I'm going to try and be a bit more structured with this second part of my look at the Adepta Sororitas beta Codex, and focus on the new Warlord Traits and Relics for the most part.
Leading By Example
As is usually the case, the Warlord Traits run the gamut from 'almost completely useless' to 'practically an auto-include', though there are a couple of outliers.
1: INSPIRING ORATOR: A 6" Morale re-roll bubble, combined with being able to use the Leadership of the Warlord within the same radius. Sororitas are pretty cheap and have very good Leadership anyway, so unless you're up against some serious morale manipulation this one doesn't seem very useful. Especially worthless if you're going with the Order of the Sacred Rose, since then you can only lose one model to Morale anyway. On top of that, the Light of the Emperor Act of Faith is a morale auto-pass.
2: RIGHTEOUS RAGE: Re-roll charge distances, and re-roll to Wound for the first round of combat. For many Warlords this won't be all that appealing (and Celestine can't take it), but a Bloody Rose Canoness with the Blade of Admonition (see later) might well get some use out of it. Would be a decent choice for the jump-packing Canoness we don't get.
3: EXECUTIONER OF HERETICS: A 6" -1 LD bubble for the enemy. Sororitas do like to get close, and if you're working on cutting down big mobs of Cultists this might possibly be useful. But let's face it, probably not. Falls victim to the usual problem with morale-manipulation that there're so many ways to shut it down.
4: BEACON OF FAITH: Gain a Faith point on a 4+ at the start of your turn. Now this one is quite interesting. Celestine is saddled with it, which at first glance is disappointing since there are several that seem better for her. However, it's worth looking at how Faith works. You start with 3 points just for having any models in the army that can use it, and then gain a point for every 10 models. Whilst this means that mono-Sororitas armies tend to have quite a lot of Faith, a small allied detachment won't have very many. Since Celestine, in particular, hands out a save buff to Militarum and Ministorum models as well as Sororitas, she might well see some use in 'Soup' armies. In that situation, gaining some extra Faith to fuel Acts might well prove handy. Still, overall not one of the stronger Traits.
5: INDOMITABLE BELIEF: This is the money-shot, at least most of the time. It improves the Shield of Faith save to 5++ within a 6" bubble around the Warlord. What's important to note is that since this increases the bonus to 5++, and then both the Seraphim's Angelic Visage and Celestine's Saintly Blessings are +1 modifiers, you can get an area of up to 3++ for some models. (Somewhat oddly, instead of getting the +1 like Seraphim, the Geminae get +2 from Celestine, for much the same result so long as they stay close, and they really should.)
There might be some situations where this may not be an auto-take. Some army builds rely far more on volume of fire or Mortal Wounds than on AP, and especially if the board has a lot of cover you might find that Invulnerable seeing less use than you expected. Keeping the maximum bubble by overlapping Celestine and another Warlord can also be a bit limiting, given that Celestine works best aggressively, so if you're using this Trait to protect your Retributors and Exorcists she may end up twiddling her thumbs a bit. Still, overall a very strong Trait.
6: PURE OF WILL: Gives the Warlord a second Deny the Witch and a 12" bubble of -1 to enemy psychic tests. This one is situational and basically requires a Relic to use effectively, but can be very handy in the right circumstances. Obviously it's little use against armies with few Psykers and the 1D6 Deny is still almost completely useless, but that's what the Brazier of Eternal Flame is for. (See later.) Might well be handy against armies like Eldar, Thousand Sons and Grey Knights.
In summary, the best we can say about the Traits is that they're not much worse than those in many other Codexes. Hopefully in the full Codex we'll see one for each Order as well (for example an extra Wound and improved wound ignore save for the Valorous Heart) but for the moment there's at least Indomitable Belief if you're stuck.
(not) The Holy Hand Grenade
On to the Relics, then, and these are a somewhat better bunch than the Traits, I think, though there's the odd duffer in there.
BLADE OF ADMONITION: The obligatory beat-stick, in this case a +2 S, -3 AP, Damage 3 Power Sword replacement. As is usually the case with these sort of weapons in Codexes full of normal humans, the only problem with it is that the person wielding it isn't all that scary. Still, a Canoness brandishing this thing is up for most targets, though only getting up to S5 means you're not that likely to be cutting the legs off Knights. Obviously very nice for the Order of the Bloody Rose, since that additional +1S and +1A comes in very handy with it.
BOOK OF ST. LUCIUS: Increase the range of the bearer's Aura abilities by 3". Quite nifty, increasing the distance a Canoness can dish out her re-rolls and working with several Warlord traits, including Indomitable Belief and Pure of Will. Also combos well with the...
BRAZIER OF ETERNAL FLAME: A 6" bubble that makes the Deny The Witch roll from Shield of Faith into a proper 2D6 rather than that near-pointless 1D6. Obviously combos well with Pure of Will, in fact I'd say it's pretty much essential if taking that Trait. However, for maximum anti-psychic defence you could take the Book of Lucius with the Warlord, and keep another Character with the Brazier next to her, giving the Warlord her two 2D6 Denies and a 15" radius to the psychic penalty.
LITANIES OF FAITH: A 5+ roll to regain a Faith point when an Act is passed within 6" of the bearer. Its usefulness will depend on how much Faith you find yourself needing, a topic on which my own personal jury is still very much out. Works regardless of Order, which mostly just means it also works for Celestine and the Geminae in practice.
MANTLE OF OPHELIA: A cloak that's basically a Storm Shield, conferring a 3++. Not brilliant, given that all the HQ options have a 4++ anyway. Probably needs to do something else (e.g. halve wounds suffered or grant a wound ignore save) to be really worth it.
WRATH OF THE EMPEROR: Last and probably least. An 18" range, 3-shot Pistol with S5, AP -1 and Damage 2 which might be worth bothering with if you could get it for a few points, but certainly not as a Relic. Might be worth it if it did Mortal Wounds to Psykers and/or could ignore targeting restrictions.
Overall, despite finishing with a bit of a whimper (neither of those last two choices should make it to the full Codex unchanged, IMHO) a fairly decent list of toys. The Blade is fun if your Canoness wants to get stuck in (prepare for Ork players grumping about their lack of an Invulnerable save) and the utility items all have definite uses. It's nice to see Sisters back at the level of being one of the better anti-psychic armies, even if they have to resort to a Relic to do it.
So, all that remains here is to wish my readers a happy New Year, assuming I don't make a post specifically to do so. I'll return to the beta Codex in 2019 to look at the Stratagems a bit. Finally, one last plug for my first novel, The Wake Of Manadar, which is a free Kindle download until the end of the year. Motivate me to finish the third one, people!
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