White Dwarf Sisters Part 1 review: Part 1 the story so far

I did not want to talk about the new sisters of battle rules until i had a physical copy of them and could give it a full and careful read through. So i picked up the issue on Thursday and have been looking it over. so where to start? well i guess lets start with this. the new stuff so far does not suck. that's right i will be the first person i think that plays sisters that is not going to be all angry about this stuff. am i happy with the new stuff... not really but it really is not terrible from the looks of it. i won't be positive until part 2 comes out and we get our force organization chart and point costs, but for now i think it is OK.

Lets take a step back first. for those who read this very sparse blog you should probably know i have been playing war hammer 40k since about a year before the end of 4th ed so compared to a lot of vets I'm pretty much a noob. second thing you should know unlike most people talking about this stuff on all the blogs out there i play sisters of battle. not only do i play them but they are my primary army and my first army. so i am going to say that although i may not be as awesome or as experienced at the game in general as many other bloggers i will say i know the witch hunters and subsequently the sisters of battle.

so lets get this rolling.

FAITH: the new faith system is OK. i am not going to explain it since its all over the internet and i do not feel lie re type what so many have already have. what i will say is that the bog flaw is that the bigger the army the less effective your faith it which is a problem. but if we look at it my current 1850 builds out of the witch-hunter book net me about 8-9 faith point and another 6-8 from martyrdom. though of course i will only be able to art best use 5-6 of those martyr points since after that no one will be alive to use them. so with this we will say on my better list o have a max of 15 faith a game. with the new rules you will average about 21 faith a game (3.5 faith a turn for a game length of 6 turns). so at this level to about 2000pts you shouldn't see much difference in total faith, in fact you should get more. but the big problems with the new system are one you can't blow all your faith for massive cool turn anymore since you only get so much faith a turn. and second you can obly use them on your turn which is really not that useful. and third the powers are not as strong as the use to. this last problem isn't that big a deal to mean since it changes sisters from holy warriors protected by big awesome miracles to holy warriors with just a constant out flow of faith that is almost imperceptible. kinda like going from the bad ass obviousness of turning water to wine to the more subtle during the game but awesome in retrospect of the hey we have 3 fish and some bread how the hell did we just feed 500 people and have left overs? so its different but it still works.

as for the powers i think they are all pretty decent and work well with the units that have them and i will go into particulars as i get to the units. another god point here is that with the new faith you should actually pull off your powers more often. you have to roll a 5+ on a d6 for all of them but you get a +1 for having a sister superior, a attached ic (from the sisters army list), or have taking a casualty. all of this is cumulative. so a base squad should pretty much start rolling on 4+ and if they take a loss that isn't their squad leader and have an IC attached they are now making it on 2+ so that's pretty cool.
so past all this faith stuff lets look at what has changed unit wise. well the most annoying change is the lowering of the I of both the Serraphim and Celestian squads which at first i was like wtf but after thinking about it i think i it is OK. basically people were mad because now serraphim besides no longer having a possible 3+ invuln save now have human I scores so close combat isn't really their thing anymore. but looking at the fluff they arnt really suppose to be close combat fighters they are suppose to be jump pack gunners that can get in and out quick. and the new rules and stats i think represent this better and force you to play them as such. i am very happy they have 2 shots each now because i always wanted that and if you run the numbers you will see they hit a lot more now and with their faith power should kill some dudes. if you want to use them for counter cc you can and they should be ok especially with the support of a cannoness giving them +1 I and preferred enemy and then just be careful with hit and run and use it to jump out on your opponent's turn if possible and then shoot more dudes. celestians are also suppose to be shooters and i think their faith power just makes then an ok tar pit or again counter assault unit in a pinch.

over all with the new rules they are reenforcing what the sister are suppose to be about, brutal short range shooting.

ok lets go down the rest of the units
Cannoness: the new on is ok with a better weapon skill then before and stubborn standard. her faith power is again handy for a quick counter assault or a mop up attack and should go well with serraphim, celestians, and the command squad, as well as the battle conclave. i just hope she can still take a jump pack and somehting to enchance her armor and invuln saves.

Sororitas command squad: nice flesh out of the old just take celestians but bit from the old book. there act of faith gives them relentless and move through cover, which will make them good at covering ground to support other units and give them more shooting before mop up assaults. lets hope they can take a few heavy weapons though so they can have some broken fun.. come on just one relentless multi-melta is all i ask.

Priest: decent i am a little annoyed though that we get 2 priest options but not two cannoness options (whats up with that? i miss my palatine). anyways he will hopefully be a cheap hq which chaplain abilities that will probably unlock battle conclaves. so it should give a little flavor and be decent ... i hope.

Ecclesiarchy battle conclave: so this is were your henchmen went if they didn't already defect to the grey knights (mine will probably be playing double duty between the two). they should be alright giving you some other assault options with crusaders and death cults. too bad the new arcos look like they will suck.

Sister Repentia: much better then they used to be if only because they have faith now and feel no pain. yes they lost their armor but seriously they never had any to begin with. they should be decent with costed well. i am hoping for some possible upgrades, the ability to get into a transport and ummm not terrible models. i probably wont get the last one anytime soon. i am looking forward to seeing where they end up in the force org if they end up in elite that's OK troop would be great and fast attack would be acceptable if serraphim become elites. right now i think I'm OK with them but we will see what i think next month. (also i really wish they had better models. i hate the current ones a lot. if they had new ones i would probably pick them up).

penitent engine: basically the same as before but with an invuln save. i am hoping for some options and that it will only cost 40-50 points before upgrades. if so i will get a couple more of these guys.. especially in fine cast (probably the only thing i will take from the sisters line in fine cast with out a remodel). i would like them also to be moved out of heavy support but i won't hold my breath for that.

battke sisters: better then before. not because of the pistol and frag grenades, which honestly are useless on sisters. when push comes to shove sisters should always rapid fire and never assault. the real bonus is the krak grenades and the ability to regroup using faith. they should be pretty good. lets hope they are about 9-11 points for model that would be sick. i am also guessing that they will be 5-20 models a unit but we shall see.


Celestians: as above lower I sucks but they should be alright. s4 and fearless when they need it should be helpful lets hope they get some good upgrades. i will assume they are in the elites section but the way this bestiary is laid out i think there is a possibility they won't be which could be... interesting.

Dominion: i already loved these girls. 4 flamers or meltaguns was fantastic. now that they can twin link with faith and have scouts they will be a must take for most. they will most likely have to take a dedicated transport like the old days and for that if things go the way they are looking i think we will move away from immolators and put more rhinos on the field (more on that latter).

Serraphim: as mentioned above now a fast moving close range shooting squad (as the should be). these models are what got me into the sisters in the first place. there will always be a place for them in my army. also they re roll acts of faith if needed which is pretty handy.

Retributors: basically haven't changed. they get rending with their act of faith which is basically the same as divine guidance. i used to use some back in the day and it was OK but i opted out for dominions instead. they can now more effectively take on higher armor with a rending multi melta which is kinda cool but they should be wielding either heavy bolters and providing cover fire or using heavy flamers and clear hordes all day long. their points will be a huge factor in whether people take them or not.

Exorcists: no oput ward changes can be seen. yay 6+ invuln on tanks? i hope they haven't changed the missle launcher because it is what makes the exorcist the many stay heavy support of most sisters armies. lets hope the only thing they changed is the point cost (to cheaper).

Rhinos: brought to marine standard, so cool.

immolators: used to be the only rhino chassis with a twin linked heavy flamer that could mover 12" and shoot and carry people. then the 5th ed c:sm came out and it became the only rhino chassis that could move 12" and shoot a twin link heavy flamer and carry models. then c:ba came out and it was a weaker more expensive version of their razorback (sine there's could move 12" and shoot anything really and ours it was just a special thing for the flamer). now it looks like it can't even move 12" and shoot and it lost ifs fire point. unless this thing is like 40pts a model and can upgrade to fast it will suck. I'm sure it will still be usable but it is no where near as cool as it used to be.

Kyrinov: better version of priest with a power weapon that stuns guys (interesting). don't know how i feel about him since we dont know what all of his stuff does yet or his cost.

Uriah Jacobus: again interesting priest guy. givers +1 attack and feel no pain to attached unit and lets you re roll faith for turn. may be considered a must get for a lot of people. we shall see.


Saint Celestine: not as fast as she used to be. used to be able to move 12" run and then move d6" in the shooting phase for a possible mobe of 24". now she is just jump infanty. better stats, frag grenades, and upgraded sword make her pretty bad ass. and the new miraculous intervention is pretty slick. i will miss hit and run but honestly i think this is an improvement make a fun and good special character into a great one. lets hope that she doesn't cost too many points. leaving her at 201points would be fair i think. maybe even 210 but anymore might be too expensive. i really hope she costs around 195-200.

well that's the quick run down. next month we will get the end of the rules and see how it all turns out. i think this may not be a great hold over (especially fluff wise which i didn't get into) but will be useable and possibly even fun until we get a new codex. i am just praying for some plastic models soon damn it.

well until next time.
May the Emperor Protect