fantasy player needing advice on 40K

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Noble_servaas
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fantasy player needing advice on 40K

Post by Noble_servaas »

After playing fantasy (Dark Elves and Skaven) for the last couple of years a few friends of mine are trying to convince me to start playing 40K. Their armies are Space Marines, Necrons and Tyranids.

After reading the basics fluffs of the armies and seeing the models I'm leaning towards taking a Sisters of Battle army.

For me the following things are important in choosing my 40K army (nobody listen to my shrink that insists I have a fetish with strong fighting women):
* cool models
* no horde army
* an army that is competitive (i.e. fun to play with for both me and my opponents)
* an army that provides enough tactical possibilities (offence/defence choices)

My questions to you, more experienced 40K players:
*does the SoB army (as part of the witch hunters codex) fit the above list of demands?
*is there going to be a new WH codex soon with possible new models?
*what would you suggest as a good 1000 points army to start of with?

Thanks for your time.
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Rork
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Re: fantasy player needing advice on 40K

Post by Rork »

Noble_servaas wrote:My questions to you, more experienced 40K players:
*does the SoB army (as part of the witch hunters codex) fit the above list of demands?


Variety is an issue with sisters. Their range of units is fairly limited, and most of it (bar the Exorcist) is very short ranged. Anti-tank, without Imperial Guard support can also be very dicey for the same reason.

*is there going to be a new WH codex soon with possible new models?


Doubtful. There are more popular armies like Space Wolves and Imperial Guard that are likely to come before Witch Hunters.

*what would you suggest as a good 1000 points army to start of with?


2-3 sisters squads, canoness, some retributors (the heavy weapons sisters) and rhinos to cart your sister squads around in would be a good start. An exorcist is always useful if you have the points.
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Elric of grans
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Post by Elric of grans »

Cool models... check.
No horde army... check.
An army that is competitive (i.e. fun to play with for both me and my opponents)... check.
An army that provides enough tactical possibilities (offence/defence choices) ... maybe not.

As Rork notes, Sisters are highly limited. Most of the units in the Codex are not competitive at all, and those that are competitive have only limited tactical possibilities. Anti-tank, however, I have to disagree with. Meltaguns are the best anti-tank in the game, and Sisters are loaded with them. However, I have to admit, my Jump Canoness with Evicerator has a tendency to destroy all the vehicles before the Meltaguns get a shot in.

The current rumour for a Sisters update is sometime next year (kicked off by Warseer's Harry in his usual round-about manner).

I would suggest Rork's starting list is pretty good, but you may also like to consider some Seraphim. They are a little over-priced, but most Sisters players refer to them as their MVPs.
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Post by Dragonshaman27 »

Also I know it is hard to find but how about an exorcist! D6 missiles at all strength 8!
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Tzelok
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Post by Tzelok »

You will have to adapt your play style as Rork said, they are a bit on the shorter range side of things. An upside to that is that the two shootiest armies, guard and tau, tend to get toasted to bits by all the flame weapons, and the melta guns pop vehicles like nobody's business!

A potential option if you wanted some more flexibility would definitely be some allied guard. Convert female guardsmen if you want, I am definitely with you on the "strong fighting woman fetish" haha
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Mostlyharmless
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Post by Mostlyharmless »

I'll tell you the general list I used in a 1k tournament. This is my only experience with sisters, and I wrote the list 10 minutes before the tournament started, but I won the tournament itself, so I think it might be effective:

HQ:
Cannoness with the book of St. Lucius, inferno pistol and sacred weapon.

Elites:
Witch Hunter Inquisitor with a force weapon
Retinue of 1 crusader, 2 veteran guardsmen with meltaguns, and 3 sages

Eversor assassin

Celestians, superior with eviscerator, a special weapons sister with a flamer, a sister with an icon (I think there were 10 sisters in this squad)

Troops:

2 squads of sisters, with melta guns, a superior with a power weapon, and icon bearer (I think there were 17 sisters to a squad, not sure. I don't have the list in front of me, and, well, I was using what I had)

I only used this list in that one tournament, but it was very effective. It's got a good amount of faith points, and you can't go wrong with more bolters.
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No one
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Post by No one »

try mechanised sisters, they rock when used correctly, with hit-and-run tactics. IIRC there is a great article on the www.bolterandchainsword.com site about mech sisters.
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Aspiring executioner
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Post by Aspiring executioner »

Well the best player in our GW store plays Sisters (as well as the other Imperial armies) and I've seen and played against them enough times to know that they are very competitive. In 1000pts, he takes a Canoness with an inferno pistol, Power Weapon and 2+ save, 2 Exorcists (I strongly believe they are the BEST tank in the game barring Titans from Apocalypse), 3 Sister Squads (I think 10 man) with a Heavy Flamer in each one and I think 2 meltas and a flamer all mounted in rhinos. That list had not lost a game in 3 years until an Eldar player finally beat it and no one has done it again since.

His advice for any army is to focus on killing an entire squad a turn. Exorcists blow up the most dangerous tanks/monstrous creatures while the sisters in rhinos jump out on turn 2 and use the faith power that makes 6's to wound AP1 and whatever is left can be mopped up very easily as not much will survive firepower like that. Only really fast armies like the Eldar will present problems.

Hope this has given some help.
Dark Elf Tally using the 6th Ed. list
W: 11 D: 2 L: 8
Dark Elf Tally using the 7th Ed. List
W: 24 D: 2 L: 6
Lidlesspraetor
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Post by Lidlesspraetor »

Aspiring Executioner wrote:
Only really fast armies like the Eldar will present problems.



I could not disagree more. I play all infantry guard, and I have never lost ot the sisters. My brother uses them, so I play against different variations alot. Ilove to see him bring exorcists, because I dont use tanks lol. Flamers hurt, but I always end up doing more damage with my rapid-fire lasguns than they do with a handful of flamers. It all comes down to luck of the dice for armor saves, except that I don't believe in luck at that level. If you make them take enough armor saves, they will fail.

As far as mostlyharmless' army list post, I'm just curious if that tournament was in 5th ed., because you only have 2 scoring units in there.

One last note about starting a sisters army... just note that the entire range is pewter, and will cost quite a penney. Not trying to discourage based on that, because I think Sisters are one of the most striking armies visually on the field, and can be quite rewarding to play both with and against.
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