hopes, dreams, and fears for sisters in 8th

[Servant of Dante]

Not unlikely. As long as we can play a battlefirged army that's just Sisters models, I'll be happy.

 

And if not, all the more incentive for me to write a homebrew codex :P

[BitsHammer]

Anyone else notice the catphrase examples they gave? Tyrants, Blood Angels, Imperium. Marine chapter for special mention; methinks sisters will be thrown into the imperium catchphrase.

Imperium likely is a keyword on the same level "Order" is in AoS: the top most faction level. We will likely have a breakdown like (using Battle Sisters as an example): "Imperium, Adepta Sororitas, Battle Sisters" and follow any and all related rules for such. So we'd be able to bundle our army in with any other Imperium forces inside of the same detachment, but we could also go pure andonly take Adepta Sororitas keyword units,

[Knight of the Raven]

So, I do have a slight hope that Sisters of Battle will get a codex and a plastic range at some point in the next edition... but it comes with a fear. A pretty big one, actually.

 

See, I loved Daemonhunters. The lore, the models, everything, I just couldn't afford either the money, time or room to buy anything more than the codex. I was looking forward to their updates... and then the first Codex: Grey Knights happened.

 

I'm not even talking about the lore. The plastic versions of metal models just didn't hold a candle to the metal ones to me, and the dreadknight, even if it was planned for back when Daemonhunters came out, just wasn't for me. Just like that, the magic was gone.

 

I dread the same thing happening to Sisters of Battle. I expect the lore to be as poor as everything that has come out of GW Studio in the last years, but I can ignore lore. I can't ignore models that just don't do it for me. I can repurpose my Our Martyred Lady motor pool for my Raven Guard, but it'd still be a severe loss for me.

[Servant of Dante]

I mean you could just keep using the old metal range. I personally like the weight of the models, and the sculpts, so if a hypothetical new range isn't up to my standards I'll keep using what I have. The only thing I really want are new Repentia sculpts. As much as I try I just can't make my self like those sculpts (the fluff is fine, it's just the models).

[micahwc]

lots of speculation that individual chapters will all be under imperium, but you will get a bonus for running just blood angels, or just space wolves, etc.

[A.T.]

So changes to durability, comparing a marine with 4+ for S4, 3+ for S5-7, 2+ for S8+, whereas sisters are 4+ for S3, 3+ for 4-5, and 2+ for S6+.

 

Though it does have the slightly odd side effect of making sisters (and guard, etc) just as hard to wound with a heavy bolter or heavy flamer as a marine... pity the sisters own heavy weapons are sitting in that S5 'underwhelming' zone - 3+ to wound infantry, 5+ (or worse) to wound vehicles.

[Commander Dawnstar]

So how about that new info on Infantry in 8th?

The most obvious positives to take away from this are that it now takes Strength 6 to wound Sisters on a 2+ and that split fire, along with the previously mentioned changes to Heavy Weapons, mean that we just might want to consider Multimeltas in our units to give them a bit more ranged threat and versatility.

As for the negatives ... if Melta and the Exorcist's missiles stay at Strength 8 then they'll need a 3+ to wound anything above Toughness 4 and Heavy Flamers and Heavy Bolters no longer wound horde infantry on a 2+. Here's hoping that Melta gets to reroll failed wounds at half range or something similar.

Edit: Seems I was just a little bit slow off the mark

[robofish7591]

Hmm.... being T3 kind of puts us in an odd place with the new to wound chart.  The new chart seems to help us as much as it hurts us, in my opinion.  Now, while we are only being wounded on a 2+ by S6... the majority of our weapons sit in the S4-5 range, with meltas and exorcists being the exception.  Since people keep mentioning heavy bolters being useful again, I am wondering if there is something else changing for them.  They have got to have some ap value and maybe a few more shots, otherwise I think they may be worse off than they are currently.

 

On another note, I am definitely interesting in running my sisters in 8th to see how they will change.  I have even started picking up some more models to get ready for 8th!

[Daimhin]

I'm also thinking of running multi-meltas in BSS in 8th.

 

Obviously lots we still don't know, but running multiple 5/6-girl squads with a MM and a TL-MM gives a lot of st8 spread across the board.

[A.T.]

Hmm.... being T3 kind of puts us in an odd place with the new to wound chart.  The new chart seems to help us as much as it hurts us, in my opinion.  Now, while we are only being wounded on a 2+ by S6... the majority of our weapons sit in the S4-5 range,

 

S5 does, so far, seem to be a bad spot to be. Weaker against T3 units, no better than a boltgun against light vehicles (such as the T7 dreadnoughts). But they might be cheap.

[Daimhin]

 

Hmm.... being T3 kind of puts us in an odd place with the new to wound chart.  The new chart seems to help us as much as it hurts us, in my opinion.  Now, while we are only being wounded on a 2+ by S6... the majority of our weapons sit in the S4-5 range,

 

S5 does, so far, seem to be a bad spot to be. Weaker against T3 units, no better than a boltgun against light vehicles (such as the T7 dreadnoughts). But they might be cheap.

 

 

S5 does appear to be substantially weaker than before, but when thinking about Heavy Bolter (or other weapons) you need to take into account armour save modifier and damage per wound.

[Ficinus]

I feel like, at this point, I'm praying that meltas are strength 10, get buffs to wound vehicles, and do more than D6 damage (at least against vehicles).  If not, I feel like Sisters will be in the uncomfortable position of having all of their shooting weapons debuffed to some extent (with the possible exception of pistols [though we should only rarely be trying to get squads into close combat] and the Exorcist's organ [which we don't have rules for]).

[robofish7591]

This will definitely be a "wait until we have the whole picture" kind of thing.  There are just too many variables with weapon profiles we don't know yet.

[Beams]

The big questions for sisters always comes down to: Are we cheaper than Marines, and is it enough to matter? Do our acts of faith work as well as chapter tactics? Does our wide access to special weapons make up for our weaknesses?

 

In 7th the answer to these questions was a resounding "No!"

Marines were effectively 7 pts for 5 since they could get free transports, while sisters were 12.

Our acts of faith were useful, but limited. Ultramarines could basically get our (basic) act of faith with out rolling, and do it up to 3-4 times a game.

 

Hopefully, 8th will fix this.

[ValourousHeart]

Our acts of faith were useful, but limited. Ultramarines could basically get our (basic) act of faith with out rolling, and do it up to 3-4 times a game.

 

Hopefully, 8th will fix this.

 

This has always been my biggest concern with sisters.  What makes us unique is that we get a random chance to do something once per game, that other armies get to do all game standard.  Yeah faith!!!

 

Personally I would much rather see a sharp disconnect between our unit's battle prowess (veteran skills) and our Faith (manifested miracles) over the system we have now which is "Hey look, we miraculously remembered our training."

 

Better still, I would like to see faith turned into something equivalent to psychic powers.

Not fluff wise, but mechanic wise wouldn't be bad.

They can create some unique effects, and the more amazing the effect, the more difficult the roll.

 

The psychic phase would essentially be the command phase from AoS, and along with the psychic powers you would also see IG Orders, SM Tactics, Orky Waagg stuff, Nid spawning phase, and whatever Necrons, and Tau are going to do.

[Servant of Dante]

I like the idea that a Retributor squad with one each of the Holy Trinity might not be a terrible idea anymore :D

 

Overall I'm very excited about the new rules. Heavy bolters can hardly be less useful than they are now, since we'll at least get to move and fire them at BS 4+

 

We'll just have to wait and see, and in any case it's not like I picked up Sisters because they were a competitive army :P

[Commander Dawnstar]

So: No more Celestine tanking for others. Maybe this means she'll be less appealing to non-Sisters armies?

 

It's certainly going to see what aura effects they slap onto our characters and support units like Ministorum Priests.

[WAR]

I wonder what this means for command squads.

[A.T.]

So: No more Celestine tanking for others. Maybe this means she'll be less appealing to non-Sisters armies?

 

Without knowing her rules, she might not even be appealing to sisters players :p  But yes, as a wound soak she's done.

 

Wonder if we are going to see a return of the old target priority shenanigans - park a couple of transports blocking your LoS to everything except the target character.

I expect sniper units will (or will soon gain the ability) to ignore some of this too.

[A.T.]

Leman Russes listed as a surprisingly low toughness 8... (to put the recent weapon strength rules into more context)

[ValourousHeart]

Leman Russes listed as a surprisingly low toughness 8... (to put the recent weapon strength rules into more context)

Not really... T8 and W12 for the Leman Russ and T7 W8 for a Dreadnought... seems like a good fit.

 

A lascannon will wound both on 3+, and both would get a 6+ save in the open, which seems right.

 

The big difference is in the wounds, as the lascannon would only need 2-3 shots of average wound rolls to kill the Dread.

Where against the Russ, it could get lucky and kill it in 2 shots, but would require 4 shots of average wound rolls to kill it.

That sounds right.

 

I think when we get the rules for Multi-meltas and Land Raiders, it will all make more sense.

I'm expecting 3-4 MM at half range will mean a dead land laider with average rolling.

[Knight of the Raven]

Wonder if anyone will be able to take the originally Salamanders-only reinforced ceramite that removed every melta weapon's bonus (including melta bombs - suck it Age of Darkness!).

 

Maybe the Sisters of Battle can convince some Salamander techmarine to share the tech. I'm sure some pinup poster will be enough.

 

(Naturally, Adepta Sororitas pinups are fully-armored and surrounded by burning heretics and xenos. We're not savages.)

[Servant of Dante]

I don't think we've been given actual numbers for the Leman Russ. There was someone in the large models thread speculating, bur I haven't seen any real numbers yet.

[A.T.]

I don't think we've been given actual numbers for the Leman Russ. There was someone in the large models thread speculating, bur I haven't seen any real numbers yet.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/05/09/warhammer-40000-faction-focus-astra-militarum/

 

T8, 3+ save, 12 wounds (partially crippled after losing 6)

 

With dreads at T7 and one of the heavier armoured vehicles - the russ - at T8, it looks like all the vehicles are going to be crammed into a narrow range of values.

[taikishi]

I like the idea that a Retributor squad with one each of the Holy Trinity might not be a terrible idea anymore

Overall I'm very excited about the new rules. Heavy bolters can hardly be less useful than they are now, since we'll at least get to move and fire them at BS 4+

We'll just have to wait and see, and in any case it's not like I picked up Sisters because they were a competitive army

With the new to-wound rules, I'd argue that the current iteration of heavy bolters ARE more useless in 8th. S5 at least did a decent job of shredding light infantry due to AP4 and wounding non-Marines on 2s. Even if they have, say, a -2 save modifier the fact they no longer wound anything on a 2 is a pretty big nerf.