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

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Why Play Sisters of Silence?

  • Because you want to play golden sisters of battle.
  • Because you hate Psykers. You really, really, really hate Psykers.
  • Because you want one of the most situational allies in the game.

Wargear

Ranged Weapons

  • Flamers: Template S4 AP5 weapon. Spam them for Overwatch Hell.
  • Bolt Guns: 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.
  • 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.

Unit Analysis

With 1 unit, this should not be too difficult.

  • Sisters of Silence Squad: Come with 3+ Armor, and the Fear and Fearless special rules. They're squishy at a mere T3 with 3+ and no invul (guess the emperor only favours sisters of battle in 41st millennium), but 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. Any of them can take Flamers for 2 points each or Greatblades for free, so that's good. Think of them as a squad of 5 really cheap Culexus Assassins, and scare off any players that rely on Psykers. Regardless of what you might think its not a good idea to send them hunting after enemy psykers, first sight of these girls walking up the board and the enemy will put every shot in putting them down. And unfortunately they can't handle the high volume shooting being thrown around these days like their brother Custodes/Astartes. You will 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. Can have a squad of up to 10 girls.
    • Alternate to the above: Every unit the enemy player wastes playing chicken with his Psykers not doing anything and obliterating this fairly cheap squad of girls is a turn for your other units to go in and smash the enemy. Grab a Culexus Assassin (which is kind of redundant given the formation but for fluff it's cool) and an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor with a Null Rod and overload the enemy's target priority to protect his snowflake psyker. Bonus points for doing this against Grey Knights/Tyranids/Eldar/Daemons because as it's been rubbed in about everywhere it can be, Psyker-heavy armies will be shut down.

Formations

  • Null-Maiden Task force: 1-3 units of Sisters of Silence. For every SoS unit after the first, the enemy player adds 1 less Warp Charge to his pool in the Psychic phase. That bonus is amazing against armies that rely on Psykers, and it is currently the only way to take SoS in a Battleforged force.

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 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!
  • Imperial Guard: They have the cheaper bodies, and they have the fire power, and the transports you can hijack. 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 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: You're here to hunt down the rogue witches, not ally with them!

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.

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 and give them all Greatblades. For the same price as a bare-bones 10 man Marine squad, they'll strike at I5 with S4 AP2. Make sure to give them a Land Raider/Spartan Tank of any kind though. 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 Bolter babe Sisters of Silence, and piss off that Daemon Summoning/Grey Knight/Librarius Conclave cheesing player as you sap Warp Charges from them. Bonus if you get into Psychic Abomination range. Make sure you take some Rhinos or Chimeras in the Fast Attack slots so the cheap girls can use them.
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