Following Dave and I reviewing the Sisters of Battle Codex on our YouTube channel earlier this year, I decided that with the release of the Sisters Combat Patrol box, I thought it may be an idea to go through whats in the box and then select some units to expand the force to 1,000 points.

The combat patrol box is packed with goodies and like the other factions they’re a fantastic way to start a new army as they often give you a wide range of units.

In the Sisters Combat Patrol box you’re given;

• Canoness
• 10x Battle Sisters
• 5x Seraphim
• 4x Sisters Repentia
• Repentia Superior
• Penitent Engine
• 3x Arco-flagellents
• Rhino

All of that for £85, which is bought separately would cost roughly £170.

On top of this we’ll add the following units;

• Palatine £21
• Preacher £10
• Castigator £52.50
• Dominion Squad £35 (this will also buy you a unit of Celestians)
• Retributor Squad £32.50

This will cost you an additional £151, alongside the cost of the Codex for £30 the entire army will set you back £266!

However! If you sign up for SCN Hobbies mailing list you’ll receive 25% off Games Workshops recommended retail price and 15% off web only miniatures. Meaning including postage the army and codex would cost £200.50! That’s a saving of £66!

To sign up to the SCN Hobbies mailing list, email Sarah on scnhobbyworld@outlook.com.

The list above brings us with upgrades to 1,000 points and the list will be as follows;

Vanguard Detachment (3CP)
Order Convictions: Order of the Bloody Rose

Canoness
1x Canoness – Blessed Blade, Bolt pistol, Relic: Wrath of The Emperor, Warlord
Warlord Trait – Righteous Rage
Blessings – Divine Deliverance

Battle Sister Squad
1x Sister Superior – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun
4x Battle Sister – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun

Battle Sister Squad
1x Sister Superior – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun
4x Battle Sister – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun

Arco-Flagellants
3x Arco Flagellant – Arco-flails

Repentia Superior
1x Repentia Superior – Neural Whips

Sisters Repentia
4x Sisters Repentia – Penitent Eviscerator

Dominion Squad
1x Dominion Superior – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun
4x Dominion – Artificer-crafted storm bolter

Seraphim Squad
1x Seraphim Superior – 2x Bolt Pistols
2x Seraphim – 2x Bolt pistols
2x Seraphim – 2x Ministorum Hand Flamers

Sororitas Rhino
Sororitas Rhino

Spearhead Detachment (3CP)
Order Convictions: Order of the Bloody Rose

Palatine
Palatine – Bolt pistol & Power Sword

Preacher
1x Preacher – Zealot’s Vindicator

Castigator
1x Castigator – Autocannons

Penitent Engines
1x Penitent Engine – 2x Penitent buzz-blades

Retributor Squad
1x Retributor Superior – Bolt Pistol & Boltgun
4x Retributor – Multi-melta

++ Total: [52 PL, 1,000pts] ++

CANONESS

For your Canoness I would make her the Warlord and make the whole detachment part of the Order of the Bloody Rose. This allows you add 1 to the attack characteristics of models with this conviction when they Charge, are charged or make a heroic intervention. Extra attacks are always nice! So let’s lean in to this slightly and give the canoness the Blessed Blade and the Wrath of the Emperor Relic.

The Blessed Blade gives the Canoness a +2 strength, -3 AP Damage 2 close combat weapon, while the Wrath of the Emperor replaces her Bolt Pistol with an 18” range pistol able to fire 4 shots per round with strength 5, -1 AP and 2 damage. That packs quite the punch, especially considering the Canoness can now make 5 attacks instead of 4 when they’ve charged or have been charged.

Don’t forget that CORE units within 6” of the Canoness will be allowed to re-roll 1’s on their to hit rolls when making attacks as well. This means she’ll be handy next to your Arco-Flagellants when they make it into combat.

I would also give the Canoness the Warlord Trait Righteous Rage, which will allow her to re-roll hit rolls and wound rolls when in melee.

We’ll also give her Blessing as her Divine Deliverance, this negates one enemy units aura ability that is within 6” of the Canoness, however this is only done if after rolling 3D6 and the resulting roll being equal to or higher than the enemies Leadership characteristic.

PALATINE

This lovely woman is the ying to your Canoness’s yang, allowing CORE units within 6” to re-roll wound rolls of 1. Having her with the Canoness next to a unit dishing out a lot of attacks is always a good move. Having a bubble of our Canoness, palatine and Arco-Flagellants will make an opponent think twice. Once you look to expand beyond 1,000 points my next thought would be adding more models to your Arco-Flagellants.

Take her as is.

PREACHER

Having one of these guys in your list allows nearby units to benefit from his War Hymns, which grants them another attack. Which when combined with the conviction of the Order of the Bloody Rose will allow some of your units with the CORE keyword to make two additional attacks on top of what they would normally make (looking at you Arco-Flagellants). As well as this, he also has access to the Battle Hymns. Very squishy though so make sure you keep him towards the back of you Flagellant bubble.

BATTLE SISTERS

Battle Sisters I’m inclined to leave as Bolter only and split into two units of five sisters each. These can then be used as objective cappers, they’ll have the ability to deal with the small unimportant elements of your opponent’s army but their primary use should be holding objectives or vital points of the battlefield. If the enemy shoots and focuses on these units then that frees up your heavy hitters and close combat specialists for the counter punch.

ARCO-FLAGELLANTS

I would leave these as standard with their Arco-Flails, and try and make sure that they’re within 6” of the Canoness when they make it into combat so that they can re-roll 1’s for there to hit rolls.

There’s only three of these so the enemies fire will need to be drawn elsewhere for them to be effective, perhaps having some mean looking Castigator on the field may do the trick?

REPENTIA SUPERIOR AND SISTERS REPENTIA

I would also leave these as the basic set up. Again, like with the Arco-Flagellants you do not have many of these so try and entice your opponent into shooting some other more sturdy unit that can take the punishment until these lovely women make it into combat. Both these and the Arco-Flagellants are a great counter punch to enemy CC and also make great objective clearers which can be followed up by the Battle Sisters, who can lend some light fire support to these units.

SERAPHIM

These are your true fast attack and are great even equipped with the hand flamers. These are perfect for dealing hit and run attacks on larger horde units such as Ork Boyz, Imperial Guard Infantry and the like. Keep them in cover and make sure they get to their intended target to deal their damage. I would equip two Seraphim carrying two hand flamers each kicking out D6 shots which automatically hit their targets. That gives you on average 12 hits from flamers with on average 6 of those causing wounds on toughness 4 targets.

PENITENT ENGINE

Although classed as heavy support this unit is ideal for taking on units in close support with its twin buzz blades and double Heavy flamers. With five wounds and toughness five it’ll also take some punishment before it falls down. Plus, with the Penitent Engine, Sisters Repentia and Arco-Flagellants you have redundancy in your close combat and your opponent won’t be certain what to choose first, meaning at least one of them will reach enemy lines.

CASTIGATOR

It’s a predator tank, its got good armour and packs a punch from long range for an army which severely lacks in this area. Don’t expect it to last long though, your opponent is likely to target it from the get go, and that’s okay. Because if they’re focusing on the predator they’re not focusing on your combat heavy units closing in on them.

Make sure while it is on the table that it focuses on trying to remove the high armour targets that your other units will sill struggle with.

DOMINION SQUAD

These, alongside your Retributors can almost be considered a secret weapon for the sisters. With their Holy Vanguard rule you can pop these in your rhino and they can make a free normal move before the first turn taking them closer towards the enemy. Why do you want to do this? Because you only have five Dominions in the Rhino, means you can fill out the rest of the transport capacity with Retributors with Heavy Flamers or Multi-Meltas to take out those pesky heavy armour targets or large horde mobs.

Equipping the Dominions with Storm Bolters will mean that they’re kicking out 10 shots a turn as well and can lay down some nice fire on the enemy’s units. Hopefully your opponent will ignore the rhino long enough for them to get close and pop that particularly nasty looking tank or flame that large group of Ork boyz….. Please shoot at my Castigator.

RETRIBUTOR SQUAD

As mentioned, pop these in the Rhino and arm them with Multi-Meltas and they’ll pretty much turn anything they shoot into liquid metal once they open up. They may be a one use only unit once your opponent sees what they can do so try and hit them where it hurts on the first time of use.

RHINO

You want this to remain alive as long as you have your Dominions and Retributors inside, otherwise it could be used to transport your battle sisters up to objectives further up the field. Use it as the workhorse of the army. Many players will use these as a transport for a single unit, but don’t forget to double back pick up others units and rush them over to other parts of the battlefield.

WHERE NEXT?

As I mentioned earlier, my next steps would be to look at expanding the Arco-Flagellants into possibly a ten strong unit. Beefing up the close combat element of the army is always a good shout, and you know a second Castigator would always be a nice distraction for your opponent.

I would also seriously consider taking some Celestian Sacresants, as with these you’ll find that they make perfect bodyguards for your characters as enemy units are unable to target them. They also come with a 4+ invulnerable save.

I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know in the comments below how you would build a 1,000 point list from the Combat Patrol Box and why not also let me know what you think to my list. There may well be aspects of the codex or units that I have not included that you think should be, so why not let us know in the comments below.

Peter