Unit of the Week VI - The Canoness

[Aqui]

*sigh* Late again!

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)

Unit of the Week V - The Penitent Engine

This week, we discuss one of my favourite models - the Canoness. To me, she is the focus of a Sisters army, although I know that she isn't always the best HQ choice. My four Canoness' (yes - four! ) all have an Inferno pistol, although two have Chainswords, the other pair have a Powersword. So, how do you use yours? I intend on keeping them with her Command squad and an Immolator, but as ever, I'd like to hear other uses.

[Warsmith Aznable]

I hide her with a backfield objective holder squad. She never gets out of her Rhino if I can help it. My goal is my opponent forgetting about her, or thinking Celestine is my Warlord. If I have pounts I'll give her things to help her stay alive, but I rarely upgrade her offensive capability; she's too easy to kill when noticed.

[Drider]

Canoness

 

She's fairly versatile with an Ok stat line, has access to relics and a 4++ (Rosarius is almost a manditory buy on her and if you don't then you have to know the exact reason why you're not taking it). She has stubborn though, which can be funny if someone tries to Fear-Bomb her.

 

Why Take her?

Their's usually only ever 2 reasons your bringing a Canoness. 1 She's a cheep way to fill a mandatory HQ choice. 2 You want her to Warlord so you can play liberally with Celestine without worrying about giving away Slay the Warlord. If she is your warlord then you can roll on either the Codex or BRB warlord traits and the CAD bonus lets her re-roll the trait. I live in hope of times I roll Master of Ambush. 

 

AoF

Her AoF gives her and her unit Hatred in the assault phase, but this suffers from poor synergy with a number of Sisters units and becomes pointless if she's squaded with a priest as Zealot gives the same effect.  

 

Wargear

She's got access to almost the entire arsenal and can be a valuable extra source of Combi or Power Weapons so can fit in almost anywhere.

 

Some of the ways to run her and proof of just how versatile she can be:

Barebones, for when points are an issue.

Front lines or back field Fearless bubble, with the Book of St. Lucius

Wounds tanking with the Cloak of St. Aspire, can re-roll armour and SoF Saves but doesn't let you re-roll Rosarius saves.

Litanies of Faith, better on a priest, nuff said really.

Defensive, with Mantle of Ophelia and a rosarius (eternal warrior, 3+/4++), in a squad of ablative wounds, in a transport for even more ablative wounds. (This is usually how i run her. ) The addition of a priest with litanies and enough ablative wounds in her squad means you can use her to Tarpit with her 3 wounds, Eternal Warrior and her 3+/4++ made re-rollable with warhymns.

Give her a Stormbolter and stick her in a squad of HB Rets for a little extra dakka or use her to man the gun on an ADL

Give her an Eviscerator and sick her in a squad of repentia, or don't give her it and just use her to deflect bullets

Give her a Combi flamer and stick her with the troops. 

Give her a combi melta and stick her with the dominions.

Give her a Power Maul and she'll be hitting and wounding marines on 3s 

Give her a Power Axe and put the hurt on anything with a 2++

Or now thanks to the FAQ, give her a Condemnor and go full Witch Hunter on those psykers. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!

[Servant of Dante]

I always do rosarius, MoO, evicerator, and bolt pistol. You could save points by dropping the evicerator, but without the rosarius and the mantle she's kinda squishy. She has 3 wounds do its a shame to see her instakilled

[Drider]

And there is so much S6 out there that she will die to instant death without MoO. sometimes unintentionally.

[CaptainHelion]

Yeah, a space marine with a power maul will instagib her without even trying. MoO is the first thing I give her, every time.

[Servant of Dante]

And i would almost never go without the rosarius, just because it makes me feel all safe and warm and fuzzy inside. I have less idea what I mean when I say that then you do.

[Blackarmor_redtruth]

Assuming rosarius and MoO are standard, the evicerator is a blast when moving her about - inferno pistol if I have the points. The other half for me is (see above standard) just aegis defense line quad-gunner.

[CaptainHelion]

I also use a Rosarius Inferno Gunslinger with the Hymns relic with Dominions occasionally. I've managed to nuke a Knight in one go with one.

[Arkaniss]

Eviscerator is good fun but as always it depends on your meta and what you want her to do. Unless I'm going cheap and cheerful I always give her an Inferno Pistol, she may be a bit squishy in melee but with an Inferno Pistol your opponent will always think twice before getting too close to her. As with all HQ characters you want an Invulnerable save so a Rosarius is also a must!

[Ficinus]

I run her as everyone else seems to, with a Rosarius Mantle of Ophelia, and Eviscerator.  I think the Eviscerator is over-costed, but the best option.  I usually run her in an Ecclesiarchy Battle Conclave with two Priests, one with Litanies.  The Crusaders can tank just about anything for her and with hatred (without AoF) and re-rolling wounds, she is good at pulping most anything.

[Servant of Dante]

Eviscerator is good fun but as always it depends on your meta and what you want her to do. Unless I'm going cheap and cheerful I always give her an Inferno Pistol, she may be a bit squishy in melee but with an Inferno Pistol your opponent will always think twice before getting too close to her. As with all HQ characters you want an Invulnerable save so a Rosarius is also a must!

Honestly, I got burned out on Inferno Pistols (no pun intended) by playing my Sanguinary Guard and Dante in BA. The 6" range is kinda frustrating, and when you have the option for a plasma pistol at the same cost, the extra 6" is worth it in my opinion.

 

Now, I feel the Inferno Pistol is much more appealing on a Canoness, but I haven't tried it yet. 15 points is a lot for a pistol that may or may not come in handy.

 

That brings up the question of weather an Evicerator is really worth 30 points, but I already named mine. I can't just take it away from my Canoness, it's a relic and her right to wield it as the Canoness of the Order of the Glorious Reprisal. Also, it's cool.

[Servant of Dante]

Actually, if you're going for an Evicerator, why not just get a Bolter, or a combi? You aren't losing an attack since the Evicerator is 2-handed. I see a combi-plasma in my future.

 

Edit: GAAAAH! I love plasma weapons, but a combi flamer or melta would be so much more thematic, since plasma isn't part of the holy trinity.

[*Furyou Miko]

Just fluff it as a hotter flamer.

[Servant of Dante]

Just fluff it as a hotter flamer.

But I'll know it's not a flamer. This falls under the "I HATE counts-as" category

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Actually, if you're going for an Evicerator, why not just get a Bolter, or a combi? You aren't losing an attack since the Evicerator is 2-handed. I see a combi-plasma in my future.

 

Edit: GAAAAH! I love plasma weapons, but a combi flamer or melta would be so much more thematic, since plasma isn't part of the holy trinity.

Plasma is fire from the sun. One can easily interpret the Holy Trinity of weapons to claim a plasma weapon is a "long-range flamer."

[Servant of Dante]

 

Actually, if you're going for an Evicerator, why not just get a Bolter, or a combi? You aren't losing an attack since the Evicerator is 2-handed. I see a combi-plasma in my future.

 

Edit: GAAAAH! I love plasma weapons, but a combi flamer or melta would be so much more thematic, since plasma isn't part of the holy trinity.

Plasma is fire from the sun. One can easily interpret the Holy Trinity of weapons to claim a plasma weapon is a "long-range flamer."

 

I guess I'm just too much of a puritan to accept that heretical interpretation. Sigh.

[Blackarmor_redtruth]

Stay grimdark then and lose out. I have no problem with, and love my plasma. It also fits the history of my order. That's fluffy enough for me.

[Servant of Dante]

Stay grimdark then and lose out. I have no problem with, and love my plasma. It also fits the history of my order. That's fluffy enough for me.

I mean, when I'm playing space marines, I LOVE plasma. I enjoy the Gets Hot rule, but with sisters, the holy trinity is bolter, flamer, and melta. In the end, I usually dont have the points for the combi weapon anyway, so I would just go with a plain bolter.

[dracpanzer]

I'm with Dante, no thanks on the Plasma.  But that could be because I have terrible luck with killing my own with Gets Hot.

[*Furyou Miko]

I've always stayed away from plasma weapons for the gets hot reason myself.

[Servant of Dante]

I've always stayed away from plasma weapons for the gets hot reason myself.

Actually, even though people seem to die to gets hot more then they should, I really enjoy the flavor of the rule.

[Bishoujo]

I run my Canoness bare-bones. She is accompanied by a Command Squad of 5x Heavy Bolter Sisters. They post up behind an Aegis Defense Line and the Canoness lends her superior ballistic skill to the Quad Gun. Between this squad and my Exorcists, they lay down long range support fire while my Immolators charge forward ready to dispense squads of sisters to set the enemies of the Emperor ablaze.

Edit: Typos.

[*Furyou Miko]

I've always stayed away from plasma weapons for the gets hot reason myself.

Actually, even though people seem to die to gets hot more then they should, I really enjoy the flavor of the rule.

Oh, it's flavourful, sure, and fluffy. ~I just don't like my Sisters dying

[sedibear]

I currently have two:

One with an eviscerator and a bolt pistol converted from a Sister of Sigmar coz they fit the melee aesthetic.

 

Another with dual inferno pistols using the default model.

 

Mantle of Ophelia and Rosarius almost seems like an autobuy for this HQ choice.