Unit of the Week V - Penitent Engine

[Aqui]

Apologies for it being late, but I forgot to make a new topic last night!

Unit of the week I - Exorcist

Unit of the week II - Imolator

Unit of the week III - Repentia

Unit of the Week IV - Battle Sister Squad (BSS)

However, Welcome to Unit of the Week V - The Penitent Engine!

Before I started on my journey with Sisters, I didn't know what to make of the PE. It was Dreadnought-like, but wasn't. It was a method of punishing the pilot (and offering spiritual redemption if they're lucky), rather than a method of prolonging the life of the pilot. And I used to think it was one of the most ugly models in GW's history.

I've changed my mind in that regard, despite being the biggest pain in the to build (and I'm glutton for punishment now that my current one will have two more to back it up), but whilst I have an idea of how to use them (select a target and set them loose! ), I'm always ready to listen to others and learn other ways.

So, again, let us all discuss the ways this unit can best be used

[*Furyou Miko]

Two ways I can think of, although I've never used them under the current codex (I had great fun proxying them in the WD list though).

 

Firstly, as a short-lived Distraction unit. They're big, they're scary, they have the reputation as being very killy but quite fragile. So you run them up the middle or a side as a way to protect your Dominions or Repentia.

 

The other is as a bulky melee assistant. You protect it by screening it with vehicles and terrain (a challenge with our short tanks), then charge it in to support a large BSS or Repentia squad that's gotten in over its head.

[Naminé]

Penitent Engines are my favourite, and one of the best units available to the Sisters of Battle.

I remember my initial reaction was the same as many when reading their abilities on paper... that they are too fragile, too slow, too big a target to work against any but the stupidest opponents. In my experience using them over the past few years, this is not the case AT ALL.

The ways to run Penitent Engines are to throw a few spare points into one, or go big and get a full squadron. Personally, I prefer the latter, but even one engine can wreak some serious damage and it doesn't take very long at all for other players to learn that. My opponents despise them, and I've even had a game were a huge squad of terminators was rendered useless, purely because they chose to keep away from the scary machines. That's a level of threat that most people struggle to deal with.

The main strengths of the Pen Engines is that they are cheap for the amount of slaughter they can dish out, so that even if they die without ever getting into combat, they usually contribute in a big way, whether it's setting up traps or purely clearing a path for your other units. Having two Heavy Flamers each is huge, as it means even swarms of infantry can easily be wiped and significantly culled just from overwatch. Being in a squadron means that you can place those templates over other engines in the way, so you don't have to struggle into position, either.

The biggest drawbacks of the pen engines I find is not their fragility or speed, but rather their Initiative. Fortunately, the latest FAQ has made them much more survivable in assault which sometimes was a big danger. Often, you can get around their Initiative simply by hugging terrain and tempting a big scary Wraithknight to charge you

Running them through cover (at least early on) is pretty much a must, if only because people lose track of what they can't immediately see over the course of a game, and if they're shooting the engines, you want them to waste as many shots as possible. In a squadron it's possible to present an AV11 facing in all directions, too, which can help a lot. I would strongly advise their placement in the middle of the table for most scenarios, where their speed will not be an issue... Depending on the type of army you're facing, you can usually reach assault by turn 2 or 3 (sometimes turn 1, if they're coming towards you)!

Pen Engines are your sledgehammer. Use them to break open the expensive, strong stuff your enemy fields if you can, that said... if something is in range that they can kill, go for it.

Support them with your troop units or your Seraphim, which are particularly good at 'pinning' enemy units in place for the Engines to smash home.

[Noeh]

What made them better in the latest faq? There's so much info there I must have missed it

[*Furyou Miko]

Restricting enemy units to only 1 krak grenade in assault. Means that basic I4 infantry no longer slaughter them before they can attack.

 

Why do you say you can put templates over them? You can't put a template over your own models, even if you're from the same squad.

[Arkaniss]

I'm not too clued up on Squadron rules but yeah, I'll echo Miko as I am not aware of any exceptions to putting a template on your own model?

 

Well the PE has mostly been covered but I still want to put my oar in ;) So I'll just say they're a fun unit. Really fun. They are fragile and so there will be times when they get taken out for little to no impact - accept this. It will happen.... and yet, there will be those times at the other end of the spectrum where they will rampage across the table slaughtering all in their path.

 

That's why you take Penitent Engines. No guns to faff around with shooting things from the other end of the table - just Heavy Flamers and two giant buzzsaws. Get up close and unleash hell - Sisters are a close range army after all!

[ValourousHeart]

I love my Penitent Engines, and I have been a fan of theirs since we first got them.

 

 

The biggest thing to remember with all sister units is that they are not at all like the SM counterparts.

PE don't work well when thought of in terms of how a dreadnought works.

 

In my opinion the biggest drawback this unit has is open topped.

That means that anything that can pen it can potentially explode it.

Fortunately we ignore most of the damage table... but AP1 & 2 usually bump the damage into something we can't ignore.

 

The targets where they get the best mileage are ones that can't fight back.

So run them at squishy units... and use your Exorcists deal with tanks.

 

I don't really think of my army in terms of individual units, but more as how each piece helps all the other pieces work better.

As such the PE is an aggressive unit, that can be a great distraction from your Exorcists and other less aggressively moved units.

Your opponent will regret ignoring them when they hit his lines... and every shot fired at them, means one less shot going at your Exorcists and other units.

Creating a lose lose situation for him, if he doesn't stop them quickly.

 

Under the current codex I prefer to run 3 in a squad with the other 2 Heavy Support slots taken by Exorcist.

 

One thing that my opponents are usually surprised about is how effective their overwatch can be.

D3 hits with a heavy flamer doesn't sound so bad... until you realize that each PE is getting 2D3 hits.

 

Another nice thing that I have noticed is that I can usually get one of my PE to be able to shoot through the first target and hit a second target with his flamers.

All it takes is thought full movement and model placement.

Doing this has a couple of effects... you can either limit how much damage you do to the first unit in shooting to ensure that you get to charge.

Or you get to dump some of what would have been excess wounds into another unit, when the first unit is going to be severely overkilled anyway.

[L30n1d4s]

A friendly Psyker with Magnetokinesis (from the new Fulmination discipline) can pus an entire unit of Penitent Engines 18" up field. Combined with their normal move and run, that makes for 25-30" displacement turn 1, which should literally put them right in your opponent's face and either force them devote a lot of firepower to dealing with them, or set the PEs up for a basically guaranteed turn 2 charge.

[GogglesDown]

But then you would be using dirty witches to throw your penitent heritics into the enemy. Which seems wrong to me.

[L30n1d4s]

Maybe the witches are repentant Heretics as well.... two wrongs equal one right, per Imperium math ;)

[Naminé]

Huh, now I re-read the squadron shooting rules, it's a little ambiguous to how I remember Now I'm not certain either way :p

[Arkaniss]

GW say dice off for it but if something is in doubt I opt for the option that benefits me less. I do only play in friendly games though.

[ValourousHeart]

No dice off needed.

All of this is covered in the rules.

 

The squadron rule does allow members of the unit to see and shoot through each other as though they were not there.

 

However we also have to consider the weapons being used.

 

The template rules state the following:

"...without touching any other friendly models (including other models from the firing model's unit)."

 

So yes you CAN see and shoot through members of the squadron, but you CAN NOT place templates touching friendly models or models from your own unit.

 

This is found on page 674 of the digital rule book, under the title Template Weapons, left column, second paragraph.

Would someone with the physical book please share the corresponding page number.

[Aqui]

Would someone with the physical book please share the corresponding page number.

In the mini version included in the Shield of Baal box, it's page 173.