40kfaq@gwplc.com
Here is my e-mail;
Hi GW Rules team
As a long time fan/player
of Sisters of Battle, I want to help contribute to making their
eventual Codex as good as possible. While doing a short review of the
Beta for my Blog I raised the following points:-
Page 79 - Acts of Faith; The Passion
I would look at changing The Passion's trigger to the end of the
Fight phase. It's your hardest to achieve Act of Faith and you risk your
opponent being able to kill the unit it's been activated on before they
can strike a second time. By making it end of the phase, it works more
like the similar Stratagems many armies have access too.
I
also think an end of phase trigger would be easier for players to
understand when the extra attack happens, as I still see players get
confused with Khorne Bezerkers.
Page 82 - Missionary
I'd like to see Word of the Emperor affect Astra Miitarum units as
well. I think you would see people taking one of these if they did.
It's a minor thing, but would make it support those that like to take some Priestly support for their Imperial Guard regiments.
Page 84 - Repentia Squad
These may be a little too expensive at 15 points each. It's also a
shame that the maximum squad size is smaller than it used to be.
However, you can fit them into a transport.
These
used to have a larger maximum squad size and be available to buy
separate from the Mistress, leading to some of us older players having
more than nine per Mistress we own. Obviously, this will be less of a
thing when the unit gets new models, but something to bear in mind at
the moment.
Comparing these to units from other armies I
play (Assault Marines and Striking Scorpions), I'd like to see them
become 12 points each. This is very much a first impression though, I
will have to get some games in to see if 15 feels right for them.
Page 84 - Mistress of Repentance
This character lacks the <Order> Repentia Squad keyword, so she
doesn't buff her own ability to hit. More importantly, she doesn't buff
her own Advance and Charge rolls so struggles to keep up with the unit
she is supposed to buff. They can easily get out of range of her when
they move into combat and she will struggle to make the charge to keep
up. A simple fix is to give her the keyword to match them.
I
understand the flavour of why she doesn't have the keyword, but with a
6" range on Driven Onwards, the unit will often end up out of range,
especially as they are likely to succeed in Charges she will fail. I'd
like to see her gain the keyword so she also helps herself.
Page 85 - Celestian Squad
I'm not sure the army wants or needs this unit to exist, but I feel that way about Space Marine veterans, so maybe it's just me.
Included for sake of completeness, but largely my own personal bias.
Page 86 - Arco-Flagellants
Not sure what I want from these, they may just be too expensive for what they do.
I
may be wrong as they have a minimum squad size of three. It may be
their role has changed slightly to be a counter-charge unit rather than a
surge forward and seek the enemy unit. Some playtesting will give me a
better handle on this.
Page 89 - Exorcist
As an aside, while looking at improvements for things, I wish Smoke
Launchers weren't instead of shooting. It's great for transports that
surge forward and advance, looking to get to the opponent, but terrible
for gun tanks like this one. They also fail to help the tank if your
opponent goes first. And this applies across all armies with access to
them, not just Adeptus Sororitas.
As I say, this
isn't just a "problem" with this Codex, and probably beyond the scope of
fixing just by changing it here, but may be worth looking at for a Big
FAQ change. There are many tanks that feel like they almost never want
to use their Smoke Launchers. It may be that this wants to operate like
the Prepared Positions Stratagem from the Big FAQ and activate at the
start of the first battle round.
Page 95 - Order Convictions
It feels like two of these do the same thing, regardless of how you
have built the army; regain Faith points. The third makes Tests of Faith
easier and will probably go on to be the default choice for players. I
would change Argent Shroud's ability to something else, possibly
something like the Space Marines Salamander's re-roll ability.
There
is a lot of stuff in the army that interacts with either Test of Faith
or Faith Points. I don't think half of the Order Convictions also need
to do so as well. I'm not against there being a "go to" sub-faction, as
most armies have one that will attract the competitive player,
meanwhile, those that play armies for flavour will use the others.
Of
the three, Ebon Chalice; Daughters of the Emperor will probably attract
the Tournament players, and is a fine trait. Our Martyred Lady; The
Blood of the Martyrs is amazingly dripping with flavour. This leaves
Argent Shroud; Deed, not Words as the easiest one to change. It needs to
hit the flavour of decisive action. Either a limited form of re-roll to
hit, much like the T'au Sa'cea Sept, or a re-roll to hit with Bolt
weapons like Craftworld Biel-Tan do with Shuriken weapons. It's also
probably no coincidence that these both come with +1 Leadership.
For the full review
https://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/12/quick-hits-december-2018-sisters-of.html
These
are the main things that have stood out during my first look at the
book. I will report back with more feedback in the new year as I get
games in. This whole exercise is a fantastic opportunity to look at the
way armies and codexes are designed, and I'd like to thank you for it.
And even more thanks for all the hard work you guys put in. I've played
since 2nd edition 40k and 8th has rapidly become my favourite. The
return of move values and save modifers are what clinched it for me ;)
Hopefully, as I get more games in, I can see if my initial opinions hold up. Maybe I'm wildly wrong and playing the army will show me this. I will update the blog both with my findings and if Games Workshop reply.
