The Exorcist isn't just a rhino (ahahahahhahahaha, I see what I did there!) with macross missile massacre pattern missiles, it's a predator with macross missile massacre pattern missiles.
Did I mention that the missiles it's spamming are strength 8 AP 1? Oh, well then....they are.
It's also got a hearty range of 48" which means it's the longest ranged weapon in the Sisters' minimalist garage. Oh and this amped up missile-jalopy is yours for a cool 135!
Oh man I'll take 9!
You can only have 1 per heavy slot.
It's heavy D6...
Now that harsh realism has snapped you back to your senses (and stole your money), it's time to make one thing perfectly clear:
THE EXORCIST HATES YOU! THE SISTERS PLAYER!
It's 21 parts Awesome missile tank and 1000 Parts heartbreak. It fills every hole the Sisters army has:
No Armor above 11
No Long Range
No Non-Melta Anti-Tank
No Solid Heavy Infantry Elimination
Yes I know you can have tons of melta-guns, but that would require the sisters to be way to closer to the bad men than they want to be, and that's not what they want. And since nothing else in the army has better than range 36" it's a short ranged firefight for the sisters. Unless they had some kind of super tank busting missile tank, then they could sit back in a safe cover-heavy gun line of heavy bolters and wait for the enemy's tanks to blow up then shoot them off the table while they hobble toward them, tankless.
You see how they set that up?
It's exactly what you've always wanted, but it's also exactly what you've NEVER wanted. If it didn't have D6 shots it would be phenomenal! Even heavy 3-4 would at least be consistent enough to blow up rhinos and razors and leave hamraiders to meltas. But it DOES have d6 shots, which wouldn't be as bad if they could be a squadron, that way it could ignore shaken and stunned results (always shoot yay!) and hide in cover and crank out 3D6 missiles every turn. But, Nope. Most unholy of all of its bad sides is that it's taking up the heavy support slots of Retributors, everyone's favorite. Gosh I hate you, Mr. Exorcist.
But you know what I really hate about you? I still would take 2 of them in a list. AND I DO, despite its extreme tenancies to work on gathering dust in a corner of the table not doing a damn thing. The Exorcist is the only thing in the list that might do what the rest of the list can't and you'll probably take at least 1. I only suggest two cause that eases some of the enemy fire off both tanks and with front armor 13 it's going to add turns to their survivability.
The one good thing about the exorcist is eventually it's going to hit its average for shots during the game. Keeping them alive can sometimes be a hassle, but basically the longer the game goes the better you'll feel about the exorcist's performance. Just try to keep your expectations low and your reliance on them moderate.
Repentia/Penitent Engines
Repentia and Penitent Engines... not a lot to say so... with a show of hands, who ever took these units in the old book? Ok, and what about in the new book? I see. Well here's EVERYTHING you need to know about them, get everything you need out of your little slice of S n M heaven.
Don't take them.
It's that easy.
They are terrible. Repentia got a new act of faith that lets them attack even if they're dead already. So your overpriced chain-fisters [editor's note: ew] with strength 6 have to put themselves to death to use their special move? hmmmm well how bout you take some Dominions? They're actually not that bad. They're in the part of the book that isn't a waste of points. (oh snap!)
I know it's hard folks, it's hard to not take things that look cool, or appear good on paper. They put this stuff in all the books, but in the sisters book it's even more important that you stay clear of the dark side. You're not space marines, you can't just put a thunderfire cannon in a list and still be able to work with the rest. You need every part of your strained force organization chart to work correctly and well or it's going to be harder than hard to win battles.
As for penitent engines, it's the same deal, they are bad. They are 'interesting' to say the least. They have better rules now, but av11 open-topped is still av11 open topped no matter how many attacks you have. The only things they are a hard-counter for is Thunderwolves...sort of. Assuming no one shoots them with missiles... now who would do that in a space wolves army?
Yeah, no matter what the paper tells you about these two units remember to steer clear.
Well this is the second lengthy post about sisters and it's been bad news followed by a bit of bashing. So is there any good news? Didn't I say I liked sisters? Hmmm. Well, just remember...
Always the quick and easy path the dark side is.
Which means the next installment of Sisters of Battle will be The Good, The Great, and The Underwhelming.
See you then!
Thought For the Day: If Sisters of Battle is the name of the Codex, why is the name of the Troops unit entry Battle Sisters?
I could not agree with you more. It seems like GW doesn't understand Sisters, which is sad because they are the ones that created them.
ReplyDeleteAll you guys get a copy paste WD Codex that is filled with nerfs for some reason.
Exorcists look so good on paper, but never do anything on the table, and as you said, why not just take the Retributors? Its not like the codex doesn't have enough high strength AP 1 to go around....melta FTW.
They had the opportunity to make Repentia and Penitent engines good, but chose not to. Luckily no one has too much money invested in these since they were always shit, so I guess no loss there.
Actually I think the biggest nerf in the codex is loss of fire points on immos and no 5 woman sister squads. When GW did the copy pasta from the SM codex to Sisters they apparently forgot to add combat squad in. Now you are stuck with several overpriced units of 10 sisters that have to disembark from a rhino to do anything and then get their squishy T3 bodies shot up.
Finally, FnP on T3 is garbage. Unless your opponent forgets to shoot his S6 stuff at them (whoops on my part).
Finally, who at GW thought that a 6++ save would make up for all the bullshit in the 'codex'. It almost never comes into play because 90% of the time you have a cover save, and in close combat if you are now relying on what is essentially ork armor, then you have lost combat anyway.
It seems like what you end up with is a rather boring monobuild with your required troops, a bunch of auto includes (retributors anyone?), and no personality at all.
I really cant wait to see what you have for the next article.
PS: when you talk about exorcists you say that sisters have no anti heavy infantry. I agree on that, and I include exorcists into that equation, because everything generally has cover and random shots just doesn't generate enough dakka. Rapid firing bolters are much better than an exorcist against 2+ any day of the week.
Lovely blog you havee here
ReplyDelete