After a long time our 8th edition was released Druchii.net has seen a meta of COB witch elf hordes, fast cavarly list with lots of pegasus or other mounted characters and of course the famous Two Towers infantry lists. In all of these lists Sisters of Slaughter seem to miss, I believe that is because their potential has not been fully described or investigated. We have tried, Sisters of Slaughter has the most tactical threats in the D.R.A.I.C.H. section, but most Dark Elf players seem not yet convinced.
As I am always looking for more 'unusual' lists or set up than is thought to be the strongest I believe that Sisters of Slaughter have that potential to convince other Dark Elf players how good they actually are.
First of all, it is important to see the Sisters of Slaughter for what they are : Gladiators. I think that if games workhop had just called them Druchii Gladiators, they would have been much more popular as this makes people understand how to use them. So from now on, I hope you share my perspective of seeing them als dark elf gladiators.
Statline and equipment
To see them as gladiators make sense in their statline and their equipment. They have a weapon skill unmatched by any elite Dark Elf, the same as a master. They have 2 attacks, same as black guard. They have ASF with initiative of 6, same as the other elite dark elves (cold one knights, executioners and blackguard). Also their leadership is the same as the other elite dark elves. Different than all other elite dark elves they have no special weapons with their hand weapon and shield like realistic Gladiators would. This does mean that they only strike with strength 3 instead of 4 or 6. Compared to the armour save of the executioners and blackguard with heavy armour, they have only have a shield, so slightly less protected against enemy shooting. Again, what would you expect from gladiators ?
Special Rules
So what makes them stand out from the Executioners or Black Guard then ? Executioners have killing blow, which is an inflicting damage ability while Black Guard have Stubborn and Immune to Psychology which are psychology abilities. The special rules of Sisters of Slaughter can be divided into three.
Dance of Death
This special rule consist out of two important sections
4 + ward save in combat
This ward save again correlates of them being gladiators, their skill to defend theirselves against enemy attacks. See this as a parry save adjusted to gladiator skills (rulewise ward save makes more sense). This 4+ ward save is a very big improvement towards its protection in combat, compared to the other elite infantry. Even for characters a 4+ ward save is the best affordable ward save, and they pay around 50 points for it. So, in combat these gladiators have the same ward protection as your general. Tactical wise, this makes them also much more resilient against enemy Impact Hits, Thunderstomps, Breath Attacks which would normally kill you other dark elf special infantry with ease. Don't underestimate how hard to kill them this 4+ ward save makes them. After all, they are Gladiators, not that easy to kill in combat.
One unit in base contact receives no combat result bonus for extra ranks and models in that unit cannon make parry saves this turn.
This special rule is what makes this unit so good, the killing blow for the executioners or the stubborn for the black guard. Because of their unique combat fighting style, they negate the enemy rank bonus in combat. Besides that they are such experienced fighters that the enemy is not able to parry their strikes. But back to the negating rank bonus, as it is very important to make them work. Most anvils or ranked units hold their ground because of their ranks, reflected in this edition by steadfast (making them stubborn). Combat Resolution defines if combat is won, or lost, so you can say the most important aspect of combat. Normally anvils make up loses by +3 rank bonus, not against Sisters of Slaughter. As they are gladiators they come in small groups of 10 - 15, so not a ranked unit.
Wood Elf Wardancers are the only other unit in the game who can have this affect, same as such a high ward save, but they have to choose, they don't have both. Also, Wardancers are skirmishers, Sisters of Slaughter are not, so if they can find a way to gain ranks they can negate enemy steadfast while having + 3 rank combat resolution theirselves.
Note: one special case is against Skaven, where generals can add up to 3 leadership to their very low leadership units by rank bonus. Sisters negate this bonus, and therefore also the added leadership, making them especially dangerous for an Skaven army.
Note : normal parry saves are 6+, but especially against Dwarfs who can have a 5+ parry save this rule comes to play.
The Trial of Blades
When at least one enemy model in base contact has a higher weapon skill or strength characteristic (before modifiers for weapons).
This special rule is less central to the use of the Sisters, but reinforces their Gladiator skills. Not many enemy units will have an higher weapon skill, but therefore they only have strength 3, while a lot of enemy elite units has strength 4 or more. This makes them the only infantry who can actually hit on 2's. With our ASF and high I most of our attacks hit the enemy, with this + 1 almost 100% of the Sisters attacks hit. Against very high tougness units like monsters they always hit on 5's while hitting enemies with tougness 4 on 4's and tougness 3 on 3's. Another add of being Dark Elf is the murerous prowess, re-rolling all 1's.
Compared to other Elite Infantry
So compared to the other elite infantry the Dark Elf general has access to, these gladiators are much better protected in combat, hit better in combat, wound monsters better in combat than black guard while tougness 5, 4 and 3 similiar to black guard as long as enemy has higher strength. While executioners will wound most of enemy toughness 4 and 3 units much better than black guard and sisters, they only have 1 attack without re-roll (only hitting 2/3 of actual attacks).
Compared to the other elite infantry sisters will have difficulty to kill heavily armoured units like knights. Against enemy heavy cavarly Executioners still excel much better than sisters, but only enemy heavy cavarly. But when they find a solution for enemy armour (razor banner, metal magic) they will outshine the Executioner. Ofcourse Executioners are 3 points cheaper, and come in special which is 50% instead of 25%. But this threat is not that much to compare the Druchii Gladiators to the other elite infantry, it is to show their potential.
Druchii Infantry functions :
10 Executioners (120 points): heavy cavalry or character killer
10 Black Guard (150 points): anvil
10 Sisters of Slaughter (150 points): anti-anvil, anti-infantry, anti-chariot and anti-monster
10 Witch Elves (110 points) : anti-chaff
Command Models
Other than Wood Elf Wardancers, Sisters of Slaughter can take a standard bearer and magical banner up to 50 points. Just to point out how good these guys are we take a small look into the Handmaiden of Shards.
Handmaiden of Shards cost : 25
5 6 4 3 3 1 6 3 9
4+ ward save, ASF, MP, Trial of Blades, Dance of Death
Master cost : 70 (+ 45) = 115
5 6 6 4 3 2 7 3 9
4+ ward save, ASF, MP
When they would challenge each other in the Druchii Arena's, the Haindmaiden fights even better than the Master. Ofcourse the Master has 1 wound more, and access to a halberd and much better armour save for only 14 extra points, but you get my point. While the Master with 4+ ward save costs 115 points, the Handmaiden only costs 1/5 = 25 points. It is very likely the Handmaiden will win most challenges with other champions.
Handmaiden: 3 to hit, 3 to wound, 1/2 saved (1 wound)
Master: 4 to hit, 3 to wound, 1/2 saved (2 wounds)
Tactical Use
So after the first sections some tactical uses of the Druchii Gladiators can be defined into 4 options:
Infantry Anvil
Because of their 4+ ward save an negating of enemy rank bonus they are really effective to pin an enemy unit in place for an future flank or rear charge by an hammer unit like executioners, cold one knights, cold one chariots or kharibdyss. In this way they act the same as a small unit of black guard would. Different than black guard, who will stick because of their stubborn, they stick because of negating enemy rank bonus. While black guard will kill a little bit more with their halberds, a lot more black guard die by returning attacks, in the end it is all about combat resolution.
Note that when faced with a lot of enemy chariots, this is your only infantry unit that can receive their charge as 1/2 of the Impact Hits are saved, while the other small infantry unit would be smashed. They are also more capable of receiving a charge from enemy knights than any other dark elf infantry unit because of their ward save, but without any help will really struggle to inflict damage against high armour. Enemy monstrous infantry with stomp and regen like Trolls on the other side are best handled with sisters than any other infantry unit (especially when you take flaming banner).
Deployment : centre
Monster Hunters
Because of their Trial of Blades they wound tougness 6 monsters as if they were strength 5. Note that a lot of monsters doesn't have that high armour saves. Again the enemy high strength attacks and thunderstomp matter much less against Sisters because of their 4+ ward save. More than even executioners these Gladiators has learnt in the arena's how to beat their opponent while staying alive.
Deployment : opposite enemy monster
Hammer Support
They can also act as hammer support. To do this, you will need another (fast) flanking Hammer like cold one knights, pegasus character, cold one chariot or even warlocks. Where normally our fast and hard hitting units like chariots who smash into combat will win most combats in the first turn, they lose out in grinding. When they fail to break the enemy on the charge because of steadfast combat resolution becomes dangerous the following turns. Sisters negate that combat resolution and are able to inflict a lot of wounds on top of the hammer itself.
Deployment : flanks
Elite Unit Killers
Ofcourse there are also enemy infantry units who not come in massive anvils or hordes because they are elite on their own, acting as hammers like our executioners would. Chaos Warriors, Black Orcs, Ogres, Elven Special Infantry come to mind. Your Gladiators are the best combat fighters in the world, and will make short work of any of them ! Again, I would take flame banner for enemy elite like Crypt Horrors with regeneration.
Weaknesses
To make the Sisters of Slaughter work you have to be aware of their weaknesses and understand their mechanics. Again, it is important to keep in mind that they are gladiators and therefore ment to be in combat, not outside combat. Different than executioners, witch elves or even black guard, gladiators are not ment to be in large numbers. I suggest you take a maximum of 20 always, never more. For me 10 is sufficient, and instead of adding number to one unit I will always take a second.
Infantry
All infantry have a weakness of being slow and low or average armoured. This makes infantry struggle against enemy missile fire, as they can advance more slowly than cavarly or other forms that infantry would. Also, infantry suffer especially from chariot charges because of their Impact Hits, of the Thunderstomp from monsters. In combat, enemy breath attacks will kill a lot of infantry. Note than these last weaknesses of infantry is neautralized by the Sisters 4+ ward save. Nevertheless, they will suffer casualties from enemy missile fire. Also note that because infantry is slow, they are likely to be charged if enemy has more mobility.
Enemy shooting
As the gladiators only have a shield and therefore 6+ armour save, most wounds done by enemy shooting will kill a model. For most Druchii generals this is what they use as main argument to NOT take sisters of slaughter. Note that our infantry, maybe except black guard becomes useless very soon when fielded in small units after some shooting. After all, we remain tougness 3 elves, so very fragile to incoming damage (as all infantry generals know). If we don't succeed in killing enough enemies in combat, we lose. Therefore, most Dark Elf general choose because of damage output, as that is how our army generally works. Witch elves is a popular choice because of their 3 attacks and frenzy, therefore being immune to panic tests. But, different than all our other infantry units, it doesn't really matter for sisters of slaughter if they lose 2, or 5, or 7 before combat. This is especially because of their special rules. In combat, even when you have 3 left, they will stand their ground and be combat effective.
Different that witch elves, they don't have frenzy, therefore they have to do panic tests when casualties are 25%. But on leadership 9, same as our masters and supreme sorceress, this shouldn't be your biggest problem. The fact that they don't have frenzy is a benefit, not a drawback.
Sisters have two important protections from enemy shooting, which is that they are unknown, and therfore largely underestimated what results into target saturation of the enemy. Secondly, most of our units are fragile, and small druchii infantry units become ineffective when decimated. This makes it very unlikely the enemy will focus all his fire to finish this small unit off, before changing targets.
Now imagine your last 3 sisters of slaughter (you have been unlucky in enemy target saturation or they have to learn what sisters are capable off) charge an unit of 40 skaven clanrat, 30 men at arms or 50 goblins. Your last 3 sisters consist out of the command group, so handmaiden, musician and standard bearer. 7 attacks in total, hit on 3 and wound on 4 with re-roll to hit and murderous prowess, resulting in 2 or 3 wounds with enemy armour save of 5. You are in base contact with 5 enemy models, resulting into 9 enemy attacks (including enemy champion). Goblins and Men at Arms hit at 5's, while Clanrat hit at 4's. Goblin and Clanrat wound at 4's, Men at Arms at 3's because of their halberd. Only the men at arms are likely to maybe kill 1 sister, both goblins and clanrats unlikely to kill 1 because of the 4+ ward save. Now combat resoluton is calculated, which gives you a difference of 2 - 4 because of the charge. Normally the enemy rank bonus will add up, making him win or cause a draw, but not with the sisters of slaughter ! With 3 against 50, you win combat ! Ofcourse they remain steadfast, but imagine they are outside of enemy general bubble making leadership test on 5, or even when in general bubble you are lucky and he fails. There is actually a chance that you break the enemy and catch him, or otherwise remain in combat before your hammers smash in his flanks. Now please tell me, which other infantry unit we have access to can do this with only 3 models left ? Black guard will stick because of stubborn but will never win combat, executioners, witch elves or corsairs have no chance at all.
High Armour
Altough they have amazing combat abilities and also very difficult to kill, they will struggle to kill heavily armoured knights. Everything with 3+ and better is dangerous for them. Know them, and prevent them being in combat with this units. Don't fear enemy infantry with heavy armour like Chaos Warriors with 4+, as they will inflict as much wounds against them as goblins because their Trial of Blades kick in.
So after looking at their weaknesses I hope to have shown that altough they are slightly more fragile against enemy missile fire than our other special infantry, they are much and much more durable even when decimated. Their 4+ ward save in combat and negating of rank bonusses makes it possible for 3 sisters of slaughter to win combat (and therefore even break) of enemy large cheap infantry models of 20 - 50. Hell, even when you only have the Handmaiden of Shards left, she is able to win and when lucky break enemey unit on the charge ! This makes them more than anvils like black guard, who just stick to the last man, but don't win combat and therefore create danger for breaking enemy from combat. No matter where you deploy them, at the flanks or at the centre, Sisters of Slaughter will always earn back their costs when they reached combat. Their main weakness is their difficulty with heavily armoured knights, so look out for this.
Conclusion
After transforming the perspective to see Sisters of Slaughter as Druchii Gladiators, I hope to inspire other Dark Elf generals to use them, as they are simply the best infantry we have access to. I hope that I succeeded to convince the reader that Sisters of Slaughter are anti-infantry, anti-anvil, anti-monster and anti-chariot infantry, the elite of the elite.
Other that witch elves, they don't have frenzy, so can't be lured or forced to overrun, besides that, they have one attack less and no poisoned attacks so when Trial of Blades doesn't goes off, they do a little less damage. But, while witch elves will die like flies by returning damage, the sisters are very likely to stay alive with minimum casualties. They also negate enemy rank bonus, resulting in winning combat where a small unit of witches would horribly lose.
Other than executioners, they will hit much better and are always a better match up against enemy infantry. The main weaknes of the sisters of slaughter, is where the executioners are best at, killing enemy knights. Therefore I see most synergy with executioners and sisters of slaughter, as the latter can ast as anvil. Overall, sisters of much better than executioners, totally worth the extra 3 points.
Other than blackguard, our common infantry anvil, sisters of slaughter have much better protection in combat. Their damage output is very similiar, but the sisters become better against tougness 6 monsters/units. I would argue that the Dance of Death is a much better anvil special rule than stubborn. Where blackguard will also stick like sisters of slaughter, they are unlikely to win combat because of combat resolution (more killed black guard + enemy rank bonus) compared to the sisters of slaughter. This makes sisters of slaughter a much more dangerous anvil for enemy units.
Besides that, their weaknesses of being infantry and fragile to enemy missile fire is hopefully also neutralized by the arguments of their ward save and super effectiveness in combat, even when decimated.
So even without support, the Sisters of Slaughter are very good. But as Dak Elves we have access to a lot of ways to support our units. I will argue in the following section how we can make the Gladiators from good, to amazing.
Gladiator Wagons
With the Bloodwrack Shrine and Cauldron of Blood we have access to our special support chariot units. Again, use your imagination of Sisters of Slaughter as Gladiatiors. When adding one of these options, these Gladiators push this chariot forwards, aligning as the sides as deep as possible. With both COB and Shrine this adds several important abilities to your combined Sisters of Slaughter unit. In most cases the Bloodwrack Shrine will be the better choice, as the COB can also provide more attacks for your sisters when they are not combined. Here I will talk about transforming your Gladiators, who are naturally a 'hammer' unit, into a the best anvil and bunker available to us.
I will take the minimum possibility of 10 Sisters with Full Command combined with the Bloodwrack Shrine (355 points). To your own preferences you can add more sisters and characters and deploy more wide allowing more attacks from the Sisters.
Basic set up
C W W W SB
M W W W S <--- Possible Supreme Sorceress
S W W W S
S W W W S
S W W W S
As you can see, this leaves you with the possibility to put an character in the second rank of an combat unit, something only Bretionnians can automatically do. This makes your combat unit a possible bunker making certain Lores even more useful with spells that buff the unit of the caster (Dark, Life etc). This can also give the possibility to bring your magic caster close to enemy units while not mounted on a dark steed or pegasus for spells.
It also allows BSB characters to stay in the second rank or put two unkillable characters in the first rank and base contact to block all incoming damage to the rest of the sisters.
Special Rules
Besides the special rules the Sisters have, the Bloodwrack Shrine adds several special rules
Terror
The addition of Terror to the infantry unit is great, especially since they become nearly immune to psychology. They don't have to test against fear causing armies like undead and cause fear at most other units. This means that they will stand their ground and never allow the enemy to easily strike them.
+ 1 LD for yourself, -1 for enemy
This special rule is amazing. It makes your unit leadership 10 while the enemy becomes 8, 7 or even 6. This reflects into your objective, breaking the enemy unit.
Avert your Gaze
Initiative tests for models in base contact, or else a strength 4 killing blow hit with no armour saves allowed. Against most armies this will net you some extra wounds in close combat. The best synergy with the Sisters of Slaughter it that it ignores armour saves and it is killing blow. Suddenly that enemy character or knight with 1+ armour save is not that save anymore. Never forget this attack ! As normally the main drawback of Sisters of Slaughter are heavily armoured units this is a great synergy.
Bloodwrack Stare
Shooting attacks that substitutes enemy tougness for initiative while killing blow and ignoring armour. Most of the time you will be hitting on 5's with moving, multiple shot and long range. When you are lucky you might kill off a Gyrocopter, some knights or a Troll but don't depend on it. It might again give the enemy enough doubt to charge his heavily armoured character or knights into your unit. Best against low initiative, heavy armoured solo targets when charging is not possible.
D6 + 1 strength 5 Impact Hits
The Impact Hits of the Shrine provides some strength 5 hits on the charge, likely resulting in some wounds. This is again great when charging an enemy unit with heavy armour where the Sisters would not be able to penetrate. These extra kills are also very important for winning combat, as that is what this combination is supposed to do. Infantry anvil that hits like a chariot ? Yes please !
MR (1)
6+ ward save against enemy spells might not be game changing, it offers at least a little chance of warding wounds to the Shrine and Sisters but overall magic resistance (1) doesn't add much. It does have a nice synergy with ward saves your characters in the unit may have. If one of your characters has Cloak of Twlight, this magic resistance results into a 2+ ward save againt Death spells.
3 Ranks
The most important synergy with the Sisters and the Bloodwrack Shrine are the ranks its adds. Normal sister of slaughter units don't provide any ranks, especially when you field 10. Ranks are important in Warhammer as they provide Steadfast, for you and for your enemy. While the sisters take away the Rank bonus from the enemy unit as discusses earlier, with the Bloodwrack Shrine they maintain three of their own, resulting into +3 static combat resolution. Again, winning combat is what your Gladiator Wagons are supposed to do, against any opposing unit. With ranks you can also take away the enemy Steadfast, therefore force him to take break tests with combat resolution modifiers. In case you face the most bad ass monstrous cavarly or characters and you lose combat, you will still hold on a stubborn LD 10 because of your ranks.
Medusa and Shrinekeeper attacks
As you minimize base contact with the enemy unit of your Sisters in exchange of combat resolution and safety for your characters these attacks become important. The three strength 4 attacks from the Medusa should be able to do some wounds against average infantry, while you might get lucky with the Shrinekeepers.
Conclusion
If you choose to give your Gladiators a 'Wagon', therefore adding a Bloodwrack Shrine to a unit of Sisters of Slaughter, you change the uses and function of them. Instead of a 'Hammer' they become an 'Anvil'. Good Anvils is something that Dark Elf armies lack since our cheap spearman became expensive. More than a Good Anvil, the Gladiator Wagon or Shrine of Slaughter as I like to call it becomes a Anvil Breaker. It also offers the possibility to function as a 'bunker' for your Sorceresses and other characters, other than the Darkshards, Dark Riders or Warlocks who are used most currently. It provides Terror to the Sisters, making them immune to enemy fear and terror causing units while also provides ranks, providing Stubborn in case of Steadfast. The ranks provide +3 combat resolution, while the sisters negate +3 combat resolution for enemy anvils. Combine this with D6 + 1 Impact Hits and -1 Leadership and you will break most units on the charge. Another great addition is the Medusa combat and shooting killing blow attacks, providing a answer to the only thing Sisters struggle against : armour.
More information about initial research to the Shrine of Slaughter can be found here : http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f= ... 59#p916442
Magic Synergies
Lore of Beasts
Wyssans Wildform works amazing on the Shrine of Slaughter, by adding tougness and strength to the unit. Impact Hits become strength 6, Medusa strength 5 and Sisters strength 4, while also making them tougness 4 and 7 (Shrine). Pann's Impenetrable Pelt and especially Savage Beast of Horrors can be devastating if you included at least two combat characters in the front rank (+ 3 strength and +3 attacks for both on them if boosted). As the unit contains a Chariot, the lore attribute comes into play !
Lore of Metal
As the sisters struggle against armour, Metal is a Lore with great synergies. It can remove enemy armour with Plague of Rust, provide Knight deleting searing dooms while Enchanted blades of Aiban makes all shooting and combat attacks of the Shrine of Slaughter +1 to hit. This is especially usefull for the Medusa. A 5+ scaly skin can give your Sisters and Shrine a 4+ armour save against shooting to help keep them alive outside combat. As the Shrine of Slaughter function as a bunker it can bring your LVL 4 to any unit within 18" while being safe enemy charges.
Lore of Light
Pha's protection make the unit harder to hit with shooting while impossible to hit in combat (6'es most of the time). The biggest synergy with the Shrine of Slaughter and lore of Light the Light council using Banishments. You can include as many LVL 1's as you want in the second and third rank while protected from combat. I can see a lot of potential in this combination ! Birona's Timewarp can also double your movement and attacks you bring the unit anywhere you want.
Lore of Life
Earth Blood signature has great synergy with the Shrine of Slaughter, as you give the unit a 4 or 5+ regen save where normally your caster wouldn't be in a combat unit. Flesh to Stone and Regrowth keeps your Sisters alive from enemy missile damage while you keep the Shrine and characters alive with the lore attribute. Also same as with Metal, great bunker to bring Dwellers to the enemy while remaining safe from charges.
Lore of Shadow
Miasma can have nice synergies with the Medusa attacks, lowering enemy Initiative. Besides that bunker to bring Pit of Shades to the enemy and ofcourse will Mindrazor turn your unit into a Killing Machine. There are better Lores for synergies with the Shrine of Slaughter.
Lore of Death
Lore of Death
Sniping enemy characters from the Shrine of Slaughter = great fun. Doom and Darkness can make you break any enemy unit on the charge.
Lore of Dark
Power of Darkness adds + 1 strength the whole unit, while you can use the Shrine of Slaughter as portible bunker to cast Shroud of Despair in the middle of enemy battleline, where the Shrine is already likely to break the enemy and start the rout of the whole enemy. Word of Pain can also be great for your Medusa.
Conclusion
The best magic synergies with the Gladiator Wagons or 'Shrine of Slaughter' are Beast, Light, Life and Metal magic. You can truly make it a devastating unit with two masters in the front rank and Lore of Beast in close combat while also providing some needed toughness with Wildform. Because of the formation you could include a Light Council and make it very deadly not only in combat but also from a distance. Metal offers both great offensive and defensive spells while countering the biggest weakness of the Shrine of Slaughter which is metal. Life keeps the unit alive while advancing under heavy missile fire and returning wounds to both Sisters and Shrine. Death, Shadow and Dark magic are best used to bring dangerous spells close to the enemy.
I hope I motivated the reader to make use of our Druchii gladiators more often and hopefully see them shine in some future tournament lists.
Other Sister of Slaughter topics on Druchii.net
Morewar: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=75601
Syloc: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=75511
Eldarwonderland : http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=76167
Fleebo : http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=76461
tmr : http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=76438
T.D. : http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=72965
No Saves : http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=72820
they have pissed off my main opponent so much its a priority target for him.
