Our series of Faction Focus articles previewing new detachments continues, and today the zealous warriors of the Adepta Sororitas take centre stage.
Chorus of Condemnation
Delivering the God-Emperor’s judgement is a lot harder when your cowardly foes insist on hiding in trees and ruins, so having a contingent of Seraphim and Zephyrim on hand to root them out is invaluable. The Chorus of Condemnation use their vantage point to earmark targets for destruction, ensuring long-range fire support can remove their foes’ sacrilegious presence from the map.
ANGELIC JUDGEMENT
Granted a greater perspective of the heretical foe’s disposition, an Order’s angelic veterans roar condemnatory psalms of revelation that unmask the enemy’s evil for all to see.
Friendly ADEPTA SORORITAS INFANTRY FLY units have the following ability:
Condemnatory Psalms: In your Shooting phase, this unit can
select one visible enemy unit within 12". That enemy unit is condemned:
While a unit is condemned, that unit has +3" detection range.
With most units having a detection range of 15”, the extra 3” gives your units a good bit more wiggle room when keeping away from hidden assault troops, and crucially puts the condemned target just inside the range of your multi-meltas.
Movement is as important as ever in the new edition, and the ability to spirit one of your squads across the board and exploit a gap in the enemy’s defence remains a powerful tool. The Clarion of Urgency gives your Canoness with Jump Pack just that ability, and with the range you need to Deep Strike away from enemy models being reduced to 8”, you have even more space than before to squeeze them into your opponent’s back line.
CLARION OF URGENCY
This passionate slayer of the blasphemous leads her warriors in powered jet-leaps to reach the condemned foe, no matter where they lurk.
CANONESS WITH JUMP PACK model only. At the end of your opponent’s Fight phase, if this unit is unengaged, you can place this unit in strategic reserves.
Whether you’ve condemned a hidden unit or used Deep Strike to drop next to a priority target, Harmonised Exorcism is the perfect way to make sure your retribution is swift and accurate.
HARMONISED EXORCISM (1CP)
CHORUS OF CONDEMNATION STRATAGEM
In harmony with the targeting hymnals of angelic warriors, an Exorcist’s devastating rockets seem drawn to the heresy of the foe.
WHEN: Your Shooting phase, when a friendly EXORCIST unit is selected to shoot.
TARGET: That EXORCIST unit.
EFFECT: Select one unit visible to and within 9" of a friendly ADEPTA SORORITAS INFANTRY FLY unit. Your unit’s ranged attacks that target that unit have +1 to hit rolls.
Sacred Champions
Celestian Sacresants are some of the most revered warriors of their Order, and a powerful elite melee unit able to duel with heretical champions on an equal footing. When sent on a Holy Quest, their focus and determination is legendary, and the Sacred Champions detachment represents them at their prime.
HOLY QUEST
Charged with a holy quest in service to the God-Emperor, the veteran Sacresant elite of an Order Militant are relentless in their pursuit of victory.
Friendly CELESTIAN SACRESANTS units’ attacks have +1 BS and WS.
This detachment has the REVEREND tag and cannot be taken with another REVEREND detachment.
A full unit of 10 Celestian Sacresants gets quite a pile of attacks with their hallowed maces and anointed halberds, so making them hit on a 2+ is a great way to convert that into serious damage. Although most of the Characters you’d attach to the squad already hit on a 2+, the Sister Dogmata could do with a little help swinging their mace of the righteous, and gets the bonus too.
Going all in on these tough and deadly elites becomes even more worthwhile with the Writ of Compunction upgrade, which gives them the objective-holding prowess of most Battleline units and turns them into a veritable brick wall of OC. As an upgrade enhancement, you can give it to three units, and add up to 30 OC to your army for just a few points.
WRIT OF COMPUNCTION (Upgrade)
Within this ornate cylindrical casket is a holy authorisation of the Ecclesiarch. Warriors in its presence tasked with a sacred duty are filled with righteous purpose, and the will to succeed no matter the odds.
CELESTIAN SACRESANTS unit only. This unit has +1 OC.
With a 4+ invulnerable save and -1 To Wound when joined by a Character, Celestian Sacresants can be really tough to shift and will often soak up some of your opponent’s best weapons. Mortal wounds can be a major threat to them though, so a spot of Faithful Fortitude goes a long way to keeping them on the battlefield.
FAITHFUL FORTITUDE (1CP)
SACRED CHAMPIONS STRATAGEM
Drawing upon their deep wells of piety, Sacresant elite can fight on even through overwhelming or eldritch assaults.
WHEN: Any phase, when a friendly CELESTIAN SACRESANTS unit suffers a mortal wound.
TARGET: That CELESTIAN SACRESANTS unit.
EFFECT: Your unit has Feel No Pain 5+ against mortal wounds until the end of the phase.
Sanctified Orators
Some detachments in the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 work a little differently to others, offering fewer dedicated buffs and Stratagems, and instead unlocking especially good enhancements to upgrade key units in your army – like the Emperor’s Champion-focused detachment the Black Templars can take.
The Sanctified Orators detachment focuses on making your Characters the best they can be, with a handy point of Leadership keeping their units on task and some excellent enhancements to choose from.
HYMNS OF BATTLE
On the battlefield, the faithful warriors of the Adepta Sororitas heed the stirring hymns recited by their commanders, whose inspirational words stoke their righteous fervour.
Enhancements selected from this detachment do not count towards the total number of enhancements in your army.
Friendly ADEPTA SORORITAS CHARACTER units have +1 Ld.
With the Hagiomnifex, up to three units can choose from a wide variety of seriously useful benefits to have every turn. The Rite of Revelation synergises fantastically with the Chorus of Condemnation detachment to let you spot hidden enemies up to 24” away, the Sermon of Intolerance helps to resist battle-shock now that you no longer automatically remove it in your Command Phase, and the Chorus of Repudiation bolsters your troops against the vast majority of attacks in the game – given the humble Battle Sister’s very human Toughness of 3.
HAGIOMNIFEX (Upgrade)
A master of martial saintly lore, this vehement orator knows there is no form of enemy that the God-Emperor’s holiest martyrs have not overcome. With vox-augmented sermonising, they roar the sacred hymns of the saints’ deeds to embolden the faithful.
ADEPTA SORORITAS CHARACTER unit only (excluding PENITENT units). (Once per turn, per unit) At the start of a phase, you can use this ability. If you do, select one of the abilities below:
Rite of Revelation: While this unit is shooting, enemy units have +6" detection range.
Sermon of Intolerance: This unit’s battle-shock rollsautomatically succeed.
Catechism of Raging Fervour: This unit has +1" M.
Psalm of Righteous Smiting: This unit’s attacks have +1 S.
Chorus of Repudiation: Attacks that target this unit with a S greater than this unit’s T have -1 to wound rolls.
All three of these detachments cost 1 Detachment Point, so you can take all of them together – or combine them with one of the existing detachments, many of which will cost just 2 DP – in a 2,000 point game. Since you’ll be spending a lot of time close to your opponent’s units with the Chorus of Condemnation, pair it with the Bringers of Flame for even more short-range firepower!
The God-Emperor rewards the faithful, and there’s even more inside each of these detachments to fortify your favourite Battle Sisters. We’ll be back tomorrow with the next Faction Focus, and lo and behold, it’s another group of zealous, chainsword-loving, power armour-wearing killers – the World Eaters!
