Adepta Sororitas Review

[CrusherJoe]

Hey guys, my review/article about the new Sisters codex has posted. Check it out!

 

https://nightsatthegametable.com/blog/2019/11/25/new-adepta-sororitas-sisters-of-battle-codex-review/

 

If you have any questions about the new codex, feel free to ask, I'm happy to answer anything you want to know cruch-wise.

 

[Purifying Tempest]

Pretty good review... and Ebon Chalice is looking so good!  Lots of layered mechanics to really highlight a lot of the strengths in the codex.

 

I think I agree with your summation though: top table competitive?  Probably not.  Fun?  Sure looking that way.

 

I'm getting more and more curious about how this will impact soup, if at all.  Cheap troop squads with maybe Celestine roaming around with a throw-away melta or two using Miracle dice for opportunistic advantages may echo more over the game than an army fighting itself for those few resources.  You can probably throw 400 points at a BN with Celestine + Canoness + 3 min squads with a couple of upgrades.  Heroine in the Making gives you +d3 CP for that, as well, so +5-7 CP net and an auto-6 on a Miracle Dice.  Nowhere as cheap as the loyal-32 at least, but probably will do a lot more to change the game state.  And that's just speculating from a purely "what do competitive sisters look like?"  I don't think they're going to stand on their own as well as they'll soup, mostly because GW still missed just a little on the AoF system scaling up in potency as the army scales in size, and they'll be fighting other units for resources throughout the game.  Heck, for 500 points you could trim out some of the options and probably drop in an Exorcist, just threaten damage 6 shots from the onset of the game with Ebon Chalice.

 

I don't keep too much of a finger on the pulse of the competitive community, but I think that's where we'll fall in: small detachments that can punch high above its weight with a clever usage of the MD system on a very confined force.

[RolandTHTG]

Nice overview, although I think you're misreading the Ebon Chalice warlord trait. I think it means that your starting miracle dice, rather than then being a random d6, is automatically a 6. You seem to be reading it as giving you 6 dice. 

[Lemondish]

Nice, easy to read review. I hope you don't mind if I offer a few points of constructive criticism or suggest some clarifications. 

 

I think you misread the Order of Ebon Chalice warlord trait, as mentioned above. You start with one 6, not 6 dice. Sorry if that ruins your plans in your list build!

 

In your section on the Triumph of St Katherine, you mention in your closing paragraph to keep a Hospitalier or Celestians nearby to help out with keeping it alive. I'm sorry to say that Celestians can only help Bodyguard for <ORDER> units, of which the Triumph is not. 

 

Just a minor suggestion, but I found one of the coolest new rules for the Mortifiers was missing from your breakdown! The way they can make their flamers pistol weapons (or heavy bolters into assault weapons) is really pretty flippin' neat, I think. 

 

You mentioned the Book of St Lucius in your Warlord trait breakdown, specifically for Indomitable Belief, but didn't explain what it does in your relic section. 

 

I like that you also felt eager to try out taking one of each melee weapon with Penitent Engines and Mortifiers. I think that gives a lot of flexibility and I agree with your experiment there. 

 

Neat concept with all those Rhinos. I'm eager to do something similar, even if it isn't strictly speaking the 'most competitive'. 

[ValourousHeart]

Mortifiers - your review says the unit maxes out at 4 models, but BOLS review said 6.  Wouldn't be the first time BOLS screwed something up.  But would you confirm the number in the squad?

 

Exorcists - are the 2 rocket profiles choose 1 for the battle or can they switch each turn like a missile launcher can switch between frag and krak?

[Lemondish]

Mortifiers - your review says the unit maxes out at 4 models, but BOLS review said 6. Wouldn't be the first time BOLS screwed something up. But would you confirm the number in the squad?

 

Exorcists - are the 2 rocket profiles choose 1 for the battle or can they switch each turn like a missile launcher can switch between frag and krak?

I can answer these.

 

The data sheet and the points list actually conflict here. As such, most people will probably follow the matched play points list rather than the power level information on the data sheet. The points list says 1-4 for a squad.

 

The Exorcist missile choices are based on wargear, so it is choose one for the battle.

Edited November 26, 2019 by Lemondish

[taikishi]

To expand on Lemondish's statements:

 

* The datasheet says up to 6 Mortifiers. Points section says 1-4

 

* Exorcist: the Exorcist launcher and Conflagration rockets are two separate weapons, each with a different points cost, and you can only buy one or the other.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks for the review, Crusher Joe - lots of interesting stuff.

 

I'm wondering if the 2 exorcist options use different elements of the kit.  The picture we've seen looks like a fair bit like the existing exorcist, suggesting that its the anti-tank missile version.  I wonder what the conflagaration version will look like...

[Progenitor]

Probably exactly the same but you can use your imagination that the large missile splits into lots of little ones. 

[Lemondish]

Probably exactly the same but you can use your imagination that the large missile splits into lots of little ones.

I'm not so sure. It makes sense that it would be a different bit on the model if the rules commit to it being a whole different weapon rather than a different profile for the same bit. Doesn't confirm or really deny anything, I think.

 

Not at all confident GW didn't just brain fart and forget about the option to use different weapon profiles, though

[CrusherJoe]

Nice, easy to read review. I hope you don't mind if I offer a few points of constructive criticism or suggest some clarifications. 

 

I think you misread the Order of Ebon Chalice warlord trait, as mentioned above. You start with one 6, not 6 dice. Sorry if that ruins your plans in your list build!

 

In your section on the Triumph of St Katherine, you mention in your closing paragraph to keep a Hospitalier or Celestians nearby to help out with keeping it alive. I'm sorry to say that Celestians can only help Bodyguard for <ORDER> units, of which the Triumph is not. 

 

Just a minor suggestion, but I found one of the coolest new rules for the Mortifiers was missing from your breakdown! The way they can make their flamers pistol weapons (or heavy bolters into assault weapons) is really pretty flippin' neat, I think. 

 

You mentioned the Book of St Lucius in your Warlord trait breakdown, specifically for Indomitable Belief, but didn't explain what it does in your relic section. 

 

I like that you also felt eager to try out taking one of each melee weapon with Penitent Engines and Mortifiers. I think that gives a lot of flexibility and I agree with your experiment there. 

 

Neat concept with all those Rhinos. I'm eager to do something similar, even if it isn't strictly speaking the 'most competitive'. 

 

Ah geez I really did bork up that Ebon Chalice WLT. Whoops. That's not great at all. Oh well. I think I read it once and then got all excited about OH SO MANY Miracle dice and then...didn't go back and re-read it. 

 

I did catch the issue with the Triumph and Celestians but somehow that change didn't make it in to the final version of the article.

 

Thanks for pointing those things out, y'all -- I really do appreciate the constuctive criticism/feedback!

 

Also I agree the Mortifier's ability to use flamers/bolters in different ways is awesome, but that review was getting WAY too long and I had to make some edits -- sorry about that. You're right though, I think it's a neat ability. I'm really looking forward to running a few of them!

 

The Book of Saint Lucius does what it did in the betadex, it increases the range of aura abilities by 3". This does stack with the Rod of Office, too -- unless they FAQ it to not do so.

 

I feel like the flail/buzzsaw loadout is the way to go, honestly. There's going to be a temptation to run melee Sisters (I mean, Bloody Heart is right there, after all) but I think that's just a good way to get a lot of Sisters outright murdered en masse. Battle Sisters will hit Intercessors on 4s, wound on 5s, and then die horribly to Shock-Assault-boosted veterans that are hitting and wounding on 3s. It's a bad trade. But a pengine and moritfier? Yes please now you're talking. It also fills the gap that we really have -- and that is the lack of any decent AT. Multi-meltas (or as I call them, "Disappointment Engines") don't cut it, and Exorcists are good -- very good -- but they aren't great. One Iron Hands Repulsor Executioner is going to ruin your Exorcist's day. This leaves a LOT of AT duty to melee threats. This...is sub-optimal. But it's what we've got.

 

I'm glad you like the Rhinos idea -- I really think mech girls is one of the more promising ways to go forward. You've got to keep as many Sisters alive as you can as long as you can -- spehss muhreenz are going to leafblower us off the board without transports! I've said it before, and I think it's going to be even more true now: a footsloggin' Sister is a dead Sister, she just may not know it yet.

 

Thank you all for the kind comments and feedback! If you have any questions about the Codex I'll be happy to answer them.