For my third look at the new Sororitas rules, I'm going to take a quick look at the Stratagems and go through how the Codex is feeling to me so far. Certainly to me, at least, the current selection seems quite solid. I'm not going to bother with simple ones like Open the Reliquaries since everyone has that in some form, and there's still a fair few I've not had any experience with.
Burning Descent
We're starting with a good one! Burning Descent allows a Seraphim unit that's just arrived from Reserve via Sky Strike to shoot at the end of the Movement Phase. On top of that, it increases the range of any Hand Flamers in the unit to 12" for that attack. Bonus shooting attacks are always good to have, and if your Seraphim are looking to clear out enemy infantry quickly this is a real bargain for 1CP. There are a couple of downsides- since you're not actually in the Shooting Phase you can't improve the attack with Stratagems or Acts that are restricted to that phase, and the most powerful gun Seraphim can get, the Inferno Pistol, only has a 6" range and isn't improved by this Stratagem. Still, very good indeed.
Vessel of the Emperor's Will
Probably the most potentially impressive Stratagem in the Codex, if you can make it work, well worth 3CP. It takes an Act of Faith that a Character has just successfully performed and turns it into a 6" radius bubble. I've talked about this quite a bit before, the short version being that it's very versatile and quite risky, since you're relying heavily on a Character to get an Act off (on which more below). There are also a few odd rules issues- apart from the silly one (which is that it seems to affect Vehicles) there's also the question of whether the Book of Lucius makes the effect extend to 9" and what happens if the Character dies before all the units affected have used the Act. (Eg, to a Counter Assault or a plasma overheat)
Suffer not the Witch
A wound re-roll for a unit vs a Psyker in either the Fight or Shooting phase. It actually causes the target to re-roll wound rolls against all Psykers for the phase, so it might be useful against multiple targets at once. Quite a few big scary things like Tyranids or Daemons are also Psykers, so for one CP this is a very handy Stratagem, particularly in combat where that Strength 3 can be an issue.
Extremis Trigger Word, Final Redemption
I've not tried either of these yet, having not used the relevant units. Both rely on getting some quite fragile models into Assault, which I'm not sure is all that viable. The Trigger Word gives you effectively six Attacks per Flagellant, which makes them quite choppy, and Final Redemption gives a 4+ chance for Repentia to put a Mortal Wound on something that kills them in combat, which is certainly worth it if any number of them get into contact. Certainly using it and then following up with Spirit of the Martyr and a Hospitaller to bring some of the casualties back is amusingly cheeky.
Blessed Bolts
Turns a unit's Storm Bolters into Damage 2, AP -2 weapons. On Dominions who can take five of the things, potentially very nasty indeed for 1 CP. Few players (not me, for one) have enough of the relevant models to use it right now, though.
Faith and Fury
Re-roll 1s to wound for a unit that's passed an Act of Faith that phase. Useful for Dominions trying to melt tanks and handy if you manage to get The Passion off. For 1CP, it's a tough call whether its worth it for other attacks.
Sacred Banner of the Order Militant
Gives a Simulacrum the additional ability to improve Shield of Faith by +1 for the unit, an ability that lasts for an entire Battle Round. You have to do this pre-battle, but if you're planning on having a dismounted unit camping an objective it can be very handy.
Rally The Faithful
Halve the number of models that flee (rounding down) after a failed Morale test. I've not used this yet, but since it's activated once the test is already failed it's a very handy safety net.
Purity of Faith
A 4+ Deny The Witch for 1CP. It's always a tough call to use a Stratagem that might then do nothing, but there are several powers it's well worth trying to stop. Certainly no-one is going to be entirely confident of any plan that relies on a particular power knowing you have this sitting in your hand.
Martyrdom
Gain D3 Faith if one of your Characters dies, or 3 if the Warlord does. Very situational, but good to be aware of.
Holy Trinity
This is, in many ways, a defining stratagem. Gain +1 To Wound if shooting a bolt, flame and melta weapon from a unit at the same target. All my units tend to take at least one of each for this reason- Dominions in particular are much better at tank hunting if their meltas are wounding on 3+. It's worth noting that all weapons in the unit gain the bonus, including grenades and plasma weapons, so for example a Seraphim Superior now has more reason to take a plasma pistol. A powerful stratagem on its own, which becomes all the more deadly if combo'd with Divine Guidance. On top of that, of course, if you get Guidance off you can also add Faith and Fury to the mix.
Sacred Rites
Swap a CP for a Faith Point at the start of the Movement Phase. It's a thing.
Updated Impressions
I've now got three games in with my Sisters and so far to me they feel pretty solid and importantly, like Sisters. I've seem some criticism of the Faith Point system being too similar to Command Points, which is true to some extent, but I don't feel it makes them any less fun to use- Acts are generally cheaper than Stratagems, but less reliable. I've managed to pull off the Passion/ Beacon of Faith 'Hail Mary' play once and it allowed Celestine and a beat-stick Canoness to destroy a Shadowsword* which was pretty impressive.
One issue that has been raised that I do agree with is that it's odd that Characters find Acts harder than squads do, since they can't benefit from a Simulacrum. Celestine in particular is badly affected by this since she can't have an Order and so can't even get the +1 from Ebon Chalice. This in particular makes Vessel of the Emperor's Will harder to use than it could be. Even if this is intentional (Vessel is very powerful, after all) it feels wrong. The obvious dirty fix is to give Characters +1 to Faith Tests and to be honest I'd give Celestine a flat +2 because come on. Alternatively, Celestine could get a Warlord Trait that's a +1 bonus to Acts in a bubble around her to go with the +1 for Characters- this could even replace the current version of Beacon of Faith and would be more like her prior incarnation (literally).
The Angel of Fail
I think Celestine warrants a bit more attention. As well as the Act of Faith issue, I don't think the current approach to the Geminae really works well. Splitting the Geminae into a separate unit means that if an area effect goes off (such as an exploding vehicle or an orbital bombardment) both Celestine and the Geminae get hit separately. With the Geminae having so few Wounds, that usually wipes them out since the wounds Celestine takes get passed on to them too, and once the unit is gone Celestine can't bring them back. In three games, I've not used Healing Tears once- the Geminae have never survived damage. On top of that, with the Geminae needing to stay within 3" of Celestine to do their job, both Advancing and Assaulting are a total lottery with them.
I'd suggest Celestine and the Geminae go back to being a Character Unit like they were in the Index, but keeping a version of the Geminae's new Lifewards rule so that they soak wounds for Celestine on a 2+. As a unit, you could of course assign wounds to the Geminae first anyway, but Lifewards allows them to keep doing their job even once Celestine is wounded. Healing Tears would then work like it did in the Index and bring one back per turn, even if they're both dead.
Valorous Heart
I've played all my games as the Order of the Valorous Heart since that's how my girls are painted, and I stand by my original impression- i.e. their Order Trait sucks. A 6+ wound ignore save so rarely does anything of note that on some occasions, such as taking hits from Damage 3 or higher weapons, it's just not worth the time to roll it. I really think the Order needs an additional bonus, such as Simulacrums conferring a chance for a retaliation attack like Marine Ancients, or Vehicles using higher damage tracks like Valhallans. Of course, any Order-specific Relics or Stratagems might change things, too.
Playstyle
The Sisters, primarily, are a short-range firefight army but I've found it's important not to discount Assault. Whilst they're not all that good in combat, with Power Armour they can survive there against other non-specialists, and so it's often well worth assaulting the remains of a target unit to prevent retaliatory fire and maybe finish them off. If bunkered up in transports and supported by Celestine and a Warlord with Indomitable Belief they can shrug off a lot of first-turn shooting before closing for the attack. Many players (quite rightly!) worry when Exorcists open up on them and will tend to target them first, allowing the rest of your force some time to close in. I'll finish this up with a brief summary of my current test list, and how it tends to play.
Battalion
HQ
Canoness (Power Sword, replaced with Blade of Admonition)
Celestine
ELITES
8 Celestians, Power Sword, Flamer (Dedicated Transport: Rhino)
TROOPS10 Sisters, Flamer, Melta, Superior with Combi-Melta and Power Maul (Dedicated Transport: Repressor)
10 Sisters, 2 Meltas, Superior with Combi-Flamer and Power Sword (Dedicated Transport: Repressor)
5 Sisters, 2 Flamers, Superior with Combi-Melta. (Dedicated Transport: Immolator with Immolation Flamers)
FAST ATTACK
10 Seraphim, 2 Inferno Pistols, 2 Hand Flamers, Superior with Plasma Pistol and Power Sword.
6 Dominions, 4 Meltas, Superior with Combi-Flamer, Simulacrum. (Dedicated Transport: Immolator with Immolation Flamers)
Spearhead
HQ
Canoness, Warlord (Indomitable Will), Storm Bolter, Book of St. Lucius
HEAVY SUPPORT
2 Exorcists
10 Retributors, 4 Heavy Bolters, Superior with Storm Bolter, Simulacrum.
Vanguard
HQ
Uriah Jacobus
ELITES
2 Geminae Superia
Sister Hospitaller
Sister Dialogus
This list gives a total of 9 Faith Points, and 10 Command Points, one of which is spent to get the extra Relic. I should point out straight away that the Geminae are in a different Detachment to Celestine so that they can fill an Elite slot- if Celestine were in the Vanguard the Geminae wouldn't fill a slot and the Detachment wouldn't be complete. Odd, but there you go. (EDIT: The Celestians could fill that slot. I have no idea why this didn't occur to me at the time!)
Usually, the Warlord Canoness, Hospitaller, Dialogus and Retributors form a fire-base with the Exorcists, set up with Celestine within 6" to give all the units a 4++ on the first turn. Between the Hospitaller, Spirit of the Martyr (with the Simulacrum bonus and the Dialogus re-roll) and the Invulnerable save, the Retributors are hard to shift and can come back if they die. The Transports deploy taking advantage of the save bonuses as much as possible and move up to attack as fast as they can. The Seraphim drop in when needed, ideally taking advantage of one or both of the Save bonuses as well** and linking up with Celestine***. The sword-armed Canoness rides with the Celestians and Uriah in the Rhino, supporting the advance and looking to pile into combat when needed- the bonus Attack from Uriah's Banner of Sanctity gives the Celestians 3 Attacks each and helps make up for their low Strength to an extent.
So far, this list has been quite successful, and most importantly feels like a Sisters of Battle army to me. The Celestians have yet to really shine, mostly due to them not facing much enemy Infantry, but they do help keep the Canoness and Celestine alive. Their light equipment is due to the way I built the Raging Heroes models I use for them- they're first in line to be replaced with shiny new plastic Sisters...
* To be fair, it already had a few big holes in it.
** This almost never happens.
*** This happens even less.
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