[SMSlayer]

Ok, I've been bouncing around point values/money costs/army lists in my head for like 2 days and I'm pretty certain I've decided on what I want to do with Witch Hunters. But I've never used them and I don't know exactly what works good for Witch Hunters and what is a waste of time.

Generally I play Necrons, but Necrons have gotten kind of boring for me in games under 1500pts because I tend to use the same units (not really much choice of units below 1000pts). So I am going to buy Witch Hunters to use up to the 1500pt mark and I'm basically looking for lists/tactics that work good for you guys. Any advice you Witch Hunter vets can give me would be really appreciated. (I've already figured out that having a sister battle squad charge and with the faith wiping out a bunch of units w/ AP1 flamers will work good...but I don't know what else I could do with them)

[MalVeauX]

Well, to start, it depends which kind of Witch Hunter army you are refering to?

Pure Sisters of Battle (All adeptis sororitis units)
Impure Sisters of Battle (All adeptis sororitis units with inducted imperial guard)
Inquisitorial Witch Hunters (Inquisitorial units, storm troopers, inducted space marines or imperial guard)

I can help with either of these, so just give me the go ahead .

[SMSlayer]

Pure Adeptas Sororitas seems to be what I'm aiming for. This is what I'm leaning towards for 500pts.

In Witch Hunter armies you can also include inducted Daemon Hunters

[SMSlayer]

I'm going to go all Adepta Sororitas, that means no Arco-flags or Sister Repentia, or Penitent engines.* Besides, my brother has a custom SM Chapter and some DH so if I decide to use them I can always just borrow them =)

For 1500pts I'm thinking Canoness w/ Celestian retinue, St. Celestine, at least 2-3 battle sister squads, a Seraphim squad, a Retributor squad and 2 Exorcist tanks. But I have no idea how to outfit them or what kind of tactics would work the best.

NO ARCO'S??? ARE YOU MAD? Probably, Arcos and Engines are possibly the coolest units in the game.

[MalVeauX]

Well, first of all, I'll advise you that if you choose to take Sisters of Battle, don't even think about taking any allies or any inducted members. The Sisters tick with their faithpoints and should you take anything other than sisters, you will not have enough of them and you'll find your army lacking when it needs it most. So first rule of thumb is to get faiths as high as possible, without minimizing your force too much (meaning, take a balance of units, but keep that faith pool high).

Things to know about pure sisters armies:

Weak ranged ability.
Weak combat ability (but this can be better, if the right weapons are taken in the right squads).
Weak if not mounted and has insufficient bodies to foot slogg.

What is typical, is for girls to have to wade through grueling 6 inch turns while waiting to get close enough to use their holy trinity of weapons (melta, bolter, flamer). Then once they do get to use it, they're in combat the very next turn, where they are typically beat down like a rag doll.

Another thing to know, is that there are very fluffy and attractive combat units in the sister's list that are huge point sinks and are in my opinion really not worth ever taking unless in a massive game of 2000+ where a small point sink can be a minor loss.

These units are:

Repentia
Penitent Engines

Both are too slow (initiative) to be good in combat versus anything that is even half decent in combat. Both are too weak to survive the run to the other side. Both cost an arm and a leg for what you really get---their saving grace being that they move very quickly, but that's all. Neither benefit from Faith and neither add to it, but they subtract it indirectly by denying you points towards units that do provide faith.

The humble rhino is always a good idea, instead of a penitent engine or squad of repentia. You can afford 3~4 rhinos for the price of a decent squad of either of these.

Sisters HQ's are not meant to be Daemon Princes or Necron Lords. So keep that in mind when you rig her. She can be a powerful source of combat ability, but she can also be a fast shooting unit. Typically though, characters in the sisters army are way more useful in combat than at shooting. Girls already shoot way good enough with their weapons. Characters have the stats and abilities in combat that make them better in that phase. But don't expect them to survive.

Remember, sisters gain faith through death. You characters are going to die. This does -not- mean you should send them on kamikaze missions, but don't sweat it if you lose your Cannoness(s).

[hr]

Here's what can make your sisters lethal:

Speed (ie: transports, lots of them)
Lots of Faith (ie: lots of squads that are faithful)
Reliable range support (ie: exorcist is your only choice)
Numbers (ie: you need a lot bodies out there, not tons of wargear and flashy units)

Now, I'm rambling on and on, but just to keep on base, only adhere to this advice if you're interested in having a really good, efficient, etc type force. Some people really love the fluff of some units or some configurations and really want to see that in their army--that's perfect for them and I encourage people to do that. But for you, I'll give you the low-down and let you figure out how you want to do things yourself. It's your army afterall.

Which units to consider:

HQ1: Cannoness (always, because she adds so much faith and can add more with linities of faith)
ELITE1: Celestians (faith without characters--more expensive, but these are your best short range tank busters as they gain cheap heavies, best mounted in immolators)
ELITE2: Acro-Flagellants (Undeniably good in combat, but a proper sisters list can do without them and still whoop up in the combat phase--but requires priests)
FAST1: Dominions (Only use these units if you want to maximize use of flamers with Divine Guidance)
FAST2: Seraphim (The fast attack of the Sisters of Battle)
TROOPS1: Sisters of Battle (Standard issue girls)
HEAVY1: Exorcist (necessary, though it does not supply faith, but it's weapon is too good to not have)
HEAVY2: Retributors (Only worth taking for heavy bolters, otherwise, forget them)

[hr]

Sisters of Battle are best, when mounted with a mix of meltas and flamers. Forget stormbolters except on the largest of squads who are only on foot. Foot squads (ie: troops) that are not mounted are best in very large squads (14 ~ 20). Take full advantage of big squad sizes. You can get away with massive squads of girls and then take the smaller squads in your elites and fasts and heavies where they are meant to be support. Otherwise, mount them in rhinos with the standard squad size to get up and personal with your enemy (melta + flamer is the combo of choice, though I prefer to double up the weapons I'm taking.. such as 2x flamers or 2x meltas and just sticking to a target).

Celestians are great squads in that they supply faith and are all around great choices. They get your cheap heavies, so if you take multi-meltas at all, this is where you will want them. Also, they come in small enough squads to be effective and fit in an immolator. These girls can be joined to your HQ to provide more faith without even taking up an elite slot (to max out that faith in large games without losing slots to other units). This is your combat support squad as they have holy hatred. Do not bother with power weapons on these squads as hitting on 3's deserves more power. It sounds steep, but the Evicerator is wonderful in the squad. No one expects girls to hit hard or easily, so when these girls slam into a squad hitting on 3's and wounding on 2's with no saves, it's a surprise and very effective (even if they expect it, it works well). Again, it's expensive, but it's worth it in combat as you'll find out.

Dominions are best used in full squads with maxed up flamers so that they can get one good divine guidance. This is a fast selection in that it just needs to get up to the biggest pile of infantry (power armour included) and lay down 4 to 5 templates depending on configurations. The point is just to maximize the amount of dice that you will roll to achieve the magic 6's that you want so dearly. You require the Vet Superior here, for the faithful unit status. Also, this squad will probably get butchered afterwards, which will give you a faith point back. Do not invest in this squad futher than you need as they will receive a lot of casualty as soon as your opponent feels the power of divine flamers on their expensive power armour boys. Aim for the biggest tightest squads for maximum benefit. Don't bother with power weapons on the vets here either. Just stick to one thing and accomplish it, and you'll see good returns.

Seraphim are your versatile unit. However, it is best to choose a roll and stick to it. They're good against infantry and heavy infantry and good at busting vehicles (such as busting dreadnoughts). They have all kinds of grenades up to meltas. Don't bother with meltabombs unless you plan on solely hunting tanks. As for equipment, handflamers are cheap and the Vet Superior can get another flamer via the combi-flamer. The Vet supplies you with the free imagrifier status, which means you can pull off faiths pretty easily. If you take flamers, run after big squads of infantry. If you want to take heavy infantry (or terminator type units) take the inferno pistols and plasma pistol setup. You have to be close, like all seraphim squads must be, but they can put a huge dent in small tough squads like termis (as well as follow it up with an assault where they can have 3+ invulnerable saves). Always take your Vet Superior here and she is ok to have a powerweapon. Dedicate the other weapons to their roll in your army. Large squads tend to be the best (8~10). Don't under-estimate how useful their leadership buff is to other units too. They can quickly support any units that are falling in numbers retroactively.

Retributors are best fielded with heavy bolters. This is the only long range dakka you will find in this pure army. If you take multi-meltas, you will spend too many points for a squad that will attract too much attention and they still have no range to make up for their weapon's purpose--for these reasons, you want the heavy bolters. Also, as they are ranged you do not need the Vet here, though she's available if you wish to purchase another faith point for cheap. They couple well with vehicles (ie: exorcist) with the holy icon as it will buff their leadership +1 (if you take a vet, this means your leadership is 10 on these girls if they're near that tank). If it comes down to the icon or a vet, take the vet though (ld + faith is always better).

Exorcist is the only tank you can really take worth having, in terms of heavy support. This tank is the equivalent of a leman russ in terms of output. You get an average of 3 or 4 shots, which all hit nicely and have S8 AP1. This is no joke for a gun, as it takes krak missiles to two new levels (it penetrates the highest armour instead of glances thanks to AP1 and it rips through anything with any armour save--ie terminators, which it then promptly insta-kills usually). This tank is great, but limited in that it only has one weapon. The pintle storm bolter is an important upgrade to take, along with extra armour, simply because she will take damage and lose her missile launcher after too much attention. She can act as a mobile bunker for girls once this happens and the pintle bolter keeps her on the field (if you lose all weapons and take futher damage, it leads to "destroyed" much faster, and that's not useful to you). So giving it the ability to assume a new roll should it's primary roll be removed, is a good way to make her worth every point.

Cannonesses are tricky. They can do too much, but are best as support characters in combat. She can take the Cloak and a Blessed Weapon and linities of faith or a jump pack. This will make her have the ability to pull off her faith with a simple ld test (at ld10) and grant herself a 2+ invulnerable save via her cloak + the faith Spirit of the Martyr. She's dreadfully hard to kill should she assault some usually powerful units (such as terminators or tough power weapon wielding foes). She comes with enough faith to tick for two turns of it too--and the linaties grant her an extra just for a buffer. I find they're best when they join a celestian squad, for protection, and then separate off once close enough for combat--leaving the celestians to their own mission while the cannoness hurries off to beat something down and eventually supply more faith back when she retires.

[hr]

With that, I'll stop so you can digest this all and ask more questions or move on to the army list

I hope this has been helpful!

[SMSlayer]

Would you recommend:

A Dominion Squad with 6 Dominions, a veteran, 4 flamers, and an immolator for transport
or
A Celestian Squad with 6 Celestians, a veteran w/ power weapon, a heavy flamer, a flamer and an Immolator for transport

Here is the rest of the army so far.* Keep in mind I haven't really tweaked it yet.

HQ: Saint Celestine
HQ: Canoness w/ Cloak of St. Aspira, Blessed Weapon, and Jump Pack

Troop:* A squad of 10 sisters, 2 flamers, a veteran, and a Rhino as transport
Troop:* A squad of 16 sisters, 2 stormbolters, and a veteran with another stormbolter.

Fast Attack: A squad of 5 Seraphims, 2 with flamers and a veteran w/ a boltpistol and power weapon* (St. Celestine will likely join this squad since they can all hit+run)

Heavy Support: Exorcist w/ Pintle-Mounted Stormbolter and Extra Armour
Heavy Support: Exorcist w/ Pintle-Mounted Stormbolter and Extra Armour
Heavy Support: A squad of 8 Retributors with 4 heavy bolters and a veteran.

The remaining 181 points are going to either the celestians or the dominion squad.* How does it look?
I seem to be a little shy on anti-armour stuff (excluding the Exorcists). Any ideas on how I can improve it? Obviously inferno pistols on the Seraphims or something...but I'm out of points! heh

[MalVeauX]

Well, for starters, you're trying to put too much into that HQ slot. At 1500 I would either take the Cannoness and leave out Saint Celestine, or I would only take Saint Celestine. Both are powerful, but they eat all your points and too much Faith with no girls to spend it on is a bad thing (balance is key).

The Dominions need to be full squad size with a vet to be useful, otherwise, forget them. A bunch of flamers are good and all, but they're not devistating. And a small squad can be ripped to shreds should they not make thier target quickly (which is common considering you havenot many transports).

The Celestians are good, but if you want more AT, then this is where you put it. A squad of 6 Celestians with a multi-melta is cheap and can be mounted up in an immolator--providing a heavy flamer unit, an AT unit and a faith point. (I would take this squad personally, as it has more function in the whole).

Your troops are solid. The 10x girls in the rhino are good to go, and the transport needs extra armour and smokes for sure.
The 16x suqad is right on--exactly how I would do it. They'll be tough to break and output a lot of firepower. Never undestimate 32 shots of bolters that can possibly be AP1.

Your heavies are questionable. You have 2x exoricst, which will be frowned upon by your opponents (it's sometimes too powerful). But personally, Witch Hunters are all about punishing the wicked, so load up. I would leave your retributors out of this list for now. Instead, move them to troops and buy another rhino to join that other squad you have. They'll be more useful there and provide faith and more activity in general (they could carry meltas for more AT).

The last bit, is about those seraphim. They're good for killing small squads, but unless they beat them down at once, they're gone. 5x seraphim squads get torn up really bad in combat and in the shooting phase. Either fill them out, or bank on losing them fast. I would definately put a combi-flamer on the vet to get that 3rd flamer. Then they can put some real hurt on any squad (even though they'll fail most of their faith checks--except spirit of the martyr and the passion). Forget divine guideance on this squad, so no AP1 goodness here. For their points, you'd be better off with another 10x squad of sisters as troops though personally. I can't stress enough that seraphim need big squads to really pay off. Otherwise, you'll find them just eating points and dieing before doing anything worth while. Small squads are only good at hunting armour (with melta bombs and inferno pistols).