Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Adeptus Ministorum (section)

====Heavy Support====
*'''[[Exorcist]]:''' The Sister's Main Battle Tank/Musical Instrument has undergone heavy changes. It now has two turret options. The first is Anti-tank (<b>RANGE 48"</b> Heavy 3d3, Strength 8, AP-3, D6 Damage). The other is Anti-infantry (<b>RANGE 48"</b> Heavy 3D6, Strength 5, AP-2, 1 Damage). It benefits from Acts of Faith, Shield of Faith- deny a smite with a tank, what a world- Convictions, and Sacred Rites. The downside now? The Exorcist with the Exorcist Missile Launcher + hull mounted Heavy Bolter will set you back <b>170 points</b>. That is an increase of 45 points from the beta book. It gains flexibility and better reliability and maximum output as well as special rule support, but 45 more points is 45 <b>more</b> points. Keep in mind that with the Valorous heart strat, the reroll all dice for # of shots strat, and miracle dice, an Exorcist can move 12", and have a 90ish percent chance of killing an Alaitoc Hemlocke wraithfighter(even more against a CHE) in a single volley. That's a 60" range of a near guaranteed kill on one of the boogeyman units of the game, and the best part is they really don't care about those plane's return fire that much.
**The only unit in the army with a range greater than 36", its not hard to want more than 3...
**Funnily enough, an exorcist is one of the very few models in the game that has a chance to one-shot a Warhound Titan but will still only shave 5 wounds off a rhino on average. 

*'''Retributor Squad:''' Your cheaper longish range heavy support option. You have a choice of 3 different heavy weapon options. Since the Stratagem Storm of Retribution (At 2 CP, it is really expensive for what it does) only affects 1 weapon type at a time, it's probably better to make all heavy weapons in a unit the same. Also, note that heavy flamers have +4" range and all Retributors can move and shoot all heavy weapons with no penalties.
**Multi-Meltas: Formerly overcosted compared to Dominions with meltaguns, but get  breath of new life from the dominion nerf and synergy with both Valorous Heart and Argent Shoud, get an additional 12" range with the Storm of Retribution Stratagem, so 36" range, not bad. Good to have 2 Ammo Cherubs to shoot 6 melta shots, and Simulacrum to make the shot that gets through 6 damage. So a full unit of 10 in cover has a 2+ save, 6 36" Melta Shots using the stratagem in round 1. But any shot that gets through the opponents saves lets you use 1 miracle dice for max 6+1 Damage. If you compare this to an exorcist averaging 6 shots for 170 points, 12 Wounds 3+ Sv. against Retributors with 10 wounds, 2+ Sav for 190+ does not seem to stack up that well, but might be worth it with Sister Superior Junith Eruita, since +1 inv only for Infantry, and gives you re-roll 1's to wound. Also, if they're Order of Our Martyred Lady, enemies won't want to shoot at them for fear of having all that melta hate hitting on 2+ for the rest of the battle.
**Heavy Flamers: If you are playing Ebon Chalice, then you can drop these out of a Rhino/Immolator and using 2 Ammo Cherubs and Cleansing Flames stratagem get 36 Heavy Flamer hits. Expensive unit and you have better flamer units for this stratagem, but interesting, also nobody will charge this unit if they have to take overwatch. Can also put a combi-melta on the Superior and use the Trinity Stratagem, to add +1 to wound. And also use the Storm of Retribution stratagem to re-roll wounds...
**Heavy Bolters: They're the cheapest way to spam BS 3+ heavy bolters in the game and castling up with 4 heavy bolters and gaining a 2+ in cover for only 90 points is pretty sweet! They are T3, but they can hug cover as the rest of your army moves around and does the real damage. Because of this your opponent will either take multiple rounds of BS3+ HB shots or focus far more heavy firepower than such a cheap unit would normally require to destroy. Altogether a good unit that does a decent job of complicating your opponents' plans and harassing your opponents' heavy infantry/light armour. Superiors can't get storm bolters anymore, but a combi-plasma wouldn't be misplaced if you have the points. 
**If you want a really sticky unit, Retributors are one of the few sister squads that can be run with a full crew of 10 without issue. Doing so gives the squad an extra few extra wounds while adding a few extra bolters in and can give you a bearer for a Simulacrum Imperialis, allowing extra AoF in a phase. An MSU squad is a much more tempting target when you know every casualty is going to hurt. Knowing they have to chew through 4 or 5 other models to get to the creamy center might help discourage them from being targeted outright.
**It should go without saying, but these gals love being from the Order of the Argent Shroud, the wording of their abilities is such that they stack, meaning you can run and gun at full BS. There's really no weapon configuration that doesn't benefit from this since adding D6" to your threat range is something Sisters will always benefit from. If you want to go even further you can stack with Storm of Retribution on your multi meltas.

*'''[[Penitent Engine]]s:''' The  7" WS4+ BS5+ T5 W5 A4 Sv4+ 5++ FnP (w/ Zealot, 4+ rerolling to hit = 75% to hit)dreadnoughts of the sisters <s>(or is it Helbrutes?)</s> - {{BLAM}} {{Blam|'''Heresy!'''}}. These sweet half-naked sinners, fused with grimdark killing robots of death exist for one sole purpose: '''''MURDER'''''. Hordes? Dead. Dedicated melee elite units? Dead. Knights/Greater Daemons/other LoW? '''DEAD'''. 56 pts per model (max 4 per unit) armed with two flail and two Hv-flamers, they carry an incredible amount of killing power (Khorne would  "figuratively" sell half of his skull collection for these). You can swap the one or both the flails out for penitent buzz-blades which makes them S8 AP-3 D2 (std. Dred equivalent armament). If you take either of a pair of flails or a pair of penitent buzz-blades you get an extra attack. Unfortunately, Penitent Engines are not the most resilient units in the game. Against dedicated firepower they won't last long; so hide them behind Line of Sight blocking terrain and/or use cover, wait for the right opportunity to unleash their holy retribution (in short, rush to the enemy, but don't "YOLO" them through the open ground of the battlefield like a dumbass).
**One of the best [[Distraction Carnifex]]s in the game right now. You can up the effect by telling your opponent about the rules beforehand. 
**If you actually manage to get these to melee, 15 attacks per model will mulch anything T6 or less. If your going after bigger pray (landraiders, Titans etc.), the buzzblades with their better AP, are recommended as they are the better choice for that.
**Don't forget to play "DESPERATE FOR REDEMPTION" <i>IF</i> you can (3CP).
**Note that sadly, this unit <b> do 'not' have the Shield of Faith, Acts of faith, Sacred Rites abilities OR the <ORDER> keyword </b>
*'''[[Penitent_Engine|Mortifiers]]:''' These are special <b>9"</b> WS3+ BS3+ T5 W5 A4 Sv4+ <b>6++</b> FnP penitent engines that entomb sisters of battle that have sinned. one of them can be upgraded to an Anchorite which gives it a Sv3+.  Unlike Penitent Engines, they have an additional purpose: '''''Gun Boat'''''. They can contain up to an additional 3 engines in a unit, for a total of 4. Each engine is equipped with 2 Heavy Bolters and 2 Penitent Flails stock. Like Penitent Engine above you can swap one or both of the Penitent Flails for Penitent Buzz-Blades. You can also swap one or both of their Heavy Bolters for Heavy Flamers too. When they die in combat, they mete out "'final vengeance" where on a 4+ every <b>enemy units</b> within 1" suffers D3 mortal wounds (Can you imagine when 4 die in combat...). In addition, they may ''choose'' to change their Heavy Bolters to Assault 3 (i.e. no penalty for shooting while moving and can advance with -1 to hit penalty if desired) or their Heavy Flamers to [[AWESOME|Pistol d6]] for any shooting phase (your opponents can't silence their guns by getting stuck in). Unfortunately, Mortifiers lack the "Zealot" rule, meaning that they don't reroll to hits. This means that, for the first phase of combat(all they're likely to live through) Mortifiers are actually 'worse' than Penitent Engines - their 3+ to hit grants a ~66% chance vs 75% chance, but you do get better gun options and better tactical flexibility as a result of it... and you're move 9" instead of 7". So 'dems the trade offs.
**like Penitent Engines, they also <b> do 'not' have the "Shield of Faith", "Acts of faith", "Sacred Rites" abilities OR the <ORDER> keyword </b> , meaning (if you haven't figured it out by now)they don't benefit from MOST of your army wide bonuses such as: "Indomitable Belief" Warlord trait or a Canoness "Lead the Righteous" ability. Hospitallers can't even heal them for God Emperors sake!(sorry Bloody Rose players).
**The one notable exception to the above are the Zephyrim squads and their extremely relevant "Embodied Prophecy" stratagem. 
** Any Strategem that only requires it to be a Sisters unit and not an Order unit- this means they can benefit from three very powerful strategems. Desperate for Redemption allows them to fight twice. Judgement of the Faithful allows them to fall back, shoot, and charge. Holy Rage allows them to advance and charge.
**Don't forget to play "DESPERATE FOR REDEMPTION" also... hey look, COMBO! (-1 Titan, LULZ !)
**Even with Zephyrim units help, this is mostly a [[Distraction Carnifex]] as one benefit to having almost NOTHING to buff them is that you have almost nothing to worry about fielding them all alone so they can do DISTRACTION CARNIFEX things... like distracting your opponents into shooting them instead of your T3 sisters.