A relative newcomer to the Wood Elf list, Sisters of the Thorn were added for the first time with the 8th edition army book, the last army book before The End Times and the death of rank and flank Warhammer. As such, they don’t have the same nostalgia or model count that most of our other units have. Let’s take a closer look at these Handmaidens of Ariel …
Stats and Special Rules
Sisters have a standard Wood Elf statline, with a couple of improvements which immediately help us understand their role on the battlefield. They are BS5 (6 for the champion) and Ld9, so they seem to want to be used as a ranged unit, and likely on a flank or away from the General’s Inspiring Presence. Being a cavalry unit, they are actually a bit slower than the rest of our cav at only M8, but the Steed of Isha gives a nice extra S4 attack if you do end up in combat.
They’re equipped with their own special Blackbriar Javelins, S3 range 12″ AP -1 with Move & Shoot (so you can march and still shoot) and Quick Shot (meaning you can Stand and Shoot no matter how close the charging unit is). They also have Fire & Flee, but I want to call out that right now Quick Shot and Fire & Flee do not work together (seems illogical, but that’s how the rules are written. Edit: some groups are FAQing that these do work together, so check with your opponent/TO) so keep that in mind when you’re playing with them. They come with Swiftstride, Open Order and Fast Cavalry, so you get the free pivot even if you march … we can start to see this all coming together now. March 16″, pivot up to 90° and then shoot up to 12″ away with the javelins.
Like the rest of the army, they have Move Through Cover and Elven Reflexes, which are both very useful, but what really sets them apart are these last three rules: Poisoned Attacks, Daughters of Eternity and Deepwood Coven.
Poisoned Attacks is a rule on the model, not the weaponry, which means that it applies to both ranged attacks and close combat attacks AND it applies to the attacks of both rider and mount when in combat. This fits in with a wider poison attack strategy by equipping your archers with Hagbane Tips, and the extra -1 AP from the javelins definitely comes in handy: it doubles the number of wounds that go through vs something with a 5+ save (a common save on high toughness monsters, who are great targets for poison shooting).
Daughters of Eternity is a simple but awesome rule: all the models have a 4++ ward save. Very few models in the game have or can get a ward save like this, and it really helps keep the Sisters alive given that they don’t wear armour. But the real kicker is in the wording of the rule “This unit has a 4+ Ward save against any wounds suffered.” Not this model, or models with this special rule … this unit. That means that when a character joins the unit, they also get the 4+ Ward save! I’ll go into this a bit more when I talk about their battlefield role, but it opens up a ton of interesting possibilities for potential character builds and the role the unit can play.
Caveat: some folks have argued this doesn’t apply to characters. I’ve yet to hear a solid argument as to why (most of them seem to be “Oh but if you look at this other similar-but-not-quite-the-same rule / FAQ” which doesn’t really hold water with me). In the spirit of fun and fair play, find out from your TO or opponent what their thoughts are before assuming it’s OK.
Deepwood Coven is the last rule on the unit and grants the unit the ability to cast a Bound Spell from either Battle Magic or Elementalism, at L2 if you have both a champion and standard, or L1 if you have just a champion, L0 if you have neither. It would have been nice for this to be L3 if you had full command, no? And sadly no access to Lore of Athel Loren, because I think Treesinging might have suited this unit. Ah well. This is still a pretty nice ability. However, as L2, your odds of casting the spell aren’t great. Here’s a graph showing the odds of rolling any given total on 2d6.
The lowest casting cost spells are 7+, and the highest are 10+, meaning you need between 5+ and 8+ on the dice. Not too bad, until you consider the odds of being dispelled. I have a simple spreadsheet you can use to see the odds of casting vs L4, and the chances drop dramatically …
The best chance is a 7+ spell, which will go off roughly 1/3 of the time, or twice per game, vs 10+ spell which will only go off 1/4 of the time, or 3 times every 2 games. This assumes they are in range of an opponent’s L4 for dispel, but as I said earlier, it’s likely that the best place for these ladies is on a flank and away from the your opponent’s main force. Let’s take a look at the spells that might be good options. I’m recommending you take both a Standard and a Champion for that +2 to cast, in case that wasn’t obvious!
Edit: one final critical note that I failed to mention. This spell is chosen before deployment, not in the list building phase. So you can pick what you want based on what your opponent’s army is, rather than having to guess up front!
Spells
TL;DR pick from Fireball or Plague of Rust
Cast on a 7+
TL;DR nothing amazing in the 7+ spells.
The four options are Hammerhand, Curse of Arrow Attraction, Oaken Shield, and Storm Call. Obviously Oaken Shield is completely pointless, so don’t take it! Storm Call is, imho, a really weak spell and should really never be cast, so recommend you don’t take that either. That leaves either Hammerhand or Curse of Arrow Attraction. Broadly speaking, this unit could be either a combat-oriented unit, or a shooting-oriented unit and so I could see a case being made for either of these two spells to reinforce that orientation. However, I don’t think Hammerhand really does enough damage to make it a good choice (it’ll average 4 hits per combat, which likely will only translate into 1 wound against most units). Curse is OK if you have a lot of other shooting in the list, and your other wizard(s) aren’t running Battle Magic. I’ve generally found it translates into roughly one extra wound from ~30 poison shots (which is what I’m typically running).
Cast on an 8+
TL;DR if in doubt, choose Fireball.
The chart shows that the odds of casting an 8+ are only marginally worse than the 7+ vs an L4 dispel. The odds of the spell going off at all are ~72% (6+ on the dice). The three options here are Fireball, Flaming Sword and Wind Blast. I think Flaming Sword is not as good as Hammerhand, and so definitely can’t recommend it. That leaves either Fireball or Wind Blast. Fireball is probably the gold standard of magic missiles: it’s a very solid spell, and given that every list seems to run the Ruby Ring of You-win, choosing this on a Sisters unit as a bound spell is like getting an extra Ruby Ring. Wind Blast is also a pretty good magic missile–you average 5 hits at S5 AP -1, which is likely to do more damage against certain targets than Fireball, and you also push them away from the Sisters by 2″, which is situationally good: preventing an opponent from being able to make a charge for instance. I think this one requires a bit more finesse to make work, but definitely a solid option. Again, either of these spells is reinforcing the ‘shooting-oriented’ option for the unit.
Cast on a 9+
TL;DR take Plague of Rust if you’re up against units with 2+/3+ Armour. Take Pillar of Fire if your opponent has lots of units of Low toughness units.
The odds have now dropped to about 3 in 10 vs an L4, which is not a big enough drop to really be concerned about. The odds of the spell going off at all have dropped by ~14% to ~58%, so still being cast more often than not. My personal opinion here is that this is probably the highest spell casting cost to shoot for with a L2 spell, as after this you drop below a 50/50 shot for casting at all. So, what are the spell options?
Battle Magic offers us Pillar of Fire and Curse of Cowardly Flight, while Elementalism has Plague of Rust and Summon Elemental Spirit. Of the two Vortex spells, I think Pillar of Fire is stronger because you can control the direction, and the AP is higher even though the Strength is lower (S3 AP -2, vs S4 AP -1). Even though Remains in Play spells are pretty easy to Dispel, having this unit be out on a flank and casting centrally may make this easier to go off and do some damage, or even roll into enemy War Machines. Remember that the enemy wizard has to be in range of the caster to Dispel, not the vortex itself. Pillar is great against units with low saves and toughness (um, Wood Elves?), including things like Goblins, Witch Elves, most human infantry, and most light cavalry.
Curse of Cowardly Flight is an underrated spell. When we did our Magic Lore review, I was very down on this spell but having now used it multiple times in battle, I’ve discovered it’s main strength which is on lone monsters. These tend to have high movement but low Ld, and are often used to try to hassle your back lines. It’s got a pretty low range though (15″) so I think it doesn’t combo well with the Sisters, who most likely want to be further up field and pressing the enemy battleline.
But really, I think the spell to choose from the 9+ spells is Plague of Rust. Whether you are shooting- or combat-oriented, this spell is arguably the best debuff we have available to the army, granting a very important AP -2. Wild Riders, Great Weapons and Arcane Bodkins also have AP -2 and AB (1), meaning that a unit with Plague of Rust cast on them is losing their armour save against our preferred attacks (or dropping it to a 6+ vs those very well armoured 2+ units). Even the Sisters themselves can benefit from it, because Poisoned Attacks at AP -3 are likely to get some wounds through on pretty much any target. It also has an excellent range at 21″, again reinforcing this notion that the right usage for the Sisters is on the flank, providing ranged support.
Cast on a 10+
TL;DR don’t take any of these, they’re too hard to cast
The math definitely works against the 10+ spells. You need an 8+ on the dice (~42%) even just to cast the spell, never mind it being dispelled. However, for the sake of completeness, here’s my thoughts on what’s available.
Earthen Ramparts, Travel Mystical Pathway and Arcane Urgency are the 10+ spells. Of the two conveyance spells, I think Arcane Urgency is the stronger, but neither are very good for the Sisters themselves because they are pretty fast moving on their own (I’ve written before about this being great for Eternal Guard though). However, I think that conveyance spells are best when you can rely upon them, which means it’s something for your L4 to do.
Earthen Ramparts is a so-so spell, giving a 5+ Ward to another unit in exchange for it’s ability to move. I think the best target for this spell is a unit of Treekin or a Treeman, who then become very hard to wound and can function well as an anvil or flank defenders. Sisters are likely to be functioning on a different part of the battlefield than the Trees though, so I think it’s a suboptimal choice. Again, I think this is the sort of spell you want to get off reliably if you’re going to put those units into that role, so take it on your L4.
Battlefield Role
I’ve alluded to their being two primary roles for the Sisters, either as a shooting-oriented unit, or a combat-oriented one. Let’s tackle combat first, as I think it’s the less obvious choice.
Combat Oriented
In combat, the Sisters are reasonably solid on their own. Their damage output is limited, even though it can be buffed with their Bound Spell and benefits from Poisoned Attacks, but they do get two attacks per model in the fighting rank, and they are at AP -1 for the Sisters attacks. Versus Chaos Warriors (a decent benchmark) they’d do ~2 wounds on average, and ~3.5W if you cast Plague of Rust. Clearly, they’re not a front-line combat unit, so on their own they are best at attacking your enemy’s chaff and war machines, or providing some flank support in a combo charge. I think the main use for them in a combat role would be to deliver a combat character into base contact with the enemy, and provide them with a 4++ Ward save from the Daughters of Eternity special rule.
This sort of combat character is probably best being a Glade Captain, rather than a Glade Lord, simply because the types of targets they’ll be good at taking out are going to be the enemy cavalry or infantry, not enemy monster-riding Lords. Any build that you might put together to take out e.g. a Lord on a Dragon is unlikely to kill them in a single turn, and even with a 4++ Ward save is going to result in you most likely dying to attacks back and Thunderstomps. (The best build I could come up with was with the Ogre Blade, Potion of Strength, Befuddlement of Mischiefs and Annoyance of Netlings – you’re likely going first and doing some wounds, but on average not the 9 you’d need to kill the Lord. Even though you’re being hit back on 5s, you’re still likely taking 3 wounds total from attacks back and Thunderstomps).
This kind of unit is probably useful in support of some Wild Riders. You could put the BSB into this unit, to provide some useful static combat resolution and damage output in a combo-charge with Wild Riders, but I think the GotH BSB does this better and provides more options.
There is a possibility of making a cavalry deathstar here … BSB, Lord and Spellweaver all on Elven Steeds, keeping the Weaver in the 2nd rank because the front rank is the two combat characters and the command group. The Lord could take a similar build as above, the BSB could have the War Banner, and the Spellweaver could take the Lore Familiar. You could get up to +5 static combat res (+1 for rank, +1 BSB, +1 Standard, +1 War Banner, +1 Banner of the Eternal Queen), and take Lore of Illusion for Glittering Robe, meaning you’re most likely only being hit on 6s when combined with the Netlings and Mischiefs. (Spectral Doppelganger might be an option, with the Dragon Slaying Sword). Against a Dragon Lord, your Glade Lord would have a good chance to survive (likely only taking damage from stomps) and you could win on static combat res and force the Break Test into a Flee result due to outnumbering the Dragon on Unit Strength (you’d have 20, vs their 9). Not sure how good an idea this is, but it sounds intriguing–let me know if you’ve tried this! I’d definitely want to put some Magic Resistance into the unit too. Even if it didn’t do well, it’d be really fun to try it out! I calculate it out to be over 800 points though 🤣
(High Magic might also be a fun lore with them, because then they go from 2 attacks each to 4 attacks each with the Fury of Khaine spell. However, I think that spell is better at targeting Wild Riders, and doesn’t offer a lot more to help compared to Illusion.)
Shooting Oriented
I think this is the natural place for Sisters, as I think should be clear from everything you’ve read so far. They can take a spell that either makes your shooting better (e.g. Plague of Rust) or does more ranged damage (e.g. Fireball), fitting into the general Wood Elf strategy of softening up the enemy with shooting, staying out of range/charge arc, before finally attacking late game.
In terms of characters that could bunker well, in this unit, I think there are two main options: a Glade Lord with the Bow of Loren and Potion of Strength, or a Spellweaver running a good ranged Lore.
The Glade Lord with the Bow of Loren and Potion of Strength can pump out shots at up to S7. It almost doesn’t matter what enchanted arrows they take because they only get to use one (thanks to the very dumb FAQ, GW has decided that Wood Elf characters carry two quivers of different arrows into battle), so I think the right choice is Swiftshiver Shards to give an extra shot. You’ll get 5 shots at BS7, potentially S7, and if combined with Plague of Rust from the Sisters, will be at AP -2, AB (1). Not bad for plinking a few wounds off of pesky monsters, but probably not worth the points (it’s ~200) and there are better Lord builds (most notably, bringing one on a Dragon).
The Spellweaver I’d bring would probably be taking Lore of Illusion and a Lore Familiar, with the goal of stopping the advances of the enemy with Miasmic Mirage and Column of Crystal, and protecting herself and her sisters with Glittering Robe and probably Spectral Doppelganger and a simple magic weapon for being able to thwack chaff units in combat when needed. I’d argue that this same build is probably just as good in Glade Riders with Reserve Move, and that the Riders would chew up some of your Core allowance.
Having said all that, I think running Sisters on their own is probably the most viable option. Units of 5 will be annoying to deal with, and they’ll still be a L2 wizard until the champion is left standing on her own.
Summary
I think the Sisters are a very strong all-rounder unit for the army. They have a lot of flexibility, provide ranged attacks and magical support, plus defense for bunkering a character. They are comparatively hard to kill due to the 4++ save, and give an option for being able to choose a good spell like Fireball or Plague of Rust without having to roll for it. And they can pump out a few wounds in virtually any combat they get into, due to their volume of Poisoned Attacks.
What do you think of them? Have you had much success with them? What spells are you taking, and are you bunkering characters or just running them solo?
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