Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Adepta Sororitas (section)

==Blessings of the [[Emprah]]==

===Special Rules===

====Acts of Faith====
AoF = Act of Faith.

Good news- Faith Points have been removed. Bad news- you can only use one Act of Faith per game for each unit, unless you take a Simulacrum Imperialis, which is 10 points.

For those of you who are wondering: An Act of Faith can be attempted immediately before a Sisters of Battle unit acts during a phase. To attempt an Act of Faith, select the unit and make a Leadership Test; if the Test fails, that unit will not be able to use its AoF and will be unable to try again (unless it has a simulacrum). Make sure that there's nothing nearby reducing the ladies leadership when they start praying. '''You can't attempt AoF unless the whole unit has Act of Faith / War Hymns (Sisters are very puritan about who can and can't receive miracles).''' Each of the Sisters' units has its own Act (see below).

====Shield of Faith====
Pretty much everybody in the army gets Adamantium Will and a 6++ invulnerable save... you know, in case your enemy brought a ton of plasma or [[Gravgun|something]], which, come to think of it, they probably <i>did</i>, given that this is the gravspam edition and all. Its also useful against pain in the ass template weapons (I'm looking at you Heldrake). In case your opponent hits you with something that <i>can</i> punch through your 3+ save (or 4/5+ cover save), you've got a 1/6th chance to save your little dudettes, which is 17% better than the average Marine, so don't forget it. All in all, not great, but not bad either for an army-wide rule. Also, while the extra point of toughness on a space marine will be more useful against most small arms fire, SoF makes your basic Sisters are more likely to survive a Power Fist to the face than the average Marine, which is highly amusing. Do not forget Adamantium Will, it moves your chances of negating psychic warp charges from 17% to 33%, however, this should not change your attitude towards allocating deny the witch charges, still throw the same as necessary because you still need to overcome your opponent's casting successes.

It's very (VERY) important to remember that it works for vehicles as well (6++ and Adamantium Will). So if your opponent fires off a Psychic power that can hurt vehicles (like Eldritch Storm) you get a 5+ roll for each charge you allocate (yes vehicles get to Deny the Witch too), even before cover/invul saves. And it'll also occasionally make meltabombs bounce off which will make your opponent rage.

====Martyrdom====
If a model with this rule is your Warlord and gets killed, Sisters get all hot and bothered and pass all their leadership tests until the end of your next turn. All of your HQ's have this rule and when they die, it usually means that the rest of the Sisters who ''haven't used their AoF yet'' will be able to spam their AoFs in addition to not running away scared. There's the possibility of sacrificing your warlord in order to make your next turn hurt, but resist the urge - it's a nice bonus, sure, but never worth giving up your HQ (cheap, powerful special rules (you '''ARE''' taking Jacobus, right?)). It's also worth noting that this may mean your Opponent will be reluctant to off your warlord if you have multiple units with primed acts of faith in a position to use them so make sure to strategically "remind" your opponent of this rule every so often.

===Warlord Traits===

Alas, this is a pretty sad lot. Two are good, two are not completely worthless but nothing particularly special, and two are almost totally pointless.

# '''Executioner of Heretics:''' Warlord gains Fear. Almost entirely useless unless you're fighting Tau or something.
# '''Indomitable Belief:''' Warlord and unit with Shield of Faith have 5+ invulnerable save. Jacobus has this by default. Increases your survivability slightly, which is great, particularly with re-rolled saves from a Priest. (Which Jacobus is... imagine that!)
# '''Pure of Will:''' Warlord and unit reroll failed Deny the Witch tests. Decent.
# '''Righteous Rage:''' Warlord Gains Rage. No shit. Solid on a Canoness.
# '''Beacon of Faith:''' All units within 12" of Warlord use her leadership on Acts or Hymn tests. Saint Celestine has this by default. Provides a little help with AoFs, what's with Sisters base Leadership being 8, but really you should just be grabbing Veteran Superiors as a rule.
# '''Inspiring Orator:''' Friendlies within 12" gain Stubborn. You've got fearless priests - and Canonesses have Stubborn anyway - so this is mostly pointless.

====Fighter Aces====
In Skies of Death, you now have a bonus rule allowing you to pay 35 points for one of 3 special traits for any Flyer or FMC (FGC is still debatable).  Sad thing is that the Sisters, being ignored by GW because of icky gurlz, have to settle for the generic tables as opposed to a special one like the other big races.
#'''Crack Shot''' - +1 BS.  Decent.
#'''Evasive Manoeuvres''' - +1 to any cover to a max of 3+.  Nice.
#'''Inspiring Aircraft''' - All flyers within 12" in the same codex as the Fighter Ace gain Fearless. Pretty pointless, considering you only get the IG's scraps anyway.

===The Holy Armory===

====Melee Weapons====

*'''Chainsword:''' Free, but meh. The extra attack isn't really worth all that much, especially when you're losing a bolter for it.
*'''Power Weapon:''' Come in Sword, Axe, Maul and Lance forms. Honestly, if you're looking here, for Priests, Canonesses or Superiors, you should probably grab an Axe. At I3, you're probably striking last already (except against IG, Necrons, or Tau, but you're gonna crunch them in CC already) and having S4 and AP2 will probably serve you well.
*'''Eviscerator:''' Basically a two handed chainfist without the fist - powerful, but expensive at 30 points. Weigh carefully against a Power Axe and meltabombs.

====Ranged Weapons====

*'''Shotgun:''' Priests only. '''No.''' We're aware it's only 1 point, but Priests are your only source of Plasma Guns, so that's what they should have, and if you so desperately want an assault weapon, just pay the extra 4 points to get the below.
*'''Storm Bolter:''' No wait, come back. If you've got a squad with Heavy Bolters (say a 20 girl Battle Sister squad or a Retributor squad) this can be an okay buy for your Superior. By no means mandatory, but not a bad buy. Possibly handy on a Priest, too.
*'''Combi-Weapon:''' Comes in Flamer, Melta or Plasma form. This is actually a reasonably good buy for Superiors as well. Veteran Dominion Superiors love to take Combi-Meltas to ensure success, and small (5-6) Battle Sisters squads will benefit from the one extra flamer shot. Combi-Plasma is marginal, but could possibly be useful on a basic Battle Sister squad where their AoF offsets Gets Hot.
*'''Condemnor Boltgun:''' The Condemner Boltgun is a unique Combi-Weapon that the Sisters and Inquisition get. If you hit a unit with a psyker with the condemnor shot, you cause Perils on a <b>random</b> psyker in the group. This is an Emperor sent buff, but the new randomness may cause some small grief if going against a Brotherhood of Psykers and you want to get rid of that one specific asshat.
** Do note how it's strength 5 on the Condemnor shot, so if you can't reach a Psyker and your enemies all have 4+ or better anyway then you have nothing to lose (then again for 10 points you might as well take a different combi in the first place).
*'''Plasma Pistol:''' The same expensive Plasma Pistol that Space Marines know and wish they could love. Not a... terrible choice for Superiors or maybe a Canoness, but not a great one.
*'''Inferno Pistol:''' Range 6, S8 AP1 Melta Pistol, for Canoness and Seraphims. Not really worth 15 points, as everyone who can take it can get a Combi-Melta (more generally useful) for 5 points less or meltabombs for 10 points less. Looks reasonable on Seraphim, until you look at the price.

====Special Weapons====
*'''Storm Bolter:''' It's okay as a unit champion upgrade, but as a Special Weapon option, it leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe for a big unit hanging on an objective, but other than that, you can safely skip this.
*'''Flamer:''' This is a solid choice, especially in large volumes, or in a unit with a Heavy Flamer as well. One of the more classic choices for Battle Sisters.
*'''Meltagun:''' If your Battle Sisters are rocking this, take 2 of them in a six girl squad, in an Immolator. Any other configuration will just confuse the squad and make them incapable of doing any job particularly well. It's also the only gun you should be taking on your Dominions, any other is just a waste.

====Heavy Weapons====
*'''Heavy Bolter:''' Good choice for a Battle Sisters squad hanging on back on an objective, or a Retributor squad. One of our only choices that isn't incredibly short ranged, so you should probably have someone toting it in your army someplace.
*'''Heavy Flamer:''' We're one of the only armies that can take a Heavy Flamer on our troops (and certainly one of the only ones who can take it on a 5 woman squad) so make the most of it. 5-10 girl squads in Immolators or Rhinos with Flamer/Heavy Flamer are excellent squad configurations Battle Sisters, and a 4 Heavy Flamer Retributor squad is another good choice.
*'''Multi-Melta:''' Nah. This is a great choice on an Immolator, but on an infantry squad? Nah. It's too short ranged, we have no access to Relentless squads and its renders Retributors' Act of Faith useless.

====Wargear====
*'''Blessed Banner:''' Any Sisters of Battle unit within 12" of the Banner Bearer re-rolls failed Morale, Fear and Pinning tests. Meh. Take priests instead.
*'''Chirurgeon's Tools:''' As long as the Sister Hospitaller is alive, her unit has the Feel No Pain special rule; if you can spare the points, take one... or don't? They are okay to have, but only available for the Command Squad and let's not forget that toughness 3 means there are LOTS of weapons that will negate their FNP.
*'''Laud Hailer:''' Lets you reroll failed Act of Faith LD tests. Mathematically, it's more likely to let you succeed on an AoF than upgrading to a Superior would, and can potentially benefit multiple units.
*'''Neural Whip:''' Its a melee weapon with Str User and AP3 with Shred on non-vehicle units with leadership 8 or less. [[Ork|Mob Rule]]? Fuck that noise. Only Mistress of Repentances get these. (Basic Sisters have LD 8... coincidence?)
*'''[[Rosarius]]:''' We all know what it does. 4++ for your squishy priests, Canoness can buy it. Now costs 15 points. If you take a Canoness, you are buying a Rosarius. No, do not argue. Are you still arguing? Stop it, and buy a goddamn Rosarius.
*'''Simulacrum Imperialis:''' Units with this can perform 2 AoF per game instead of one. Any unit that NEEDS its AoF to be useful (which, lets face it, is more or less everyone) should take these as standard. Be careful though: if the bearer dies, you '''can't''' use either of your AoFs, so if you have one of these, don't be waiting until turn 3 to attempt your first Act. But should that happen, it likely means that your other important gears (Sister Superior, Priests, HQ's, Special / Heavy weapons) are still alive and kicking. So don't burn your <strike>heretics</strike> pants if the Simulacrum gets sniped.

====Ecclesiarchy Relics====

Your priests / canoness can take one of the following, with the exception of one banner. Only one of each Ecclesiarchy Relic can be taken per army.

*'''The Book of St. Lucius:''' 5 points, all friendly units, '''your Sisters and allies''', within 12" automatically pass any Fear or Regroup tests they have to make. Presumably this includes if they're under 25% so it could be useful for a backfield unit that wants to catch fleeing units.
*'''The Litanies of Faith:''' 15 points, the key to sisters CC shenanigans. Everyone in the unit automatically passes Act of Faith and War Hymns tests. Extremely useful if you don't have an IC for higher leadership, what with Priests being leadership 7 and all. Best used on a Conclave Priest, since they won't have the option of an LD9 Veteran Superior to help them out with LD tests. If you don't have a Simulacrum at least, however, it's usefulness is somewhat questionable.
*'''The Cloak of St. Aspira:''' 20 points, reroll failed armor and Shield of Faith Invulnerable saves. A little on the pricy side and doesn't let you reroll saves from your [[Rosarius]] (which you bought, right?).
*'''The Mantle of Ophelia:''' 25 points, Eternal Warrior. Your girls are T3, so this should be the first buy for your Canoness, if you are using one.
*'''The Blade of Admonition:''' 30 points. +2 Strength, AP3 and Master Crafted, Canoness only. Solid against MEQs. Shitty against TEQs.
*'''The Mace of Valaan:'''  25 points, +2 Strength, AP4, Concussive, Master Crafted and gets Armorbane and Fleshbane when there are models with Daemon special rule within 6", Priests only. Combined with the Priest's ability to smash, it becomes deadly (either 4 attacks on the charge at ap2, or 1 attack at Strength 8 ap2). Combined with zealot, your cloth wearing little fanatic becomes the bane of terminators everywhere. Somewhat situational, but you'd be surprised how many armies have Daemon units. (Including one that's an ally of convenience...and the daemonhost from the inquisition)
*'''The Sacred Standard of the Order Militant:''' 40 points, Sororitas Command Squad only. Gives ALL Friendly units within 12" +1 Attack and lets them reroll failed Morale, Fear and Pinning test. Expensive as all hell, but could be worth it if you're running a front lines Sororitas Command Squad. Keep it near a Battle Conclave or Sisters Repentia and laugh.
** '''Note:''' That's all FRIENDLY units, not all Friendly Adepta Sororitas units or any other restrictions. All. Friendly. So if you're taking an Imperial ally, this or the book is definitely something you should consider, if for no other reason than to make your backfield basically impossible to break. It could also make Repentia or something like allied Blood Claws or Grey Hunters put out a positively terrifying number of attacks.

The following are also called Ecclesiarchy Relics, but are only available if you took Saint Celestine...which is fine for us, since she's from our army. Still, these can be taken by a bunch of different armies (since anyone who allies Celestine in can take them) so some of them aren't very good for us.

*'''Skull of Petronella the Pious:''' 30 points, bearer and all models in their unit get a 6++ save. This is probably a little too expensive in general, and for a Sisters army it's exceptionally pointless since we all have a 6++ already.
*'''Blade of the Worthy:''' 30 points, take a leadership test at the beginning of each fight subphase. If you fail, it's a Power Sword. If you pass, it gets +2 strength and AP2. Solid stuff, especially for Space Marines since it's AP2 at initiative (and how often are you gonna fail LD10?) but Sisters don't care about their I, so they'd probably benefit more from an Eviscerator.
*'''Castigator:''' 15 point pistol, S4, AP2, ignores Invul saves. Practical? Yes. Hilarious? Yes.  Also functions as a way to let Characters take advantage of Gunslinger.
*'''Font of Fury:''' 10 points, 1 use only, range 8 large blast with Poisoned 4+, 2+ against Chaos stuff. Could be good on a front line Priest (the look on your opponent's face when you huck it from a Repressor will be hilarious) and it's cheap, which is good.
*'''Shroud of the Anti-Martyr:''' 35 points, Eternal Warrior. Uh, we have this for 10 points cheaper, so it's clearly for other armies. Still, solid stuff for Space Marines who don't have easy access to Shield Eternal.
*'''Devsalle's Holy Circle:''' 35 points, grants the bearer a 4++ and here's the big one: a 12 inch bubble where guys can't choose to Deep Strike, and if they scatter into it, they automatically Mishap. This is BRUTAL on a backfield Priest or Dialogus, since not only does it make a small-ish bubble where your enemy won't be able to drop their Deep Strikers, but unless they have no-Scatter Deep Strikers, the bubble is even bigger, since they won't want to scatter into the first bubble. Oh, and that includes Drop Pod, just so you know.
**This one is a particularly good buy for Inquisitors, since they don't get Invuln saves.

====Vehicle Upgrades====

*'''Dozer Blades:''' Rerollable Dangerous Terrain. If you're running a mech-heavy army (and why wouldn't you?) this is probably one of your more important choices for Immolators.
*'''Extra Armor:''' Crew Stunned --> Crew Shaken. Not necessary overall, but if you're worried about your army being less mobile or want to make sure your squad can stick together, it might not be a bad buy.
*'''Hunter-Killer Missile:''' The old classic. Unfortunately it doesn't have much use in a Sisters army, as most of our dedicated transports have Multi-Meltas, which are much better for tank busting, emergency or otherwise.
*'''Searchlight:''' Another classic. If you actually do take them and you're out in the open you have no reason not to use them, you're getting 6++ anyway.
*'''Smoke Launchers:''' More classic.
*'''Storm Bolter:''' Last classic. Absolutely MANDATORY for Exorcists and Immolators, as it basically gives them a 50 percent chance of ignoring a weapon destroyed result. 5 points to make sure your Exorcist doesn't become a 130 point paperweight on turn 2? Yes please. Doesn't go far awry on Rhinos either - it's surprising how often an extra peashooter can make a difference.
*'''Laud Hailer:''' Same as the wargear. Lets you reroll failed Act of Faith LD tests within 12". Extremely useful, but be sure to spread them out strategically and not go overboard, at 10 points a piece they'll add up pretty quickly.