, he's still toughness 3 with a 5+/4++. Not worth it. They don't take up space in the FOC which is great for how much you won't be using them. You need to take one to unlock the Battle conclaves (more on those later) but both the named characters do that as well and they're WAY, WAY better.
They're pretty much the only way to work shotguns into the army and if that's REALLY, REALLY important to you you'd still probably skip them
Grade: D- (Unchanged)
Notes: Cruddace really dropped the ball on this one too. Even if you could make a squad Fearless/Stubborn there wouldn't be much call to take them since the Sisters wouldn't be able to ride in a Rhino with him attached. I suppose an argument could be made to attach him to a bigger squad and have them sit on an objective but they don't actually GRANT Stubborn so why would you make that argument fictional person on the internet? They also might have been a cool way to work in Arcane or crazy wargear but they don't do that either. A true strength of this would be to attach them to a massive mob of unruly hooligans with terrible weapons and set them loose on an unsuspecting enemy but the Sisters don't have access to those. Well, not since 2nd edition.
Saint Celestine
So, the lady, the myth, the legend. The immortal living Saint of the Sisters of Battle. I'm not exaggerating here, it's theoretically possible for her to be immortal in a game. Battle cannon, Pfft! Force weapon? PFFFFFT. Thunder hammer? PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT. Clocking in at a little over a 100 points, she's Fearless, WS 7, I 7 with SIX power weapon attacks on the charge. Her Ardent blade comes equipped with a magical Heavy flamer that can be fired in 'Overwatch' and never needs worse than a 4+ to wound. She has a 2+/4++ with the ability to Thriller her way back to life with D3 wounds EVERY turn if you kill her.
She's Faithful so she gains the benefits of any Act of Faith from a squad she's attached to as well. So, that's nice.
She loses some grace in 6th ed but that's only because Power Swords took a hit against 2+ Armour and Assault in general is a little weaker. She's not a great overall addition to the army, she doesn't affect the force org (Scoring Seraphim?) or anything like that (like her OWN Act of Faith Curddace!) but she's a beat stick in an old school way. Still, she's awesome. I'm not joking here, she's not elegant but you should totally go do this.
Grade: A- (A+ in 5th, see changes to assault rules and power weapons)
Notes: For what she is she may actually be UNDER costed but don't tell anyone I said that.
Arch-Confessor Kyrinov
So, let me just applaud Cruddace for reaching back into the 2nd edition and bring back this guy. Let me also then say, he's costed really weird. He's got about 70 points of equipment and costs you only about a Marine Sgt more than that. Which is bizarre. Ah well. He may either have a Power Sword or a power Maul depending on what your opinion of a MACE is so, that's your choice. It does have the 'Concussive' Special rule so that's a nice bonus. He has all the same abilities of a Chaplain which is okay too, it would be better in another army but whatever. He allows whatever squad he's in to re-roll failed 'Acts of Faith' rolls so that's good too.
Here's his big bonus though, me makes ALL friendly units - including allies - within 6 FEARLESS. Since Fearless is better now that makes this ability better.
He also unlocks Battle conclaves (Again, more on them later) which WAS fairly key in the Sister's battle plan.
Grade: C (Overall unchanged)
Notes: I'm not sure, he's just very plain.
Uriah Jacobus, Protector of the Faith:
So, once again Cruddace reached back into fluff that's older than most of the players to bring this guy out from the darkness. Same cost as Krinov but more useful in different ways. He's Stubborn and grants the squad Hatred. He comes equipped with a range 24 Shotgun and an Invulnerable save that's BETTER than his normal save. 5+/4++ (You don't see that often, probably rightfully so.) He unlocks Battle conclaves and he's more likely to be used with them BECAUSE (Drum rollllllll) He grants his squad +1 Attack and 'Feel no pain' That's great regardless of what it's attached to, but especially good in an assault unit.
His main ability is tied directly into Faith points and how unreliable they are to generate. He allows the Sisters army to RE-ROLL the dice to determine the amount of Faith points you get a turn. This alone is a reason to make him a must buy, which is unfortunate since it makes the army kind of same-y
Grade: A (Unchanged)
Notes: If Acts of Faith weren't so wonky to generate he wouldn't be so necessary to purchase.
ELITES!!!
Ecclesiarchy battle conclave:
So, I've mentioned these guys and gals before. They're basically a cut and paste of the Grey Knights Inquisitorial henchmen. Now, remember how many options you got with those guys? Remember how truly awesomely customizable that squad was? Remember how great it was to make them Troops and go 'Mwahahahahahaha' Space Monkies and PLASMACANNONS!!! Pew pew pew!
Right? All those things were great. Now, imagine taking ALLLLL those options and removing most of them so you're only left with Crusaders, Death cult assassins and Arco-flagellants. GREAT RIGHT!? With the hit Assault took in 6th, not being able to assault out of a vehicle and how difficult it can be to get into position this squad took a hit. Still, this squad has its uses. Death cult assassins are pretty great. 4 S4 Power weapon attacks on the charge with a 5++ in combat that's going to hurt most things. Crusaders are the armies only access to Storm shields and can be great.
Acros are still pretty terrible, moving on.
Still, with the new allies rules you'd actually just be better off taking an Inquisitorial henchmen squad from Grey knights and you'd get something more versatile and more fluffy.
Grade: B (A in 5th, mostly due to hits to assault)
Notes: I dunno, the squad is just too limited.
Celestian squads
So, the elite squad. Eldar have Aspect warriors. Guard have Storm troopers. Space Marines have (For the most part) have awesome Sternguard and sometimes useful vanguard and Sisters have these ladies. They're a few more points than a regular Sister, they have 1 more attack, LD 9, and WS 4. That's not bad, when you think about it. Where this squad really falls down is it's upgrade options. Their Act of Faith increases their Strength in close combat like Hammerhand except they lack any sort of close combat upgrades in their squad.
+1 Strength in close combat, that's great, please take this Multi-melta!
That'll help. They have the same shooting upgrades as a regular Sister but a smaller squad size. (5 instead of 10) So they have their place if you want to use MSU and Immolators and cover the field in flame. I'm just not sure how useful that tactic is anymore. They can't be made scoring. They really, really want to be a close assault unit but dual storm bolters and a Sister Superior with a Power Sword does not an assault squad make.
Grade: C- (Unchanged)
Notes: They want to be an assault squad, let them be an assault squad. They really seem like they should be scoring. Let that happen too.
Repentia squad
So, if you like grimdark, this is grimdark. How about we strip these nuns naked, replace their tongues with holy scriptures and then give them MASSIVE chainsaws and let them loose to regain their honour? The fluff is great, the unit is okay. Solidly, solidly okay. A squad with no saves and WS 4, give them all Eviscerators and Feel no pain. Fearless, Feel no Pain, Fleet, Rage and a 6++ save. It's a bizarre squad. Rage got a lot better in this edition so this helps the squad.
They can't BUY a transport but they can steal one from a friend and really, who would stop them? I wouldn't. It's a bit faster now, thanks to the change to charge range but they're all going to be I1. Their act of faith helps this a lot though. Even if they die they still get 1 counter attack at I1 to try and avenger yourself.
Interestingly, this is what makes this squad useful. Not as an assault squad but as a COUNTER-assault squad. If you have these girls parked behind a squad of sisters holding an objective you're going to think twice about charging the sisters because these girls will Texas massacar you in half. And that's pretty cool
Grade: B-/C+ (Up from last edition)
Notes: Not sure, they're kind of plain but reliable and fun - crazy grimdark fun time evisceration.
TROOP
Battle sisters
So, the Troop section of Sisters is very limited. So limited in fact that you only get ONE option. The Battle sister squad. People have argued endlessly. I say people, I mean the 5 of us who still care about Sisters have argued about their base cost. Either way, I think they're costed perfectly. People say they pale in comparison to Grey Hunters but EVERYBODY does, that's a problem with Grey hunters and not sisters.
Their main issue is the upgrade costs. There's no reason a Flamer in this army should cost 5 points. It's free in Space marines, it should be free for Sisters as well. The upgrades are just a few points higher than they should be. Also, the squad options are lacking but, fortunately thanks to weird wording, I can give my Sister Superior twin-plasma pistols. Sisters lack plasma and this is a good way to get it back into the system. Also, the minimum squad size is 10. Which I guess is fine but you get 2 weapons at 10 Sisters. You can go all the way up to 20 Sisters but you don't gain the option to buy more weapons based on squad size. Which is sad, it would've been a cool way to make a hoard of power armour on the table and have it still be effective.
Their Act of Faith took a bit of a hit. It allows you to re-roll ones to hit in the shooting phase and also allows them to automatically regroup in the movement phase. With the changes to regrouping to 25% it's less impressive than it used to be. It also doesn't stop you from getting swept in assault, which is a key problem with them.
Grade: C+ (Broadly unchanged. The low grade is an issue since these are your Troop choices)
Notes: A slight tweak to weapon upgrade cost and the ability to take more weapons based on squad size. Also, a key piece of equipment they lost from last edition was the Saint's Book. It granted them, and all friendly squads within 6 Stubborn. If the Superior could buy that as a thing and make the squad Stubborn it would go a LONG way to solving their assault issues.
If they really want to go crazy, allow their Act of Faith to give them 'Preferred enemy' so they at least get a bit of a chance in CC.
DEDICATED TRANSPORTS:
Rhino
So, the Rhino, there's nothing to be said about this that hasn't been said before. Well, except that it's a giant man eating banana that used to go to school with Ron Paul in old man crazy Texas high school.
It's a Rhino that costs the same as a regular Rhino except it has a 6++ save all the time. So, it's actually better than a normal Rhino.
Grade: B+ (It's one of the best transports in the game that got a little better. 6th edition isn't super kind to low armor transports which is why a 6++ is so much more important
Notes: None
Immolator
So, you know Razorbacks? Imagine those with a Twin-linked heavy flamer except it's a little bit more expensive for some unexplained reason. It has the same 6++ that all Sisters have but I don't think it justifies the price. Getting the Free Heavy Bolter upgrade isn't worth it, even a little. The multi-meltas are probably a few points over costed as well although they're still a good option on scouting squads.
Grade: C+
Notes: Mostly just a price break and it would be perfect. If we got our old vehicle upgrades like Laud hailers or Holy promethium and this thing would be solid. As it is, it's merely mediocre.
FAST ATTACK:
[b] Seraphim
Flying, holy, gunslinger bullet angels that come to give you salvation and fire. Sweet, sweet fire. Loving fire, cleansing fire. Coming in at the cost of a Grey hunter these girls are amazing. They have a Jump pack, Hit and Run but only I3, which can be kind of an issue, they get to re-roll their failed 6++ and any failed Act of Faith attempts. They all come with twin bolt pistols that makes them very shooty. More lovingly you can give two sisters in the squad twin hand flamers or twin melta pistols. I think the hand flamers are where it's at, so at. I think the twin meltas are slightly over costed but that's rich coming from a squad that's under costed overall. The main issue here is that the melta can be better utilized in other squads and the hand flamers are sexy hot like Rosario Dawson or Hallie Berry in 1999.
Their act of faith is what brings it all together. It allows you to re-roll all failed 'to-wound' rolls in the shooting phase. It's pretty great. After I unleashed this squad on a group of Deep Striking Blood angel assault marines I was able to force 30 saving throws from the hand flamers alone.
Grade: A (Unchanged from last edition)
Notes: Right now you can buy 2 special weapons for the whole squad. If they allowed you to take an extra set at 10 and then adjusted the squads base cost a little and this would be an almost perfect squad. It's a great Saint Celestine delivery system. They're probably a bit under costed but a little bit odd to use.
[b] Dominions
So, They're basically Sisters that can Scout and take more special weapons. That's the biggest thing I can say about them. They range from 5-10 and can take 2 special weapons per 5 Sisters. So that's pretty great. Their Act of Faith makes the squad twin-linked for the shooting phase which is super useful if you have 4 melta guns or 4 Flamers. You can also buy them Storm bolters but I, honestly have no idea why you'd do that, that would be like trying to Punch Randy Colture. Sure you CAN do it, but SHOULD you?
Mathematically speaking, you'll kill more Marines per point spent with the twin-linked flamers than you will with the twin-linked Meltas but I think the winners here are meltas are a better choice. The squad can scout and try to take out a vehicle first turn up close. It depends on how you play. If you take 4 Meltas you can give the Superior a combi-flamer or Vise-versa.
There's two ways to play them, either 5 in an Immolator with flamers/meltas that scouts and kills with the Multi-melta on the vehicle or 10 with 5 Flamers/ Melta in a Rhino that outflanks to destroy anything they look at, even a little bit.
I run two of these squads every time I play.
Grade: B+
Notes: None really, I think they're great.
HEAVY SUPPORT:
[b] Retributor squad
Heavy weapon sisters with a more limited weapon load-out. They can only use bolters of fire based weapons. This makes them short ranged but deadly, it makes them less versatile than a marine Dev squad because of a lack of Las cannons or Missile launchers but they're a solid unit. Their main problem is their cost.
Their Act of Faith gives them rending which is a waste of time if you take a Multi-melta. But go for it, totally use a Rending Multi-melta, why wouldn't that be a good idea? You can take 4 Heavy weapons in the squad so I think the Heavy bolter is where it's at, 12 Rending S5 AP4 shots are nothing to sneeze at. Plus, a squad kitted out like that is cheap. Dirt cheap. It makes the 20 point cost of the Heavy flamer totally unacceptable. The Heavy bolters are also their longest ranged weapon.
Equiping them with a Multi-melta Immolator is a good buy.
Grade: B- (Unchanged)
Notes: None really, just some points changes.
[b] Exorcist
The ever-ready, ever powerful Exorcist. Much like the movie.... it hasn't changed much since it was first introduced. S: 8 AP: 1 Missiles. Their only downside is that it fires D6 of them per turn. It's on a Predator chasse and has the 6++ save that All sisters have so that makes it much more survivable than a regular Imperial tank. The problem it has is much like the Vindicator, it has a target painted on it so big even a National Guard rifleman could manage to hit it if it needed to. When it's your only major vehicle it becomes an easy target.
It's main use is that it's the Sisters only long range vehicle. The entire rest of the army lives in the ranges between 6-24 inches so having anything that can put down semi-dependable fire power from beyond that is a great asset. I run two of them a game.
Grade: B+ (Slightly weaker)
Notes: Not sure, making it reliable makes it less fun.....
The overall grade for sisters is C-/C.
They have some very good core elements but lack variety and some of their costing is odd. I know the main reason for their lack of Variety is the fact that their model range is over 15 years old and you can only do so much with 18 different types of metal mini's. So, that's something I have to accept. Still, with what he had I still think Cruddace could have done a better job. It wasn't ever going to be an over powered, unstoppable mess but I think it could've become a solid C+/B- if the book had a few tweaks.
Lack of variety in equipment is key. I think the banner that allows you to re-roll failed 'Act of Faith' tests is about 5 points too expensive, as are the basic weapons of the Sister squads. The lack of Holy fire and the book of Saint Lucis is a big blow to their damage output and ability to hang around. I'm frankly shocked that Cruddace took out the book. It's a big oversight. I'd be willing to spend a few points to give a squad 'Stubborn.'
Their unmovable, unstoppable Faith doesn't seem to translate well on the battlefield.
Honestly, there's a few tweaks here and there to bring this army up to snuff in 6th. Right now it's average or a little bit under par. A few new special characters, a special, dedicated assault unit, tweak a few points cost and add a few units maybe give us a Cultist type squad for our church fanatics and everything would be pretty great.
I'd really like new models, these ones aren't aging super great.
