Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Kill Team(8E) Imperium (section)

===SoB Strategies===
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'''SoB Strategies:'''
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The Sisters of Battle finally get their chance of being playable in Kill Team after their renewal in holy plastic. And after all of the wait for this army, the results are... dissapointing. Similar to the way GW released the Daemon rules, the Adepta Sororitas get very little in terms of in-depth rules, and even less in mechanics similar to their own in 40k. It feels like it was a rushed afterthought, and while it's understandable they are focusing on the main 40k game first, it's rather infuriating to see the poor sisters limited in such a way. 

But let's start with the beginning. As a leader, you have two options, the Sister Superior, and the Sister Repentia. Right of the bat, you'll see neither option is particularly tanky, though considering the leader is usually best on the back of your army, it should not be a problem at first. The problems come when you look at the options a bit more carefully and realize you can only have one of each. That is crippling from the get go. Only one Sister Superior means you can't put the only sister with access to combi-weapons as specialist of any kind, either Sniper or Demolitions, which would help a lot with their firepower. And a limit of only one Repentia means that you can say goodbye to any Repentia spam strategy you might have concocted. Oddly enough, you are probably going to want the Repentia as leader, as the Sister Superior is too good as the aforementioned specialisms. 7+/6++/5+++ is not the best defensive power, but you could always buff it through other means.  <span style='color:green>'''Counterpoint - the Repentia is very fragile, and is so good in melee that you really want to keep her there. This means you're constantly risking your source of CP. Meanwhile you can keep your Superior to the rear, limiting exposure and use tactical rerolls to save her from her own combi-plas'''</span>
  
Now, for the regular gals. The regular Battle Sister is similar to the vanilla tactical marine, but with less toughness. S3 A1 won't get them anywhere in melee, thus you want them shooting. On the defensive, T3 3+/6++ is quite decent, being slightly better than similar priced units such as regular Skitarii. The bolter is its basic weapon, and it's the only weapon she can have, and with S4 AP0 D1, it's not a very intimidating gun. Plus the obligatory frag/krack grenades, but those are always very situational. 
<span style='color:green>'''Keep in mind that while the Battle Sisters innate ability to deny Psykers cost you nothing, it is also basically useless. Not only are Psykers relativity rare, the chances of successfully resisting a power with 1d6 is vanishingly small. The value has to be GREATER than their Psychic test. This means to successfully deny a psybolt, the most common power in the game and the only one outside of Commanders, you have to roll a 6 AND your opponent has to roll a 5 exactly. In all other cases, they either pass anyway, or would have failed anyway. Only in 1.85% of psybolts does it actually affect the outcome. Against GK, that drops to 1.38%. '''</span>
The real reason you want a regular SoB going around is the Simulacrum Imperialis, a relic that gives <s>all units</s> <span style='color:green>'''all ''SISTERS'''''</span> at 6" from it 5++. This greatly increases the survivability of all of your gals, but by that same reason, it's going to be targeted by the enemy. FAST. So keep her protected. 

The Sister Superior has access to a lot of weapons, both melee and ranged, though it should always focus on ranged since her options on that front are way better, plus S3 is not going to impress anyone on the tabletop anyway. Now, there are many options for it, the best ones being the combis: combi-flamer, combi-melta and combi-plasma. 
*Combi-flamer will disuade charges and work well as a demolitions, though it still takes the risk of being too close to the enemy. 
*Combi-melta is the best choice of this team against heavy armour (<span style='color:green>'''assuming you are unwilling to supercharge and willing to get up close to use it'''</span>) and multiple wound characters, and having the bolter as well is always a plus.
*Combi-plasma is the most well rounded choice, considering you can always give her the Sniper specialism and just have her always overcharge for extra damage. Though if you want plasma, you could always take the combi-flamer and the plasma pistol, thus having the option for extra AP and the dissuasive power of the flamer. 
The other interesting choice is the condemnor boltgun, with is just a regular bolter that does D3 damage to psykers. And it's... rather bad, when you think about it. The most frequent psykers in KT are Thousand Sons' Rubrics, and they are not going to reliably fall for a S4 AP0 gun. Grey Knights? The same. It's pretty much only effective against T4 or lower and low saves, like the Tzeench's daemons, imperial navegator, eldar spiritseer, the SotA's Rogue Psyker... And, with S4 and AP0, it's going to struggle against those. Considering you can pretty much get the same effect with any of the combi weapons, and against a much wider arrange of units, I feel this is useless. 

The Battle Sister Gunner is interesting. Limited to two gunners. Access to basic guns like flamers and meltaguns is self-explanatory, you know what they do and how to use them if you've played any other team before. Heavy Bolter is your best ranged option, though as a Heavy 3 gun, it tends to limit the mobility of the user. Heavy Flamer is stronger and with better AP, but you can't run and shoot, so only better if you pick the heavy (A regular flamer with demolitions will pretty much accomplish the same thing offensively, and cheaper). The Storm Bolter can be buffed immensely by the "Blessed Bolts" stratagem, adding AP-2 D2 to the shots, which increases quite a lot its killing potential, though its 2CP, so make it count. Overall it's good, but it's shocking the lack of general access to plasma, multimeltas or other hard hitting options.

Sister Repentia are a missed opportunity. Only one Repentia per squad is not very effective, considering it needs all of the support of the Simulacrum Imperialis to arrive safely to melee. At a regular WS3+ S3 A2, it needed to be faster than 6" to be really effective alone. The eviscerator, while a beast, only really hits at 4+ without extra need. If you want melee, you want Arco-Flagellants: 7" S4 T3 A2 W2... it outclasses the Repentia in all stats but save throws, and you can just pile in a bunch of arco-flagellants <s>with the Simulacrum Imperialis giving them 5++/5+++, which is quite good,</s>  <span style='color:green>'''no you can't. Simulacrum only buffs models with the Shield of Faith ability, which Flagellants don't have. '''</span> and the flail can do D3 hits for each attack. And even more so with the special Flagellant, the Endurant, with an extra attack. The "Frenzied Thrashing" is quite a power multiplier, giving it an extra attack for each unit, though this means you'll be attack by multiple enemies. 

<span style='color:green>'''Counterpoint - Even hitting on 4+ and with no exploding hits, the Repentia is incredibly deadly. After a charge, she's likely the deadliest model you have on the field. Against any single model without an invuln, she's significantly deadlier than an Endurant worth 1 pt more. Against invulns she's at worst on par with a base model flagellant that she costs the same as, and is usually better. The extra 1" of movement on the flagellants is nice, but niche and has no affect on charge range where it'd be most useful. The Repentia also benefits more from both her specialism and her unique tactic as many weak attacks offer diminishing returns. She can be squishy with only 1W and an iffy save, but at least has a save unlike the flagellants. If you have CP to spare for rerolls, this makes her much more durable. In short, you want her when you absolutely must delete a given unit, and to sucker punch other factions heavy melee hitters by striking first. Keep the flagellants as well for general melee support and for crowd control when you can lock down multiple units and split attacks. Keep both out of view from flamers'''</span>

The SoB list has two commanders: the Canoness and the Repentia Superior. The Repentia Superior is pretty much useless due to the one Repentia limit, unless you have a good strategy, avoid her. The Canoness is a buffed Sister Superior, with better invul 4++, and access to the relics.

Overall, this team needs buffing fast. It has little to no AP firepower, and it can't compensate for this through numbers. Lack of weapon variety, limited numbers and very small save options makes this team a challenge to have for those interested in making it competitive. If only we had the miracle dice mechanic here, things would be really different.

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'''Counterplay:'''
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Countering the SoB is relatively easy for any army with access to decent AP weapons. They are easily outranged by armies such as Tau, IG, AdMech, Astartes teams... If you have access to multiple plasmas, you can deal with them easily. On the other hand, if you have a melee focused team, you still have a decent shot at dealing with them: Orks will win through sheer numbers, CSM will have Khornate Berserkers, Nids will just spam genestealers... The problem will come with teams with little to no AP. A natural save of 3+ is quite good, and as such teams like Rogue Traders, SotA and Kroot (of course the poor kroot can't catch a break) will struggle. It's not a lost fight, though, since all of those teams still have an ace in the hole, like the use of the Specialist Retainers and the Assassin Cultist, Negavolt Spam and Hit and Run Krootox. 

But really. The Best strategy to counter SoB is killing the gal with the Simulacrum first. That general 5++ will be used as much as possible to move whole squads to the frontlines, you take that away and the general invulnerable becomes 6++ or lost entirely. Arco-Flagelants are tough, though. T3 and W2 with a 5+++ is quite tough, so you'll need to focus on them to avoid letting them close to your dudes. If you add the 5++ of the Simulacrum, you actually face a quite threatening unit, more so if you face a whole spam of them. So, once again, kill the Battle Sister with the Simulacrum, then deal with the Arco-Flagellants and the Repentia, then the rest.

Here are a couple of recommendations for other teams to put into practise this:
*SM teams have all the tools in the toolbox to deal with the SoB, both in melee and in range. Plasma, Grav-gun, Power Swords... Anything with S4+ and decent AP will do the job. Plus, they can resist the ocasional wound with their auto-save stratagem, Death Denied, so even numbers won't be an issue. 
*DeathWatch will work in a similar way, but with access to extra weapons and with less bodies around. The Deathwatch Frag Cannon is still the best option against SoB, it will wreck havoc in their lines.
*Grey Knights are too tough for SoB, though they might be able to stop the ocasional psychic attack due to their Shield of Faith. The Daemonhunters can just go through Sororitas to recreate the [[Matt Ward]] days for a bit of a [[Khornate Knights|refreshment]].
*Imperial Guards have both the bodies and the tools for the job. Plasmaspam will be enough to hit them where it hurts, though they have to be careful as most IG units are not tough enough to survive in melee against the Flagellants. Bullgrins with shield will do the job for that, but it's still recommended to charge first, to avoid possible risks.
*AdMech is pretty similar to SoB, but with much better tools. Skitarii have an almost identical statline than Battle Sisters, but with slightly lower save, only 4+ against SoB 3+. In exchange, the Vanguard has the radiation effect of T-1 when close, and the Ranger/Vanguard unit compensate this with much better weapon choices: Plasma Calibers are great Assault 2 weapons, and the Transuranic Arquebus can just stay in the background sniping any enemy that might need a mortal wound or D3 damage. Compare this with the melta and the flamer, which need to be quite close to the enemy, and the Heavy Bolter as the best sniper weapon, with not nearly enough AP to hurt heavier units and 36" range, practically half of the Transuranic Arquebus. To be fair, Skitarii and Infiltrators are all T3, so the regular Bolter still poses a threat, and no unit is really safe from a Flagellant's charge, so be aware. The sollution? [[HERESY|Play like Tau]]. A Plasmaspam team can have a similar number of units than a full Arco-Flagellants team, deal with the gal with the Simulacrum from afar using the Sniper Arquebus, and just shower the Flagellants with plasma until they fall. Maybe have one or two Ruststalker/Infiltrator to deal with strugglers in melee, or to contest objectives. Once you have their whole team within range, just choose the Canticle of repeating 1s during Shooting, and OVERCHARGE EVERYTHING. Just be aware that, once the Battle Sister with the Simulacrum falls, the Flagellants are going to start desperately running towards you, so keep your distances. 
*Adeptus Custodes are a match the Sororitas can't win. Seriously, they can only do anything to the golden bananas is with the melta, and even having three of those means you have to be pretty fucking close to them, and the same with the Repentia. If the enemy decides to go with 3++ shields, it's over.  They can try to overwhelm them with Arco-Flagellants, though. 3 Flagellants and a Repentia are bound to get something in eventually.
*Euclidian Starstriders just don't have enough AP to deal with them. Once the Death Cultist is gone, the rest of the team will have to desesperately resist until the Sisters get in close, and by then, it's game over.
*Harlequins will do what harlequins do best: move and charge in melee. Though considering the amount of flamers the Sororitas can handle, it will be best to charge from afar: flamers are 8" after all, and you can use 3D6 dice to charge, so you still have a great chance of reaching them from 9" or further. In melee, try taking down the Simulacrum first, and after that the invulnerable of the Flagellants will be gone, and you will only have to deal with the 5+++. Though be aware, harlequin teams will probably be outnumbered, and if you are close to them, they can just charge back and demolish you. You are too frail to survive to an eviscerator or the flails, so you better hope the 4++ of the player works. Seriously, D3 attacks for each attack plus the "Frenzied Thrashing" (which means another D3 attacks for every unit close) will wipe out any clown anyday.
*Necrons are an interesting match, as neither of them are ready to deal with the other, due to the lack of general AP in both armies. However, the necrons do have the advantage due to slightly better weapon variety and reanimation protocols. Just avoid being dragged into melee with non-melee units, the flagellants are no joke.
*Orks have more than enough bodies to drown the SoB, though be aware of flamers, they pack quite a punch. Plus, regular Bolters are quite effective against the orks, with only T4 6+ they can actually hurt them and put them down fast. Also, be aware of the Flagellants and the "Frenzied Thrashing", D3 extra attacks for each unit close means 3-4 orks near it can translate into a monstruous slaughter of greenskins.
*Tyranids' reliable Full Genestealer strategy can struggle against the SoB due to flamers and Flagellant's counterattacks. A ranged strategy might not be the best either due to poor AP on the part of the Nids. Lictors with genestealers might be a better combo to deal with the enemies from the start.
*Tau can just snipe everyone from their deployment zone and stop any attempt of counter with drones. The Simulacrum can only do so much if they still can't arrive in one piece through sheer firepower.
*Kroot can try and snipe the Simulacrum and the Flagellants from afar, while the rest of the chickens pile in and focus fire of an enemy unit ibe by one to try and hurt them. Otherwise, the SoB will go full KFC on them.
*CSM have both Plasma and Khornate Berserkers, both of them can deal horrible damage to the SoB.
*Death Guard is prepared to deal with them, considering they have many disgusting tools to destroy the SoB, and they in turn can't really compensate the general T5 of the Plague Marines plus their 5+++. Be aware that poxwalker spam is not recommended here, the SoB will go through them like butter.
*SotA can have their Psyker attack them quite reliably, Smite is activated at 5+, so SoB will only be able to stop the barely successful ones. After that, the lack of AP will hurt them once again, though the sheer number of attacks the negavolt cultists can do means something is bound to get in (nd don't forget the chance of mortal wound when charging), plus being quite resilient themselves with their 5++(4++ when using a stratagem)/5+++. Protect your psyker, hunt down the Simulacrum, and the rest will fall, but not without casualties.
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