Hi All,
Time to jump back on the 40k Narrative Review bandwagon! Today we look at the Sororitas and what they crusade rules have to offer!
Army Special Rules:
These holy lady’s core mechanics are centered on the generation of new saints. When you start your campaign you select one character to be the Saint Potentia. As this character goes through the campaign they will have trials you will need to complete to gain points. There are five total trials, and all provide certain buffs once completed. These buffs include the option to heal yourself, fight twice, gain additional miracle dice etc. However, there is also a sorta-risk. Every time you fail an out of action test for this character you roll a D6 and add it’s Martyr points (gained each time the model fails an out-of-action test) to the total. If the result is greater than the model’s leadership it is instantly removed. As this martyrdom has served its purpose all units in your roster get a number of experience points equal to the lost character’s Saint points. I like this risk/reward mechanic and it can serve as a way to create a narrative story for your campaign. At the same time, you can lose a very powerful character if you get unlucky so plan accordingly!
Agendas and Relics:
The Sororitas get a variety of powerful agendas to choose from. Trey have a version of the Space Marine’s Know No Fear agenda that gives every unit +1 experience for every act of faith they complete (though this is lost if they fail a morale test). You can give units 1 exp for each psyker unit they kill (up to five max). You can set a unit of Repentia on the path to Redemption by killing an enemy unit with a higher power rating. Seed of The Imperium is a post-battle agenda that allows you to pick three units that killed an enemy model or hold an objective. They get 1 exp. if they are below there starting strength, are below half-strength, or are destroyed. Lastly there is a relic recovery mission that awards you a bonus relic if you complete it.
Speaking of relics! The Sororitas get a good number of crusade relics to choose between. Their basic relics are quite good, granting +1S, +1A, and +1LD (good on Saint Potentia models), a 4++ with a 4+++ vs mortals (good vs. Tau) and a 1 MW grenade (though it does D3 to chaos units). The Piety and Pain rules also add a S8 AP -3 D3 plasma pistol which is a pretty good upgrade. Their antiquity relics include a mace that does D3 but also has a -1 to hit penalty, an Icon that makes enemy units -2″ to their charges when charging a friendly model within 3″, and all friendly units within 3″ get +3 to their consolidation results. Piety and Pain adds another 4+, 5++ vs mortals relic which is a little odd unless you face a lot of mortal wound spam. Lastly, they get two legendary relics. The Rod of Grace allows you to give a character the Priest keyword and chant a war hymn (if not a priest already, priest units learn all possible hymns instead). The other legendary relic is an auto-hitting sword that is a slightly upgraded version of the blessed blade adding in +1 S and +1D. I think the Rod is the go-to option here, though a little more punch never hurt.
Army Traits and Requisitions:
The Sororitas get access to 6 different tables (2 added due to Piety and Pain). I won’t cover them all but I will highlight that the generic infantry/Paragon Warsuit table is very good holding buffs for Shield of Faith, granting additional miracle die and many other goodies. The Retributer table is also good, although it is divided up based on weapon choice so if you roll randomly you risk not getting the benefit (although the chance to get multi-meltas that are always counted as being within 12″ is very tempting).
Sororitas Requisitions include an option to redeem a unit of Repentia after enough heroic acts, the new unit getting all the battle honors of the old. You can also reverse the process, demoting a squad for suffering a “Devestating Blow” after failing an out of action test. This turns them into a new Repentia squad. Another Requisition gives you the chance to get another Saint Potentia if your previous one has died or has been elevated to “Living Saint” status. You can also boost your Saint by giving her 1-3 saint points by spending the same amount of requisition points. Naturally you do not start with the Blessing of The Faithful ability and that is another requisition (gated after they reach minimum 16 experience).
Conclusion:
Overall I think the Sororitas have the most narrative-themed set of rules thus far. The amount of stories you can create within this rule set covering damnation, redemption, sainthood and martyrdom are incredible. The Sororitas also have a large number of characters to take advantage of the Crusade Relic requisition or their agendas. Players will be hard pressed to pick between the upgrade tables and the crusade relics as each has an enticing role. Given how easy it is for the Sororitas to get protection from moral wounds I would expect them to get stronger as the campaign goes on (although this also risks your Saint Potentia).
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