In the past, the Adepta Sororitas have sent units of their novitiate sisters into the killzone to gain some experience and put their impetuousness to good use. When the ugly spectre of rogue witchery rears its head, however, screaming neophytes with swords won’t cut it – you need the best, and Celestian Insidiants are the top shelf heretic-hunters that put all others to shame.
Every kill team gets a special ability, and some even get two, but the Insidiants are so good they get three – even if one of them only affects Psychic opponents. First, your operatives are a great source of Inspiration when they stick their necks out by Charging or downing an enemy that’s worth their attention, getting the Severe rule* on all their weapons.
INSPIRATION
Veteran Celestians of the Orders Militant lead by example, inspiring their sisters by throwing themselves into the heaviest fighting against the deadliest of enemies.
Whenever a friendly CELESTIAN INSIDIANT operative:
Incapacitates an enemy operative that has a Wounds stat of 6 or more, that friendly operative becomes INSPIRING.
Performs the Charge action, before it moves,it becomes INSPIRING.
Whenever a friendly CELESTIAN INSIDIANT operative is INSPIRING, weapons on its datacard have the Severe weapon rule.
Once they’re Inspired, the Celestians’ other major ability kicks in – Martyrdom. You didn’t think it’d be a Battle Sister team without some good old martyrdom, did you? If an Inspired operative bites the bullet, one other ally within 6” gets fired up and selects one of four Benedictions, which do all sorts of things, from reknitting their wounds to gaining a whole extra point on their APL stat.
Their final ability, Weapons of the Witch Hunters, gives them just about every tool possible to stop psykers from getting up to their tricks. We won’t go deep into it here, because it’s a little long, but just imagine your Insidiant Superior holding up a big sign with ‘No’ on it. No powers for you.
MARTYRDOM
Vaunted veterans of the Orders Militant, Celestian Insidiants hunt witches with extreme prejudice. Those struck down in the course of their duties become martyrs, their deaths only serving to harden the resolve of their surviving sisters.
Whenever an INSPIRING friendly CELESTIAN INSIDIANT operative is incapacitated, before it’s removed from the killzone, select one other friendly CELESTIAN INSIDIANT operative that operative is visible to or within 6" of.
Then, that selected operative gains one BENEDICTION from the following (incapacitated operatives cannot be selected for a BENEDICTION):
BENEDICTION | EFFECT |
Ardour | Until the end of the battle, add 1 to that operative’s APL stat. You cannot select this BENEDICTION for a SUPERIOR operative. |
Wrath | Until the end of the battle, weapons on that operative’s datacard have the Ceaseless weapon rule. |
Restoration | That operative regains up to D3+2 lost wounds. |
Exigence | That operative can immediately perform a free Charge or Dash action (for the former, it cannot move more than 3"), but must end that move closer to that incapacitated INSPIRING operative. |
We’re not the only ones getting excited to put power-armoured Celestians onto the table, so before we take a closer look at one of their datasheets, Travis and Jason from the Just Another Kill Team Podcast have given us their thoughts on the upcoming team.
JAKTP: Celestian Insidiants specialize in taking out psykers, but luckily the ladies can inspire the future martyrs against everyone else as long as they stay in range of each other. Being a 9-operative team with wide access to the Damage 4/4 null mace, the Sisters will naturally beat down popular 8-operative Aeldari teams as each fight action threatens the 8 Wound xenos. Attrition-focused horde teams could give the Insidiants some pause, but they still have a good chance – and the rotation of Classified teams has made such mobs a bit rarer.
With the focus on Inspiration and Martyrdom, and Benediction abilities only triggering when friendly operatives are close to or can see their dead friends, keeping a close eye on visibility lanes will be key to getting the most out of your Insidiants. This does mean that Killzone: Volkus’s denser walls can cut off sight lines, forcing everyone to stay in tight formations, while Bheta-Decima and Tomb World, with wide-open platforms and rooms, really benefit from easier visibility.
Thanks, guys! Sticking together and cracking skulls in close combat is exactly what the Celestian Insidiants signed up for, so they brought an arsenal of excellent melee weapons and short-ranged guns to the party. None are more determined to hack off the enemy’s heads than the Insidiant Mortisanctus, who has such pious confidence that she will challenge whoever and whatever she wants to a one-on-one duel, and viciously deride cowards who refuse.
That’s not to say that all they do is run around and smash things – they’re not the Wrecka Krew after all – but if you can’t see the whites of your opponent’s eyes, how can you tell they regret their heresy?
… Speaking of heresy, the Murderwing kill team is due for an exposé soon. Come back tomorrow and find out what they’ve got up their spiky, skin-draped sleeves.
* In case you’ve forgotten, that lets you change a normal success to a critical success if you don’t retain any criticals. Spicy!
