Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Adepta Sororitas(7E)

Why Play Sisters of Battle

Because you're a proud fa/tg/uy who can remember the good old days when the models were pewter, the the vehicle armor was Papier-mâché, and the universe was populated by manly motherfuckers instead of whiny power armored mary sues. Whats that? Inquisitors? Fuck your shit. Go play Grey Knights. This is second edition Sisters, when everything was ecclesiarchal, the force org chart was 50% HQ, and the Cannoness had a goddamn laser mace. New models? Updates? Real codex? Fuck um. You're going to win for the same reason you always have. You're the hardest, beardiest, motherfucker around and you've been pushing these kids' shit in since they had pokemon lunch boxes. Welcome to the new hard mode.

Yea ok now that we're done with the dick swinging Sisters are a pretty hard force to play. The new mini-codex release has left them with a clown car of an army and eliminated most of their previous strategies (plasmatroopers, immospam). The force org has become incredibly top heavy. On the one hand we have some incredibly cheap HQs, but most of your staple units like sisters and dominions are now more expensive. This is a challenge army and isn't for newbs. Then again if you own a Sisters army you probly knew that.

Unit Analysis

All Sororitas units have the shield of faith rule (6+ invulnerable). Your army gains d6 faith points during its movement phase, which must be spent by the end of your turn. Having a sergeant (which nearly all squads have) or having taken a casualty adds a +1 to a unit's rolls for acts of faith, as does having an attached a Canoness, Confessor, Saint Celestine, Uriah Jacobus or Arch-Confessor Kyrinov.

HQ

• Saint Celestine - Anvil Thawn is a bitch and Celestine is here to show you why. For a trifling 120 points you get a solid close combat HQ that is virtually guaranteed to be a pain in your opponent's ass. She's probably going to die to an unlucky roll against a MC but its all good, if killed she will continue to attempt resurrection every turn until it works. The exact opposite of third edition, she is now the cost effective choice as opposed to a Cannoness. Her biggest problem is finding a squad badass enough to roll with her. Best bet is probably to use Seraphim and break her off for assault.
• Arch-Confessor Kyrinov - He's cheap as hell at 90 points, comes with a Laud Hailer and Simulacrum Imperialis standard, has a Fearless aura, and fucks up the enemy's initiative when he strikes. Unfortunately he suffers the crippling disadvantage of not being Uriah Jacobus.
• Uriah Jacobus, Protector of the Faith - You don't know it yet, but he's in your army. No, really. Now that faith works like a back alley craps game you need him for the re-rolls alone. His ability to give his squad +1A and Feel No Pain for 90 points are just extras. The ubiquitous loadout is the "Uriah Bomb", which is Uriah leading a battle conclave of assassins (and crusaders if you're skittish).
• Canoness - One of the victims of the new codex, the Cannoness has gone from being an all purpose motherfucker to an overpriced excuse to open up a mediocre command squad. Could be of use in some lists, but when the special characters are only marginally more expensive why bother?
• Sororitas Command Squad - Not bad taken on its own merits, but you desperately need to take a Battle Conclave and you've wasted your points on a Canoness instead.
  • Celestians - Access to some bitchin heavy weapons. Actually worth it in this slot.
  • Sister Dialogus - Adds a laud hailer. Meh.
  • Sister Hospitaller - Adds Feel No Pain. Nice.
• Confessor - Man the fuck up and take Kyrinov. You're paying for a power weapon and getting everything else free.
• Ecclesiarchy Battle Conclave - Pretty similar to the Grey Knights' henchmen, these are cheap(ish) choices to fill in your army's close combat hole. Remember you have no grenades, so watch the fuck out.
  • Arco-Flagellant - Lost their power weapons but gained Feel No Pain and no longer OD at random. They make decent meat shields but they aren't bringing much to the party you couldn't get elsewhere, especially with Uriah giving everybody feel no pain. They can toss a few glances at AV11 or under though, if you feel the need to charge tanks with your conclave.
  • Crusader - The meatier option. They aren't as killy as assassins but you can use them to soak up attacks with their 3++ saves.
  • Death Cult Assassin- Its dual power weapons, whats not to like? Stick them to Uriah to give them the staying power they need to rip shit up.

Elite

• Preacher - You disgust me. For the price you are paying for re-rolls on the charge you could have 6 more swings and keep fleet, assuming you put him with Repentia - which is the only use for them even verging on sane.
• Celestians - Looking for a ranged unit that isn't going to collapse like wet cardboard in melee? Well then you played the wrong army. This is a trap plain and simple. If you want toys there's much better places to get them than these 15-points-a-pop glory girls, and burning faith points to become merely decent in close combat is a strategy on par with offing Aun Va to give fire warriors preferred enemy.
• Sisters Repentia - No longer the joke in poor taste they were in third editions, they are now a moderately survivable unit (6++ and Feel No Pain) that pumps out a frightening number of eviscerator swings in close combat. Thanks to rage they might head after the enemy's heavy troops, or they might race off to chase grots, so have them jack somebody else's transport to keep them off the rag long enough to get them where they need to be. On the plus side, with fleet they will probably catch whatever they chase, and there's not much they can't kill on the charge. On the downside, anything that bypasses feel no pain will have them dropping like eviscerator wielding flies in bondage gear.

Dedicated Transports

• Rhino - Its a rhino. You've seen it elsewhere and you know what it does. Its now preferable to Immolators in most situations due to the latter getting brutalized by the writers.
• Immolator - Remember the Carnifex? Remember how it was the ubiquitous choice that was in every tournament build because it was just that useful? Remember what Cruddance did to it? Say hello to the new Immolator. More points, less dakka, slower. It has a few benefits such as being available to every part of the force org, but except for scouting dominions there's just very few people who could use it. Convert them back to rhinos and save the extra bits to pelt Matt Ward with.

Troop

• Battle Sisters - This is your troop choice whether you like it or not, and chances are you won't. They now cost 12 points and come standard in a nine woman troop with a veteran, meaning no IC for you. Oh but now they have pistols and grenades so you can use them as assault troops. Have fun with that.

Fast Attack

• Dominions - Scouting meltaguns. Trollface engage. Give them an Immolator with Multimelta, run 18" up with your scout move and melt their favorite toy. Then hop out of your ride and melt another one.
• Seraphim - Dangerous as all hell now. Angelic Visage means they reroll Act of Faith rolls and invulnerable saves. Their Act of Faith lets them reroll failed rolls to wound - especially useful when you're using those weak-ass hand flamers. Pistols are ballin but get expensive extremely quickly.

Heavy Support

• Retributors - Pretty solid with heavy bolters since their act of faith (rending) lets them threaten most things they can lay eyes on. Also good for letting your Repentia pull grand theft Rhino.
• Exorcist - Avoided the nerfstick by the grace of the Emperor. If you aren't relying completely on meltas for your antitank these make a fine addition. Their damage is unreliable against high AV so take them at least in pairs if not triplets.
• Penitent Engines - As fragile as before (read: terrifyingly) but now they are one of the more dangerous units in the Sororitas arsenal. 1d6+1 attacks is nothing to sneeze at, but with Battle Frenzy, each of those attacks that inflicts an unsaved wound (ie most of them) will give you another attack. If you can avoid enemy antitank fire from blowing it to pieces, it will turn most infantry into a fine red mist very quickly. You can also take them in squadrons of up to three - a good idea, since you want to save most of your Heavy Support slots for Exorcists.