Now is that a headline you ever thought you’d see on this website? Chapter Approved 2018 would be exciting enough if all it had was a tonne of rules for matched, open and narrative play – but it also contains the beta version of Codex: Adepta Sororitas.
This article was originally published on the Warhammer-community site.
In a radical move, we’re looking to employ the biggest playtest group in the world to make sure the codex is as awesome as it can possibly be – that’s you guys!
The codex in Chapter Approved is but a taste of what we’ve got planned, but it’s already incredibly expansive, featuring a reworked and improved Acts of Faith system, Order Convictions, Stratagems, Warlord Traits and Relics. To help you prepare and stoke the fires of your hype, we’re previewing all of them today.
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 codex also offers Sisters of Battle a host of sub-faction rules with which to customise your army even further, representing the unique battle tactics employed by the various Orders Militant. Each gives your army a distinct flavour, as well as being pretty powerful. The Stoic Endurance of the Order of the Valorous Heart makes them even harder to kill, and is fantastic when combined with the 6+ invulnerable save that all Sisters of Battle have:
The Daughters of the Ebon Chalice, on the other hand, are particularly good at pulling off Acts of Faith, and make those trickier Acts that little bit easier to use:
There are six Order Convictions to choose from in total, giving you yet more options when building your army, and letting you represent your favourites from the lore as never before.
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:
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:
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.
You’ll be able to pre-order your copy of Chapter Approved this weekend. In the meantime, if you missed them, check out our previews of matched, open and narrative play.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
