Sisters Preview

[Purifying Tempest]

This is the beta rules we are all talking about? The ones that we can give feedback on if they don't work? Just checking.....

 

Correct

[Beams]

You can use the AoF to auto-pass morale (you pick a squad at the beginning of the morale phase to activate the AoF), this happens separately from the part you are forced to tally up losses and roll for morale.  Which means if your Faith point failed, you still have the opportunity to use Insane Bravery.  These two mechanics are independent from each other.

 

You're right, +3" movement sucks.  But it can help a lot of units NOT named Dominions and Seraphim be relevant (like 15 BSS with bolters moving into midfield positions to clog up objectives).  You now have the ability to reach this stuff a bit faster that an opponent, and score points.  It isn't as powerful as the busted double move, but you cannot expect to keep such powerful tools AND receive new ones.

 

The psychic phase is telegraphed by the "closest unit" clause of smite... so telegraphing what unit you're shielding from smite spam is hardly a problem.  It only stops mortal wounds during the psychic phase... doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who's going to be sucking those wounds up after the opponent's movement phase.

 

Double shooting is about as busted as double moving.  +1 BS is basically the same as many other psychic powers.  Again, clutching to a busted rule is not going to make friends in the community nor leave room for expanding other mechanics.  Not needing to devote AoFs to campy HB Rets also opens the door for other things like Multi-melta rets and HF Rets, one of which could benefit from having +1 to hit as they move with heavy weapons.  Our Rets may no longer be glued to where they deploy (that's so friggen boring).

This is the beta rules we are all talking about? The ones that we can give feedback on if they don't work? Just checking.....

If they are so busted, why haven't sisters been winning tournaments, or at least being used in tournaments?

 

Because it wasn't busted; it was necessary to make up for our shortcomings. No plasma, no real long ranged weapons, we needed all those bonuses to help for it.

 

Also, if you check the different places where I've posted it, d6 shots with d6 damage is a little better than a bare bones leman Russ prior to the grinding advance buff; so still worse than a leman Russ with grinding advance, and is still significantly less relaible (27% chance to do nothing)

[taikishi]

And I reiterate. A lot of this information has been delivered by way of people who have read the Codex or parts of it only a few times, and its been suggested that more than a few of these people aren't Sisters players either. Lack of knowing how a Sisters army works could distort the information unintentionally. We ourselves haven't seen the book with our own eyes and already we're ready to throw the towel in before even playing a game. The reactions to what has been passed on is theoretical. There hasn't been any practical yet. I'm just saying that if players still feel the same way after trying the book out, then yes, Sisters have a problem.

 

We are not there yet.

 

The video I watched was fairly comprehensive. The only thing it didn't address was whether or not stratagems were tied to Adepta Sororitas detachments or Adeptus Ministorum detachments.

 

Also, here's a

using the new beta dex.

[Mekhitar]

We have 5 ways to mitigate morale now. Cp reroll, insane bravery, valorous heart, warlord trait from last year, and now the missionary. Wait, 6 with faith! I wish, instead, he granted zealot to nearby units, or rerolls to hit in combat - for the variety of rules available. :)

 

I was really hopeful exorcists got the russ / fire prism rule to fire twice.

[Matt_149]

They probably haven't made it big on the tournament scene as it costs more than family's food shopping for a week for 10 sisters! The index list was good and I won many games with them. Everyone's opinion is different. I'm looking forward to the beta codex and giving constructive feedback to help improve our army. Certainly better than the white dwarf dex we had! Anyway I will come back to this forum in a few weeks when it's calmed a bit. Have fun

[bearden441]

Pre order is up

[Purifying Tempest]

Leman Russ is also now like 40+ points more expensive than an Exorcist. Which is over 20% more expensive...

 

Exorcist is not 20% less durable, though. It is probably more durable with shield i of faith.

[Mekhitar]

I can see myself running 3 canonessess or 2 with a priest - a warlord with the relic and WT for 9” aura of +1 to SoF who will be using the strat to spread her act of faith to the whole castle; a beatstick canoness with the blade; and a missionary with the relic to boost all the denys to 2d6 instead of 1d6.

 

Throw Celestine in the middle for a large infantry mass of 3+/4++, with denies for days, and the warlord canoness spreading the one act of faith (move, fight, whatever) to the whole castle. Charging them is not as much a no brained as it was since they hit like catachans but with 3+ armor and could all fight twice.

 

Push up the field and you will really make a thousand sons army suffer - they rely on mass smite - and even bring eldar down to a manageable level. Unfortunately we will suffer from dying to mass bolter Fire or other equivalent horde clear (though shuriken is not as good against us as against other armies thanks to the invuln.)

 

I could see myself running this army wth a battery of russes for long range firepower backup, until we get our own tanks later. Or, toss in a knight or two and watch the enemy puzzle how to kill it without being able to debuff with psychic powers.

 

This proposed playstule is a hard switch from what sisters used to be - a fast moving mechanized MSU force. You can still go that route and downplay acts of faith, but Celestine and Seraphim both suffer from losing out on that huge mobility.

[Ficinus]

But according to Beams's data, the new Exorcist stat line is about half as powerful as a Leman Russ. I would be willing to pay 20-30% more for almost double the power. The real problem is the 27% chance of doing nothing.

 

I've been down on the new codex, but I am still going to play it. I'm excited to see how repentia and arco-flags play now. It's just a bit of too much excitement and a let down.

[A.T.]

This is the beta rules we are all talking about? The ones that we can give feedback on if they don't work? Just checking.....

 

Yes, these are the beta rules we are talking about. The ones that have been written based on the feedback given over the past year...

[Beams]

Leman Russ is also now like 40+ points more expensive than an Exorcist. Which is over 20% more expensive...

Exorcist is not 20% less durable, though. It is probably more durable with shield i of faith.

Leman Russ is 152 to the exorcists 125.

 

There is a solid gap in power between the two, with again, the Exorcist having a 27% chance to do nothing against any of the targets that you'd take an exorcist for.

[Mekhitar]

Russ tank commanders are only 2pts more expensive than a base russ now - for some reason! Like I said above, I’m going to use them for my little my range firepower until/unless we get new tank releases. Bling them up with sisters iconography...

 

I know it’s very very very very very unlikely, but I am amused by the reality that a lone exorcist -could- 1 shot a dominis class knight. (granted, so can a battle cannon russ. But it’s still amusing.)

[Servant of Dante]

Well, I’m going to side with Purifying Tempist here. I agree this stuff doesn’t sound game changing, but I’m looking forward to it none the less. Now I’ll have enough resources to do (nerfed) AoFs with my heavy hitters (such as they are) and with my blob BSS so they can be in bolter range before T4 :P

 

This is frankly what I wanted from AoFs, weaker abilities that can be used more frequently. If they’re too underpowered now, well this is a beta and hopefully they’ll buff them if we give feedback

 

Edit: at the end of the day I understand people being upset but frankly I don’t play Sisters to play a powerful or even competitive army, I picked Sistersup just as 7E started, hardly a good time if you’re looking to stomp people. The rules sound fluffy and fun, even if weak. I’m not saying people don’t have reason to be upset, I’m just saying that I’m personally not, and in fact I’m looking forward to ordering my copy of CA :D

 

Other thoughts:

Celestine nerfs couldn’t matter less to me, I never run her anyway

Am kinda disappointed we’re stuck with just 1 non-named Sisters HQ option it seems

I hope the Exorcist does go up to D6 dmg, might not make it competitive but a buffs a buff and I like the random nature of it.

I’m happy Simulacrums are a unit upgrade now

 

Edit 2: and having separate rules for the Orders Majoris at all is enough to make me happy, frankly, regardless of how copied they are from other factions or how underpowered they are. This has been a rules-pipe dream of mine for years :D

 

Question: does anyone know if the Seraphim are 2 attack’s base now? That was my main wishlist item for this codex because they need to be in line with other veteran stat lines :P

[Servant of Dante]

Edit: I realized right away what I posted isn't about rules at all, so I've removed it.

[tvih]

 

1) The double move is WAY too powerful.  It takes a savvy player to counter it, and even then it is usually only halfway effective.  Seraphim, Dominion, and Celestine having the ability to be in the opponent's DEPLOYMENT ZONE turn 1... come on, someone has to admit that was just a little powerful.

 

Nonsense. Orks can do it too for example especially with the Vigilus formation they get, not sure of the other "fast" armies. But the orks aren't even limited to just one unit doing it. A single Sisters unit in the enemy deployment zone on turn one is going to do what exactly? Die horribly, probably.

 

--

 

That aside... well, it certainly doesn't look promising. The new AoF system seems more annoying to use than the old one, and the Acts themselves pretty meh. And my Argent Shroud's "Order tactic" being MAYBE getting a faith point upon destroying an enemy unit...? Ugh. In any list with allies you'd have to try to make sure the Sisters get any "killing blows." Sooo cinematic and narrative.

 

And if I'm understanding right, still no HQs other than Celestine and Canoness? With Celestine now being worse, that's kinda sucky given the "rule of three" as it's not possible to run a dual battalion without her. Which means I'm probably gonna be stuck with running them as a single battalion with allies anyway unless I put her on the table, leading to the kill-stealing problem above. Why couldn't they at least add Veridyan, after all there's even a model for her so not like it'd be a unit entry without a model.

 

Oh, and about the Geminae, are they still 2W now that they're separate from Celestine - and are they a unit of 1-2 models, or each their own separate entry if you take two? Most Elites that are solo characters seem to have 3+ wounds, in which case 25 points doesn't seem so bad and wouldn't make them "overpriced jump canonesses".

[taikishi]

Well, I’m going to side with Purifying Tempist here. I agree this stuff doesn’t sound game changing, but I’m looking forward to it none the less. Now I’ll have enough resources to do (nerfed) AoFs with my heavy hitters (such as they are) and with my blob BSS so they can be in bolter range before T4

 

This is frankly what I wanted from AoFs, weaker abilities that can be used more frequently. If they’re too underpowered now, well this is a beta and hopefully they’ll buff them if we give feedback

 

Edit: at the end of the day I understand people being upset but frankly I don’t play Sisters to play a powerful or even competitive army, I picked Sistersup just as 7E started, hardly a good time if you’re looking to stomp people. The rules sound fluffy and fun, even if weak. I’m not saying people don’t have reason to be upset, I’m just saying that I’m personally not, and in fact I’m looking forward to ordering my copy of CA

 

Other thoughts:

Celestine nerfs couldn’t matter less to me, I never run her anyway

Am kinda disappointed we’re stuck with just 1 non-named Sisters HQ option it seems

I hope the Exorcist does go up to D6 dmg, might not make it competitive but a buffs a buff and I like the random nature of it.

I’m happy Simulacrums are a unit upgrade now

 

Edit 2: and having separate rules for the Orders Majoris at all is enough to make me happy, frankly, regardless of how copied they are from other factions or how underpowered they are. This has been a rules-pipe dream of mine for years

 

Question: does anyone know if the Seraphim are 2 attack’s base now? That was my main wishlist item for this codex because they need to be in line with other veteran stat lines

 

So the rest of us have to deal with a nerfed Celestine because you don't like her?

 

As for "more frequent AoF", that's a misnomer. In theory you can take 6 a battle round. In the battle rep I just watched, the Sisters player started the game with 7 Faith Points in a 2000pt game, which is less than we get now with our 2+ and Celestine. On top of it, you still have to pass the Devotion roll or you lose both the Faith point AND the Act of Faith for the turn.His army also had 0 Similacrums or Dialogus, partially because he didn't have the models for them. Because he ran Martyred Lady, and because he was playing the conviction wrong, he ended the game with 11 unused faith points even after performing 9 acts of faith. He should have had at most 14 Faith Points, not 20, given a Canoness and a BSS were still alive. Again, that required him to also be playing Martyred Lady otherwise he'd have only had 7 Acts to perform.

 

For the record, he never used Hand of the Emperor or Aegis of the Emperor. 4 points were used on healing, 1 on morale, 3 on Passion (two failed), 1 on shooting.

 

I'd have less of a problem with AoF being "less impactful" if they were guaranteed or near-guaranteed, but they aren't. Less impactful + random + one that is situationally super-impactful but random (it wasn't impactful in the report) = bad. Acts of Faith are more akin to Guard orders and they're guaranteed.

[taikishi]

And if I'm understanding right, still no HQs other than Celestine and Canoness? With Celestine now being worse, that's kinda sucky given the "rule of three" as it's not possible to run a dual battalion without her. Which means I'm probably gonna be stuck with running them as a single battalion with allies anyway unless I put her on the table, leading to the kill-stealing problem above. Why couldn't they at least add Veridyan, after all there's even a model for her so not like it'd be a unit entry without a model.

 

Oh, and about the Geminae, are they still 2W now that they're separate from Celestine - and are they a unit of 1-2 models, or each their own separate entry if you take two? Most Elites that are solo characters seem to have 3+ wounds, in which case 25 points doesn't seem so bad and wouldn't make them "overpriced jump canonesses".

 

 

The old Ministorum Priest is now a Missionary and an HQ choice. There's now a 25 point elite slot Preacher that has a different profile and can't take any wargear but causes Chaos units within 3" to have -1 Ld. Missionaries are also one per detachment.

 

As for the Geminae, here are the changes:

* separate unit (so they can fail a charge and Celestine make it or visa versa)

* if not within 6" of Celestine, they have a 6++ instead of 4++

* they only soak wounds from Celestine on a 2+ if they're within 3" of her.

* the test to soak happens after Celestine rolls to see if she fails her save, so a weapon that does multiple wounds has to have each wound rolled individually.

 

Their profile is, otherwise, unchanged. They still only have 2 wounds.

[Servant of Dante]

 

Well, I’m going to side with Purifying Tempist here. I agree this stuff doesn’t sound game changing, but I’m looking forward to it none the less. Now I’ll have enough resources to do (nerfed) AoFs with my heavy hitters (such as they are) and with my blob BSS so they can be in bolter range before T4 :P

This is frankly what I wanted from AoFs, weaker abilities that can be used more frequently. If they’re too underpowered now, well this is a beta and hopefully they’ll buff them if we give feedback

Edit: at the end of the day I understand people being upset but frankly I don’t play Sisters to play a powerful or even competitive army, I picked Sistersup just as 7E started, hardly a good time if you’re looking to stomp people. The rules sound fluffy and fun, even if weak. I’m not saying people don’t have reason to be upset, I’m just saying that I’m personally not, and in fact I’m looking forward to ordering my copy of CA :D

Other thoughts:

Celestine nerfs couldn’t matter less to me, I never run her anyway

Am kinda disappointed we’re stuck with just 1 non-named Sisters HQ option it seems

I hope the Exorcist does go up to D6 dmg, might not make it competitive but a buffs a buff and I like the random nature of it.

I’m happy Simulacrums are a unit upgrade now

Edit 2: and having separate rules for the Orders Majoris at all is enough to make me happy, frankly, regardless of how copied they are from other factions or how underpowered they are. This has been a rules-pipe dream of mine for years :D

Question: does anyone know if the Seraphim are 2 attack’s base now? That was my main wishlist item for this codex because they need to be in line with other veteran stat lines :P

 

 

So the rest of us have to deal with a nerfed Celestine because you don't like her?

 

As for "more frequent AoF", that's a misnomer. In theory you can take 6 a battle round. In the battle rep I just watched, the Sisters player started the game with 7 Faith Points in a 2000pt game, which is less than we get now with our 2+ and Celestine. On top of it, you still have to pass the Devotion roll or you lose both the Faith point AND the Act of Faith for the turn.His army also had 0 Similacrums or Dialogus, partially because he didn't have the models for them. Because he ran Martyred Lady, and because he was playing the conviction wrong, he ended the game with 11 unused faith points even after performing 9 acts of faith. He should have had at most 14 Faith Points, not 20, given a Canoness and a BSS were still alive. Again, that required him to also be playing Martyred Lady otherwise he'd have only had 7 Acts to perform.

 

For the record, he never used Hand of the Emperor or Aegis of the Emperor. 4 points were used on healing, 1 on morale, 3 on Passion (two failed), 1 on shooting.

 

I'd have less of a problem with AoF being "less impactful" if they were guaranteed or near-guaranteed, but they aren't. Less impactful + random + one that is situationally super-impactful but random (it wasn't impactful in the report) = bad. Acts of Faith are more akin to Guard orders and they're guaranteed.

No, I never said you “have to deal with Celestine nerfs” because I don’t run her, I said that because I don’t run her, I couldn’t care less about the nerf to her, because it doesn’t affect me. I encourage anyone who is affected by the change and funds it improper to send feedback saying as much to GW.

 

As for Acts of Faith, yes I will be having more because I never ran Celestine so I had at most 6 in a game, one per turn, and I always rolled poorly for Imagifiers. Additionally, I’ll be able to use more AoFs early to help influence the early game which is important. Is it more powerful than the current system? If you run Celestine the centainly not, but I’m still interested and looking forward to playing. It should be clear this is simply my optioniom and like I said I never said that people have no reason to be disappointed

[ERJAK]

 

 

My point about Geminae being moved to Elites is that they could be used without Celestine (nearby or at all) and basicly become a 25pt Canoness with jump pack. Perhaps no longer being named character they can take Relics, and pull off their own AoF and pull off vessel amongst your Seraphim squads. We were fielding 40pt Imagifers before, now we get 25pt Jump Pack Palatines.

 

The biggest problem with the strategy you've suggested is...what AoF? And what units, because seraphim aren't a great option. Dominions don't want to be that close to each other, Seraphim aren't very good without the ability to double move and will likely never get a chance to shoot if they rock up with a gemini behind them. Even if 3 units of inferno pistol seraphim DID get within 6" of a valuable target while also staying close enough to each other and to a miraculously still alive 2 wound battle sister, would the +1 to hit they get be worth 3CP, purchasing 3 likely overcosted units, AND spending 25pts on essentially nothing? Repentia and Crusaders are still not going to see any play and even if they did you'd just use a priest or mistress. Retributors and Battle sisters will just use a canoness for reroll 1s. There's no niche for a gemini to fit in, even as a cheap, but still wildly overpriced, jumppack canoness.

 

+1 to hit wouldn't be bad with inferno pistols. Pass the AoF with a character and vessel them out. Imagifers had 4 wounds as elites. Geminae might be going to the same, at this point nobody is sure. I'm sorry everyone is looking at this in such a negative light. I'm not saying it won't be worse when all is said and done. Just trying to see a way to work with what we're getting. I can at least find solace in knowing I wasn't one of those beating folks over the head about how we were going to get a new codex and everything was going to be super. I've played Sisters in every edition since they came out and have learned to roll with the punches from update to update. A 25 point character with a jump pack, possibly four wounds, power sword and the ability to up her SoF when she's hanging with Celestine isn't over-costed.

 

You'll never get close enough and it costs 3 CP to buff more than one unit. They are also still two wounds. You also get no buffs to the role because Gemini don't get CTs(as far as I can tell). I also disagree that it isn't overcosted. Even at 4 wounds that's about 18pts worth of stats. At 2 they should be the same price as a Seraphim superior is now. And Seraphim superior should be cheaper.

 

I'm trying to find a way too, but even the best combo I can think of isn't anywhere near as good as just bringing a Knight Crusader. Let alone a Castellant. 

 

Really, the only meaningful semi-competitive build I can see is 3 dominions, 3 Exorcist, 3 Stormbolter BSS squads, A canoness, Celestine, and an imagifier. Dominions are largely unchanged so they're still fine and the Exorcist bunker can be used with Vessels and the Canoness like a not nearly as good Pask and 3 tank commanders setup. Don't think about how bad that is compared to some of the similar setups other armies can do without spending 3CP per turn. You'll cry.

 

Even infantry blobs aren't going to be that good. Giving them +1 to hit isn't a huge buff. The morale and resurrection buffs just mean your opponent treats your squads like Necrons and avoids both. +3 movement will never be worth using Vessels on. Getting The passion on multiple units is logistically difficult, easy to fail, and not that powerful. The psychic defense one is obviously only useful against psykers.

 

Side bar: What are simulacrum for? If we're supposed to be using Vessels on large blobs of units, it's not like those characters benefit from them. And how is it worth 10pts plus the sister holding it to give you a 17% improved chance to get +1 to hit? An ebon Chalice dominion squad is already a 3+, I'm not spending 20pts on a marginal benefit towards a marginal benefit.

 

I'm really racking my brain to find anything to salvage here, but I keep coming back to the fact that the codex is much, much worse than the index.

[taikishi]

Honestly? After watching this battle report, I don't feel like his Acts of Faith had any important effect on the game. Some of it was bad dice rolling, some of it was the fact he was facing a Death Guard army. But mostly? The acts didn't matter.

 

He restored a wound to a canoness that died the next turn anyway.

He restored 3 Battle Sisters to units that were wiped out the next turn anyway

He attempted to fight an extra time three times - twice with Celestine and once with the aforementioned Canoness. He failed two of the rolls, Celestine's extra attacks did nothing of note, and the extra attacks from the Canoness wouldn't have mattered had he passed because he killed what he was fighting on the first set of attacks (Daemon Prince with 2W remaining slain by Blade of Admonition)

He added +1 to hit once against a unit that had -1 to-hit. All of his rolls would have hit or missed without the +1.

He auto-passed a morale test for a lone heavy flamer Battle Sister on an objective against 5 or 6 Plague Marines. He brought back someone to throw a krak grenade, and the total shots between the two models failed to kill any plague marines.

 

Had they kept playing, he would have been tabled as all he had left was 1 damaged immolator, 3 exorcists, a canoness buffing the exorcists, and the two straggler BSS I mentioned vs two nearly full strength Plague Marine squads, a Blightcrawler, a Daemon Prince, a Blight Drone and I believe two other characters.

[ERJAK]

Honestly? After watching this battle report, I don't feel like his Acts of Faith had any important effect on the game. Some of it was bad dice rolling, some of it was the fact he was facing a Death Guard army. But mostly? The acts didn't matter.

 

He restored a wound to a canoness that died the next turn anyway.

He restored 3 Battle Sisters to units that were wiped out the next turn anyway

He attempted to fight an extra time three times - twice with Celestine and once with the aforementioned Canoness. He failed two of the rolls, Celestine's extra attacks did nothing of note, and the extra attacks from the Canoness wouldn't have mattered had he passed because he killed what he was fighting on the first set of attacks (Daemon Prince with 2W remaining slain by Blade of Admonition)

He added +1 to hit once against a unit that had -1 to-hit. All of his rolls would have hit or missed without the +1.

He auto-passed a morale test for a lone heavy flamer Battle Sister on an objective against 5 or 6 Plague Marines. He brought back someone to throw a krak grenade, and the total shots between the two models failed to kill any plague marines.

 

Had they kept playing, he would have been tabled as all he had left was 1 damaged immolator, 3 exorcists, a canoness buffing the exorcists, and the two straggler BSS I mentioned vs two nearly full strength Plague Marine squads, a Blightcrawler, a Daemon Prince, a Blight Drone and I believe two other characters.

And that is exactly what I would have predicted seeing those two lists going against each other. The index list could have handled it with no problem. 

 

In fairness to the defenders of this terrible, terrible book, the guy likely didn't realize that Vessels can affect vehicles and that hurt his chances a bit. But it's not like a deathguard list with that many plague marines should be running roughshod over you regardless.

[taikishi]

He didn't have enough CP for Vessels. He burned two CP to deny a couple of buffs, almost all of the rest on re-rolls. He didn't even use any of the new stratagems that I recall.

 

Sisters list was:

 

Brigade

Celestine

Canoness with Blade of Admonition and pwoer sword

2 Geminae

1 Preacher (25 points)

4x 5-sister BSSs with Heavy Flamers. Superiors with chainswords and bolt pistols

4 Immolators with Immolation Flamers

 

Outrider

Canoness with bolt pistol and power sword

1x 5-model Seraphim squad with 4 hand flamers (which are now d6 shots each)

2x 5-model Dominion squads with 4 meltaguns and inferno pistols

2 Immolators with twin-linked Multi-metlas

 

Spearhead

Canoness with the Book of St. Lucius, bolt pistol and power sword

3 Exorcists

[Beams]

Cool, so vessels affects vehicles - So if you get lucky and spend 3 CP you have 3d6 melta missiles hitting on 2's rerolling ones.

 

That's pretty good, but Vostroyans can spend 3 CP to have a LR with a relic battle cannon shoot at 2s rerolling ones, at 2d6 shots 3 damag each. So they can almosy match the average output of 3 d6 damage exorcists with a single Tank, that costs 29 pts more.

 

Unless the exorcist has something were missing, it's going to be very mediocre, even with it's buff.

[ERJAK]

I can see myself running 3 canonessess or 2 with a priest - a warlord with the relic and WT for 9” aura of +1 to SoF who will be using the strat to spread her act of faith to the whole castle; a beatstick canoness with the blade; and a missionary with the relic to boost all the denys to 2d6 instead of 1d6.

 

Throw Celestine in the middle for a large infantry mass of 3+/4++, with denies for days, and the warlord canoness spreading the one act of faith (move, fight, whatever) to the whole castle. Charging them is not as much a no brained as it was since they hit like catachans but with 3+ armor and could all fight twice.

 

Push up the field and you will really make a thousand sons army suffer - they rely on mass smite - and even bring eldar down to a manageable level. Unfortunately we will suffer from dying to mass bolter Fire or other equivalent horde clear (though shuriken is not as good against us as against other armies thanks to the invuln.)

 

I could see myself running this army wth a battery of russes for long range firepower backup, until we get our own tanks later. Or, toss in a knight or two and watch the enemy puzzle how to kill it without being able to debuff with psychic powers.

 

This proposed playstule is a hard switch from what sisters used to be - a fast moving mechanized MSU force. You can still go that route and downplay acts of faith, but Celestine and Seraphim both suffer from losing out on that huge mobility.

All of the things you suggested here sound neat on paper, but all of them fall down massively when you stop to think about them.

 

That first combo sounds nice until you realize you need to be Ebon chalice AND have a Dialogus to even get the chance of passing the passion up to 75%. It's only 58% if you want to do bloody rose. Having the aura won't really matter unless you can somehow find a decent bodyguard unit.

 

The Celestine bubble is just a supbar version of the Azreal bubble space marines can do. Spreading the AoFs will waste CP that could be used on allies for a largely insignificant benefit.

 

Eldar will ignore you. You have to stay in a blob within 6" of a character to keep the bonuses so your footprint will be relatively small. Your shooting will be irrelevant. Using CP on Vesseling +3 to move won't be a significant enough bonus to do anything. If you split any units off to cap objectives, they'll immediately die.

 

I also disagree with the idea that you can 'downplay' acts of faith. Acts of faith are already about as irrelevant as they could be withouut actually doing nothing.

[ERJAK]

They probably haven't made it big on the tournament scene as it costs more than family's food shopping for a week for 10 sisters! The index list was good and I won many games with them. Everyone's opinion is different. I'm looking forward to the beta codex and giving constructive feedback to help improve our army. Certainly better than the white dwarf dex we had! Anyway I will come back to this forum in a few weeks when it's calmed a bit. Have fun

Cost is not a factor to those who are successful on the tournament scene. If the army had been top tier good before, it would have been played. As it stands, it's worse.