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Had a game today using v1.4 against Rug and Blood Angels, EpicUK.
I decided to take the warengines out for a spin and run with more of the upgrades rather than putting more formations on the board. It was a very close win 2-1 for the Sisters, coming down to a final rally roll end of turn 3. Though, a turn 4 would have turned into a bloodbath with the remaining...2 terminators, 1 thunderhawk, 1 land speeder, 1 death company and 1 tactical facing down a lot of Sisters.
I took
Mission+Supreme Commander+1xCelestians+Immolator 420
Mission+2xCelestians+Immolator 340
Exorcists+Hunter 300
Exorcists+Hunter 300
Retributors+Immolator 275
Retributors+Immolator 275
Seraphim 200
Penitent Engines+2xPenitent Engines 245
2xChapels 350
Lightnings 150
Lightnings 150
Hmmm, recounting I'm 5pts over... (the odd 5pts here and there in the list upgrades are fiddly and apparently error prone...)
Turn 1 started with a mistake form the Blood Angels, forgetting to teleport in Terminators, compounded by failing an activation roll. Exorcists drove forward and fired upon some Land Speeders, only killing 2. The Land Speeders puled back, mission moved forward and fooolishly intermingled with the Exorcists, trying to give them covering fire against any air assaults. Air assault comes in from the Death Company and wipes out the Exorcists and breaks the mission BTS, leaving 2 models in the BTS. The Death Company are killed down to a single stand, which breaks and runs. Another air assault comes in and wipes one of the Retributors, leaving just a single Immolator which escapes into the SMarine half of the board. Not a lot else happens, sisters move toward the center of the board, the Chapels drop a big template onto a large assault marine formation and second Retributors shoot and break them. Middle of the board is turning into a massive network of overlapping support fire. 2 Penitents die.
Turn 2, Terminators teleport into the middle, Baal Predators wipe out the Penitents. Terminators retain and get support from Baals and wipe out Exorcists and a Retributor formation and lose 2 Terminators. Chapels sustain breaking Baals and BMing Terminators. Thunderhawk lands and picks up tacticals. Lightnings blow up several land speeders and break them. Mostly some shuffling from the marines while Sisters pick off the remaining assault marines, wipe out the Baals and shoot at land speeders leaving both formations broken and with 1 model. The lightnings come in and destroy the Thunderhawk which had just picked up the tacticals, killing 3 more. Tacticals marshal and advance into cover.
Turn 3 and a bit of plinking, Tacticals dreadnought takes 5 AT hits and passes all 5 in one go. Shuffling for objectives, shooting to place BMs. Sisters win 2-1, controlling all the objectives in their half and preventing any enemy units being in their half and marines scored BTS.
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Chapels were alright, drove forward 15cm, fired twice and drove back to block the route to the blitz. Got shot once, took no damage. Nothing they did could not have been accomplished by a mission or similar for fewer points, the BP6 combined ignore cover was the only relevant contribution. They are a blitz guard or pillbox and not really that good at it because any competent engager will break them. 2xDC3 5= averages 2 hits, 5+ saves are common...odds are just over 1 kill despite being festooned with some of the best short ranged firefight weapons in the Imperium.
Penitent Engines could have been great but were killed quickly. An early garrison forward was not attempted because the marines garrisoned two sets of land speeders who would have shot them and left their good CC abilities irrelevant. Instead they trundled forward and got shot. Would definitely try them again though, especially with a second formation at 7 strong. Having 14 of them garrisoned forward for T1 macro nightmares could be fun. And even in cover their flamers on overwatch would be alright.
Celestians...I don't think they actually landed any macro hits all game but were fine.
Immolators were good, I think though the Repressor should drop in points because +25 adds an immolator to a formation, giving an extra model due to transport capacity 1, the Repressor carries 2 so the +25 points replaces a rhino.
I think the points costs of the missions, retributors, exorcists, etc. are pretty much where they need to be.
General thoughts:
- The list in v1.4 is very one dimensional, rhino rush and support fire everything.
- The more exotic elements (arco flagellants, repentia, chapels, cathedral, inquisitorial formations, etc.) either have glaring weaknesses (being CC only formations so useless on defence and dependant on their Rhinos meaning they are easy to strand) or do basically the same thing as the regular sisters (and often worse per point - what role does the inquisitorial retinue fill?).
- Penitents are the main exception here, they're a nice shock unit that can pull off some deployment tricks with garrison and their heavy hitting CC and IC guns.
- The list plays epic, it doesn't pull any weird shenanigans or tricks, it rewards key epic tents like support fire, controlling ground and knowing when to go for objectives so what it does now shouldn't be stripped away...but something should be done so that it has more than one playstyle/list build.
- I think the Inquisitorial options should be bringing some of that unique flair but right now they're fairly uninspiring. Spamming the chimera mounted inquisitorial storm troopers could work, pretty dull though.
- Limited ways of taking out infantry at range, the list really struggles with finishing off infantry unless it engages it. Anti tank firepower at range is fine, not great, but alright. Big warengines could be a real challenge with no meaningful TK. Something with Void Shields would be a nightmare, such as a Warlord or Reaver titan equivalent.
From your PoV as army designer, what different playstyles do you see the sororitas using? Right now they do rhino rush well. What other style do you think they should be doing?
Would drop pods work? How about inducted guard elements from the Inquisitor? Oddball Inquisitorial units like small formations of 4 stand assassins appearing from nowhere? Something to make the chapels/cathedral more exciting than a slow, trundling, single relevant weapon...board presence thing?
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