This Saturday I played in an RTT, I was prepped purely as an extra in case the event had odd numbers. I wasn’t there to blast people, just make sure we all got games. I opted to take my Sisters of Battle, which I don’t think was a bad choice, though I did have to play back-to-back games against Custodes, which made me want to suck-start a Shotgun. (No it isn’t serious, no it’s not a cry for help)
First and foremost I did intentionally play Sisters, which are struggling competitively at the moment. I did a whole video on why I think they are underperforming, which you can watch here. It wasn’t a bonkers list, it had a few things I like, a few things I’m unsure of, and a few things I was testing. I don’t plan to go into every single detail of the list, but I do plan to touch on the Good, the Bad, and the In Between, as well as do a brief overview of my games.
The Good
Canoness
I brought a Canoness. I did when I played them in 9th, and I’ll continue to. The Blade of St. Beat Your Ass (Ellynor), coupled with the Blessed Blade gives her 4 attacks at S7 -2 3 damage. I gave her a plasma blicky and supercharged it every chance I got, if she takes damage it goes to 5 attacks at S8 -2 4 damage, and while she’s attached to a unit she (and the unit) reroll hits. It’s funny, cheeky, and is a very good charge deterrent when she has 10 ablative wounds with Battle Sisters. I’d probably consider putting her with Sacresants next time, though they kind of suck right now. With no way to restore models in the index (Despite marines, custodes, and literally almost every other index being able to do it), they are a bit squishy for the little damage output they have.
Retributors
Multimeltas are in a weird spot, but they’re still the bread and butter of Sisters shooting. Having their ranged neutered to 18″ and only being Strength 9 means SoB struggle into high toughness units. I brought 2 squads with multimeltas, and I was NOT disappointed. Here’s what I did:
1 squad in an Immolater. if they disembark from the immolater, and the tank shoots a unit, the retributors reroll wounds against the same unit. Sure you’re only averaging 4 hits, but rerolling wounds really increases the efficiency of the squad. I struggled scoring against Custodes, but I tell you, Retributors made both of the Custodes players a bit queasy. Shoot on death strat (Rejoice the Fallen) made them really decide if trying to gun them down was worth it also.
1 Squad in Reserves. This was solid. got them up the board. I’d probably opt for a second Immolator next time. I may even take a 3rd for Canoness and 5 Sacresants. Rerolling hits and wounds with +1 to wound strat (Holy Rage) could make them pretty solid. I’ll have to look at it.
A quick break for an amazing ad!
Repentia
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck I love these things. So much. They are my favorite Sisters model, and they are my favorite Sisters unit. They are what made me decide I wanted Sisters. They are still great. Rerolling hits and wounds on the charge gives them great efficiency. They can get Holy Rage. They put a LOT of damage on almost everything. Except Custodes. Cause fuck custodes. (Umm I am going to free strat reduce damage by 1, and fight first, and go to your house and punch your mum) Really my biggest complaint into them is that if you play melee, don’t plan on interacting much. (There are a FEW exceptions)
The Bad
Seraphim. It’s not that they are bad. They just don’t DO anything now. Inferno Pistols got shit on, but stayed 6″ range, so there’s literally no reason to take them. 12″ range makes their fire and fade not great, as you can’t kite effectively, and they are effectively just utility units and objective grabbers. Maybe I’m missing something, but these ladies kind of suck.
Retributors
I know I just said they were good. But jesus, if I didn’t have the rerolls from the immolators they wouldn’t have been anywhere nearly as effective. Glad I need to pay 130 point tax to make my anti-tank unit remotely good at anti-tanking. They are cheap right now, though. So run them!
The In-Between
Zephyrim
Their heyday in 9th is amazing. Right now they feel average. s4 -2 1 damage isn’t far off from where they were, but it was really Bloody Rose that made them OP. Without the charge buffs they feel a bit lackluster. Still fast, and can still put damage on things, their efficiency has just dropped. It is worth noting that they are S5 on charge and can +1 to wound. It does help. They just feel odd.
Celestine
She’s not the beatstick she was. Still solid, and leading zephyrim helps a lot. I’ll need more games to make a decision on her. Getting back-to-back Custodes games was not a great example of how she should feel. (Eating 5d6 Grenades shots from teleporting Terminators, and then getting a bonus 10 attacks from blast is booty juice)
Everything else was very meh to the point that I just don’t have an opinion on it. Rhinos seem a touch over-pointed, though maybe they aren’t. Battle Sisters are fine (ish), but could probably also use a slight decrease in points.
I guess that’s enough on Sisters. I already talked ad nauseum on the video. I do think they have some interesting combos, but overall they struggle, especially into the top-tier armies and have tough match-ups into armies they didn’t historically have them into.
Round 1
I pulled Zach and his 10 desolators. First of all. It’s not the first time I’ve played against them, but let me tell you. They are still hyper ass to play against. They throw so many dice, with rerolling hits and wounds, and can get bolter discipline with their bolter missile launchers.
We both opted for tactical, and really it was close. I was able to score 31 secondary points to his 28. The mission was take and hold, and I edged him out 45-40 on Primaries. Where I think he struggled was being able to target his desolators where he wanted to. I hid everything, forcing indirect fire, threw scary-looking things right in front of him to bait out oaths, leaving my less intimidating looking units to hide. Repentia in rhinos that skirted the perimeter of the board meant that I didn’t have to deal with too much direct fire from the desolators. I will say that if, even after the points hike, desolators are in almost every marine list regardless of chapter then maybe they need rules adjustments, not just points hikes. Weird. Almost like this has been a consistent issue throughout the game.
Round 2 and 3
It was really like a 6 hour game that was akin to having a combat medic using a corncob to rod you off the range. It was my 1st and 2nd game into Custodes, and they were both 2 of the 3 armies I hoped to dodge.
Both games I played tactical. The first game my opponent had 2 dreads and a bucket of boys, the second game the dreads were replaced with the tanks. I much preferred the telemon and the shield dude.
It took me approximately 1 turn to learn that I just didn’t get to interact with them. My repentia were relegated to action monkeys and objective holders for much of both games. Turns out you just aren’t really allowed to charge into custodes if they can even smell an objective.
I managed to keep both games competitive and close, the first game being an 7-point game that came down to the fact that turn 2 and 3 I was only able to score 3 points each, and couldn’t score any points on turn 5 (secondary). This is the crux of tactical. Its well and fun, but slower armies and late game you can really be at the mercy of cards.
Game 3 was a bit worse for me. The tanks can eat shit and die, though I did kill them as quickly as possible. I could avoid his infantry for a bit, and when my meltas came to bear down on the boys, they died. I just didn’t have enough shooting in my list to deal with the fact that the whole army can just spend CP to continue to shut down any special rule or ability I had.
This interaction is exactly what made me despise them in 9th. Oh. you have a special rule? I spend a CP to ignore it. Go to hell.
In retrospect I’d have been better off playing fixed and picking the least interactive secondaries ever. What a fun way to play this new and interactive edition of 40k.
Overall the event was fun, and my opponents were super-cool, I can’t be mad. Ed, who has played Custodes since I met him, and never wavered, was a joy to play with, and we are currently 1-1, both games at tournaments. Though our last matchup was with my orks, and meganobz do be shredding Custodes.
Charles and I are also 1-1 at tournaments if I remember correctly. Good games with good people, which is really what events are about.
I do hope that the September dataslate addresses the bullshit that is happening in comp 40k right now. But I’ll still be playing, and for the most part it will be with orks and dank elves. I only pull Sisters out occasionally. I love the army, but it lacks the variety and depth of orks, and the speed and punch of drukhari. It is truly my “fun” army.
Thanks for reading!
Chris