Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Adepta Sororitas (section)

===Heavy Support===
If Fast Attack is the scalpel of a Sisters force, then Heavy Support is the sledgehammer. Don't expect subtlety or specialization here, all of these units are designed to just bludgeon the enemy into submission. On the plus side, they're quite versatile and both Retributors and Exorcists can probably find use against any enemy, regardless of their setup.

*'''Retributors''' - Heavy weapons Sisters, they're unfortunately not an Exorcist. Their AoF gives Rending, so they're able to cope with medium vehicles to a degree. Still a 5 Girl squad with Heavy Bolters, a Rhino and a Simulacrum Imperialis can be quite useful under the right circumstances (extra round of rending). The rest of the time they are stuck on chewing up light infantry duty. They are also your only real hope of dealing with Flyers without getting an Aegis, Allies or Forge World (12 Shots can probably cause the odd bit of damage here or there). You can also take 4 multi-meltas and giggle about how they rend, but that's not an exceptionally efficient choice.
** '''Consider the following:''' While still not an Exorcist, a large squad (7-10, possibly with a Priest) in a Rhino with Heavy Flamers can be a truly scary squad in certain playstyles, especially extremely aggressive ones. You could get a lot of mileage out of 4 Rending Heavy Flamers (two can fire out of a Rhino). Against small squads you could often wind up with more hits than there is in the squad and against large ones you can often just flat out ignore their armor saves with the flamers. They'll take careful use, but they can be devastating if used right, especially if they can contest an objective.  Also, if you're looking for a good transport to make full use of those rending Heavy Flamers, try a Taurox, or better yet, a Taurox Prime.  2 fire points on each side, plus a relatively small model size means you can unleash all four flamer templates with relative impunity. Or you could grab a Repressor (if you have the money) and get an extra Heavy Flamer shot (it's unclear if a transport gets the benefits of an Act of Faith).
** '''Consider the following''' Give a 9-sized Retributor squad four heavy bolters and leave the rest with bolters, a Simulacrum Imperialis, and Uriah Jacobus in a Rhino. Dump them as soon as you can near the mid-field in some cover or a ruin. You've effectively established a fire base that covers half the map with enough rending shots to rival Pask in a Punisher tank, that only gets stronger if your opponents dare to close in, especially if this squad is in a higher elevation. Uriah's fearless and invuln buff ensures their staying power, and if he's your warlord, this squad will draw enough fire to allow other units to do their jobs without much hindrance. For added trolling, use the wide end of the leftover Rhino as a mobile roadblock, stopping incoming melee squads, blocking roads and pathways, and generally making it harder for your opponents to close in on your fire base.

*'''Exorcist''' - Hoo boy - a 10 point price drop makes these the best choice for HS. With the advent of Hull Points, Exorcists have become one of the most important units in your army. A single round from one of these will negate Rhino and Chimera class vehicles' armor and they can even shave Hull Points off AV13 and 14(!), especially when taken in pairs and castled up. Aside from vehicle rape, they can find a use against almost every type of army. They knock MEQs and TEQs on their ass (especially if they're counting on FNP to save them), are magnificent at knocking giant T6 monsters down to size, and a single round from them has been known to reduce Nobs/Battlesuits/Tyranid Warriors to tears. Remember to bring your lucky die though, as the gun shoot d6 shots, which is a little random at times. Don't forget that your Exorcist Launcher is turret mounted, meaning it has 360 degree arc of sight, which can be useful if you're trying to avoid exposing your rear/side armor. Taking 3 is ''almost'' mandatory if you want any chance of winning in a competitive game.

*'''Penitent Engines''' - Apart from having quite an interesting looking model, this walker suffers from being stuck in Heavy Support. If it was in Elites they might be an awesome choice (six of these and a squad of Repentia? Good times). The walker has 3 attacks and with 2 CCW and Rage it pumps out 6 on the charge. 4 attacks base is nothing to sneeze at, although the loss of Battle Frenzy (used to get more attacks from unsaved wounds) is a hit to both its damage output and fluff. It's worth remembering that these attacks come in at S10 AP2 - I3, granted, but that's still faster than a power fist. It has two heavy flamers on top of all this (in case some brainiac decides to charge ''you'' first!), but with its slow speed, Rhino-class armor and open top walker status the chances of things going [[Just As Planned]] are virtually non-existent. It's also competing for vital Heavy Support slots. Even with a 5 point decrease in price its not your best option. Target saturation can help get these guys where they need to be. If your opponent focuses on them, everything else gets to do its job. Since no opponent will focus on them (unless he's a moron), you have a decent chance of getting at least one into CC to cause havoc. This is especially the case if you ally in guard. A Leman Russ squadron (or flack tanks) combined with 2 Exorcists will give your opponent enough other things to worry about to potentially justify running some penitents.  Still want to try these? Take nine in a low point game and watch your opponent shit a brick.

*'''[[Repressor|Repressor (Forge World)]]''' - The closest thing the Sisters have to a frontline tank; the Repressor is built for one thing and one thing only: [[Imperial Guard|blitzkrieg]]. For 15 more points than an Immolator, you get a tank with better front armor, better troop capacity, and more fire points (two on the top, and three on each side, allowing you to [[Chimera Transport|broadside]] enemy units). Fill it with Battle Sisters and storm objectives, or Dominions and smoke vehicles and/or [[TEQ|TEQs]] with relative impunity. Unfortunately, unlike the Immolator, it cannot replace its heavy flamer or storm bolter, so it's only situationally useful without infantry to tranport. The Repressor isn't sold by Forge World anymore, but the rules are still active, meaning you can legally field these if you have them. 

*'''[[Avenger Strike Fighter|Avenger Strike Fighter (Forge World)]]''' - What's that? [[Forge World]] made a flyer for the Sisters? Now the Horse(wo)men are riding. 150 points of pain, this thing comes with an hull-mounted Avenger Bolt Cannon (36" S6 AP3 Heavy 7), 2 wing-mounted lascannons and a Defensive heavy stubber (36" S4 AP6 Heavy 3, Skyfire) watching its own back. This guy is pure awesomesauce. Field two against an [[Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Imperial Guard/Elysian Drop Troops|Elysian Drop Troops]] player and watch him cry. It can take six different types of missiles, bombs and guns to deal with any enemy, and the Armoured Cockpit rules lets you shrug off Crew Shaken/Stunned with a 4+. Too bad it comes with a 12-10-10 armor and 2 measly HP.
**'''Weapon Choices:''' The Avenger gets multiple choices for its hardpoint-mounted weapons, and both hardpoints must take the same weapon. Pick the right ones to win big.
***'''Tactical Bombs:''' Six individual one-shot bombs, S6 AP4, Barrage, Blast. Since they're individual, you can drop up to four in one turn as part of a bombing run. Not usually useful except against large hordes, and tied as the most expensive option. Pass, unless you're expecting the Green Tide.
***'''Hellfury Missiles:''' Two one-shot missiles that deliver a bolter-equivalent, cover-ignoring large blast. You know how useful the Tau AFP isn't? Well, this is two shots, albeit with table-wide range. Sisters get flamers. Many, many flamers. Those are better for rooting hordes out of cover. Use them, skip these.
***'''Hellstrike Missiles:''' Two Ordnance hunter-killer missiles with 72" range.  They also cost half what the Missile Launcher does. Huh. These might almost be good on a dedicated tank hunting platform if they didn't make all your other guns snap-shoot. But they do, so they aren't. Pass. Oh, and they're AP3, so no one-hit-kills for you, unless you're facing open-topped stuff (or get turbo-lucky against a flyer). Pass twice. Three times on Sunday.
***'''Two Missile Launchers:''' Same ones Devastator Marines get. Powerful, versatile, long range, great for greasing those annoying T4 multi-wound guys. Alas, it's really expensive in exchange for being only a little better than the other options. Good, but think about whether the autocannon or multi-laser wouldn't do the job better. Unless, that is, you're expecting to see Tyranid medium bugs or Tau battlesuits (other than Riptides): in that case, take it and strafe with krak missiles and lascannons. Collect tears, win.
***'''Two Autocannons:''' It's an autocannon. You know what it does. Great for popping light vehicles with reasonable capability against medium ones. Being mounted on a flyer, it's good AA too. Sisters don't otherwise get autocannons and it's handy for both of the Avenger's main purposes, so it's an all-around good call. A slightly better AA gun in most cases than the multi-laser, though a bit worse against infantry, and surprisingly almost as good for tank-hunting as krak missiles.
***'''Two Multi-lasers:''' Not half bad for AA, since no flyer has better than AV12, and a respectable transport popper. Also puts out enough fire to be a threat to infantry, though AP6 kinda sucks. Generally the gun to pick if you don't have a specific reason to favor one of the others.