Find the full Beta Rules of Chapter Approved right here!
Warhammer Community released another preview of the upcoming Beta rules for Sisters of Battle and obviously, it’s time to dive in a little!
- Acts of Faith
- Convictions
- Stratagems
- Warlord Traits and Artifacts
- Penitent Engines
Acts of Faith
Let’s start with a big change in rules, the Acts of Faith system.
The Sisters of Battle are renowned for the sheer force of their faith, their belief so strong that it seems to allow them to overcome their physical limitations and perform incredible feats of strength. In the new codex, Acts of Faith are powerful abilities. To cast one, you spend a Faith Point, then see if you can roll over the act’s Devotion Value. Take The Passion:
With a Devotion Value of 5, you’d need to roll a 5 or over – at which point, you can proceed to turn your enemy into heretic-themed bolognese with your eviscerators. You’ll be able to influence this roll in a number of ways, particularly by using a Simulacrum Imperialis and Dialogus.
Unlike in the previous system, Acts of Faith are designed to scale up based on army size, with you getting an additional Faith Point for every ten models with the Acts of Faith rule in your force. This makes the Sisters of Battle incredibly flexible, with Acts of Faith, combined with Stratagems, allowing them to adjust their tactics on the fly.
This preview leaves a lot of questions and room for speculations.
First off, the ability is centered around Faith Points, which are created due to the model (!) size of your army. If there are ways to generate additional Faith Points during a battle is not known yet, but maybe we get to see some stratagems or warlord traits connected to it. (Actually, the stratagem “Vessel of the Emperor’s Will” interacts with it, but more on that later) Or we get some cool Living Saint interactions? Who knows.
Also, we don’t know yet if the Acts of Faith are limited to one per round, or perhaps one per unit – which I would like a lot. Right now, only Celestine and the Simulacrum Imperialis allow for several Acts per round.
I really appreciate the idea, that the System scales with army size. Currently, Imagifier are the only way to make a difference between 1000 and 3000 Points of Sisters. But then again, this only makes a difference when Acts are not limited to one per turn.
Since not only the Simulacrum, but also Dialogus will now power up the Acts by giving a bonus on the roll, I could still see the Simulacrum giving more benefits like multiple Acts per turn. Anyway, it is good to see, that Dialogus might get some love!
Oh, and then there is the “Devotion value”. A simple test if the Act is successful, but most likely different for various Acts. This would allow for stronger and weaker Acts, which I would assume is a nice touch to the game. On the other hand, I really like reliable tactics …
All in all, this change can be a huge deal and I’m pretty excited for more informations!
Convictions
Next, let’s take look at more Order convictions:
Order of the Valorous Heart
“Searching for redemption, the Sisters of the Order are driven by passion and persuasion into the midst of battle. They do not fear for themselves, knowing that their devotion is the only acceptable path.”
Since this is not an “ability which ignores wounds”, it adds up to our Shield of Faith, and that makes for quite a defense. On the other hand, I was really happy about the restriction of rolls…
We will see how it plays live, but at least it gives the sisters the survivability they deserve and puts it in line with all the glorious stories of their Martyrs.
Order of the Ebon Chalice
“Forged in hundreds of battles, the Sisters of the Order are perfectly trained for the changing tides of war. Calmed by their believe in the God-Emperor and fearless due to their unbreakable devotion, they never fail to use their wisdom to gain advantage and tactical strength, combined with the blessings of their father.”
With only few informations about the new Act of Faith system, it is hard to rate this conviction, but assuming that the Acts are still a core part of the armies theme and fantasy, it might see some play. It gives you the reliability that you might need for certain tactics and perhaps you simply don’t like too much rng – or at least not more than neccessary.
Games Workshop also confirmed, that we will see 6 order convictions in total, which will definitely represent the 6 Major Orders Militant.
Stratagems
And now for the new Stratagems that were released:
With Acts of Faith representing the divine powers of the Sisters of Battle and Order Convictions the character of their sub-factions, a host of Stratagems allow you to use their particular tactical abilities. Turns out it’s a lot more complicated than “burn anything that looks like a heretic”. Suffer Not The Witch, for instance, allows you to put the hurt on your chosen Psyker, whether it’s a Hive Tyrant or Magnus the Red himself!
The humble storm bolter is also getting a massive upgrade in the new codex, with squads of Dominions wielding them suddenly a very appealing prospect indeed, thanks to blessed bolts:
The new Stratagems are designed to interact with and complement the Acts of Faith, making the Sisters of Battle incredibly deep and tactically rewarding for a forward-thinking general. Vessel of the Emperor’s Will is a great example, maximising the effectiveness of your chosen Act of Faith:
What I really like about these 3 stratagems, is that I can see all of them be useful in certain situations. It is always a plus to get rid of psykers “easily” and especially when the Shield of Faith ability stays the same, Sisters now have another tool to annoy those filthy mutants ^^
Stronger Storm Bolters you say? I’m also in! They are cheap and get the job done. With Blessed Bolts maybe even against TEQ units. For 1CP this can be an unpleasant surprise for your opponent.
And last but not least a very strong Act of Faith stratagem, which seems pretty expensive for 3CP, but it might be worth it. Only future will tell.
Warlords and stuff
This time, we also get a glimpse on what to expect from Warlord Traits and Relics.
Last, but not least, you’ll have a host of Warlord Traits and Relics with which to customise your Characters. These range from options that make a Canoness or Missionary even deadlier in close combat to some great support choices. By combining the Book of St Lucius and Indomitable Belief, for instance, you’ll have a key defensive lynchpin for the rest of your forces:
The Book of St. Lucius is a nice boost for your warlords area ability, but I rarely use anything that simply pushes an aura range. Mostly there are just better options out there.
The Warlord Trait though is quite strong, making the Shield of Faith ability a lot more reliable and combined with stoic endurance of the Order of the Valorous Heart, the Sisters get even more resilient. We have to wait for more Order specific informations, but currently, the Valorous Heart looks amazing.
Still, there is some more information to be found. Obviously, Missionaries / Ministorum Priests will have access to the same Relics and Traits as the Adepta Sororitas. (Did I hear “Pious Vorne“?) That means they will share an important keyword and it could be another clue that both Sisters and Ministorum will share a future codex. All the teasers of Penitent Engines just support this assumption.
Penitent Engines
This leads to the last bit of information, the new rules for the Penitent Engine:
Alright – one more preview! Penitent Engines have got even better in the beta codex, and we can’t resist sharing just how. For one, these war machines now always fight twice in the Fight phase, and for another, they’ve been given an ability to ignore wounds:
Like the sound of the above? Think it’s too powerful – or not powerful enough? Well, like we said, we’re looking for your feedback! Everything you send us about this beta codex will help us balance Codex: Adepta Sororitas when it comes out in full.
We don’t know if there will be an increase in point costs, but all in all this is a pretty huge buff for the old engines. Not only do they always fight twice, instead of 50%, they also keep their Zealot ability AND become much more resilient with Berserk Killing Machines.
While I don’t see them get the Sororitas Keyword, it is still notable that once again this ability does not interfer with “”abilities which ignores wounds”. Might there be more to it?
Well, time will tell. To sum up this preview, I’m really excited for the last convictions and looking forward to get this new Act of Faith system tested. And if there will be a new plastic Penitent Engine set, sign me in!
What about you? What are your thoughts on the latest rules? Let me know in the comments.
The Emperor protects!
Sisters of Saint Nora 
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