Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Sisters of Silence(7E)

Why Play Sisters of Silence?

Do you hate psykers? Like, really, really, really, hate psykers? Are all those fine dandies at the local hobby store so proud of their Daemons/Eldar/Grey Knights, so cock-sure, prancing about with their armies full of warp charges? Sisters of Silence are the gold power armored middle finger you use to show those munchkins exactly what you think of them.

Pros

• Fielding just a single squad of these girls will make enemy psykers shit bricks, and throw a massive monkey wrench into the game plan of any army that relies on warp shenanigans.

Cons

• Against non-psykers Sisters of Silence are just overpriced regular Battle Sisters, but without the faith and special equipment.

Wargear

Ranged Weapons

• Flamers: Template S4 AP5 weapon. Spam them for Overwatch Hell.
• Bolters: You know them, you love them.
• Psyk-out Grenades: S2 AP- Blast grenade that forces a random psyker in a unit hit by one to roll on the Perils of the Warp table. This is nasty since the Psyker will be in range of the -3Ld bubble so that Perils test will be really hard.

Melee Weapons

• Executioner Greatblade: S+1 AP2, Two-handed melee weapon.

Special Rules

• Bane of Psykers: Gain Precision Shots and Precision Strikes and re-roll all failed to hit rolls against Psykers/Brotherhood of Psykers/Psychic Pilot units. Essentially twin-links the SoS' Bolters against any bunker unit the Psyker's in, or can pile on wounds against hard to kill Psykers (Zoanthropes, Greater Daemons)
• Psychic Abomination: Now this is the nasty one. All Psykers within 12" suffer -3Ld, do not add their Mastery Level to their WC pool, and can only harness Charges on 6s, and the unit cannot be targeted by any Psychic powers, period. In addition, all blessings and maledictions on a unit cease to be when they get within 12" of a model with this rule.

Detachment

• Null-Maiden Task Force:
  • Compulsory: 1 unit of Sisters of Silence, with the option for 2 more.
  • Restrictions: Every unit must have the Sisters of Silence Faction.
  • Benefits: Enemy psykers locked in combat with 1 of these units drops their WS by 1, and every unit in the detachment after the first boosts the Psychic Abomination range by 3". That's a 36" bubble (18" radius, so the diameter is 36") where enemy Psykers are Personae non grata.
    • Keep an eye on this, since their Rhinos also get Psychic Abomination and count as distinct units, implying a maximum radius of 27", or a 54" bubble. Send emails to GW, or wait until it gets FAQ'd.

Unit Analysis

Elites

They now got split into 3 units. Every squad starts at 5 and can be upgraded to 10 girls, with a Sister Superior for an extra attack. They all have Fear and Fearless.

• Prosecutor Squad: Your basic Silent Sister squad with Bolters. Think of them as a squad of 5 really cheap Culexus Assassins, and scare off any players that rely on Psykers.
• Vigilator Squad: Your sister squad, armed with Executioner Greatblades. WS/BS4 and I5 means they beat Space Marines to the punch though be wary of prolonged combat as they will not like multiple turn combat when attrition sets in.
• Witch Seeker Squad: Everyone's getting Flamed! Seriously though, armed to the grill with flamers. Unfortunately, they can't handle the high volume shooting being thrown around these days like their brother Custodes/Astartes. You will simply have to be creative in getting them around the board to get in close for the kill, and again try to avoid getting bogged down in CC.

Fast Attack

• Null Maiden Rhino: 45 points for a Rhino with the Psychic Abomination and Bane of Psykers special rules. That's right, your Rhino makes those Zoanthropes/Sorcerers/Librarians/Farseers shit themselves. That's actually really useful considering Psychic Abomination doesn't work when you're locked in a transport. It can take an extra Storm Bolter, or a Dozer Blade for 5 points, and 10 points for Extra Armor and Hunter Killer Missiles. Only the HKM really works since with Bane of Psykers it will hit and will wound that Psyker Monstrous Creature.

Allies

Sisters of Silence are a part of the Armies of the Imperium, and as such follow all the rules for allies.

Battle Brothers

• Space Marines and other flavors of Power Armor: Good choice. 3+ armor like you do, and you can threaten the plans of those Zoanthrope spamming 'Nid players, Eldar Wraithlist/Seer Council cheesing bastards, and stop Daemon summoning spam lists in their tracks much more easily. However, if you ally with Grey Knights (the most Psyker-happy Imperium Army), consider yourself the winner of the Darwin Award!
• Sisters of Battle: Makes a lot of sense, fluff wise, and you'll provide valuable anti-psyker stuff for an army that lacks it. Plus you can have a competition for whose Rhinos get the best special rules. Cheaper and but less powerful than Space Marines, more expensive but better than Guard.
• Imperial Guard: They have the cheaper bodies, and they have the fire power. You give them anti-psyker support, but watch out for that Psykana formation since you'll mess with that one badly. Otherwise, a good choice if you want to stop enemy psykers. Just walk beside a blob, or park a Null-maiden Rhino next to them, and protect them from blessings/Maledictions.
  • Tempestus Scions: They're faster and hit harder than IG, but are paper-thin.
• Adeptus Mechanicus: The're a big gunline, so your anti-psyker ability's range is somewhat questionable, but at least you can ward off any Deep Striking Psykers in Terminator Armor/Summoning in their tracks.
• Imperial Knights: Not much to say except yes. Two distraction carnifex armies, and you can protect the big guys from Cyclopia Cabal and Technomancy powers.
• Inquisition: There is a lot of overlap between the job of the Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor and your basic Sisters. Also AP2 at initiative 5 can basically one-up Death Cult Assassins who only have Power Swords. Crusaders are a good choice though. If you like the fluff, keep an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor with Null Rod (basically does what most of the Psychic Abomination rule does, plus Instant Death vs Psykers) and Psyocculum (BS10 when targeting a unit of Psykers/BoP/Psychic Pilot) and stick him in a different squad, shut down the enemy's psychic attacks on your units.
• Officio Assassinorum: The odd one out is the Culexus Assassin on his own, for you can get more than 1 unit that in general does the same thing. The things he uniquely does is force all attacks against him down to WS/BS1, ignore armor saves, Instant Death Psykers (and anything else on a 6 to wound), and has a 4+ Invulnerable Save. The other 3 on their own offer a lot more to the table; the Vindicare has long ranged anti-armor (S10 AP2 shot), can pick off specific models with Hellfire (Poisoned 2+ AP2) rounds that threaten your troops, and ignore invulns. The Eversor rapes hordes and tanks, and the Callidus can take out that one key infantry/HQ unit hiding in the back field (like a Tech Marine's Thunderfire Cannon since it's T7, not a vehicle). You can use the Execution Force formation to take all 4 and keep the Culexus as well to overload your enemy's target priority.

Allies of Convenience

• Eldar: Don't even try it. You're going to mess up the plans of that Farseer or Warlock big time. Besides, your job is to kill witches, not ally with them!

Desperate Allies

• Tau: Might work if you're careful about One Eye Open. Tau lack Psychic support in any form, so shutting down the enemy's psychic phase can do some good.
• Dark Eldar: Not good. They're speedy, but so are Tempestus Scions and Blood Angels, and any Psyker/Anti-Psyker support can be given by their Eldar Battle Brothers. Skip.

Come the Apocalypse

• Chaos Space Marines: Anything they can do, Blood Angels and Space Wolves are better at doing so.
  • Khorne Daemonkin: See above. While the Blood God may appreciate the extra anti-psyker tools, Imperium armies do most of what they can do better.
• Chaos Daemons: Don't. Not only because of the major fluff violation but you're going to fuck over the massive amount of Psykers Daemons have.
• Necrons: Actually may work. Necrons lack any anti-Psyker stuff, so keep these girls 7" away to dance out of One Eye Open range while stopping all Necrons from being hit by Maledictions. Also, forge that narrative with Necrons looking for Pariah genes.
• Orks: Chaff. Nothing but cost-ineffective chaff. If all you need is chaff, get Imperial Guard. They do it cheaper, but shittier in statlines, and are allies at the Battle Brothers level.
• Tyranids: Jesus Christ avoid like the plague. Synapse Creatures are Psykers and you're just asking to be screwed over.
• Genestealer Cults: One Eye Open shouldn't be a problem due to return to shadows, but these guys just don't need anti-psyker bullshit unless you abuse the formation to make their psychic phase stronger.

Tactics

The Sisters of Silence are the ultimate anti-psychic units outside the Culexus Assassin and a properly kitted Hereticus Inquisitor. But one thing they don't have is the cheapness or flexibility a squad of 5-10 Sisters have.

Ask yourself this: what is going to serve me better, a 5 or 10-sister squad providing anti-psyker over your army, or a Culexus that can start much closer and totally ruin any Psyker's day? It's only a 10 point difference between a Culexus assassin and a 10-sister squad, though they've both got their own advantages and drawbacks.

If the enemy army isn't that reliant on Pykers, you're better off with the Culexus. They're harder to kill than your average Sister squad (having fewer Wounds but being harder to hit and also having an Invuln) and they're also better than the Sisters against armies that don't have Psykers thanks to this. The Sisters on the other hand, using the Null Maiden Detachment can shut down the entire table as far as Psychic Powers go, and against certain armies (notably Tzeentch, Eldar/Ynnari and Imperium armies that like abusing Inquisitors/Astra Telepathica) they'll perform far better since a minimum size unit costs far less than a Culexus, comes with a Dedicated Transport (Assassins aren't too mobile past the initial Infiltrate) and you can have a lot more of them going around the field at a faster pace because of this, allowing you to do things that are beneath Assassins like capture objectives.

That being said, the Culexus can't hold a candle to a Vigilator Squad when it comes to wreaking shit in close combat, so you've got a trade-off to make there in terms of survivability as opposed to a meat grinder.

Here are some tips and tactics provided by Games Workshop themselves:

• To fill a gap in a larger army (like Space Marines, Guard, Ad Mech), keep them as buffer zones to block enemy elite units who get Psychic powers cast on them (Screamers, Bloodletters, Space Marine Bikers, Tyranid Carnifexes/Warriors).
• Melee goodness. Take a 10-girl squad of Vigilators. For the same price as a kitted out 10 man Marine squad, they'll strike at I5 with S4 AP2. Make sure to give them a Venerable Land Raider from the Custodes. With new ally rules FAQ blocking allied units deploying in different detachment transports, just deploy outside the tank, then turn 1 embark and flat out forward!
• Shut down the enemy's psychic phase. Take the Null-Maiden Task Force, 3 Squads of 10-women Prosecutors, and piss off that Daemon Summoning/Grey Knight/Librarius Conclave cheesing player as your Psychic abomination range is increased dramatically.