Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team (HoR)/Tactics/Adeptus Ministorum(8E)

The biggest blessing given by the shrinking of scale in HoR is that the Sisters of Battle can finally start standing a chance by themselves. Due to the small size of the games, there's not much in the way of S RAPE and AP KILL, meaning that while their basic stats are none too impressive, their 3+ armor suddenly makes them a lot more survivable as a battle force. The lack of vehicles also allows for the simple battle-sister to also get a chance to actually fire without everything killing them first.

It should be noted that these are all using the Index Rules, as the devs of this opus had opted not to use the Chapter Approved 2018 list.

Your keywords here are Adeptus Ministorum, Imperium, while Sisters of Battle also get Adepta Sororitas, <Order>.

Rules

• Acts of Faith: These got a bit of a reworking. Every turn, you roll a d6, looking for an incrementally higher number depending on how many models you want to use their acts with failure halting any further rolls. This curtails any spamming of your acts, as does the limitation that keeps Spirit of the Martyr from being used more than once a round.

Wargear

• Ilaria's Veil: Permits you to shoot at any enemy, not just the closest. Though it's costly, the ability to prioritize fire is not one to be misjudged.
• Armour of St. Anais: You see this? This is some serious shit to protect your MVP. For the cost, you'll be pretty much guaranteed to draw attention.
• Lucia's Curtana: Why yes, this might as well be an elite weeb weapon that is superior to all. It's also able to give you one extra AOF per game.
• Widowmaker: It's a slightly better flamer with AP-1 and a better range.
• Shard: Elite bolter is elite. While it's not much, it does have a doubled fire rate and it makes locks your BS to 3+, which is bomb.
• The Azure Panoply: Terminator armor wtf? Yep, you have an old-ass suit of armor thanks to the evilest man in all history. That said, you surprisingly don't lose any mobility, so that's really awesome to consider.

Trials

These are special rules that you can grant to your elite Sisters and Palatines.

• Trial of Saint Katerin: This gives you a charge deterrent. If one wishes to charge this unit, they have to roll off d6+Ld against yours with failure letting you redirect the charge.
• Trial of Saint Godiva: This is much cheaper, but this trial is best suited for a sister stuck in the thick of it. This penalizes any enemies in combat who attack someone besides the selected unit, and it can be stacked with other models with this trial so you can keep the penalty going.
• Trial of Saint Philomena: This will provide a small aura that allows re-rolls on morale and rout tests. While this sounds important on your leader, the price tag is going to be plenty steep when you could have just spent 3 points on a celestian.
• Trial of Saint Maireath: A combat challenge in an edition where they're a lot less central. Your model can now re-roll all hit and wound rolls against the enemy leader, but they get to re-roll 1s to hit and wound your model. You want this on your assassin-type model, because death cultists can't exploit this.
• Trial of Xianfei: Leader only. This is your chance to recycle TPs, something that's far less common than in bighammer.
• Trial of Vanyssa: Your model is a short-ranged killer that ignores cover. You'll absolutely want this for dense maps, as this lets you and your friends gun without fear.
• Trial of Saint Ines: Flamers within 3" ad +1 Strength. You now have the means to make some heavy flamers, which rock.
• Trial of Saint Siena: This improves upon Shield of Faith by granting a legit Deny the Witch roll and grants a free act if you win. This is absolutely worth the price tag if you intend to face the more dangerous psykers.
• Trial of Draxia: Master the art of standing so incredibly still that you become hidden to the naked eye. Now share that with some nearby mates. If this sounds just the slightest bit absurd, that's because it is.
• Trial of Melissia: The most expensive of the trials, but it's the most useful: It gives you the Sister Superior's damage-negating aura for anyone near you, which means you can make your bubble rap of militiamen.

Philosophies

• Military Intervention: +1 TP for having a team with only SOB units.
• A Civil Matter: +3 TP for having an army with no Sisters. You'll probably be needing those points because those sisters were your strongest models.
• Limit Collateral Damage: +2 TP for no flamers.

Tactical Actions

• Thread-Cutter (1 TP): You force an enemy to re-roll a save, a necessity considering the limited AP you have.
• Choir of the Faithful (2 TP): You can turn a failed AoF roll into a pass, but you need to limit the uses since the cost escalates with each use.
• Martial Rhapsody (1 TP): You get a sweeping blow for a model, attacking every enemy within 1" of them. Better hope that your weapon's good enough to rip through them all.

Unit Analysis

Your FOC is as follows.

• 1 Leader
• 1-30 Core
• 0-5 Special

Leaders

• Palatine: Your baseline Sister Superior, she's pretty unimpressive as leaders go. That said, however, she does provide you with two Trials and has a pretty wide list of options including a jump pack. She also possesses a miniature aura that lets fellow sisters re-roll 1s to hit, which lends pretty nicely to her versatility. That said, she's going to need those escorts close to her in order to maximize her effectiveness.
• Frateris Priest: He's a weaker priest, but his auras make him much better as a support character in comparison to the Palatine's attacker.
• Frateris Drill Abbot: A bit of a mixed-up unit, with no keywords. What it does offer is Shield of Faith and a bigger aura of re-roll on 1s to hit on BS, which they complement with a Sisters-tier array of guns and a 3+ BS. Definitely the one you want to start with, since they're the cheapest leader of the lot.
• Murder Cult Evangelist: A Mini-blender. You've got a pretty strong melee game with the two blades and S4, while your aura messes with saves-after-saves effects like Disgustingly Resilient, giving your Repentias a big hand. On top of this, you can grab up to five fellow Death Cult Assassins as Core.

Core

• Battle-Sister: Your basic and humble troop. Has a rather good variety of guns for every five you grab, gaining the Dominion or Retributor depending on what you grab. Just make sure to keep a loadout of sisters most efficient to the respective enemies: Flamers for blob management, melta for heavy armor, bolters for anything else. Just remember that they'll have to pick up for everyone else, so keep them armed for that occasion.
  • Sister Superior: Taken once per five sisters. While they don't have such a vast list of guns, they offer an irreplaceable aura that gives as save-after-save of 6+ for your sisters. Definitely take at least one of these for a sister-heavy force.
• Sister Repentia: There's one reason you want to take these: Utter murderous assault. Charging them makes them a frightening force of death, but doing that is risky as they're only protected by their Shield of Faith.
• 0-5 Seraphim: Swift and jumpy is how these girls act. Their re-rollable 6++ makes them a sturdier force than most, and Hit & Run makes them able to always pester anyone. Take the Hand Flamers if you expect to fight blobs, only take the Inferno Pistols if you seriously want a shock force, as that'll be the only way to justify spending the 30 points.
• Frateris Militia: Your dirt-cheap bodies for your sisters to send to die. They're pretty much guardsmen with even worse loadouts and are literally protected by scraps of clothing. They're helpful not only because of their cost, but because they can also bring some extra flamers if your sisters are occupied with other loadouts.

Special

• Celestian: A slightly more buff sister, but comes with some bonus tools and a much stronger Shield of Faith that now works on Mortal Wounds. While they have access to the same guns as the normal sisters, they can also take a second one if you buy five of them. Since their only melee weapon is a Sarissa (never described or statted, but presumably a CCW of some sort), you should hesistate to charge with these ladies.
  • Celestian Superior: For the price of two Celestians, you get one that's now able to handle melee as well as shooting. She has access to another trial and complements the Palatine's aura with a re-roll of 1's to wound for fellow Celestians.
• Sister Dialogous: Really, she's only good for one goal, and that's the morale re-rolls.
• 0-1 Hospitalier: Your sister-sized Apothecary with healing for all units within 3". She's also not too cut out for combat, so protect her with some other sisters.
• Seraphim Superior: A bigger seraphim with the armory option of a Celestian and an aura to re-roll of 1s to wound for the flyers.
• Mistress of Repentance: You'll be needing her for a Repentia-heavy force. She's your important saving throw for a botched charge and if your crazed lunatics aren't stuck in, they're wasting their cost.
• 0-1 Imagifier: Another non-combatant sister who gives a +1 bonus to AoF rolls, which is great if you really rely on them.
• Crusader: You got a shitkicker in armor. While they lack all the bells and whistles of a sister, they have the punch in combat and respectable armor at the cost of a sister.
• Death Cult Assassin: They're more melee and are only a little more expensive than a Crusader for the flurry of assault.